E ⋆ Chapter 23

At dinner, Yu Zhinian asked Li Lu quite a few questions about asset transfer and learned that the cash he could access was mainly from share dividends over the past few years. As for everything else, it would require going through additional procedures.

Moreover, the trust had harsh stipulations regarding the sale of shares, and it could easily cause company turmoil. There was no rushing it.

In short, Li Lu’s meaning was simple: get married first, then talk about the rest.

Yu Zhinian listened with an unsettled heart. That night, he dreamed that Professor Zhao came to the wedding ceremony. Professor Zhao said “You’ve worked hard,” and Yang Ke said to him “Thank you for everything you’ve done for me.”

Hardship and gratitude permeated the lawn wedding, and the balloons were covered in thank-yous.

All the guests present, including their high school classmates, university classmates, and company colleagues, enthusiastically celebrated Yu Zhinian’s selfless dedication, grateful to him for tearing up that letter delivered from the grave, ending years of shackles.

Upbeat music filled the venue, and everyone was laughing. Only Yu Zhinian had become a three-year-old child, quietly crawling under the white dessert table, pulling the tablecloth over himself, and crying silently.

After crying for a long time, Yu Zhinian woke up to the sound of his alarm.

The marriage registration appointment was at ten in the morning, in a room on the second floor of the municipal hall.

The weather was rather terrible. Outside the municipal hall, along the traffic lane, the trees were battered by rain into disarray, the sky was gray, and the city center was dim and lifeless.

Yang Ke sat beside him. Neither of them spoke the entire way.

At this moment when the marriage was truly about to happen, Yu Zhinian looked at the street scene and realized it was not worth anticipating.

The brief excitement and shyness that had flickered were swept away by the reality of not loving each other, leaving only the heavy, uneasy real world.

Yang Ke and he were like magnets forced to bind with the same poles facing each other, both continuously repelling. One was unwilling, the other wanted to preserve dignity.

But to obtain the property, there was no way except to be together.

Stepping out of the car, both Yang Ke and the driver held umbrellas for Yu Zhinian, but the wind and rain were strong, and their suits still got wet.

Yang Ke’s gray suit cuffs were soaked dark gray by the rain, making him look a little disheveled.

Walking up the steps, to hold the umbrella properly, Yang Ke put an arm around Yu Zhinian’s shoulder. Yang Ke certainly meant nothing by it. It was Yu Zhinian himself who stiffened. Once inside the hall, Yang Ke handed the umbrella to the driver, and Yu Zhinian walked forward two steps, pulling away from Yang Ke’s hand.

Attorney Li had just arrived as well. They went upstairs together.

After submitting the documents, a municipal hall staff member named Tara presided over the marriage ceremony, with the photographer and Attorney Li as witnesses.

Tara conducted the ceremony with genuine emotion, offering sincere blessings to the newlyweds and delivering the wedding blessing.

Rain kept hitting the circular arched window of the registration office. Yu Zhinian listened absentmindedly to the end. When it came time to sign, Yang Ke signed first, and then it was Yu Zhinian’s turn.

Yu Zhinian picked up the pen, lowered his head to look at the certificate with Yang Ke’s name written on it, and hesitated for a few seconds.

He suddenly felt an impulse to ask Yang Ke “Do you really want to marry me?” but the occasion wasn’t right, there were too many people, and Yu Zhinian couldn’t ask it. So, under the gaze of the others in the room, he put pen to paper and wrote his own name.

The ceremony was thus complete. Yu Zhinian and Yang Ke quickly established their marital relationship. Smith took out the pair of rings they had purchased the day before.

Yu Zhinian had assumed they would each put on their own ring, but unexpectedly Yang Ke picked up Yu Zhinian’s ring, so Yu Zhinian had no choice but to extend his hand. Yang Ke silently slipped the ring onto his finger, and Yu Zhinian took Yang Ke’s ring and put it on him in return.

“Don’t you want to exchange a kiss?” the photographer asked excitedly, holding up the camera. “I’ll take a photo as a keepsake.”

Yu Zhinian was startled and instinctively glanced at Yang Ke, then told the photographer: “That’s not necessary.”

Noticing Tara’s slightly odd expression, Yu Zhinian made an excuse: “I just recovered from the flu and I’m still in the infectious period.”

The hall fell quiet for a moment. Attorney Li broke the awkwardness, saying: “Shall we head back then?”

“My assistant prepared some flowers,” he said. “You could hold them and take a photo at the entrance. That would be nice too.”

They walked out the door. Yu Zhinian saw Attorney Li’s young male assistant holding a bunch of white flowers by the entrance, their rich fragrance spreading all around. Yu Zhinian paused for a moment. For a second, he thought it would be fine to take the flowers and have a photo taken, but after thinking it over, he really didn’t want to humiliate himself. He felt there was no need to leave behind proof that neither of them wanted, so he pretended not to have seen it and quietly walked toward the spiral staircase.

“Yu Zhinian,” Yang Ke called his name from behind.

Yu Zhinian turned around. Yang Ke stood beside Smith, looking at him, and said: “You forgot to take a photo.”

Although the ceremony was brief, it had taken some time. Yang Ke’s sleeves were no longer noticeably wet. His hand hung at his side, his expression appearing almost serious.

Yu Zhinian found Yang Ke’s phrasing odd and wanted to counter-ask, Do you want to take a photo?, but what came out was more tactful: “I’m a bit tired.”

He went down the stairs quickly. The driver hadn’t even reached the front door when Yu Zhinian was already caught in a brief stretch of rain. He hurried to the car, pulled open the door, and got in.

Inside the car it was dry and warm, the scent of aromatherapy rich and heavy, erasing the memory of the flowers’ fragrance from Yu Zhinian’s mind. He looked down at the ring on his ring finger, the one Yang Ke had personally put on him, and removed it without hesitation. Since Smith, who was keeping the ring box, hadn’t arrived yet, Yu Zhinian put it in the inner pocket of his jacket.

A few minutes later, Yang Ke also got in the car.

The rain was actually heavier than when they had arrived, but since there was no need to hold an umbrella for Yu Zhinian this time, Yang Ke didn’t get wet.

He got in the car and at first said nothing. After the car had been driving for a while, Yu Zhinian and he spoke at the same time.

“I want to go straight to school.”

“Where’s your ring?”

Yu Zhinian remembered and took out the ring, called to Smith, and handed the ring to the front seat, saying: “Put it back.”

Smith’s face showed surprise. He looked at Yang Ke, seeming not to dare take it. Yang Ke said nothing. Yu Zhinian held it out for a few seconds, then placed it on the storage shelf in the front of the car.

A small circular band rested on the black leather, looking quite exquisite. If a pair of people in love had bought these rings, they would surely look very well-matched when worn.

Yu Zhinian didn’t look at Yang Ke. He skipped over the topic of the rings and said as naturally as possible: “I want to go to the library this afternoon to look up some materials.” He imagined himself as someone who had gone through fake marriages countless times, treating this as a routine job, to ease the awkwardness of the moment.

Actually, taking off the ring and not taking photos were the right things to do. Taking a photo together and wearing them would be the strange part. Probably Yang Ke felt indebted to him for being willing to do this and hadn’t brought it up on his own.

“You don’t need to be nice to me just because I was willing to do this,” Yu Zhinian told him. “There’s no need for that. Just treat me normally.”

Yang Ke said nothing.

Yu Zhinian took out his phone and checked if there were any new messages in the project group chat. All aspects of progress looked great.

Among other messages, Shao Xilin had sent him a thank-you message, again praising his shorthand and organization skills. The professor had finished reading his first draft and had sent a few revision suggestions to his email.

Yu Zhinian carefully read through all the comments, opened the memo app on his phone, and began writing down his revision thoughts.

After writing a few characters, Yang Ke suddenly said: “Smith has booked a restaurant for lunch.”

Yu Zhinian’s typing hand stopped. He turned his head to look at Yang Ke.

Yang Ke’s expression was very calm. He said to him: “There’s no one cooking at home. Come eat with me.”

Yu Zhinian had no reason to refuse, so he said “Okay.”

Not long after, they arrived at the restaurant. This time the doorman held an umbrella, so Yang Ke didn’t need to.

Just as Yu Zhinian was about to get out of the car, he caught a glimpse of the reflection of the ring on Yang Ke’s hand in his peripheral vision and turned back to call Yang Ke.

Yang Ke looked at him, his eyes showing a hint of confusion. Yu Zhinian pointed at Yang Ke’s hand: “You forgot to take off your ring.”

Outside, the rain was very loud, hitting the black umbrella held by the doorman with a dull thud. Icy rain mist was also drifting onto Yu Zhinian’s skin, because the car door was open and he was waiting for Yang Ke.

Yang Ke and Yu Zhinian looked at each other for a while before Yang Ke lowered his head and touched his own ring.

Yu Zhinian waited a moment, then noticed that Yang Ke’s fingers were just resting on the ring without taking it off. Confused, he asked: “What’s wrong?”

After a few seconds, Yang Ke suddenly raised his hand. He didn’t take off the ring, but said to Yu Zhinian: “Let’s keep wearing it for now.”

He picked up the ring Yu Zhinian had placed on the storage shelf and handed it to him. Yu Zhinian’s ring looked very small between Yang Ke’s index finger and thumb.

“You put it on first,” Yang Ke said.