Lu Zihao was very unhappy at being forced to make a choice by an arrogant woman. However, he had to grit his teeth because marrying his stubborn fiancée was more important than anything right now.
"Fine," he managed to say through a tense jaw. "But make sure that you deliver on your promise. I want to marry Jinjing tomorrow!"
"Tsk." Chen Fei curled her lip before smirking. Then she shut the door on his face.
Lu Zihao's expression was thunderous. The woman was too infuriating!
It completely baffled him how a shy and gentle woman like Long Jinjing would remain best friends with an arrogant and foul-mouthed bitch like Chen Fei. Not only that. Even his sister had become close friends with the woman.
"Uncle Zihao, aren't you glad?" an all-too-familiar child's voice said through his hidden earpiece. "Uncle should thank Aunt Fei for persuading Aunt Jinjing to finally marry you before Bacon's twin cousins are born. Acting so fierce to your benefactor is not classy."
"Shut up, kid."
"To be told to shut up by my own uncle, it's causing Bacon great emotional distress. At this rate—"
"I'll give you an extra red packet if I can really marry your Aunt Jinjing tomorrow so just shut the hell up tonight, alright? I'm not in the mood to receive a lecture from a little kid like you."
A few seconds of silence.
Then Bacon asked, "How much will be in the red packet?"
A vein started throbbing in Lu Zihao's forehead. With a snort, he walked away to find another room to spend the night.
###
The next morning, Long Jinjing's room was filled with lively chatter and frenzied activity. Iris directed her personal glam team to take care of Long Jinjing while Dom held a camera to record everything.
Chen Fei was busy on the phone at a corner remotely delegating some of her tasks at work. She gave herself a half day-off in order to make hasty arrangements for her best friend's marriage registration today. The worst that could happen was for her to work overtime which wasn't really too bad for someone like her who loved her job at Orchidia.
After Long Jinjing fell asleep last night, Chen Fei disturbed all the other members of the girl squad in their group chat to let them know about Long Jinjing's situation. Everyone agreed that they needed to come together in order to help Long Jinjing regain her self-confidence.
The door opened and Jiang Ying Yue entered while pushing a rack filled with hanging garment bags.
"Oh, they're here!" Iris helped Jiang Ying Yue pull the rack inside the room. "It's a rush job but thank goodness that several of my favourite designers were able to send some nice dresses for Big Sister. We might have to do some quick alterations, though."
Chen Fei finally finished her phone calls. She immediately helped Iris and Jiang Ying Yue in choosing a suitable dress for Long Jinjing among the options.
Long Jinjing felt overwhelmed by her friends. She had no idea that they were going to do this. Her eyes watered as she watched them busying themselves for her sake.
"Please don't cry," the makeup artist said. "Mr. Lu made a special rush appointment at the Civil Affairs Bureau so we need to get you ready in time. You can cry all you want after your successful marriage registration later."
"Don't worry, Sis Jing," the hair stylist assured her. "We'll make you so beautiful today that Mr. Lu won't be able to take his eyes off you once he sees you."
"True that!" said the nail technician next.
Dom secretly gave the glam team a big thumbs up.
Iris, Chen Fei and Jiang Ying Yue looked at each other and released a collective sigh of relief. Long Jinjing appeared flustered by everything but at least she wasn't wallowing in her low self-esteem anymore.
A panda-eyed Meimei soon arrived. As usual, she moved like a zombie and acted like a vampire who was about to burn into ashes whenever sunlight hit her. If not for her friends, she wouldn't go out of the house at all and continue slaving away on her webtoon.
She brought a simple yet elegant bouquet of flowers.
"A b-bouquet?" Long Jinjing asked. "Is that really…necessary for a simple marriage registration?"
"Don't think too much about it, Big Sister," Iris said. "Flowers are always nice to have. The bouquet will make your photos with Big Brother more romantic later."
Long Jinjing was still a bit hesitant but she smiled and thanked them.
Clover video-called them to join in the fun. She couldn't attend today's sudden event because she was still in France. It was still night there so she basically hadn't slept a wink yet.
Long Jinjing almost couldn't contain her emotions. She could feel all her friends' love and care for her. At the same time, she felt bad for harbouring envy towards her own sister who had been so good to her despite their unpleasant relationship in the past.
Iris caught Long Jinjing looking at her. She smiled. Long Jinjing mouthed "thank you". Her sister's smile turned brighter.
###
"Yo, what the hell, Fifth Bro?" Yu Mo arrived while carrying presents that he prepared in a hurry. "You only gave us a few hours notice that you're going to marry today!"
"Be thankful that I even told you about it in the first place," Lu Zihao said while buttoning his suit in front of the mirror.
Yu Mo clutched his chest and pretended to be heartbroken. "Ah, you've become so cold to your bros!"
Lu Zihao ignored him but Yu Mo continued bothering him while he was getting ready.
In contrast, the scene was more relaxed in the other side of the guest suite.
Jin Liwei and Wang Yingjie were bottle-feeding Little Mochi and Little Matcha respectively at the sitting area. Lin Yehan chatted with them while admiring the adorable twins.
"Little Lingyu is a carbon copy of yours, Third Brother," Lin Yehan commented while looking at Little Matcha in Wang Yingjie's arms.
"En." Jin Liwei couldn't hide the proud expression on his face.
His mother, Huang Yuyan, would always mention that Little Matcha had been exactly like him when he was a baby. They were both unbothered and didn't care much about anything that didn't interest them.
