“I’m sorry you have to witness that,”
Lu Xinyi lowered her head in shame. She had not expected that she would meet the old man today, which shouldn’t be surprising at all. She should have known that he was the one who was keeping the grave clean whenever the death anniversary comes.
“There isn’t anything to be sorry about. You are the one who got wronged. It’s understandable to lose cool at such moments.” Shen Yi rubbed her arm. The black short sleeved dress she donned contrasted against her smooth alabaster skin. The curls of her hair framed her face.
“I have a family of asses,” his wife muttered under her breath.
Shen Yi’s hand stopped, never used to hear his wife curse someone. “What?”
“My mother had a hard life growing up, but that old geezer never did anything to help her. When my father got into a serious accident in a restaurant where he was working, Mom had begged and pleaded for Chairman Sun to help us.”
Her body shook as she sobbed, as she relayed what happened to the past to her husband. How her mother was casted out and removed from the family line when she chose to marry Lu Xinyi’s father. How the three of them struggled in their everyday life but were happy to have each other.
“Mom always tells me I am her and Dad’s happiness, and that’s why I was named Xinyi. Because I brought joy and harmony to their lives.” Lu Xinyi choked a sob, her eyes welling up. She tried not to break down in front of her husband, but it was hard.
When she refused to look at him in the eye, Shen Yi stepped forward and brushed his fingers on her cheek.
“As long as you have me, you will never be short of anything,”
Stunned, Lu Xinyi whirled around to meet him eye to eye.
“Don’t say that! I didn’t marry you for money. You should know by now how much I love you.”
At her blunt declaration of love, Shen Yi’s heart was quick to swell with unvoiced happiness inside.
“Do I?” One fine eyebrow arched in his curiosity.
His wife sighed, knowing that he was just teasing her.
“Of course, who can keep up with a shameless and lusty man like you?” She huffed, which earned a low chuckle from her husband. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
“Many women will vie for my attention, and it doesn’t matter if I’m married or not. What if I’m a penniless man? What if I couldn’t provide everything, and we’re working together only to make it up for our daily needs? Will you still marry me?”
It was so easy for a woman to fall for a guy if he had good looks and money. Shen Yi wanted a woman who can see him beyond that. He needed to know that she would stay with him through thick and thin. He needed her assurance that she wouldn’t leave him at the first sign of his weakness.
“Would your heart still be the same?” Lu Xinyi’s eyes glimmered with love and affection for him to see.
“Would you be the same man I’ve fallen in love with? The man who cares about my feelings, who puts me on top of his other priorities, above everything else?” She giggled softly when he pulled her into his arms.
“Would you be the same man who works hard for that one thing he set his eyes on? Then I will still love you with everything I have, and you would still be my only one.” She then twisted the wedding ring on her finger. “I will marry you even if the rings weren’t adorned with diamonds or if it were just made of strings, as long as I know I have your heart, and you have mine.”
“Then I will take your word for it,” Shen Yi murmured in her ear before placing a kiss on her forehead. His heart was deeply at ease with her reassurance.
‘Let’s not forget what we come for,” she replied.
With a tug of her hand, she led Shen Yi to her mother’s grave. She gestured to a tomb where the old man was standing earlier. Shen Yi appreciated the simple intricate carving of his mother-in-law’s name on the headstone.
He took a curious look at the incense and flowers that were placed on each side with one memorial candle that Lu Xinyi placed in remembrance of her mother’s passing.
“Mom, I want you to meet someone,” Lu Xinyi reverently said as she struck the match to light the candle. “Do you see this handsome man? I was able to get his heart, and now he’s my husband.”
She smiled, her eyes a little watery. For the past years, she was alone whenever she pays a visit to her mother’s grave. Shen Yi then moved on the next tomb and did the same, placing a memorial candle and lighting it up.
“Dad, you were right. There’s no prince charming who will ask random women to put on a glass shoe until he finds Cinderella,” Lu Xinyi laughed, “but would you believe me if I tell you that it’s because, in reality, the prince charming bribed Cinderella to become his wife?”
Following the lead of his wife, Shen Yi paid respects to his in-laws with a bow.
“Thank you,” he whispered. “Thank you for watching over her.”
With so much strife and heartache that Lu Xinyi endured over the years, he was sure she couldn’t had gotten this far on her own. He couldn’t imagine how much regret they have, knowing that they were leaving Lu Xinyi alone in the world at such a young age.
“I’ll look after her. Rest assured that she will lead a happy life with me. You two can rest now,” Shen Yi promised in his heart while he wrapped an arm around Lu Xinyi’s shoulder as she leaned against him, watching the flame flicker a little.
