After a Flash Marriage with a Professor - Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Passing By

Yan Mingshu held her phone, and after spending half an hour building up her courage, she finally decided to find an alternative path for her life—a life almost entirely decided by her family. This new path might not be much better than marrying Mr. Huang, or she might not find one at all, but she had to try.

Right after she graduated, her parents had tried to rush her into blind dates, but her social anxiety made her firmly refuse. She used the excuse that she needed her first year to focus on her career, and since her parents were also hoping she would start earning money for the family, they didn’t push too hard.

Yan Mingshu clicked on the link sent by “True Love Online” and found the address for the local branch. She decided to go.

The moment she committed to the idea, her heart was thumping nervously. A person with social anxiety is most afraid of facing strangers, and she had to talk to someone with the specific goal of getting one million yuan. Just thinking about it made her scalp and nerves tense up. She wished she could just die on the spot, because only in death would she be free from her problems.

But she couldn’t die. Her family needed her.

After another ten minutes of agonizing, Yan Mingshu turned on the light in her room. She had just skimmed the rules on the website and learned that if she was identified as a premium client, she could be quickly matched with high-quality potential partners. She decided to get ready.

Yan Mingshu looked at herself in the mirror and sighed.

The overly beautiful face in the mirror was probably her only advantage, but her beauty was not the kind that was popular on the marriage market.

Gentle, graceful beauty or a delicate, demure look were what people liked. Her glamorous looks only made people feel threatened. She knew all too well that she had a face that looked like it belonged to a troublemaker. Otherwise, a middle school teacher wouldn’t have publicly called her a “fox spirit” and a “femme fatale” for causing male classmates to fight over her. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been blamed multiple times by her coworkers and their wives. Otherwise, male bosses wouldn’t have dared to make advances, confident that she would meekly accept their golden cage.

Yan Mingshu didn’t know what to do. She had suffered so much because of this face. Should she even bother to get dressed up?

Even if she did, she wasn’t very good at makeup. At her first job, the company explicitly required employees to wear light makeup. Yan Mingshu, who had never deliberately practiced, was clumsy and did a terrible job. Her coworkers, thinking she was barefaced, openly laughed at her. When she told Jiang Lingyu about it, her friend said, “Mingshu, you don’t need makeup at all. You’re naturally beautiful and look like you’re already wearing makeup.” Jiang Lingyu even reached out and gently squeezed her cheek, praising her earnestly. “Thick eyelashes, fair skin, rosy lips… if you don’t say anything, no one will ever know you’re not wearing makeup.”

The next day, she went without makeup. Her coworkers still thought she had some on. Even when she lost her ID and went to get her photo retaken, the staff member sternly told her to remove her makeup on the spot.

She decided against wearing makeup. It would only make her look worse, and she was going to find a high-quality partner.

Yan Mingshu washed her face, put on some simple moisturizer, and took out a red dress from the bottom of her cabinet. It was a graduation gift from Jiang Lingyu last year that she had never worn. After her brother was born, her parents had stopped buying her clothes in bright colors, and she rarely got new clothes at all. She mostly wore hand-me-downs they got from other people. She hadn’t thought much of it at the time, but after that middle school incident, she became convinced that her parents were doing it to protect her, to keep her from standing out and getting into trouble.

When she had folded the dress and put it away, she had tucked a sachet of orchid fragrance inside. She sniffed the dress; it didn’t smell musty from being stored away. Instead, it was evenly scented with a light orchid fragrance. She put it on and looked at herself in the mirror. She was still looking down. The red dress made her skin look even paler, and with her lips pressed together, she looked like a timid rose unwilling to bloom.

She looked away and then simply ran a hand through her hair.

Her hair was naturally wavy, dark and lustrous, with a healthy texture that was obvious at a glance. When she walked down the street with her head down or sat stiffly in a subway car, people would often approach her and ask what hair products she used. Yan Mingshu, with her social anxiety, would quietly answer them while secretly wishing she had a head of frizzy, dull hair instead.

She could cut it off, even shave it completely bald, but that would require her to muster the courage to walk into a hair salon. The hairdresser would ask her what style she wanted, what length, and other similar questions. When Jiang Lingyu had gone to get her hair permed and dyed, it had taken four hours, and the hairdresser had chatted with her the whole time, which Jiang Lingyu found amusing.

Yan Mingshu just shook her head. Her mother had cut her hair when she was a child, and after that, she cut it herself. Snipping it with a pair of scissors always gave her a pang of regret. She was also worried that her lack of skill would result in a strange haircut that would draw attention, but compared to the four hours of awkwardness with a stranger, it was nothing.

After finishing with her hair, Yan Mingshu looked at herself in the mirror again. Perhaps because it had been so long since she wore red, she felt like she looked strange. The more she looked, the more she knew why.

The dress was beautiful, but the neckline was too low, revealing the curve of her chest. Even though there was no one else in the room, she instinctively held a hand over her chest.

Should she change?

But she didn’t have any other clothes suitable for a matchmaking assessment.

After fretting for a while, she remembered the black blazer Mia had given her that day.

She put on the slightly oversized black blazer, and it instantly made things better. She was no longer exposed.

She managed a small smile, with the corners of her lips turning up slightly, but her eyes still looked nervous and unsettled.

She was actually going to be proactive and seek a partner.

Being proactive was better than being passive.

Yan Mingshu gave herself a pep talk. She had to try. What if true love really did fall from the sky?

Yan Mingshu grabbed her small black work bag—an obscure brand that she had bought for about 200 yuan while shopping with Jiang Lingyu. She remembered how she had kept her head down the entire time, staring at her toes, and how Jiang Lingyu had stopped her from buying the bag and told her to look at more options. She couldn’t help but smile, her shoulders shaking with laughter that soon turned into trembling.

“Don’t be afraid, Yan Mingshu. What could be worse than marrying Mr. Huang?” She crossed her arms and tightly held herself, and her body finally stopped shaking.

Any path that was better than marrying Mr. Huang was a viable path.

After giving herself a final push, Yan Mingshu prepared to leave. Before she went out, she went to check on the brown paper bag Mia had given her. She wanted to take the money out and give it to her mother first.

But when she opened it, the money was gone.

Yan Mingshu, with her bag on her shoulder, opened her bedroom door. In the living room, her mother was watching a matchmaking TV show, a sunflower seed in her mouth. She was so engrossed in the show that she forgot to crack it.

“Mom,” Yan Mingshu called softly.

Qin Shu looked over, cracked the sunflower seed, and then smiled at her. “Mingshu, you’re up so soon?”

“Yeah,” Yan Mingshu’s voice came out as a whisper. She quickly poured herself a glass of water to soothe her throat, which was still in a lot of pain. She endured the pain and repeated herself.

“The food is in the fridge, you can heat it up yourself. Mr. Huang said he’ll take you to pick out a ring when he has time. I’ll call him now to tell him you’re awake.” Qin Shu reached for her phone, ready to call Mr. Huang.

Yan Mingshu shrieked in fright. “Mom, I still have to go to work!”

Qin Shu frowned and put down her phone. “Quit your job, Mingshu. Mr. Huang will take care of you. What’s the point of working? Look, you’re sick already.”

Yan Mingshu didn’t agree.

She took another sip of warm water and asked, “Mom, the money in my paper bag…”

“The money? I took it. I’ll hold onto it for you. You’re about to get married, the family has to prepare a little dowry for you.”

Yan Mingshu’s throat felt even more painful, and her alluring, almond-shaped eyes filled with tears of injustice. Qin Shu was oblivious to her daughter’s emotions and had already turned her head back to watch the show. Yan Mingshu blinked, forcing the tears back, and quietly left the house.

The wind was still strong outside, but the sky was no longer gloomy. The sun had reappeared, and the taxi she had hailed hadn’t arrived yet.

The wind billowed her skirt, and the hem of the red dress fluttered like a butterfly about to take flight. Worried that the wind would expose her, Yan Mingshu held the skirt’s edge tightly with her fingers as she stood by the side of the road, waiting for the car.

Three minutes later, she got into the taxi. The air conditioning was on, and it was a little cold. She wrapped Mia’s black blazer tightly around herself, still trying to comfort herself. Perhaps in her parents’ eyes, marrying Mr. Huang really was a good choice. Maybe their views were just different, and it didn’t mean they didn’t love her.

Yes, no parent doesn’t love their child. Yan Mingshu repeated this belief to herself once more.

“We’re here, beautiful,” the driver said from the front. He turned around, and his mouth fell open, his eyes lingering on Yan Mingshu. Yan Mingshu felt uncomfortable and tugged on the red dress that was a little short on her. She opened the car door, got out, and quietly muttered a thank you.

The “True Love Online” branch was located right on the street, in a bustling area of H City. As soon as Yan Mingshu got out of the car, she saw a large red heart-shaped balloon decoration. Two costumed bears were awkwardly wobbling as they handed out flyers to passersby.

Yan Mingshu kept her head down, raised her hand to her throat, and cleared it. Only after she was sure she could speak did she continue walking. The two bears handed her a flyer, which she took before walking through the automatic glass door.

Someone immediately came up to greet her, a gentle and friendly woman in a white suit and skirt with a light pink flower pinned to her lapel.

Yan Mingshu kept her head down and only saw the woman’s gesture for her to sit in the waiting area, missing the look of disdain that flashed across the woman’s face when she saw the scratches on Yan Mingshu’s face and her quick judgment.

“Hello, are you here for the free matchmaking assessment?”

Yan Mingshu nodded, her hands hidden in the sleeves of the blazer, clenched into tight fists.

“Alright. Please fill out this form first.”

Yan Mingshu began filling out a very detailed form, from her name and age to her hopes and requirements for a future partner. When she wrote that she needed a million-yuan bride price, Yan Mingshu’s face felt hot. The small wound from the woman’s diamond ring on her cheek felt like it was splitting open again. She reached up and lightly touched it.

After she finished filling out the form, she handed it to the woman. The woman asked if she had any other questions. If not, she could go home and wait for news.

Yan Mingshu looked up and asked with some hesitation, “Can you help me get a match as soon as possible? I’m… in a hurry.”

The woman looked her up and down, and her tone became more complex as she asked, “What’s the reason for the rush?”

Yan Mingshu hesitated for a few seconds before revealing the truth. She couldn’t hide something like this; even if she succeeded, it would be a marriage fraud, and she would never do that, no matter how desperate she was.

The woman’s face became solemn. She made a special note in the blank section of the form and a simple note: Dad gambles, one younger brother.

Having no reason to stay, Yan Mingshu got up to leave. The woman, remembering something, called out to her, her gaze shifting from disdain to something akin to pity.

Yan Mingshu turned back, waiting for the woman to continue.

“Ms. Yan, we can arrange a blind date for you as soon as tomorrow. For the date, it would be best if you wore a light-colored dress and didn’t wear heavy makeup.”

“Okay, thank you.”

“And, wipe your sweat.” The woman handed her a few tissues. Yan Mingshu thanked her again and wiped the sweat from her face.

Finally, it was over. Yan Mingshu turned around and walked out with her head down. No one knew that under the blazer, a thin layer of sweat had soaked her front and back.

As she was leaving, she bumped into someone. Yan Mingshu quietly said, “I’m sorry,” without looking up.

“It’s okay,” Shen Junlan said. She caught a whiff of a faint orchid scent and instinctively looked to the side. The girl she had bumped into was like a startled deer, her lowered profile looking vaguely familiar.

Yan Mingshu didn’t listen carefully to the other person’s voice. All she wanted was to get out of there. When she heard the person say, “It’s okay,” she felt a sense of relief and hurried out.

Shen Junlan, however, didn’t move. She was lost in thought, the faint orchid fragrance still lingering in the air. A small smile appeared on her gentle face as she realized something.

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