Marriage at Thirty - Chapter 55

“I’m dying of laughter, hahaha. Just thinking about the look on their faces is satisfying!” Lian Fang laughed as she walked out of the restaurant entrance, unable to straighten up.

Lin Ran: “Was it really that funny?”

“It was mainly the satisfaction! Didn’t you see their shocked expressions? It was like a time bomb went off—the world hit the mute button and then exploded immediately. Everyone’s completely dumbfounded look was hilarious, hahahaha. And the class monitor’s jaw practically hit the floor! He wanted to pursue you? Pfft!”

Fu Linling’s eyebrows moved. She turned to Lin Ran. “Pursue you?”

“He wishes, but I’m already married.” Lin Ran held up their interlocked hands. “No one can compare to my wife.”

“The reunion was pretty boring until you showed up, Fu Linling. Then it got much more interesting. Brilliant, absolutely brilliant. They’re probably still discussing how you transformed into such a beauty and how you ended up marrying Lin Ran. Let them guess,” Lian Fang laughed.

Fu Linling thought about it and instantly understood those people.

If someone told her Lin Ran had married someone, she would also be incredibly curious.

Luckily, she was that someone.

After driving home, Lin Ran wasn’t tired. She stood by the window, feeling the breeze, looking at the dim street downstairs, and suggested, “Yuan-Yuan, let’s go for a walk.”

“Okay.” Fu Linling put down her book and went downstairs with her for a walk.

It was late. The entire street was very quiet, with only a few young people passing by occasionally.

“I’m never going to another reunion,” Lin Ran declared sulkily.

“Why?”

“Not a single one of them remembered you.”

Fu Linling smiled. “I don’t remember them either. I can’t recall who half of them were.”

“But you remembered Lian Fang! That time we met on the blind date, you remembered her as soon as I mentioned her.”

“Because she’s your good friend. You two were inseparable in high school.”

“So, she’s riding on my popularity?”

Fu Linling chuckled. “You could say that.”

Lin Ran laughed and stood on her tiptoes to kiss Fu Linling’s cheek.

“I didn’t originally plan to tell them who you were. I didn’t think they deserved to know. But when I saw you, I changed my mind.”

“Why?”

“The moment I saw you, I just felt so proud. I wanted to introduce Fu Linling as my wife to the whole world,” Lin Ran chuckled.

Fu Linling utterly adored her smile. She pulled her behind a tree, lowered her head, and kissed her, their breaths mingling.

After an unknown period, they heard footsteps. Lin Ran finally pushed her away and pulled her, running toward their home.

They arrived home, breathless. Grandma and their parents were already asleep. They tiptoed back to their room, closed the door, and pressed against each other.

“I’ll be very quiet,” Lin Ran whispered.

Under the faint light, they both tried to control their sounds but couldn’t control their bodies’ reactions.

Lin Ran tightly pressed her lips together, her eyes filled with tears. Just as she was about to let out a sound, Fu Linling lowered her head, captured her lips, and swallowed both their sounds.

For the last two days they were home, Xu Yanyan decided to move houses.

The new house was already renovated. Since Fu Linling was home, Xu Yanyan asked her to thoroughly sort out her old things—to throw out what should be thrown out and move what should be moved.

Lin Ran helped her sort, pulling out many clothes that hadn’t been worn. “How long has it been since you wore these? Why didn’t you throw them away?”

“I thought I’d wear them when I came back.”

“But you always brought nicer clothes back, so you never got to wear these.”

“That’s right,” Fu Linling laughed.

“These definitely need to be thrown out. They’re so much bigger. These must be your pre-weight loss clothes,” Lin Ran held one up against herself. Whoa, it was wide enough for two of her.

“Okay, throw them away.”

Lin Ran gathered two bags of old clothes and asked Xu Yanyan, “Mom, is there anyone who collects old clothes? If not, we’ll just throw them away.”

“Don’t throw them. Leave them here. There’s an old woman in the east of the city whose family has all passed away. It’s quite pitiful. Leave these for her. After we finish cleaning up, have Fu Shanqing take them over.”

“Okay.” Lin Ran went upstairs and suddenly received a call from Liang Qingbo.

“I brought you some local specialties. When are you coming back to Jincheng?” Qingzi asked.

“In two days.”

“Damn, these won’t last until the day after tomorrow. They’ll barely make it until tomorrow.”

“Then eat them yourself.”

“I can’t finish them.”

“Give them to a friend?”

“I gave them to everyone I could. The rest are like you, not back yet.”

Lin Ran thought for a moment. “Oh, right, Feng Ming seems to be on duty at the hospital. You can give them to her.”

“Fine, I’ll take them to her later.”

After hanging up, Lin Ran went to the room and told Fu Linling about the call.

“Feng Ming is really busy, working on duty during the New Year.”

“I was on duty a few years ago, too. It doesn’t matter much when you’re alone,” Fu Linling said.

“True.” Lin Ran smiled. “Once she starts a family, she’ll probably be switching shifts all the time like you.”

“Start a family?” Fu Linling paused. Not knowing when Feng Ming would start a family, she thought for a moment and suddenly asked, “Do you have any suitable friends you could introduce to Feng Ming?”

“What type of guy does she like?”

“…She likes women.”

“???” Lin Ran asked in disbelief, “She likes women?!”

“Mmm. You couldn’t tell, could you?” I couldn’t tell either.

Lin Ran was utterly shocked and immediately messaged Qingzi.

[Ran.]: Big news, big news! Feng Ming actually likes women!

[Qingzi]: …You are such a dummy.

[Ran.]: You knew?!

[Qingzi]: I’ve known for a while.

Qingzi arrived at the hospital, peeked into the examination room, found no one inside, and looked around cautiously for a moment.

“Who are you looking for?” a voice suddenly emerged from behind her.

“Looking for you.” She turned around and handed her the specialty items. “I brought too much. Lin Ran isn’t back yet, so you get the discount.”

“Thank you.” Feng Ming took them and smiled. “Why did you travel all this way to bring them? If you had told me, I could have come and picked them up myself.”

“That sounds great.” Liang Qingbo pulled out her phone. “On the condition that we have WeChat.”

The two had met several times but hadn’t even exchanged private WeChat accounts.

After adding her as a friend, Feng Ming put her phone away, only to hear Liang Qingbo say, “Give me your phone number too. If WeChat connection fails next time, I can call directly.”

“Okay.” Feng Ming recited her number.

“I’m leaving now.” Liang Qingbo put her hands in her pockets, ready to go.

“Wait a minute… are you free tonight? How about I treat you to dinner?” Feng Ming asked.

Liang Qingbo raised an eyebrow, turned, and smiled.

“I really couldn’t tell that Feng Ming was one of us…”

Lin Ran struggled to process the news. Seeing Fu Linling calmly busy herself, Lin Ran temporarily set aside her shock, looked at the cabinet full of books, and asked, “These books all have to be kept, right?”

“Mmm.” Fu Linling got out a box to pack the books.

The books here included more literary works that she had read during university. Lin Ran loved looking at the annotations inside.

However, these annotations were fewer than those in her professional books, so finding one would keep Lin Ran admiring it for a long time.

“Your handwriting was even uglier than it is now, hahaha.”

Fu Linling felt embarrassed. “It’s really too hard to write neatly.”

“But it’s quite cute.”

“You don’t have to force the compliments.”

“I’m not! It was genuinely adorable.”

Now Lin Ran found everything cute—the wide, baggy clothes were cute, the elementary school handwriting was cute, the old schoolbag was cute, the old photos were cute, and Fu Linling herself was even cuter!

Oh my goodness, why hadn’t she noticed earlier how adorable Fu Linling was even when she was heavy?

“So cute. I’m keeping this photo,” Lin Ran said.

Fu Linling glanced at it—an old photo from her chubby youth—and reached out to snatch it. “No.”

“Yes, I am.” Lin Ran hid the photo behind her back. Fu Linling wrapped both arms around her. Accidentally, she pushed Lin Ran to the floor. Lin Ran laughed, scrambled out of her hold, and used the pillow on the bed to shield her face.

“Why are they fighting now?” Fu Shanqing passed the door and said worriedly to Xu Yanyan.

Xu Yanyan could hear the two of them being rowdy through the door. “What do you know? Come here and pack clothes.”

The things being moved this time were mainly Grandma’s and Fu Linling’s. Grandma would find the new house easier to navigate, and Fu Linling and Lin Ran could stay there directly when they came back next time, giving the young couple more freedom and convenience.

In one afternoon, everything was moved. The next step was to organize and arrange the new house.

Fu Linling organized the bookshelf, and Lin Ran took charge of the wardrobe.

“Oh, this school uniform is still here,” Lin Ran said, pulling out a stray set from the bottom of a box.

Fu Linling glanced at it. It was her old high school uniform. It was no longer needed. “Throw it away,” she said.

“Don’t! Memories are flooding back! It has so much sentimental value.” Lin Ran put it on to try it. It looked like a child wearing an adult’s clothes.

“You try it on,” she handed the uniform to Fu Linling.

Fu Linling took off her jacket and put on the school jacket. It was very loose.

“It’s got that oversized look. It still looks good,” Lin Ran gazed at Fu Linling in the school uniform, momentarily stunned. For a moment, it was as if she had returned to high school.

“It’s still too big. You said that ill-fitting clothes should be thrown away,” Fu Linling went to take it off.

“Don’t throw it away! I like seeing you wear this. It’s so youthful!” Lin Ran stopped her. She seemed to have thought of something, and a spark flashed in her eyes. “Don’t take it off yet! I’m going out for a bit, but I’ll be right back!”

“Where are you going?”

“You’ll find out later!” Lin Ran said and rushed back.

About half an hour later, Lin Ran called.

“Why aren’t you at home?”

“We came back to the pharmacy area.”

“Okay, I’ll be right there.”

Fu Linling was cleaning the room when she heard someone shouting downstairs. “Fu Linling!”

Fu Linling walked to the window and looked down, seeing Lin Ran, also wearing a school uniform.

“Classmate Fu Linling, want to go out and play!” Lin Ran waved both arms.

Fu Linling gazed steadily at her, and after a moment, curved her lips. “Where are we going to play?”

“Wherever you want to go, that’s where we’ll go!”

Fu Linling ran downstairs. Lin Ran was already at the door and took her hand, running outside.

“Where did you get the clothes?”

“I had to go borrow them from Wang Zhe. Lian Fang had already thrown hers away.” Lin Ran tugged at the slightly short sleeves. “How is it? Does it work?”

“It looks good.” Fu Linling smiled. “You didn’t like wearing the school uniform when we were students, yet now you specially borrowed one to wear.”

“I didn’t appreciate it when I was young. I just wanted to be different. Now I realize the school uniform is the best-looking thing!” Lin Ran said.

The two walked down the street, attracting a lot of attention. Everyone assumed they were students. A few students from the Sixth High School even came up to ask for their contact information.

They walked all the way to the city center. Fu Linling asked, “Where are we going?”

“We’re almost there.” Lin Ran led her into a photo studio. “Boss, we want to take some pictures.”

The two, wearing school uniforms, took a series of youthful, vibrant photos.

Lin Ran picked the best one and asked the boss to print it in a large size.

“The same size as a wedding photo.”

“That big? Where are you going to put it? The classroom?” the boss asked, surprised.

“In our home, of course,” Lin Ran was beside herself with joy. She then found another photo on her phone. “Please print this one too, the same size.”

Fu Linling leaned over to look. It was the wedding photo Lin Ran had taken with her camera at home on their wedding day.

“We’ll hang the school uniform photo here at the Wucheng home, and the wedding photo we took will go back to Jincheng to be hung in our home. What do you think?” Lin Ran asked.

“Good.”

The boss was puzzled. “Did you two… graduate?”

“We graduated over ten years ago!” Lin Ran said.

“Oh my, you two look so young! I thought you were high school students! You scared me.” If he hadn’t been a professional, he would have called them out when the two were kissing during the photoshoot.

The two walked down the main street, carrying the large photo frames. Their heads turned even more.

“What kind of photo is that?” someone asked curiously.

“It’s our wedding photo,” Lin Ran smiled.

The passersby watched the two student-looking figures walk away, completely bewildered.

“Why aren’t we taking a taxi?” Fu Linling asked.

“Because I wanted to walk with you.” Lin Ran smiled at her. “Doesn’t Classmate Fu want to?”

“I do.” Fu Linling walked a few steps, then added sincerely, “I want to walk a lifetime with Classmate Lin Ran.”

Lin Ran smiled, raised her head, and gazed into Fu Linling’s gentle eyes. “Me too. Thank you, Mrs. Fu, for marrying me. I look forward to every new day now.”

“Me too,” Fu Linling smiled.

From the day I met you, I started looking forward to the future.

End of Main Story