After My Flash Marriage with the Movie Queen - Chapter 88

Senior sister had already been gone for quite a while, yet Shi Nanbei still hadn’t snapped out of it. The more she thought about it, the more today’s encounter felt off. Normally, whenever Senior was with her, they would chat endlessly about anything and everything. But today? She barely said a few words before leaving in a hurry.

The longer she mulled it over, the stranger it felt. Finally, she couldn’t hold it in and turned to Wu Lili, who was sitting beside her.

“Don’t you think Senior sister was acting weird today?”

Wu Lili’s heart lurched. “……”

Has your brain finally started working? You’re only now realizing Senior sister was acting strange?

“How, how was she weird?” Wu Lili couldn’t tell how far along Shi Nanbei’s brain had opened up, so she could only play it vague.

If Shi Nanbei wasn’t thinking in that direction, wouldn’t she basically be confessing on the spot? That would cause trouble for Shi Nanbei, Zhao Xunyin, and Senior. Wu Lili was clear on that much.

Shi Nanbei thought seriously. “Just weird.”

But how exactly? She couldn’t say for now. Knowing that Shi Nanbei was an extremely simple-minded person—so simple that she rarely dwelled on anything long enough to lose sleep over it—Wu Lili was relieved. If Nanbei still hadn’t realized that Senior liked her, that was actually good news.

Cruel to Senior, yes. But with things already in this muddled state, letting it fade quietly was the cleanest ending. If one party remained unaware, that was the gentlest way to wrap it up.

Unfortunately, she had underestimated just how much attention Shi Nanbei paid to Senior.

Even after they arrived at the cafeteria, got their food, and sat down ready to eat, Shi Nanbei suddenly announced:

“I figured out what was strange about Senior today!”

Wu Lili, chewing lazily, didn’t even lift her eyes. “Oh? And what was strange about her?”

“She’s heartbroken.” Shi Nanbei said with utter seriousness.

Wu Lili choked so hard that her rice lodged halfway down her throat. “Cough! Cough! Cough.”

Nanbei figured out Senior liked her?

Shi Nanbei stared at her, puzzled. “Why are you reacting like that? Did I hit the mark?”

“N-no.” Wu Lili awkwardly grabbed a napkin to wipe her mouth. “Just wasn’t expecting you to suddenly say Senior was heartbroken. It surprised me.”

After thinking for a moment, she asked, “Speaking of which, Nanbei, do you think Senior is pretty?”

“Of course.” Shi Nanbei answered without hesitation.

“Who’s prettier? Zhao Xunyin or Senior?”

“You can’t compare them,” Shi Nanbei said. “They each have their own charm.” She frowned. “Why are you asking all this all of a sudden? Whether one is prettier than the other—does that even matter?”

“I’m just asking. For example—just for example.” Wu Lili began cautiously. “Did you marry Zhao Xunyin because she’s pretty?”

Although Shi Nanbei and Zhao Xunyin had been married awhile, it was still a flash marriage. As Nanbei’s friend, Wu Lili had always wanted to ask why she agreed to marry Zhao Xunyin after only meeting her once.

This might sound disloyal to her idol, but honestly, Wu Lili always thought someone like Senior—same age, gentle, mature, caring, both studying medicine, with endless shared topics—fit Nanbei far better.

Zhao Xunyin was wonderful, yes, but she was thirteen years older, worked in the entertainment industry, and came from a world far more complicated than Nanbei’s.

Nanbei was simple—truly simple. She liked simple things and lived simply. In their dorm, whenever they talked about future plans, Shi Nanbei always said she hoped to find someone who loved her and whom she loved, become a good doctor, and save more patients.

She was earnest, content, attentive to the small things in life.

Naively romantic, really. That was exactly the kind of person she was.

And Zhao Xunyin worked in the most complicated world possible. For two people with no emotional foundation to rush into marriage like that, Wu Lili honestly worried Nanbei had been momentarily dazzled by beauty.

And the frightening thing was, that kind of impulsive behavior was something Shi Nanbei would absolutely do.

She had wanted to ask long ago, but never found the chance.

Today felt like the perfect time.

“You really like your hypotheticals, huh,” Shi Nanbei gave Wu Lili a side-eye. But the question wasn’t difficult, so she answered honestly. “Maybe that was part of it. You know how it is—Zhao Xunyin is really beautiful. Her features, her skin, her figure. She fits my aesthetic perfectly.”

Wu Lili: “……”

Ma’am, you’re surprisingly straightforward.

Shouldn’t you at least pretend you fell for her inner qualities?

“But if it was someone else,” Shi Nanbei added, tilting her head, “someone I barely met saying they wanted to marry me, I definitely wouldn’t agree. I might consider dating if they looked good and seemed decent, but marriage? No way.

I’m not that dumb. I’m not just going to flash marry any random person.”

Wu Lili couldn’t help muttering, “Where do you get this confidence that you’re not actually dumb?”

“Hey!!!”

“Okay okay—my bad. Go on,” Wu Lili surrendered immediately.

Shi Nanbei huffed, then continued, “As for why I flash married Zhao Xunyin, I think it was because the first time I saw her, she felt so familiar. I liked her right away. My hands and feet didn’t know where to go.”

She clicked her tongue softly—half helpless, half indulgent.

“Thinking about it now, I guess it was love at first sight.”

Wu Lili had never imagined she would hear such an answer from Shi Nanbei. She truly hadn’t expected that Shi Nanbei had fallen for Zhao Xunyin at first sight—mostly because she had always believed Shi Nanbei was the type who was painfully slow when it came to matters of the heart.

“No way. You actually realized you fell for someone at first sight?” As her roommate, Wu Lili didn’t bother saving Shi Nanbei’s face. Ever since they’d met, everyone in the dorm had agreed that this girl was hopelessly emotionally obtuse.

Shi Nanbei looked puzzled. “Why wouldn’t I know? Even if I didn’t realize it right then, I could still feel that she was different to me.”

For a moment, Wu Lili actually felt like what she said made sense. “…”

In truth, Shi Nanbei was right. Someone like her—who had a single straight line for a brain, who always spoke her mind and acted on impulse—had no filter whatsoever. The moment she first saw Zhao Xunyin, her first thought was simply: Wow, she’s really beautiful.

And her second reaction? Noticing that something was off with her body when she looked at Zhao Xunyin.

Her heart raced. Her hands and feet didn’t know where to go. And especially when Zhao Xunyin said she wanted to marry her—that instant, her heartbeat was pounding like a drum. After consuming so much cheesy romance fiction and reading endless domineering-CEO stories on Jinjiang, even a fool like Shi Nanbei knew she felt something different for Zhao Xunyin. So, when Zhao Xunyin proposed marriage, she agreed on the spot.

“Okay, okay—stop right there.” Wu Lili cut her off, unable to keep listening. “Why do I get the feeling you’re treating the idea of marriage like it’s nothing? Don’t you feel any sense of sacredness about it?”

Shi Nanbei looked genuinely confused. “Why should marriage feel sacred?”

That question hit Wu Lili right in the soul. “?”

Why?

Wasn’t it obvious?

Most people—old or young—looked both shy and expectant when they talked about marriage, full of longing and passion, wishing for a lifelong happily-ever-after.

“Doesn’t that sound exhausting?” Shi Nanbei’s clarity was almost frightening; she didn’t sound like a twenty-one-year-old at all. “Being so cautious in a relationship, trying so hard to show your best self, wanting to give the other person everything good you have, treating your role in the relationship like some sacred mission—wouldn’t that be tiring?”

Wu Lili was stunned. “This, I, um?”

Shi Nanbei explained calmly, “I just think people should act according to what they genuinely feel. Maybe I’m pretty casual, but I really like Zhao Xunyin. So, when she asked me to marry her, I agreed. Whether she’s a film queen or whether she’s pretty—those aren’t the deciding factors.

“In this relationship, I like her, I love her, and I enjoy being with her and living with her. As long as she feels the same, we can keep going—one year, two years, three, five, even ten, twenty, it’s all possible.

“If one day she changes, or I change, then we end the relationship. No need for resentment, and no need to force some fifty- or sixty-year promise from the very beginning. It’s not like failing to grow old together would make us criminals against the country and the people.”

She concluded earnestly, “Marriage is just the form that best fits what we have right now. So, we got married.”

Shi Nanbei rarely spoke this much. Wu Lili was so tangled up by her logic that she felt dizzy. She didn’t understand it fully, but she sort of did. “I’m lost. Can you summarize it in simple terms?”

“A simple summary?” Shi Nanbei smiled lightly. “I like her, so I married her.”

Wu Lili: “…”

Well. That was simple enough.

She held it in, swallowed her words, and—on account of Senior Sister treating her to multiple meals back then—asked on the senior’s behalf, “Then what if that person had been Senior Sister instead? Don’t take it seriously, I’m just asking.

You two had a good relationship, right? She’s pretty, she’s gentle, she treats you well, and you share tons of common interests. If she had asked you to marry her back then, would you have agreed?”

Shi Nanbei rested her chin on her hand. “Your question is weird. Do I marry someone just because they’re pretty, nice to me, and fun to talk to?”

Wu Lili: “…”

Shut up, please.

“It’s just an analogy,” she muttered.

“Oh, an analogy.” Shi Nanbei actually thought seriously about it. “Senior Sister, well, she’s a friend. I’ve never thought about her that way.”

Wu Lili: “…”

You idiot. You saw her as a friend—she saw you as a future girlfriend!

After speaking, Shi Nanbei really did pause to imagine it. If Senior Sister had been the one to propose back then, what would she have done?

“I wouldn’t have agreed,” she answered.

Wu Lili froze. The answer was both within her expectations, and somehow still disappointing. “Huh? Why not?”

“I just don’t have that heart-fluttering feeling for her.” Shi Nanbei smacked her lips and spoke honestly. “But if she only confessed, I might’ve considered trying to date her. I do like her quite a bit. But marry her? Definitely not. I’m not the type who decides to marry someone just because they look good.”

Wu Lili: “…”

Well. It seemed Senior Sister’s feelings were doomed to end in silence from the very beginning.