“Since it’s your hobby, why must you give it up?”

Yu Nian said, “It’s not that I want to give up, but… sometimes, between dreams and reality, one has to choose one.”

Fangzheng was even more puzzled. “You have already earned a lot of money. Isn’t that enough?”

Yu Nian took a deep breath and sucked to the end of the cigarette in his mouth. Then, he took out another cigarette and took another deep suck. After taking a deep breath, he exhaled a long puff of smoke, as if he had been holding it in for a long period of time. In a low voice, he said, “I told you that web novelists are not recognized by mainstream society. Therefore, when I met my girlfriend, I didn’t hold any hope. Having gone on so many blind dates, what hope could there be?

“Thankfully, I paid the down payment for a house in the county and fully paid for a small car that cost more than a hundred thousand yuan. I also had some money in my pocket, so I wasn’t as poor as before.

“My girlfriend reads novels too, so she’s quite interested in me writing novels. The more we talked, the more we found ourselves clicking.

“At first, I thought love was here, but I didn’t expect that when we started discussing our marriage, trouble started to brew.

“You can’t imagine the first time I met their parents. I didn’t even enter their house.”

Fangzheng was stunned. “Why?”

Yu Nian said with a bitter smile, “I was at her doorstep. I heard her father say, ‘What kind of bullsh*t writer? They are all rats in the sewers. Can any of their books sell overseas? Can any book be passed down the ages? He can earn money today, but who knows if he’ll starve to death tomorrow! Let me tell you, if you find someone like him, you might as well find a civil servant. It’s a solid rice bowl, and the benefits are great in every way. I’ll introduce one to you, you can go take a look tomorrow.”

Fangzheng was stunned.

Yu Nian said, “Sigh, do you understand now? After getting past the obstacle of not having a young partner, the parents are even harder. They don’t acknowledge my profession at all.

“The second time I visited, her father blocked me at the door and said eccentrically, ‘If you want to marry my daughter, buy a house first and put it under my daughter’s name.’

“I said that I already have a house. After we get married, it will be considered an after-marriage asset. It’s equivalent to each person getting half.

“However, her father did not agree and said directly, ‘If you don’t have a house, there’s nothing to talk about.’

“My girlfriend treats me really well…

“Besides, all of us web novelists are quite homely. We’re quite naive and don’t have too much stray thoughts. I just want to live peacefully and get married and have children with my girlfriend.

“Then I sold the house, borrowed some money, and bought another house.

“Then, I gave them 200,000 yuan in betrothal money.

“I fulfilled her father’s request and her father finally relented and allowed his daughter to marry me.”

Upon hearing that, Fangzheng sighed. He never expected marriage to be so troublesome. Fangzheng rubbed his chin and thought to himself, “If This Penniless Monk were to head down the mountain before, This Penniless Monk probably wouldn’t be able to get married in this lifetime. Sigh… This Penniless Monk is so poor and will probably be forever alone.”

Yu Nian continued, “I never imagined that my beautiful dream only lasted a while before a nightmare befell me.

“I borrowed some money to host a banquet and all my friends and family are coming…”

Speaking of this, Yu Nian fell into his memories. When he spoke, the expression on his face was incomparably complicated and pained.

Fangzheng had an idea as he activated A Golden Millet Dream and entered Yu Nian’s dream.

Amidst a lively din, Yu Nian was woken up by his parents. He quickly put on the new clothes, did up his hair, and greeted all his relatives. Then, he proceeded with the bridal convoy…

“Little Nian, nice. You’re finally getting married. When we’re done, come and pay a visit at my place!”

“Little Nian, you must drink more today, haha…”

“It’s such a good thing that the Yu family has a new member. Little Nian, remember to have two more children. It’s a blessing to have many children.”

“Brother Yu, I want a big red packet in a while.”

“Brother Yu, do you want candy?”

“Hehe, not bad. You are one step ahead of us brothers. Let’s set off quickly. Brothers, let’s go see the bride too.”

“That’s right! Everyone, let’s go fetch the bride!”

“GO! GO…”

…

Listening to the words of his friends and family, Yu Nian felt very pleased. He responded to them one by one, afraid that they would be neglected, but he was not good at handling such situations. Everything happened in a blur, and he did not know who to speak to or what to do…

The whole process was handled by the wedding planner and the relatives. He carried a red flower, held a wallet, listened to the rules, etc…

The estate was also bustling with noise and excitement due to the wedding celebrations. Many of the morning exercising crowd stopped their morning exercise and gathered around to celebrate the joyous occasion.

Yu Nian greeted everyone and left with the convoy amidst congratulations…

After leaving the estate, Yu Nian could still hear the shouts from behind her.

“Brother Yu, remember to bring Sister-in-law back!”

“Get it back!”

“Haha…”

…

After driving for about three hours, they finally arrived at the bride’s house.

However, compared to the liveliness of the Yu family, the female’s Fang family appeared to be particularly cold. There were not many people who came to receive the bridal convoy.

Upon seeing this scene, many people complained. However, no one dared to say it out loud on a joyous occasion.

Yu Nian also had an ominous feeling, but he still took a deep breath and mumbled. “They’ve taken the money, and the house has been bought. There shouldn’t be any problems, right?”

With that said, Yu Nian led his family and friends upstairs. When they reached the third floor, Yu Nian started knocking on the door.

However, there was nothing in the house.

“What happened? Why isn’t anyone replying?” asked Yu Nian’s uncle.

“Yu Nian, did you get the wrong door?” asked Yu Nian’s cousin.

Yu Nian shook his head and said, “That’s impossible. Look, there are wedding decorations on the door.”

“It’s here, no mistake about it. We went in yesterday to set up the decorations. The makeup artist is still inside. Wait a minute, I’ll ask the makeup artist what’s going on.” The wedding planner started to make a call, but no one picked up the call.

“Is the knocking not loud enough? Why don’t we stuff some red packets in?” someone suggested.

“Forget it, this door is locked tight. How are you going to stuff red packets into it? If you can really stuff it in, who would want a thin red packet?” Yu Nian’s friend said.

Yu Nian took out his phone and called his girlfriend. Her phone was switched off.

Just as everyone was at a loss, the door next door opened.

The person who came out was an old man. When the old man saw so many people, he was shocked. When he looked at everyone’s attire, he asked in surprise, “Are you here to fetch the bride?”

Yu Nian said, “Yes, I’m marrying Xiaoye. I came to fetch the bride today.”

The elderly man acknowledged and said, “Oh… Then why are you standing here? Hurry up and go in?”

“Sir, we’ve been knocking crazily on the door, but there’s no movement inside,” Yu Nian’s friend complained.