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nAll the people there were focusing their eyes on Su Yicheng, while nobody knew when the lights in the banquet hall had dimmed. Finally, they saw the gentle candlelight and the sweet red roses.

nSu Yicheng stepped down from the rostrum and walked straight toward Luo Xiaoxi.

nThe people who were standing beside Luo Xiaoxi stepped back, forming a circle around her. The candlelight shone around them and the banquet hall was filled with the aroma of roses, which produced a romantic atmosphere.

nSu Yicheng stopped in front of Luo Xiaoxi. He stared at her with unparalleled sincerity and love. With the candlelight in his eyes, he looked tender and soft as water.

nHe raised his hands and gently wiped away the tears from Luo Xiaoxi’s face, saying, “Xiaoxi, thank you.”

nLuo Xiaoxi tried to say in a calm voice, “You say thank you… and then? If you are saying that you won’t love me and you want to thank me for annoying you in the past 10 years, for which you realized who you really love, I will pummel you.”

n“I want to thank you for your perseverance,” Su Yicheng said. “If you had given up, who’s proposing to you tonight might be another man. I would have regretted it.”

n“Proposing?”

nLuo Xiaoxi just realized that she was nearly inundated with the candlelight and the flowers. The rose petals all over the floor smelled pleasant as the candlelight shone; it was soft and sweet.

nPeople around them were all smiling brightly as if they had understood all of that.

nWhile she stood there blankly, Su Yicheng knelt on one knee, saying, “Xiaoxi, will you marry me?”

nHis words seemed to have come from deep within his heart, and they rammed heavily into Luo Xiaoxi’s ears.

nThose were the most pleasant words that Luo Xiaoxi had ever heard.

n“I see. The most beautiful words are those from my beloved,” she thought.

n“Xiaoxi, I love you,” Su Yicheng said with extremely deep love, “though I realized who I really love after 10 years. Fortunately, you didn’t give up. So—marry me before it’s too late. I want to be with you forever.”

nHe opened a jewelry box, inside which was a perfectly-cut diamond ring.

nLuo Xiaoxi touched the ring, saying, “Have you realized that you need me instead of a brilliant and capable woman?”

n“I don’t need you,” Su Yicheng said, “I want you now, and I want you for the rest of our lives.”

nThe word “want” meant much more than the word “need”, which made the crowd begin to hum with excitement.

nLuo Xiaoxi turned her lips into a smile, not hiding her happiness at all.

nShe took the ring out of the black velvet box and handed it to Su Yicheng. She said, “Yes, I will.”

nAt that moment, Su Yicheng was probably the most excited he had ever been in his whole life.

nHis heart was beating fast with overwhelming joy and his hands began to tremble. But it didn’t matter because he could still place the ring on Luo Xiaoxi’s finger.

nThere is a saying that goes “A man’s fingers are linked with his heart”. He thought, “Her finger has been ringed by a hard diamond, and so has her heart. That way, she will never leave me all her life.”

nA great cheer rose up from the crowd. Luo Xiaoxi smiled with her lips pressed together and she said, “Now we should kiss each other.”

nAs soon as her voice died down, Su Yicheng held her with his arms around her waist, lowered his head, and kissed her lips.

nWith the camera lights flashing wildly, the reporters from the main magazines and newspapers called their headquarters. “Big hit! Su Yicheng proposed to Luo Xiaoxi at the anniversary. Now remove all the previous reports about them! I’m sending the photos to you, report it at once! The engagement diamond ring and Luo Xiaoxi’s dress have long stories, I’ll dig them up!”

nThe reporters were in chaos, while Su Yicheng and Luo Xiaoxi could hardly tear themselves away from each other’s kiss.

nIt seemed that only by kissing heartily like that could they make sure what had just happened was real. And only by kissing in that way could they calm themselves down.

n“It’s been two minutes!” The extremely excited and gossipy crowd checked the time and yelled, “Hold on and kiss for nine minutes, then your love will last long!”

nIf kissing for nine minutes, the two would be out of breath.

nWhen they kissed for three minutes, Su Yicheng released Luo Xiaoxi, gently staring at her, with his arms still held tightly around her waist.

nHe said in a firm and thrilled voice, “They all witnessed that you agreed to marry me. From now on, you are mine.”

nLuo Xiaoxi sniffed. “I say that you are mine!”

nInstead of arguing with her over that, Su Yicheng gave Luo Xiaoxi a deep kiss and said in a soft voice, “No one will shout insults at you anymore.”

nLuo Xiaoxi was temporarily at a loss. She asked, “Is that why you chose to propose tonight?”

n“Not exactly,” Su Yicheng said. “All of your friends were aware of it when you were wooing me. If I want you to marry me, why shouldn’t I shock the entire city?”

nHe would repay Luo Xiaoxi double the love for what she had done.

nLuo Xiaoxi giggled happily with sweetness in her whole heart.

nAt that moment, Su Yicheng realized that the usually arrogant and aggressive Luo Xiaoxi would easily be pleased.

nOnce he heartily loved and cared for her, she would feel like she owned the whole world.

nSu Yicheng suddenly thought that he was lucky to be loved by Luo Xiaoxi. Otherwise, she would have suffered a lot if she had loved someone who would only take advantage of her.

nThe lights in the banquet hall were turned on again as the emcee returned to the rostrum. He started with “Wow,” and added, “the proposal just now was a real surprise and romance.” Then he motioned for the sound designer to turn on the music, and a beautiful waltz came on.

nMaybe having been affected by Su Yicheng, the gentlemen there began to ask their female companions to dance. Different couples with happy faces were dancing pleasantly, while Luo Xiaoxi took Su Yicheng to the dance floor. They were without a doubt the most striking pair, with the camera constantly shooting at them.

nSu Jianan could not dance, so she stood aside with Lu Boyan, asking, “The other day my brother called you out. So did you two talk about the plan for tonight?” When Xiao Yunyun suddenly ran to her and told her that the banquet hall had been decorated different from normal ones, she instantly knew that it was in Su Yicheng’s plan. What’s more, she guessed it when thinking of Lu Boyan’s mysterious manner of speaking.

n“He asked me to help him find a custom-made ring,” Lu Boyan said, “and to not tell you about it. He worried that you would leak out his plan since Xiaoxi knows you well. He didn’t want her to know in advance.”

nSu Jianan smiled and said, “Have you heard that—life is too wonderful for words?”

nLu Boyan raised his eyebrow in bewilderment.

nSu Jianan continued saying, “Around this time last year, I agreed to marry you. But never had I imagined how happy I would be, while Xiaoxi was trying to ruin my brother’s relationship with his girlfriend at the time.”

nAt that time, both Luo Xiaoxi and she thought that happiness was beyond reach.

nHowever, they didn’t realize that they had been close to happiness.

nAccording to what Su Jianan said, life was indeed too wonderful for words.

nLu Boyan circled her waist with his arm, asking her, “Are you feeling tired? How about leaving now?”

nSu Jianan nodded as the waltz ended then waved her hand to Luo Xiaoxi. Followed by Su Yicheng, who was helpless and patient, Luo Xiaoxi happily ran to her.

nSu Jianan joked, “Xiaoxi, should I call you my sister-in-law now?”

nLuo Xiaoxi shook her head as if it was a rattle-drum, saying, “Calling me that once is enough. I want you to treat me like you normally do.”

nThey had known each other for 10 years and they had been calling each other by their first names. If Su Jianan would call her by a new name now, it might take her about eight or 10 years to get used to it.

nSu Jianan was just kidding. She hugged Luo Xiaoxi and said, “I’m leaving now.”

n“Hmm.” Luo Xiaoxi knew that Su Jianan got drowsy easily during pregnancy, so she just said, “I’ll go to see you as soon as I’m free.”

nSu Yicheng and Lu Boyan were speechless. Two men could understand each other with just one look.

nLu Boyan took Su Jianan out of the banquet hall and helped her put her coat on. When they were about to leave, they ran into Shen Yuechuan, who had just returned.

nSu Jianan came up with an idea and said, “Yuechuan, could you please drive Yunyun home after the reception?”

n“OK. I promise you.” Shen Yuechuan glanced into the banquet hall with a meaningful look on his face, saying, “But she may not need me.”

nSu Jianan looked in the direction that Shen Yuechuan had glanced, and she saw Xiao Yunyun chatting joyfully with a young stranger. When she was wondering who the stranger could be, Shen Yuechuan suddenly said, “It’s Qin Wei’s cousin, the same as Qin Wei when he wasn’t married.”

nShen Yuechuan’s words were full of disdain. Su Jianan smiled and said, “I want you to look after Yunyun and take her home. If she leaves here with another man, tomorrow I’ll hold you responsible.”

n“Do you… mean it?” Shen Yuechuan thought he should never interfere when a man was trying to woo a lady. He looked at Lu Boyan with pleading eyes, but Lu Boyan just ignored that.

nObviously, Lu Boyan would agree with whatever Su Jianan said, so it was no use to ask him for help.

nSu Jianan left with Lu Boyan. After getting in the car, she asked, “Did I frighten him?”

nLu Boyan smiled as if nothing had happened. He said, “He isn’t so timid as to be frightened by that.”

nWhen Shen Yuechuan was 15 years old, the orphanage he had been lived in failed to collect donations and was stuck with a shortage of funds. It was he, as well as several guys, that had taken businesses from the street bastards and earned 40,000 US dollars in a month. In the end, the orphanage survived its financial difficulties.

nAfter that, he was chased and surrounded by more than 20 guys. They blocked him into an alley and put a gun against his head, but he wasn’t scared.

nSo it wouldn’t be that easy to frighten Shen Yuechuan.

n“In fact, there’s no need for me to speak to him that way,” Su Jianan said. “I think he won’t let it happen that Yunyun leaves here together with Qin Wei’s cousin.”

n“Why do you think so?” Lu Boyan looked at Su Jianan with interest and said, “From what I know of him, he will never ruin others’ romance.”

n“I had an intuition,” Su Jianan said affirmatively, “that he won’t look on and do nothing if Yunyun leaves with the guy.”

nLu Boyan raised his eyebrow, saying, “Do you mean that Yuechuan likes Yunyun?”

n“Not exactly, but he will protect her. As time goes by, he may fall in love with her.”

nLu Boyan leisurely looked at Su Jianan, asking, “How do you know that?”

nSu Jianan pointed at her eyes and said, “By observing.”

n“Really?” Lu Boyan said with a faint smile on his face, “Then why didn’t you figure out that I liked you?”

n“Uh…” Su Jianan thought for a while then said, “because I was too close to you.” Then she added, “You can also say that I didn’t have confidence in myself.”

nLu Boyan became silent for a while. Then he held Su Jianan in his arms, saying, “You should be more confident in the future. I love you.”

nSu Jianan looked up into Lu Boyan’s gentle eyes, smiled, and kissed his lips.

nShe would always remember this night.

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