Chapter 8: Qinghuan, Let's Get Married!

Page 1/3

In the room, Jiang Chengxu saw Xu Manman clutching her head, tears streaming down in pain. The irritation in his heart was instantly replaced by worry. He hurriedly removed her hand and saw blood seeping through the gauze.

(No wonder it hurt so much.)

"What's wrong with you? Don't you know you can't touch the wound? Do you even want to get better? Didn't the doctor say it’s easy to scar?" Jiang Chengxu felt a surge of unexplained anger flare up.

Could she not be a bit more like Qinghuan, behave herself, and cause fewer problems?

Xu Manman’s heart brimmed with joy. She knew he wouldn’t abandon her, just like in their previous life. The more trouble she caused, the worse life became, yet he was all the more unable to let her go.

"Chengxu, if I get scars, will I look ugly?" Xu Manman asked pitifully.

Jiang Chengxu looked away. "No... You won’t get scars! Let me rebandage it for you."

"Okay, thank you, Chengxu. But won’t it delay you?" Xu Manman held his wrist. "Chengxu, what are you planning to say to Sister? Could you tell her not to misunderstand us? I’m afraid it might affect your relationship."

Jiang Chengxu still remembered the promise he had made to Xu Qinghuan. But this time, it wasn’t that he and Xu Manman had gone out alone — Qinghuan was there and had seen Xu Manman’s injury. Qinghuan was a little petty but only because she cared about him deeply.

As long as he explained clearly, Qinghuan shouldn’t mind. If she, like last time, couldn’t understand and argued with him, he would only reason with her and teach her how to be a virtuous wife and good mother.

Jiang Chengxu didn’t intend to say these words to Xu Manman. He peeled away the gauze and saw blood seeping from the wound. It must have been accidentally bumped. He applied some ointment and rewrapped it carefully.

"I won’t let her misunderstand. I’ll explain everything clearly," Jiang Chengxu said as he stood up.

Xu Manman smiled politely and teased him gently, "Go quickly, don’t keep my sister waiting too long. Be careful she doesn’t get mad at you again—her temper isn’t as good as mine."

Half an hour passed, and Xu Qinghuan showed no impatience, nor did she have any particular feelings toward Jiang Chengxu. As a character within the story, whether he couldn’t or wouldn’t break free from the plot, it was understandable.

"Qinghuan!"

Xu Qinghuan turned around and nodded upon seeing Jiang Chengxu. "Say what you want."

"Qinghuan, let’s get married!" Jiang Chengxu said nervously, looking at her with eyes full of hope.

Page 2/3

Reborn, this was his obsession. In their past life, divorcing Qinghuan was a lifelong pain he could never let go.

Xu Qinghuan stepped back two paces, her back against the edge of the ping-pong table, smiling. "Marry?"

"Yes, Qinghuan. Let’s get married. We’ll hold the wedding first, and when we’re old enough, we’ll register it officially." Jiang Chengxu took two steps forward, his dark eyes burning with a fierce flame.

Xu Qinghuan turned her face away. "Jiang Chengxu, this marriage contract was arranged by my mother and your grandmother without my consent. I originally didn’t want to go to the countryside and intended to accept my fate. But now I’ve realized I don’t want to sacrifice my freedom and dignity just to avoid going to the countryside. So, I have no intention of fulfilling this marriage."

She was not one to hesitate; once she made a decision, she never intended to string anyone along.

Jiang Chengxu was shocked but recalled that in the previous life, Xu Qinghuan had strong objections to her mother. Back then, he advised her that no parents were perfect, and now he understood better.

"Qinghuan, if we don’t talk about who arranged this marriage and just talk about me as a person, would you want to marry me?" Jiang Chengxu asked sincerely.

Xu Qinghuan shook her head. "No."

She looked up and saw Xu Manman’s silhouette through the stairwell window, a slight smile curling her lips. "Jiang Chengxu, marriage is no trivial matter. I hope you think carefully before deciding."

Jiang Chengxu’s face darkened. He hated himself for not waking up sooner. If he had, he would have found her before the Jiang family in Yan City did and had his mother arrange this marriage for him.

In the past life, he never understood why she insisted on divorcing him, refusing to give him a chance. He had never intended to marry Xu Manman; he only wanted a child with both Jiang and Xu family bloodlines to support her in the future.

Now he understood that her dissatisfaction with this marriage was born of misplaced resentment.

Xu Manman trembled all over when she heard this, biting her lip. She hadn’t expected Chengxu to discuss marriage with Xu Qinghuan so soon.

Were they going to marry that quickly?

When Xu Qinghuan was about to go upstairs, Xu Manman hurried back, running up the stairs quickly and lying back down on the bed before Xu Qinghuan could enter.

No, she couldn’t just wait passively. If Chengxu had no feelings for her, that would be one thing. But since he did not reject her, why should she give up such a good opportunity?

Such a good man, from such a good family. The Jiang family still held a position in Yan City—something she had only recently learned after pestering him for half a year.

When Xu Qinghuan returned, Xu Manman asked, "Are you going to marry Chengxu?"

Page 3/3

Xu Qinghuan glanced at her. "I have no intention of marrying him. As for whether he will marry you, that’s none of my business. Don’t ask me."

Her current goals were only twofold: to cancel the engagement and to go to the countryside.

Once she sold her work tomorrow, she would have money to prepare some supplies, then she would sign up and break off the marriage before leaving.

Wang Mingxia came back and said she had arranged to meet with Jiang’s mother the next day. That night, she discussed with Xu Liqun how to approach Jiang’s mother.

In truth, Wang Mingxia didn’t need to worry about how to bring it up. As soon as Jiang’s mother returned home and saw her son looking listless, she learned that he wanted to marry, but Xu Qinghuan had refused.

This engagement had been arranged between the Jiang family in Yan City and Song Wanlin, and only Jiang’s father had been informed. Jiang’s father was always filial and relied on the Jiang family’s standing. Since the son and Xu Qinghuan had been classmates since childhood, he didn’t oppose it.

But Jiang’s mother was furious. She felt that after raising her son, she should have been consulted about such a major marriage matter. How could they bypass her as a mother and finalize it behind her back?

She had resolved that once Xu Qinghuan married in, she would make life hard for her daughter-in-law.

Originally, she disliked Xu Qinghuan. Now, hearing that her son’s proposal was rejected, she was filled with even more resentment. An orphan living under others’ roofs who had overreached to join the Jiang family, and now she was manipulating her son?

The next day, Jiang’s mother met with Wang Mingxia and directly said, "I heard your niece doesn’t want to marry. Could it be she has objections to this marriage?"

Although Wang Mingxia wanted to ruin the engagement, she dared not offend the Jiang family. "No, she doesn’t have any objections. Qinghuan is just a young girl; what objections could she have?"

"We want to arrange the marriage soon. What are your thoughts? If you have none, you can tell us your demands for the betrothal gifts and so forth."

Jiang’s mother crossed one leg over the other and looked elsewhere. "But let me say this upfront: I know you’re her uncle and aunt, not her biological parents. There’s no obligation of birth, only of nurture.

However, this has little to do with our family. We won’t indulge any unreasonable demands for betrothal gifts."

She never intended for them to marry and never planned to give even a penny in betrothal gifts.