San Andrés Island opened a new chapter in their lives.
The engagement ring had been in preparation for several months, sent to the jeweler for setting and design. Chen Yi only retrieved it before the vacation to propose on the island.
Such a large emerald was certainly not cheap. When Miao Jing asked where the money came from, Chen Yi didn’t fully explain – some from work income, some from pool tables and casinos. Miao Jing twisted the ring on her finger; clearly, this ring couldn’t be worn out in Bogotá and would have to remain in the safe as a collectible.
Back in Bogotá, they visited a jewelry store and bought two unique wedding bands, placing them on each other’s ring fingers, then went to the embassy to get their marriage certificate – becoming legal husband and wife.
The emotions weren’t necessarily intense, but the experience was novel. When the staff congratulated “the Chinese bride and groom” and asked “husband and wife” to take a photo together, both were momentarily speechless.
They really couldn’t bring themselves to call each other “husband” or “wife.”
After getting certified, Chen Yi casually posted the red marriage book and wedding ring photos on his social media, without revealing the bride’s photo or name, adding just two words: “Married.”
Those few lines during the proposal were all he could squeeze out of his brain – he really couldn’t think of anything more sentimental to write.
Half an hour later when he picked up his phone, there was a long string of comments and likes –
“Holy shit!?”
“Congratulations?!”
“Who’s the mystery sister-in-law?”
Bo Zai, knowing the truth, replied: “It’s Miao Jing.” Thinking better of it, he quickly deleted the reply thirty seconds later.
After the pool hall fire, Chen Yi suddenly went abroad. The external explanation was heavy losses and going abroad to make money. Only Bo Zai and Officer Zhou knew that Miao Jing had taken him away – their relationship was unusual, and abroad they were openly together as a couple.
That reply was seen by others and spread quickly, causing huge waves in Chen Yi’s former circle.
Miao Jing?
When did this happen? Why would things turn out this way? Didn’t Brother Yi used to be cold toward Miao Jing, their relationship quite distant?
Was Brother Yi’s breakup with Sister Lily related to Miao Jing??? Did Sister Lily confront Miao Jing? What’s going on?
Hadn’t Sister Lily met Miao Jing back then? Did he date Miao Jing for a while?
Right, there’s been no news of Sister Lily for a long time – did she leave Teng City after Brother Yi went abroad?
What????!!!!
Brother Yi dated Miao Jing before? Was she his first love? Did they break up when Miao Jing went to university? Is this real?!!
No wonder Brother Yi treated Miao Jing that way before!
She was the daughter his father’s woman brought along, with no blood relation – why couldn’t they date? They did live together all those years.
My Brother Yi is wild! So impressive, ended up turning his sister into his wife.
Miao Jing glimpsed the pile of unread messages on Chen Yi’s phone, saved his photo, and posted it on her social media.
She received many congratulations. After going abroad, she still kept in touch with some friends and colleagues from home. Chen Ye and Lu Zhengsi congratulated her on fulfilling her wish, generously sending over wedding money which Miao Jing didn’t accept.
Miao Jing also informed Wei Mingzhen about the marriage. Wei Mingzhen was completely unaware and was utterly shocked on the phone – she didn’t like Chen Yi, remembering his troublemaking ways as a child, thinking he wasn’t worthy of Miao Jing.
Miao Jing said directly on the phone: “Mom, at home it was just the two of us. I’ve been with him since high school and slept with him before university. You have no right to look down on our relationship.”
Wei Mingzhen truly regretted the past.
If she had known it would turn out like this, coming full circle to become family again, with her becoming Chen Yi’s mother-in-law – why did she need to run away with that money back then, leading to the current situation?
But then again, if Wei Mingzhen had kept Miao Jing with her, whether they stayed in Teng City or not, Miao Jing and Chen Yi might not have reached today’s conclusion.
Chen Yi took Miao Jing’s phone and spoke quite pleasantly to the other end: “Mom, thank you! You can rest assured leaving Miao Jing to me.”
In those years Wei Mingzhen spent in the Chen household, Chen Yi had never been polite or called her mom. Now as a son-in-law, he changed his form of address quite quickly.
Besides Chen Yi, Miao Jing sincerely thanked everyone who had helped her in life – as for Chen Yi, he was rightfully hers, naturally so, as she had given herself entirely to him.
The company gave her a small wedding bonus along with twenty days of marriage leave. Si Nan asked if they planned to hold their wedding back in China or celebrate in Bogotá.
As for their friends in Colombia, including Gino’s family and landlord Pierre, all were enthusiastically curious about their plans – wedding and honeymoon plans. The men who had pursued Miao Jing all expressed surprise and disappointment – Chen Yi could finally hold his head high, his legitimate status allowing him to demand any man “keep their distance” from his wife.
Miao Jing didn’t have much concept of a wedding, thinking perhaps a simple dinner with everyone would suffice, but Chen Yi wanted a wedding. This unconventional man surprisingly demanded traditional ceremony and experience.
He took charge of planning the wedding himself.
The only thing Miao Jing did was go with Si Nan to buy a white dress as her wedding gown.
Following local customs and with friends’ involvement, Ramirez booked a small white church and found a priest. Chen Yi invited some close friends and colleagues, booking a French restaurant near the church.
The arrangements for that day were simple. In the morning there was the traditional Chinese door-blocking and bride-fetching ceremony. Chen Yi stayed at Pierre’s place downstairs the night before, though unable to sleep, he secretly went up to their home and chatted with Miao Jing for a while.
The next morning, a large group of young men blocked the door – Chinese faces, foreign faces, even a Korean friend.
Inside sat girls of all ages, from sixty-year-old Grandma Gino to five or six-year-old girls. Everyone sat in the living room drinking coffee, eating and chatting, waiting for the men outside to offer money and sing love songs. Miao Jing was surrounded by people, her willow brows and almond eyes, red lips glistening, clear bright pupils containing unstoppable starlight. A simple white dress floated beautifully, a pearl-studded veil draped over her shoulders, holding incredibly gorgeous roses in her hands.
Chen Yi was particularly well-dressed that day – white shirt, black suit, bow tie, with vintage silver cufflinks borrowed from Pierre. Broad shoulders, narrow waist, long legs and tight backside, tall graceful figure, handsome features, elegant manner – really breaking everyone’s impression of him.
His smile was still unrestrained. Finding Miao Jing’s high heels under the bed, he knelt beside it, holding her toes, pressing her delicate foot against his beating chest, then lowering his head for a light kiss before helping her into the heels. With both hands, he lifted her amidst screams and carried her out the door.
Pierre led Miao Jing into the church, handing her over to Chen Yi. It was a simple ceremony – reading vows, exchanging rings, kissing, and embracing. Finally, every one accompanied the newlyweds to the restaurant, cheering before enjoying a nice Western meal. Guests exchanged pleasantries before dispersing home.
A shower fell in the afternoon, the pattering raindrops blowing away Miao Jing’s veil. Chen Yi reached out to catch it but was carried away by the veil. Miao Jing stood under a tree wearing his suit jacket to shelter from the rain.
Their clothes were half-wet but still beautiful. Miao Jing’s long hair fell messily over her shoulders, raindrops lingering on her cheeks and lips like a rain-kissed rose. Her white dress was like a drooping lily, saturated with rain, making her appear even more graceful. Seeing that figure slowly approaching through the heavy rain, brows and eyes covered in water, shirt, and trousers clinging to his body, making him appear even more tall and strong.
Hand in hand they ran home through the rain. Wet clothes were shed on the floor, with water sounds and music from the bathroom, along with a bottle of white wine. They had quite an enjoyable time.
After the wedding they went straight to their honeymoon, traveling along the Pacific East Coast and the Andes Mountains through Peru, Bolivia, and Chile.
They watched the mist clear to reveal the ancient mysterious Incan civilization at Machu Picchu, jumped from off-road vehicles onto endless dunes in the vast Ica Desert, watched fireworks rise into the night sky in strange cities, fished for piranhas in the Amazon rainforest, saw the world merge into one in the salt flats of the Sky City, watched flamingos walk in the red Colorado Lake, soaked in hot springs on snow-capped plateaus, slept in primitively decorated wilderness hotels in the extremely arid Atacama Desert, and watched sea lions and penguins on glacial snowfields.
For this honeymoon, Chen Yi had learned some photography and editing. He took many photos and videos during the journey – different landscapes, different faces, different languages. The footage was sometimes turbulent and noisy, sometimes lonely and quiet, but any single frame contained endless stories and memories.
After returning from the honeymoon, their home suddenly had more things. Miao Jing had bought many travel souvenirs. Several dreamcatchers hung from the European-style bed posts. South American colors were rich, and Miao Jing seemed subtly influenced, dressing more openly, wearing vibrantly colored dresses and striking jewelry. In that newlywed period, their love was like glue, Miao Jing would actively cling to Chen Yi, and would also argue with him about past matters, like him missing her eighteenth birthday and his coldness when she returned to Teng City, but it didn’t affect their bedroom passion at all.
Becoming “husband” and “wife” didn’t seem so difficult, and life wasn’t much different from before.
Miao Jing was very relaxed with their current lifestyle, but Chen Yi seemed to have awakened to something, often sitting on the terrace with a cigarette, looking at the city view, lost in thought.
For over a year, he hadn’t done much proper work in Bogotá, though he’d been involved in many things. He frequented pool halls and casinos most, and when working as a tour guide, he’d met all sorts of people and figured out the rules for surviving in this city. He felt it was time to do something.
Life should have moments of accumulated strength breaking through. The opportunity came quickly – one day Chen Yi asked Miao Jing for thirty thousand dollars.
It was information he’d gotten while accompanying some business visitors. A factory from China had sent a container, but because the local Colombian client was short on funds and refused delivery, the seven-thousand-dollar container was stranded at the port. The sky-high detention fees left the seller no time to find new buyers. Chen Yi took the risk, immediately taking the goods for thirty thousand dollars.
It was a batch of industrial plastic parts.
Miao Jing had also seen the goods. Not being direct sales items, they weren’t easy to resell. There were no contacts for such products in their friend circle, so Chen Yi needed to find his own sales channels, otherwise, these things would just pile up in the warehouse with no way to dispose of them, plus warehouse rent to pay.
That was the first time Chen Yi didn’t have time to pick up Miao Jing from work, and also his first time traveling to other cities for business visits, leaving Miao Jing to spend the night alone.
He was particularly worried, wanting to send Miao Jing to stay at Si Nan’s apartment or invite Gino and Lia to stay at home to accompany her. Miao Jing poked his head with her finger: “The downstairs door has three locks, nothing’s happened in over a year of living here, why are you being so defensive?”
“I’m worried.”
He wished he could tie her to himself and take her along.
“It’s very good and safe here, you can go without worrying.”
He looked at her gloomily: “Should I get you a gun? I can teach you some self-defense moves, teach you to shoot?”
Miao Jing exploded, hitting him with a pot lid: “Chen Yi!!!!”
No gun in the end, but alarms were installed on all doors and windows, and security cameras were placed in the rooms.
The first night Chen Yi wasn’t home, Miao Jing returned from work to find life particularly quiet, touching the ring on her hand – her husband was away, leaving her alone at home.
With no one pestering her at night, Miao Jing went to bed early but tossed and turned unable to sleep. Just as she was finally dozing off, she heard Chen Yi calling her name in the middle of the night, his voice coming hoarsely through the security camera, echoing in the bedroom, frightening Miao Jing out of bed.
He had drunk a lot, and just returned to his hotel, still quite excited. He asked Miao Jing to turn on the lights and lift the bed curtains so he could chat with her. He’d visited several companies and factories today, his first time dealing with such things, lacking business experience.
Miao Jing somewhat regretted not going with him – if she were there, she might have been able to help him.
As they chatted, the voice from the monitor paused for a while, and she heard rustling sounds of clothes being removed on his end. He commanded hoarsely: “Take off your clothes, bring a chair, and sit in front of the camera.”
“????” Miao Jing frowned and scolded him, “Get lost!”
“Mmhm…” he hummed and chuckled lowly, calling her name in a hoarse voice, letting out some muffled sounds from his throat, finally panting as he wished her goodnight, and then his end fell into silence.
Miao Jing hugged her pillow, eyes open in the darkness. On such a strange night, she just really missed him.