They finally decided on a dreamcatcher and deer-themed wedding venue, complemented by exquisite and beautiful desserts and cakes. When the lights dimmed and the antlers lit up, the entire venue transformed into a beautiful night forest.

After Shi Niannian made her decision, Jiang Wang immediately had people rush to set everything up.

The wedding date was arranged by Auntie. Shi Niannian and Jiang Wang had no idea how to pick an appropriate date.

“You should have the wedding soon,” Auntie said while flipping through her notebook. “You’ve had your marriage certificate for so long already. Once the wedding is over, I can finally relax.”

After Shi Niannian called her last night to tell her about this, she excitedly stayed up late checking the calendar. She had been wanting to hold a grandchild for a long time, but since Xu Ningqing refused to get married, she could only satisfy this desire through Shi Niannian.

Shi Niannian leaned against Auntie and looked at the notebook in her hand, which already had several dates marked with checkmarks.

Auntie pointed with her pen and said, “The earliest would be the end of August, just before you start work. Once you begin at the hospital, you’ll be too busy, and it would be troublesome to request wedding leave.”

Shi Niannian frowned slightly, took a photo of the notebook to send to Jiang Wang, and said, “The end of August feels too rushed.”

“It is a bit rushed,” Auntie tilted her head thoughtfully. “But once this is decided, Jiang Wang will handle everything well. You just need to wait and won’t have to worry.”

Her phone vibrated twice. Jiang Wang had sent a message.

Jiang Wang: End of August?

Shi Niannian: Mm-hmm.

Jiang Wang: That eager to marry me, huh?

“…”

Shi Niannian pressed her lips together, laughed softly with a “tsk,” and put her phone back in her pocket without replying.

The invitation design was decided by Jiang Wang. They were quickly produced that day and sent to relatives and friends. Both had many people to invite—Jiang Wang had more business partners, while Shi Niannian had more classmates from high school, university, and graduate school.

That evening, several of Shi Niannian’s group chats exploded with activity.

Her high school and graduate school groups already knew about her relationship with Jiang Wang, so they weren’t too surprised, just enthusiastically teasing and offering congratulations.

The undergraduate group was different. On another social app, classmates from various countries, most of whom had chosen to pursue graduate studies or even doctorates, suddenly received Shi Niannian’s wedding invitation shortly after graduation. This speed was truly exceptional among their group.

Back in university, there had been several who had pursued Shi Niannian, but they had all completely moved on by now, though they still deliberately exaggerated their teasing.

She didn’t send an invitation to her mother, as it would be inappropriate for her to learn about her daughter’s wedding through an invitation. Shi Niannian called her directly instead.

Her contact with her mother had been minimal since high school, and that hadn’t changed. She simply told her mother the time and place of her wedding, confirmed she had time to attend, and then hung up after a brief chat.

When Jiang Wang came out after his shower, he saw her lying on the bed playing with her phone.

He frowned. He didn’t know how many times he’d told her not to lie like that, whether reading books or using her phone. Shi Niannian always preferred this position, which easily led to back pain after a long time.

The bed sank slightly on one side as Jiang Wang sat next to her and patted her through the blanket. “What are you looking at?”

“Everyone in the group chat is talking about it.”

Jiang Wang lifted the blanket and got into bed. Without even glancing at the phone, he turned his head and kissed her neck, which had a pleasant scent of shower gel with a faint floral fragrance.

He asked casually, “What are they saying?”

“Just about how fast we’re moving and things like that.”

He curved his lips into a smile. “What’s fast about it? I’ve been waiting for three thousand years.”

Shi Niannian gradually noticed Jiang Wang’s increasingly hot breath. She tilted her head slightly and cupped his face with both hands, blinking as she asked, “Can we not do it tonight?”

“Hmm?” Jiang Wang didn’t pay much attention, burying his face against her chest and asking lazily, “Why not?”

Shi Niannian leaned back, supporting herself with her hands, but instead of escaping, she inadvertently moved closer. As he continued, she couldn’t help but arch backward, her neck forming a beautiful curve. After a while, she finally spoke: “I’m feeling a bit unwell today.”

Jiang Wang quickly stopped, the desire in his dark eyes not yet faded, and asked hoarsely, “Where are you feeling unwell?”

“I can’t describe it, just feeling a bit off.” Shi Niannian raised her hand to her stomach. “Maybe I ate too much tonight. My stomach feels a bit uncomfortable.”

“Do you need to go to the hospital?”

“No need, it’s probably just from overeating.” Shi Niannian said with a smile, “I’m a doctor myself, I know.”

Jiang Wang looked at her for a while, and only when he confirmed there were no serious symptoms did he finally put his mind at ease, instructing her to go to the hospital tomorrow if she still felt unwell.

He leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. “Sleep now.”

As the wedding day approached, Jiang Wang finished his remaining work and cleared his schedule. Shi Niannian was also busy these days. Being meticulous by nature, she visited the venue several times. It was already mostly decorated—dreamy and fairy tale-like, more beautiful than she could have imagined.

On the weekend, Jiang Wang took Shi Niannian out, driving toward the city center.

He didn’t say where they were going, but Shi Niannian could guess. The only thing they hadn’t decided on yet was the wedding dress.

The reason they had scheduled the wedding dress fitting so late was because the designer Jiang Wang had hired only recently had time to come to the country.

Even though Shi Niannian was mentally prepared and knew they were going to try on wedding dresses, she was still stunned when she saw the gorgeous, exquisite wedding gowns before her.

Jiang Wang bent down, leaned close to her ear, and asked softly, “Do you like them?”

It took Shi Niannian a good while before she nodded. “I love them.”

“These dresses are all prepared for the wedding. Try them on and choose your favorite one for the main ceremony.”

Shi Niannian walked around and finally chose one with a long, flowing hem that spread out in an arc, looking just like a princess from a fairy tale.

She remembered that as a child, like most girls, she had liked Barbie dolls and had quite a few. But later, when her brother Shi Zhe was born, he had a condition from birth that made him withdrawn and prone to screaming fits and tantrums.

Whether he was afraid of the dolls or for some other reason, Shi Zhe would scream every time he saw her dolls. Eventually, all her dolls in their various beautiful dresses were thrown away.

After that, she no longer liked to buy dolls.

It seemed that from that time on, she had given up on dreams of being a princess.

Later, she began to follow Xu Ningqing, watching him and other boys fight or play. She rarely joined in, but her personality gradually became more boyish.

Now Jiang Wang had given her back her childhood dream.

She loved the dreamy wedding venue, the elaborate and elegant wedding dresses, and the cute, exquisite cakes and desserts.

She changed into a wedding dress and looked at herself in the mirror. The dress was custom-made to her measurements, fitting perfectly at every point. The waistline was drawn in slender and proportionate, revealing her fair, delicate collarbones and shoulder blades, with a flowing train spreading out at her feet.

“Making so many wedding dresses in such a short time, I stayed up several nights for you,” said the designer, a handsome man with blonde hair and blue eyes, though he spoke very fluent Chinese.

Jiang Wang smiled. “Thank you.”

“I must say, your wedding is quite extravagant. Most people order three sets at most, but you could hold an exhibition with all these.”

He was about to speak when the curtain in front of him slowly opened, and Shi Niannian turned around, holding her dress.

The veil faintly covered her face, her long hair falling over her chest. As she turned, a strand fell behind her shoulder. She looked up at him.

Jiang Wang froze, taking the unlit cigarette from between his teeth. His eyes fixed steadily on her—her face, chest, waist, hips—and he didn’t speak for a good while.

Shi Niannian stood quietly, watching his expression and smiling with her eyes.

After a long moment, he put the cigarette back in his mouth, his Adam’s apple bobbing, and laughed hoarsely, turning his head.

For an instant, the man and the former youth overlapped, and Shi Niannian suddenly saw the boy from the past.

At the beginning of their shared time, Jiang Wang had saved her once at the hospital, from school bullying. The youth, with eyes full of hostility, had looked at the other person and coldly laughed, “I warned you, don’t touch her.”

Then he took off his jacket and covered her head with it. She didn’t see the fight that followed.

Until a pair of shoes appeared in her field of vision again.

She looked up from under the uniform. Jiang Wang raised his hand and lifted the uniform covering her face. There was a fresh bloody scratch at the corner of his eye.

The youth didn’t care, looked at her, and smiled. “My bride.”

That was the beginning, and now the dream had come true.

Jiang Wang stood a few steps away, looking at her and smiling, his smile gentle and accommodating.

If his life had been a journey filled with obstacles, then this was the moment he finally stood before the treasure.

A treasure in full regalia, waiting to be cherished.

His ultimate pursuit and belonging in this life.

Shi Niannian gently lifted her dress and walked toward him, the train flowing behind her, the decorations on it emitting a faint glow under the lights.

“Does this one look good?” she asked softly.

“It looks good,” Jiang Wang answered quickly.

He lowered his head, suddenly raising his palm to cover his eyes, biting his jaw as his Adam’s apple moved cleanly, and then slowly wrapped his arm around Shi Niannian’s waist, pulling her into his embrace.

He buried his face in her neck, taking a deep breath, his burning breath falling on her shoulder. He said slowly, “You’re so beautiful, I don’t want to let others see you.”

Jiang Wang’s wedding was grand and lively, very different from his usually low-key image in the business world. All guests attending the wedding had prepared flights and accommodations, staying at a resort hotel under the Jiang Group. To celebrate the wedding, the hotel was also decorated beautifully and dreamily.

According to old traditional customs, the bride and groom couldn’t see each other the night before the wedding.

It was quite curious, Shi Niannian and Jiang Wang had already obtained their marriage certificate and lived together for two years, yet now for the wedding, they had to separate for one night and couldn’t see each other.

Recently, Shi Niannian had tried several bridal makeup looks. The stylist came to her room and did a series of skincare treatments, keeping busy until nine o’clock in the evening before finishing.

Auntie came in wearing a festive cheongsam. “Niannian, how do I look in this for tomorrow?”

Shi Niannian looked at her. “Great, very beautiful.”

Auntie stood in front of the mirror, turning around a couple of times, smiling from ear to ear. After admiring herself for a while, she looked at Shi Niannian and sighed softly.

“You were already married two years ago, but why am I still so reluctant to let you go tonight?”

Shi Niannian smiled and hugged Auntie. “I’m not marrying far away. If you call me to come home for dinner, I’ll come back. Don’t be sad.”

“That’s true,” Auntie nodded and added, “With Jiang Wang protecting you from now on, I can rest assured.”

She was about to say something when suddenly her stomach churned uncomfortably. She pushed Auntie away and ran into the bathroom, bending over the sink, feeling nauseous for quite a while but not throwing up anything.

After rinsing her mouth, Shi Niannian supported herself on the counter and breathed heavily for a while.

She had just straightened up when she saw Auntie standing at the door, looking quite shocked.

Fearing she would worry, Shi Niannian quickly said, “It’s nothing. Maybe it’s because it was too hot today, and I got a bit of sunstroke and feel nauseous.”

“That’s not it,” Auntie looked at her and said slowly, “Have you and Jiang Wang been using contraception?”

“Ah?” Her face turned red, and she answered slowly, “Yes… I think.”

She suddenly remembered that when she was on a business trip last month, the hotel didn’t have condoms. It was during her safe period, and Jiang Wang didn’t finish inside her, but to be safe, Shi Niannian took a pregnancy test ten days later. It showed one line.

But these tests weren’t always accurate.

She had been feeling unwell frequently these days, but busy with wedding preparations, she thought she was just tired.

Seeing her uncertainty, Auntie became anxious and nervously wiped her hands on her clothes.

“Let’s take a taxi to the hospital right away.”

“The wedding is tomorrow.” Shi Niannian hesitated, slowly raising her hand to her stomach. “I’m not sure if I’m pregnant, and besides, didn’t we say we shouldn’t see Jiang Wang tonight?”

The traditional superstition was that not seeing each other the night before the wedding would ensure a long-lasting marriage. Shi Niannian didn’t believe in such things, but she didn’t want to break tradition on such a special day.

“Then I’ll go buy you a pregnancy test.” Auntie grabbed her bag and left without looking back.

Shi Niannian looked at herself in the mirror. Her face was a bit pale from the nausea earlier, and her lips were also light in color. She lowered her head to look at her stomach, which was still a flat abdomen with no visible signs.

There was a convenience store nearby, so Auntie returned quickly with several pregnancy tests, urging Shi Niannian to try them immediately.

“Niannian, do you know how to use them?” Auntie asked from the door.

Shi Niannian responded, “Yes, I do.”

She tested three sticks, all showing two lines.

Oh my god…

Auntie was overjoyed and practically wanted to worship Shi Niannian like an ancestor. Not daring to disturb her rest further, she advised her to go to bed early and returned to her room.

The feeling of nurturing a life in her belly was wonderful. Shi Niannian unconsciously lightened her steps, carefully lying down in bed.

She planned to tell Jiang Wang after the wedding ceremony tomorrow, although she was eager to share the news with him.

But knowing Jiang Wang’s personality, if he found out tonight, he would make a big fuss out of worry until the wedding couldn’t proceed normally tomorrow. He would certainly take her to the hospital for an examination in the middle of the night.

The room was pitch black, with moonlight streaming in through the window.

Shi Niannian couldn’t sleep.

A light appeared in the darkness. She opened her chat with Jiang Wang and, after considering for a moment, sent him a message.

Shi Niannian: Are you asleep?

Soon, the phone rang. She smiled and answered, putting it to her ear.

The man’s voice came through, carrying the warmth of the night.

He chuckled softly. “You’re still not asleep?”

Shi Niannian changed to a prone position, then remembered something and turned back. “Can’t sleep.”

“You still have to get up early for makeup tomorrow. Be careful not to get too tired. Haven’t you been sleepy lately?”

Now Shi Niannian knew the reason why she had been feeling like she had never gotten enough sleep lately.

She silently curved her lips, suddenly saying, “I had a dream recently. I dreamed that a few years from now, we would already have a child, a crybaby who loved to cry.” She laughed as she said this.

She didn’t know how she and Jiang Wang could have produced such a crybaby.

Jiang Wang didn’t speak, his breathing very still.

“Jiang Wang?”

“Mm.”

She asked, “Do you prefer a boy or a girl?”

“Never thought about it,” his voice seemed to melt into the quiet night. “Having you already makes me very satisfied. I never dared to hope for more.”

Then I’ll give you one more dream, she thought to herself.