Can people choose their birth circumstances?

No.

What family one is born into is beyond one’s control.

Xia Xiaolan knew this and felt she was being particularly unreasonable. Zhou Cheng was so outstanding, and successful in his career. While this certainly involved Zhou Cheng’s efforts and opportunities, his ability to seize those opportunities for advancement was inseparable from his family’s nurturing.

Intelligence has hereditary components, and whether ability and intelligence are equivalent also depends on nurturing.

Zhou Cheng’s family must have been very thoughtful in raising him.

Zhou Cheng’s starting point was different. Xia Xiaolan wasn’t foolish – why did it take her 20 years in her previous life to taste success? Because of her low starting point!

Xia Xiaolan was stunned by Zhou Cheng’s words.

Birth circumstances weren’t something Zhou Cheng could choose, and the Zhou Cheng she liked indeed couldn’t be separated from his family background’s influence and shaping. The Zhou family had cultivated Zhou Cheng to be so excellent – could she just want the person while refusing to acknowledge his family?

Xia Xiaolan realized her unreasonableness.

Precisely because she couldn’t ignore Zhou Cheng’s family background, this became the reason she needed to reconsider their relationship. Just as Xia Xiaolan cleared up her thoughts, Zhou Cheng continued:

“I like you, you like me, I think you’re incredibly outstanding, and your family is easy to get along with. I don’t see where we’re incompatible.”

The Xia family didn’t need mentioning – Xia Xiaolan had severed ties with them, and Zhou Cheng didn’t care about that.

Regarding the family members Xia Xiaolan cared about, Uncle Liu Yong opposed their relationship out of concern for Xiaolan, but Zhou Cheng held no grudge.

Liu Yong’s attitude had softened, and Liu Fen and Aunt Li Fengmei both quite liked Zhou Cheng. Zhou Cheng felt relaxed around Xia Xiaolan’s family. Though rural people were different from Zhou Cheng’s usual social circle, all three of Xia Xiaolan’s elders were straightforward people, not cunning characters – Zhou Cheng prided himself on his ability to judge people.

Like Xia Xiaolan herself – she was attractive, with alluring eyes, but her gaze was upright and clear.

Even if every member of Xia Xiaolan’s family was difficult people, Zhou Cheng liked Xia Xiaolan herself – how could he let go because of family reasons? At most, he’d need to put more effort into handling her family matters. Could he reject Xia Xiaolan herself because of this?

Liking someone was just that – like them.

Zhou Cheng had fallen for Xia Xiaolan and found everything about her admirable, which naturally made him like her more.

Young people’s love was about feelings. Zhou Cheng didn’t understand the hormonal attraction, but he figured that even if Xia Xiaolan had no good qualities, even if she were as the rumors claimed – a frivolous woman, vain, lazy… what could he do?

He’d still have to accept it.

He was wealthy, handsome, with a good background – if Xia Xiaolan were materialistic, that would be even better. Then Zhou Cheng wouldn’t have to worry about her not wanting to be with him.

At this moment, he wished Xia Xiaolan had more materialistic traits.

Xia Xiaolan was left speechless by Zhou Cheng.

Usually sharp-tongued, she’d met her match. Zhou Cheng spoke clearly and sincerely. He liked her, wanted to date her, wanted them to be together – nothing else mattered!

Xia Xiaolan felt somewhat ashamed.

She disliked trouble and had wavered about dating Zhou Cheng… Faced with Zhou Cheng’s passionate sincerity, Xia Xiaolan felt her feelings weren’t as weighty as his.

Zhou Cheng was so determined, while she seemed too clearheaded.

“Don’t look at me like that, it affects my judgment. Let me be clear – if your family opposes our relationship, that’s fine, but they should come directly to me, not to my family.”

Xia Xiaolan spoke seriously, leaving Zhou Cheng confused.

How could his family be so uncouth as to bypass Xiaolan and go to her family?

Even if his mother opposed, she’d likely just say something like “Date as you please, but marriage is different.” Zhou Cheng had always made his own decisions – family disapproval couldn’t stop him from being with Xia Xiaolan.

As for Xia Xiaolan, she had an overactive imagination, having never interacted with privileged classes, applying TV drama plots to the Zhou family.

Wasn’t it common in dramas for the powerful family to make life difficult for the girl’s family when they couldn’t force the young couple apart?

Understanding her concerns, Zhou Cheng felt wronged – what kind of thoughts were these?

“I’m not taking you home now because I don’t want anyone saying something unpleasant that might affect your mood. After all, you have the college entrance exam coming up and you’re busy with business. After your exam, I’ll take you home to meet my family, then we can put our marriage on the agenda…”

Zhou Cheng grew increasingly excited as he spoke.

Xia Xiaolan found the first half normal, but the latter part seemed off.

She interrupted, “Discuss marriage right after my college entrance exam?!”

She was just dating, liking Zhou Cheng, having feelings for him – that didn’t mean marriage, right?

She’d only known Zhou Cheng for a few months.

Xia Xiaolan counted – they’d met only a few times, and exchanged maybe ten letters. Weren’t they just starting to date? Even when she came to Beijing for university and they had more chances to meet, they gradually understood each other better, and this romance slowly progressed.

Of course, deeper understanding could either strengthen feelings or reveal irreconcilable differences, leading to separation.

Either way, how did this connect to marriage?

Zhou Cheng heard Xia Xiaolan’s surprise and explained naturally: “I’m dating you because I want to marry you. If we weren’t too young, I’d want to get our marriage certificate now! Your birthday is in July, you’ll be 19 after the college entrance exam, and next summer, we’ll both be old enough to marry.”

Zhou Cheng saw nothing wrong with this.

This was normal in his experience – people at his workplace would go home for arranged matches, and if they liked each other, they’d immediately hold the wedding. One family visit leave could solve both matching and marriage. By his calculation, he and Xiaolan would marry after knowing each other for two years, only because they weren’t of age yet. While rural areas had the custom of holding weddings without registration, Zhou Cheng felt they should get their marriage certificate to be legitimate spouses.

Xia Xiaolan finally understood.

Gao Fei, Tong Lili, the Zhou family’s opposition – none of these were the real issues.

The key problem was that she and Zhou Cheng had completely different paces in their relationship!

Marriage at 20?

She might not fully understand 1980s views on marriage and love. Attraction and affection lead couples to date, but understanding and getting along should lead to marriage, right?

“Zhou Cheng, this is a big issue. I like you, but I haven’t considered marriage yet – this is too fast. We’re also too young. There are so many things in life waiting for us. At your age of 22 and my age of 20, marriage shouldn’t be our primary consideration…”

Zhou Cheng was so young – young enough that Xia Xiaolan doubted whether he was truly ready for marriage.

Being someone’s husband versus being someone’s boyfriend – could they be the same?

Many things weren’t just about passion. While Xia Xiaolan was fine with dating, if Zhou Cheng planned to move quickly into marriage, she wanted to take a step back!