The setting was so romantic that Xia Xiao Lan didn’t know what to say.

“Are we going to Shanghai?”

“That’s the plan, but if you don’t like it, we can stop and get off along the way.”

“No, I like it, but it’s too sudden… I mean, my luggage is still at the guesthouse, and I didn’t see how things ended with Nie Wei Guo…”

“Your luggage isn’t at the guesthouse. I had Auntie pack it up last night and had it sent to the boat earlier today. As for Nie Wei Guo, you don’t need to worry about him. Such scoundrels used to get away with everything, but this time the investigation team has been alerted. Nie Wei Guo won’t escape. By staying on the boat, we can also avoid any desperate retaliation from him. Do you have any other concerns?”

Xia Xiao Lan shook her head.

She had wondered why the investigation into Nie Wei Guo moved so quickly. The flyer distribution campaign throughout the city should have taken time to have an effect. She had thought the investigation would take at least several days… But Zhou Cheng spoke with such certainty – he must have helped speed up the investigation, making it both swift and severe.

Zhou Cheng had arranged everything well; it seemed all she needed to do was enjoy it.

In the evening, the kitchen sent up a cream cake.

Zhou Cheng had even gotten her a bouquet of fresh flowers. This wasn’t just 1985’s standard – this whole setup, even thirty years later, would only need upgraded amenities to remain effective. The basic approach would still have a powerful impact on women.

Xia Xiao Lan used to sneer at such formal gestures, considering them completely impractical.

But now that it was happening to her, done by someone she loved… Even if Zhou Cheng was just imitating scenes from movies, Xia Xiao Lan couldn’t control her joy.

Life needs some ceremony.

When you’re with someone you love, being a bit cliché doesn’t matter.

That’s what Xia Xiao Lan thought now.

“Will you blow out the candles?”

Xia Xiao Lan closed her eyes to blow out the candles, then opened them and sighed: “This isn’t just like celebrating a birthday – even a honeymoon wouldn’t be better than this.”

Xia Xiao Lan had said it casually, but Zhou Cheng’s face lit up with joy.

“Xiao Lan, you’re turning twenty today. My greatest wish has been to marry you when you turned twenty. Today should have been the day we became legal husband and wife, so it’s not wrong to think of it as a honeymoon.”

The moment he saw Xiao Lan, he knew she was meant to be his wife.

That year, Zhou Cheng was twenty, and Xiao Lan had just turned eighteen.

But then the Marriage Law changed two years ago, and Zhou Cheng’s hope for a quick marriage was dashed.

Zhou Cheng thought, well, it’s just two years of waiting.

After counting down the days and months, two years finally passed. He was now twenty-two, and Xiao Lan had turned twenty, the legal marriage age… but his intended wife had academic and career aspirations, with no plans for such an early marriage!

According to Xiao Lan, they’d have to wait at least until she finished her undergraduate degree, as the university didn’t care when graduate students got married.

Counting it out on his fingers, barring any unexpected events, that meant four more years!

Four years! By then, if Kang Wei and Guang Rong Shao had come to their senses about settling down now, their kids would be running errands in split-crotch pants while he might just be getting his legal marriage certificate.

Zhou Cheng could only daydream, telling himself that although they couldn’t marry now, on Xiao Lan’s twentieth birthday, they were already having their advance honeymoon!

Xia Xiao Lan heard the wistfulness in Zhou Cheng’s voice.

This fool probably hadn’t realized that for her, marriage and intimacy were two separate things – they didn’t necessarily have to wait for their wedding night for adult activities.

The generational difference had created a difference in perspectives, and Xia Xiao Lan knew Zhou Cheng was exercising great restraint.

She placed her hand on Zhou Cheng’s chest.

“If you want to…”

Zhou Cheng grabbed her mischievous hand, “Don’t test my willpower – I want it so badly I’m going crazy! But not now, you deserve better!”

He hadn’t meticulously planned this river journey just to take advantage of Xiao Lan’s concession.

As a young man in his prime, Zhou Cheng was nearly mad with thoughts of physical intimacy.

Desire isn’t shameful – people should face their desires honestly. It would be strange if he didn’t desire his future wife.

But what separates humans from animals is not just acknowledging desires but controlling them… At least not here, not so casually, not on a bed where countless others had slept.

Zhou Cheng considered their first time sacred – Xiao Lan deserved better treatment.

Xiao Lan had previously been deceived by Jian Hua Wang, and the pressure of rumors had been so great that she had hit a wall.

Because of this, even though Zhou Cheng desired her desperately, he would wait until they were properly married. He wouldn’t give anyone the slightest chance to look down on his future wife!

When Zhou Cheng insisted on “operating with a license,” Xia Xiao Lan was speechless after hearing his reasoning.

She truly didn’t know what to say.

She wanted to say those things had nothing to do with her, that she hadn’t done them.

Even if she had done them, she wouldn’t have been the type to be driven to such extremes by rumors.

But opening her mouth, Xia Xiao Lan couldn’t speak.

She and Zhou Cheng had been “cooling off” for a long time, during which she had considered the worst possibility of breaking up and had privately sorted out their financial entanglements.

Did Zhou Cheng know about her thoughts?

If he did, why would he still lay his heart bare before her so sincerely?

“Zhou Cheng, you’re going to spoil me!”

Xia Xiao Lan clutched his collar, “This is your scheme – you’re spoiling me so that I’ll never be able to see anyone else.”

People meet many others throughout their lives.

Xia Xiao Lan might meet men more handsome, wealthy, or powerful than Zhou Cheng.

Such men weren’t rare – the world was vast, and Zhou Cheng wasn’t invincible.

But Zhou Cheng was unique.

How could she ever look at anyone else after experiencing such sincere, passionate, completely selfless love?

Whether others were good or not was irrelevant to her.

They might have money and power, but they weren’t Zhou Cheng.

No one else would count days on their fingers, waiting for her to reach legal marriage age.

No one else would reject her advances just to save their first time for the perfect moment.

“This isn’t a scheme – it’s a strategy in plain sight. Schemes are small-minded, how could I use them on you? A strategy in plain sight is straightforward – you can see it clearly and still choose to jump in because you know I’ll always be there to catch you.”

Zhou Cheng gave Xia Xiao Lan a breathtaking deep kiss.

She couldn’t breathe, the dizziness from lack of oxygen made her like a fish out of water, desperate to jump above the surface but too weak to move.

At first, she could still grip Zhou Cheng’s collar, but later her whole body went limp in his embrace.

That night passed in a haze, her memories weren’t very clear.

She knew Zhou Cheng carried her back to the cabin and laid her on the bed.

Then he held her, truly doing nothing more.

While Xia Xiao Lan slept soundly, Zhou Cheng lay awake, holding this warm jade-like beauty, breathing in the fragrance of her hair, completely unable to sleep.

— Was it too late to take back his words now? Had he promised too much on the deck earlier? His future wife trusted him too much – even if he had promised, could a man’s promise be trusted at such a moment?