The Stepmother's Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era-Chapter 781 - 780 Proposal

Considering they had all had quite a bit to drink, and hadn’t eaten any main dishes, Shen Mingzhu made a pot of vegetable congee in a ceramic pot.

After the congee was ready, Shen Mingzhu specifically served two bowls, to take up to Yan Su and Han Zibin upstairs.

Han Zibin’s room was near the stairwell, which Shen Mingzhu attended to first, but upon entering, she found no one there.

...

After Yan Su had finished washing up and returned to her room, she was inevitably shocked to see the person lying on her bed, yet the personal items on the nightstand indicated she had not entered the wrong room.

Therefore, it was the person in the bed who was misplaced.

She hesitated, debating whether to pack up her things and move to the next room, or to have Han Zibin, who was on the bed, removed, when suddenly footsteps echoed from the hallway, causing her to subconsciously close the door.

Why did she close the door? Now, that really couldn’t be explained clearly.

Smelling the increasingly strong scent of alcohol in the room due to lack of ventilation, Yan Su couldn’t help but smack her forehead in annoyance.

Next door.

Seeing that Han Zibin wasn’t in his room, Shen Mingzhu was slightly surprised but didn’t say anything; nor did she continue next door to deliver the congee, instead placing the two bowls on the nightstand.

"Honey, have some congee."

When she reached the downstairs, Pei Yang affectionately handed her the prepared bowl of congee.

Shen Mingzhu sipped the congee, while sidelong sizing up the chuckling man, a certain speculation rising in her heart.

She gave a look upstairs and mouthed: What did you do?

Pei Yang smiled in a placating manner, "Wife, you really have a divine insight."

Pei Yang harbored exasperation towards Han Zibin and, while Yan Su was in the washroom, had stealthily bundled Han Zibin onto Yan Su’s bed.

I’ve helped him to this extent, if he still doesn’t succeed, then he deserves to be single for life.

Having discerned her husband’s intentions, Shen Mingzhu was at once amused and speechless.

Although what he did was a bit underhanded, upon further reflection, it wasn’t a bad idea.

She hoped Han Zibin would show some backbone and not waste her painstaking efforts.

Originally, she had no confidence in this and was worried that Yan Su felt nothing for Han Zibin.

But today’s attendance at the gathering suggested that Yan Su’s feelings for Han Zibin weren’t as indifferent as they appeared.

"It’s snowing!"

Somebody mentioned, and everyone began to look out the windows.

Outside, it had started to snow at some point; like delicate goose feathers, they were fluttering down, and both the rooftops and ground were white.

Shen Mingzhu set down her congee bowl and turned to the man beside her, "Let’s go for a walk outside."

Pei Yang playfully pinched her cheek, "Are you drunk? It’s snowing out there, look, it’s coming down hard."

For the people of Fengcheng, snowfall carried the same concept as rainfall in the south. freёweɓnovel.com

Going for a walk in the rain, wasn’t that just crazy?

Shen Mingzhu replied, "I know it’s snowing."

"Do you really want to go out?" Pei Yang asked her.

Shen Mingzhu looked outside, quoting poetry, "When it snows, you must walk in the snow with the one you love, because before you know it, you could end up walking together into old age."

A moment of silence filled the room.

"Let’s go, let’s go for a walk."

Pei Yang was the first to take her hand and head outside, followed by She Zheming and Pei Qiuxia, then Zhao Dafa and Shen Hongmei.

Growing old with the one you love, what a romantic and charming affair.

But this type of romance and charm clearly didn’t apply to Chen Yi and Pei Wenping; the two sat motionless in their original spots.

In the quiet, the crackling sounds of the burning wood erupted from the fireplace.

After some time, Chen Yi was the first to speak, breaking the silence, "Let’s go out for a walk too."

"I won’t go."

Pei Wenping refused flatly.

Chen Yi looked at her for a while before standing up and going outside.

Through the window, she could see Chen Yi squatting in the courtyard, his back toward her, waving his hands on the ground, but it was unclear what he was tinkering with.

A moment later, Pei Wenping withdrew her gaze and started idly cracking melon seeds.

Not long after, Chen Yi came back into the room with something wrapped in a handkerchief. He approached her and with a raise of his hand, a cascade of white snow covered both of their heads and shoulders.

Pei Wenping instinctively grew angry, "Chen Yi, are you sick or something?"

Chen Yi, with a head covered in snow, sat down beside her, smiling, "Since you didn’t want to go out, this is the only way I can spend a ’gray-haired’ moment with you."

As he spoke, his gaze fell on her snow-covered head.

Pei Wenping reached to brush the snow off her hair but he caught her hand, "Don’t remove it; I want to have one more ’gray-haired’ moment with you."

Pei Wenping glared at him fiercely, "If you’re sick, go get treated, don’t act crazy here."

Chen Yi looked at her and said, "Wenping, I am sick. Lovesickness is the hardest to cure, and only you can relieve it."

Pei Wenping forcefully withdrew her hand and stood up to find a towel for wiping off the snow from her body and hair.

During this, Chen Yi tried to help her, but she roughly pushed him away.

After she finished cleaning up and turned around, she saw Chen Yi standing quietly behind her, his snow-covered hair and shoulders giving him a look of unusual earnestness and sincerity.

Hesitating whether to pass him the towel, she then saw Chen Yi slowly bend down, kneeling on one knee in front of her and pulled out a round diamond platinum ring from his pocket.

The tiny diamond was refracting a bright glow under the light.

"I’ve had this ring for a long time, and every time I returned, I brought it with me, but I never had the courage or gall to present it to you until today. In Little Han, I think I saw my own cowardice."

"Wenping, because of my mistakes, we’ve missed out on some good years. I am certain of my feelings and love for you, and I know I’m unforgivable, but I still want to ask you to trust me once more, to give me a chance to take care of you, can I?"

...

Crackling.

The burning sound from the fireplace broke the silence in the room.

Looking at his empty palm, Chen Yi thought bitterly yet humorously: At least the ring was delivered.

In the guest room.

The snow outside the window was getting heavier, and the world seemed to be covered with a cotton quilt, turning silvery white.

Pei Wenping stood quietly in front of the window, her mind echoing the words she had used to reject Chen Yi: "Chen Yi, I cannot make the same mistake again."

However, her refusal wasn’t as resolute as it appeared on the surface.

Only she knew how fast her heart was beating when she saw Chen Yi with the ring on one knee.

Who was it that said, the one you truly loved, no matter how long you are apart, your heart will still flutter upon meeting again?

...

Han Zibin woke up thirsty and in a blur, saw the woman sitting by the window and thought he was dreaming, so he watched her, mesmerized.

Until, "Are you awake? If you are, go back to your room."

The real and clear voice made him realize that everything before him wasn’t a dream.

He sat up dazedly from the bed, "...Miss Yan... why are you here?"

Yan Su responded, "This is my room, you went into the wrong room, yours is next door."

Although he hadn’t sobered up from the alcohol, Han Zibin understood one thing.

He was alone in a room with Yan Su as a single man.

He stumbled out of the bed, but instead of heading toward the door, he went straight to Yan Su.

"Miss Yan, can you please not go on blind dates with other people?"

"I’ve liked you for a long time."

Under Yan Su’s astonished gaze, the man’s face loomed larger and larger until his warm lips landed on hers.