Jin Liwei was satisfied that his baby girl understood his point.
"But what about the cheating allegations between Ying Yue and Eldest Brother?" Iris asked. "Those misleading photos are really damaging. Should we—"
"Love, just as I want you to trust your friend, I also trust in mine. Eldest Brother is amiable but he's no weak man. You heard him at dinner. He cares for Jiang Ying Yue. To what extent, I don't know, but rest assured that he'll do everything for the people he cares for. And it seems like Jiang Ying Yue is now one of those people, just like us. The cheating allegations involve the two of them. Let's see how they handle it first. If they're unable to solve it by themselves, we'll step in. How's that?"
She sighed but still nodded.
"I don't think we would need to step in, to be honest. Eldest Brother likes keeping a low profile but he's not without his own influence. Also, don't be fooled by that gentle expression. Remember that he's a gun and shooting expert. He also has a vicious side to him, surprisingly. Being Eldest Brother doesn't just mean that he's the oldest among us. It also means that he's the one we accept as our leader that we five brothers accept and respect. Your husband has no weak and cowardly friends," he said in a proud manner.
Iris felt calmer after hearing Jin Liwei's reassurances. Indeed, it took a bit of time before she felt fully accepted by Lin Yehan. He was always nice and kind to her, but she sensed that he still kept some distance from her until he felt assured that she truly loved Jin Liwei. After that initial hurdle, Lin Yehan now treated her like family, like one of his own. This kind of loyalty was what she admired the most among the five brothers and what she also wanted with her friends, the girl squad.
If Lin Yehan really started caring about Jiang Ying Yue and began to treat her like family, then Iris would feel less worried for her friend. Nevertheless, she still intended to take action if things didn't work out like what Jin Liwei said. She agreed to let Jiang Ying Yue face the hardships being thrown at her right now, but Iris didn't plan on leaving her friend alone to face everything by herself. For now, however, she would follow her darling's suggestion and trust in both their friends. Indeed, she and her darling had no true friends who were weak cowards.
Smiling, she tried giving Jin Liwei a playful pinch on his hip but failed because it was all hard muscles. So she gave him a playful bite on his chest instead. It was still all hard muscles but her teeth had a stronger grip than her fingers. He grunted more from pleasure than from pain.
"Calling us husband and wife...we're not married yet," she reminded him.
"We will be. Soon."
"If you want."
She tilted her head to the side, seriously thinking about it. But before she could form a decision, he added, "I prefer that we don't, though. I admit that I had thoughts before of tricking you into eloping with me but I love you too much to do that to you. I want to give you your dream wedding as much as possible, even if we have to rush it. Our wedding is an extremely special occasion. It's a celebration of our love. It shouldn't be something careless."
"Oh." Iris felt touched, then concerned. "But I don't know what my dream wedding is. I never thought that I'd be marrying someone I love."
A distant look glazed over her eyes, as she remembered her past life's circumstances. She was Evelina Vetrova who had no freedom. There had been several marriage offers for her, but they were all from scions of other criminal families. She rejected all of them but her words carried no weight in the Vetrov family because of her refusal to contribute to the organization's activities. If it weren't for her big brother who intimidated and threatened her suitors, their mother would have probably married her off to the best candidate the moment she turned eighteen. And the best candidate would always be the one whose family could provide the best benefits to the Vetrov organization. Since she was basically a useless deadweight in terms of her contributions to the organization, all she was good for was for marriage connections.
Thus, she never had any delusional dreams of marrying a man she would one day fall in love with. To her, there was no other man in the world who could be better than her brother. Never did she expect that she would fall so deeply in love with someone after her death in her next chance in life.
Jin Liwei was not a better man than her brother, but she realized now that her brother was not a better man than Jin Liwei either. Both men had their own strengths and flaws. They were different from each other that there was no use in comparing them. She loved both of them in different ways.
Now that Jin Liwei broached the subject of her dream wedding, she realized how foreign the concept was to her. She knew what it was, of course, but it still felt alien. What could she say to him? He wanted to give her what she thought of as a perfect wedding but had no idea of what she wanted.
Upon hearing his baby girl's reply, Jin Liwei couldn't help but frown. No dream wedding? Never thought that she would marry someone she loved? He heard from someone before that all women had a dream wedding regardless of whether they ended up marrying the one they loved or not. Was it not the same for his baby girl?
'Yes, that must be it!'
The realization made him relax.
"Don't worry, my love. I'm here, aren't I? I don't have one either. So we'll just have to construct our dream wedding together."