Chapter 37: The Proposal
When they returned home, Lin Jia’s parents were still awake.
Seeing them walk in, Lin Jia’s mother asked anxiously, “Are you two okay? Just ignore Li Hui. His family is rich and powerful—we can’t afford to provoke them.”
“Don’t worry, Auntie. We’re perfectly fine. We just taught him a little lesson so he won’t forget,” Yang Yu reassured her.
“I just feel like getting engaged like this is a bit too simple.”
“As long as I’m with you, it doesn’t matter whether we’re engaged or not. I don’t care about those formalities,” Lin Jia said, her face glowing with happiness.
“If you don’t care about it, then let’s go get our marriage certificate tomorrow,” Yang Yu said with a smile.
“What?!” Lin Jia protested. “At the very least, you have to propose first!”
“You see, women always say one thing but mean another. You clearly care, but you won’t admit it,” Yang Yu teased.
“Hmph! I’m not talking to you anymore!”
Pouting, Lin Jia stomped off to her room.
Her parents watched the playful exchange with amused smiles.
Yang Yu sat on the sofa and said, “Uncle, Auntie, after we get married, why don’t you move in with us?”
“We wouldn’t want to disturb your married life. As long as you two are happy, that’s all we care about,” Lin Jia’s father said warmly.
“You’re getting older. You’ll need someone to take care of you. If you don’t want to live with us, at least move to the same neighborhood. That way, we can look after each other,” Yang Yu insisted.
“There aren’t many young people as filial as you these days. Looks like our Jia Jia made the right choice,” Lin Jia’s mother said with a smile.
“Then it’s settled. When we have kids, we’ll need you both to help out,” Yang Yu added with a grin.
…
After staying at Lin Jia’s house for two more days, they returned to Chengdu.
Back home, Yang Yu kept thinking about how to propose but couldn’t come up with anything grand. Eventually, he decided to stop overthinking it.
That evening, after dinner, Yang Yu suddenly pulled a small box from his pocket. He opened it toward Lin Jia, revealing a dazzling diamond ring, its pink diamond as large as a pigeon’s egg.
“I kept thinking about how to propose, how to make it grand, but in the end, I couldn’t figure it out. So, this is it—marry me. I can’t wait any longer,” Yang Yu said, kneeling on one knee.
Lin Jia was stunned. She had imagined different ways he might propose, but she hadn’t expected it to be so sudden, without any warning.
Seeing her frozen in shock, Yang Yu joked, “If you don’t want to, I’ll just take it back.”
“You dare? Hmph! Hurry up and put it on me,” she demanded, stretching out her hand.
As he slipped the ring onto her finger, Lin Jia couldn’t stop smiling. But she still muttered, “What kind of proposal is this? Everyone else makes it so romantic, and you just did it at the dinner table.”
“Alright then, give me the ring back,” Yang Yu pretended to be upset.
“Who does that?! You proposed, and now you want the ring back? Not a chance!” Lin Jia said, full of pride.
She admired the ring on her finger, took a photo, and immediately posted it online to show off.
“Quit your job and come with me to Shanghai. We’ll get married and bring your parents over too, so we can be close to them,” Yang Yu said gently.
“Okay, I’ll listen to you,” Lin Jia replied, happiness written all over her face.
“Then it’s settled,” Yang Yu said with a smile.
“But if I quit, what will I do? You’re not expecting me to be a housewife, are you?” Lin Jia asked.
“If you don’t want to stay home, that’s fine. Whatever you want to do, I’ll support you,” Yang Yu said.
“How about I open a café with Ding Dian? I’ll ask her to come with me to Shanghai. She’s my only close friend, and I don’t want to be in a new city without someone to talk to,” Lin Jia said, a little worried.
“Sure, whatever you want,” Yang Yu agreed.
This was exactly what he had discussed with Ding Dian earlier. To keep Lin Jia from being suspicious, Ding Dian had suggested the idea herself. Whatever they had talked about, it worked—Lin Jia never suspected a thing. Ding Dian was impressive.
…
(PS: Originally, I planned to write 50 chapters, but since the main storyline is complete, dragging it out further feels pointless. I’ll briefly wrap up Meng Yun and Yu Fei in the next chapter, then start writing My Love from the Star.)