The night before the wedding, Xu Lanyin saw her fiancé, Zhou Yanli, carrying his ex-girlfriend into an elevator on the hotel’s security footage.
Everyone thought she didn’t know.
The next day, she still put on her wedding dress and smiled as she walked down the aisle.
A friend asked her, “Have you really thought this through?”
Xu Lanyin said, “Weddings are expensive, and so is life. I can’t make this decision based only on whether I’m in love.”
She married Zhou Yanli not because she believed in love, but because she thought the marriage would give her dignity, stability, and a ticket to a better life.
Only after they married did she realize that dignity came at a premium, and marriage was all about keeping score.
Zhou Yanli didn’t love her, and she wasn’t completely unaffected by that.
When her name wasn’t on the property deed, her career was expected to take a back seat, her in-laws urged her to be more accommodating, and his ex kept showing up, Xu Lanyin finally understood. She had thought she was marrying for leverage, but this marriage had put a price on her, too.
Later, Zhou Yanli asked her, “If I tell you I love you now, is it still in time?”
Xu Lanyin smiled. “See? You still think love is the biggest bargaining chip.”
