The Blooming Season of Love

When Qiao Yang was twenty, she won over her older brother's best friend, Lou Yingchu.

After a month of secretly dating, Qiao Yang decided that beneath his refined, proper good looks, he was actually stuffy, old-fashioned, and no fun at all.

She had even made the first move for their first kiss.

Her brother still didn't know, but Qiao Yang had already asked to break up.

*

At twenty-five, Qiao Yang quit her job and moved back home.

She never expected to come face-to-face with Lou Yingchu in a cafe five years later, at a blind date.

The atmosphere was painfully awkward.

Qiao Yang went through the motions of asking about his job, income, car, and home, then finally asked about his love life over the past few years.

The man across from her only stared at her calmly, without a word.

Qiao Yang gave an awkward wave. “It's okay. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to.”

“It's not that I don't want to.” The lenses hid the emotions in Lou Yingchu's eyes, but now they were full of scrutiny. He spoke slowly, as if questioning the person involved:

“Does a one-month relationship count?”

*

After they married, Lou Yingchu did the laundry and cooked, and had no bad habits.

“He's great in every way. His only flaw might be that he doesn't like me.”

Just like before, he never made the first move.

Qiao Yang figured Lou Yingchu probably hadn't really liked her five years ago, either.

After she partied at a nightclub until the early hours, Lou Yingchu came to take her home.

A little drunk, Qiao Yang called him “insincere.”

Lou Yingchu asked, curious, “What would make it sincere?”

The next second, he took off his glasses and kissed her.

“Like this?”

Later, Qiao Yang understood:

This marriage

was the long-delayed blossoming of the romance she and Lou Yingchu had begun five years ago.

*Strawberry sparkling wine x old-fashioned sesame candy: sweet and sticky

*Marriage first, love later. A gentle, devoted husband.

Theme: Marriage is the long-delayed blossoming of love