The Taming of the Ruffian Hero

Chen Wanxin agreed Zhao Yuan’s requests without much hesitation.

But it made her feel helpless and her parents very angry that Zhao Yuan had sent the wedding invitations to so many people.

Things were becoming more complicated. In a new information age, a lot of things that were under control could be made public at any time. Besides, the government strengthened oversight over the collection of betrothal gifts for officials and their spending on various items. Chen Tianjiao and his wife had not expected that the news about their daughter’s marriage spread so quickly half a month before the wedding.

Everybody knew that the secretary of the small city, Chen Tianjiao’s daughter would get married to a young general manager of a new company.

Their wedding photos could be seen on G City and the small city’s local webs. One of them was the daughter of a high-rank official, another one was a young, handsome and capable general manager. Such two people’s wedding immediately rose a hot discussion among people.

Chen Tianjiao had a hard time to cool down the heat of the topic in the small city. However, in G City, Zhao Yuan had almost gotten everything ready for the listing of his company by taking advantage of this matter.

It was not good for the Chens, but Zhao Yuan would get a lot of benefits from it. What annoyed Chen Tianjiao more was that his disobedient daughter even told him that she would hold the wedding ceremony with Zhao Yuan before they got the marriage certificate. Chen Tianjiao could not tell it was Zhao Yuan or Chen Wanxin who had come up with such a bad idea.

Anyway, the marriage between Zhao Yuan and Chen Wanxin was finally settled, although the overwhelming news about it died down under Chen Tianjiao’s intervention.

The wedding ceremony would be held at Jifu University’s military training ground, where Zhao Yuan and Chen Wanxi had first met.

Both Chen Wanxin and Zhao Yuan knew that Jifu University was going to close down. Since the death of Lin Ziwei, the founder of Jifu University, the university had less social connections, and its reputation was not what it used to be. This time last year, the university decided to organize a cross-country hike, but was resisted by many sides. More unfortunately, someone died in the hike. Therefore, in the end, the activity was canceled. Without Lin Ziwei’s support, the university’s reputation took a nose dive, and now it had stopped recruiting students. Since last year, most students and faculty members had been assigned to study or work in other colleges of the small city.

Chen Wanxin knew that Jifu University was going to be demolished, and it would be taken over by her family in the real estate business. But who would be mainly responsible for this had not been decided yet.

Because of this, Zhao Yuan decided to hold their wedding at Jifu University. Chen Yuanxi could not agree more. Chen Tianjiao and his wife did not say anything about it. Later, Zhao Yuan provided his plan about the arrangement, host, security and other relative issues about their wedding, and Chen Wanxin raised no objection. Then they gave the plan to Chen Wanxin’s parents. After revising the plan according to Chen Wanxin’s parents’ comments, Zhao Yuan began to dispatch people and arrange relative issues. Everything was undergoing smoothly in order. During this period, Chen Yuanxi was handling business issues in the U.S., and he had not opened the link to the small city’s news for a long time.

Jifu University. Sunny. Nov 11. Appropriate to marry.

There were only two red boards on the university’s gate, indicating the wedding notice of two outstanding alumnus of the university. Apart from the photographers who were invited to take photos and videos for the wedding, there was no any media reporter.

The setting was very simple. The most luxurious decoration was a red carpet, which was spread from Jifu University’s gate to the place where the military training took place. The wedding stage covered a range from class ten’s girls’ military training site to the boys’. The wedding host was a Chens’ relative.

They set more than a hundred tables. Among the guests, some were the celebrities of the small city, and some were the bosses, entrepreneurs and VCs Zhao Yuan had known in G City. Thankfully, the other side of the playground had been designed as a temporary parking lot which was filled with red, white and black cars, like Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi, Rolls-Royce and so on.

The security was extremely strict. All the university’s gates opened as usual, but the whole playground was fenced in. There were several security guards every ten meters, and a camera every twenty meters. Zheng Kai and his colleagues were sitting behind the stage and watching the cameras.

There was an interesting incident during the wedding. On the screen, Zheng Kai saw his classmate, Wang Xiang, who had just returned the small city, riding a bike over slowly. His bike hit the back of an Audi parked outside the school gate. A person who got out of the car happened to be Zhang An’an, who was extremely popular in the small city.

Zheng Kai closed his eyes with a smile. He could tell what would happen next without thinking about it. Zhang An’an’s assistant would get out of the car to check what happened, and then teach Wang Xiang a lesson taking him as Zhang An’an’s fan. Then Zhang An’an would helplessly ask Wang Xiang to go inside with her, and Wang Xiang would definitely slip away. As long as there was a university classmates party that Zhang An’an and Wang Xiang attended at the same time, the same things would happen. Zhang An’an had never felt uneasy in the face of Wang Xiang, but Wang Xiang would be nervous at the sight of Zhang An’an, and he would run away as soon as possible. On such occasions, his legs seemed to have turned from chicken’s to ostrich’s.

At this point, Zhao Yuan walked over and gave Zheng Kai a glass of wine. “Buddy, I’m sorry!”

“You didn’t take away my daughter. You should say sorry to her father,” Zheng Kai said. He shook his hand and continued, “I won’t drink it.”

“Buddy, thank you for protecting Wanxin for so long!” Zhao Yuan changed his toast.

Zheng Kai gulped down the wine and said, “It’s unnecessary to say that much. Take good care of her!”

…

The wedding was undergoing. The beautiful, sweet bride was waiting for the host to announce that the bride and groom would exchange rings and kiss each other. Next, the relatives and friends of the two sides would deliver speeches and then she would kneel on the floor to serve tea to her parents and Zhao Yuan’s aunt and uncle. After that, the ceremony would be over.

Chen Wanxin still remembered the moment she had attended the wedding for the first time. It was on Yun Che and Zhu Ziping’s wedding. Wearing a gauzy dress, she looked as beautiful as the bride. Although the wedding dress on her now was even not the same luxurious and beautiful as the bridesmaid’s veil she had worn, but she felt that it was her most beautiful moment in her life.

Now her years of longing had finally come true! Thinking of Chen Yuanxi, who was still in the US, Chen Wanxin could not help but smile slightly.

She did not care if Zhao Yuan really loved her, and she did not think it mattered. She just wanted to have a baby with Zhao Yuan. Then she would hand over all her power and responsibility in the company to Zhao Yuan, and she would assist her husband and teach their child at home, like an average housewife would do.

Her lips quivered and her eyes sparkled as she thought that she was about to live the life of her dreams.

Even Zhao Yuan was a little moved as he looked at her.

When the solemn wedding march rang out, all the guests, apart from Shu Xiaoman and Zhang An’an, who kept silent all the time, raised their glasses, showing their best wishes to this new couple.

The wedding ring was taken out from the box by a pair of big hands and slowly put on a small hand with the silk glove. The rest would be left to time, and time would tell if they would keep their promises.

Suddenly, they heard the soothing flute music coming from the distance. The sound came nearer and nearer. The flute player walked onto the steps while playing the flute.

The melodious sound of the flute reminded Zhao Yuan of the countryside path in the drizzle, the birch, No. 216 dormitory, the cold police station cell, the lonely volunteer teacher dormitory, the pond full of lotus blossoms, the Dongchuan ruins and the place where they cried and laughed together during military training. Nobody noticed that the wedding music had stopped playing at some point.

Crazily hugging the groom, the bride raised her head and affectionately kissed the groom on his lips. She wrapped around his neck with her arms, pressing her face against his broad chest.

But nothing could stop the wedding ring from slipping from the groom’s hand.

Chen Yuanxi put away his flute and left with a smile. Zhao Yuan strode forward, but Chen Wanxin held him firmly from behind. “Zhao Yuan, don’t go!” She pleaded.

Most guests had no idea what was happening, but there was an uproar among the people who knew Chen Yuanxi.

Zhao Yuan pushed Wanxin’s hands away. Without any hesitation, he ran after Chen Yuanxi in the direction he had left.