Chapter 248

After the words were spoken, Lu Zhaoye turned and left, leaving Zhou Yinghe sitting in the middle of the pavilion for a long time, until Wen Ling noticed he was absent and came to look for him.

'Why are you spacing out here?' Wen Ling walked to his side, lowered her gaze and saw a small red mark on his neck, furrowing her brows: 'Didn't they come to get rid of the mosquitoes today? You've been bitten by mosquitoes.'

Zhou Yinghe grabbed her hand and gently shook his head: 'It's fine, just a bite, not very itchy.'

Wen Ling sat opposite him, gazing at his somewhat red eye sockets, she chuckled and asked: 'What's wrong? Did you cry?'

'No, but soon.' Zhou Yinghe propped his chin and sighed: 'Finally, I can marry you.'

'You're so happy.' Wen Ling raised her hand and scratched his chin, as if teasing Hehe and humph, but Zhou Yinghe still enjoyed it, narrowing his eyes.

As the wedding date drew near, Zhou Yinghe grew more anxious; his anxiety showed in his constant guarding of Wen Ling, to the point of wishing she'd take him along even to the bathroom, and his continual questioning of Ning Qing and Zhou Shuanglin about how many bodyguards and security were arranged at the venue, and whether they were keeping Zhou Jingyuan under tight watch.

Ning Qing flicked his forehead a few times, Zhou Shuanglin gave him a few glances, too lazy to bother with him.

For this grand wedding, the wedding that this little son had long looked forward to, they would never let anything go wrong.

Wen Ling also felt helpless, but she knew how much of a shadow that engagement had cast on Zhou Yinghe, so she was very compliant with him.

Jiang Jibai, Ke Chengyu and the others also arrived early, just shortly after Ning Qing and company; upon arrival they fumbled around to find M Country's most famous bar and dove right in.

Wen Ling and Zhou Yinghe were also there; Wen Ling wanted to come, while Zhou Yinghe was forcibly dragged along by Wen Ling.

'I don't want to hang out with them; what if they want to do something to you?'

Wen Ling turned her head and gave him a glare, then withdrew her gaze, pulling Zhou Yinghe along as she strode toward the private room.

'Ah Ling, I'm being serious—don't be fooled by their respectable outward appearances; behind the scenes they could do anything and we'd have no way to resist.' Zhou Yinghe earnestly advised.

Wen Ling stopped in her tracks, seriously looking at Zhou Yinghe: 'Dear, they are your best brothers and friends; moreover, they helped you like that back then, you know that, Zhou Jingyuan is Zhou Jingyuan, they are they, and they also don't have much vested interest with you, so I can't think of any reason they'd want to harm you.'

Zhou Yinghe pursed his lips, unhappily muttering: 'Who said there's no vested interest? They have it with me too; what if they're jealous that I'm more fortunate than them, able to marry a good wife like you—what then?'

'Don't flatter me here,' Wen Ling gave him a glance, pulled him along as she continued walking, saying: 'If you keep spouting nonsense, I'll beat you.'

'Can you bear it?' Zhou Yinghe felt wronged as he pinched Wen Ling's palm; hearing her solemn reply, he felt even more wronged, but just as he was about to say something, they had already reached the door of the private room.

Inside the private room, even through the door the noise was deafening; Wen Ling also heard familiar voices, including Jiang Jibai, Qi Zhan, Ke Chengyu, and Zhao Ningyan.

Zhou Yinghe curled his lip in disdain; seeing this, Wen Ling furrowed her brows and gave him a fierce glare; he hastily hid his disdain, putting on a fake smile.

Upon entering the private room, with a bang, the sound of bursting streamers rang in their ears; immediately, streamers fell, covering both of their faces.

Zhou Yinghe jumped in fright; at the same instant the sound rang out, he stepped forward and embraced Wen Ling to shield her, being overly cautious, which left several people stunned.

The surroundings fell silent; feeling her body trembling in his embrace, Wen Ling gently patted his back, soothing him softly: 'It's okay, it's okay, just the streamers, nothing else, don't be scared.'

Zhou Yinghe eased up, turned and snapped angrily: 'What's wrong with you?'

Jiang Jibai and the others knew he might have been a bit cautious lately, but they didn't expect his caution to be so extreme.

'What's this?'

Wen Ling explained for Zhou Yinghe: 'He's just, a little afraid of accidents.' She hesitated a moment, then still told them: 'These days, better not scare him; I'm afraid he'll get frightened into trouble.'

Jiang Jibai and the others were instead frightened by Zhou Yinghe's reaction, patting their chests and sighing: 'We daren't do that anymore; if we scare you silly, we'll have to compensate you with a normal husband.'

Wen Ling laughed at his exaggerated words; Zhou Yinghe couldn't keep a straight face, stepped forward and directly pressed down on Ke Chengyu, who had said that, gritting his teeth: 'You're mocking me, aren't you, you bastard.'

They horsed around for a long time before stopping, then sat face to face on the sofa drinking, completely unlike the atmosphere of a bar.

'We three are the groomsmen; where should your future brother-in-law sit? At the family table?'

Zhou Yinghe glanced at Zhao Ningyan, then silently gave an affirmative hum.

The seating arrangement was made by Ning Qing and Zhou Shuanglin; although he is the future brother-in-law, he is already engaged, and moreover the Zhao family's special status makes it difficult for them to come to M Country, so they can only attend the Hua Guo event; thus here Zhao Ningyan serves as their representative, and we simply seated him at the main table, after all, his wedding to Zhou Zhaoning is not far off either.

Jiang Jibai crossed his legs and said: 'Now that you're getting married, Zhao Ningyan has also become engaged; do you know how much pressure we've faced from home and how many blind dates we've been set up on?'

Qi Zhan sighed, his gaze gloomy, full of resentment; Ke Chengyu wasn't much better either.

Wen Ling secretly laughed, not letting the three sense her schadenfreude; Zhou Yinghe, however, didn't understand, earnestly asking: 'Don't you feel that being able to be with the one you love every day is a joyful thing?'

……

Hehe

Mm-hmm, yes yes yes

Zhao Ningyan propped his forehead, not interjecting, strangely locking eyes with Wen Ling, seeing that she was trying to hold back laughter.

Zhou Yinghe hadn't drunk much, yet he acted as if he were drunk, pulling the three of them into incessant chatter about the joys of dating and marriage; Wen Ling listened a while and grew bored, grabbing dried fruit from the table, scrolling videos while eating.

Seeing that she wanted to scroll videos and peel dried fruit, Zhou Yinghe voluntarily took the dried fruit from her hand to peel it for her, his mouth never stopping; meanwhile Zhao Ningyan opened a video on the side, livestreaming to the Zhou family just how abnormal their youngest's talkativeness was.

Wen Ling gave Zhou Yinghe several glances, seeing that he wasn't just talking, not just peeling dried fruit, but also continuously drinking cup after cup.

As for those three being nagged at, they wore looks of utter hopelessness.

For some reason, they all felt that the current Zhou Yinghe could certainly get along with their parents.

Wen Ling sighed; the three of them had it rough.

Finally the gathering broke up; the three felt as if liberated, the smiles on their faces unstoppable, and a deep regret welled up in their hearts—they shouldn't have invited Zhou Yinghe.

Wen Ling couldn't support Zhou Yinghe on her own; Zhao Ningyan stepped forward to hold his arm, but Zhou Yinghe shoved him away forcefully.