Chapter 458: How about we go get a marriage certificate while we're at it?

Xu Qingzhou waited at the agreed-upon intersection for two minutes before he saw the beautiful figure.

The school beauty Song was dressed as beautifully as ever: a white shirt, a denim skirt, and long hair flowing softly over her shoulders. As the wind blew, a few strands of hair fell beside her pretty face, and she patiently raised her hand to tuck them behind her ear.

"What are you looking at?" Song Yao kept a straight face. Based on her understanding of Xu Qingzhou, this guy definitely had no good intentions when he made that expression.

It was the beginning of the month, and she wasn't feeling well, so she only wore light makeup, not as stunning as usual, but she had a kind of cold, fragile beauty.

"I just think you're getting cuter and cuter." Xu Qingzhou raised his hand to pinch the school beauty Song's face; the delicate school beauty Song always made people want to bully her a little.

"Xu Qingzhou!"

Song Yao liked the word "cute," but she angrily slapped away this guy's claws; she had only applied a simple layer of foundation...

"Let's go, I'm starving."

Xu Qingzhou smiled sheepishly; Song Yao had been in a "blood rage" these past few days, so it was better for him not to be too suicidal.

"Have you thought clearly about what research project to do?"

"I haven't thought about it. I think it's easier to be your nanny; I don't have to be as conflicted as I am when choosing a project."

"Can't you have some ambition?"

"For you, I'm willing to be like this."

"Cheesy."

"Song Yao, shouldn't you be very touched at a time like this?"

At the tail end of the morning rush hour, the road was filled with a constant stream of vehicles. On the sidewalk, apart from the elderly people rushing to buy groceries in the morning, there really weren't many leisurely young people like them.

The two found a breakfast shop, finished their breakfast, and planned to take a walk outside.

In the early morning, although the sun was out, there wasn't the scorching heat of the daytime. The wind blew, feeling somewhat refreshing, and the sunlight passed through the sparse leaves of the plane trees, leaving mottled light and shadows on the asphalt road.

Song Yao pointed to the intersection ahead, "Four years ago, on your birthday, we also walked this road."

"Is that so..."

Xu Qingzhou's memory was a bit blurry. The road had been renovated over the past few years, and the small kiosk that used to sell newspapers and cigarettes had also been demolished. He recalled it carefully before he had a slight impression.

At that time, the school beauty Song was wearing a white waist-cinching dress, cold and aloof, and now... she looked like a little bird relying on a person.

Time flies.

"The two of us fighting and bickering—no, it's me being unilaterally sanctioned by you—it's already been four years."

"Pfft~"

Song Yao made a sound of disdain. It was clearly this person who was asking for a beating. Her eyes looked around, thinking about where to go next.

Shopping malls and such, let alone Xu Qingzhou, she didn't want to move today either.

If it were normal times, she could pull Xu Qingzhou to hole up at home, but not now; whether it was Wutong Residential Compound or her home, it was very strange.

At the crossroads, the two stopped.

"The sun is nice." Song Yao raised her hand to block the sunlight, her eyelashes trembling a few times, and a few strands of hair shone brightly in the sun.

Xu Qingzhou turned his head to look at his girlfriend, his heart struck, and he pinched her soft little hand, saying, "The weather is so good, shouldn't we do something?"

"Hmm?"

Song Yao turned her head, her beautiful eyes staring at Xu Qingzhou.

She suspected this person wanted to "drive" again.

But...

Today was Xu Qingzhou's birthday, so she couldn't take action. She would just put it on his tab and settle it all at once next time.

Xu Qingzhou pondered, "For example... strolling in the park, eating something delicious, watching a movie, or... going to the Civil Affairs Bureau to get a marriage certificate?"

Today he was exactly 22 years old, reaching the legal age for marriage.

Song Yao stopped in her tracks and nodded her chin proudly.

"Then let's go get a certificate."

A certain bureau in Chengnan.

In the conference room, several people were having a morning meeting—or to be precise, reviewing the previous case.

"Over here, the surveillance on the east side of Hongxing Vegetable Market was paralyzed for two hours last night, and maintenance records show no faults in the lines. We initially overlooked that Liu Sanbiao used to be an electrician and understood this, only scouring all the hardware stores in the vegetable market and checking the purchase records for acetylene tanks."

"Also, the DNA comparison time is too slow..."

"..."

Although Song Shisong was no longer on the front lines, he would be pulled in from time to time to impart experience to the younger generation.

But today, sitting in the office, he had been out of it. He didn't know what was going on; there was always a feeling of discomfort in his heart, as if something had been lost.

This unease was very strange, different from the familiarity of handling cases in the past, but hard to describe.

Half an hour passed, and the review meeting ended.

Song Shisong rubbed his brow, pondering which link had gone wrong.

When the people in the conference room had almost left, an old friend asked, "Old Song, something on your mind?"

"What could be on my mind?" Song Shisong came back to his senses and shook his head with a smile.

The old friend closed his notebook: "As long as you're fine. I see you're restless. Alright, let the young people handle the case. Let's go have a drink tonight."

Song Shisong refused, saying, "I have to eat at home. You guys go drink."

The old friend seemed to have thought of something and asked in a low voice, "Old Song, are your academic genius daughter and son-in-law back?"

As comrades for over twenty years, they were brothers who had been through life and death, and they all knew a little bit about each other's situations.

Song Yao's boyfriend was the son of the old Xu family from the industrial and commercial side.

He had even been in the news a few days ago.

He had solved several world-class mathematical problems and was now a professor at Kyoto University and the foreign Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Tsk tsk, envious.

Looking at his own daughter, sigh, she was in her thirties and still single, saying things like it was normal for young people to marry and have children late.

"The two are still dating; there's not even a shadow of a marriage yet, and you're already calling him son-in-law."

Song Shisong rolled his eyes. When his old friend mentioned that kid Xu Qingzhou, the feeling of discomfort in his heart actually increased.

Although he had already accepted this prospective son-in-law in his heart, he still denied it with his words.

Today, he felt especially uncomfortable.

It must be an illusion.

Maybe... it was because he often saw his daughter holding her phone and replying to messages from this kid.

Thinking back to the past, how could Xiaoyao be like this because of a man?

A daughter is not meant to be kept.

However, as an old father, he was actually quite happy that his daughter could find a good home.

Song Shisong withdrew his miscellaneous thoughts and stood up: "Alright, enough talk, let's get to work."

"Alright, let's work. I still have to grind for a few more years before I can retire..."

The two went to Song Yao's home first.

Song Yao spent an hour applying exquisite makeup and dressing up carefully.

Fortunately, when Song Yao used to buy clothes for the two of them, it was always the same style, so they were couple outfits just by casually matching them.

After getting the household registration book from the Song family study, they moved to Wutong Residential Compound.

Wutong Residential Compound was an old compound, and there were acquaintances everywhere.

The old gatekeeper saw Xu Qingzhou and Song Yao running home in a rush, and then running out in a rush less than 10 minutes later.

"Uncle Li, Aunt Zhao~"

"What's the matter, why are you in such a rush?"

"A major life event!"

Leaving behind one sentence, the two young people had already disappeared at the entrance of the compound.

Old man Li held his tea, looking in the direction where the two had left, and sighed: "The Xu family is really blessed. That girl seems to be from Kyoto University too..."

Why hadn't he noticed before that this kid could achieve such success?

"Right, looking at them like this, they are a very good match."

Aunt Zhao showed an envious expression.

Old man Li held his teacup and chuckled. After a pause, he said again: "Young people nowadays dress like they're going to get married every day."

"You don't understand this; this is called couple outfits. Young people all dress like this now."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 459 =====