Chapter 307: When Was the Ring Prepared?

All the guests in the banquet hall watched the two people with interest; some were too far away to see clearly, so they simply stood up to get a better look.

Xia Xi's face flushed and ears burned; who could tell her that, while she was lowered head chewing a duck foot, spacing out for a moment, she had become the center of attention.

She looked up at Zhao Lei on stage, smiling so hard her eyes were slits, tilted her head, and signaled with her eyes for her to stop messing around.

Zhao Lei's earlier remark in the suite, 'My wedding, I call the shots,' was no joke; she continued to speak loudly into the microphone, her voice echoing throughout the banquet hall: 'Compared to my good sister Xia Xi, I wouldn't dare call myself bold! Back then she was the remarkable woman who chased down the Nan Da campus hunk. The story back then was wonderful, my good sister, Ms. Xia Xi, are you interested in giving the story an ending right here?'

She's still quite artistic…

Seeing that she couldn't count on Zhao Lei, the traitor, and needing to give herself an out, Xia Xi looked at Xu Yanfeng and smiled openly: 'A proposal? Sure. Flowers alone aren't enough; you also need an engagement ring. Otherwise I won't say yes.'

Hearing that, Zhao Lei froze for two seconds, thinking the opportunity was rare and not to be missed, she decided to help Xu Yanfeng: 'Senior, if you don't mind, I can lend you my wedding ring for now.'

Many enthusiastic guests at the scene chimed in.

'You can borrow my ring too!'

'We've been married twenty years without a fight—take my wedding ring!'

'If worse comes to worst, let's use a pull-tab from a soda can as a substitute—let's get the proposal done first!'

'No way, a soda-can pull-tab? That's too old-fashioned; young people these days don't like that. There's a jewelry store fifty meters left after leaving the hotel—we still have time to go buy a ring! Otherwise, give me two hundred bucks for the errand fee and I'll go get it for you.'

Xia Xi: '……'

Xu Yanfeng laughed, his eyes soft as spring light, and said to Zhao Lei on stage: 'Thanks, but no need.'

Zhao Lei stomped her foot, hidden by the wedding dress's train, and muttered a quiet 'tsk'; Xu Yanfeng was really missing the point—what a perfect proposal opportunity…

Before she could finish that thought, she saw Xu Yanfeng stand up, as if performing a magic trick, producing a black square box out of thin air; at a glance it was clearly a box for a ring.

Zhao Lei stared, stunned. Not just her—every guest at the scene was shocked by this, and gasps of drawn-in breath rose and fell.

'Whoa, he came prepared!' someone exclaimed first, joking loudly.

That remark was exactly what Xia Xi was thinking at that moment: Was Xu Yanfeng prepared in advance?

Had he colluded with Zhao Lei?

Soon Xia Xi dismissed her own speculation—how could such a thing be arranged ahead of time?

Unless Zhao Lei had magic, how could the bouquet have coincidentally hit her on the head?

Under the gaze of countless eyes, Xu Yanfeng opened the box in his hand; it truly held a ring—a large oval pink diamond took center stage, surrounded by white diamonds set like petals, with the band also paved in tiny diamonds, extremely splendid and eye‑catching.

The banquet hall was already lit brilliantly, and the light refracted by that diamond ring was astonishingly bright, almost blinding.

Someone on site exclaimed: 'Good grief, I wouldn't dare buy rock sugar that big! Is this real or fake…'

An informed person spoke up: 'Of course it's real. He's the boss of a conglomerate—he's not short of money.'

Xia Xi was dumbfounded, slowly rising to her feet, alternately lifting her gaze to Xu Yanfeng's face and lowering it to the ring in his hand, unsure how to react, her heart racing beyond what she could bear.

Xu Yanfeng took her hand and bent slightly.

Guessing what he was about to do, a buzz went off in Xia Xi's head; she hastily grabbed his arm, desperate: 'Don't kneel!'

Blocked by her, Xu Yanfeng didn't go down on one knee; he simply slipped the ring onto her finger, said nothing sentimental, his eyes full of smiles fixed on her: 'You said you wanted flowers and a ring—both are here. Will you accept?'

He hadn't planned to propose today; it was all a coincidence, yet it worked out perfectly.

Maybe this is reality—often, careful planning can't beat a stroke of luck.

Xia Xi, in a daze, had the ring placed on her finger, a heavy lump of diamond weighing down her hand; she lowered her lashes, and even now she could hardly believe what had just happened, forgetting to say yes.

Xu Yanfeng didn't mind; he pulled her to sit. After a long while, Xia Xi's face was still flushed, her heart still racing.

The bride on stage was led away by the groom to the resting room to change into a toast outfit. Guests drank, chatted, laughter and clinking glasses filled the air, the scene buzzing to the extreme. Only Xia Xi seemed to have been pulled into another world, utterly quiet.

Xu Yanfeng picked up a duck foot for Xia Xi, seeing she liked to gnaw on it, then leaned close to her ear and said: 'Why are you still in a daze?'

Xia Xi's eyelids twitched; her head still felt hazy, dreamlike. She lowered her gaze, examined the diamond ring on her finger again, her voice hoarse, hardly her own: 'You… when did you prepare this?'

Xu Yanfeng followed her gaze and looked at the ring as well.

How should he explain to her? He had prepared this ring years ago as a birthday gift for her, but before he could give it, they broke up. Afterward, the ring stayed with him, locked away high up, never opened again.

This year, on her birthday, they still hadn't reconciled; a ring as a gift was too sensitive, with no reason to give it, so he chose another present for her.

This morning he dug the ring out, intending to find a chance to give her, and slipped it into his pocket—little did he expect that heaven, as if spying on his secret, deliberately granted him such a wonderful opportunity.

Xia Xi wore an expectant expression: 'Huh?'

Xu Yanfeng didn't really want to tell her the ring's history, feeling that doing so would increase her guilt; he gave a faint smile and a vague answer: 'Prepared a long time ago.'

Zhao Lei changed into a toast outfit, linked arms with her husband, first went to toast the elders, then came to Xia Xi and Xu Yanfeng's table, stared at the ring on Xia Xi's hand, raised her eyebrows: 'Wow, it looks like our senior Xu is always ready to propose—he carries an engagement ring with him. And here I was, getting all worked up for nothing.'

Bringing that up, Xia Xi wanted to settle the score with her: 'Which side are you actually on?'

'I… I…' Zhao Lei lifted her glass, feigning ignorance: 'I'm on the side of beautiful love! Come, cheers!'

Xia Xi shook her head, smiled, raised her glass to clink with Zhao Lei's, and took a light sip.

Xu Yanfeng had to drive, so he hadn't touched a drop of alcohol; holding a tea cup, he toasted Zhao Lei sincerely: 'Thank you.'

Zhao Lei waved her hand: 'Thanks for what?'

Her gaze flicked to the small child sitting beside Xu Yanfeng, and she blinked in surprise: 'Tsk tsk, this little guy is really handsome—no wonder he's the combination of the two beauty queens. My worrying was totally unnecessary; sooner or later I'll be drinking at your wedding.'

Xia Xi: '……'

Zhao Lei lifted her head, laughed loudly, and dragged her husband to the next table to toast.

Talking about drinking at the wedding, Xu Yanfeng turned his head and asked Xia Xi: 'What kind of wedding do you want?'

Xia Xi had once imagined wedding scenes, but she couldn't say when she stopped thinking about them. She picked up a duck foot from her bowl, took a bite, and said slowly: 'We already have a child; whether we hold a wedding or not makes no difference—it just feels like a hassle.'

Xu Yanfeng hadn't expected that answer, frowned, and disagreed: 'No, we definitely have to hold one.'

Xia Xi: '?'

She didn't quite grasp Xu Yanfeng's thinking; men generally don't like all the tedious procedures of a wedding, do they?

'Why must we have one?' Xia Xi asked.