"...So that counts as a proposal?" Ling Jie asked, holding her breath.
"Of course! It's so obvious..." Qiao Jingjing was uncharacteristically shy, her voice growing softer.
Ling Jie: "..."
How the hell is that obvious?!
"So you just agreed that easily?" A terrifying possibility occurred to her. "Don't tell me you've already registered your marriage?"
Qiao Jingjing rolled her eyes at her. "How could that be!"
"That's good, that's good. I knew Teacher Yu wouldn't be that irresponsible." Ling Jie breathed a sigh of relief.
"We plan to visit each other's parents next week. Consider it an engagement." Qiao Jingjing sounded somewhat embarrassed. "You should come with us."
"Why would I go to your engagement?" Though she said this, Jingjing inviting her to witness such an important life moment still warmed her heart.
"Then I should start preparing for the wedding?" For a celebrity wedding, the agent had far more responsibilities than the parents.
"I suppose so."
"Then we have to do it properly." Ling Jie's mind was already racing through venues, guests, media, who to commission for the wedding dress, which photographer to hire, what to give as return gifts, whether to involve sponsors... All these details would take about a year to prepare. "What kind of wedding do you want? Have you chosen a date?"
"I haven't really thought about the style yet. As for timing..." Qiao Jingjing considered for a moment. "After I finish filming my next drama?"
Ling Jie felt dizzy and couldn't help shouting, "Your next drama only has twenty episodes! You'll finish filming in two months. Planning a wedding in just two months?! Have you ever gotten married before?!"
...She was just casually mentioning it, no need to get so worked up.
After being held by the hands by Ling Jie who tearfully poured out her concerns, Qiao Jingjing finally became more clear-headed and began to realize that as a top-tier actress, organizing a wedding wasn't something so simple.
Forget about the media reporters for now - the venue itself was a major issue. If they held it domestically, it would be very easy for news to leak and cause crowds. Overseas was basically out of the question - Teacher Yu worked for a confidential organization that only allowed one international trip per year, and he didn't even keep his passport with him.
Qiao Jingjing fell deep into distress. Even after meeting both sets of parents and the holiday ended, she still hadn't come up with a perfect solution. Until one day, the official social media account of Yu Tu's organization that she followed posted a recruitment notice.
She clicked to open it and immediately excitedly forwarded it to Yu Tu.
Yu Tu: ...
Qiao Jingjing couldn't be bothered to type and called him instead. "Go sign up quickly."
Yu Tu sounded helpless. "Don't be ridiculous."
"I'm not being ridiculous, I'm serious."She was listing a bunch of reasons non-stop, and was about to continue when someone seemed to call for her on her end." Qiao Jingjing responded before turning back to him. "I need to go film. Remember to sign up - there are only twenty spots and your organization has so many people. If you're late, they'll be gone."
After saying this, she hurriedly hung up, leaving Yu Tu helplessly holding his phone on the other end.
Yu Tu had been eating in the cafeteria with Guan Zai when he took the call. Guan Zai was drinking soup. "What's going on?"
Yu Tu put away his phone. "Wedding matters."
Guan Zai immediately became interested. "How are you planning to do it? I've never been to a celebrity wedding before. Will it be very grand? Should I wear a suit?"
"...She wants me to sign up for our organization's mass wedding."
Guan Zai nearly choked on his soup. "What?"Yes, the post Qiao Jingjing sent to Yu Tu was indeed the "Mass Wedding Recruitment Notice" published by their company's official account.
Over the phone, she excitedly listed a bunch of benefits of a mass wedding. For example—
"No need to worry about the media, no one will critique the wedding details, no need to arrange the banquet ourselves, and we only need to invite a few closest guests. If this isn't a dream wedding, what is? I'm so thoughtful—Ling Jie would definitely cry tears of joy if she knew."
"Your superstar's ideas are truly out of this world, but you two are on the same page. Didn't you say before, when you saw colleagues participating, that it was hassle-free and convenient?"
Yu Tu frowned, "When did I say that?"
Guan Zai: "A few years ago, probably."
Yu Tu had no recollection.
Guan Zai, biting into a steamed bun, asked, "So, are you going to sign up?"
"Sign up for what?" Yu Tu said calmly. "By tonight, she'll have thought of another idea."
After all, Miss Qiao's wedding plans had already shifted from the beach to the lawn, then to a hotel, and back to the beach.
Unexpectedly, this time Qiao Jingjing seemed quite determined. During their video call that evening, she pressed him about it. Learning that he hadn't signed up yet, she earnestly urged him to do so soon.
The next day, she asked again. Yu Tu sighed helplessly, "Once we sign up, we can't change our minds, or it would waste someone else's spot. Are you sure you won't change your mind?"
This time, Qiao Jingjing thought it over for three days, then solemnly declared she had carefully considered it. Yu Tu was prepared: "What about your parents and Ling Jie? If they agree, I have no problem."
Yu Tu thought there was no way Qiao's Father, Qiao's Mother, and Ling Jie would agree. However, a week later, when Ling Jie and Qiao's parents called him separately to say it sounded special and nice, Yu Tu finally realized—Qiao Jingjing was serious, and she had even convinced her parents and her agent!
That day, he found it unusually hard to focus at work and left early.
Back home, Yu Tu sat on the sofa, lost in thought.
Unconsciously, his home had undergone significant changes. She had changed the curtains to a different color, laid a rug in front of the sofa, placed several brightly colored throw pillows on it, and decorated the place with potted plants and fresh flowers everywhere. She had transformed his once cold, stark apartment into a romantic and beautiful home.
She had always been so fond of beauty—using pretty cups for tea, arranging meals with attractive plating, insisting on festive ambiance for every holiday, as if she could conjure candles and flowers at any moment.
So how could she truly want to participate in a mass wedding?
Yu Tu took out his phone and found a video he had watched two years ago online.
He clicked play. In the video, Qiao Jingjing was smiling as she answered an interview. Around the seven-minute mark, the interviewer asked, "If you were to get married, Jingjing, what kind of wedding would you want? What is your dream wedding?"
"Dream wedding? Let me think... It has to be incredibly romantic, filled with flowers, and inviting many friends..."
Yu Tu leaned back on the sofa, replaying that segment several times. Then, he suddenly stood up, grabbed his car keys, went downstairs, and drove off into the night.
When Qiao Jingjing opened her hotel room door and saw Yu Tu, she was utterly stunned. "Why are you here? Is tomorrow the weekend?"
Uncertain, she reached for her phone to check.Yu Tu pulled her back, closed the door, and asked directly, "Why do you want to participate in the mass wedding?"
Qiao Jingjing was taken aback. "You drove over two hundred kilometers just to ask me this?"
"You once said that your dream wedding must be very romantic, filled with flowers, and inviting many friends, Jingjing..."
"Wait a minute," Qiao Jingjing interrupted him. "When did I say that?"
"2015, during an interview for an engagement ring endorsement."
Qiao Jingjing was speechless. "And you believed that? When asked such questions in an interview, you have to make something up on the spot."
Yu Tu stood his ground. "Then what kind of wedding do you want?"
Qiao Jingjing fell silent for a moment before asking, "Do you think I want to participate in the mass wedding because I’m considering your financial situation?"
Yu Tu looked at her. "Jingjing, I also want to give you my very best."
Qiao Jingjing gazed into his eyes and smiled radiantly. "Thank you. Since I’m marrying you, of course you should give me your very best. But this time, I really just want a simple wedding."
"You know I work in a highly scrutinized, glamorous industry. There are too many things to consider when planning a wedding. I want to keep it private, but once we start organizing, it’s impossible. I want to invite only a few close friends, but others might feel offended. In the end, the entire wedding might turn into a social event—we’d have to constantly entertain guests and take photos, and even the smallest issue could end up trending online. But if we participate in your company’s mass wedding, these problems won’t exist. We can simply be a bride and groom. Even though we’ll be alongside many other couples, I feel like it’ll be just the two of us—one-on-one, wholeheartedly, without any distractions or worries about public opinion and social obligations."
"And what if we’re getting married alongside many others? Every day, countless people around the world get married at the same time. We’re just one ordinary young couple among them."
Qiao Jingjing chuckled at her own words, but her eyes grew slightly warm.
"A wedding is about two people—it’s something you give to me, and I give to you," she said, her eyes reddening as she looked at him earnestly. "Would you feel shortchanged by a wedding like this?"
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