Sweet slice-of-life love story: Wife, Let's love again
Chapter 324 - 317: Family Members

Chapter 324: Chapter 317: Family Members

The fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Lantern Festival.

Every household indulged in sweet rice balls, and the Qin family was no exception. Although He Fang had been home for the New Year, she had spent every Lantern Festival of the past three years with Qin’s Mom and Qin Guanglin.

"Eat quickly and stop playing with your phone!"

The steaming bowls of sweet rice balls were served by He Fang onto the table, and she immediately noticed Qin Guanglin sprawled on the couch, butt in the air, tapping away at his phone.

"Wait, wait!" Qin Guanglin didn’t even look up, his fingers flew across the keyboard, communicating with Chen Rui.

The physical edition of the comic had launched a preorder; it had started at midnight and by 7 PM now, the number of orders had surpassed two thousand.

Excitement, sheer excitement.

Each copy was capital for his wedding, it was impossible not to be stirred.

During the New Year visit to the He Family, when leaving, he had discussed wedding matters with He’s Daddy. The bride price was a hundred and twenty-eight thousand eight hundred yuan—not a lot, especially in He City where the average was nearly twice as much. Factory girls who dropped out of junior high school dared to demand three hundred thousand. In He Fang’s case, it was like selling cabbage at a bargain...

Well, she was indeed a fresh and vibrant "cabbage" to begin with.

The two men had a very pleasant talk. From the sound of it, He’s Daddy seemed like he would let He Fang bring back the money. After pondering briefly, Qin Guanglin, with a grand gesture, proclaimed, "Forget the lower price, let’s settle on two hundred and sixty thousand!"

He had promised her the best, and he wanted to give her the best. Though he didn’t have it now, the wedding was scheduled for the summer holiday in July or August. By then, he would surely gather the sum—even resort to taking it from He Fang, to marry her with her own money... The thought was quite thrilling. In the end, the couple’s money was all in the family, not distinguishing between his and hers.

He Shan and Zhao Qing exchanged looks after hearing about it. They had only seen relentless haggling up or down, but this was the first time they saw one trying to lower the figure and the other insisting on increasing it.

"Let’s eat and leave him be," Qin’s Mom said, not indulging his bad habit. She placed the spring rolls on the table and started dividing the bowls and chopsticks between herself and He Fang.

"Quickly, before it gets cold."

He Fang urged once more and didn’t wait any longer as she picked up a spring roll and crunched into it.

Crispy and aromatic.

"My dad said he’s coming to Luo City next month to discuss the wedding further and maybe throw an engagement party," she told Qin’s Mom.

"Oh my... slurp—your dad is coming next month?" Qin’s Mom nearly scalded her mouth on the sweet rice ball, inhaled sharply to cool it down, and swallowed it before asking in astonishment.

"Hmm, Guanglin and I were thinking about summer for the wedding, so we decided to prepare in advance."

Speaking of marriage, He Fang still maintained an unruffled and cool demeanor, causing Qin’s Mom to be taken aback at how composed her daughter was... So bold.

When she first met Qin Guanglin’s grandmother, she was somewhat restrained and shy at the mention of marriage—a huge contrast.

"That... that..." Qin’s Mom hesitated, then suddenly slapped her thigh and said, "How can we let them come all this way? Logically, we should be the ones to go... Let your dad know, next month this lad can drive me there. We’ll visit your family—Hurry up, come to eat! What are you playing at?" The last part was yelled towards Qin Guanglin, still on the couch.

"Coming, coming, coming!"

Qin Guanglin finally ended his chat, reined in his excitement, and got up from the couch to sit down at the dinner table.

"Wash your hands!"

"Oh..."

After washing and drying his hands he sat back down and picked up his bowl to taste, then asked, "What were you saying about coming and going just now?"

Qin’s Mom replied, "We’re planning to go to He City next month to sit down and have a chat with Fang’s family."

"No need, no need," He Fang declined. "It just so happens they’re coming to Luo City for a visit, so we can discuss it then when they come."

"Ah? Well..." Qin’s Mom hesitated.

"My father-in-law is coming to visit? What’s there to do in Luo City, there’s just that broken Luo River, and a broken mountain... Hey, why are you glaring at me?... Alright, alright, it’s fun, really fun."

"You take some time off, drive them around, and show them a good time in Luo City." Qin’s Mom gave the order, then turned to He Fang with a smile and asked, "Is your family all coming? If there aren’t too many people, I might join in for a stroll as well..."

"Aren’t you the one who doesn’t like to climb mountains or swim?" Qin Guanglin interjected.

"Stop talking nonsense and eat your food!"

"Um... My brother and sister-in-law will also come, mainly for a meal, and then let them have fun on their own."

"No problem, he’s idle every day anyway."

...

...

The wedding preparations were underway, starting six months in advance.

Qin Guanglin had thought he had used up all his luck the year before last, but year after year, everything went so smoothly.

The parents met, and they set the date for July 26th, which He’s Daddy had picked out as the most auspicious day after consulting the traditional calendar. It was the best date between July and August, and with no objections from anyone, the wedding was settled.

The physical comic book sales were steadily rising, wedding preparations were being ticked off one by one, and the wedding photos had been taken in April, the season when they had met.

For that, he even dragged He Fang to the bus stop at Shengtian Square to take some backdrop shots, catching extra images amidst the drifting willow fluff for their wedding album.

After the initial excitement, what was left was exhaustion, varying poses and angles for the camera. Eventually, they had a thick stack of prints, large and small frames piled up, which he had hung on the wall in advance. Every morning, opening his eyes to their wedding pictures, his mood would instantly lift.

"Ah... If I were talented enough, I’d definitely have them all hand-painted."

Qin Guanglin was hanging a painting of He Fang at the beach in the living room, looking around and shaking his head with a sigh. Art seemed to carry more meaning.

"Please, if you got a fever again, you’d have to go to the hospital. If it fried your brain, I’d like to see how you could paint." He Fang had come to terms with his obsession with comics; the identity of an artist was getting further and further from this guy... Well, if comics counted as art, then maybe there was still a chance.

Qin Guanglin sat on the couch without speaking, his gaze fixated on the painting on the wall for a while, then suddenly said, "Shouldn’t we go get our marriage license? It seems like people usually get that before the wedding."

"Next month, let’s do it next month."

"Hehe, once we get the license, you’ll truly be a member of my family... Come here and give me a hug." Qin Guanglin leaned back on the sofa and spread his arms toward her.

Wearing slippers, He Fang shuffled over to Qin Guanglin, looked down at him from above, locked eyes with him for a moment, then burst into laughter. She dove into his arms, saying, "Haven’t I been all along?"

Step by step, day by day, nearly four years had passed, and they finally reached this moment.

The family was to be restructured.

From the beginning of her memory to getting married, it had been less than twenty years. She would dedicate the most important and beautiful ten years of marriage to this family.

This was the most important thing in life.

Qin Guanglin blissfully closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then opened them again to look at the painting of He Fang standing by the sea. His large hands slowly wandered over her back.

"Not yet, you still haven’t moved your household registration over."

"I need to go back home and pick up my household booklet."

"I’ll go with you."

"Um... Let’s go to the bedroom."