Chapter 103 - 101: Marriage Proposal

Chapter 103: Chapter 101: Marriage Proposal

Wu Jiaxing quietly sought out his boss, Lin Feng, and pulled him around a corner.

"What’s going on? Why are you being so secretive?"

"Boss, I’m planning to propose tonight. I’ve already bought everything. Can you find someone to help me set up?"

Lin Feng smiled. "Congratulations! Where’s all the stuff? I’ll have someone help you set it up. How about we do it by the performance stage?"

"Sounds good. Thanks, Boss."

After getting the supplies, Lin Feng sent Hu Xia a message, and she came running over moments later.

"Shiyun is here too, so I’ll leave this to you two. Just make sure Wan Qianqian doesn’t find out."

"This Wu Jiaxing of ours is pretty responsible. Decisive, too."

Zhao Shiyun added, "If he wasn’t decisive, he wouldn’t have left without a word back then to get treatment for his mother all on his own."

The two of them whispered for a moment, then took the supplies Wu Jiaxing had bought and went to find people to help with the setup.

Hu Zhiming appeared out of nowhere, jogging over. Watching the two women leave, he asked, "What are they up to?"

"Wu Jiaxing is proposing tonight. I had your sister and Zhao Shiyun go set up the place."

"Wow, really? I’ll have to go check it out later." Hu Zhiming’s eyes lit up with interest.

He took a laptop out of the bag he was carrying and said, "Brother Lin, this is the architectural layout the design firm came up with based on our terrain."

Lin Feng looked at the 3D rendering on the laptop. It was much more intuitive than a flat blueprint.

"Here is the Lumberyard, over here is the Quarry, and next to them are the Woodworking Workshop and Stone Workshop."

"Brother Lin, I don’t think there’s any point in building a Lumberyard and a Quarry. It’s not like we can actually harvest resources from the mountains here."

’Lin Feng didn’t want to build them either, but they were required to upgrade the village. He had no choice.’

"Let’s just build them," he said. "They might be useful later. Besides, they’re being built up in the mountains, so they won’t take up any valuable space."

"Okay, then. We’ll put off building those for now. Let’s prioritize the Barracks, a Tailor’s Shop, the Blacksmith’s Shop, the Water Mill, the Oil Workshop, the Academy, the Folk Workshop, and the Research Institute."

"Additionally, we’ve already chosen a spot to plant the mulberry trees. It’s right in this area."

Lin Feng took a look. The chosen site was on a hillside that was once terraced fields, next to the road leading into the village from the east.

"Good. Tell the designers that all these buildings must be vintage-style. Make sure no modern architecture slips in."

"Don’t worry," Hu Zhiming replied. "I’ve made our development strategy perfectly clear to them."

With business out of the way, Hu Zhiming said, "Brother Lin, should we also design some period costumes and add some historical performances later?"

"Once the village construction is finished, we’ll hold an official grand opening ceremony. We can hire people to design all that then."

Hu Zhiming paused. He glanced at the tourists in the distance and thought for a moment. ’Now that I think about it, Lin Xian Village never actually had a grand opening ceremony.’

’No, that’s not right. The current Lin Xian Village is still a work in progress. So much still needs to be built.’

’If it hadn’t blown up in popularity so suddenly, the official opening would probably still be a long way off.’

He couldn’t help but smile. Some places spend a fortune building a tourist attraction only to go bankrupt, yet here was Lin Xian Village, not even finished, with a constant stream of visitors.

’It just goes to show that if you want to develop a tourist destination, you’re doomed to fail unless you have something unique to offer.’

While everyone in Lin Xian Village was busy preparing for the evening’s proposal and the All-Beef Banquet, a singer in the distant Guang City was agonizing over his predicament.

"COUGH, COUGH. Sister Wang, what do we do now? COUGH, COUGH, COUGH..."

He quickly grabbed a glass of warm water beside him and took a sip. "I can sing, that’s not the problem. I just can’t control this cough."

His manager, Sister Wang, shot him a glare. "If there’s no other way, we’ll just have to cancel the concert."

"I mean, honestly. You knew you had a concert, yet you still ran off to party with them..."

"Sister Wang, Sister Wang, I was wrong! I swear it won’t happen again. Isn’t there some medicine that can suppress it, just for a little while? I don’t care if it’s bad for me."

The concert was tomorrow night, and many fans had already arrived early. He didn’t want to cancel at the last minute.

"I already asked around. There are cough suppressants, but since you have to sing, they’re useless."

"Sister Wang! Brother Chen! I heard about something that might fix the cough!"

Sister Wang’s brow furrowed as she watched the assistant dash in. ’If this kid wasn’t Chen Yi’s relative, I would have fired him ages ago.’

’He has no sense of professional boundaries and is always causing some new mess for me to clean up.’

’I heard he was the one who instigated Chen Yi’s little outing, which is what led to this whole mess in the first place.’

Seeing the look on Sister Wang’s face, Chen Yi quickly interjected, "Knock before you enter next time. Now, what’s this solution you found?"

"Brother Chen, Sister Wang, look!" the assistant said. "There’s this place called Lin Xian Village that has a Medicinal Tea. They say if you drink it, it can cure a common cough instantly."

Sister Wang and Chen Yi were skeptical. It sounded like a scam.

"You have to believe me! It’s not a scam! Look, tens of thousands of people have left reviews for this Medicinal Tea."

Chen Yong protested, holding up his phone. This was a lead he’d worked hard to find (in truth, someone else had told him about it).

Sister Wang and Chen Yi looked at the phone and saw that many people had indeed reviewed the Medicinal Tea. It was being hailed as a miracle cure for coughs.

Sister Wang did a quick search on her own phone and discovered that the place, Lin Xian Village, had been in several trending news stories.

The most recent one was from today: a mountain there had collapsed, revealing a cave.

After a moment of thought, she sent messages to a few contacts to inquire about the legitimacy of this Medicinal Tea.

’If the online reports check out, we can send someone to buy it now. They’ll make it back in time for the concert tomorrow.’

She received a reply shortly after, and the news was a pleasant surprise.

She looked at Chen Yong. "You finally did one thing right. The Medicinal Tea is the real deal. We need to get some, fast."

"I’ll go! I’ll go!" Chen Yong declared. "I’ll leave right now! I guarantee I’ll have the Medicinal Tea back by tomorrow!"

Sister Wang didn’t entirely trust him, but since he was the one who found the lead, she couldn’t very well refuse to let him go.

"I’ll call Yu Hui. You’ll go with her. I want that Medicinal Tea back here by tomorrow morning."

"No problem."

Chen Yong’s eyes darted about. ’Once we get there and buy the tea,’ he thought, ’I’ll just have Yu Hui bring it back on her own.’

Once Yu Hui arrived, the two of them rushed off toward Lin Xian Village.

...

As dusk settled, the stage used for daytime performances was cleared and rearranged with specially designed props.

Wu Jiaxing led Wan Qianqian by the hand, walking toward the stage.

"Is there another performance here tonight?" Wan Qianqian asked, confused.

"Mhm, the boss added a last-minute show for tonight," he said. "I’m sure you’ll love it."

"But aren’t we supposed to be going to that All-Beef Banquet soon? Do we have time to watch a show?"

"The banquet won’t start until after the performance."

Near the stage, someone watching their phone screen announced, "Here they come! Everyone, get ready!"

Yu Wanqing stood with Wan Qianqian’s parents. They already knew Wu Jiaxing was planning to propose tonight.

Wan Tiejun was very pleased with Wu Jiaxing’s initiative. He had come here this time fully prepared to take his daughter home, by force if necessary, if Wu Jiaxing didn’t give him a satisfactory answer.

Looking at the pitch-black stage, Wan Qianqian looked at Wu Jiaxing in confusion. "Where’s the performance?"

"It’s about to start. Come with me."

As they reached the center of the stage, flames suddenly ignited in the shape of a heart, and bouquets of fresh flowers rained down from above, surrounding the couple.

Wan Qianqian covered her mouth, a gasp escaping her lips. She knew what was happening. This was the day that should have come at their college graduation, a day she had been waiting years for.

Wu Jiaxing dropped to one knee, a ring appearing in the palm of his hand. "Qianqian, will you marry me and let me cherish you for the rest of our lives?"

The crowd quietly gathered around them, not with boisterous cheers, but in silent appreciation of the beautiful moment.

Wan Qianqian smiled, her expression sweet as tears streamed uncontrollably from her eyes.

"Yes! I will!"

Wu Jiaxing slid the ring onto her finger, then stood up to gently wipe away her tears before pulling her into an embrace.

"I’m sorry," he whispered. "This was a promise I should have kept when we graduated. I’m sorry I made you wait so long."

The performance troupe began to sing. The onlookers offered their congratulations as the couple’s parents came forward.

"Not bad, kid," Wan Tiejun said. "If you hadn’t made your move soon, I was going to drag Qianqian home myself."

"Father-in-law, I’m sorry."

"Just treat Qianqian well from now on. Otherwise, I’ll let you have a taste of my sandbag-sized fists." Wan Tiejun raised a fist that was, indeed, the size of a sandbag.

Madam Xi slapped her husband’s arm. "What are you saying? You two need to live a happy life together from now on."

Yu Wanqing said, "Don’t you two worry. If this boy of mine ever dares to treat Qianqian poorly, I’ll be the first one to discipline him."

Lin Feng came over. "Congratulations on a long and happy life together. May you have children soon! Now, everyone, let’s head over to the banquet!"