Chapter 3

Alright, let’s get married.

Such an utterly out-of-place sentence.

Lin Mitang blinked, and in the end, she couldn’t help it—she turned her head, pressing her lips together in a faint smile.

But then she quickly realized: laughing and crying at the same time like this must look absolutely terrible in Cheng Dingyuan’s eyes.

Just as she was about to apologize, Lin Mitang suddenly heard him ask softly—

“…Does it hurt?”

“What?” Lin Mitang lifted her eyes in confusion, following his gaze to the fingernail marks on her right hand, which she had left on herself earlier.

She shook her head. “No. It doesn’t hurt at all. I don’t feel a thing.”

And indeed, she truly didn’t.

But Cheng Dingyuan kept staring at the marks, his eyes flat and unreadable, his expression hard to pin down.

Lin Mitang couldn’t guess what he was thinking. Remembering what he had said earlier, she tugged gently at his sleeve.

“Cheng Dingyuan?”

…He couldn’t really be thinking of going to beat up Li Xiuhua and Liu Jiangang, could he?

“Alright, I won’t make things difficult for you.” Cheng Dingyuan knew exactly what she was worried about. He raised his hand and patted her head lightly—just like he used to when they were kids.

“Come on.”

Lin Mitang tilted her head in confusion. “Go where?”

“Anywhere is better than here.” Cheng Dingyuan grinned at her with a roguish smile.

“Don’t you think so?”

---

The nightlife in the capital wasn’t all that exciting. Food stalls, bars, KTVs—those were pretty much all the options people had for nighttime fun.

But what Lin Mitang never expected was that Cheng Dingyuan would bring her to a badminton court.

When a finely made racket was handed to her, Lin Mitang was still dazed and bewildered.

Badminton?

…With her?

“Y-You… you really want to play badminton with me?” Lin Mitang asked nervously, gripping the racket.

“Mm.” Cheng Dingyuan lifted his chin at her. “Give it a try.”

“But… I’m not very good at it.” Her eyes darted uneasily around.

Everyone else playing inside looked so skilled—far beyond her clumsy, amateurish level.

Cheng Dingyuan chuckled. “Who says you need to be good? I’m not competing with you.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Besides, Lin Mitang, when people play badminton, they’re too focused on their own game. No one’s watching you. Don’t worry.”

Before she could think too much, the shuttlecock was already flying toward her.

“Game on.”

Clearly, he was accommodating her. His serves and returns were gentle, almost always sending the shuttlecock straight toward her racket.

But Lin Mitang’s returns came at odd angles, many of them nearly flying out of bounds. Luckily, Cheng Dingyuan moved quickly, saving every single one.

Unfortunately, Lin Mitang had never been strong, nor did she usually exercise. Within minutes she was panting heavily, her pale face flushed bright red.

Seeing her exhaustion, Cheng Dingyuan put down his racket and walked over.

“If you’re tired, we’ll stop.”

Lin Mitang instinctively lowered her head to apologize. “I’m sorry.”

Her voice was soft as a mosquito’s hum, timid, like a child who had done something wrong.

“Why are you apologizing?” Cheng Dingyuan looked completely unbothered. As he spoke, he handed her a bottle of electrolyte water.

Lin Mitang said quietly, “We only played for about twenty minutes.”

But twenty minutes was already her absolute limit.

He had kindly brought her here, only for the game to end so quickly because of her. Surely he must feel disappointed.

“So,” Cheng Dingyuan said, “do you feel a little lighter now?”

“What—” Lin Mitang was taken aback. She only now realized: during those twenty minutes of play, she had completely forgotten the quarrel back in that stifling, messy apartment.

Even now, all she felt was the rapid beat of her breath, the rush of adrenaline, and the fleeting joy of escaping that house.

Lin Mitang nodded faintly. “…Mm.”

She tightened her grip on the bottle, lowering her voice even more. “Thank you.”

“There’s nothing to thank me for.” Cheng Dingyuan curved his lips into a smile, then added casually, “Lin Mitang, you’re actually pretty good at badminton.”

“It’s been a while since I’ve played. Playing with you felt nice.”

Lin Mitang blinked. “Huh?”

Cheng Dingyuan took a swig of water, then glanced at her. “Huh, what?”

The movement of his throat as his Adam’s apple slid up and down with each swallow gave off an unexpected sort of sensuality.

Lin Mitang pressed her lips together, averting her gaze. After a long pause, she said softly, “Cheng Dingyuan, you don’t have to lie just to make me feel better.”

Of course she knew her own limits.

Back in her first year of university, she had chosen badminton as her P.E. elective. But she often missed the shuttlecock or served it crookedly. Her partner never said anything, but she could tell they were exasperated.

She always felt guilty, always apologizing. “Sorry” had been her most repeated phrase in that class.

And so, her first instinct even now had been to apologize to Cheng Dingyuan.

But he lowered his eyes, looking straight at her. “Why would I lie? What would I gain from tricking you?”

“Lin Mitang, you really are good.”

His voice was so certain, and those dark, earnest eyes so unwavering, that Lin Mitang couldn’t help but waver a little inside.

Really? Could it be true?

The sound of shuttlecocks hitting rackets echoed throughout the gym.

Lin Mitang blinked slowly.

Even if she didn’t fully believe it, a subtle, unexplainable happiness quietly bloomed in her heart.

---

By the time they left the badminton court, it was already ten o’clock. Instead of taking Lin Mitang back to her apartment complex, Cheng Dingyuan booked her a nearby hotel room.

On the way, Li Xiuhua’s texts and calls kept bombarding her phone.

The words on the screen were cruel and unbearable to read. Lin Mitang’s lashes trembled lightly, her heart sinking once more.

At a red light, Cheng Dingyuan stopped the car and suddenly held out his hand.

“Your phone. Mind letting me see it?”

Not knowing what he wanted, Lin Mitang obediently handed it over.

And then, she watched in shock as he deleted every single message from Li Xiuhua, and promptly blocked her number.

Lin Mitang’s eyes widened. “Hey, you—”

“Lin Mitang, trash messages belong in the trash.” His expression remained calm as he raised a brow and handed the phone back.

“And so do trash numbers.”

Lin Mitang’s lips parted slightly, but no words came out.

She stared at the blacklisted number for a long while, but in the end, she didn’t remove it.

When they arrived at the hotel, Cheng Dingyuan unbuckled his seatbelt, ready to walk her inside, when she suddenly called his name.

“Cheng Dingyuan.”

“Mm?”

“Maybe… maybe you should marry someone else.”

His hand froze on the door handle. He turned calmly to look at her.

“Why?”

“You should already know. My… my family isn’t a good one. Marrying me, even if it’s just a contract marriage, will bring you nothing but trouble.”

She knew exactly what kind of people Li Xiuhua and Liu Jiangang were, and she didn’t want to drag him into it.

Lin Mitang’s eyes were naturally beautiful, large and gentle. Especially when they gazed at someone so steadily—they were disarmingly innocent, impossible to refuse.

But Cheng Dingyuan didn’t hesitate. “No.”

Lin Mitang was stunned. “Why not?”

“Tell me, are you the same as your mom and your uncle?”

“Of course not!” she blurted out.

Even if she did agree to marry him, she would never be like Li Xiuhua—scheming for money or benefits.

“Exactly.” Cheng Dingyuan’s tone was casual.

“I’m marrying you, not your mom or your uncle. What does your family have to do with it?”

“And another thing—what do you mean by ‘someone like you’? Lin Mitang, did you forget what I said? You’re my best choice.”

“Sure, my dad’s inheritance is big, but I don’t need to marry just anyone for it.”

“I chose you simply because you’re a good person. That’s all. Understand?”

---

Even after she swiped her room card and stood at the window, Cheng Dingyuan’s words still echoed in her mind.

…A good person?

Her?

No one had ever said that about her before. She herself had never believed it.

So hearing those words so suddenly, her first instinct was to doubt her own ears.

Outside, the city lights shimmered under a beautiful moon.

Lin Mitang picked up her phone and stared for a long time at Cheng Dingyuan’s candy-colored profile picture on WeChat before finally opening their chat.

They hadn’t spoken since high school graduation.

She had only re-added him that evening at dinner, and even then, she had doubted for a while whether she had gotten the wrong account—because the candy avatar looked so unlike him.

The chat window was empty, save for the system’s automatic line: “I’ve accepted your friend request…”

Lin Mitang bit her lip, fingers lingering over the keyboard, typing each word with care.

[Cheng Dingyuan, I’ve thought it over.]

[How about we find a time to get married?]

She hesitated for a moment, worried he might have changed his mind in the meantime, and hurriedly typed again—

“Of course, if you don’t want to anymore, it’s fine, just pretend I never said—”

Before she could finish, his status changed: “The other person is typing…”

Lin Mitang froze, holding her breath.

The next second, his reply came through.

[Cheng Dingyuan: Alright.]
[Let’s get married.