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Just after he had finished inspecting the layout of the wedding venue, Bai Luo Yin received a call from the army.
"Bai Tuzhang, your application to live out of the military base has already been examined and approved. If there are no special missions for you to handle, then have the option of returning home once your tasks are completed. However, if there are any unsettled housing situations, you can also return to live on base. We have already arranged a nice living space for you and your spouse, as he is allowed to stay here with you."
Being able to hear such news made Bai Luo Yin's mood burst with excitement, and his tone of voice was somewhat politer than in normal times.
"I'm sorry to have troubled you all."
"It's no trouble at all," the officer on the other side said. "Major General Zhou was the one who fought for you in regard to this matter. If you want to thank someone, you should certainly go and thank him!"
Once the call ended, Bai Luo Yin had a bright smile on his face as he looked at Gu Hai, who had been listening to the side the entire time.
"How about that? Didn't I say that our Major General was a kind and honest person? Yet you didn't believe me!"
Gu Hai snorted, unconvinced. In reality, he was positively grateful to Zhou Ling Yun since his aid had resolved one of his greatest plights!
"Just let him be the wedding witness!" Bai Luo Yin proposed again. I personally think that he is quite amazing himself; he's a person of good moral standing and reputation with a pretty high status in the military, and he has an especially great aura. There is really no one more suitable than him!"
Gu Hai contemplated for a short while and then asked, "What about my brother then?"
"Him, ah!" Bai Luo Yin thought it over, "How about letting him be the MC?"[1]
Those two letters provoked a despicable expression on Gu Hai's face, "Do you honestly want a festive ceremony to be hosted by a person with facial nerve paralysis? Aren't you scared that he is going to take charge of the wedding as if it is a funeral?"
"Occasionally changing how things are traditionally done is also pretty good." Bai Luo Yin was unexpectedly quite open to an unconventional idea, "I think that that mouth of his is wicked enough to perhaps create a different atmosphere during that kind of event."
Gu Hai held his chin and faintly said, "Let me think about it again."
"That's enough, there is no need to think about it anymore. It will be him."
With that settled single-handedly, Bai Luo Yin immediately dialled for Gu Yang.
When the called connected, Gu Yang's first words were, "What is it? Are you guys breaking off the marriage?"
"Just listen to what he's saying, are those even human words?" Gu Hai became annoyed, "And you still want him to be the host?"
Bai Luo Yin was choked to speechlessness.
Unknowingly, Gu Hai realized something and snatched the phone all before he spoke to Gu Yang on the other line. "Not only did we not break off the marriage, but we are also sincerely inviting you to be our MC! I, Gu Hai, don't have any strong points, except-I am impressively open-minded and generous. I am also planning on finding everyone that has ever pursued Bai Luo Yin since he was a kid until now and gather them together in a few of the tables. When the moment comes, we will all drink and chat merrily."
Gu Yang went silent for a long time while Gu Hai waited with a smug attitude for his reply.
"Alright, I'll be the MC."
After he put the phone down, he looked over at Bai Luo Yin.
"All done, right?"
Bai Luo Yin gazed towards Gu Hai full of interest. "Are you really going to invite everyone that has ever been secretly in love with me?"
"Of course. I will not only invite them, but also make all of them abide by the old-age tradition of us 'giving presents as returns'.[2] If they don't comply, they will not be allowed into the venue."
"Return what gift?" Bai Luo Yin asked.
Gu Hai said indifferently, "Just their face would be enough."
Bai Luo Yin had a puzzling expression on while Gu Hai laughed evilly again and again.
"I will stand at the doorway and wait for them. When one shows up, I will step up and give them a big slap on the face and once another appears, I will also grant them a slap..."
Okay...Bai Luo Yin surrendered, you really are generous.
-
Gu Yang had not left and was actually still in Beijing the entire time. Just after the call with Gu Hai ended, he went to look for Zhou Ling Yun with a gloomy aura.
Bai Luo Yin had long leaked to Gu Yang that he wanted Zhou Ling Yun to be the wedding witness, and now that that had come to fruit, he also wanted to go and see the person himself. Unfortunately, he did not have an excuse at the time. But now, that predicament had been solved. With one being an MC and the other a wedding witness, he could use that as a reason to go and find Zhou Ling Yun under the pretenses of rehearsing their dialogues.
"So, you're saying, you want me to announce that their marriage is not valid?" Zhou Ling Yun asked.
Gu Yang declared his position in a clear-cut manner, "It's not valid in the first place. With no marriage certificate, it already doesn't abide by a clause that is present in the law of marriage. If you were to actually act as their witness, that is considered a serious violation of the code of conduct. If someday someone wanted to give you a hard time, they can easily use this matter to retaliate against you."
A trace of hesitation emerged on Zhou Ling Yun's robust countenance. "I'm not very good at crashing a wedding ceremony!"
Don't give me your shitty fake act of kindness... Gu Yang mentally responded to Zhou Ling Yun. You're the most fucking insincere of all!
"Wy should I agree with you?" Zhou Ling Yun questioned.
Gu Yang snorted coldly, "You don't have to agree, but immediately after you read out the testimony, I will report your behaviors and documents to your superiors and any higher authorities' branches. Also, coupled with your abuse of power in personally giving the go-ahead for Bai Luo Yin's application to live outside of the base, how would it look? Furthermore, I have all the evidence so do as you see fit!"
Zhou Ling Yun exposed a strained appearance as his brows rose in contemplation. Then he spoke in a low tone, "I can certainly choose to not be their witness."
"That's exactly what I wanted." Gu Yang's stern eyes sharpened, "Anyone is better than you to settle this matter."
"How about this? I agree to cooperate with you but that's not because I'm afraid of your threats, I just want to be friend. Since we met under such a freaky combination of factors, I have always admired you. Let's not mention all the grudges and gratitude from the past and utilize this wedding ceremony as a platform to officially kick off our friendship."
The string of words that poured out of Zhou Ling Yun's mouth had a magnanimous degree of intensity that made it hard to doubt its authenticity.
"That's all up to you." Gu Yang employed an unperturbed expression. "As long as you agree to crash the wedding with me, everything else can be properly discussed."
As a result, the two signed a contract of agreement.
-
The night before escorting the 'bride', Bai Luo Yin and Gu Hai officially separated.[3] While Gu Hai stayed at his company, Bai Luo Yin remained in the military base; the two opposing sides maintained a strict demeanor with their respective troops for the incoming battle. It was surely not a surprise that the two had kept all information pertaining to the process of their 'escorting' method a secret from the other, making so that both were clueless to the scheme ahead. However, although strung with nervousness, there existed the thrill of the unknown.
For Bai Luo Yin, that night was a sleepless night without a doubt.
Owing to the result of a toss of a coin, Gu Hai was first to come and escort the 'bride' tomorrow. Bai Luo Yin was not worried of what wicked scheme Gu Hai had up his sleeve, instead, he was actually afraid Gu Hai would waste money without a blink. Thinking back to the impulsiveness that speared straight into Gu Hai the night he proposed to him, when he arrives tomorrow, will he present his entire company? He does not wish for tomorrow's news to be about that. "The most luxurious wedding fleet in history appears on the streets of Beijing-stretching two kilometers, including XX number of cars and XX number of brands..."
You must by all means leave us a bit of money to enjoy our retirement ah... Bai Luo Yin restlessly spread out on the bed.
In the very early morning of two o'clock, he was awakened by the stylist.
"It's about time to dress up. The escorting fleet should be coming soon."
Bai Luo Yin sat up. Even when he carried out a dangerous mission, he was never that nervous.
As for Gu Hai, he did not sleep the entire night and was accompanied by his staff, who was also the honor ceremonial escorting team. This group of beautiful women adorned themselves with simple makeup as they threw off their work clothes and changed into dresses-each and every one of them elegant and refined. In order to preserve an optimal psychological condition, although they had not slept, they conscientiously closed their eyes to recuperate and to be packed of enthusiasm to greet their Gu Zong's wife.
Tong Zhe looked at his watch only to see that it was already 4:30AM.
"Should we set off now?"
Gu Hai took a deep breath and waved his hand aggressively, "Bring my private vehicle over!"
With his command, the garage door opened and the face of the garage manager that everyone had been anticipating finally emerged. He magnificently drove the luxurious wedding vehicle over amidst the lively crowd's buoyant applauses.
Suddenly, one of the pedals fell off, nearly causing the manager's foot to slip to the ground.
There is no mistake and you have certainly not misread, it was indeed a pedal... an out of shape and deform pedal, to say the least.
Not showing the slightest sign of embarrassment or repulse, Gu Hai received that second-hand bicycle -now with a missing pedal-and immediately shook the handlebar, which resulted in a crashing sound throughout the body of the bicycle.
That drew out an explosive laughter from everyone around.
Gu Hai cleared his throat and retained a serious demeanor-without revealing a hint of fatuousness.
"You all must not underestimate this bicycle. Back then, your Gu Zong, I, relied on this bicycle to pursue your soon to be 'young miss'. Today, can you all rely on these bicycles behind me to help me escort the lovely miss home as my wife?"
With his resounding command, more than 900 beautiful women responded in unison.
"We can!!"
Gu Hai raised the small loudspeaker in his hand and asked again, "Do you have the confidence?"
A louder and clearer shout resounded.
"We do!"
After that, Gu Hai rode the second-hand bicycle and lead the fleet. Tong Zhe and Yan Ya Jing followed behind him with a team of 99 beautiful women that formed the main fleet behind them. Altogether, there was a total of 999 individuals. Except for Gu Hai's bicycle, the other 98 bicycles were completely produced by the company. The body of the bicycles were red in color and had heart-shaped handlebars and rose-shaped little bells. There was also a stick of tanghulu propped at the back of each bicycle, and even if there was no red silk tied to the front, the brilliant red that streamed from one bicycle to the next was nonetheless magnificent.
With that kind of fleet creating such a battle formation on the street, the spectacular display was absolutely not inferior to a luxurious wedding escort. What made the masses gasp in amazement the most was the groom's diligence and attentiveness. Not only were this type of 'vehicles' low-carbon and environmentally-friendly, they were also exceedingly romantic and utterly creative-attracting a surge of enviable and admirable gazes along the way.
"Oh my god, isn't this just too romantic? This groom is defying the natural order!"[4]
"Those bicycles are lovely! Which wedding celebration company manufactured them ah?"
"This won't do! When I get married, I also want to buy that kind of bicycle!"
Bai Luo Yin, you have indeed underestimated Gu Hai. Not only was he not extravagant and wasteful, he also helped the company create publicity.
-
Translator's Note:
[1] MC (master of ceremonies) - a person who introduces speakers, players, or entertainers.
[2] give presents as returns 随礼(return gift) - The tradition of giving return gifts can be traced back for centuries. It was used to thank guests for coming and a way to give back to make sure the guests were satisfied. Kind of like a 'wedding favor' in a sense.
[3] separated - it's tradition for the 'bride' and groom to not see each other before the wedding day.
[4] "This groom is defying the natural order!" (新郎这是要逆天啊!) - it could be something like, "...the groom is unbelievable!"
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