Perhaps even the people who had come to welcome Cheng Xi back didn’t expect that so many people would show up.

Shen Wei and Tian Rou had gathered a bunch of classmates, and every one of them was holding a fresh bouquet of flowers. Their group had even made a banner, which read, “Welcome back, our glorious Dr. Cheng!”

Cheng Xi almost wanted to cover her face and pretend to not recognize any of them. Luckily, they weren’t making a ruckus with gongs, drums, or anything like that; otherwise, she really might have avoided them.

Tian Rou also ran over to join in on the excitement despite being late into her pregnancy. Baldy stood anxiously to the side, as he urgently said to Cheng Xi, “Come over and hug her first. My god, she’s about to give birth pretty soon. I don’t know what’s going through her mind, running here with so many people crowding her.”

Cheng Xi didn’t know whether to cry or laugh when she heard his plea. She ignored everyone else as she walked over to Tian Rou, hugged her, and then rubbed her bulging stomach. “How am I going to repay you for all your effort?” And then she looked at Su Feng, who was standing beside her. “Isn’t her stomach too big?”

Su Feng and the head nurse walked up to Tian Rou when they heard Cheng Xi ask them a question. After a quick glance at Tian Rou’s stomach, Su Feng replied, “It is a little large, but it’s fine. She had a checkup with me earlier, and there weren’t any major issues—it’s just that she has more amniotic fluid than normal.”

“Are you planning to give birth at Renyi?”

“Of course! It’s your hospital after all!”

Cheng Xi smiled. “It’s not mine. But Dr. Su’s work is very good, and I’m sure that you’ll be fine in her hands.”

Su Feng proudly replied, “Of course! Honestly, if she didn’t reach out to me, then I wouldn’t have even known that you were returning today.” As she said this, she and the head nurse both shot Cheng Xi an intense glare. “We can overlook the fact that you didn’t inform us about your marriage. However, for you to not inform us about your return either…… Cheng Xi, we’ve really treated you well for nothing.”

Cheng Xi began exaggeratedly begging for mercy. “I’m sorry! I just didn’t want to trouble you all.”

She then hugged both of them simultaneously, one in each arm, and then all of her classmates one by one after that. Cheng Xi was very embarrassed. “Whose idea was it to gather all of you up and come here? I’m truly sorry for wasting all of your time like this.”

Actually, Cheng Xi really wanted to say that it was fine for everyone to show up with flowers, but who the hell came up with the idea to make that banner?!

Her classmates didn’t catch the deeper meaning implied in her words, and they all pounced on her as they raucously yelled out, “You’re touched by our actions, aren’t you? If you’re touched, then give birth to a daughter quickly! That way, she can be our daughter-in-law…...”

It was an open secret that Lu Chenzhou was hoping to have a daughter.

Cheng Xi was instantly inundated by a crowd of classmates hoping to find a daughter-in-law for their future sons. Afterwards, everyone laughed jovially as they got into their cars. In the end, Lu Chenzhou wasn’t able to snatch his wife back from the crowd. He was left with just a pile of luggage lying in front of him. After he had gotten off the plane with Cheng Xi, he hadn’t been able to even touch the hem of Cheng Xi’s clothes before she was snatched away.

Cheng Xi spent the entirety of the following week hanging out with her classmates, colleagues, and relatives. Only then did she finally make up for her three-year-long departure.

A week later, Cheng Xi formally returned to Renyi Hospital. The department head even set up a meeting to specially reintroduce her. After four long years, he was still his same old self, but he was now very close to retirement. When he saw her, the first thing he did was smile and say, “I once even thought that I wouldn’t be able to see you again before I retired.” His eyes were kindly as he looked at her. “You’ve really made our hospital proud.”

Cheng Xi was touched by the department head’s gracious words. “It’s all thanks to your teachings, department head.”

The department head laughed. “Alright, you don’t have to try to please me. No one would dare give you the cold shoulder anymore these days.”

Then, they spent a few minutes chatting about what Ceng Xing was up to in Gansu. Right before they ended their meeting, the head took a red packet out of his drawer. “Oh, this is for your wedding. I wasn’t able to attend the ceremony, but I have to give you a red packet, at the very least.”

Cheng Xi was slightly embarrassed by his actions. “It’s already been three years.”

The head chuckled. “Well, if you had come back sooner……”

Cheng Xi made a helpless expression as she reluctantly accepted the red packet. She thought that receiving a red packet three years after her marriage was bad enough, but then something even worse happened. That night, Lu Chenzhou brought her to the Lu household for a meal—conveniently, that day was also Lu Chenzhou’s grandfather’s birthday.

This time, it was just the Lu family and Cheng Xi attending, without any sort of lavish banquet. Lu Chenzhou’s father was also present that day; although the relationship between Lu Chenzhou and his father had soured even more after Donglai’s scandal, Lu Chenzhou’s father had actually gotten closer to his own parents.

Over these last few years, Lu Chenzhou had gotten much better at social gestures—he even knew to buy his grandfather a birthday present, a luxurious cruise ship.

Truly extravagant. Even Lu Chenzhou’s grandfather thought that this present wasn’t particularly suitable, and he commented, “I’m so old now! What’re you thinking, giving something like this to me?”

Lu Chenzhou seriously responded, “Your 60th wedding anniversary with Grandma is coming up, so you can sail in the ocean together with this.”

His considerate words immediately made his grandparents feel very touched, and their eyes started welling up with tears. “I can’t believe that you remember this…… Well then, you’d better quickly have a wedding ceremony with Cheng Xi.”

Cheng Xi, who was sitting to the side and quietly chatting with Lu Chenming, was caught completely off guard by this segue.

How had the topic suddenly shifted to her? o(╯□╰)o

Three years had already passed; how could they have a wedding ceremony now?!

But Lu Chenzhou’s grandfather was quite obstinate on this matter. “The two of you only had a simple ceremony at Gansu, and Zhou’s not particularly fond of telling other people about his private life. Thus, a lot of our relatives and friends still don’t know that he got married. In fact, just yesterday, while we were walking around outside, a friend of mine even called and told me that he wanted to introduce a girl to him…… We thought that it’d be a hassle to inform all of our relatives and friends one by one, so why not just have another wedding ceremony?”

And then, we’d be able to retrieve all the red packets that we gave out at their weddings! 

Of course, they couldn’t say this outright, because Lu Chenzhou would surely mock them. “Do you think that I need their money?”

But Lu Chenzhou also hated troubling himself for others’ convenience.

And when he heard that his grandparents wanted to hold another wedding ceremony just to inform their friends and relatives that he was now married, he instantly became unhappy. “I’ll just have someone send a notice out.”

His grandparents were rendered speechless. “......”

They couldn’t get through to their grandson, and their son was no help to them at all, as he didn’t care a single whit about his son’s well-being. When they looked toward Cheng Xi, she put on a Cheshire Cat-like smile and then leaned into Lu Chenzhou, indicating that she would accede to his wishes whatever they were.

Lu Chenzhou’s grandparents felt somewhat stymied. They hadn’t been able to attend their eldest grandson’s wedding ceremony, and this was something they just couldn’t accept! And so, after considerable effort, they finally thought that they had come up with something that could incite Lu Chenzhou into changing his mind. “How could you just send out a notice? Wouldn’t you be wronging Cheng Xi by doing that?”

Cheng Xi was about to interrupt and say that she in fact didn’t feel wronged, but Lu Chenzhou’s grandmother fiercely continued speaking. “Cheng Xi’s such an amazing woman—if we don’t hold a proper ceremony and let everyone know that she’s married into the Lu family, then what would we do if someone tries to snatch her away by saying that we disrespected her?”

…...Lu Chenzhou’s grandmother was really making a mountain out of a molehill.

But the terrible thing was, Lu Chenzhou actually agreed. When he thought about how attractive Cheng Xi was, Mr. Lu nodded his head decisively. “Alright. We’ll do it!”

And that was it.

Cheng Xi didn’t even have time to make a single objection.

And so, they began planning another wedding ceremony, one that was very formal. Of course, Cheng Xi didn’t have to worry about anything at all; she only needed to try on the wedding veil when it arrived and show up to the meeting between the two families.

Just like the past, both families once again sat down together for a meal and to discuss the specifics of the wedding and where the guests of honor would sit. This time, Cheng Xi had also brought Chen Jiaman along—after all, Chen Jiaman had acknowledged Cheng Xi as her mother, and both families had also tacitly approved of this overaged daughter of Cheng Xi’s.

Afterwards, Chen Jiaman went back to the apartment next to Cheng Xi’s. Besides when Cheng Xi slept and went to work, Chen Jiaman was always following behind Cheng Xi whenever she went out for dinner with her friends, parties, and any other similar activity.

The wedding planning was quite boring to listen to, and Cheng Xi had no intention of actively participating. Whenever they asked her about her opinion, she would toss out a half-hearted response. Over the course of the entire discussion, she spent her time simply peeling grapes and eating them with Chen Jiaman. The two of them sat to the side, happily munching away. In the middle of a conversation, Lu Chenzhou turned around and saw Cheng Xi with her head lowered as her white and delicate fingers dexterously peeled a grape. When Cheng Xi raised her head to meet Lu Chenzhou’s gaze, he noticed that her cheeks were bulging with grapes.

Her lips were moist and glistening with the sweet grape juice.

Overcome by passion, he couldn’t stop himself from licking the side of her lips.

And right after his action, he found that the heated conversation had suddenly fallen silent.

When Lu Chenzhou recalled Cheng Xi’s constant admonitions against public displays of affection, Lu Chenzhou calmly pointed at the corner of her lips. “You missed a spot there.”

“......” 

Mr. Lu, can’t you come up with a better excuse?!

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