CH 20

In the dozen or so days that followed, she soon integrated into this family.

Yi Wenze’s mother loved cooking and especially liked Chinese food. Jia He was also happy to keep her company and chat with her, and over the next few days, she actually spent more time with his mother. The first thing the two did after waking up every morning was to look into what they would eat for the day’s three meals. When their discussions led to a dish that neither of them knew how to make, they would go online to look up the recipe and then study it in detail.

Eventually, both Yi Wenze and his father could not stand this anymore, and they persuaded the two women to simply have a barbecue in the backyard and not, just for the sake of one meal, prepare for two to three hours while, in the process, casting aside and ignoring the two grown men.

“Jia He, you have a very healthy appetite.” His mother was very pleased. With a white brush, she swept some olive oil onto the fresh vegetables. “I like little girls who eat and drink well. It’s nice and healthy.”

I’m long past being a little girl…

Jia He responded with a smile, “I usually eat a lot in the winter, and then in the summer I won’t have much appetite. It might be because my body is still stuck in China mode, so I still have my winter appetite.”

The person in front of her gave her a meaningful look, then suddenly dropped her voice and inquired, “Have the two of you been using any form of birth control?”

An “Ah?” slipped from Jia He, but no words came to her for the longest time.

That was just too direct. Even her mom had never outright asked her like that…

Her head hanging low, she brushed oil onto the chicken wings with all her might. Faltering many times over her reply, she finally squeaked out, “No.”

It shouldn’t be. These last few months, her periods had been normal, and she had not shown any obvious symptoms either. Other than… She searched her mind. It seemed, other than a little bit of change to her bust size, everything was the same as normal. It shouldn’t be, right?

The more she pondered on this, the more self-conscious she became. What made it worse was that the eyes of the person by her side were still fixed on her.

Soon, a delicious smell wafted from the chicken wings above the continuously prancing flames. From somewhere by her hand, someone suddenly handed her a basting brush. Only then did she snap back to the present. As she hurriedly made a couple of sweeps with the brush, she heard his voice ask, “What are you thinking about?”

Jia He’s cheeks burned even more furiously. But though she spent a lengthy time trying to work herself up to it, she still could not make herself say anything.

Last time, it was because she had mistakenly believed she was pregnant that she had been filled with eager expectation and taken the test so many times, but it had turned out to be nothing. If a repeat of that were to happen this time, she would die simply from getting laughed at… Amid the increasingly tantalizing aroma surrounding them, she finally, filled with uneasiness, snuck a peek at Yi Wenze. “Do you think… I should take a test and see?”

Oh no, I did end up saying it.

Her eyes were darting around nervously, and she nearly burned her hand.

Yi Wenze took from her the things she was holding. His manner was utterly demonstrating that this was all within his expectations. “I’ve already made an appointment. You might need to wake up a little earlier tomorrow.”

Huh?Jia He stared incredulously at him. “When did you make the appointment?”

“Before we came, when we were in Shanghai.” He plated all the food items that were done grilling. “I was afraid you would be too uptight, so I didn’t tell you ahead of time.”

Jia He gawked at him the entire time as he brought the plate over, came back, and continued grilling more food. After a long while, with her eyes fastened on him, she mumbled, “I don’t even feel anything; how can you feel something? …”

“I’m the baby’s father. How could I not feel something?” His expression was placid, as if this was only to be expected.

After mulling over that for a moment, she felt that it did sound rather reasonable… even though there was no scientific basis for it. She would just treat it as if their hearts and minds were in sync…

The next day, she had not even woken yet when he picked her up in his arms and started helping help her to get dressed.

Her mind stayed in its muddled state for a long time before she at last remembered what they were going to do today. She gazed at him, wanting to say something, but then she noticed that his attire was particularly proper-looking today. She had thought that, since they became a couple, she had gradually developed immunity to him. However, on this morning, this sight that charged into her view when she opened her eyes still ended up taking her breath away, and she honestly wanted to grab her phone and take a photo, forever preserving this picture.

Seeing that all this time her eyes had never left him, Yi Wenze very resignedly asked, “Awake now?”

She made a sound of “mm-hmm.” Abandoning the idea that her besotted mind had concocted, she docilely followed him downstairs.

When the two arrived at the hospital, they began methodically going through the tests. She only needed to let Yi Wenze lead her, continually going into different rooms, doing various tests. All the doctors were very courteous, but they did not provide so much as one sentence of useful information to her.

Finally, when they were waiting for the results report, he privately had a few words with the doctor.

As Jia He sat on the couch, studying his expression that showed not even the slightest ripples of anxiety, she speculated that he might be concerned that she would be disappointed and hence was discussing things with the doctor first. She had to say, regarding this particular point, he was being extremely thoughtful.

At the end, she left the hospital in trepidation, still not prodding him for any information.

If she really were pregnant, the doctor would have given a very detailed explanation as well as some instructions… But judging from the look on Yi Wenze’s face, he did not appear to have anything that he wanted to say. She surmised that he was worried she was going to experience yet another instance of disappointment, and so was weighing how he should break the news to her. While all these random, baseless thoughts were whirling through her head, an intense feeling of guilt was already beginning to rise in her, and she was incessantly thinking up all sorts of words of persuasion she could use.

The car had driven to a broad, open grassy area before he slowly brought it to a stop.

At the end of that stretch of green was the beach. Beneath the flood of sunshine, the crystal-clear ocean was suffused with a hazy, white glow. Simply gazing out upon this sight would improve anyone’s mood immensely. She followed him out of the car and strolled along the beach. Both near and far, there was no one around but the two of them.

In the serene surroundings, there was only the sound of the rushing waves.

Was she? Or was she not?

Was he trying to give her a happy surprise? Or was he trying to think of how to comfort her?

Jia He groaned inwardly. Seriously, such a conflicted life. Why can’t I just ask straight out?

“In the future, what do you want to name our children?” His tone was mild when he asked this.

Her entire face concealed in the shadow cast by the brim of her sun hat, she plodded behind him, stepping in the footprints that he stamped into the sand and keeping pace with him. What did she want to name her child? She truly had never seriously thought about it. Staring at Yi Wenze’s back, she felt another fierce rush of guilt. When they went back later on, they were definitely going to keep working hard at it… “Have you thought of a name?”

“Aijia, Aihe[1],” he answered very naturally.

When Jia He’s steps paused briefly, she saw him turn his head back. “You don’t like those?”

Her eyes began to sting. What was this? Was it that he more and more knew how to play up the romance, or that her heart was becoming more and more girly? They were just two names, right? And moreover, it was the cheesiest, most overused Chinese way of professing love, one that you could understand with just one glance. Just how many times had she written something like this into her film dialogues? But when she thought about the fact that the children would be surnamed Yi and they were going to be given these names…

Her heart was beating slower and slower, as if it was going to come to a stop.

She watched as he walked back to her. Finally, when he was gazing down at her, she sniffled and asked, “How are you so sure we’re going to have twins?’

There was laughter in his voice as he calmly held his eyes on her and stated, “The doctor told me. The report also said the same.”

……

Her eyes were riveted on him.

Much time passed before she stammered, “Re-really?” Instinctively, she moved her hand to cover her abdomen, not daring to believe him. An inexplicable joy rushed over her, so great it could move her to tears, as if she had been longing for a child for years. This feeling was so palpable it was scary.

He reached his hand forward and smoothed her hair, which was a little disheveled from the wind. Bringing his head down beside her ear, he said, “Jia He, marry me.”

A simple, straightforward sentence, but it was imbued with the greatest tenderness.

It was similar to how he would quietly say to her every morning, “Good morning, honey,” or how he would casually ask her, “Are you hungry?” Yet, it had thoroughly seared into her heart. Dazed, she tilted her face up to look at him, her eyes seeming unable any longer to bear the additional weight in them, and in an instant, teardrop after large teardrop began rolling down.

Darn it! Such a simple marriage proposal, yet she was crying to such an extent after hearing it…

As a screenwriter, she understood too well that, when ported into real life, all those romantic things were simply melodramatic cheese. She had even envisioned that if Yi Wenze said or did anything publicly in front of a bunch of people, she would definitely be so embarrassed she could die on the spot, so embarrassed that before she could even experience the feeling of happiness, she would first get a heart attack. Hence, she would always think, she should just be the one to propose, lest her too-fragile self be unable to hold up under the shock and scare.

Happiness does not require any sort of surprise, as long as every day when I wake up, I can see you there with me—this was the ending that she truly wished for.

And now, everything was as she had longed for. All along, he had understood what it was that she wanted. Merely a beach on which there were no other people. No people to watch and stare at them.

Only him and her. Simple and understated. But filled only with sweetness. Purely, wholly, only sweetness.

“You’re not willing?” Lowering his voice, he followed up with another question.

Jia He ground her teeth and fired a little glare at him. You’re doing it on purpose, aren’t you? I’m carrying your babies in my womb. Do you think I want to be a single mom? But for a long time, try as she might, she was unable to make any words come forth. Waves of heat swept over her, more scorching than even the blazing sun of the seaside. She cleared her throat, wanting to say something, but her eyes dampened again.

With a smile, Yi Wenze lifted her sun hat and very gently placed a kiss on the tip of her nose. Then, he knelt down on one knee. His white shirt and pants and the fine sand that was washed white in the sunlight melded perfectly together.

Jia He stared dazedly at him. She felt as if her soul had already flown out from her body and was standing in a faraway spot, observing her…

His eyes teemed with earnestness. Merely the way he was gazing so intently at her caused her heart to speed up uncontrollably, and her arms had long grown terribly weak.

“I once had depression. Fortunately, though, in the summer of that year, I encountered someone who made it possible for me to get through it and walk out my life to this day. I have also had a failed marriage. Also fortunately, in 2011, I met someone who made me not only want to be with her, but also want that for the rest of her life, her eyes would only hold me in them.” From somewhere on him, he pulled out a box, and very gently he opened it. In the rays of sunshine, enchanting little sparkles of light danced from the engagement ring that lay serenely in that box. “The most fortunate part is, they are one and the same person. In your opinion, then, wouldn’t the whole world not agree to it if I don’t marry her and bring her home with me?”

She was in an unfamiliar country, on an unfamiliar beach. Only the person before her was familiar to her.

She gazed down at him. Even the posture in which he proposed and the words of his proposal were flawless. The two of them remained like this, their eyes locked. After a long moment, she at last stretched out her hand and, in a voice that was choked over, answered, “I think, I cannot go against the whole world.”

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A very small ring. It was the perfect size. When he guided it onto her ring finger, he also slid his fingers through to interlace with hers, clasping her hand.

This moment was like a special effect in a film, a slow-motion shot doing a close up of the expression in his eyes and on his face. In the true first meeting between the two of them, when he had turned his head, he had also looked at her in this same way. His gaze had landed only on her, and a smile had filled his deep, black eyes.

Image after image was flashing across her mind. He, though, had already brought his face down. However, just as he was about to make contact, she suddenly let out laugh. “I think I spoke incorrectly. I seem to have done something that’s made me the target of hatred of the whole world.”

Then, with those words, she lifted her hands, cupped his face, and, bringing her lips up, kissed him.

In that moment when their lips and teeth came together, she suddenly felt that, with this, her life was already set. Five years, ten years, twenty years, forty years—the remainder of her life, she would place into his hands.

Because he was Yi Wenze. Therefore, there would only be happiness.

[1]The given names Yi Wenze stated are 艾佳and 艾禾. The two names share the first character, 艾“ai,” which is homophonic with 爱“love.” The second characters in the two given names are the exact same characters of Jia He’s name. Therefore, when paired with his surname “Yi,” the names Yi Wenze chose sound like “Yi loves Jia” and “Yi loves He,” his love profession for Jia He. In modern culture, the character艾is often played with and substituted in place of the character 爱love.