My Alleged Husband

Chapter 261 - 241 Engagement Banquet_1

"Now that you’ve come to understand, then shall we hurry and hold the engagement party?" Zhang Yichen excitedly said to Ran Zhihan. He was a bit impatient now; he just wanted to take the woman before him back home as soon as possible, holding her in his arms, having her by his side every day. He didn’t want there to be any chance for this woman to slip away from him.

"What? Why the rush? We’ve just reconciled, can’t we put off thinking about the engagement party for a while? I want to spend some more time with you before thinking about these matters!" Ran Zhihan was stunned. Although she had come to a decision, she was still unsure about whether she should spend her life with Zhang Yichen!

When Zhang Yichen heard what Ran Zhihan said, he froze and then spoke to her, "Zhihan, listening to your tone, it seems like you’re a little unhappy. Is it that you still don’t want to marry me, or do you regret having agreed to our engagement?"

"You’re overthinking it, I have never regretted being with you because I know that you are one of the rare good men in the world. Meeting you in this lifetime is my greatest fortune. It’s just that I’m still a bit conflicted in my heart, I don’t know if us being together like this will cause any harm to your parents or mine. I don’t want them to be hurt again because of our relationship; if that were the case, then I’d really be too selfish..."

Zhang Yichen felt that Ran Zhihan made a lot of sense, he smiled and said to her, "You always think things through so thoroughly. Perhaps I was too eager. You have no idea how much I want to marry you. I am uneasy for every second you are out there on your own; the only way I feel most at ease is having you by my side. Can’t you show some understanding for me?"

"Yichen, deep down, you also understand very well what kind of person I’ve always been. But with this matter, you want me to comply with your wishes, to feel for you, and to get engaged to you—it’s really difficult for me. Don’t you know that I want to spend a few more years with my parents? To them, I’m their only daughter, and for the sake of being with you, they have already been hurt a lot. Shouldn’t I spend more time comforting them? Why can you only see your own happiness, and never consider the happiness of the generation before us?"

Zhang Yichen was now especially afraid of upsetting Ran Zhihan, so he said to her, "My dear, please don’t be angry, believe me, I will surely treat you doubly well when we are together, I won’t let anyone hurt you, not even my parents hurt yours. Once we’re together, your parents will be mine too; how could I not care about my own parents? You’re right, maybe I really am in too much of a hurry, but I still hope you can think about it thoroughly. After all, this concerns our lifelong happiness. Don’t you think that this is something you should consider more? Have you really never thought about spending your life with me?"

Ran Zhihan didn’t know what to say; how could she have not thought about it? Her heart had always felt that way; since the day they met, ten years ago, that was what she had thought. But as a girl, how could she bring herself to say such things?

"What exactly do you want me to say? I have to admit, I had already considered everything you are saying now ten years ago, but the fact that you can suddenly say these words to me still caught me off guard. After all, I am a girl, and you just lay it all out there without any subtlety, leaving me with no idea how to respond. I know you’re eager, but we really can’t rush this. My parents have just been through a life and death situation, how could they easily let me be with you? I want to spend more time at home to comfort my parents, to be with them for a few more days. It may be difficult for you, it may seem selfish, but I still hope that you can try to see things from my perspective. After all, these are my parents! You just said that once we’re together, my parents will be your parents too. How can you not care about your own parents? From our conversations, I know that you’ve always cared deeply for your parents, choosing to remain silent because you thought that saying nothing might be for the best. But you didn’t realize that by saying nothing, by being bad at expressing yourself, you ended up hurting my parents. I can’t push the blame for that incident onto you, it also has to do with me, it was my lack of thorough consideration! It was my failure to take my parents’ safety into account when I acted, which led to them getting so hurt. I can give up everything, but my world cannot be without my parents. To me, my parents are my sky, and if that sky were to suddenly disappear, then my world would turn dark..."

Zhang Yichen only now realized how incredibly important her parents were in the heart of his girlfriend, and yet, he had never paid attention to this before. If he had known earlier how significant her parents were to her, he would have never let his own parents hurt her, for doing so would only worsen their relationship.

"Zhihan, I’m sorry, I didn’t know your parents held such an important place in your heart. I always thought your feelings for your parents were just out of filial duty, and I never imagined that your bond with them could be so deep. What happened before was my mother’s fault, and I apologize to you on her behalf. I hope you can forgive her!" Zhang Yichen said to Ran Zhihan.

Ran Zhihan saw a man who could command the winds and waves outside, yet in front of her, he was as humble as a child. How could she bear to hurt him further? If she failed to cherish such a caring man now, would she not regret it for the rest of her life? She was not willing to lose the man she loved most, no matter what.

"Don’t be like this. In fact, when I chose to get back together with you, I already knew the kind of difficulties we would face in the future. Now, to be with you, I’m not afraid of anyone causing trouble for me. I just hope that if they have any dissatisfaction, they direct it at me and not hurt my innocent parents. They gave birth to me and raised me so that I could meet you today. So, I hope that you can let them go for all their years of hardship, not to let the issues with me affect them and cause them any harm. That wouldn’t be good for you or for me. I believe you feel the same as I do. If you can guarantee that your parents will absolutely not hurt mine, then I can promise you right now to go ahead with an engagement party, and you can set the date. What do you think?"

"Okay, I promise you, I won’t let my parents hurt yours anymore. If they dare to hurt your parents again, then I will disown them for the rest of my life. Now you can rest easy, right?"

"Mm-hmm..."

And so, they set the date for their engagement party just three days later, inviting all the friends and relatives from both their families, hoping for the most heartfelt blessings. But what they didn’t know was that on the day of the party, Zhang Yichen’s mother would do something utterly astounding.