Abstinence Pei, don't be too sweet when chasing your wife

In the study of the Pei family's old house, the light from the desk lamp cast a neat circle on the floor.

After finishing her call with Gu Fanxing, Mother Pei placed her phone next to the inkstone, her fingertips running over the warmth left by the receiver. Gu Fanxing's hesitant words "Auntie, I will take good care of him" on the phone made the lines at the corners of her mouth filled with a calculated smile.

"Mom, you're staring at the safe again."

Pei Luochuan came in with the sliced ​​pears and saw Pei Ma circling the cabinet door with her fingertips. "What's hidden in here? Is it more valuable than your pair of jade bracelets?"

Mother Pei rolled her eyes at him and fished out the shiny brass key from the depths of the drawer.

When the key was inserted into the keyhole, there was a slight "click" sound, as if a secret that had been sealed for a long time was unlocked.

She pulled out a red silk bag from the bottom of the cabinet and opened it layer by layer, revealing two dazzling red marriage certificates. The gold letters on the cover shone so brightly under the light that it made people dizzy.

"This is... Brother and Sister Fanxing's?" Pei Luochuan was so shocked that he almost dropped the fruit plate. "When did they get the marriage certificate? Why didn't I hear anything?"

"She did it before she went into hiding in Qingchuan County."

Mother Pei picked up the marriage certificate and rubbed the edge of the photo with her fingertips.

She suddenly let out a low laugh, her voice echoing across the shelves of thread-bound books, causing the pages to rustle. "Come to think of it, the first time I met this girl, we didn't even get to exchange a single word."

"No words?" Pei Luochuan scratched his head. "Then why did you choose her so clearly?"

"A year and a half ago, you were flipping through photos of Kong Haoyu in the Five Handsome Guys group, muttering, 'The way my brother looks at this girl is as serious as if he's looking at a contract.' You even asked your brother, 'Is she your girlfriend?'"

Pei's mother closed the marriage certificate and wrapped it in red silk cloth, her movements as gentle as if she were fiddling with fragile porcelain.

"Your brother said he wanted to have a relationship with that girl even before they even started dating."

So, Mother Pei immediately started to make plans in her mind.

Luo Nan had been cold to all women for over twenty years, even refusing to meet the girl introduced by his aunt. It was no ordinary thing for him to sit down and talk with a girl. She asked someone to find out, and found out that the girl's name was Gu Fanxing, an archaeology student who always liked to look up information at the city library.

"I thought at the time that I had to go and test her in person to see what kind of person she is." Mother Pei snorted, a shrewd glint in her eyes. "The one Luo Nan wants to marry can't be someone with bad character."

She asked a tailor to make her a dusty cleaner's uniform and went to the library.

That afternoon, Gu Fanxing was squatting in front of the bookshelf, carefully dusting a Qing Dynasty local gazetteer. Her ponytail hung down her back, with a little dust on the ends of her hair.

When she was about to sweep to her side, she suddenly fell down holding her chest.

"Auntie!" The girl stood up suddenly, her knees clattering against the floor without even bothering to rub them. She rushed over to check her breath: "Wake up! I'm calling 120!"

Her hands were shaking when she dialed the number, but she did not forget to take off her sweater and put it under Pei's mother's head. Later, the nurse said that as soon as the girl got in the car, she told the doctor that "I don't know if she has any underlying diseases." She even fastened the seat belt on the ambulance seat tightly for her, for fear that the bumpy ride would aggravate her "condition."

When they arrived at the hospital, Gu Fanxing ran around to handle the procedures.

The doctor said she needed to pay a deposit first. Without saying a word, she took out her mobile phone, slid her fingers across the screen quickly, and scanned the code to pay the deposit without blinking.

The nurse at the cashier said that when the girl paid, she repeatedly reminded him to "take good medicine", but she hesitated for a long time in front of the vending machine in the corridor and finally only bought a bottle of the cheapest mineral water.

When Pei Ma "woke up," Gu Fanxing was the only one in the ward. She was dozing on the bed, her eyes slightly dark. Next to her was a half-eaten loaf of bread, the packaging of which was printed with a supermarket promotional label.

Seeing her open her eyes, the girl suddenly woke up with a start. The panic in her eyes had not yet faded, and she was busy pouring water: "Auntie, you are awake! How are you feeling? What's your family's phone number? I will help you contact them."

She gave her sister's number and looked at Gu Fanxing's serious profile as she dialed the phone - the girl deliberately walked to the corridor to make the call, so as not to disturb her rest, and she also lowered her voice when speaking.

At that moment, Pei's mother already had an idea in her mind.

This girl, faced with a stranger "cleaner", neither gave up nor cried, but handled the matter as steadily as a mistress of the house.

Before Pei's sister arrived, Gu Fanxing left his phone number with the nurse: "If her family doesn't come, call me at this number." He left the payment slip and left without saying a single word.

When he reached the door of the ward, he looked back to confirm that Pei's mother was in stable condition, then he gently closed the door and disappeared in the hospital.

"Aren't you afraid that she's pretending?" Pei Luochuan was shocked.

"He's just pretending. He's just a stranger. What does he want?"

Mother Pei rolled her eyes at him. "When she left, she was still clutching a half-eaten piece of bread, and she didn't mention a word about me helping to pay the deposit. Girls like that are really naive."

From that day on, she decided on Gu Fanxing.

Later, as they got along, she discovered that they both had feelings for each other, but the progress was too slow. In addition, Pei's mother was eager to have a grandchild, so when she saw Gu Fanxing's household registration booklet in Pei Luonan's drawer, she came up with the idea of ​​helping the two get their marriage certificate.

She found her best friend Sister Wang, who was the director of the Civil Affairs Bureau, and took their household registration books and ID cards to the Civil Affairs Bureau. She obtained the two marriage certificates based on the principle of special handling for special matters.

"Aren't you afraid that Sister Fanxing will find out and feel cheated?" Pei Luochuan looked at the red book and always felt that this operation was too "wild".

"She won't." Mother Pei stuffed the red silk bag into the deepest part of the safe, and placed a few thick family tree volumes on top. "The last time Luo Nan was injured, when she wiped Luo Nan's hands, her eyes reddened at the sight of the wound. When she gave him water, she tested the temperature with her lips first. When Luo Nan was unconscious and called her name, she stayed by his bedside without closing her eyes. This girl has Luo Nan in her heart, but she's too shy and needs a way out."

She walked to the window and looked at the pomegranate tree in the courtyard.

The last time Fanxing came, she said that the flower buds of this tree looked like "little flames". Luonan didn't say anything at the time, but the next day he asked the gardener to remove the weeds around the tree for fear that she would trip over them.

"Mom, Brother Haoyu sent a message." Pei Luochuan smiled while holding his phone. "He said that he deliberately took off his rehabilitation bracelet today and asked Sister Fanxing to put it on for him. But when she touched his hand, her face turned red like the sunset."

Pei's mother smiled so hard that wrinkles formed at the corners of her eyes. "Just like your dad. When he was pursuing me, he deliberately left his umbrella at my house and ran back in the rain to get it. He ended up getting soaked to the skin, but he still insisted, 'It's cool.'"

She turned and walked out the door, then turned back to warn, "Tell Haoyu not to rush back, and give the two of you more time alone. And don't reveal this red book—it's my trump card, and I won't reveal it unless it's absolutely necessary. It would be best if he could coax her back himself. That way, we can live a peaceful life."

Pei Luochuan looked at Pei's mother's back and suddenly realized that the safe did not contain a marriage certificate, but a mother's foresight - she hoped that her son would get what he wanted, but was also afraid that her "arrangement" would become a shackle, so she could only secretly hide her strongest trump card and wait for her child to learn how to love by himself.

Late at night, Pei Ma thought of the affectionate look on Fanxing's face when she looked at Luonan, and the light in Luonan's eyes when he mentioned Fanxing. She suddenly felt that this "calculation" was worth it.

She gently patted the safe, muttering to herself, "Luonan, this is the only path I can pave for you. The rest is up to you." It's best if this red book never has to be used—a wife earned through sincerity is the warmest part of a family.

The moonlight from outside the window streamed into the room, casting a gentle glow on the brass key. It was like the expectation she kept deep in her heart, silent but unwavering.