Once in a lifetime

  The third day of the first month, February 16th, 2010, the weather was fine.

  Just as I was packing up to head back to the city, I discovered a small box in the drawer of my bedside table. It was made of bright red velvet and contained a sparkling... ring.

  A pink diamond in the center, surrounded by two circles of small diamonds.

  The gilt-edged card in the drawer read:

  To my dearest, Happy Valentine's Day.

  It's Su Hao.

  The first day of the Lunar New Year coincides with Valentine's Day.

  I stroked the card, feeling warm and fuzzy inside.

  What can you say about this man?

  Bring parents to discuss marriage, but actually come to accompany me for the festival? But also not give gifts in person, and not mention it afterwards. Is he really so complex-minded that he's not afraid I won't discover it?

  I lay down on the bed and dialed his number.

  "Good morning, baby."

  "You put something strange in my drawer."

  "What's strange?" He chuckled: "Just realized it?"

  "Oh, I just realized!"

  He laughed again and spoke with a smile: "In the future, you must pay attention to details, who knows when you will make another small fortune."

  Who would think of this as a way to get rich?

  I muttered to myself, took out the ring, and as soon as it touched the sunlight, it sparkled so brightly that I couldn't open my eyes. Squinting, I asked him, "Which finger should I wear it on?"

  "Ring finger, right hand ring finger, thinking of wearing a nameless finger still have to wait several months."

  "I'm not in a hurry, why are you bringing up irrelevant things..."

  "I'm anxious, very anxious."

  His bright and cheerful voice sounds so good too.

  The diamond on the ring sparkled dazzlingly under the sunlight that shone in from outside the window, and the air was filled with scattered light.

  I simply put on the ring symbolizing engagement without much thought or hesitation.

  I thought the first person to discover the change would be the gossipy and sharp-eyed Fu Chaoyang, but unexpectedly it was Grandma, who had the worst eyesight, who saw the ring first and was grinning from ear to ear.

  She went back and told my second aunt, who then told my aunt and my mom. As a result, in the "one tells ten, ten tells hundred" mode, by the time I was about to leave with Fu Chaoyang, everyone in the family knew, and there was another round of powerless teasing.

  Back in the city, I had dinner with Shen Qiwei the next day. She also spotted the ring at a glance and grabbed my hand to examine it carefully, exclaiming: "Darry, pink diamond! The craftsmanship, the purity... Mr. Su really has good taste!"

  "What's with the muttering?"

  "Tsk, you actually don't know, DarryRing, this brand requires an ID to buy, one in a lifetime, our company's little girls are all crazily infatuated with this brand. Looking at the size of the diamond, it should be a customized version..." She turned my hand over again under the sunlight and said: "But from the cutting work, it doesn't seem like..."

  She looked at it for a long time and came to the conclusion: this is an internationally professional cutting good luck back to the country and re-customized.

  Shen Qiwei couldn't help but admire him again: "Mr. Su went to so much trouble just to get the implication of 'the only one in life', he really wants to give his heart to you..."

  We were still sitting in Starbucks, and she was praising me like that in public, making me feel like I had nowhere to hide.

  Shen Qiwei wouldn't let up: "What's with the blushing? You've already arranged the marriage without even setting up a banquet, and you still have the nerve to be shy?"

  “……”

  "Maid of honor, you dare not to give me a keepsake for the two of us who grew up together? I've been keeping this token just for you! Don't disappoint me!"

  I finally covered my face and lamented: "I've been teased for the whole year, you won't let me go... I'd better just stay home until I get married..."

  "That's not okay!" She immediately pulled a long face and said seriously: "You're also going to be a new bride soon, if you want to marry beautifully, follow me!" She picked up the coffee and took a big sip: "Let's go, we're going to the SPA!"

  Shen Qiwei dragged me to her usual hot spring resort, and with a wave of her hand, she ordered the most comprehensive package, and from head to toe, I was thoroughly pampered.

  I dislike experiencing this kind of 'enjoyment' the most, it gives me a feeling of being 'a fish on a chopping board', and I really don't get used to facing half-naked with strangers, even if the other person is a woman...

  Shen Qiwei is used to it, she has already appeared on camera, and her figure makes me feel extremely inferior.

  Especially chest.

  Alas, genes are too great. Piao Chaoyang inherited my mom's flat chest, but as a girl, how can I also inherit an inconspicuous one?

  It's better than nothing.

  I chatted with Shen Qiwei while enjoying myself, telling her about my university life in Beijing, but most of it was just stuff between friends and classmates. Shen Qiwei couldn't help but scold me: "Look at what you're calling romance, three years have passed and the number of times you've gone to the movies can be counted on one hand, are you blind?! How could you waste so much time like this?!"

  Now think about it, who says it's not? Such a dull romance, how can it last for three years?

  I thought about it, feeling a bit helpless and melancholic: "It's probably because it was so dull and lacked any sense of presence that I dragged it out for so long... If it wasn't for Song Na, I'd probably still be stuck on it now."

  "Stop messing around, it's absolutely impossible!" Shen Qiwei said while pressing on her back, still waving her hand: "Do you think Mr. Su is a vegetarian? He's been eyeing you since you were 20 and he's not anxious? Do you think he donated money to your college for nothing?"

  "Did he donate money to our college? How did you know this?"

  "You look down on me, don't you? Without some inside information, how could I possibly betray my sisters?"

  "How dare you say..."

  "Hey, what's good about you? The whole world knows how Mr. Su feels about you, but you're always jumping around and causing trouble. He indulges you and lets you do whatever you want, I've seen it many times and couldn't bear it, even Third Brother didn't let me talk to you about it." She spoke with a tone of helplessness and discontent, sighing heavily before continuing: "Do you remember that year when I advised you two to break up? You didn't take it seriously back then, and in the end Mr. Su even told me not to interfere, saying that if this was an essential part of your growth journey, he didn't want you to miss out on any scenery."

  "Do you know how I felt at that time?" She asked herself, and then suddenly became bold: "I was so touched that I thought you must have saved a white snake spirit in your previous life, and this life has been assigned to love you with such a man. The elementary school teacher always said that fatherly love is deep, but I think it's not much different from yours!"

  Her last sentence was in dialect, not so orthodox, but it matched her slightly fierce aura at the moment.

  I was put to shame by her words and felt utterly humiliated.

  As the truth, which had been buried under misunderstandings for many years, gradually revealed itself, I felt more and more guilty towards Mr. Su. Every time I thought of what he did for me, my heart ached with sorrow.

  Perhaps the seven-year difference has made us think and do things in a way that is worlds apart, but... now he still chooses me, as the one who has always been loved, I also want to sublimate my liking, so many years of liking, into love, so that he won't look back after all these years and feel that this love was not worth it.

  Shen Qiwei asked me: "What exactly does Mr. Su see in you?"

  "Doesn't it seem like you're asking the wrong person?" I couldn't very well praise myself, and besides, how would I know what he's thinking? So I said, "Why don't you just ask him yourself, and then have him write down the answer for me to review. We can emphasize his strengths and work on his weaknesses, how about that?"

  "Come on, you're teasing me and I don't dare, are you provoking me?"

  "So are you going or not?"

  She thought for a moment and said: "I really don't dare, let's just forget I asked."

  Shen Qiwei was afraid that Mr. Su had a reason, that year Mr. Su had just bought a new car and came to the Shen's house to pick up something, and there were several stickers on the car, I even scolded the person who stuck them for being ugly and crooked.

  The next day, Shen Qiwei called me and said that the military district's compound had organized a summer tutoring class for the kids, so she couldn't come to see me this summer. The tutoring schedule was like a regular job, from 9 am to 5 pm, and even in her dreams, teachers were throwing chalk everywhere and exam papers were flying all over the sky.

  Just after that miserable summer vacation ended, Mr. Su unexpectedly brought a classmate to pick us up and take us back home, saying the classmate was hitching a ride, but after seeing him drive away with the teacher, Shen Qiwei burst into tears, saying he had deliberately brought their supplementary lesson teacher to scare her because she had stuck stickers on his car...

  We were just promoted to fifth grade at that time.

  Now it seems that was Mr. Su's demonstration and warning.