Having said at the start of the new year that he wanted to marry a bunch of women in this life, Huang Yaming was actually getting so hastily engaged now.

  The next evening.

  Xu Tingsheng, Huang Yaming and Fu Cheng.

  Leaning against the wall, Huang Yaming had gotten himself very drunk. Still, he had yet to broach that topic on his own.

  Xu Tingsheng did not know how to broach it unless he himself did so.

  If you asked him, Xu Tingsheng definitely disapproved of this union. He did not have a very good impression of Tam Qingling's ilk at all. Usually all pretentious and holier-than-thou yet ruthless, slutty and decisive enough when the opportunity arose.

  To use a phrase from later years, this was a classic 'green tea bitch'.

  Still, there was actually not enough justification for Xu Tingsheng to just oppose Tan Qingling straight out. After all, Huang Yaming himself knew full well what he knew about her.

  Even if Tan Qingling truly did not love him and had come back to look for him only because of his current status and success……such was life! How many marriages were not of love, being merely for convenience or benefit?

  As for that betrayal, if even Huang Yaming could bring himself to forget about it, what more could bystanders say?

  Therefore, he had to first confirm if Huang Yaming was resolved about this before deciding whether to intervene.

  The trio tottered rather unsteadily through the streets, just like that summer vacation when graduating from twelfth grade.

  Huang Yaming who was walking in front suddenly turned and grabbed Fu Cheng who still remained oblivious to the situation even now.

  He laughed and asked, “I’ll ask you something. Me getting engaged……what do you think?”


  “With who? Fu Cheng swung his head to confirm he had not heard wrongly and asked.

  “Tan Qingling,” Huang Yaming said.

  “.……What’s this about?” Fu Cheng asked, feeling rather complex inside.

  “It’s not me who wants it. She’s the one who asked for it.”


  The logic here was a little strange as the other two could not really understand it in their inebriated state.

  They sat down by the roadside.

  “Didn’t I ask her not to come to Yanzhou for the winter holidays? When she asked to accompany me in the movie’s celebratory banquet, I also said no……afterwards, when returning home before the New Year……”


  Huang Yaming leaned against the Chinese parasol tree by the pavement and lit a cigarette before beginning to recount his past experiences to Xu Tingsheng and Fu Cheng.

  After Tan Qingling had first mentioned getting engaged to Huang Yaming, the latter had deliberately distanced himself from her for a time.

  As for why Tan Qingling was in such a rush? Simple. Huang Yaming’s upward rise was too fast. She wanted to tie him down now and avoid any future worries.

  On the 28th, just days before the Lunar New Year, after Huang Yaming had sent Song Ni home.

  Huang Yaming lived in a village on the outskirts of the county just like Xu Tingsheng, only a little further away. After earning some money, Huang Yaming had enhanced his parents’ lives but not changed them completely.

  After entering the courtyard that day, Huang Yaming had been astonished to find Tan Qingling in his home, helping to clean up the place with rubber gloves on.

  After asking his parents, he learnt that she had already come many times this winter holidays. She would repeatedly remind them not to tell Huang Yaming about this every time, however.

  His parents smiled knowingly as they asked him who she was. Huang Yaming replied that she was a classmate from senior high whom he had dated for a period of time around graduation.

  His parents said, “She looks pretty good and is quiet, sweet, obedient and hardworking too. Both of us like her a lot.”


  If not for that betrayal in between, if their relationship had extended till the present day, Huang Yaming might be filled with happiness and bliss upon hearing and seeing all this.

  Yet, this was not the case. Some things that would have left one very happy before would just appear wholly different as they tranispred at another interval in time.

  Huang Yaming towed Tan Qingling out of the courtyard, stuffed her in his car and sent her back home, not saying a word.

  Tan Qingling said many things regarding both the past and the future in their sweet temptations.

  When she once again mentioned getting engaged.

  “Don’t force me……” Huang Yaming said.

  “I know I did wrong, but can’t we go back?” Tan Qingling instantly began weeping, “I want to go back to how we were before. I’ll do anything you ask. Can you please give me a chance?”


  “Okay!” Huang Yaming chortled, “You tell me, how about that woolen sweater you knitted when retaking the university entrance examinations?”


  “.……I, I can knit it again.”


  “During that New Year period, did you see me when you got off from his car at the school gate?”


  “I didn’t.”


  Huang Yaming laughed.

  Some time passed before Tan Qingling said, “I’m not going home tonight.”


  Huang Yaming said nothing and just continued driving towards Tan Qingling’s home.

  Sitting in the passenger seat, Tan Qingling leaned down towards Huang Yaming’s hips and gave it her all……

  That time didn’t change too much.

  Huang Yaming resisted it as he still maintained, “Don’t force me.”
……

  The turning point happened after the celebratory banquet of .

  As the ‘golden boy’ of the media, Huang Yaming received treatment akin to a main character that night. Even as a newcomer in the entertainment industry, he received a lot of enthusiasm and attention from all around. This included some artistes who were ‘working hard’ to seek out opportunities, especially actresses.

  The next day, a media outlet published a photo of Huang Yaming bringing a new actress back to a hotel after the celebratory banquet. There was another photo of that actress leaving the hotel the next morning too.

  Things were very clear-cut. Whether or not this was someone who did not find him favourable trying to set him up, Huang Yaming did not even bother defending himself, even disdaining it.

  He actually totally did not mind his playboy image at all.

  “I’m still going to marry a bunch of women in the future. Just this? Hah?”


  “As for that, yes, I did do it. They didn’t malign me.”


  This was what Huang Yaming said regarding everybody’s queries.

  His relaxed attitude set everyone’s minds at ease, Xu Tingsheng’s included. These things between men and women were really common for successful people. Why should Huang Yaming be an exception to the norm?

  Xu Tingsheng still did not think of himself as a saint, caring about even things like these. There was also no reason for him to force his friend to be one. It was already very rare for there to be a Fu Cheng in this world.

  “The very next morning, I received a call from Tan Qingling’s roommate. She said that she was crying in the toilet the whole night. The next morning, her friend found her about to slit her wrists. She only barely managed to stop her. There was still a cut left across her hand.”


  Huang Yaming recounted the tale as he smoked.

  “This……” As this sounded pretty frightening, Fu Cheng did not know what to say.

  “And so you decided to get engaged with her?” Xu Tingsheng questioned.

  Huang Yaming laughed, “I called her that day and spoke pretty harshly to her. She kept on crying and apologising. I spoke harsher and harsher too. In the end, she swallowed a bottle of sleeping pills that night……”


  This was literally forcing marriage with one’s life! Just as Tan Qingling had been ruthless to Huang Yaming that year, she was indeed just as mercilessly ruthless when it came to herself.

  If these were ancient times and she was fighting for supremacy in the palace harem, she would surely carve out a bloody path for herself without fail!

  Xu Tingsheng and Fu Cheng exchanged looks and wiped their sweat, feeling much more sober all at once.