From Broken Family to Life Winner: A Reborn Mother's Journey

Wu Sheng’s sudden words caught Su Li completely off guard, leaving her momentarily stunned.

”An engagement?”

Wu Sheng nodded vigorously, took a deep breath, and stared intently at Su Li. ”Yes. I said I’d wait until after you graduated to bring up marriage, so this isn’t about getting married. But we can get engaged first.”

At this point, afraid Su Li wouldn’t agree, Wu Sheng continued to explain, his tone uncharacteristically rushed.

”I already proposed to you and you accepted, but we never had an engagement ceremony. I was thinking, if you’re willing, we could get engaged this year and then get married next year. How does that sound?”

He had long since thought of Su Li as his future wife and called her his fiancée every day. He was confident in his own feelings and confident in Su Li’s.

But now that he had actually brought it up, Wu Sheng couldn’t control his nervousness, terrified that Su Li would refuse.

Wu Sheng, who had faced countless dangers without a hint of anxiety, now found his palms sweating.

He was so nervous!

Wu Sheng watched Su Li without blinking.

Su Li was still dazed.

When she had first agreed to be with Wu Sheng, it was with marriage in mind. Over these past days, she had become absolutely certain she would marry him in the future. However, Su Li had never really thought about getting engaged.

Although most people still had engagement ceremonies in this era, in the future she was familiar with, the engagement step was basically skipped in favor of going straight to marriage.

Su Li had also assumed they would just get married directly. She never expected Wu Sheng to suggest an engagement.

’An engagement...’

As Su Li was pondering this, her hand was suddenly grabbed.

”Su Li? What... what are you thinking? You don’t want to, or is it not a good time?”

Su Li looked up to see Wu Sheng’s nervous gaze. ”An engagement is really just a ceremony. We just invite our friends and family for a meal and announce that we’re engaged, that’s all. After we’re engaged, everything will be the same as it is now. Nothing will change.”

”I know I might have brought this up a little suddenly, but I’ve been thinking about it for a while. How should I put this...”

”I want us to go through all the steps, everything a normal couple does. I want to give you... the very best.”

Whether it was a wedding or an engagement...

In ancient times, there were the Six Rites. What they were doing now was simple by comparison. Of course, he wanted to go through every step.

Seeing Wu Sheng’s expression, Su Li suddenly smiled.

”You’re nervous?”

Seeing Su Li smile, Wu Sheng froze for a moment, then flatly denied it. ”No.”

”Oh, come on. You are nervous. You’re talking so much. What are you nervous about? Afraid I wouldn’t say yes?”

Su Li grinned. ”I was just thinking about it. If you hadn’t said all that just now, you would have already heard me say yes.”

That was right. Even without Wu Sheng’s subsequent explanation, Su Li would have agreed.

With it, she was even more determined to agree.

Su Li took Wu Sheng’s hand and continued walking forward. ”Let’s go. When should we set the date?”

Wu Sheng was pulled along for a short distance before he finally managed to suppress his ecstasy. Hearing her question, he answered without a second thought, ”Eight days from now. The ninth day of the lunar month. It’s an auspicious day, and I want to do it as soon as possible.”

”The ninth, huh?” Su Li stifled a laugh. ”You’ve even picked out the day. When did you start scheming this behind my back?”

Wu Sheng threw up his hands in mock surrender. ”I didn’t! I wasn’t trying to hide it from you. I’ve been wanting to bring it up for a while, but it was always either you being busy or me being busy. I never got the chance.”

Wu Sheng tucked Su Li’s hand into his own pocket to warm it up.

”It’s just that they brought it up again last night, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I was so anxious last night I couldn’t sleep.”

Last night, Wu Sheng had been secretly planning and even tiptoed to the door of Su Li’s room, only to find she was sleeping soundly!

Wu Sheng scratched his nose and decided not to mention that part.

”I was just thinking and thinking, and then in the middle of the night, Mom got up to use the bathroom. She saw me in the living room and actually brought it up herself.”

Su Li’s eyes widened. ”Auntie mentioned it too?”

”Yeah. She’s mentioned it to me before, twice actually. She couldn’t sleep last night either, just like me.”

In the end, the mother and son ended up conferring in the middle of the night. They whispered and plotted, even pulling out an almanac to check for an auspicious date and rummaging through cabinets to find a pair of rings.

They were from the same set as that jadeite ring.

But they weren’t heirlooms passed down through the generations. They were part of Wu Sheng’s maternal grandmother’s dowry, which had been passed on to Wu Qihua.

Wu Qihua and Wu Sheng carefully polished the rings and discussed their plan. Only after agreeing that Wu Sheng would talk to Su Li today did the mother and son return to their respective rooms and finally sleep in peace.

Hearing this, Su Li said, ”...No wonder I heard some noises when I was half-asleep last night. So it was you two.”

Wu Sheng laughed heartily.

And just like that, they had it all planned out, even discussing who to invite.

They continued to chat as they slowly walked back home.

Once they told her they had agreed, Wu Qihua was overjoyed. She gave the rings she’d found to Su Li, telling her to try one on to see if it fit.

The ring was gold, its color a little faded, but the pattern was simple, classic, and elegant. It had a wonderful feel to it.

Su Li looked into Wu Qihua’s smiling eyes, thanked her without any pretense, and took the ring to try it on.

The size was just right.

Wu Qihua watched her and smiled. ”It’s fate! It’s fate! Su Li, you were destined to marry into the Wu Family.”

And so, the matter of the engagement was settled.

After that, they chose a restaurant and invited all the guests, which kept them busy.

Su Li also talked to Tang Mo about the engagement. Tang Mo didn’t say much about it, but he helped out with the preparations.

The days flew by, and soon, the engagement day—the ninth of the lunar month—arrived.

Because they had agreed to keep it simple, they only invited close friends and family, so it wasn’t a large crowd.

There were even fewer people on Su Li’s side. Because it had been arranged so suddenly and during the first lunar month, her classmates, as well as Li Hongqin and the others, had all gone back to their hometowns and hadn’t returned to the Imperial City yet.

In the end, the only ones who came from her side were Yu Zhengqing, Ling Zhen, and a few others.

They could have changed the date, of course, but Su Li decided against it. It was best to have it during the winter break; otherwise, she would be busy once school started, and Wu Sheng would get busy too.

As long as their well wishes arrived, it was fine if they couldn’t be there in person.

The engagement ceremony was a lively affair. Wu Qihua was very capable. Knowing that Su Li had a poor relationship with Miao Fenghua and Su Dan, she took on all the responsibilities, even those that would have normally fallen to Su Li’s own parents, thus saving Su Li the stress.

She was the one who prepared the outfit Su Li was to wear.

When Su Li saw the engagement dress Wu Qihua had prepared for her, she was truly stunned.

It wasn’t an ordinary formal dress, but a qipao.

After taking Su Li’s measurements and making a few minor alterations, Su Li tried it on and fell completely in love with the qipao.

The qipao was one Wu Qihua had taken out from the bottom of a chest. It was the work of a master, though she didn’t tell Su Li whose. The person who helped with the alterations was also a master-level tailor, so it fit Su Li perfectly.

Wearing the qipao, Su Li’s entire aura and appearance were elevated by more than just a single notch.

On the night of the engagement ceremony, group after group of arriving guests—men, women, and children alike—were left staring in a daze.

Wu Sheng simply couldn’t take his eyes off her.

Su Li needed no blush; the most beautiful flush already graced her cheeks. As time went on, under Wu Sheng’s intense gaze, it only grew redder.

The simple engagement ceremony ended in a lively and perfect fashion.

The biggest joke of the evening was probably when Wu Sheng, distracted by staring at Su Li, accidentally tried to feed himself a piece of food up his nose.

That night, Wu Sheng couldn’t bear to part with Su Li. He almost blurted out that she shouldn’t change, that she should just keep wearing the dress for him to look at.

On this day, Wu Sheng was happier than he had ever been.

His fiancée was the most beautiful woman in the world.