Perfect Fiancé Chapter 54

15th February.

Lu Xi had already been discharged from the hospital for quite some time already and the latter half of the production period for《Sunflower》had already been completed. The negotiations with the broadcasting station had already been finished as well and they were prepared to begin broadcasting after the New Year. As the person who was credited as the original author and also part-screenwriter, Su Jin had her wish fulfilled as she completely watched the entire drama once. Moreover, she had expressed great satisfaction with the adaptation.

Only, no matter how she coaxed or pestered and she had even tried seduction tactics too, even with all of this: she had not been able to retrieve a gander on the design draft from Director Lu (who had always been docile and obedient towards her) on their formal wear.

"He had said he wanted to give me a surprise," Availing herself of the chance while the makeup artist turned around, Su Jin sighed in lament towards Lin Xiyue, "as long as it isn't something terrifying, then that would be great."

The engagement ceremony was in the evening and right now, it is currently just past noon. However, as the main star for today's event, Su Jin had already begun to put on makeup now.

"It's not as bad as you think, right?" Curling her lip into a laugh, Lin Xiyue continued, "Elder brother-in-law does not appear to be that sort of unreliable person."

"Tut." Su Jin's phoenix eyes blinked as she scoffed. Due to her being in the process of being adorned with makeup, her face strained to make no movement and she had only spoken in a murmur, "when an earnest person does something unreliable, it would be even more unreasonable."

Hearing Su Jin's mutter, Lin Xiyue could not help her laughter and hurriedly swallowed down the fruit juice in her mouth as she lightly coughed twice while soothing herself.

"Miss Su, when will your formal wear be arriving?" The makeup artist asked politely, "because the makeup must match the formal attire, I can only prepare the base right now."

As they were saying this, the door of the room was knocked on.

Lin Xiyue got up and walked towards the door and opened it.

"Elder brother-in-law?" As she saw the gift box in the man's hands, she spun around and yelled, "Jie, Brother-in-law has sent the formal wear over now!"

"Xiyue, could you bring those things in and have him go to the room next door." Su Jin replied to her.

"Brother-in-law, give it to me then. Gege is waiting in the room next door for you." Hearing this, Lin Xiyue calmly extended her hands.

"I'll be troubling you then." Lu Xi smiled and then pa.s.sed the dark blue gift box that was in his hands over to Lin Xiyue as he turned around to go to the neighbouring room.

Who knew how both families' elders had reached a common consensus, however, they had made the decision that on the very day of the engagement ceremony; before the ceremony is held, both of them could not meet each other. One heard that this was a suggestion by Madam Lu and she had even used a genteelism, saying that this was to let them experience what it would be like prior to their marriage ceremony……

Thinking of all these circ.u.mstances, as he was walking towards the neighbouring room the expression on Lu Xi's face had darkened. What ridiculous notion was this to experience how it felt like before they get married? If you had the capability, Mom, then why don't you just straightforwardly propose for a marriage between the two families!

Without mentioning Lu Xi's thoughts about the matter, Su Jin was actually quite satisfied with this rule. After all, women would dress themselves up for the sake of their loved ones[1], especially on this sort of big day like an engagement soiree, if the formal wear he designed was too…… In any case, she would still have some time to conceal a few flaws, right?

[1] 女为悦己者容 (nǚ wèi yuè jǐ zhě róng) – A two-part sentence depicting about males and females, it is written by a famous writer from olden China, Sima Qian who was the Han Dynasty historian and also known as the father of Chinese historiography.

Here, this phrase has five different meanings and explanations: (1)Girls or women, in general, would dress, groom and make themselves up for the person they like (the object of their happiness), (2) Girls would meticulously dress themselves up for the person who likes them, (3) Girls would please themselves by meticulously making themselves up for their own pleasure, (4) Because of love, girls would look radiant and glowing, lastly, (5) Girls are accepted (with all their flaws and strengths) by the person in love with them. The phrase becomes complex due to the wide scope of its meaning, whether the girl/woman in question is pa.s.sively receiving or also actively expressing their initiative for the sake of their loved ones.

However, this thought of hers had immediately vanished into thin air the very second she opened that embroidered box.

Deep and light colours of red and gold, they had interwoven to create an exceptionally beautiful hue.

The neckline of the long skirt was reminiscent to the hanfu's v-shaped collar with the intersecting layering of fabric at the neck. At the hems of both sides of the collar, the fine golden thread had skirted along the edges to sketch a picture of a phoenix pattern. The lower half of the dress was made with layers of cerise coloured organza and based on the length of the dress, it probably reached her ankles. In addition to that, at the waist area, it was matched with a two fingers width (about 4 to 5 cm) of golden ta.s.sel belt. In contrast, on both arms of the dress were lantern sleeves that were made of organza that is the same cerise colour as the skirt and at its sewn st.i.tches on each shoulder line, the sleeves were matched with small, exquisite golden bows.

Red and gold.

Su Jin was stunned, that fellow- did he think that she was suited in wearing and that such a colour scheme matched her?

"How beautiful!"

In a chorus, both Lin Xiyue and the makeup artist cried out in surprise.

"Jie, was this truly designed by brother-in-law?" Lin Xiyue's limpid eyes blinked as she asked with astonishment.

Her field of speciality was jewellery design, although it was dissimilar to clothing design- as a related design field, there would always be some areas that were universally common.

For example, talent and most foundational knowledge.

At first, when she had heard Su Jin mention that Lu Xi would prepare formal wear that he had personally designed, she had thought that he would design a piece that would generally be catered for the ma.s.ses or of the popular trend. After all, there were many styles that could be drawn on from other's experiences or by observing others- so this was relatively easier to do. She had not thought that he would bring out such a work of art.

"Has he taken a clothing design course before?"

"I don't know." Su Jin shook her head and then nodded as she continued, "this was his design. Do you remember that hanfu I wore the last time when I was performing the qin during the graduation ceremony?"

Hanfu?

Lin Xiyue rapidly nodded. That very day, Su Jin's beauty surpa.s.sed all the other flowers around her; that vermillion coloured crossed collar hanfu, naturally, she remembered it.

"That came from his hands."

Su Jin said this while smiling.

Lin Xiyue was slightly startled and as she carefully scrutinised this formal wear before her, she nodded with clarity and understanding.

The dim light of the night quietly approached.

Lin Xiyue and Su Yue had long since changed into their clothes so they went to the first floor to greet the guests.

The engagement celebration/ceremony was done accordingly to the requests of the two main leads of the night; it was not of a large scale and therefore, the people invited had all been just close relatives, family, and friends.

Due to the agreement and decision of both families to have the engagement in Shenhai and to have the wedding in Beijing, the relatives and friends from the Lu family were not invited.

At this moment in the hall, the three influential families of Shenhai City were closely interrelated like the branches of a tree and were all there in support. Thus, for the eldest young lady of the Su family's engagement party, as her maternal family, the Han family were naturally present too. Although Ming Xuan and Su Yue's conjugal affairs did not work out, both families did have a good relations.h.i.+p and thus were evidently, invited too.

The remaining guests were mostly families that had been invited to maintain a mutually beneficial relations.h.i.+p; so it could even be said that all these people who were invited into this large hall could be counted on the fingers of one's two hands.

The two heads of the Lu family had always been present and during the afternoon, Lu Jing had even rushed down. As for Elder Lu, although he had been wanting to first meet his future granddaughter in law ahead of time, his body really could not bear such travels. Thus, he had not rushed over to Shenhai and could only entrust Lu Jing with a gift to bring over.

The remaining invitees were Su Jin and Lu Xi's friends.

The people that were close with Su Jin were few: the three roommates from her university, Fu Yanzhou and also, Mu Qing whom she had bonded with during the production.

In Shenhai, Lu Xi did not have anyone who he was familiar with, thus, the person that he had invited was just Qin An, who had followed him over to Shenhai.

In total, the people who attended this engagement banquet was no more than about twenty people. Standing in the rather large living room for an evening banquet, it seemed somewhat s.p.a.cious and empty. However, since all of those present were trustworthy and familiar faces- in comparison to those big wine receptions, there was a more genuine, homely, and sincere flavour to it.

On the second floor, the two families had been stalling for time as they were hosting the guests. Lu Xi, who had finally been released, sighed a breath of relief as he knocked on Su Jin's room door.

"The door isn't locked, come in."

Hearing the voice of his young lady, Lu Xi raised an eyebrow as he pushed the door open and went in.

In the room, the makeup artist had long since completed their task and left. Lin Xiyue had already gone downstairs too so the only one left in the room was Su Jin as she sat on the chair before the dressing table. She was gingerly using a straw to drink the water in her cup.

Hearing the sound of footsteps, she had turned her head to look at Lu Xi.

Taking large strides towards her, that pair of slender legs were bundled up in black trousers, and on his upper body, it was rare to see that he had actually changed his usual white dress s.h.i.+rt for a black one instead. As he got closer, Su Jin then realised that the s.h.i.+rt had been made out of silk and on it, it had used black thread to embroider an exquisite and discreet looking pattern of a dragon. From far, it wasn't visible and one could only see it clear when one was near him.

It was the matching pair to her phoenix pattern on her collar.

Red and black, it was the ultimate cla.s.sic and complementary pair.

This man, she could not help but laugh.

Lu Xi was somewhat stunned at this.

On the girl's figure, she was dressed in the long dress that he had personally designed and that dazzling red and gold colour had interwoven into a gorgeous hue and look.

Usually, red was too vibrant and gold was too magnificent and there were many that loved these two colours. However, those who wore them beautifully were truly too rare, if one was not too careful, the clothes would steal the limelight from the person instead.

Yet, Su Jin was truly too suited for this sort of strong colours.

Blessed with an absolutely splendid appearance and supplementing that with the flouris.h.i.+ng hues of red and gold, they too could only become the foil to her brilliance.

As Lu Xi thought this, he had stepped before her.

Her complexion was good so she did not have a strong foundation on. Similar to the work of the makeup artist during the graduation ceremony, the makeup artist this time, too, had just heavily emphasised on her eyes.

Her long, delicate, thick eyelashes were slightly curled and although the ends of her eyes did not have the matching flower makeup for the hanfu drawn on the last time, the makeup artist had adopted an original approach in using a dark red tint. At the corner of her eyes, the eyeliner had been lengthened and slightly curled. Perhaps it was to contrast with the gold colour as well, the manner of how her eyeliner had been outlined made it even more dignified and lofty.

As the bright light fell on her, with the slight raise of her head and the slight curl on the edge of her lips, her smiling face was like a flower. Layer upon layer of gleaming speckles of light in her eyes, what one saw was not a dignified nor lofty bearing. What remained was an extremely beautiful and delicately gorgeous appearance.

In those clear eyes, one could vividly see his figure reflected and it was no longer filled with her former indifference and guard against him. In exchange, what he saw was a gaze filled with trust and reliance.

As if bewitched, Lu Xi had bent his waist.

As those thin lips were about to imprint itself on those pair of eyes, out of the blue, there was a warm finger on its edge.

Lu Xi was startled.

"This makeup, it took me three whole hours to get done."

Lovably, Su Jin had pouted and as she said this, she had held up three fingers to wave in front of him.

Lu Xi stared at the slender fingers of the girl before him and resolutely frowned.

The last time during the graduation ceremony, because it was not his so he could not have a bite. Now that she had already become his, why was it that he still could not have a bite?

Translated by Irisu

Edited by Mino and Tokyo

Sorry, I had a work-related camp on Friday and Sat.u.r.day yesterday. I knocked out before I could do the final proofreading for this chapter to put it up…. ?