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At night.

It was past 8 PM.

Zhang Ye's dad and Wu Changhe were having a game of Go in the room. His mother and Li Qinqin were both chatting happily as they discussed how the wedding should be held. Meanwhile, Zhang Ye and Wu Zeqing were spending time together in the west wing.

In the bedroom.

Zhang Ye was finally getting buzzed from drinking too much. He was starting to mumble a lot as he hugged Old Wu's waist.

Wu Zeqing gently massaged his temples for him. "If you can't drink, don't drink that much."

"Hai, I was just really happy today," Zhang Ye said exuberantly.

Old Wu chuckled. "For something that was set in stone long ago, why are you only feeling happy today?"

Zhang Ye laughed, "Haha, that's different. How can we compare setting it in stone with actually being engaged? Today, everything has been officially decided, so I'm finally feeling relieved."

Wu Zeqing smiled. "Were you afraid that I would run off with someone else?"

Zhang Ye was amused. "That's not it. I doubt you'd find anyone as good as me anyway."

Wu Zeqing squeezed his temples. "Hur hur, that's true."

There was no joking around.

There was no teasing either.

Just a simple and assuring "that's true."

Zhang Ye smiled and said, "If there's anything I am afraid of, there's just one thing."

Wu Zeqing asked, "Tell me."

Zhang Ye smacked his lips and said, "I'm afraid that all of this is just a dream. And when I open my eyes tomorrow, I'll wake up from it just like that."

The meaning behind these words would not be understood by anyone but Zhang Ye. To open one's eyes and see the world totally changed, to come to a place where one was a total stranger, he couldn't finish talking about it even if he had three days and three nights to do so. His experience so far was nothing short of mythical. Even if he were to tell it to anyone, no one would believe him. Sometimes, Zhang Ye really was scared he would wake up one day to find Old Wu no longer around and that everything else would disappear as well.

Old Wu replied, "There are times I feel afraid too."

Zhang Ye looked at her and asked, "What are you afraid of?"

Wu Zeqing smiled and said, "I'm afraid that I'll wake up one day and see that you're still young while I have become old."

Zhang Ye rolled his eyes. "You're so good at taking care of yourself, so how could that happen? C'mon, even if it was about getting old, I would be the one to age first. You're only a few years older than me, so I'd definitely age much faster."

Old Wu suddenly said, "If one day, I were to really grow old, would you—"

Footfalls interrupted her as they approached and the door opened.

Li Qinqin, Wu Changhe, and his parents had all come over.

Li Qinqin overheard the last part of their conversation, so she asked, "What about growing old?"

Wu Zeqing said gently, "It's nothing."

Wu Changhe said, "Your auntie and uncle said that they're leaving soon."

"It's getting quite late, so we'd better get going," his mother said with a smile.

Zhang Ye stood up. "Alright then, Auntie and Uncle, we'll be going."

Li Qinqin smiled and said, "Come over when you're free. There's no need to call, just come as you please."

Zhang Ye grinned and said, "Don't worry, I'll treat this place like my own home and won't stand on ceremony. Oh yes, about that rosewood chair Uncle has, it looks really nice. Can I bring it home?"

Wu Changhe rolled his eyes. "How dare you!"

His mother whacked him on the back. "You're really not standing on ceremony, huh!"

Li Qinqin giggled, "Hahahaha."

Everyone laughed.

At the entrance of the courtyard, Old Wu's family were seeing Zhang Ye's family off.

When they returned back into the house, Li Qinqin casually asked, "Zeqing, what were you and Little Ye talking about earlier?"

Wu Changhe said, "Why are you poking your nose into the lovebirds' affairs for?"

"I'm just asking out of concern." Li Qinqin rolled her eyes at him and said, "Why do you keep involving yourself with everything. Just go and play Go and leave us mother and daughter be."

Wu Changhe harrumphed at them and returned to his room to switch on the computer.

A moment later, Wu Changhe exclaimed from inside his room, "Eh, my daughter, come over quick. Little Ye has just updated his Weibo a moment ago!"

Li Qinqin rushed over as well. "Didn't he just get in the car?"

Wu Changhe said, "He probably updated it from his phone."

Wu Zeqing also went closer and lowered her head to see.

" When You Are Old 1 "

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,

And nodding by the fire, take down this book,

And slowly read, and dream of the soft look

Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,

And loved your beauty with love false or true,

But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,

And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,

Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled

And paced upon the mountains overhead

And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

—Written on September 9th.

—I, Lord Zhang, got engaged!

Li Qinqin smiled. "Oh, that Little Ye."

Wu Changhe pointed at the poem on the screen and said dismissively, "Look at this, how hackneyed can he get? When you're old? When you're old and grey? What day and age is it? Do people still fall for sweet nothings like that?"

Beside, Wu Zeqing smiled and said, "I do."

Wu Changhe was speechless.

Li Qinqin said, "You're just jealous of Little Ye's literary talent. Dearest daughter, you just don't know how your dad wooed me back then. He wrote letters to me and would always start them off with 'My dear comrade Qinqin.' Ooh, it gave me such goosebumps back then."

Wu Changhe was furious. "Li Qinqin, are you looking for a fight?"

Li Qinqin pouted and said, "See, he's panicking now that I've mentioned it."

Wu Zeqing stood there smiling, but her eyes fell back to the poem. In just a short span, she read it many, many times.

Meanwhile.

It blew up on Weibo!

When that poem was released, heroes from all over the place flocked to it. Zhang Ye's followers on Weibo had reached more than 10 million people a long time ago. On top of that, he did not usually post on Weibo. And when his Weibo was updated, it was rarely about his current status, pictures, or minor details of his life. It was always either used for writing poems or scolding people. In any case, it would always lead to major events, so the citizens and media personnel always paid close attention to it in case it got updated.

It was the same today.

The moment everyone saw the post, all of them were dumbfounded!

"Holy shit!"

"Teacher Zhang's gotten engaged?"

"What? That's impossible!"

"Someone is willing to marry such an immoral guy? Who would be so bold!"

"Hahaha, could it be that girl who is like a lilac in one of his poems?"

"I guess it should be her! Who could she be?"

"A celebrity? Or could it be just an ordinary girl?"

"Dunno, there's no news at all!"

"Those paparazzi suck at their jobs. Lord Zhang has gotten engaged, but they don't even know who the woman is? We need to give them negative reviews!"

"What a beautiful poem!"

"Zhang Ye's love poems are always different from other people's!"

"It's obvious he's been spoiled happy today. He even called himself 'Lord Zhang'! How shameless can he get! Haha!"

"No matter what, we ought to congratulate Zhang Ye first!"

"Show us her picture!"

"@ZhangYe! Which girl are you marrying?"

"They must have been secretly dating for a long time. Otherwise, they wouldn't have announced the engagement like this. Our media is behind the times, Zhang Ye has kept it too well-hidden!"

"I thought that with Teacher Zhang's temper, he would never find a partner in his lifetime."

"Pfft, I thought so too!"

"I just wonder who Mrs. Zhang is going to be!"

"Come on out, Mrs. Zhang!"

"Summoning Mrs. Zhang, please show yourself immediately!"

The netizens were stirring up a commotion!

Zhang Ye's looks had always been his disadvantage, but there were times when it turned into an advantage for him.

Although his appearance was not remarkable, it was a bit above average. So he clearly could not take the journey of an idol. He could only work harder and put in more effort than the other idols to be able to make a name for himself in the entertainment industry. Every step of his had been extremely difficult. But likewise, now that he had climbed to his current position, it did not really have much of an effect on his popularity even when he announced that he was getting engaged. There was no need for him to hide or keep it a secret. He could openly make the announcement by posting it onto Weibo.

Others would not dare to do so!

Like Dong Shanshan.

Like Huo Dongfang.

Like Ning Lan.

Like Zhang Yuanqi.

Some celebrities would have a clause in their contracts with their talent agencies to not get into a relationship for a certain number of years. All of this was done to prevent them from losing popularity, since some fans were pragmatic and would go to similar celebrities and become their fans if they knew their idol had gotten married. Countless cases happened in which many celebrities lost a great deal of their popularity after announcing their marriage. Of course, there were some who managed to maintain their fan bases, but no one really dared to take such a gamble.

However, Zhang Ye was not afraid of this. He really was not afraid.

That was why he could behave so much more freely than any of the other celebrities.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43283/when-you-are-old

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