Shadow and Light: The Bride Who Clicks Her Way to Love-Chapter 140 - 141: Wedding or Not

A wedding dress for her?

Su Xingyu gazed at it intently, seeing that the gown was vividly beautiful, with camellias of varying postures laid out successively on the bright red satin, interwoven with gold and silver threads, peacock blue, and rouge red, colors that layered and intertwined exquisitely. "I never expected Grandma to have such skills, it’s so beautiful," Su Xingyu said, somewhat overwhelmed, "Is it a gift for me? You don’t need to. Lu Shifeng and I are already married..."

"You two didn’t have a wedding," the old lady interrupted her with a single sentence, "What kind of bride doesn’t have a wedding ceremony?"

"This..." Su Xingyu was left speechless, the old lady was stating a fact, but her marriage to Lu Shifeng was too rushed; who would have thought of holding a wedding? From what the old lady meant, it seemed she wanted them to make up for the wedding, but Su Xingyu was unwilling. With Lu Shifeng’s status, any such attempt would undoubtedly cause a sensation, and from then on, she would be exposed, never having a peaceful life again.

She told the old lady, "Things are fine as they are now, no need for a wedding ceremony."

The old lady compared several shades of yellow embroidery threads, finally choosing a goose-yellow one to embroider the camellia stamen, saying, "Do you dislike the wedding dress this old woman embroidered for you?" She compared the threads again, and Su Xingyu noticed that there were dozens of shades of just yellow spread out on the floor, not to mention other colors. The old lady switched to a darker golden yellow, "True, the times have changed now; you young people no longer have the tradition of wearing richly embroidered wedding dresses and red veils. This satin I’ll have altered into a qipao for you; wear it for toasts at the wedding banquet, it’ll be truly beautiful."

Su Xingyu lowered her head and said, "How could I possibly dislike what Grandma gives? It’s just that I don’t want you to strain your eyes, and really, there’s no need for it."

The old lady put down her embroidery, turned to look at her, "A wedding must have. In this matter, Shifeng did wrong, letting you be aggrieved. That child is too stubborn, refusing to listen to the family’s arrangement to marry a suitable socialite. He married you in haste to spite the family. But a girl’s life cannot be so reckless. Grandma will take charge and hold a grand wedding for you."

Su Xingyu was surprised; she never understood why Lu Shifeng married her; although she had asked him, his answers were always vague.

So that’s the reason. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

It wasn’t because of love—they didn’t have that between them;

Nor was it due to revenge or compensation for the Lu Shiyin affair;

It was simply his arrogance and pride, unwilling to use the influence of the wife’s family to further his career, which made her the best choice.

Her feelings were complicated, proud of him, yet aching for him, but mostly a kind of indescribable bitterness, as it turned out, in his eyes, who she, Su Xingyu, truly was wasn’t important, as long as she was just an ordinary girl without power, influence, or status... Her life was upheaved by his momentary whim, and to him, it might just be an insignificant little interlude.

She looked at the wedding dress in red on the embroidery rack before her, the boldly blooming camellias hurting her eyes.

The old lady looked at her, with a slight sigh in her heart, knowing her words just now must have made Su Xingyu feel bad.

But those words, she had to say them; she had to dispel the girl’s illusions about men of the Lu Family, having suffered once herself, deceived and hurt, using the rest of her life to endure the pain; she didn’t want Mu Liancheng’s descendants to suffer the same. Men of the Lu Family shared a nature: cold, indifferent, domineering, and unreasonable. Since marrying in couldn’t be avoided, at least extinguishing unrealistic feelings and loves and seeing the truth early is the best way to protect oneself from harm.

While now, things aren’t too deep.

The old lady tenderly told Su Xingyu, "Good child, life is the passage you create yourself, take it slowly, and you’ll be happy."

Happy?

Su Xingyu gave a wry smile; she didn’t know what happiness was.

Her strength was really small; wherever the giant waves of fate pushed her, she could only settle there—step by step, watching each step unfold.

"Lu Shifeng hasn’t let me suffer," she gently told Grandma, "I just don’t want a grand wedding myself."

The old lady looked at her with some surprise, "Oh?"

Su Xingyu said, "Grandma, please forgive me, but I don’t want people to know I’m his wife so soon. His status is lofty; wherever his wife goes, she’ll be the focus of attention; once that label of the Lu Family’s young lady is attached, it can never be removed. From now on, my own career, all my efforts will be buried under this label, drawing no more attention. That’s not the life I want."

The old lady seemed even more startled; however, just for a brief moment, she smiled and praised, "Only Liancheng’s descendants would say such things."

She understood her meaning, unwilling to be a mere affiliate to Lu Shifeng.

"Then let’s postpone the wedding for now," whatever Liancheng’s granddaughter wants, she would try her best to satisfy, "But Xingyu, you have to accept this wedding dress; Grandma will have it converted into a Chinese-style qipao for you, wearing it on important occasions or for receiving guests will be really nice." This gown, she had embroidered for decades, from a girl of tender age into an elderly woman. She once eagerly anticipated wearing this dress to marry her beloved, but since that tea garden fire, everything changed... She confined the half-embroidered wedding gown, entering marriage with Lu Shifeng’s grandfather, and decades had passed. If this girl resembling Liancheng hadn’t appeared, this gown, half-embroidered, might have rotted away at the bottom of a drawer forever.

Because Su Xingyu appeared, the old lady wanted to finish embroidering it.

It belonged to Liancheng; if he was absent, it belonged to his descendants.

The old lady cherished touch on the unfinished satin, maintained excellently over decades, without a trace of erosion by time.

Su Xingyu watched the old lady’s nostalgic actions; the fiery red camellias on the satin gave her faint guesses of something unsaid; already at this point, refusing it further would not be appropriate, so she bowed her head and solemnly told the old lady, "Thank you, Grandma, I will definitely cherish it well."

"Good child." The old lady smiled with relief, her wrinkled hand picking up a thread again, embroidering delicately.

Su Xingyu stayed by her side, helping thread needles and hand over tools.

She found the old lady’s embroidery demeanor was truly beautiful, an elegance remaining calm and composed despite the trials of age.

She couldn’t help but say, "Grandma, may I take a picture of you? You look really good."

"Take a picture?" The old lady was slightly taken aback, recalling it, "I heard someone say, Shifeng organized a street photography competition for you?" Although outsiders might not know this, those in the Lu Family focusing covertly and openly on Lu Shifeng’s new bride naturally would investigate, and rumors passing to the old lady would be quite normal.

Su Xingyu blushed with a smile, "Yes."

The old lady said, "Is this what you want to pursue as a career? How is it going now, anything this old woman can help with?"