Su Fu didn’t think she was asking for too much.

Conditions were meant to be negotiated.

Besides, if he was proposing something like this, it meant she clearly possessed qualities he valued.

Chen Jingyuan coughed lightly.

“A three-bedroom house with a courtyard in Shanghai, plus five hundred yuan. Provided you meet my conditions.”

Su Fu wasn’t particularly concerned about what those conditions were.

“It’s not in some remote area, is it? And what about a job?”

Her practicality was written plainly across her face, and she wasn’t embarrassed about it in the slightest.

Chen Jingyuan shook his head.

“I can take you to see the house. As for a job—whether you can get one after marriage depends on your own abilities.”

As tempting as the opportunity was, Su Fu still needed details.

This involved her future, after all.

“Besides the five hundred yuan, will I get money after the marriage? How much per month? I’m actually pretty good at cooking.”

Chen Jingyuan coughed again.

“Thirty yuan a month as spending money.

You won’t need to cook.

After marriage, we’ll share a room, but I will absolutely respect boundaries.”

Then his expression softened slightly.

“My mother’s health is poor. The doctors say she probably won’t make it past next spring.”

“You’ll need to make her believe that you truly love me and that we’re genuinely married.

I want her to spend her remaining days happy and at peace.”

“At all other times, you can do whatever you want. You don’t need to pretend to be gentle or obedient. Just be yourself.”

A row of question marks practically appeared above Su Fu’s head.

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

Su Fu glanced up at the ceiling.

It really felt like a pie had fallen straight from heaven into her lap.

“Wait a moment. I need to use the restroom.”

A deal this good landing in her hands made her want to go check whether her father’s grave was suddenly emitting auspicious smoke.

Instead of going to the restroom, she went straight upstairs.

“Lili, there’s something I need to tell you.”

Li Mingyu was eating pastries.

The moment she saw Su Fu, she eagerly pulled her down beside her.

“What is it? Did you handle it? What did he say?”

Su Fu didn’t hide anything.

“I handled it. He’ll take the initiative to break off the engagement.

But… I’m going to marry him.”

Li Mingyu’s eyes lit up at the first sentence.

Then went impossibly wide at the second.

“What?! Susu, say that again!”

Su Fu repeated everything.

Everything except the part about the contract marriage.

Li Mingyu’s chest suddenly felt tight.

“Susu… if I said I didn’t agree, what would you do?”

Su Fu met her gaze seriously.

“If you’ve changed your mind and don’t want to break off the engagement anymore, I’ll wish the two of you happiness.

If you still want to end it, then I’ll stick with my own decision.

You know me.

I want a better life.”

If Li Mingyu truly decided she didn’t want to break off the engagement, then the contract marriage would simply never have existed.

Su Fu wanted a good life.

Her moral standards weren’t exactly saintly.

But she would never steal a friend’s fiancé.

Especially not her one and only real friend.

Li Mingyu sighed.

“But I can give you a good life too.

I’ve already asked my parents to keep an eye out for job opportunities for you.”

Su Fu reached over and patted her head.

“You need to understand something.

A friendship built entirely on taking isn’t a real friendship.

It doesn’t matter who gives first or who gives more.

At the very least, the exchange has to feel fair in your own heart.”

Take this trip to Shanghai.

Li Mingyu thought spending two hundred yuan to solve her marriage problem was worth it.

So she didn’t feel indebted.

Su Fu thought traveling all this way for two hundred yuan was worth it.

So she didn’t feel indebted either.

In human relationships, the important part isn’t the favor.

It’s the reciprocity.

Li Mingyu shot her a look.

“You’re younger than me, but sometimes you sound exactly like my dad.”

Su Fu laughed.

“So have you decided?

Break off the engagement or not?

The choice is yours.”

Li Mingyu genuinely thought about it.

Su Fu didn’t rush her.

She simply picked up a pastry and slowly ate while waiting.

A long time later, Li Mingyu finally spoke.

“I still want to break it off.

I can’t sacrifice my future just because I’m jealous that he gets to marry you.”

Su Fu looked helpless.

“What exactly are you jealous of?”

“I’m just jealous!”

After chatting a little longer, Su Fu went back downstairs to find her future husband—the man whose name she still didn’t know.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.

Let’s sign the agreement.

But you should at least give me either the money or the house first.”

Chen Jingyuan stood.

“No problem.

My surname is Chen. My given name is Jingyuan.

My family calls me Xiao Wu.

You can call me Fifth Brother if you’d like.”

Su Fu smiled.

“My surname is Su. My given name is Fu.

No nickname.

Call me whatever you like.”

For the first time, Chen Jingyuan felt that someone’s appearance matched their name perfectly.

“Fufu?”

He smiled faintly.

“I’m twenty.”

“I’m eighteen.”

The two exchanged basic information about themselves before signing the agreement.

Only after the money was safely in her hands did Su Fu go upstairs to get Li Mingyu.

Li Mingyu glared at Chen Jingyuan repeatedly.

Her nose was practically pointed at the ceiling.

“Hmph!”

Chen Jingyuan lazily looked at her.

“I’ll go arrange the registration paperwork.

Any issues on your end?”

“No issues.”

The village leader had given Su Fu a couple of introduction letters the last time she’d asked.

They were already stamped.

She only needed to fill in the details.

She also carried her household registration booklet with her.

Ever since turning eighteen, she had been listed as the head of her own household.

Li Mingyu continued glaring until Chen Jingyuan disappeared from sight.

Only then did she look away.

“Susu, if he ever treats you badly, you have to come find me.”

Su Fu always had endless patience for straightforward, sincere people.

“I know.

You’re my family now.”

Li Mingyu hugged her arm tightly.

“If the circumstances weren’t so awkward, I’d definitely attend your wedding banquet.”

Su Fu smiled and shook her head.

“Auntie Xu said you’re starting work the day after tomorrow.”

The Li family had arranged a position for her as a sales clerk at a department store.

An easy and respectable job.

Li Mingyu sighed dramatically.

“Fine.

But when I get married in the future, you absolutely have to come.”

“I will.”

From their first meeting to obtaining a marriage certificate, the entire process took less than half a day.

Even Su Fu felt it was unreal.

Had she really established herself in a major city just like that?

One year.

After one year, she’d have a house.

Money.

And maybe even a stable job.

Li Mingyu spent a long time fiercely warning Chen Jingyuan not to mistreat Su Fu.

Then she grabbed Su Fu’s hand and prepared to leave.

At that moment, Chen Jingyuan spoke lazily from behind them.

“Miss Li.

Su Fu is my wife now.

Shouldn’t she be coming home with me?”

Li Mingyu froze.

…She’d almost forgotten that part.

“She still needs to go back to my house and collect her things.”

Su Fu shot Chen Jingyuan a look and followed Li Mingyu out.

There really wasn’t much to pack.

Su Fu washed the clothes she’d been wearing and hung them beside the red dress on the terrace.

“Lili, thank you.”

She returned the two hundred yuan Li Mingyu had given her earlier.

Being able to come to Shanghai.

To see so much of the world.

And to unexpectedly obtain a one-year contract marriage that might change her future.

All of it had happened because of Li Mingyu.

Li Mingyu refused to take the money.

“Susu, I want your life to keep getting better and better.”

Su Fu placed the money inside a drawer.

“When you make friends in the future, keep your eyes open.

I’m not as good a person as you think I am.”

Li Mingyu ignored that entirely.

She was stubborn by nature.

Otherwise she never would’ve volunteered to go to the countryside in the first place.

“I don’t think planning for your own future makes you a bad person.

I may be a little foolish, but my grandmother once said something.”

She paused and looked toward the flowers blooming on the terrace.

“She said some flowers are carefully watered and nurtured as they grow.

Others grow out of cracks in the rocks.

You can’t say the flower from the rocks is ugly just because it’s twisted and uneven.

A flower is still a flower.

As long as it struggles to bloom with all its strength, it becomes the most beautiful and unique flower of all.”

A flower growing from a crack in the stone had to endure constant pressure.

It had to fight for nutrients.

It had to survive wind and rain.

And it still had to endure being nibbled by animals.

Neither of them spoke after that.

They simply stood together, quietly gazing at the flowers for a very long time.