Strategy to Capture Men - Chapter 31-1

In the last two months before marriage, Han Yanyan became extremely clingy. Whenever she had any spare time, she would wrap herself around Qiao Chengyu. It was common knowledge that the second son of the Qiao family, a cold and aloof elite, turned into a doting husband in front of his fiancée. The couple scattered dog food madly everywhere, making spectators sick.

Thankfully, the golden couple’s grand wedding eventually arrived as scheduled.

The wedding venue was an old, historic castle, and the Qiao family had spared no expense to decorate it lavishly for the wedding, banquet and guests.

According to custom, on the eve of the wedding the soon-to-be-married couple wasn’t allowed to meet, but regardless, Han Yanyan quietly snuck into Qiao Chengyu’s room.

Qiao Chengyu had already guessed it was her when he heard the knock on the door. He opened the door, pulled her in, and pressed her to the back of the door to kiss her. Although they were obviously soon going to be husband and wife, it felt like they were two secret lovers stealing a moment of pleasure together.

Delighted, Qiao Chengyu pressed his hand on the door paneling, a thin layer of goosebumps climbing up his back and shoulders. Han Yanyan wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, and on her fingers she felt the tiny uneven bumps, like an electrical current flooding into her body from her fingertips, leaping forward, surging on in waves.

She coiled herself around him like a vine, their two bodies melding together perfectly into one. Their lips and tongue twined, their sweat blended together, everything shared between them.

“Qiao Chengyu, Qiao Chengyu,” she murmured his name.

Shuddering in arousal, Qiao Chengyu was unable to make any sort of coherent answer, only managing to let out a grunt in response.

“I like you…” Han Yanyan whispered in a low voice. “I like everything about you…”

Qiao Chengyu finally broke free from the trembling feeling and looked down at her. The tips of their noses were touching, and their lips brushed each other. Her voice was as fine and thin as a thread, and only at this close distance was he able to make out what she said.

She said, “It’s like you were tailor-made for me…”

Any words that might have followed were sealed behind warm lips. Han Yanyan fell down deep into the mire of tenderness, unwilling to struggle out. When finally the bride-to-be was too weak to walk, the soon-to-be bridegroom carried her back to her room quietly in the dead of night.

The next day right before the wedding, Qiao Chengyu felt worried about her and bribed her bridesmaids into letting him into the preparation room.

The old castle room was tall and broad, the walls assembled from boulders and the sunlight streaming in through the stained glass in the windows. There was an almost sacred hush under the vaulted ceiling. On a quaint wooden chair, Han Yanyan sat looking into the mirror, sheathed by a hazy halo of light. The long white train of her wedding dress spread out on the floor all around her, seemingly sparkling with holy light.

She was the bride of his dreams. For a moment, Qiao Chengyu held his breath for fear of disturbing her.

Han Yanyan saw him in the mirror and smiled. “Why are you here? Aren’t we not supposed to meet before the ceremony?” She said this quite shamelessly, as if she hadn’t been the one who to sneak into his room last night.

Qiao Chengyu let out his breath in a slow exhale. He stood far away, quietly staring at his bride.

“What’s the matter?” she asked, turning around.

Though she was smiling gently at him, Qiao Chengyu still remembered how she had looked when he had pushed the door open. She had been looking at herself in the mirror, and on her face… there had been no smile. Therefore, he had hung back. Just a few moments before the wedding, hesitation grew in his heart.

Han Yanyan smiled, holding out her hand. “Come here.”

Qiao Chengyu walked over and took her hand. It was soft and warm, and somehow it calmed his wavering heart.

Gazing at his bride, he suddenly knelt down on one knee, held her hand to his lips, and kissed the back of her hand gently.

Surprised and amused, Han Yanyan asked, “Are you trying to propose again?”

But Qiao Chengyu’s eyes and expression were serious. Kneeling before her, holding her hand, he was like a knight swearing allegiance to his princess.

“Yanyan,” he said, “I’m blessed to be able to marry you. I thank God for my good fortune. I, Qiao Chengyu, swear to you–”

“I will do my best to be the husband you want, to give you the marriage you want.”

“I will be loyal to you, to our marriage, and to our family all my life.”

“I will be a good husband and a good father.”

“When we have children in the future, whether they are boys or girls, I will love both them and you with all my heart.”

“Parent-teacher conferences, sports meets, stage performances, reading contests, academic competitions… I promise you, I won’t miss a single important moment in their life…”

“Yanyan, Yanyan…” Qiao Chengyu stared at his bride and asked softly, “…why are you crying?”

Tear marks criss-crossed Han Yanyan’s smiling face. She gripped his hand tightly and answered, “Because I’m happy.”

Her throat quivered. There were three words stuck in there that wouldn’t come out.

That she couldn’t say.

Qiao Chengyu stared at her for a moment, then chose to believe. He got up, kissed her cheek and eyes, dried her tears, and told her, “You couldn’t possibly be happier than me.”

“Because,” he smiled, “I am about to become the happiest man in the world.”

He let go of her hand and left the room.

The bridesmaids, makeup artists, stylists, dressers and staff who had left to give the couple some personal space swarmed back in, and Qiao Chengyu disappeared behind them. Han Yanyan stared at the door, unable to make out his figure.

“Oh, no need to look so hard. You’ll see him in fifteen minutes!” joked a bridesmaid.

A group of other girls guffawed, “Even fifteen minutes is too long to wait! Oh my God, what a big bowl of dog food!”

The emotions that Han Yanyan couldn’t help but reveal were tightly wrapped back up. She lifted her chin and plastered back on the smile of ‘Eldest Miss Han’.