Chang Jingwan felt soft in Ruan Zeer's embrace. If he already felt comfortable with her in his sideway hug, what sort of feeling would he feel if he hugged Chang Jingwan tightly?

The wind carried Chang Jingwan's hair upward and almost tickled Ruan Zeer's lips, bringing the sweet fragrance of her hair into his nostrils.

​​

Ruan Zeer then inhaled the fragrance deeply like a pervert.

Chang Jingwan could feel the intense heat radiating from Ruan Zeer's palm on her waist and tried to move away from him. Ruan Zeer detected the slight movement and remained silent, only retrieving his palm after enjoying the sensation on his palm for an extra three to four seconds.

Ruan Zeer's action was so smooth, calm and natural like he was merely supporting Chang Jingwan kindly from falling down and injuring herself. She almost felt like he was doing this for her sake without asking anything in return.

The extra few seconds Ruan Zeer's palm spent on her waist felt unreal, and perhaps she was merely being oversensitive after all.

Chang Jingwan could not refrain from turning around and stared at Ruan Zeer's face from the side. Looking at the gentleman before her, Chang Jingwan finally understood Xu Lele's compliment on him—a handsome man in a white garment in ancient China.

Sure enough, it was just her imagination!

Ruan Zeer seemed to have noticed Chang Jingwan's gaze and turned around to meet her eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Thanks for helping me just now," Chang Jingwan blurted without a choice.

Ruan Zeer nodded in response. "Don't worry, just pay attention when you're walking. How did you stumble when you were staring at the road just now?"

"..." Chang Jingwan failed to muster a reply.

She could not come up with a good excuse at this instant.

"You can't stare at the road at the same time you're looking at me," added Ruan Zeer.

"..." Chang Jingwan was left speechless.

They would encounter a few lecturers even though the campus was humongous.

Exactly like what happened at this moment. The trio met Associate Professor Hua from the Mathematics department, sporting coffee-colored square-rimmed spectacles with a wool vest on top of his shirt, strolling around the campus with his arms on his back.

This associate professor liked to go for a walk on the campus after meals to aid in digestion.

A smile broke across the associate professor's stern expression and the wrinkles on his face almost crinkled into a bouquet of flowers the moment he saw Ruan Keshan.

"Hey, Lao Ruan! Aren't you at the Chinese Academy of Sciences today? Why did you return so soon when you don't have a lecture to conduct in the evening?" asked the smiling Associate Professor Hua as he walked toward the trio with arms behind him.

"No, I came back to join my grandchildren for lunch this afternoon, so now I'm here to take a walk after having my stomach full," replied Ruan Keshan as he returned his smile.

"Hey, aren't you here to visit your daughter-in-law?" Associate Professor Hua teased playfully and fixed his gaze on Chang Jingwan.

"Daughter-in-law?" Ruan Keshan stared at Associate Professor Hua doubtfully with his innocent eyes.

"Still playing the fool, huh? The whole campus knew about the incident in this morning's lecture. You're so blessed! Let us know when Zeer starts distributing wedding candies1!" said Associate Professor Hua happily.

Ruan Keshan had no clue what was going on at the moment. Associate Professor Hua simply shifted his gaze between Ruan Zeer and Chang Jingwan and chirped, "Both of you are perfect for each other!"

"..." Chang Jingwan was at a loss for words.

Chang Jingwan merely left the lecture hall with Ruan Zeer after class. Why did the rumor escalate instantly to wedding candies distribution?

Chang Jingwan did not expect that the elderly professors in the university would have wild imaginations either. Where was the high moral standard and prestige expected in these professors? Where was their devotion and commitment to better education and development of motherland? ┑(￣Д￣)┍

Ruan Keshan might be naive at times, but even a blind man could notice Associate Professor Hua fixing his gaze persistently between Chang Jingwan and his son.

Ruan Keshan remained silent and played the fool again before bidding Associate Professor Hua goodbye.

Chang Jingwan could no longer withstand the intense pressure from all the gazes around the campus and fled the scene immediately.

Ruan Keshan glanced at Ruan Zeer before bringing him to the office.

After the door was closed, Ruan Keshan eagerly asked without the usual strictness a father was supposed to possess, "My son, what's going on? My daughter-in-law is… Jingwan?"

Ruan Keshan's son was good in every aspect—handsome, well-mannered, and superb academic performance—and had never troubled his parents since childhood.

The only thing was that Ruan Zeer had never fallen in love before!

Ever since Ruan Zeer started attending kindergarten, Grandfather Ruan had been asking him persistently if any cute girl had attracted his attention.

However, the idea of getting into relationships sounded ridiculous as Ruan Zeer was still young, and Ruan Keshan merely assumed that Grandfather Ruan was just too bored and wanted to joke with his grandson at that time.

The same assumption persisted even when Ruan Zeer started attending primary school.

When Ruan Zeer started studying in junior high school, Grandfather Ruan even went to his school furtively and surveyed beautiful girls in his free time so that Ruan Zeer's betrothment could be decided in advance. According to Grandfather Ruan, it was extremely difficult to find a suitable spouse and most wonderful ladies would be engaged to toads by the time Ruan Zeer had a successful career.

Chen Minxia resigned to Grandfather Ruan's explanation without any courage for refutation but would take time to warn Ruan Zeer not to play 'puppy love' at such a young age. Quite frankly, that was exactly what Ruan Keshan had in mind too. The child was still young without any experience or knowledge of the adult world, and education was the main priority in his age group.

Fortunately, Ruan Zeer was too busy solving various academic problems and puzzles to have that intention in mind. Many girls had actually handed love letters or even confessed directly to Ruan Zeer in high school, but he basically ignored or rejected them straight away.

The same thing persisted when Ruan Zeer started to further his study at university. He was still single after graduation. He appeared to have no intention of finding his true love even when his doctoral degree was coming to an end! This issue started to trouble Ruan Keshan and Chen Minxia since then.

They merely disagreed with puppy love instead of not loving at all!

Ruan Keshan tried to use a different approach by inquiring his colleagues in the Chinese Academy of Sciences or their friends for potential young ladies and introduced them to his son without making his intention obvious. However, his attempts ended up in failures.

Chen Minxia tried to introduce a few young ladies to Ruan Zeer as well. Many young ladies from wealthy families were present in the banquets Ruan Zeer and Qi Chenglin attended, and some actually expressed their affections toward Ruan Zeer. Even so, Ruan Zeer ignored every one of them.

Ruan Keshan and Chen Minxia were worried sick while their son merely acted calmly like it was none of his business at all.

Finally, there was a rumor about Ruan Zeer's future spouse which gave Ruan Keshan hope and energy instantly.

"Yes, Dad. You think she's good too, right?" asked Ruan Zeer with a smile.

"..." Ruan Keshan was dumbfounded.

His son answered everything for him before he could muster a reply. Even though Ruan Keshan felt that Chang Jingwan was a wonderful lady, he had a feeling that he was forced to accept this information for some reason.

"Good, good! Dad will support you as long as you can find your future spouse, regardless of gender," replied Ruan Keshan.

"..." The corner of Ruan Zeer's lips twitched uncontrollably before he commented, "Dad, I didn't expect you to be so fashionable."

Ruan Keshan grinned in response. "Haha, that's because you made your mom and I anxious about your future."

Ruan Zeer nodded and replied, "I really like Chang Jingwan and want to marry her into the Ruan family."

Ruan Keshan nodded vigorously. "Oh, that's good! That's really good! Son, go for it. Let us know if you need any help. Hahahahaha, Chang Zhiyuan always tries to fight with me for Youxuan and Youning, but now we'll snatch his daughter straight into our home. He'll be so pissed when that happens. Hahahahaha!"

"..." Ruan Zeer smiled wordlessly even though Ruan Keshan's words sounded like he was a human trafficker.

…

…

New rumors appeared out of nowhere and started spreading in University A soon after; Ruan Zeer was going to marry Chang Jingwan very soon! Both families had reached a consensus that the Ruan family fancied Chang Jingwan as his future daughter-in-law since a long time ago, and Ruan Zeer had indeed accepted her identity as his fiancée.

The incident about the duo's secret romance in the lecture hall had established the authenticity of this rumor, which started small at first but had somehow spread like wildfire across the campus like a snowball effect.

Chang Jingwan had no clue about this issue until she went for a lecture with Xu Lele one day when a female lecturer in her fifties fixed her gaze on Chang Jingwan the moment she walked past the podium.

The female lecturer nicknamed 'Devil' grabbed Chang Jingwan's hand affectionately, an entirely unexpected move. "You must be Jingwan! You and Zeer are really a pair of lovely couples! No wonder Lao Ruan was acting so happily in front of us recently. You guys aren't even married but he's been giving us wedding candies every single day. I'm actually worried that my glucose level will increase recently."

This was Chang Jingwan's reaction at that point of time: Σ(っ°Д°;)っ

Blush seared through Chang Jingwan's cheeks and she had no idea how to reply to the female lecturer.

"Teacher… Teacher Zhou, I think you might have misunderstood something. There's absolutely zero relationship between Ruan Zeer and I! Well, not exactly zero. Our families are related by marriage, otherwise there's nothing else between us. Why…"

"Hey, it's alright, I understand you perfectly. It's a rare sight for youngsters to be so low profile these days. Don't worry, everyone knows the truth and you don't have to hide it any further. Principal Hao was aware of it and had agreed to attend your wedding in the future. He'll represent Lao Ruan's department to give a speech on stage even if he can't be the chief witness of your marriage, and he's already started writing the script. There's really no need for you to be embarrassed now!"

What… What did Teacher Zhou understand so far?

She… She was not hiding anything!

Ruan Zeer and Chang Jingwan were merely related as in-laws and nothing else!

What wedding ceremony? What speech? Σ(°△°|||)︴

Candy plays several small but essential roles in any traditional Chinese wedding. Typically, candy is exchanged between the families as a traditional symbol of happiness and fruitful offspring. Wedding candy is also often handed out or displayed at the reception feast, or offered as a wedding favor to the guests. The most traditional type of wedding sweet is a hard peanut and sesame candy. Peanuts are associated with virility and are a lucky gift for a new bride and groom to have a large family. Usually, two packets of peanut and sesame candy are exchanged between the couple's families on the morning of the wedding for good luck.