The Wedding Bet - Chapter 1
Chapter 1
One week before the wedding in Ireland, my best friend suddenly called to ask me something.
“Yiyi, is the wedding in Ireland or Iceland?”
I blinked. “Ireland.”
The moment the word left my mouth, she burst into cheers.
“I won!”
“I knew Yiyi would never notice the venue had been switched to Iceland! Don’t forget my prize~”
Chu Huai’an gave a soft laugh and took the phone from her.
“Qiao Yiyi, you really are something. You’re getting married in a week, and you still don’t know the venue changed!”
“Go change your flight — or is this wedding even happening?”
The call cut off a moment later, and I stood there, my hands and feet turning cold.
Last month, they had bet on how long it would take me to notice that my wedding dress had been swapped for the vintage palace style Jiang Yingying loved most.
Half a year ago, they had bet on whether I would ever notice that the jade bracelet the Chu family passed down to its daughters-in-law was now on Jiang Yingying’s wrist.
And now, even the wedding venue had become something to wager on.
I picked up my phone. I did not change my flight. Instead, I replied to a message that had been buried deep in my inbox.
“A wedding in Ireland in one week. Want to come?”
This time, it was my turn to place a bet —
how long before they noticed the groom had been replaced.
…
I left the messages, and saw that the wedding planner had sent me a photo.
It was the welcome portrait from the venue.
Jiang Yingying wore a magnificent vintage palace gown, smiling into Chu Huai’an’s eyes.
And I stood beside her in a drab, ordinary dress, tidying her train — like a maid.
My phone rang. The planner’s voice carried a note of apology.
“Miss Qiao, I’m sorry. About the venue — Mr. Chu told me not to tell you…”
“Just now, he had me replace your couple’s welcome portrait with this one. He said it was a bet with Miss Jiang, to see how long it would take you to notice.”
“But this really is too much. Anyone would think it was Mr. Chu’s wedding to Miss Jiang. You should talk to Mr. Chu and have it changed back as soon as you can…”
I stared at the two of them on the screen, fingers laced together, and said quietly:
“No need to change it. Keep this one. Let everything about the wedding go as Chu Huai’an arranges.”
“Huh? But… all right.”
The planner’s tone wavered, but she said nothing more.
I hung up and dug out the original proposal for the Ireland wedding.
It was covered in dense little annotations, from the choice of church to the sort of bouquet —
all of it confirmed by me, bit by bit.
A month ago, when I last signed off on the plan, Chu Huai’an had teased me:
“What? Afraid I’ll make another bet with Yingying? Relax. A wedding is a serious thing — I wouldn’t have the heart to let you suffer.”
Back then, I felt a warm glow, and with a project at work wrapping up, I really did stop asking questions.
I never imagined that every bit of the suffering I endured would come from him.
I picked up a pen and struck out the groom’s name on the proposal, stroke by stroke,
and wrote in another.
I had just finished when the door was pushed open.
“What are you doing?”
Chu Huai’an wrapped his arms around me from behind, resting his head in the curve of my shoulder.
Like a big, spoiled dog.
I waved the wedding proposal at him and slipped out of his embrace.
“Had the groom’s name wrong. Fixing it.”
“The groom’s name can be wrong?”
He paused for a beat and reached for the proposal to look — and then his phone buzzed.
His outstretched hand changed course, and he picked the phone up from the coffee table.
It was a voice message from Jiang Yingying.
“Pay up when you lose. No welching.”
Chu Huai’an laughed and replied, “All right.”
Then, turning back to me, he held out a Cartier LOVE bracelet.
“Like it?”
I looked down at it and went still for a moment.
That bracelet had been sitting in my shopping cart for almost a year.
Every time I wanted to buy it, I couldn’t bring myself to.
I never expected him to notice.
“Thank you.”
I bit my lip and thanked him softly.
But before the warmth in my chest could rise, my left ring finger was suddenly bare.
“If you like it, let me borrow this ring for a while.”
Seeing me freeze, he smiled and kissed the back of my hand.
“Yingying won the bet about the venue, didn’t she? The prize is this ring.”
He paused.
“Don’t worry, it’s just for her to play with. I’ll give it back the day of the wedding.”
The living-room light fell across Chu Huai’an’s face, and for a moment it overlapped with the face from four years ago.
He had pointed at the words engraved inside the band and grinned up at me like a fool.
“Love of my life, Yiyi. It isn’t just a ring — it stands for my deep love for you.”
But it turned out his love could be lent out so easily.
I smiled faintly.
“No need to give it back.”
Not the ring.
And not the man.
