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Lu Lixing looked at the embarrassing defeat in front of him and said with a forced smile, “Grandpa, you won.”
As he spoke, he began to tidy up the game board.
Grandpa Lu stopped him and asked, “What’s the matter with you?”
“It’s okay.”
“You say that nothing has happened, yet how did you lose three games in a row?”
Lu Lixing remained silent.
“Don’t worry, there’s no one else here. What’s going on? You might as well tell your grandpa. I’m an experienced person, maybe I can give you some advice.”
Lu Lixing began to tidy up the game board, putting the black and white chess pieces inside the box.
“Grandpa, have you ever lied to Grandma?”
“Lie?”
Lu Lixing nodded his head. “Like did you ever hide something from her? Or have you tricked her in the past?”
Grandpa Lu shook his head and chuckled, “Of course, and it’s also one of my biggest regrets in life.”
“One of your biggest regrets? Why?”
“I’ve always told you that me and your grandma’s marriage was arranged by our parents and we never saw each other before the wedding. But that’s not actually true.”
“Your grandma was someone I managed to trick into marrying me. She was originally the daughter of a wealthy family, but their circumstances had fallen on hard times.”
“I went to her father and told him that I was willing to help solve their financial problems, but only if he agreed to let his daughter marry me.” Grandpa Lu sighed.
“It’s one of my biggest regrets in life – that I had to deceive your grandma in order to marry her.”
“I’ve always regretted it and I’ve always wanted to tell her that I loved her from the very beginning. But I didn’t tell her. In the early days of our marriage, she was too afraid to talk to me and we didn’t say a single word to each other for the first three days of our marriage.”
“Later, she always lived in fear, thinking that I didn’t love her so she tried to find out what type of woman I liked so that she could find a younger wife for me.”
“One of my biggest regrets in life is that I didn’t propose to her in person and tell her that I fell in love with her at first sight.” Grandpa Lu chuckled sadly and his smile slowly faded from his face.
“It’s the biggest regret of my life.”
Lu Lixing had only heard about his Grandma from Grandpa’s mouth. Lu Lixing had never met her, so he didn’t understand. “If you fell in love with Grandma at first sight, why didn’t you tell her in the first place?”
“Because of pride.”
Grandpa Lu smiled and said, “You may not be able to understand, but now I hate the pride I had at that time.”
“It was useless, except for making you think you were an almighty man. Afterward, I only realized that a true man doesn’t need to maintain his pride in front of the woman he loves.”
“Lixing, if you truly love someone, don’t try to hide anything from her. Otherwise, you may spend the rest of your life with too many regrets.”
“Between choosing to deceive her and choosing to hurt her, what would you choose?”
Grandpa Lu spoke with a calm and forceful tone, “You should be clear on one thing – deceiving her is hurting her!'”
Lu Lixing narrowed his eyes as he put the last white chess piece into the chess box. He  whispered, “Grandpa, I know what to do.”
After speaking, he got up and left the study.
The sound of the door closing came after a while. Grandpa Lu took out a black piece and placed it on the Go board.
Throughout his life, he had gone through ups and downs. He had experienced what he should have experienced and he had also experienced what he shouldn’t have experienced.
Except for this matter, he had no regrets.
But if I could go back in time, I would definitely tell her how I felt the first time I laid eyes on her, instead of pretending to be indifferent, making her nervous.
Grandpa Lu took out a beautifully crafted wooden box containing an old handkerchief from the drawer.
His eyes were teary as he looked toward the empty space across from him and smiled slightly, saying, “Did you know, from the first time I saw you, I have liked you, really
 really liked you.”
A gentle wind blew in from outside the window, causing the handkerchief in his hand to flutter.
***
In the living room, Ji Qingqing and Aunt Pei were looking at a bunch of wedding dresses.
After she asked Aunt Pei about it, she relayed what Grandpa Lu had ordered.
Choose among these selections. If you’re not satisfied, we can always find another designer to customize your wedding dress.
The price of the wedding dress, which will only be worn once, completely exceeded Ji Qingqing’s expectations. With the price in mind, she looked at the styles and thought that all of them were good, so she ended up picking the one that caught her eye.
“This one is good, this one is also nice
 Aunt Pei, look! This one! This one is super beautiful!”
Lu Lixing stared at her smile from a distance for a while, feeling uneasy.
“Young master, come over here and help the young madam pick out a wedding dress.”
Lu Lixing hesitated, walked over to the two of them, and said to Ji Qingqing, “I have something I want to talk to you about.”
Obviously, they just want to be alone with each other. Such lovebirds!
Aunt Pei smiled and said, “Ah, no good! I just remembered that there are still flowers in the garden that need watering. Young master, young madam, you two talk, I’ll go and water the flowers first.”
After saying that, she looked at the two of them with a kind teasing gaze as their elder, chuckled, and stood up to leave.