8 The Vanity of Women

Every night, the fruit she eats must be washed and cut by him.

At an age where many men do not want to settle down, he says he really wants to marry me, really wants to get married... We talk about everything, he is the person I can chat with the most in this world. We have common interests, we both enjoy staying at home. I know we are the most compatible people in the world. None of these have anything to do with money or material things, it's purely spiritual, purely love...

Behind all the seemingly difficult struggles, living with him makes me feel happier. He always knows how to make me happy. He is an optimist, he feels like even if the sky falls, he will be covered. I am a worrier, but he gradually influenced me and gave me confidence in life, in myself, and in marriage. He doesn't make many promises to me, he says he doesn't like promising things he can't do. After he got a permanent job, he immediately bought me an iPad with his first paycheck. At that time, none of my classmates had an iPad, even a classmate whose husband is 12 years older than her didn't buy her one. I felt so proud, is this considered reality?

Maybe it is.

I think reality cannot be generalized, and the word "reality" itself is not entirely negative. Living in this world, people are inevitably influenced by others' opinions, especially women. It's not true that a woman doesn't have some vanity.

A man can be broke, it's normal for a man in his twenties to have no money. I don't think those who rely on their family's money have anything to show off about. But a broke man can still make his woman feel proud, and that pride is what women consider as "reality."

If a man treats a woman well, that's her pride. If a man is ambitious and hardworking, that's also a woman's pride. If you do enough for her, unless she doesn't love you, she will definitely feel it and be moved by your efforts and sincerity. She will definitely be willing to stay and accompany you.

Because the journey of life requires two people to walk together.

9 Proposal

On a day in June 2014, I received a call from someone before leaving work, as usual.

He said, "I might have to work late today and come home later. Are you going home?"

I replied, "Well, you can work overtime. Don't worry about me. I'll chat with my colleagues at the office."

I had some doubts and asked, "Why do you have to work overtime?"

He said, "One of my colleagues gave me a page to design just before leaving work..." I didn't ask further.

Later, he called again and said, "The design will be given to me tomorrow, no need to work overtime. You can go home early."

From my company to the subway, there was about a 15-minute walk. I used to walk and talk to him on the phone because I was afraid of the dark.

About halfway through the walk, he asked, "Where are you now?"

I replied, "I'm almost at the subway entrance."

He said, "Let's talk when you get home. I have to pick something up now."

I was slightly annoyed at that moment. He usually doesn't hang up so quickly, does he?

I entered the subway car and luckily found a seat. As usual, I put on my headphones and listened to music while reading a book. At that time, I was reading "The Tragedy of Y," a suspense novel. After about one station, someone suddenly touched my knee! It startled me a bit because there weren't many people in the car. When I looked up, that fool was kneeling in front of me with flowers and a ring! The people around us were all amazed. The girl next to me was talking on the phone with her friend and said, "I have to go, someone is proposing!"

He knelt in front of me, held my hand, and spoke in our hometown dialect. It was very noisy in the subway car, and I had one earphone on, so I didn't hear what he said very clearly. It was something like, "Darling, we've been together for so many years, and you said you wanted a special proposal. Today, I hope strangers on the subway can witness it for us..."

I couldn't hear the rest clearly, but I knew the last sentence was, "Will you marry me?"

I didn't cry at that moment, but my heart was pounding. Many people next to us were taking pictures with their phones, and I told myself to hold back my tears! Then he put the ring on my finger, and one of his accomplices, a female friend, took two photos for us. The older people next to us applauded, and I was truly touched, really.

Then he asked me, "Should we get off the train? It feels awkward." The three of us got off at the next station. The whole proposal process didn't exceed five minutes.

It turned out that he had arranged for one of his female friends, someone I knew but wasn't close to, to wait for me at the subway station where I got off work and follow me. When I got on the train, she called him, and he got on at the next station. They had planned this proposal, not grand and extravagant, but not lacking thought and romance. I would give him a score of 98 for this.

Later, I felt the most regretful thing was that the video recording wasn't successful. He had asked that female friend to help with recording, but due to insufficient memory in the camera, it only recorded three seconds. I secretly felt disappointed for a few days! This once-in-a-lifetime romance was only captured for three seconds. Now, recording it with words is also a way to commemorate it.