Chapter 402 - Second Marriage

Rebirth of a Fashionista: This Life Is Soo Last Season

Even Sheng Jiaoyang didn’t expect that Lina would get married, just like that. Moreover, the wedding date was set so soon, such that the ceremony would take place before the postnatal confinement period[1] would even be completed. This meant that there would be a mad rush to plan and prepare for the wedding. Of course, the concept of having a postnatal confinement period did not exist overseas.

However, Sheng Jiaoyang still respected all of Lina's choices and decisions.

Right after Sven announced the news of their wedding, Lina's flirtatious father, Hugh Bruno, who rarely paid attention to her before, actually came to find her. He even said that he was going to take her back to the Bruno Family to meet the family head.

In fact, Lina had never met her paternal grandfather before. She might have cared about it before, but now she didn’t care about it at all. She didn't even want to ‘return to the family clan to acknowledge her birth rights’ like Lin Yan did. Everything she’d achieved so far was accomplished by herself without relying on anyone, and she didn't want to rely on anyone in the future either.

Hence, Lina turned down Hugh’s offer.

This seemed completely unreasonable to Hugh. Essentially, his thoughts could be summed up like this: With a powerful family like ours backing you up, you can certainly hold your head high in the Gudilesi Family. Yet, you declined my offer. Clearly, you don’t know what is good for you.

Hugh asked Lin Xuejun to persuade Lina. However, the next sentence that Lina said rendered Lin Xuejun speechless.

"Come persuade me again when you manage to get that man, whom you have devoted yourself wholeheartedly to, to marry you."

Lin Xuejun wept silently when she saw Hugh. Her appearance had been well maintained all along, and the way she wept could easily soften people’s hearts.

Hugh put his arms around her with a distressed look on his face and asked her what Lina had said to her.

"Nana said that only after you and I get married, will I have the right to persuade her," Lin Xuejun said in a choked voice. However, no matter how down she looked, she was actually feeling quite calm, and she even wondered if she could take this chance to get Hugh to marry her.

"This unfilial daughter!" Hugh scolded softly before saying to Lin Xuejun, "We have been together for so many years. Why care about that certificate of marriage? Only those people who are not able to put their trust in the feeling of love become so obsessed with that kind of ceremony. Honey, you certainly feel the same, right?"

Lin Xuejun was feeling very bitter on the inside. Actually, she cared a lot about marriage. Otherwise, why would she bother putting up with her situation for so many years? She just wanted to be the legitimate Mrs. Hugh, so that other women could no longer use this matter to humiliate her.

But she didn’t dare to say her heartfelt words, as she feared that she would cause Hugh to dislike her. Once a person’s public persona crumbled, then everything they had achieved so far would go down the drain.

No wonder Lina said that we are different.

We are indeed very different.

Lina has better foresight, and she’s more outstanding than me. She even had a man like Sven in the palm of her hand.

The head of the Bruno family similarly did not expect Lina to refuse their offer. His thoughts were similar to that of Hugh’s, but he was, after all, the head of the family. Hence, he had to take more things into account, and his thoughts were more profound. He was merely surprised at first, but he wasn’t angry when he learned that Lina refused to return to the family clan. Instead, he started to pay more attention to Lina.

Although he didn’t visit Lina in person, he specifically video called Lina to express his sincerity.

At last, Lina met her rumored grandfather for the first time.

Unlike what she had imagined, the family head was not a solemn-looking man, but an old man with a gentle smile on his face.

The conversation they had was not as tense as she’d imagined. Since Lina had no misgivings against him, she offered her own terms and put forward two conditions.

For her first condition, she requested the family head to acknowledge Lin Xuejun as his daughter-in-law in public. She explained that since she had to return to the family clan, she did not want to go back as an illegitimate daughter.

The second condition was that, in the future, the Bruno Family couldn’t demand her to do anything for them, and similarly, she would not seek help from the Bruno Family. In other words, they would be on equal terms.

The family head agreed to her conditions without a second thought.

When Lin Xuejun found out that her twenty-year-long wish had been easily accomplished by Lina during her chat with the family head, her mind went blank.

Lin Xuejun went to visit Lina to thank her in person. But when she showed up, Lina simply told her, "Look, this is the difference between you and I. I would never pin my hopes on a man. Only when you possess value would others attach importance to you. You must surely be thinking that the family head only views me as an important person because I’m with Sven, right? Then, why do you think Sven married me? If I were a weak woman like you, he wouldn't have married me, even if I had his baby."

Lin Xuejun turned pale.

"I'm really glad I didn't grow up with you. Otherwise, if I grew up to be like you, my life would be over." Lina stared at Lin Xuejun, and didn’t feel the slightest sympathy for her at all, even though she was her mother.

"Nana…" Lin Yan frowned.

Lina laughed and said to Lin Yan, "I used to envy you, since you enjoyed all the fatherly and motherly love at home. But now, I sympathize with you. You were too deeply influenced by them. If you grew up in an environment like Sven did, or in a family like Mr. Shen’s, you wouldn't be like this now. You wouldn’t have had to rely on the glory of the family to survive."

"Nana, there are many things that you aren’t aware of." There was a trace of melancholy hidden between Lin Yan's brows.

"Yes, I’m not aware of many things, but I do know that you don't deserve Jiaojiao."

"Lina!"

Lina looked at the mother and son pair who were staring at her with the same expression. She then continued speaking with a mocking smile, "You must blame me for not helping you as your closest relative. But then, why didn't you take into account the fact that we are siblings when you helped Sven scheme against me?"

"Nana, I will never harm you. Sven suits you, and the fact that you guys are now together proves my point."

"He suits me?" Lina sneered.

"Darling, do you have any objections towards that comment?"

From the corner of her eye, Lina saw Sven leaning against the wall with his hands stuffed in his pockets, a faint smile hanging on his face.

"If I say I have an objection, would you call off our wedding?" Lina asked.

Sven got up and sat down by the bed. He raised his hand and caressed her cheek as he said in an earnest tone that was rarely heard from him, "I should be the one asking you that. It's not too late for you to regret your decision."

The corner of Lina’s mouth curled upwards, "Really?"

Sven held her cheek and smiled, his eyes fixed on her. "Of course."

"If we don't get married, would you leave me alone?"

"No."

Lina laughed. "That's it then. What's the difference?"

Sven held her hand and kissed her on the lips. "Ever since you flirted with me and ran away, we were destined to be inseparable in this lifetime."

Lina's wedding had been decided. When the news of her second marriage was released, many people were shocked.

This time, Lina's bridesmaid was only Sheng Jiaoyang, so Sven only invited one of his friends to be his best man.

Of course, how complex and grand the wedding was wasn’t determined by the number of bridesmaids and groomsmen.

Because of the time constraint, Sven went out and hired several teams to take charge of all the matters for their wedding. As the saying goes: Money makes the mare go. As long as they could afford it, they could complete a wedding of the century in this short timeframe.

Sheng Jiaoyang accompanied Lina to try on her wedding dress and to take her wedding photos. She was busy right up till the day before the wedding. In the morning, she videocalled Shen Zhining. This time, she accounted for the difference in time zones.

In the video call, Shen Zhining's indifferent expression revealed a bit of hidden bitterness.

"Who said that she would take care of Xiao An like he’s her own child? If Xiao An were your own flesh and blood, would you bear to not get in touch with him for ten days in a row?"

"But… you’re by his side." Sheng Jiaoyang said guiltily.

"What about me?"

Uh… Sheng Jiaoyang blinked. "Zhining, I know that you’re the most fair and reasonable person in this world. Lina is my best friend, and to me, she is even closer than a biological sister. She’s now facing one of the most important milestones in her life. I have to accompany her."

"She can still give birth after this, and she can still remarry, but I only have you. Are you sure you want to accompany her?"

Sheng Jiaoyang was left tongue-tied. Shen Zhining's words were too hard to rebuke.

"Honey, it’s precisely because we can be together for a long time that we don't care about day and night, right?" Sheng Jiaoyang softened her tone and tried hard to appease him.

“Mhmm.” Shen Zhining didn’t say anything further.

Seeing that his expression had softened, Sheng Jiaoyang added, "I miss you a lot these days, but the wedding schedule is just too tight! There were a lot of things to do every day, and after I’m done with everything, it’s already late at night, and I’m afraid of disturbing your rest. So, I haven't called you all this while."

Shen Zhining's expression softened a little.

"Will you come to Lina and Sven's wedding tomorrow?"

Shen Zhining raised his chin slightly. "If I went, who would take care of Xiao An?"

"…" Needless to say, Sheng Jiaoyang also knew that Shen Zhining had just dug a hole for her, and was waiting for her to fall in it.

"If I go, would you have time to attend to me?" Shen Zhining continued.

Sheng Jiaoyang was speechless.

This was how their chat reached a dead-end. Finally, Sheng Jiaoyang could only come up with an excuse and hung up.

Shen Zhining's words had always been quite sharp, ever since she was a child. However, after all the things she experienced in her life, she still ended up with Demon King Shen, who wasn’t her cup of tea at first, and who she never thought she would end up with.

As for Lina, in the end, she chose to be with someone she didn't love.

However, the road ahead of them was long, and whether they had a good or bad marriage would depend on how the course of events develops in the future. No matter how good the cards were, in the hands of those who don’t know how to play them properly, they were still likely to lose. Whereas, those with the worst hands but knew how to play them could make a miraculous recovery.

The wedding proceeded as scheduled.

Although the wedding preparations were done in a hurry, and they were done so quickly it seemed like a trifling matter. The scale of the wedding was extraordinary. It was several times bigger than the wedding of Lina and George, and the guests who attended were of a higher social status. They raised the quality of the wedding to a whole other level.

The influence of the Gudilesi Family was fully demonstrated here.

But none of this was important to Lina. She didn't care about who attended the wedding, and she didn’t pay any heed to the Gudilesi family members’ attitude towards her. She even wilfully demanded for the wedding to be both grand and simple, for the simple reason that she had to take care of her son.

As a result, the people who came to the ceremony found that the procession of such a grand wedding was excruciatingly simple.

Moreover, the ceremony wasn’t held at the church. It was simply held in a romantically decorated manor. In Lina's point of view, although she and George had taken such solemn vows at the church, they still parted ways early in the end. Thus, instead of paying heed to those false courtesies that couldn’t be guaranteed, it was better to make herself feel comfortable.

Everything was arranged in accordance with Lina's requirements, and the wedding went smoothly, until the main event, where they had to exchange rings.

Just as the bride and groom were about to exchange their rings, an unexpected person showed up.

1. Postnatal confinement period: In China, when mothers give birth, they get a month long confinement period to recuperate and rest. Also, they are not supposed to shower or go out for an entire month.