Chapter 4 — Good Hours Don't Wait For You

The woman was stunned, then immediately smiled: "Oh, thank you! Wishing you two a happy wedding!" Giang Nghien seriously nodded: "I will be happy." The car window lifts up. I looked at him: "Aren't you afraid of bad luck?" Giang Nghien raised his eyebrows: "The unlucky things are people, not flowers." Having finished speaking, he took out another bouquet of flowers from the side of the chair. White roses and lily of the valley, with a few light pink freesia branches in the middle of the pistil. These are all my favorite flowers. Many years ago, I once casually said: "Lily of the valley flowers are like small bells. When you get married, if you hold them, they will be very beautiful." We were only seventeen years old then. Giang Nghien leaned against the wall behind the school, sucking a lollipop, laughing at me: "To Niem, how old are you when you're thinking about getting married?" I glared at him: "Can't you think for a moment?" He lazily said: "Okay." “After you get married, I will buy you a whole cart of lily of the valley flowers.” Then I rolled my eyes: "Who needs you to buy it?" He looked at me for a long time, and finally said in a low voice: "Then I'll buy it for myself." Now, that bouquet of lily of the valley is in my hand. I suddenly didn't know what to say. The car entered the main road. The sunlight outside the window shined into the car and fell on Giang Nghien's shoulders. I looked at him and finally spoke: "I didn't expect you would actually come." Giang Nghien tilted his head and looked at me. His eyes were very dark, the corners of his eyes were slightly raised, still looking as indecent as when he was a child. But his eyes were extremely serious: "Why didn't you come?" "I was determined to steal the bride, but in the end I became a righteous person." He laughed: "The better." My hand holding the bouquet of flowers slowly tightened. Actually, Giang Nghien and I met each other much earlier than Luc Thua An and I. Our two families live in the same old dormitory. My house is on the third floor, his house is on the fourth floor. When I was young, my mother would work overtime and I would be taken to Giang's house to eat. Aunt Giang's sweet and sour ribs always saves me more than two pieces. Giang Nghien is one year older than me, and has been very obnoxious since childhood. When I was just learning how to write, he tricked me into writing in my exercise book the sentence "Giang Nghien is the most handsome man in the world". I cried and told the adults. He was beaten by Uncle Giang, and the next day he stuffed a box of colorful erasers into my school bag. When I was in elementary school, a boy pulled my hair. Giang Nghien stopped that person behind the stadium, not knowing what he said. From then on, no one dared to bully me. When I was in middle school, my math was very poor. Every night he knocks on my door, holds his exercise books and sits next to him. If I make a mistake, he will knock on the table with his pen. “To Niem, is your mind just for decoration?” I angrily kicked him. He avoided and wrote clearly each step of the correct solution for me. Before the university entrance exam, I was under so much pressure that I hid in the stairs and cried. He sat down next to me and gave me a bottle of yogurt. “To Niem, don't be afraid.” “Wherever you compete, I can find you.” After that, I studied at university in this city. In his third year of university, Giang Nghien went abroad. The night before leaving, he called me downstairs. He stood under the streetlight, his shadow lengthening. He said: "To Niem, I like you." At that time, I was stunned for a long time. It's not that I don't know. Actually, I vaguely felt it. But at that time, I had just confirmed my relationship with Luc Thua An. Luc Thua An is gentle and patient, remembers that I like to drink three servings of sweets, will accompany me to the library, and will also hold an umbrella to pick me up on rainy days. I think that is love. So, I said to Giang Nghien: “Sorry.” Giang Nghien looked at me for a long time. It took so long that I thought he would be angry. But he just laughed: "Okay, I won't bother you." “But To Niem, if one day you regret it, remember to look back.” I thought it was just a youthful joke. Unexpectedly, he actually stood still, still waiting for me. The car was suddenly very quiet. I asked in a low voice: "But Giang Nghien, getting married is not a joke." “I know.” He leaned back in his chair,

The voice also carried a bit of arrogance: "So I have prepared the hotel, MC, wedding dress, guests and wedding witnesses." I was stunned: "Are you prepared?" “Yes, I said that if you want to steal a bride, of course you have to prepare thoroughly.” I looked at him and couldn't help but laugh. Laughing for a moment, tears fell again. Giang Nghien raised his hand to wipe the corner of my eye. His fingertips were very light, as if afraid of ruining my makeup. “To Niem.” “Don't cry today.” “Today I just need to be the bride.” At the same time, in front of the To family's door. The sound of fireworks had stopped, and the smell of gun smoke still lingered in the air. Luc Thua An stood at the end of the red night, looking in the direction Giang Nghien's convoy disappeared, seemingly still not understanding what had just happened. He was only a few minutes late. He was just waiting for Tong Loan Loan to touch up his makeup. Why did To Niem leave? Why is the wedding no longer his? He doesn't understand.