pjbooks Chapter 454 Blocking the Door
Chapter 454 Blocking the Door
Tan Yu led his groomsmen toward the stairwell.
As soon as I stepped onto the stairs, the glass door to the stairwell was blocked from the inside.
The person blocking the door was Xu Manxue's older sister, Xu Manlin, who looked to be in her early thirties. She had a neat short haircut, one hand supporting herself on the door frame, and the other hand across the crack in the door. Her expression was very serious.
"Wait a minute." Her voice wasn't loud, but it carried an undeniable air of authority. "Tan Yu, let's get this straight: if you want to get past me today, you have to follow the rules."
Before Tan Yu could speak, one of the relatives nearby chimed in with a laugh: "That's right, that's right, how could we let you up so easily? We all received red envelopes from Manxue, so we have to keep a close eye on things."
Tan Yu immediately gave Zhao Dapeng behind him a wink.
Zhao Dapeng reacted quickly, carrying the bag of red envelopes and squeezing to the front. Without saying much, he took out the red envelopes from the bag and stuffed them into the hands of the relatives blocking the door, one for each of them, a thick one.
The whole process was smooth and effortless, clearly indicating that it had been practiced beforehand.
Xu Manlin was also given a red envelope. She squeezed its thickness, her expression unchanged: "Giving red envelopes won't work. I don't fall for that."
"Sister," Tan Yu changed his address from "sister" to "elder sister," his tone becoming much more sincere, "look how bright the sun is outside. The brothers are all standing outside in their suits, baking in the sun. They won't look presentable when they go to pick up Manxue, and the photos won't turn out well. Let us go inside first; there's air conditioning. We can sit down and discuss the terms."
Xu Manlin's lips twitched slightly, clearly stung by the reason that "the photo is not good-looking".
She glanced again at the relatives next to her who had received red envelopes; they were all smiling with their heads down, their initial enthusiasm for blocking the door long gone.
She sighed and stepped aside.
"Alright, come in. But don't get too cocky. There's another test after you get inside."
The group rushed into the stairwell and climbed the stairs.
Xu Manxue's home is on the third floor. The old building has no elevator, and the stairwell is very narrow. Eight people were crammed together, with the person in front stepping on the foot of the person behind, and the person behind patting the shoulder of the person in front. The scene was quite chaotic.
Zhao Dapeng was still carrying the bag of red envelopes. As he climbed the stairs, he handed them out to the groomsmen, giving each of them another one: "These are for finishing them off. When you get to the door, give them to the men you need, don't hold back."
Lu Ran followed behind the group, helping Shen Yuege slowly walk uphill.
Shen Yuege walked slowly, but her expression was full of interest. She craned her neck to look ahead and muttered, "We're almost there."
Upon reaching the third floor, the security door to Xu Manxue's home was tightly closed. A red paper with the character "喜" (happiness) written on it was pasted on the door, the handwriting neat and tidy, clearly the work of Xu Manxue's mother.
Several girls' voices came from behind the door.
Someone asked, "Here they come!" Someone laughed, and someone shouted loudly, "Tan Yu, are you ready?"
You could hear the lively atmosphere inside even through the crack in the door.
Liu Jun squeezed to the front, knocked on the door, and said in a perfectly timed tone, "Thank you all for your hard work, ladies. Today the bride is leaving with us. Please open the door and let us in. There will be plenty of red envelopes."
After saying that, he slipped a few red envelopes through the crack in the door.
The red envelope disappeared immediately after it went inside, but the door still didn't open.
Then a loud female voice came through the door: "We don't need red envelopes. First, answer a few questions for me."
Zhao Dapeng leaned close to the crack in the door and whispered, "We can answer the questions later. Just open the door a crack first, and we'll slip the red envelope in."
"No, you can only open the door after you've answered."
Liu Jun turned and glanced at Tan Yu. Tan Yu took a deep breath and called out towards the crack in the door, "Okay. Ask away."
The female voice inside cleared her throat: "First question—do you remember where you two first met?"
Tan Yu paused for a moment, then replied without hesitation, "During the actor auditions, when Mu Nianci was selecting actors."
It's clear that Tan Yu answered the first question correctly.
After a while, another female voice rang out, noticeably higher than the previous one: "No asking anyone else! Only you can answer! Second question—what is Xu Manxue's favorite fruit?"
"Strawberry." Tan Yu answered extremely quickly this time, almost without pausing.
A short gasp came from inside, as if someone hadn't expected him to actually answer.
Then the loud female voice spoke again, this time with a hint of amusement in her tone: "The third question—who will be in charge of the family from now on?"
Tan Yu replied without hesitation, "Xu Manxue is definitely the one who calls the shots. I'll listen to her completely."
A burst of laughter erupted from inside the security door, with someone shouting, "That's more like it!"
Immediately afterwards, the door lock clicked open, and the door was pulled open halfway from the inside, revealing a crack in the door.
Zhao Dapeng immediately slipped two red envelopes into the crack in the door, and then opened the crack a little wider.
Two bridesmaids peeked out from inside; both were young women, wearing pink bridesmaid dresses, with makeup on, and smiling broadly.
Behind them, Xu Manlin could be seen sitting on the sofa with her arms crossed, her expression a mixture of satisfaction and feigned indifference.
The groomsmen filed in.
The room wasn't big, and the decor was old-fashioned, but it was very clean. There was a plate of candy and dried fruit on the coffee table, and a paper-cut "囍" (double happiness) character stood on the TV cabinet next to it.
Xu Manxue's bedroom door was tightly closed, and a red "囍" (double happiness) character was pasted on the door as well.
Suddenly, a round-faced bridesmaid reached out from under the door, holding a red slip of paper: "One last thing. You can only open the door if you answer this correctly—one of the bride's shoes is hidden in the living room. You can only go in if you find it."
Upon hearing this, Liu Jun rolled up his sleeves and squatted down, his movements so nimble that he didn't seem like someone wearing a suit.
He first looked under the sofa, then lifted the tablecloth on the coffee table, and then ran to the shoe cabinet to rummage through it. His movements were so big that Zhao Dapeng, who was next to him, stumbled.
Not to be outdone, Zhao Dapeng ran to the balcony and searched behind the flowerpots.
Sun Tianyu was the most practical; he immediately climbed down and lay on the floor to look under the bed.
The relatives and aunts in the living room were laughing so hard they couldn't stand up straight.
Lu Ran and Shen Yuege stood at the door without moving.
Shen Yuege reached out and patted Lu Ran's arm: "Aren't you going to help?"
"I'm not good at finding things," Lu Ran shook his head. "Besides, look at the energy those groomsmen are putting in, they don't need me."
No sooner had he finished speaking than Zhao Dapeng's voice came from the top of the standing air conditioner in the corner of the living room: "Found it! It's here!"
He took a silver-white high heel from the air conditioner. The shoe was studded with a few small diamonds, which sparkled under the living room lights.
He held up the shoe and waved it around, his face full of pride.
When the bridesmaids saw that the shoes had been found, they didn't try to deny it.
The round-faced girl took the shoes and casually stuffed them into her bridesmaid bag: "Finding them means you've passed. Okay, open the door."
The door to Xu Manxue's room finally opened from the inside.
Xu Manxue sat on the edge of the bed in a white wedding dress, the skirt of which covered the entire bed like a blooming white flower.
Her makeup today was exquisite, with just the right amount of blush and a light pink lip color.
The moment she saw Tan Yu standing at the door, her eyes visibly reddened, but she quickly held it back, smiled, and called out, "You've come."
Tan Yu stood at the door for a moment, stunned, and even forgot to go inside.
Liu Jun, who was standing next to him, slapped him hard on the lower back, which brought him back to his senses. He took three steps in two to the bedside, bent down and hugged her.
Next, it was time to carry the bride into the car.
The moment Tan Yu picked up Xu Manxue, the groomsmen suddenly came to life.
Liu Jun and Zhao Dapeng stood on either side of Tan Yu, blocking him from walking directly to the door.
Sun Tianyu was the most ruthless; he squatted down and pressed down on Tan Yu's shoe tips, preventing him from taking a step.
"What are you doing!" Tan Yu shouted through gritted teeth, his arm already starting to ache.
Liu Jun said with a righteous expression, "You'd better let us cause some trouble today, or do you think we're just here for nothing?"
Zhao Dapeng chimed in from the side, "That's right, that's right. You're the boss at your own wedding, but you'll have to get past us first today."
The living room was filled with laughter.
Seeing the commotion, Xu Manxue's mother burst into tears and leaned against the wall to wipe her eyes.
Even Xu Manlin stood up and leaned against the doorframe of her room, watching the commotion with great interest.
Tan Yu carried Xu Manxue and spun her around three times in the living room before finally finding a way to break through.
As he rushed past the "defense line" in two quick steps, Sun Tianyu reached out and tugged at the back of his suit jacket, almost causing him to stumble.
But Tan Yu's feet were firmly planted on the ground, he didn't fall, and steadily carried Xu Manxue out of the security door.
A loud, energetic shout rang out from the hallway: "They're gone! They've been picked up!"
The groomsmen followed in a flurry, carrying the candy and melon seeds they had somehow managed to steal.
Lu Ran helped Shen Yuege walk at the very back.
He watched Tan Yu carry Xu Manxue from the third floor to the first floor, and watched the large white wedding dress swaying and moving down the narrow stairwell. Suddenly, a sigh escaped his lips.
"That kid has really made something of himself."
For some reason, when Lu Ran said those words, it sounded like an old father talking to his good-for-nothing son.
Although he was already the godfather of several people, this was clearly not a sentiment a godfather should express.
Fortunately, Tan's father wasn't there and didn't hear Lu Ran's sentiments, otherwise, who knows what he would have thought.
Shen Yuege turned her head to look at him and caught something that flashed in his eyes.
She didn't point it out, but simply took his hand and led him downstairs.
The row of Mercedes-Benz cars downstairs had already started their engines one by one, and the deep, steady roar echoed through the neighborhood.
Tan Yu carefully placed Xu Manxue in the back seat of the Rolls-Royce, then got in from the other side. Before closing the car door, he glanced back towards the stairwell.
He saw Lu Ran and Shen Yuege walk out side by side and gave them a thumbs up. Lu Ran nodded slightly.
Next comes the most important part of the wedding.
...