A wedding dress?

Hearing Anan mention it, Lin Ping froze for a moment. The gentle look in her eyes was suddenly filled with a tangle of complex emotions.

She suddenly remembered.

Back when she and Shen Mingchuan were still married, Anan had loved their wedding photo on the wall. She would pester and plead for her mom to wear her wedding dress again.

Anan thought her mommy looked most beautiful in a wedding dress!

And in reality, it was true.

Isn’t a woman’s most beautiful moment in her life often her wedding day?

But every time she thought of that day, Lin Ping felt a heart-wrenching pang of pain and resentment.

She took a deep breath to compose herself, then stroked Anan’s head and said softly,

"Anan, Mommy can’t marry Brother Shen just yet."

"Why not?"

Anan asked innocently, and Lin Ping answered in earnest.

"Because your Brother Shen has very important work to do. He needs to earn lots and lots of money, so he doesn’t have time to marry Mommy right now."

"Brother Shen, are you short on money?"

Anan turned to Lin Shen. After seeing him shake his head, she looked triumphantly at Lin Ping. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"See! Mommy, I told you! Brother Shen bought me so many pretty little dresses. He can’t be short on money!"

"But Brother Shen still has to work."

Lin Ping hadn’t expected her daughter’s mind to work so quickly. She tried another, more roundabout explanation, hoping to convince Anan with material concerns.

"Earning money and not being short on money are two different things. Only if Brother Shen earns more money can he keep buying you pretty little dresses."

"I don’t need pretty little dresses!"

Anan shook her head, then snuggled tightly into Lin Shen’s arms, lifting her adorable, innocent little face to gaze up at him.

"I just want Brother Shen to be with Mommy. It’s really tiring for Mommy to take care of me all by herself, but when she’s with Brother Shen, she can relax and smile."

"I haven’t seen Mommy smile in so long. I want to always see her smile like she did today, because her smile is so pretty!"

"..."

Looking at the pure innocence in Anan’s eyes, Lin Shen was taken aback. He felt a deep stirring in the softest part of his heart.

The simplest words often convey the most sincere emotions.

Anan didn’t understand the messy relationships between adults; she only knew that her mommy smiled when she was with Lin Shen.

So she said just that, even willing to give up the little dresses she loved so much in exchange for her mother’s happiness.

Lin Shen sighed internally.

’At an age when she should be completely carefree, she had become so considerate and well-behaved.’

’Is that a blessing, or a tragedy?’

Lin Shen hugged Anan tightly and told her a white lie.

"Don’t worry, Anan. I will marry your mommy."

"Really!?"

Anan’s hopeful eyes instantly widened, sparkling with incredible light. Overcome with excitement, she couldn’t help but say coaxingly,

"Then, Brother Shen, you have to make a promise with me~"

"What kind of promise?"

"Pinky promise!"

Anan held out the pinky finger of her right hand to Lin Shen. He understood, hesitated for a long while, but finally extended his own.

"Okay!"

"Pinky swear, a hundred years, no take-backs!"

After making the pinky promise with Lin Shen, Anan excitedly turned to Lin Ping.

"Mommy! Brother Shen agreed to marry you!"

"Yes, he did. Thank you, Anan!"

Lin Ping affectionately ruffled Anan’s hair. She then shared a meaningful glance with Lin Shen; an unspoken understanding passed between them.

’It might be a lie, but if they nurtured it with care, what did it matter if they lived that lie for a lifetime?’

"Wedding dress! Wedding dress! Wedding dress!"

Anan started clapping and chanting, which made Lin Ping feel conflicted. She glanced at Lin Shen, seeking his opinion.

After all, wearing the wedding dress from her marriage to her ex in front of her current lover felt a bit inappropriate.

But Lin Shen was very magnanimous, a cryptic smile playing on his lips.

"Since Anan wants to see it, Pingping, go put it on."

!?

Lin Shen’s sudden, intimate form of address made Lin Ping’s heart skip a beat, and an endless warmth immediately spread through her.

She smiled and nodded, then turned and walked into the master bedroom.

After opening the closet, she saw it in the very back: a pure white wedding dress, carefully wrapped in a plastic film.

It was a silver, mermaid-style gown with an off-the-shoulder design, its skirt covered in sparkling diamonds.

Even in the dim light of the room, it was still dazzlingly brilliant.

’Honestly, after a failed marriage, a wedding dress should be thrown out early on to avoid dredging up painful memories.’

But Lin Ping couldn’t bear to part with it.

Because she had bought this dress herself.

’Thinking about it made Lin Ping feel how ridiculous and pathetic she was.’

’It really takes time to truly know a person.’

’You really shouldn’t get married too young!’

SIGH—!

Lin Ping let out a soft sigh, unwrapped the plastic film from the wedding dress, took it out, and changed into it.

The dress was eight years old, so the fabric was slightly yellowed and aged, but it still retained a trace of its purity.

After putting it on, Lin Ping twirled before the full-length mirror and felt it was a little awkward.

Perhaps because she had given birth, her waistline hadn’t changed much, but her bust and hips no longer fit the dress’s dimensions.

Back when she first got married, she had to use shaping underwear to squeeze into it.

Now, she didn’t need anything like that. The moment she put it on, her figure was gathered into an exceptionally full and luscious shape.

The deep cleavage was incredibly alluring.

Her hips also seemed particularly pert and full, which in turn made her waist appear incredibly slender.