-||chapter twenty one - friends? (1)||-

"The First Princess loved reading books. She was always curious about anything and everything and would often be found in her library that her father, the Emperor had specifically built for his darling princess. One such day when the First Princess was looking for a new book to read that she found a book that told the tales of the famous love stories.

Among those stories, there was this one story that fascinated the First Princess the most. It was the story of a brave young lady who, in order to protect her family, had to marry the Duke of Northern region of the kingdom. He was said to be cold hearted and ruthless but in reality, he was just alone and misunderstood.

The story talked about the journey of love between the young lady and the Duke. It described how the two crossed different stages of love together. The first being attraction, then comes friendship and adoration before falling in love. It emphasized on the fact that friendship was like a step towards the destination called love.

The First Princess hoped that one day she too would find a friend with whom she would fall in love."

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Lu Zhi couldn't sleep well that night. She just could not stop thinking about Lu Ying and Ming Ze and the situation the two were in. She wondered if Ming Ze's blessing was real, if he could truly recognize the person with whom he is meant to spend his whole life with, at first glance. She had only seen and read about such a thing in movies, dramas, and books.

Never had she ever thought she would get to experience this in real.

Lu Ying and Ming Ze?

Who would have thought that the man whom Lu Ying clearly disliked because she thought of him to be promiscuous and a philanderer would actually be her fated partner?!

Lu Zhi spent the whole night thinking about the consequences if this turns out to be the truth. She knows her sister, she knows how stubborn Lu Ying can be when she is forced to do something. Lu Ying always believed in writing her own destiny. Will she let Ming Ze be a part of her life just because he is someone whom destiny chose for her?

She was tired and really wanted to sleep but she just wasn't able to stop thinking about how she was going to get Lu Ying to not only trust but fall in love with Ming Ze who was supposedly Lu Ying's fated partner.

"Aaarrrgghh!!!" Lu Zhi cried and pulled up the comforter over her head in an effort to fall asleep. She managed to fall asleep but it had already been 4:30 in the morning so naturally she woke up late that day.

Fortunately, she had already cleared her schedule for the day and told her chief designer to handle everything else as her proxy.

Lu Zhi woke up at 11:30 A.M. and hurriedly went to freshen up as Dai Xi informed her that her lunch meeting with the Lin family and Zhang Yi Chen was schedule at quarter past one in the afternoon (01:15 P.M.) She only had an hour to freshen up and get ready as the drive from the estate to the restaurant where the meeting was going to be held will take at-least 30 minutes.

After a nice shower, Lu Zhi got dressed in ankle length jeans that were ripped at the knees. She paired the jeans with a sleeveless plain white top that she tucked inside her jeans and wore a pink colored threadbare blazer over it. She chose to wear a pair of nude pink wedges and for jewelry, she wore a multi-layered silver necklace, small silver hoops and a charm bracelet.

She chose to carry a nude pink handbag that matched her wedges and complimented the outfit that she wearing. Satisfied with how she looked, Lu Zhi finally walked out of her room and went outside where a car was already waiting for her.

"Let's go." she told the driver once she was seated inside the car.

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Ming Ze was anxiously pacing around in the almost empty restaurant while his family and Yi Chen ignored him and continued to talk about random things. The Lin family had booked the whole restaurant so that no one would neither disturb them nor learn about the family secret.

They had arrived an hour before the scheduled time because of how nervous he was. He kept on telling everybody that they should not let his sister-in-law wait. He even forced Yi Chen to come early.

"Tch, this boy! He has never been this anxious even when he missed an important exam in school but look at him now." commented Mother Lin.

Father Lin placed a hand on his wife's shoulder, "It's the pressure of meeting the in-laws, my dear. All our son wants is to make a positive impression in front of his sister-in-law."

The more they talked, the more weird Yi Chen felt. Did this blessing also made the Lin family members a little crazy? The relationship between Lu Ying and Ming Ze hadn't even established yet and these people were already calling Lu Ying their daughter-in-law and Lu Zhi as their sister-in-law. This shit was crazy as fuck!

Ri Shan, Ming Ze's brother-in-law looked at Yi Chen and laughed lightly, "You have been with them since you were a kid and you still don't know how crazy these people can be?" he said while pointing out at Grandfather Lin, Father Lin and Ming Wan who were trying their best to comfort Ming Ze by telling him that his sister-in-law would definitely approve of him.

"They very cleverly hid their crazy side from me. Now I know why Ming Ze is like he is." Yi Chen's words made Ri Shan laugh and the two shared a high-five.

They were interrupted by a server who announced that their guest had arrived and entered, Lu Zhi.

"Hello." Lu Zhi greeted everybody politely and sat on the only chair available at the table; beside Yi Chen. It was the corner seat on Yi Chen's left side. Lu Zhi sat down smilingly and greeted Yi Chen enthusiastically.

"Hey!" she smiled warmly at him and her smile was so contagious that Yi Chen's lips as well curved upon in a genuine smile.

"Hi!" he greeted back.

Lu Zhi nodded at him and then turned to face the elders of the Lin family, "So," she began, "What is this all about?" she asked.

Grandfather Lin took the initiative to explain, "It's a story that has been passed on for generations along with the blessing of the Gods themselves. As per our family history, about two thousand years ago, the young prince from our family went to the jungle to hunt. There, he saved a woman and helped her reunite with her husband. It turned out that those two were the God and the Goddess of Love. They blessed our ancestor for his help in reuniting the godly couple. The blessing said that each and every member of the Lin family bloodline, be it a boy or a girl, will be able to find their one true love, their destined partner, at first glance."

"Our family was not only awarded with the ability to find our fated partners at first sight but also blessed with a happy and peaceful life with our partner. Generations after generations the Lin family have found their better halves because of this blessing." smiled Grandfather Lin.

Grandfather Lin then told Lu Zhi how he met his wife, then came Father Lin's turn and at last Ming Wan told Lu Zhi how she got together with her husband. Their partners vouched for them and told Lu Zhi just how happy and loved they were by their spouses.

Yi Chen also told her about how he had seen the Lin family members treat their significant others so preciously and assured her that if Lu Ying is to marry Ming Ze and into the Lin family, she will be cherished.

By the end of their explanation, Lu Zhi really believed them but she had questions to ask.

"What happens if your fated partner refuses to be with you and perhaps choses someone else?" that was her first question.

Ming Ze's smile faltered hearing Lu Zhi's question but before he could say anything, Grandfather Lin answered, "There have been records of when a fated partner refused a Lin family member. It is mentioned that the said Lin family members never got married and chose to devote their lives to their fated partner regardless of their refusal. If they couldn't live with them, they chose to spend their life protecting them in whatever manner they could."

"So no one is going to force my sister to be with Ming Ze, right?" asked Lu Zhi.

Father Lin nodded in positive, "Love cannot be forced, Miss Lu. It should be cherished. And if your sister refuses to be with my son, then no one will force her to change her mind. But we can at-least try to bring them together, right? And leave the decision on your sister."

"It will ultimately be your sister's choice. We assure you that nobody will force your sister or manipulate her into accepting Ming Ze." assured Ming Wan.

Hearing all this, Ming Ze's mood plummeted and he grew somber until he heard Lu Zhi say, "Well, I'll give it a try."

She glanced at the happy faces of the Lin family and added, "To be honest, my sister doesn't like you Ming Ze and according to what Yi Chen had told me during our last conversation, you know it too."

Ming Ze nodded.

"All I can help you with is make opportunities for you two to meet and talk, tell you about her likes and dislikes. It's solely your responsibility to change the impression that she has of you. I won't manipulate my sister in any way."

"And, even after all the trying, if Lu Ying refuses to be with you, I will back away from this at the same moment. I won't force her to be with someone she doesn't want to." Lu Zhi repeated.

"Are you okay with that?" she asked.

"Yeah." Ming Ze admitted.

"Then we have a deal." smiled Lu Zhi and shook hands with Ming Ze.