aircannonsinc Chapter 456 The Witness
Chapter 456 The Witness
After Xu Manlin stepped off the stage, only Tan Yu and Xu Manxue remained in the center of the stage.
The host returned to the stage, now holding a whiteboard.
The challenge board was small, with black characters on white paper, facing the audience, and had four large characters written on it: "Teamwork Challenge".
"Alright, guests, let's relax a bit for now." The host flipped the question board over so Tan Yu and Xu Manxue could see it. "Bride and groom, since you're about to become a family, there will be some challenges. Please stand back to back. I'll ask you questions, and you'll both raise your hands simultaneously. A correct answer will be rewarded, and a wrong answer will be penalized. Are you ready?"
Tan Yu and Xu Manxue exchanged a glance.
Xu Manxue's tear stains hadn't completely dried, but the corners of her mouth were already curved up.
The two turned around and stood back to back, with about one person's distance between them.
Tan Yu's hands hung at his sides, while Xu Manxue held up the front of her wedding dress. Both of them tilted their ears slightly, waiting for the host to speak.
"The first question—" the host cleared his throat, "is, after marriage, who is responsible for earning money to support the family?"
Tan Yu and Xu Manxue raised their hands at the same time.
Both of them were the first to raise their hands, their movements almost synchronized. Tan Yu was less than half a beat faster; Xu Manxue's fingers had only been halfway up when Tan Yu had already raised his to his shoulder.
Someone in the audience shouted, "That was a quick reaction!"
The host glanced down and announced with a smile, "Tan Yu raised his hand first. Tan Yu, tell me, who earns the money?"
"I'll earn it." Tan Yu's voice came from the direction he was facing away from, with a hint of smugness in his tone.
The host then looked at Xu Manxue: "Manxue, do you have a different opinion?"
Xu Manxue, with her back to him, said with a laugh in her voice, "My opinion is that we each earn our own money, but we can pool it together. However, I'll manage his wallet."
The audience laughed again.
The host nodded and made a mark on his notebook: "You both answered the first question correctly. The second question—who will cook at home from now on?"
Tan Yu raised his hand even faster than before, almost the instant the host finished speaking.
Xu Manxue was a step too slow; by the time she raised her hand, Tan Yu was already suspended in mid-air.
"Tan Yu raised his hand first," the host said, "'You tell me, who's cooking?'"
"I'll do it." Tan Yu said firmly, "I cook better than her."
"I won't let you take this, but I won't eat it easily if it's not cooked well." Xu Manxue's voice came from behind, along with a little joke.
The audience burst into laughter.
Zhao Dapeng, sitting in the front row, laughed so hard he clutched his stomach. Turning to Liu Jun beside him, he said, "Oh no, oh no, Tan Yu's been practically stripped naked today!"
Liu Jun ignored him, holding up his phone to record a video. It was his good brother's first wedding, and he had to document it.
The host stopped them from arguing: "The second question has also been solved. The third question—"
He glanced down at the third line on the whiteboard, his lips twitching involuntarily, then looked up, maintaining a professional smile: "—After you get married, who will be the first to get impatient?"
Tan Yu hesitated this time.
He raised his hand halfway and then lowered it, as if he was thinking seriously.
Xu Manxue raised her hand first, her movements swift and decisive.
"Manxue raised her hand first," the host said. "Manxue, why did you choose yourself?"
Xu Manxue, still with her back to him, said, "Because he has a good temper, while I have a short temper. Sometimes when I'm busy at work, I can even get angry with myself. He waits until I've calmed down before saying, 'Are you calm now? If you are, I'll get you a glass of water.' So, it's more likely that I'm the one who's impatient."
The host nodded, then turned to Tan Yu: "You hesitated just now, were you originally going to talk about yourself?"
Tan Yu explained with a smile, "I was going to say mine, but she raised hers first. And she's right, she was the one who got impatient first."
A burst of good-natured laughter and applause rang out from the audience.
"The fourth question—" The host paused, glanced at the question board, and then read it aloud slowly, "Who will give birth to the child?"
The moment the words left his mouth, Tan Yu's hand shot up in a flash, as fast as if he'd been electrocuted.
His right hand stretched straight up to the ceiling, his palm wide open, the whole movement so smooth that there wasn't a single pause.
Xu Manxue was a beat too slow; by the time she realized what was happening and raised her hand, Tan Yu had already held it up for several seconds.
She probably heard the laughter from below the stage, vaguely realized something, turned her head slightly to look at Tan Yu's back, and then turned back.
The host tried hard to keep a straight face, but the corners of his mouth were already uncontrollably turning upwards.
He took a deep breath, his voice barely concealing his amusement: "Tan Yu, you just said—who will have the baby?"
Tan Yu shouted, "I'll give birth!"
As soon as he finished speaking, it was as if a string of firecrackers had been lit, with laughter exploding one after another from the first table onwards.
Some people laughed so hard they slapped their thighs, while others spat out their drinks. The aunties at Xu Manxue's mother's table were laughing so hard they were doubled over. Xu Manlin, sitting in the second row, covered her face with her hands, her shoulders shaking.
Tan Yu himself was still holding his right hand up in the air when he was stunned for two seconds before realizing what he had said.
He lowered his hand, turned around, and faced Xu Manxue, his expression a mixture of amusement and embarrassment. He opened his mouth several times, finally managing to stammer, "I spoke too quickly. I wanted to say, 'It's no use me giving birth, I can't have children anyway.'"
Xu Manxue also turned to face him.
Her eyes were still red, but the corners of her mouth were turned up high. She reached out and slapped his arm: "Can't you think before you speak?"
"I passed," Tan Yu said sincerely, "it just went by too fast."
The host finally couldn't hold back anymore and laughed for a long time before straightening up.
He raised the microphone, his voice still lingering: "While this answer is physically impossible, the attitude is good. It seems this question was already given."
After another round of laughter and joking from the audience, the host put away the question board and adopted a more serious tone: "Alright, the teamwork challenge is over. Next, please have the two newlyweds drink a toast together."
The staff brought out two stemmed glasses filled with an amber liquid that gleamed warmly under the light.
Tan Yu took one glass, and Xu Manxue took the other. Their arms were crossed, the rims of the glasses close to their lips, and they tilted their heads slightly at the same time.
After downing half a glass of wine, Tan Yu let out a long sigh as he put down the glass. It was unclear whether it was from the wine or from finally getting the wedding to this point.
Xu Manxue was much more composed than him, and even smiled at the audience when she put the empty cup back on the tray.
"Wear your wedding ring." The emcee announced at the opportune moment.
A flower girl walked onto the stage carrying a tray with two small, dark blue velvet boxes on it.
When the box was opened, two rings were found inside.
Tan Yu's was a matte platinum ring with a faint pattern engraved on the inner wall. Xu Manxue's was set with a circle of small diamonds, which shimmered with a fine sheen under the main light.
Tan Yu first picked up the woman's ring.
His hand was much steadyer than before, and his fingertips didn't tremble when he held the ring.
He looked up at Xu Manxue, who stretched out her left hand with her fingers slightly spread.
He slipped the ring onto her ring finger and slowly pushed it all the way down.
The size was just right; the ring fit snugly on my finger.
Then Xu Manxue picked up the men's ring, lowered her head, and carefully slipped it onto Tan Yu's left middle finger.
Her movements were slower than Tan Yu's, as if she were afraid of hurting him.
The moment the ring was pushed all the way down, she looked up at him, her eyes glistening with tears reflecting the light.
A round of applause erupted from the audience.
Xu Manxue's mother finally couldn't hold back anymore, pressed a handkerchief to her eyes, and burst into tears, her shoulders shaking.
Tan's mother, who was standing nearby, quickly handed her a tissue. She took it but didn't wipe her face; she just held it in her hand.
After the ring was put on, the host stepped aside, giving up the main seat.
"Next, we will invite the officiant to the stage to give a speech." The host spoke at a moderate pace, "First, please welcome Mr. Chen Guodong, a national first-class director and winner of the Feitian Award for Best Director."
A man with gray hair stood up from the first row, wearing a dark gray Zhongshan suit, and walked steadily onto the stage.
He took the microphone and spoke for about three minutes.
The content was standard, wishing the newlyweds a long and happy marriage and many children, interspersed with a few anecdotes about Tan Yu's father's past in the industry, and praising Xu Manxue's reputation in the circle.
The performance was neither too short nor too long; it ended just as the audience's attention was about to wander, and the performer bowed and stepped off the stage.
Then came the second witness.
He was a producer, surnamed Zhou, in his early fifties, wearing frameless glasses.
His speech was shorter than Chen Guodong's, mainly talking about the films Tan Yu and Xu Manxue had worked on together, saying that they were "on-screen lovers who became a real-life couple." Several staff members in the audience who had worked with them laughed a few times.
The third person is an actress, who can be considered a senior in the industry, from the generation of Tan Yu's father.
After she went on stage, she didn't take a microphone. Instead, she spoke a few words to the audience in a friendly tone, as if chatting with someone she knew. She said, "Watching Xiao Tan grow from a little kid into a successful young man with a family and career fills me with indescribable emotions."
After the three witnesses finished speaking, the emcee's voice rang out again: "The last witness—"
He deliberately delayed for a moment, whetting everyone's appetite, before announcing his name: "—Mr. Lu Ran."
Lu Ran stood up from his seat.
Today he was wearing that dark gray casual suit, a tie, and his shirt collar was buttoned up tightly.
He walked at a moderate pace, and as he took the microphone in the center of the stage, someone in the audience whistled.
He glanced in the direction of the whistle and saw Zhao Dapeng, who was hunching over and hiding behind Liu Jun.
Lu Ran turned back to face the audience and began, "Hello everyone, I'm Lu Ran. I haven't known Tan Yu for a particularly long time, but it's not short either. I knew about his marriage a few months ago—he was one of the first people to tell me."
The audience listened quietly.
"Tan Yu is a reliable friend. He's serious about his work, honest, and doesn't play tricks. In all the time I've known him, I've never seen him argue with anyone. Since he got together with Xu Manxue, the topics of his conversations have changed. Before, they talked about scripts and projects; now it's all about 'Manxue caught a cold yesterday' and 'Manxue finished filming today.' I think it's great; you can't hide when someone has someone else in their heart."
He paused, switched the microphone to his other hand, and said in a softer tone, "As the officiant, the previous officiants have already given their blessings, so I won't repeat them. But I've prepared something extra—a song for Tan Yu and Xu Manxue."
A low murmur arose from the audience.
Lu Ran gestured to the background music.
The backstage sound system then switched tracks, and a gentle piano prelude flowed from the speakers on both sides, the melody soft and warm.
He will be your groom, and from this day forward, he will be your life partner. Everything about him will be intertwined with yours; you will share both joy and sorrow—
...