"Alright, I'm not in a rush. As long as you're willing, I don't mind waiting. But have pity on me. I'm getting old and still alone. Don't make me wait too long."
Actually, when he heard that she was about to get married, he didn't feel great. But thinking that she had finally agreed, he felt relieved. He pushed away the thoughts in his mind and joked on purpose.
"Pfft..."
Hearing his playful words, Yaelle couldn't help but laugh.
"Since we've already talked things through, it feels weird to keep calling each other 'miss' and 'sir.' It sounds too distant. Why don't we just use names?" Yaelle suggested. After all, she was from a different time. Being called 'miss' all the time felt like an insult.
Back then, the word didn't mean what it does now. Chrysanthemum didn't mean the same thing, and neither did green tea.
Xavier nodded slightly and agreed, "Of course, that's better. I'll call you Mengmeng. My father gave me a courtesy name, Xavie. It means 'a promise worth a thousand pieces of gold.' You can call me that too."
Yaelle softly repeated, "Xavie? I think Ziyu sounds more natural. I'll just call you Xavie then?"
Xavier smiled and said, "Whatever makes you happy. It's just a name anyway."
Looking at his handsome face, Yaelle couldn't help but blush and feel her heart race.
She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself, but she couldn't move her eyes away from him.
She couldn't help but think how lucky the women here were.
It reminded her of ancient emperors, faced with countless beautiful women and not knowing who to choose. Every flower had its own beauty, making it impossible to look away.
Finally, Xavier saw the shyness and fascination in her eyes. His heart surged with confidence.
He felt grateful to his father for giving him such good looks, which helped him catch her attention.
But Yaelle didn't stay caught up in his beauty for long.
She quickly adjusted her mindset and returned to calm and reason. After all, she was already thirty-two in her past life. That was too old to be acting like a starstruck teen.
They continued talking, sharing details about their lives and past experiences.
Through this deep exchange, they learned more about each other and grew closer.
After finishing their serious discussion, Xavier felt it was time to leave. He said goodbye and took his leave.
Although he was a little reluctant, he knew when to stop was best. Before he left, he once again felt the warmth in her gaze, as if it could reach into his soul.
Time flew by like a horse galloping past a crack. In the blink of an eye, it was already the sixth of October, the day Yaelle was supposed to bring the betrothal gifts.
The Maxim family also sent a message, saying that Maxim had rushed home last night through wind and dust, just in time for this important moment in their lives.
Early that morning, Yaelle led a large group with gifts to the Maxim residence.
Although women proposing marriage didn't need to prepare much, she still followed the custom and brought generous gifts.
There was also a tray of gifts she had made herself, which she planned to present personally.
The Xiao family servants waited at the door to receive the betrothal gifts. Yaelle had someone give the gifts that needed to be shown to the Xiao family steward. The rest were carried into the courtyard according to the Xiao family's arrangements.
Under the steward's signal, the Xiao family first opened a box. Inside were two sets of men's clothes made by Yaelle with a sewing machine. The fabric was very expensive, and the stitches were tight and even.
Maxim, surprised, wondered if Yaelle's hands were really so skillful. Maxim blushed and smiled at her, feeling pleasantly surprised. He thought Yaelle must care for him a lot since she took time to make clothes for him.
They carefully spread out the clothes and found no faults. The stitching was straight and even, with edges hidden inside. Everyone around showed expressions of envy and jealousy.
The Xiao family's young master was really lucky! After taking out both sets of clothes, they found two pairs of insoles below. They looked like embroidered ones.
Could it be? Nowadays, who had the patience to sit and embroider? Not only the Xiao family was surprised, even the onlookers could hardly believe it.
These two pairs were landscape embroidery picked by Yaelle from a pile of cartoon insoles. They were not too unusual.
"Yaelle, thank you for making these for me," Maxim said, moved. He gently held Yaelle's hand and checked it carefully, worried she might have pricked herself. Even though today's gifts made him proud, it would not be worth it if she got hurt.
"No worries, I'm good at this," she replied calmly. She was not rushed, having spent one or two months making them. Sometimes she even found time to sew a little more in her space.
Yaelle then took out a framed painting from the bottom of the box. She gently unrolled the scroll. The first thing seen was a face exactly like Maxim's, as if he had stepped into the painting.
This painting was carefully created by Yaelle using both sketching and color styles. It showed the scene of boating on the lake that day. Maybe because the scene left a deep impression, the image was deeply etched in her mind.
So when painting, she was very skilled and serious about every stroke and color. She managed to raise her painting skill from only 70% similarity to 90%. This stunned everyone present.
Even top painters in the capital could hardly reach this level. People sighed, thinking this noble daughter of the Xia family was truly talented in many ways.
Seeing the shocked family of three, Yaelle smiled slightly with a faint, almost teasing expression. She thought this family was quite interesting.
But she did not stop there. She decided to show off her skill fully and let them appreciate her work. She raised her hand elegantly and gently pulled away the red cloth covering the largest cross-stitch nearby.
At once, a fine landscape painting appeared before everyone's eyes. The delicate needlework and vivid colors amazed them. Then she quickly revealed two more paintings, part of a set: one large and two small linked landscape paintings.
This scene made the crowd gasp in surprise, their amazement growing louder. People thought to themselves, "How much time and effort did this take?" "Yaelle truly values Maxim!" "This guy is so lucky to marry such an excellent wife!"
For a moment, many jealous and envious eyes were fixed on Maxim.