Yingqu Liuzi was pampered by her wealthy daddy.

Shen Yu'an arranged the invitations secretly by himself.

Caesars had already chosen the traditional British gold-stamped design, with thick ivory-white paper, dark gray lettering, and subtle patterns on the edges, to send to the guests in England.

Shen Yu'an had seen it and thought it was good, but he wanted to prepare a separate copy for his relatives and friends in China.

He didn't tell Xize that he had contacted a printing factory himself, selected bright red invitation paper, printed gold double happiness characters, and had two simple magpie drawings on the cover.

He also changed the content to Chinese, writing the groom's name and date according to the customs of domestic weddings, using simple wording and avoiding overly complicated honorifics.

When he received the sample, he opened it in his studio and found it to be more beautiful than he had imagined. It had a red background with gold lettering and magpies perched on branches, making it festive yet tasteful.

He examined the sample several times, then closed it and put it in the drawer.

After dinner, he sat in the living room while Xize flipped through the newspaper next to him.

Shen Yu'an sat on the sofa for a while, then took out the sample of the red invitation.

"Daddy, take a look at this."

Xize put down the newspaper and took it. He flipped through the invitation, looking from the cover to the inside pages, and then back to the cover.

His gaze lingered on the magpie pattern for a moment, then he looked at the golden double happiness character.

When did you do that?

"I contacted the printing factory last week. I wanted to send it to relatives and friends in China."

Xize closed the invitation and placed it on the coffee table, then looked at Shen Yu'an: "Beautiful."

Shen Yu'an paused for a moment: "Don't you think it's too famous? It's different from what you guys do back home."

"It's better when it's different. My relatives and friends back home will be happy to receive this."

Shen Yu'an looked at him, who hadn't moved, and asked, "Do you really think it's okay?"

Xize reached for the invitation, picked it up, looked at it again, and then put it back. He lightly tapped the magpie illustration on the cover with his finger: "This magpie is beautifully drawn. Did you draw it?"

"Yes, I revised the manuscript twice for the printing plant."

"So this is your design."

Shen Yu'an nodded.

Xize put the invitation back on the coffee table and said, "Then use this to send it back to China." His tone was very casual, as if he were confirming something that had already been decided.

Shen Yu'an looked at him for a few seconds, then didn't ask any more questions, put the invitation away, and returned it to the drawer.

The invitations were then arranged.

He thought the matter was over, until one afternoon when he came down from the studio early and passed by the study, where the door was ajar.

Normally, when Xize works in his study, the door is open, but today it was closed, with only a crack left.

Shen Yu'an didn't pay attention at first, but when he walked over, he heard the sound of paper being crumpled inside. It was very soft and came from behind a door.

He stopped, standing outside the door without pushing it open. He peeked through the crack in the door and saw Xize sitting behind his desk, looking down at something.

Several sheets of paper were spread out in front of him. He held a pen in his right hand and pressed the paper with his left hand. His movements were slow, as if he were writing.

He wrote a few strokes, paused to look at it, then flipped it over, folded the paper, and placed it on the corner of the table.

There was already a small stack of folded paper on the corner of the table, not very neatly stacked, looking like it was wasted.

Shen Yu'an pushed open the door and went inside.

Xize raised his head slightly when he heard the door open, still holding a pen in his hand.

He didn't panic when his eyes met Shen Yu'an's, but he moved his hand to the side as if he wanted to cover the paper in front of him, but then he felt it was too late and stopped.

Shen Yu'an walked over and stood next to the desk.

He looked down and saw a few Chinese characters written on the paper in front of Xize. They were crooked, the strokes were out of order, the structure was unstable, some characters were crowded together and some were too far apart.

But Shen Yu'an recognized the two characters; they read "Yu'an," and next to them was a line of even smaller characters that read his own name.

Are you writing in Chinese?

Xize put down his pen: "Practicing."

Shen Yu'an bent down and leaned closer to look at the page.

The writing on the paper has several layers, some darker and some lighter, indicating that it has been repeatedly traced and erased.

I wrote the same line four or five times, each time slightly better than the last, but still not up to standard.

The same content was written on several scraps of paper next to it; some were crossed out halfway through, and some were crumpled and then unfolded.

How long have you been practicing?

"A few days."

Shen Yu'an reached out and picked up the stack of scrap paper on the corner of the table and flipped through it.

His name was written on each piece of paper. The first one was completely illegible, but the strokes became visible on the third one, and by the later ones, the shape of the character was already discernible.

The top one is the best written. Although the strokes are still stiff, at least you can clearly see the two characters "予安".

"Why are you practicing this?"

Xize leaned back in his chair, looking at him. "The invitation needs to have names on it. Your name." He paused. "The Chinese-style invitation you designed needs the groom's name. I want to write it myself."

Shen Yu'an looked at the crooked "Yu'an" on the paper, then looked up at Xize.

Xize's expression was calm, as if he were talking about something very ordinary, but there were at least seven or eight pieces of scrap paper on the corner of his table, each with the same word repeated dozens of times.

"How many times have you practiced?"

"I don't know."

Shen Yu'an picked up the paper with the best handwriting and held it up to the light. The handwriting was indeed much more steady than the previous ones.

He put the paper back and looked at Xize: "You'll get the hang of it after you write more."

Xize nodded.

Shen Yu'an walked around the table to his side and looked down at the ink stains still on his fingers.

There was a small gray mark on the web of Xize's right hand, which was from rubbing the pen when he was holding it.

Shen Yu'an reached out and grasped his right hand, rubbing his thumb against the ink mark on the web of his hand. It didn't come off; the ink had already dried.

"You have them under your fingernails too."

Xize glanced down at his fingers: "I washed them."

"Finish writing first, then wash."

Shen Yu'an released his hand, walked to the desk, picked up the pen, and wrote his name on another blank sheet of paper.

The strokes were much smoother than those written by Xize, but he didn't write them too neatly. He slowed down a bit so that the direction of each stroke could be clearly seen.

He pushed the paper in front of Xize.

"Write it according to this structure. Horizontal strokes should be straight, and vertical strokes should be parallel; do not connect the strokes."

Xize picked up his pen and wrote it again next to the paper. This time it was better than the ones he had practiced on his own; the horizontal strokes weren't as crooked, but the vertical strokes were still a little slanted.

Shen Yu'an watched him write, and after he finished writing, she reached out and pointed to the bottom stroke of the character "安".

"This stroke should be executed horizontally, not upwards."

Xize wrote it again.

"The path is still a bit narrow. Make it wider."

It was much better when I wrote it the third time.

Shen Yu'an looked at the increasingly convincing "Yu'an" on the paper, picked it up, folded it, and put it in his pocket.

"I'll keep this one."

Xize watched him take the paper away without saying a word, then took another blank sheet of paper, placed it in front of him, and continued writing it down.

Shen Yu'an stood beside him without leaving, watching him write a few lines.

Xize's posture is more natural than at the beginning; he's holding the pen correctly and his wrist is more relaxed.

How many times do you plan to write it?

"Write until you can write it without looking at your template."

Shen Yu'an leaned against the edge of his desk and looked down at him for a while.

Xize didn't look up; he was focused on finishing the last stroke of the character "安".

His fingers were still stained with ink, and his collar was slightly crooked from looking down for too long. The man who usually buttoned his shirt all the way up had a strand of hair hanging down in front of his forehead.

Shen Yu'an reached out and gently brushed the strand of hair to the side for him, then pulled it back.

Xize paused for a moment, then continued writing.

"After you've finished practicing, help me write a few invitations."

"good."

"The section where you write your name."

"good."

Shen Yu'an didn't say anything more, but leaned against the table and watched quietly.

The afternoon light streaming through the window fell on the desk, making the papers covered with Chinese characters shine.

The scrap paper on the corner of the table had piled up into a thick stack again. Xize held his pen and finished writing on that paper once more.

The strokes of "Yu An" were steadyer than any of the previous attempts, though still somewhat clumsy, but it was clear whose name it was.