The Overnight Chosen Wife: darling, kiss me deeper

Lanni drove the low-profile car she had bought for convenience to the stylist’s.

When she arrived, the stylist’s assistant was already waiting for her.

"You must be Miss Jiang. Miss Wu is waiting for you." The cheerful assistant greeted, then led the way.

Lanni followed the lead to a grand styling room where the beautiful middle-aged woman was already waiting.

Since everything was ready, she did not waste time and had Lanni sit before starting to do her work.

"You mentioned that you want your hair dyed. May I ask which color you want?" Miss Wu asked as she massaged Lanni’s scalp.

"Can I have the same color as this?" She pointed at the wig she had just taken off. The reason why she wanted to dye it permanently was because wigs were troublesome. If anything went wrong and it was discovered that she was wearing one, it would raise more suspicion to her identity.

"Sure, that’s doable." Miss Wu responded. "However, there is a downside. Your hair is the kind that grows very fast. It will not be long before natural strands start to show up. Black and ashen blond are such contrasting colors so if you want it to be completely blond, you may want to dye it more often—which will weaken your hair.

"No problem." Lanni shrugged. She would only dye it once. By the time it grew too long to be concealed, she would have completed her mission so she would dye it back to its original color.

Since it was decided, Miss Wu went ahead and dyed it. When she was done, she styled it in the soft waves that Lanni wanted. Her hair was naturally voluminous to begin with, so when it was styled in waves, it looked even more beautiful.

She smiled at the woman in the mirror. Xiehan would go crazy if he saw her like this.

She was about to stand when the stylist’s assistant led someone in. Lanni’s smile in the mirror froze. It was Feng Ci.

Luckily, the wig had been kept away.

"Miss Wu, I would like..." Feng Ci was still speaking when she noticed the girl sitting in front of the mirror. "You?"

"Hello, Miss Feng." Lanni quickly got into her role as Jiang Xiaomu. Luckily, although she had taken off her glasses, she was still wearing her makeup. So, although Feng Ci thought she looked really familiar, she only linked it to the fact that they might have known each other in the past.

She walked to Lanni with a smile. "You don’t need to be too polite and call me Miss Feng. You can just call me Sis Ci."

Lanni nodded. Since Feng Ci was older than her, it made sense.

"Anyway, Xiaomu, I didn’t expect to meet you here. Do you think we could grab a coffee sometime?"

Lanni knew that Feng Ci would not ask people out without a reason. She probably had something in mind but Lanni was willing to play along. She wanted to play with her too. "Sure. I’m not usually too busy after work."

"How about today? We can go after my hair is done." Feng Ci pressed.

"Uh... I promised my parents to drop by today. Maybe some other time?"

Feng Ci thought about then nodded. She could wait a little.

Lanni sighed in relief when she left. It was safer if she knew what Feng Ci’s real motive was.

...

After discussing with Xiehan and the others, they had reminded her to make sure to go to the Jiangs once in a while to visit. After all, she was their ’daughter’.

Hence, Lanni drove to Jiang Mansion.

"Young miss!" The servants greeted in unison as soon as she arrived.

Lanni returned their greetings with a smile. The Jiangs were really so much in character. If she didn’t know what was happening, even she would believe that she was actually Jiang Xiaomu.

"Aunty!" She smiled at Madam Jiang once she saw her in the living room, and hurried over to greet her.

Madam Jiang stood up to hug Lanni. "You little child. Aren’t you going to call me mother?" She joked.

Lanni laughed along. "I can call you "mom" but do you know why that will not be correct?"

"Why?" Madam Jiang asked curiously.

"If I call you "mom", Luna will have to address you the same way, then she cannot be your future daughter-in-law anymore." She laughed.

Madam Jiang pretended to ponder over it. "Daughter or daughter-in-law... is there really a difference? Actually, I can be her mother too. That punk of mine is too useless anyway."

"Are you really my mum?" A complaint emanated from the staircase.

Lanni burst into laughter. These two were going to start bickering again.

"Stop blabbering. Come here and say hello to your sister." Madam Jiang closed in on her son and dragged him by the ear.

"Have you gotten too addicted to your role?" Jiang Xingyu was flabbergasted. Did she really think that Jiang Xiaomu existed?

Madam Jiang glared at him. "Punk, what did you say? Even if Jiang Xiaomu is not my daughter, she can be my granddaughter. Instead of spouting so much nonsense, you should spend that effort trying to make me a grandma."

Jiang Xingyu scratched his chin. "You haven’t learnt to crawl yet but you want to run? You are not even a mother-in-law yet but you want to be a grandma from nowhere?"

"You! I’ll beat you up." Madam Jiang dramatically grabbed a sandal. What followed was the mother and son chasing each other all over the living room, with a sandal raised in the air by Madam Jiang.

Lanni laughed so hard that her stomach hurt. Were these two always fighting like this?

When Madam Jiang finally caught her son, the latter wailed pitifully. "Waaaah mother! I will not spout nonsense anymore! I am going on a date with your daughter-in-law. If you beat me up, she will think I am ugly and will not fall in love with me!"

Madam Jiang’s hand paused. "You are going on a date with Luna?"

"Uh huh. Don’t you see how handsomely I am dressed?" Jiang Xingyu nodded immediately.

"What are you waiting for? Go go go! Don’t keep a girl waiting." She shooed him away like a stray animal.

Lanni was curious when she overheard their conversation. Jiang Xingyu was going on a date with Luna? What great news!

Madam Jiang finally sat on the couch opposite Lanni. "I’m sorry you had to see that. My son is just so naughty."

Lanni laughed. "It’s alright." It was very entertaining anyway.

"This punk... he better not give Luna a hard time." Although Madam Jiang was admonishing her son, it was apparent that she loved him very much. Lanni also knew that the words she had just said were not uttered deliberately for her to hear.

Madam Jiang truly loved Luna. What a lucky girl... the wheel of fortune was finally turning in her favor.

"Lanni, when will you be free for the banquet?" The woman asked after some time.

"Banquet?" Lanni was pensive.

"Your welcome banquet. You are a daughter of the Jiang family so after being away for so many years, everyone expects us to throw you a welcome banquet."

Lanni was incredibly touched by how detailed Madam Jiang was. "Aunty, thank you but it’s not that necessary. Besides, what will happen once my mission is complete?"

"That shouldn’t worry you, and of course it is necessary!" She held Lanni’s hands in reassurance. "Then it’s settled. Tell me a date when you will not be busy and I will organize everything. Also, tell me if there are specific you would like to invite or those you don’t want to invite."

Seeing that she was adamant, Lanni nodded with a smile. "Thank you, Aunty."

"Why are you thanking me? We are a family after all."

Lanni chuckled at her double meaning. They were fake mother and daughter for now but in real sense, they would really be family if Luna and Jiang Xingyu got married.

___

Pearl Hotel.

Jiang Xingyu arrived five minutes earlier than the agreed time for their date.

As the huge golden clock on the wall of the private room—as well as the Patek Philippe watch on his wrist—ticked away the seconds, he almost couldn’t keep his butt on the chair.

Heaven knew how much effort he had spent to convince her to go on a date with him.

That morning when they were having breakfast, she had tricked her into having a bet with him. If she lost the bet, she would go on a date with him. Luckily, she had lost.

He couldn’t conceal his joy.

Time elapsed. Soon, it was 7.30 pm, their agreed time. He sat on edge as he waited but saw no sign of her. He thought that she might have been caught in traffic.

Soon, it was 8pm. She glanced at the clock with a smile. Some women always wanted to be late for dates, to keep the man anticipating, so he didn’t mind.

When it was 9pm, he thought she might have spent too much time dressing up. He simply asked a waitress to sprinkle fresh, cold water on the bouquet of roses he had brought with him and continued waiting.

However, it was soon 11:30 pm and there was still no sign of her. Not even a chime of her text message.