Where does one get 99,999 roses?

That was the number used to decorate three floors of a Shanghai mall on Monday (May 13) when Macau gambling tycoon Stanley Ho's son Mario proposed to his girlfriend, Chinese supermodel Ming Xi.

According to portal on.cc, Mario, 24, went down on one knee and said that when he is with Ming, 30, "I feel very safe and don't have to worry that you'll hurt or lie to me".

"Do you remember that in Macau, you asked if we would be together?

"Today, the question has changed to: 'Little Ming, do you think we'll always be together?'" he added.

When Ming said yes, the crowd of more than 1,000 witnesses erupted in loud applause.

The supermodel, who is said to be pregnant, and Mario have dated for two years.

Mario, who later posted a photo of the event, wrote: "Girl of my dreams is now going (to be) my wife, how fairytale can life get for me?"

But the work involved was not a bed of roses for the staff at the mall that is reportedly owned by Mario's mother.

Mario, who once dated Singapore billionaire Peter Lim's daughter Kim, revealed on Weibo that "the preparations lasted until 5am. Luckily, I took (Ming's) cellphone or else this over month-long surprise would've been spoiled by you guys."

Mario, who also dated Yumi, one-half of homegrown Mandopop duo By2, once posted he worked very hard to graduate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in three years, instead of four, to chase his dream of starting his own business in Shanghai.

Ming walked the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show runway from 2013 to 2018.