Fu Ruyi went back to her room after eating, flopped onto the bed, and giggled to herself, laughing louder and louder.
“Not washing your feet? Still laughing.” Mother Fu pushed open the door. “You haven’t even lit a single candle. Have you laughed yourself silly?”
Fu Ruyi rolled over on the bed, then sprang up with a sudden leap. “I’m happy!”
“You, you!” Mother Fu laughed too. “I came to tell you—your father and your third brother are planning to start plowing the fields and planting non-glutinous broomcorn millet the day after tomorrow. Settle down and stop running around outside. Go give them a hand in the fields.”
“All right, got it,” Fu Ruyi agreed. She fumbled in the dark to find her wooden basin and went out to fetch water.
Mother Fu left first, not waiting for Ruyi to return with the water. She came back holding a lit candle, using it to light the two candles in the room. Spotting a piece of white cloth covered in writing spread out on the desk, she picked it up and examined it closely.
Fu Ruyi’s heart tightened when she walked in and saw this, but the next moment she relaxed, remembering that her mother couldn’t read.
“This handwriting isn’t as nice as your usual work.” Mother Fu couldn’t read, but she knew how to appreciate calligraphy.
“I scribbled it randomly last night. Mother, go back to your room and sleep. I need to undress and wash up,” Fu Ruyi urged her to leave.
Mother Fu muttered something about her being too particular, told her to close the door properly and not catch a chill from the draft, then left with her candle.
Fu Ruyi closed the door and returned to the desk, picking up the messy cloth. It was her plan for pursuing the beauty she’d written the night before. She’d never pursued a man before, let alone a handsome one. Lou Zhaoshui, the great beauty who had taken root in her heart, had barely exerted any effort before he had her tripping over her own words—and that put her at a serious disadvantage.
Lou Zhaoshui, that exquisite beauty, was a hot commodity. To avoid any complications from a long delay, Fu Ruyi intended to secure him quickly. But she’d racked her brain half the night without coming up with a good idea. Finally, drawing from her own experience, she chose to fight fire with fire—to turn their own weapon to her purpose and set a trap for Lou Zhaoshui using the same tactics the Wang family had used to besiege her. Tricks devised by men were bound to work best against men, because they only used what they themselves believed would succeed. Of course, this particular trick had also worked on her.
For young people just beginning to feel the stirrings of love, at an age when they have not yet learned to make up their own minds, being pursued is both embarrassing and thrilling. At such times, what they fear most is the crowd around them egging them on—because once the teasing starts, the seeds of love in their hearts grow rapidly in secret. A single glance, a single gesture, can turn one part fondness into seven parts attraction. It even works on those with a firm sense of self. As long as the two parties aren’t too far apart in circumstances, being pursued is flattering. As long as one doesn’t dislike the other, after enough teasing from the crowd, one starts to enjoy it. What’s more, this method was also good for driving off romantic rivals—once the courtship became public knowledge, anyone secretly competing would have to weigh their options repeatedly before making a move, buying oneself precious time.
The Wang family had come three times in succession to ask for her hand in marriage, and who knew how many men interested in Fu Ruyi they had driven off behind the scenes. Not only that, but through the teasing words of outsiders, they’d deepened Ruyi’s impression of him. Setting everything else aside, at the very least she believed Wang Erlang had genuine feelings for her. And so, when she considered marriage, he had become one of her first choices.
From this angle, Fu Ruyi chose to follow the Wang family’s approach—while openly courting and pursuing her love interest, she was busily working on the members of the Lou household. She drove away competitors while forcefully squeezing her name into Lou Zhaoshui’s life.
Within just one day, she saw remarkable results.
Fu Ruyi smiled with satisfaction. She crumpled the cloth in her hand, scooped up two handfuls of water to wet it, and let the ink stains blur and spread.
Her scheming was real, but so was her affection.
Waking from sleep, Fu Ruyi first took a stroll through her family’s vegetable plot. The winter melons, sweet melons, pickling melons, bottle gourds, and cucumbers planted a month ago had all sprouted leaves. She’d transplant the seedlings once a rainy, overcast day came. She calculated that after keeping what she needed for her own planting, there wouldn’t be much left to give the Lou family—and they had so many mouths to feed.
Leaving the vegetable garden, Fu Ruyi made rounds to her eldest brother’s, second brother’s, and second sister’s homes. She went to greet her eldest sister-in-law, second sister-in-law, and second sister, asking them to save any extra melon and vegetable seedlings they’d started this year—not to let anyone else take them.
“Ruyi, have you eaten?” Granny Wei was watching over newly hatched chicks outside her yard when she spotted Ruyi and called out to her.
“Not yet. My mother was still cooking when I left.” Fu Ruyi walked over. The hen tending her chicks, seeing a stranger approach, immediately clucked loudly to summon her brood and gathered all the chicks under her wings.
“That hen is alert and responsible.” Fu Ruyi stared at the speckled hen.
“She only hatched them a few days ago—she’s a new mother and hasn’t gotten over the novelty yet.” Granny Wei was quite pleased with her hen’s behavior. “I went to your place the day before yesterday and saw your chicks are already fist-sized. You hatched them early.”
Fu Ruyi nodded. Her family ran a candle-making business. From the eleventh month of last year through the second month of this year, they’d kept the stove burning to render tallow and pour molds. The workshop was so warm they didn’t even need to wear fur coats. The adjoining shed was warm too, so once spring came and chicks were hatched, they were raised inside, protected from the sudden cold snaps of early spring. By the time the weather warmed and the villagers started hatching their chicks, hers were already a month old with full feathers—unafraid of rain or cold, ready to be free-ranged. Hatching a month early meant laying a month early. In the sixth and seventh months, when eggs were scarce and expensive, her family could trade eggs for salt and get two extra catties compared with the usual rate.
“I called you over for something specific. I heard the Lou children came to your house yesterday?” Granny Wei got down to business. “If their family let the children go with you, it seems they don’t have a bad impression of you. I was thinking of going to their house tomorrow to propose the match.”
Granny Wei knew more than that. Her niece had seen Ruyi go to the Lou house yesterday with elm seeds, walking through their door as casually as if it were her own home. She didn’t know what method Ruyi had used to get so familiar with Lou Zhaoshui, but at this rate, the match between Ruyi and that man probably wouldn’t need her services—this matchmaker wouldn’t be getting her matchmaking fee.
Fu Ruyi nodded and broke into a smile. “I was thinking the same thing. Even if you hadn’t come looking for me, Granny Wei, I would have come to find you tonight.”
“Your family knows about all this, right?” Granny Wei confirmed.
Fu Ruyi nodded. “They all know. Granny Wei, go ahead and act as my matchmaker freely—my marriage is my own decision.”
“I’ve already seen that for myself.” In the Fu family, from the oldest to the youngest, no one could make decisions for her.
“Ruyi, come home and eat!”
“Auntie, the food’s ready—”
Two calls, one short and one long, came drifting on the wind. Fu Ruyi raised her voice in reply, “I heard you, I’m coming back now.”
“They’re calling you home for a meal. You should go,” Granny Wei said.
Fu Ruyi took off at a run. When she was still three or four zhang from home, she ran into Fu Ying, who had come out to look for her.
“She’s back. Serve the food,” Fu Yuan said when he saw her from outside the gate, then turned and went into the courtyard.
Fu Ruyi came running back holding her little niece’s hand. The meal was already on the table—breakfast was thick glutinous millet porridge, with pickled vegetables dressed in sesame oil and tender chives fried with eggs as the side dishes.
“Gone without a trace since early morning. What were you up to? I thought you’d crossed the river again,” Mother Fu asked.
“I didn’t cross the river, but my heart did. I was busy working for the people on the other side,” Fu Ruyi said without any attempt to hide it. She picked up her bowl but didn’t eat right away, asking, “Granny Wei told me she plans to go to the Lou family tomorrow to act as matchmaker for me. Before that, do you all want to meet the Lou family?”
“So soon?” Fu Yuan frowned.
“You have to strike while the iron’s hot,” Fu Ruyi said. “I’m afraid that the longer we wait, the more complications there will be.”
“If it’s meant to be yours, it won’t get away no matter what. Calm down. Wait until after spring planting is done before arranging all this.” Fu Yuan saw how fervent she was, as if she’d been possessed.
“You’re a well-fed man who doesn’t know what it’s like for the hungry, standing here making snide remarks.” Fu Ruyi refused to back down, and she provoked him: “If you won’t help me judge the match and stand up for me, I’ll go ask Eldest Brother and Second Brother.”
Fu Yuan wanted to rap her on the head with his chopsticks. “Well-fed man who doesn’t know what it’s like for the hungry”—she wasn’t even embarrassed to say such a thing. Shameless, truly shameless.
“Where are we meeting? I’ll go,” Lin Juan said.
“Meeting them is fine too,” Father Fu spoke up. “But what does their family think about this? Don’t let this be all on your side.”
“Of the land their family was allotted, apart from part of it used for planting wheat, the rest is all lying fallow. I went to ask about it yesterday and learned they only plan to plant hemp for spring sowing. I figure they can’t even tell good fields from bad, and don’t know what should be planted where—they just listen to whatever the people of Pinghe Village say. I want to go look at their fields. Father, Eldest Brother, Second Brother, Third Brother, and Second Sister’s husband can all come with me for a walk around.” Fu Ruyi’s words from last night hadn’t been said casually. Though she didn’t intend to have her father and brothers go cause trouble at the Wang family, she did want to bring her family along to lend the Lou household some weight.
“Fine, let’s go feel out their situation.” Father Fu nodded. “I’ll go tell your eldest brother and the others after I finish eating.”
“This is my matter. I’ll go ask them myself.” Fu Ruyi wanted to handle it personally. From her rounds that morning, she’d already learned that her eldest brother, second brother, and second sister’s husband all had nothing pressing today.
“Aren’t we women going?” Lin Juan asked.
“After spring planting is done, I’ll bring him to meet you all. Even though I’m the one pursuing him, I’m still a young woman—if he wants to marry me, he has to come pay respects to my family.” Fu Ruyi still held onto a bit of her pride.
“Not completely muddle-headed yet. Let me tell you, when dealing with a man you have to give and take. Don’t treat him too well—if you give in to everything, he’ll only look down on you.” Fu Yuan taught her.
“Oh? I see.” Lin Juan replied with a deadpan expression.
Fu Ruyi burst out laughing, and Fu Ying snickered along with her.
Fu Yuan fell silent.
Amid the idle chatter, the bowls and plates on the table were all emptied. Fu Ruyi set down her chopsticks and bowl, and without pausing for breath, went to visit her eldest brother, second brother, and second sister’s homes. Everything was settled. She went to the vegetable plot to cut a bundle of tender chives and dug up a small basket of mustard roots, then hurried across the river to Pinghe Village.
The Lou family was just about to head out when they spotted a not entirely unfamiliar figure appearing at the corner of the village entrance. Little Blondie and Que’er recognized the person, and the two children sprinted off to greet her.
Lou Zhaoshui lagged two steps behind, then also walked up to meet her.
Fu Ruyi noticed that after a night had passed, he dared to meet her gaze again. Last night’s stirring of feeling was like dew in the night—gone the moment the sun touched it.
“Our family grows vegetables too, and half the plot is chives.” Lou Zhaoshui took the basket of vegetables she was carrying.
“It’s a token of my feelings.” In front of the Lou family, Fu Ruyi didn’t dare go too far. She hastily admired his beauty in passing, then hurried past him to greet the elders cheerfully: “You must be Uncle and Auntie? You look so young—not even fifty, right?”
“Forty-five or forty-six, not yet fifty,” Mother Lou replied. “Come inside and talk, have a seat in the house.”
Fu Ruyi glanced at the Wang family’s wide-open door and said in a louder voice: “I won’t come in—I’m here because I have something to ask. Yesterday I heard from Sister-in-law and Eldest Sister that you still have a lot of land lying fallow, and for spring planting you only plan to sow hemp. If you don’t mind, I’ll have my father and brothers come take a look. They’re experienced hands at farming—they know good land from poor land, and what crops suit what soil.”
“That would be wonderful. We’ll be troubling you, though.” Father Lou was overjoyed. Someone willing to help him work out what to do with his fields was, to him, nothing less than a great benefactor. Without a second thought, he agreed eagerly.
Fu Ruyi cast a sidelong glance at the great beauty and said meaningfully: “No trouble at all. I’m very happy to help.”
Lou Zhaoshui’s heart, which he had barely managed to calm, was stirred into chaos again by her.
A zhang away, the Wang family sat on pins and needles. They didn’t know whether Fu Ruyi had told her family about the quarrel after returning home last night, nor whether the Fu family’s visit carried any other intentions.