Six o’clock in the evening.
As the sun sank in the west, its orange afterglow spilled into the modestly sized room at the Futian Matchmaking Agency.
An evening breeze swept through, rustling the curtains and flipping up the newly posted notice in the room.
The notice bore six large, bright red Chinese characters: “International Matchmaking Prohibited.” Qiao Yan stared at them and let out a bored yawn.
Yes, after learning that she had spent the entire afternoon wandering around without doing a single useful thing, her mother, Madam Wang Derong, had personally dragged her to the matchmaking agency by the ear.
Qiao Yan hadn’t even had a chance to change. She was still wearing that old striped dress.
No matter how much she pleaded, her mother wouldn’t let her change.
The reason was simple, of course.
“I’m so sorry, Sister Meixia. It’s almost closing time, and here we are bothering you.”
In the matchmaking agency’s office, Comrade Liu Meixia responded to Mother Qiao’s polite apology with an equally courteous wave of her hand.
“What bother? Serving the people is our job. Besides, considering how close our families are, Qiao Yan’s marriage is like my own daughter’s marriage to me. I’m even more anxious about it than you and your husband.”
Naturally, Mother Qiao beamed at those words. She hurriedly took out the milk and eggs she had bought just before coming, intending to give them to Liu Meixia.
To her surprise, Liu Meixia was so alarmed that she immediately rose from her chair and held up both hands in refusal.
“No, no, I wouldn’t dare accept these. The organization is cracking down on improper conduct right now. Sister-in-law, you’ll get me into trouble!”
Mother Qiao immediately looked embarrassed at the refusal. Her face reddened as she rubbed her hands together.
“Well… Sister Meixia, that wasn’t my intention. I just thought, since we’re troubling you…”
Liu Meixia interrupted her. “I appreciate the thought, Sister-in-law, but take these things home. I can’t accept them.”
Mother Qiao withdrew her outstretched hands, unable to hide her disappointment. She had assumed that, since Liu Meixia wouldn’t accept her gifts, this visit would certainly be a wasted trip for mother and daughter. Yet she had barely withdrawn her hands when Liu Meixia took out a large document envelope with a smile.
“I’m familiar with Qiao Yan’s situation. After those earlier meetings didn’t work out, I reflected on my own approach too. Qiao Yan is so young and pretty. Wouldn’t it be a shame to choose a partner for her based on financial circumstances alone?”
“When I went home afterward, Old Wu criticized me too. He asked what sort of unattractive men I’d been introducing to Qiao Yan. Never mind Qiao Yan, even he didn’t think much of them.”
“And I thought Old Wu had a very good point.”
Liu Meixia opened the document envelope and said earnestly, “So, you see, this time I made a special effort to find some presentable young men in our records. Surely Qiao Yan will be satisfied this time?”
She looked at Qiao Yan, who was standing beside Mother Qiao.
“Ah…”
Qiao Yan couldn’t hold back another yawn.
Mother Qiao glared at her daughter and discreetly gave her arm a hard pinch. The fair, tender skin immediately turned red.
Qiao Yan felt wronged.
She had already said she was tired today and wanted to come tomorrow, but Mother Qiao wouldn’t listen. What was she supposed to do?
Yawning was an involuntary physical response.
Liu Meixia saw the exchange and kept smiling, taking no offense.
After all, she had a daughter of her own, who had been much the same at Qiao Yan’s age.
Seeing it now, she didn’t feel that Qiao Yan was disrespecting her at all. Instead, it made her nostalgic.
Once a daughter married and moved out, there would be fewer opportunities for this sort of playful squabbling with her mother.
Her affection for her own daughter extended to Qiao Yan. Rather than getting angry, Liu Meixia pulled Qiao Yan over to her side to shield her.
“Don’t be angry, Sister-in-law. Qiao Yan is still young.”
Mother Qiao had intended to “teach her daughter a lesson” a little more, but seeing Liu Meixia’s attitude, she could only withdraw her hand sheepishly.
“This child is so immature. She never does me proud! She’s nothing like your Honghong, who’s so well-behaved.”
Liu Meixia spread out the forms from the document envelope one by one, still smiling.
“She’s still young. She’ll become more sensible after she gets married.”
Then she turned to Qiao Yan expectantly. “Come, dear. See what you think of the men I’ve chosen for you this time. I carefully selected these profiles from the records of several major districts. Every one of them is a highly sought-after match.”
By now, Qiao Yan had finally perked up a little. She leaned forward of her own accord to look at the forms on the desk.
“Auntie, are all of these potential matches?”
She asked curiously.
Liu Meixia smiled. “Yes, all of them. Have a look. Does anyone catch your eye?”
Mother Qiao grew anxious too. She edged closer to the desk, still muttering as she did so.
“Make sure you choose carefully…”
Qiao Yan let her mother’s words go in one ear and out the other. Her attention was now entirely on the forms.
Since she had decided to find a good partner for her 1995 self, she certainly wasn’t going to treat it casually.
The problem was that there were so many men, each with different strengths and weaknesses. Which one should she choose?
Fortunately, before Qiao Yan could offer an opinion, the two middle-aged women, Mother Qiao and Liu Meixia, were already eagerly indulging their natural inclinations, pointing at the forms and commenting on them one by one.
“This young man looks promising,” Mother Qiao said.
Liu Meixia looked pleased. “Doesn’t he? He works at a state-owned enterprise. I know that employer. His monthly salary can reach fifteen hundred yuan.”
“Fifteen hundred? That much?”
Mother Qiao was astonished.
“Of course. He’s a university graduate.”
“Good, good. A university graduate is good.” Mother Qiao smiled so broadly that the crow’s-feet at the corners of her eyes were about to show, as though this university graduate working at a state-owned enterprise had already become her “ideal son-in-law.”
But in the very next instant, Liu Meixia said, “Unfortunately, he’s been married before.”
“No previously married men. Absolutely not!”
Mother Qiao immediately changed her attitude and solemnly moved the form aside. “Our Qiao Yan is so young. How could she marry someone who’s been married before?”
Liu Meixia agreed. “Actually, I didn’t think he was suitable either. But he’s handsome, and I was worried Qiao Yan might be particular about looks.”
“You’ve gone to a lot of trouble, Sister Meixia. But no matter how particular our daughter is about looks, she can’t marry someone who’s been married before.”
Mother Qiao said, “Let’s look at the other forms.”
As she spoke, her gaze had already shifted to another form. Seeing this, Liu Meixia could only put away the profile of the previously married man.
The two mothers continued poring over the thick stack of forms, sizing up the men and discussing them at length.
Meanwhile, Qiao Yan, who had originally intended to choose her husband carefully, had already lost interest in the forms on the desk.
The reason was simple. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to look. She simply couldn’t get anywhere near them!
Mother Qiao and Liu Meixia kept saying they were finding Qiao Yan a partner, but in reality, they had positioned themselves on either side of the desk, blocking it completely. They hadn’t left Qiao Yan any room to examine the forms properly.
As for getting a word in, that was even more impossible.
Both women had their own criteria for judging the men. How could a young woman with no experience of intimate relationships like Qiao Yan possibly have a say?
Even though today’s task was to choose Qiao Yan’s husband, she still wasn’t allowed a word.
Once Qiao Yan understood this, she stopped trying to squeeze her way toward the desk.
There was no point anyway.
She might as well wait until the two women had screened the candidates and calmed down before offering her opinion.
Still, although she stopped trying to get closer, Qiao Yan didn’t sit idle.
While the two women concentrated on the forms, Qiao Yan leisurely began looking around the office.
The matchmaking agency of 1995 still retained the distinctive atmosphere of its era.
Apart from the notice on the wall stating “International Matchmaking Prohibited,” the room contained plenty of things Qiao Yan found fascinating.
For instance, the “Marriage Personals Board” before her.
On a large wooden board nearly two meters wide and three meters tall, information about numerous unmarried young people was displayed on red cards.
Qiao Yan picked one at random to read and was immediately amused.
“Aged twenty, a native of Shaanxi. I seek a beautiful wife, learned and courteous, kindhearted and filial, that we may walk hand in hand toward our future.”
Qiao Yan snorted with laughter.
Why did every era have young men who fancied themselves classical scholars?
And while they were on the subject, if he was going to play the leisurely classical scholar, couldn’t he at least practice his calligraphy?
Those crooked brush-written characters didn’t suit his old-fashioned marriage advertisement at all.
No, absolutely not.
Qiao Yan pulled a face.
Then she moved on to another card, also written with a brush. This one wasn’t old-fashioned, but it turned out to have an edgy style instead!
“Pretty girl, want to go see the sea together? I’ll take you on my bicycle. (Smoking.)”
Qiao Yan: “…..”
A smoking, blond-haired delinquent? Nope, nope.
See the sea, indeed.
She thought this fellow already had a sea sloshing around inside his head. There was no need to cycle anywhere. He could just open up his skull and see it.
After reading a few more cards, Qiao Yan understood. The men on this marriage personals board were mostly of a similar sort.
Why else would their profiles be displayed so prominently?
Without putting them up here, they probably wouldn’t find partners in their entire lives. That was why they had to be put on display.
And even with their profiles displayed so openly, many of them were so outlandish that finding a partner would still be difficult.
As for the reasonably eligible, “highly sought-after” men… their profiles were probably all in Liu Meixia’s document envelope.
Once she realized this, Qiao Yan abandoned any thought of finding herself a partner on the board. Instead, she changed her approach and read the cards as though she were browsing gossip.
As she read, she even began to enjoy herself.
She felt she could become a matchmaker.
Take that young classical scholar, for instance. He seemed rather absurd, yet not far from his card was one from a young woman quoting, “Guan-guan cry the ospreys, on an islet in the river. A gentle, graceful maiden is a fine match for a gentleman.” Those two certainly seemed to think alike!
Then there was the blond-haired fellow who wanted to cycle to the sea.
Sure enough, there really was a young woman whose wish was to find a romantic man who could take her to see the mountains and the sea.
Although the sea-viewing fellow’s way of speaking was a little bizarre, his salary looked decent enough on the card. If the two became a couple, they might just manage a harmonious marriage!
But Qiao Yan was only an amateur, after all, and soon lost interest.
She yawned again and glanced at the clock on the wall. It was already half past six. She was about to turn around and ask whether the two women had reached any conclusions.
But just as she was about to turn, she suddenly caught sight of a card in the corner of the wall.
The black brush-written characters on it were neat and upright, with a distinctive strength and elegance. They stood in stark contrast to all the crooked handwriting elsewhere on the wall.
People said handwriting reflected character. Qiao Yan’s own handwriting was terrible, so she had always admired people who wrote beautifully.
The moment she saw that handwriting, she couldn’t help forming a favorable impression of its owner.
And when her interest prompted her to take a closer look…
What?
This person had actually graduated from Shen City University’s Department of Computer Science!
They already had computer science departments back then?
Qiao Yan immediately rubbed her eyes and hurried closer for another careful look, unable to believe it.
The future husband makes his dazzling debut.