Yang Ying reacted quickly and hurriedly explained,
“This is Shiqing’s older brother. He works as a truck driver at a state-owned factory.”
Wen Shiqing’s eyes met his for a moment before she casually looked away without saying anything.
Xie Yucheng raised an eyebrow.
Is she mad?
He knew the things he had said last night had been a little too harsh. His mouth had simply moved faster than his brain. There was nothing he could do about that.
“Come, Yucheng, sit down. This is Auntie Zhang. And this is Uncle Zhou and his family. Their son, Zhou Chen, is your sister’s classmate. What a coincidence. I suppose you could call it fate.”
Xie Guoli spoke warmly.
Xie Yucheng still gave his father some respect in front of outsiders. He set down the things in his hands, hooked a nearby stool toward himself with the tip of his foot, sat down, and began sizing up the young man across from him.
Zhou Chen called out, “Brother.”
His father took out a pack of cigarettes and passed them around to the men sitting there.
Xie Yucheng didn’t smoke. He simply held the cigarette between his fingers, idly playing with it as his dark, gleaming eyes stared straight at Zhou Chen.
The stare made Zhou Chen uncomfortable.
He instinctively shifted a little closer to Wen Shiqing.
The gesture looked quite intimate, as though the two of them were the closest pair in the entire room.
Auntie Zhang, the matchmaker, laughed.
“Look at these two children. Don’t they look perfect sitting together?”
Zhou Chen awkwardly scratched his head.
Truthfully, he had almost not come today. Luckily, he had.
At first, he hadn’t known that Wen Shiqing was his blind-date partner. He had only planned to show up and go through the motions so his parents would stop nagging him.
But when the two of them met, they were both surprised to recognize each other and called out each other’s names. Only then did everyone realize they were actually classmates.
After exchanging a glance with Wen Shiqing, he understood that she was only going through with this to satisfy their parents, too.
He secretly felt delighted, yet at the same time, he couldn’t help feeling disappointed.
The adults chatted about all sorts of things.
Zhou Chen leaned closer and whispered into Wen Shiqing’s ear,
“Your brother is pretty handsome.”
Wen Shiqing lifted her beautiful eyes and glanced at the man across from her.
He was lounging carelessly with an unpleasant expression on his face, yet that very face was practically flawless—an absolute embodiment of rugged, roguish handsomeness.
“He’s okay,” she said indifferently. “You’re not bad-looking either.”
It was just an offhand remark.
But the young man beside her took those words to heart, and his heartbeat immediately quickened with excitement.
Xie Yucheng watched the two of them whispering together so intimately. He pressed his tongue against the back of his teeth and let out a faint, cold scoff.
No one else noticed that subtle expression, but Wen Shiqing caught it.
She instinctively assumed that he was mocking her.
She frowned slightly and became even more animated in her conversation with Zhou Chen.
The date and location for their class reunion had already been decided, so Zhou Chen took the opportunity to tell her today.
“I’ll come pick you up first thing the day after tomorrow. I’ll drive my dad’s car.”
“Huh? Do you even have a driver’s license?”
“I got it ages ago. I passed my test during the summer vacation of my second year of high school.”
“That’s impressive.”
The corners of the young man’s lips lifted slightly, and his cheeks flushed red.
Auntie Zhang was an exceptionally smooth talker. Seeing that Xie Yucheng hadn’t said much, she turned her attention to him.
“Yucheng, you need to hurry up too. Who knows? Your little sister might get married before you do.”
Xie Yucheng casually crossed his hands behind his head and gave a leisurely, mocking smile.
“Then I’ll have to trouble Auntie Zhang to keep an eye out for me. She needs to be pretty, with a full chest, slim waist, and a nice round figure. Someone who looks healthy and suited to having children. Don’t get me some skinny, fragile little thing.”
The moment he said this, everyone in the room froze.
Then, as though someone had tossed a match into a pile of firewood, everyone’s faces suddenly turned bright red with embarrassment.
Xie Guoli was so mortified that he nearly wanted to beat his son with his shoe.
Auntie Zhang, however, had seen all kinds of situations and could handle practically any conversation.
“Of course. I’ve been your father’s neighbor for so many years. Naturally, I’ll help you find someone. Ah, time really flies. Before you know it, all of you children have grown up.”
Not forgetting that Wen Shiqing was the focus of today’s meeting, Auntie Zhang smoothly shifted the topic to her.
“I still remember when Shiqing was only about ten years old. She followed that boy around everywhere. You’d climb trees to steal bird eggs, go down to the river to catch turtles, climb over the wall into our yard to pick vegetables…”
She laughed as she spoke, and hearty laughter filled the room.
“No matter what you were doing, she was always right there watching you. The two of you were so close. Honestly, you had a better brother-sister relationship than most families.”
Auntie Zhang couldn’t stop reminiscing.
“I still remember one time when your sister was crying over something and nobody could comfort her. You went to that shop at the end of the alley and bought her several honey buns. She stopped crying immediately! She ate them with grease all over her mouth. Oh, she was such a cute little thing…”
Everyone listened with great interest.
Once Auntie Zhang brought up the children’s childhood, Zhou Chen’s parents also began sharing stories about things their son had done when he was little, occasionally adding that Shiqing and Zhou Chen had always seemed so similar.
The adults chatted enthusiastically.
Meanwhile, the three younger ones were so embarrassed they could practically have dug holes through the floor with their toes.
In the end, both sets of parents looked between Zhou Chen and Wen Shiqing, exchanging knowing smiles.
Everyone was very satisfied with how the meeting had gone.
Before leaving, Wen Shiqing accompanied the adults to the gate and watched Zhou Chen’s family drive away.
Zhou Chen’s lingering gaze remained fixed on Wen Shiqing. Yang Ying noticed every bit of it.
After the car had disappeared into the distance, she quietly said to her daughter,
“Their family is very well-off. Both his parents are high-ranking officials. If you marry into that family, you’ll never have to worry about anything.”
“Mom, Zhou Chen and I…”
Wen Shiqing was about to explain, but when she saw Xie Yucheng walking out of the house, she immediately fell silent.
She and Zhou Chen were simply good friends who got along well. There was no way she could be with him.
Besides, her heart had already been filled long ago.
The main room was littered with cigarette butts, melon-seed shells, and candy wrappers. Xie Guoli called for Yang Ying to come clean up, so she went inside.
Xie Yucheng walked toward the courtyard gate.
Wen Shiqing was feeling terribly upset. She lowered her head and tried to walk past him.
Suddenly, he hooked his foot out.
She nearly tripped and hurriedly grabbed onto him with both hands to steady herself.
Their eyes met.
She stared at him with a wounded, resentful expression.
The man’s eyes were dark and unfathomable, deep as a pool. He tugged lightly at the corner of his lips, his voice teasing.
“I checked him out for you. He’s not right for you.”
“Why?”
“Too young. Too timid. A complete coward. Put the two of you together and you’d have a pair of cowards. Do you really think that’s a good match?”
“What right do you have to say that about him?”
There was a clear hint of protectiveness in her voice.
“You like him?”
He clenched his jaw. Narrowing his eyes, he leaned closer and asked.
His warm breath brushed against Wen Shiqing’s face, making her skin tingle and throwing her heartbeat into disarray.
“Who I like has nothing to do with you, Brother. I’ll do as you wish. I’ll find a good man and get married as soon as possible. Zhou Chen is my classmate. He’s handsome and respectable, dependable in class, and gets good grades. His family is well-off too, so I’d never have to worry about food or clothing if I married him. He really is an excellent choice.”
He let out a short, cold laugh and gritted his teeth.
“Good. Very good. You’re exactly like your worthless mother.”
Tears instantly welled up in Wen Shiqing’s eyes.
“Of course I am. She’s my mother. What right do you have to talk about her? She stays home every day washing clothes, cooking, and taking care of Uncle Xie. Is there anything she doesn’t do? I know you hate my mother, but please at least show her some respect. She doesn’t owe you anything. She has no obligation to endure your cold treatment and ridicule.”
The veins on Xie Yucheng’s forehead bulged.
His chest rose and fell heavily, as though he were desperately suppressing something.
Suddenly, he drove his fist into the wall behind Wen Shiqing.
She let out a startled cry and covered her mouth, her eyes wide with panic like a frightened fawn startled by a hunter’s gunshot.
Once the initial shock passed, her attention instinctively fell on his hand.
That wall was made of solid brick, yet he had punched it with his bare hand.
His knuckles were badly reddened, with traces of blood beginning to seep from several places.
Wen Shiqing grabbed his hand, both heartbroken and angry. Tears flowed even more heavily from her eyes as she choked out,
“Brother, your hand…”
Xie Yucheng pulled his hand from hers.
The veins on his forehead still stood out, his breathing heavy.
He stared at her for several seconds.
The sight of her tear-streaked face only made the irritation in his heart grow worse.
He turned around, strode quickly to the tree where his motorcycle was parked, climbed on, and rode away.