“Ximei, then it’s settled. As soon as I find a suitable candidate, I’ll notify you right away.” Auntie Li Er smiled as she walked her guest to the courtyard gate. The latter also responded with a beaming face, “Alright, then I’ll be waiting for your good news.”
After exchanging a few more pleasantries, Ding Ximei bid farewell and left.
Once she was gone, the smile on Auntie Li Er’s lips gradually faded, and a trace of worry surfaced in her eyes. Normally, as long as a girl with delicate and proper features came to her for a marriage proposal, she would be grinning from ear to ear. After all, that was an incredibly good thing—just spreading the word would have eager suitors lining up from her house all the way to the village entrance.
A marriage could be arranged effortlessly, and as a matchmaker, she could gain quite a bit of benefit from it. No matter how she looked at it, it was a profitable deal.
Moreover, this was Cheng Fangqiu, one of the most beautiful girls in the village. Which young man within ten miles wasn’t longing for her? If she randomly pulled any man aside and asked, there probably wouldn’t be a single one who didn’t want to marry her.
But the problem was—this girl was just too beautiful. Too eye-catching. Compared to those moderately pretty girls, she was actually harder to marry off. Because in times like these, when families sought daughters-in-law, what they wanted were women who could work and bear children!
Beauty was just an added bonus, not a necessity.
A girl like Cheng Fangqiu was clearly someone who needed to be pampered and taken care of. She probably couldn’t carry anything heavy or do any labor. Marrying her would be like taking in an ancestor—what was the difference? Among ten families in the village, nine were poor. They barely had enough to eat, so what was the use of bringing home a pretty vase? There would be nothing but regret afterward.
Not to mention, since ancient times, marriages had always been dictated by parental orders and matchmakers’ words. Even though people these days preached about that so-called “free love” and opposed arranged marriages, in the countryside, all of that was nonsense.
Marrying a wife or taking a husband—it was all up to the parents. Personal opinions didn’t matter that much.
Besides, most elders didn’t like girls with fox-like looks like Cheng Fangqiu. She had the face of a troublemaker. Managing a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationship was already hard enough. If she entered the household, could there still be any peace? If the son got influenced by pillow talk, wouldn’t the entire family fall apart?
More importantly, if she ever had the thought of an affair, it would be all too easy for her. If she wasn’t watched carefully, who knew when the husband would end up wearing a green hat1 “Wearing a green hat,” is a Chinese idiom referring to a man being cheated on by his wife.?
So, this was a tough situation!
If it weren’t for the fact that Ding Ximei had gifted her a basket of soybeans, she wouldn’t have agreed to this in the first place.
While Auntie Li Er was worrying over this, her nephew, Li Jianping, who lived next door, peeked his head out from behind the courtyard and pointed curiously in the direction Ding Ximei had left. “Aunt, what did Auntie Ding come to see you for?”
The moment Ding Ximei stepped into the neighboring courtyard, he had already noticed. He had been anxiously eavesdropping by the wall but couldn’t hear anything since they spoke too softly. Now that she had finally left, he dared to come out and ask about it.
“What else could it be? She came to ask me to arrange a marriage for her daughter.” At the mention of this, Auntie Li Er sighed and blurted it out instinctively. But the moment she said it, she realized it was a mistake—too late.
Li Jianping immediately straightened his back, his face lighting up with delight. He asked excitedly, “Really? Auntie Ding is finally willing to find a husband for Fangqiu?”
Perhaps realizing his words were too crude, Li Jianping scratched his head awkwardly. Then he grinned at Auntie Li Er, his face full of flattery. “Auntie, if you could match Fangqiu with me, you’d be like a second mother to me. I’d take care of you for the rest of my life!”
After saying that, he anxiously added, “You can’t be biased! I’m the first one to know about this. If Second Brother and Fourth Brother come to you, you have to refuse them.”
Hearing this, Auntie Li Er didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. At the same time, she felt even more troubled. She really had no idea what kind of spell Cheng Fangqiu had cast on them—one after another, they all seemed obsessed with her! And that was just the other young men in the village. If her own relatives all started coming to her with the same request, she’d be driven insane from the noise alone.
“Stop talking nonsense. Your parents already made their stance clear—they disapprove! If you ever manage to convince them, then come talk to me.” Auntie Li Er snorted and turned back into the house, leaving Li Jianping standing there scratching his head in frustration.
She needed to carefully consider which household could form a good marriage alliance with the Cheng family.
Ding Ximei had specified—the groom must come from a respectable family, be honest and hardworking, and have proper looks…
This requirement was simple yet difficult. The key was whether both parties could take a liking to each other.
—
Meanwhile, after returning from the Li family’s home, Ding Ximei busied herself by tidying up the house inside and out. She also washed and hung up the family’s clothes to dry before finally sitting down for a moment of rest.
She had only just sat down when she saw two children returning from outside.
Looking up at the sky, she was slightly surprised and walked toward them. “Why are you back so early?”
“It’s a long story. I’ll tell you later.” Cheng Fangqiu pulled Ding Ximei into the kitchen mysteriously and then instructed Cheng Xuejun to take out the wooden basin and winnowing basket. The two of them dumped everything from the back baskets into them all at once.
When Ding Ximei saw that half a wild chicken, her mouth slightly opened. Before she could say anything, her gaze was immediately drawn to the pine mushrooms pouring into the winnowing basket like a downpour! The small, round yellow caps looked absolutely delightful.
She covered her lips in surprise. “You got all of this from the mountains?”
The siblings nodded in unison. Seeing their mother so happy, they finally dared to tell her that they had almost gotten separated and lost in the mountains. However, even with the prior buildup, Ding Ximei was still both shocked and frightened. She first checked that they were safe and sound before scolding them with a darkened expression.
Seeing that they couldn’t escape a scolding after all, Cheng Fangqiu and Cheng Xuejun exchanged glances and secretly stuck out their tongues.
“Mother, don’t be mad anymore, alright? Here, drink some water to soothe your throat.” Cheng Fangqiu, acting like a little suck-up, poured a cup of water and handed it over, deliberately softening her voice to a sugary tone, as if coated in honey. It was so sweet and coaxing that most of Ding Ximei’s anger faded before she even realized it.
Ding Ximei shot her an exasperated glance but still accepted the water and took a sip. However, she couldn’t help but add, “If Comrade Zhou hadn’t arrived in time, that snake…”
“Exactly! That’s why I’m planning to personally cook a soup and send it over to him.” Hearing Ding Ximei mention Zhou, Cheng Fangqiu quickly followed up with her plan.
“You’re going to cook today?” Ding Ximei and Cheng Xuejun exclaimed in unison, looking utterly incredulous.
There were hardly any rural women who couldn’t cook, and the original host had decent cooking skills. However, she rarely stepped into the kitchen and was usually the one waiting to be served. At most, she would help out on the side, only cooking herself when there was no choice during busy farming seasons. So, upon hearing that she wanted to cook, the two of them were quite surprised.
“Yep! It’s my way of thanking Comrade Zhou. Plus, thanks to him, I got a new job, so I might as well get used to it in advance.” Cheng Fangqiu touched the tip of her nose and grinned.
In truth, the most important reason was that she had never used a rural clay stove before. She wanted to take this opportunity to familiarize herself with it so she wouldn’t embarrass herself when she reported for work tomorrow.
Just now, she had been so preoccupied with the snake encounter and getting lost that she had almost forgotten about this matter. Ding Ximei, who knew very well how much her daughter hated farm work—constantly complaining that it was tiring and exhausting—couldn’t help but show a rare smile upon hearing this. It was great news that she had found a slightly less laborious job.
“That’s right. We must properly thank him. Once the food is ready, you should take him a bowl. It’s getting late. I’ll help you out—you can go all in.”
“I’ll go boil some water and pluck the chicken feathers.” Cheng Xuejun eagerly volunteered.
The three of them got to work immediately. Pine mushrooms needed to be washed several times to remove impurities. Cheng Fangqiu was a stickler for cleanliness, so she made sure there wasn’t a single speck of dirt left before she started cooking.
First, she blanched the pine mushrooms and chopped chicken pieces separately, skimming off the foam before taking them out and setting them aside. In a pot, she heated some lard before tossing in the chicken pieces and stir-frying them thoroughly. Using lard and stir-frying for longer would give the resulting broth a richer, milkier texture. Once the chicken turned slightly golden and crispy, she added ginger slices and poured in pre-boiled hot water.
After simmering for about half an hour, she added the sliced pine mushrooms to the pot and let them cook together with the chicken. Finally, she added a bit of salt to season it, and the dish was complete.
Wild delicacies had an incomparable natural umami, making any extra seasoning unnecessary.
As she went through the cooking process effortlessly, Ding Ximei and Cheng Xuejun watched with fascination. The tantalizing aroma filled the air, making them unconsciously take deep breaths through their noses.
“I’m going to take a bath first.” After spending so much time trekking through the mountains and working in the kitchen, Cheng Fangqiu was already covered in sweat. Since she was about to see Zhou Yinghuai, there was no way she could go smelling sweaty. While the chicken soup continued to simmer, she took the chance to wash her hair and bathe.
By the time she finished bathing, the chicken soup was almost ready. Last year, when the neighbor’s youngest son had a fever and had to be hospitalized in the county, his father had gritted his teeth and bought a large iron-lidded thermos to bring food to him. Now that it was no longer in use, Ding Ximei borrowed it to pack a full bucket of chicken soup for Cheng Fangqiu to bring to Zhou Yinghuai.
“Are you sure you don’t need me to go with you?” Ding Ximei asked again as she watched her daughter standing in the courtyard combing her hair.
Cheng Fangqiu turned around, her slightly damp hair creating a graceful arc in the air. She smiled sweetly, her fair face seeming to glow under the sunlight.
“No need, really. I’ll be back soon!”
After saying that, Cheng Fangqiu stuffed the comb into Ding Ximei’s hand, grabbed the food container, and quickly ran out of the courtyard. The container was quite heavy, and after a while, she had to hold it with both arms to keep it steady.
Back when the city teams first arrived, finding them a place to stay was a big problem. The soldiers were easy—they were given an empty plot of land and simply set up their own tents. However, the technicians from the provincial capital were used to a more comfortable life, so after much deliberation, the brigade leader decided to house them at the educated youth point in the north side of the village. This way, they would be both conveniently located and separated from the villagers, allowing both sides their own space.
As for the educated youth, they were temporarily assigned to live with different village families.
The Cheng family lived very close to the educated youth point, so it didn’t take long before Cheng Fangqiu arrived at the courtyard entrance. She peeked inside and saw a few people gathered around a machine and a large wooden log, discussing how to fix it.
She immediately spotted Zhou Yinghuai in the crowd.
He was tall and broad-shouldered, standing head and shoulders above the rest. At that moment, he was bending down with a wrench, carefully inspecting the machine’s parts. His expression was intensely focused, and despite being covered in grease, he didn’t seem to care—as if nothing else in the world existed beyond the machine in front of him.
For some reason, Cheng Fangqiu found herself staring at him for a long while before she suddenly remembered why she had come. Quickly clearing her throat, she called out:
“Brother Huai!”
The soft and melodic female voice instantly captured everyone’s attention—including Zhou Yinghuai’s.
He looked up toward the entrance, and the sight of the girl’s bright and delicate smile was etched deeply into his eyes.