Seeing Gu Xingzhao motioning for him to come closer with a mischievous smile, Xu Shisan instinctively leaned in.
As soon as she opened her lips, she uttered just one word, “Scram.”
Xu Shisan: “…”
With that, Gu Xingzhao drove off, leaving Xu Shisan stumbling forward due to inertia. He nearly fell to the ground, frantically protecting his face.
After steadying himself on the road and watching the car disappear in the distance, he touched his face. “Phew, that was close. I can’t afford to mess up this face.”
He stood there for a moment, pulling out the jade pendant hanging around his neck, staring at it for a long time. It was definitely the same jade—there was no mistake. But why had Gu Xingzhao given it to him?
This precious thing—she hadn’t even been willing to sell it before… Could she really have fallen in love with him?
Gu Xingzhao had just returned home and hadn’t even had time to close the door when a visitor arrived.
The guest walked right in, carrying a basket of fruit. “Xiao Gu, I haven’t seen you open your shop these past few days. Everything alright at home?”
Gu Xingzhao, surprised, asked, “Aunt Cui, what brings you here?”
Feng Cui was well-known in town, not only as a gossiper but also as a matchmaker. She roamed the streets daily, and there wasn’t a piece of town gossip she didn’t know.
Gu Xingzhao felt a bad premonition. First there had been Lei Ping, then Gu Chengzhang—her reputation in the town had taken quite a hit. Was this woman here to set her up for an arranged marriage?
Feng Cui’s face crinkled into a smile. “Of course, I bring good news!”
The two sat down in the living room on the second floor. Feng Cui glanced around and noticed that the television was over ten years old, the air conditioner didn’t look expensive, and even the sofa and coffee table were quite ordinary. It seemed the supermarket might look busy, but it wasn’t making much money.
Gu Xingzhao placed two bottles of drinks on the table and sat down on the sofa opposite.
Without hesitation, Feng Cui grabbed a bottle, opened it, and started drinking as she continued, “Xiao Gu, you’re already 26, and you still don’t have a partner. That’s not good, you know?”
Gu Xingzhao’s heart skipped a beat. She had a bad feeling about this—people didn’t just show up without a reason. Was this really about matchmaking?
“Aunt Cui, I think you’ve got it wrong. I just turned 24 after my last birthday. I’m not in a hurry to find someone.”
Feng Cui waved it off with a laugh. “Twenty-four? Nonsense, Aunt Cui knows the truth!”
“After the New Year, you turned 26. Let me tell you, if you wait much longer, you’ll be pushing 30. Girls your age are already married with kids.”
Gu Xingzhao’s temple throbbed. What was with this nonsense about 26? People in the town always used “虚岁” (Xusui, East Asian age reckoning), which made people two years older than they really were. And pushing 30? What a stretch.
At this point, she was already thinking about how to get her visitor to leave. She should have locked the door as soon as she entered. What a rookie mistake.
Feng Cui moved closer, practically sitting next to Gu Xingzhao. She held Gu Xingzhao’s hand, speaking warmly, “I’m here today because someone’s interested in you. They asked me to see if you’d be willing to meet them over a meal.”
Gu Xingzhao awkwardly withdrew her hand and forced a smile. “Aunt Cui, I’m really busy lately, so I don’t have time for that.”
But Feng Cui quickly interrupted her, “I’m telling you, this young man’s got great prospects. He’s from our town—his background is solid. Graduated from a prestigious university, working in the city, owns a car, owns a house, and makes over a hundred thousand yuan a year!”
Gu Xingzhao sighed. “Aunt Cui, I’m really not interested. I’m not looking for anything like that right now.”
Feng Cui wasn’t ready to give up. She continued to persuade her earnestly, “You’re being too hasty. Just have a meal and meet him. A man like this is hard to find. If you pass up this opportunity, you might struggle to find someone later on!”
While speaking, she reached for the second bottle of the drink on the table, but Gu Xingzhao grabbed it first, taking a sip herself. She then discreetly pushed the basket of fruit back toward Aunt Cui, making it clear that she was ready for her to leave.
“Aunt Cui, I really don’t have any interest in this. Please, you should go.”
Feng Cui was taken aback. “Xiao Gu, I came rushing over because this young man, Xiao Lin, expressed an interest in you. Can’t you at least consider it and give me a little face by meeting him?”
She was determined to sell the match, talking about Xiao Lin like he was the town’s best catch.
Gu Xingzhao, however, was silent for a moment… Xiao Yang?
She immediately thought of the one family in town that stood out the most to her—a family with five daughters, headed by Aunt Yang, the same one who had thrown a fit outside her supermarket not long ago and been doused with water by Aunt Wang.
Feng Cui kept talking, afraid that Gu Xingzhao didn’t understand just how good a catch Xiao Yang was. She refused to leave without getting the match set up.
“Xiao Gu, you’ve got some real luck here. A guy like Xiao Yang, who has a car and a house at this age, is a rare find. There are plenty of girls in town who would jump at the chance to marry him!”
“You know his mom. She shops at your supermarket all the time!”
At that point, Gu Xingzhao was sure—it was indeed that Yang family.
She sighed, thinking she must have done something terrible in a past life to deserve this kind of “luck” in the present.
“Alright, Aunt Cui, I’ll be straight with you. I’m already seeing someone else. He’s got great prospects too, so I’m not interested in Xiao Yang.”
Feng Cui was taken aback and immediately latched onto this new piece of gossip. “You’ve already got someone? Who is he? What does he do?”
Seeing that the topic had finally shifted away from matchmaking, Gu Xingzhao felt a wave of relief. She made something up. “He’s from the city, runs a small business.”
“A businessman from the city?” Feng Cui’s suspicion was evident. “What kind of business? You better be careful, Xiao Gu. A lot of guys these days claim to run businesses but are really just out to scam young women.”
Gu Xingzhao just smiled. “Don’t worry about me, Aunt Cui.”
But Feng Cui kept sighing, “Ah, you young girls always think the grass is greener on the other side. Don’t be fooled by someone just because they seem rich. Listen to Aunt Cui—when it comes to marriage, you shouldn’t marry too far from home. It’s better when you know the family well, and your relatives and neighbors can look out for you.”
Gu Xingzhao couldn’t help but chuckle internally. She wondered how many times Aunt Cui had given this same advice to other girls in town, so much so that she said it without even realizing Gu Xingzhao had no family to speak of.
Feng Cui, thinking she had finally gotten through to Gu Xingzhao, continued her earnest plea, “Look at the girls in town who married far away. They barely come back once a year, and if they get bullied by their in-laws, there’s no family support. It’s tough! You have to be smart about this.”
It wasn’t just because Yang had paid her—it genuinely seemed like Aunt Cui felt bad for Gu Xingzhao, a young woman without a partner, and figured this was a golden opportunity.
But Gu Xingzhao couldn’t hold back her laughter any longer. “Aunt Cui, you seem to have forgotten—I don’t have any parents, so there’s no family for me to rely on anyway.”
Feng Cui froze.
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