Grandma, Mom and Dad all knew about Nuannuan's close relationship with Kaitian, but thought they were simply friends from the same village, so no one thought about marriage at all. With Nuannuan's pretty face and Kaitian's poor household, no one ever thought about marriage. Mom was a little worried seeing Nuannuan, single, at the proper age to marry. The other day, she saw the village matchmaker, Mister Tianfu, walking into their door with a cigarette in his mouth. She hastily stood up and said: "Mister, please take a seat."
Mister Tianfu did not decline and entered the house. Dad dared not treat him without courtesy. He gave Tianfu his own seat, and offered him more cigarettes and tea. Mister Tianfu slowly asked, after smoking for a while: "Our child Nuannuan, hasn't got any arrangement, right?"
"Not yet! You know anyone suitable?" asked Grandma.
Tianfu sprinkled the ash off his fingers: "I'm here to tell you this. Your Mister is sending you a good husband, you are going to be so happy just hearing his name!"
Mom smiled and had to ask: "Whose son is he?"
"Zhan Shiti! Little brother of the Leader! That boy asked me several times to come here and talk about this marriage. Yesterday, the Leader called me to his office about it! I'm here today exactly for this!"
The whole family was shocked and nobody talked. Nuannuan was out of words, as she did not expect Zhan Shiti to do this. The other three were surprised: the Leader's brother had his eyes upon Nuannuan?
Dad spoke first: "This … is good, of course good. The Leader's family … Nuannuan is lucky to have this."
"With marriage to the Leader's family, no one will bully us ever after!" Mom shot a glance at Nuannuan.
Nuannuan was worried. She did not want things to go this way. She had to speak out: "Mister Tianfu, if you truly wish me a good marriage, go talk to Kaitian's family!"
Tianfu could not recognize the name: "Who is Kaitian?"
"Son of the Kuang's family, the farmers." reminded Grandma.
Mom looked at Nuannuan, beginning to understand her thoughts.
"Humph! You want him? Are you out of your mind?" said Tianfu, glaring. "His house is a pit of poverty. Once you jump into it, you will never get out in this life! Don't you know about his limp dad? Their lands are all farmed by Kaitian alone. If you marry him, you will become their lifetime servant at once!"
"I want to work for a longer time. All the jobs I had in Beijing were short term. The boss kicks you out whenever he wants!" smiled Nuannuan.
Mister Tianfu glared even more at her and sighed: "You must think about this. It's about your life, it's not a game …"
The next day, everyone in the village heard the news about the Leader sending Mister Tianfu to Nuannuan's house. Shallot came over immediately to verify the gossip. Nuannuan nodded: "He offered me Zhan Shiti, the younger brother of Zhan Shideng. I prefer Kuang Kaitian to him. I cannot leave to work in the city anymore so I had to find someone here. I prefer Kaitian. What do you think? Which one of the two do you think suits me better?"
Shallot hesitated: "I cannot be sure. But if we look at what it is now, Zhan Shiti is not that reliable. Kuang Kaitian is more down to earth than him. But I must be honest with you, there's something about Kuang Kaitian that I don't like."
Hearing this, Nuannuan's almond-shaped eyes opened wide: "What is it?"
"He's ruthless."
Nuannuan was surprised: "Ruthless? What do you mean?"
"I don't know how to put it. He's just quite ruthless with stuff. If he needs to carry something in his farm work, he'll carry more than 150 kilograms at one time; if his bull eats the crops, he'll tie it to a tree and whip it for two hours, the bull even weeps; the last time he broke a new water jar by accident, he slapped himself in regret until his mouth bled."
Nuannuan smiled: "Ahh, you mean that. I think he's got character. And I like men with character."
"I'm just saying … anyway, a woman looking for a man, she's just looking for someone she likes. Once you like him, you'll want to sleep in the same bed with him for 365 days a year, you'll want to eat from the same bowl with him for 365 days a year, and you'll want to have children with him and wash his clothes."
Nuannuan blushed: "Thank you, Shallot …"
Kuang Kaitian heard about the gossip in the afternoon of the next day. He was fertilizing the fields. He dropped the cart filled with shit and ran to the bank of the Red Lake, waiting for Nuannuan's boat to arrive. Nuannuan saw Kaitian from afar and knew he must have heard something. So she turned her head away, pretending she did not see him. As soon as the boat arrived, Kaitian jumped aboard. But Nuannuan did not look at him. He had to cough loudly. Nuannuan then turned her head back and asked in a cold tone: "What's up? You've got a sore throat?"
Kaitian's face turned red and said after a while: "I heard someone is going to marry the Leader's brother!"
"Oh yeah? It's a blessing to marry into the Zhan's! They have the money and the authority. The marriage will make life so easy!" Nuannuan stood up, showing no emotion at all.
Kaitian's face turned white: "So you do want to marry him!"
Nuannuan felt satisfied seeing him like that. But she kept her face motionless and asked: "Who said that?"
"Didn't you just say so?"
"That's what Mom and Dad want."
Kaitian got more worried: "What about you?"
"You care about this?" said Nuannuan, her voice sounded bitter. "You seem not worried at all! You only worry about farming! Your corns, potatoes, wheat, beans! You care about me? You think of your wheat more than you think of me!"
"I thought we were an item already."
"What item? When did you talk about this item with Mom, Dad, and Grandma? Do you think I am a radish, a bok choi, that you can buy from the market?"
"What do I do now? Who do I speak to?"
"Are you asking me? What use is your head? Is it broken? Why didn't you go find a matchmaker? Why am I rushing you to do so? I am in high demand! It's not like I'm dying as a spinster, lying in a spinster's tomb!"
"Alright, alright. I'll go to Mister Tianfu." Kaitian jumped out of the boat in a rush and made a run into the village …
