Chapter 28: Scolding the Matchmaker

  The old village chief was convinced by Wang Haodong, lowered his head, and when facing Wang Haodong, he looked like a student who had made a mistake in front of his teacher. Wang Haodong knew that he no longer needed to worry about him, after all, he was not young anymore, had lost his vigor, and did not dare to confront him, relying only on the small power of being a village official, which was not enough to withstand him.

  "I like this sentence." Wang Haodong smiled with satisfaction, "Sorry, old village chief, coming to disturb you so late at night. Another day when I'm free, I'll invite you for a drink."

  After finishing this sentence, Wang Haodong smiled and lit a cigarette, leaving while smoking.

  "This old man is really timid and was scared stiff by me in just one glance."

  On his way back, Wang Haodong smiled and muttered to himself.

  Actually, Liu Dahai was scared stiff when he saw the ferocious big dog that looked like a cow calf being kicked by Wang Haodong and becoming a tame dog. He was even more frightened by the series of moves that followed, his liver and gallbladder shattered, thinking to himself that at his age, it wasn't worth making an enemy out of Wang Haodong over a woman, or else he might end up with his head twisted off while sleeping, so he naturally hung his head in submission.

  When Wang Haodong arrived at Zhang Shufang's doorstep, he heard a voice coming from inside the house. Listening carefully, it was an old woman's voice: "Shufang, you're not young anymore this year. In our village, girls of your age already have children who can help with household chores. You can't delay any longer."

  "Auntie Wang, I know you mean well, but for now, I don't have time to talk about marriage. Let's wait until Qianqian finishes college and settles down before we discuss it again."

  "You're almost thirty years old, where can you find a partner?" The old woman, called Eighth Aunt by Zhang Shufang, continued to chatter: "You should think carefully, take advantage of your youth and beauty, it's the best time to find a partner, hurry up and say something."

  "Let me tell you, I have two pretty good young people in my hands, both from wealthy families, one is from the town and the other is from our northern village of Xiaocai."

  By this time, Wang Haodong already knew the identity of the old woman, who was a matchmaker and had come to Zhang Shufang's home to talk about a potential suitor.

  Sister, Shufang is now ambiguous with me, how can you, this old witch, intervene? Thinking of this, Wang Haodong directly pushed the door and entered the room.

  The yard was lit up, Zhang Qian was not in the yard, Zhang Shufang stood beside a small table with a teacup on it, emitting wisps of smoke.

  A woman in her fifties, with a wrinkled face and wearing gold earrings, dressed in a green floral jacket, was smoking and chattering non-stop: "That family in town, doing business, hardware store, only has one son, thirty-one years old this year, not much older than you, quite suitable..."

  As she spoke, the old woman saw Wang Haodong and looked surprised, "Who is this?"

  Before Zhang Shufang could speak, Wang Haodong chimed in: "Hello, I'm Wang Haodong, a relative of Sister Shufang."

  The old woman, called Eighth Aunt by Zhang Shufang, looked up and down at Wang Haodong a few times, "Oh, the young man looks quite spirited and handsome, does he have a girlfriend?"

  "My goodness, this matchmaker has really caught a professional disease. She sees young people and wants to arrange their marriages. However, they make a living from this line of work. In today's society, when a professional matchmaker says it's a match, that means they want to get paid. Her kind inquiry was actually for the sake of making money. Wang Haodong didn't blame her."

  "For now, I don't have a partner," Wang Haodong said with a smile. "Auntie Bai, can you introduce me to someone when you're free?"

  Zhang Shufang couldn't help but laugh lightly when she heard Wang Haodong speak like that.

  "Of course, what kind do you want? Tall and slender, elegant, refined, long-lasting, working-class, civil servant, businessperson, I have them all here. And there are also those who can become a son-in-law."

  The old woman was delighted, introducing him non-stop, that enthusiasm, as if she wanted to put all the resources in her hands in front of Wang Haodong.

  Wang Haodong inserted a sentence and said, "I want one with a family of over 100 million, very beautiful, and obedient to me, Eight Aunt, can such a person be found?"

  "Ah?" Eighth Aunt came back to her senses, seemingly realizing that Wang Haodong was joking, and said with a smile: "Haodong, your conditions are too high, it's hard to find someone like that. How about this? If you're really interested, I'll take you to meet some pretty girls tomorrow, and if they're suitable for you, we can arrange for you to date them, okay?"

  Wang Haodong smiled and said: "Tomorrow, I still have something to do, let's change it another day."

  Auntie nodded and turned to ask Zhang Shufang, "Shufang, that young man from the town I was telling you about is really great, his family is very wealthy. If you marry him, you'll definitely live a life of luxury. Why don't we arrange for you to meet him in two days?"

  Zhang Shufang hesitated, she didn't want to go. Before her sister had settled down in college, she didn't want to get married. She slightly furrowed her brow, unsure of how to decline.

  "Wang Haodong asked, 'Auntie, according to what you said, that young man is absolutely great. Why hasn't he gotten married at the age of 31? Is there something wrong with him, like missing an arm or a leg?'"

  "What can I do? Xiaofang and I are from neighboring villages, we're fellow villagers, of course I'll choose the good ones to tell her about, not those with physical defects." Eighth Aunt's face showed a hint of hesitation before she finally opened up: "That young man is divorced, Xiaofang, I won't hide it from you."

  "It turned out to be a second marriage." Wang Haodong said loudly and solemnly.

  "Auntie hastily said: 'Haodong, in today's society, the divorce rate is high. What's wrong with a second marriage? As long as it's suitable, you can still live happily and contentedly.'"

  "Hey." Wang Haodong just gave a cold laugh and didn't express any opinion.

  Zhang Shufang bit her lip and said: "Auntie Ba, thank you for your kindness, I don't want to talk about it yet, really troubling you."

  Auntie Wang was somewhat displeased: "Shufang, why don't you listen to me?"

  At this time, Zhang Qian walked out of the house and scolded: "Hey, Ba Shu, my sister has already said that there is no one to meet, why are you still talking nonsense?"

  Auntie Wang was even more displeased: "Xiao Qian, how can you talk like that?"

  Zhang Shufang also said: "Qianqian, Auntie Ba is a senior, be more careful with your words."

  Zhang Qian hummed: "What am I supposed to pay attention to, old lady? You're always thinking about making money by introducing people for marriage, and after they get married, you don't care about their affairs anymore. Our village's big flower was introduced to Xiaowu Village's big dog son, it was said that he was young and honest, skilled with his hands, but what he's actually good at is the skill of gambling, losing tens of thousands in one night, and beating his wife when he gets home, this is what you call being honest?"

  "Nowadays people are so angry that they drink pesticide, fortunately someone found out and sent her to the hospital in time, otherwise she would have died, and now they're making a fuss about divorce, why don't you go and handle it?"

  "What about you?" Ba Shu was left speechless by Zhang Qian's words.

  "Auntie Bai, it's getting late, why don't you head back first? When I think it's suitable, I'll personally come find you, okay?" Zhang Shufang stepped forward and said in a low voice.

  "This little girl from your family is sharp-tongued and not easy to mess with." Eighth Aunt said in a low voice, then turned around and left.

  Wang Haodong saw Ba Shu's face turn red and green in the light of the lamp, guessing that she was very angry.

  Zhang Shufang sent Eighth Aunt away and came back to tell Zhang Qian, "Qianqian, be more careful with your words in the future. Don't be too casual or rude. Some things are better left unsaid, so as not to offend others."

  "She's no good, I'm afraid she'll bring trouble to our family, let's get rid of her quickly." Zhang Qian walked up to Zhang Shufang and said with a smile: "Sister, this is for your own good."

  "I know Qianqian is good to me, and I didn't plan on ignoring her, but after all, she's an elder, so I couldn't openly drive her away."

  After Zhang Shufang finished speaking, Zhang Qian said: "Sister, actually the old witch is right, you are also at the age to find a partner. I was young before and needed your care, now that I've grown up, you can relax too, it's time for you to find a partner as well."

  After a pause, Zhang Qian said: "Actually, I think you and Haodong can try to be together."

  Wang Haodong chuckled and Zhang Shufang's face turned red, "Little girl, don't talk nonsense."

  "Hey, I think Hao Dong Gege seems to have a crush on you too?" Zhang Qian asked with a smile.

  In front of Zhang Shufang, even if Wang Haodong really meant it, he couldn't say it directly, so he coughed and said: "Qianqian, I think you can go read a book now."

  Zhang Qian's gaze swept across the faces of Wang Haodong and Zhang Shufang, smiling: "It seems you two haven't reached an understanding yet, okay, you're busy, I'll go read a book."

  After she left, Zhang Shufang stood still, fiddling with the hem of her clothes in a somewhat awkward manner. Just as Wang Haodong was about to speak, the sound of a tricycle engine came from outside, "Ding ding ding".

  Wang Haodong heard it in his ears and slightly frowned, because he heard the tricycle stop at Zhang Shufang's door.

  Boom boom boom.

  Someone is knocking at the door.

  Zhang Shufang was about to go and open the door, but Wang Haodong hastily said to her: "I'll go and open the door, you wait at home." As he spoke, Wang Haodong strode forward, secretly going on high alert.

  As he arrived at the door, Wang Haodong picked up the horizontal bar behind the door and held it in his hand. If anything was amiss, he would take action. "Who is it?" he shouted.

  "My name is Wang Kai, nice to meet you this morning."

  The familiar yet strange voice outside, Wang Haodong couldn't think of it for a moment. Suddenly, the face of a black-faced big man was imprinted in his mind, but it was with Liu Lele and others who took action, but was knocked down by him.

  What does he mean by coming here at this time?

  Wang Haodong thought for a moment, then slowly opened the door.

  Creak.

  Wang Haodong opened the door, with the tonfa in his hand placed behind his back, ready to launch an attack or defense at any moment if something went wrong.

  There were two men standing at the entrance, one with a dark face and the other with a light face. The latter was Liu Lele, nephew of Village Chief Liu Dahai. When they saw Wang Haodong, both of them immediately showed their smiling faces.

  "Two visitors at night, what's the matter? Can't you win in the afternoon and want to fight again?"

  Wang Haodong asked in a cold voice, seeing that they didn't seem to have any malicious intentions, the stick in his hand also didn't strike out.

  The dark-faced man stepped forward, clasped his fists and said: "Brother, I am Wang Kai. For what happened this morning, I'd like to apologize here. Lelai brought me here to make amends with you."

  "Apologize?" Wang Haodong looked at the guy, his facial expression sincere, with a smile that wasn't forced, and a hint of expectation and relief in his eyes, then said: "No need for that, let's just consider it a test."

  "My brother is awesome, after I retired from the army, I was always the one knocking others down, never been knocked down by anyone before, you are the first one, I admire you." Wang Kai said with a smile, giving Wang Haodong a thumbs up.

  Wang Haodong saw that he was slow to get to the point and guessed that this time, he didn't come just to flatter him with a few words. He said: "If you have something to say, then say it, don't beat around the bush. This isn't my home, it's not convenient to go inside, let's talk at the door."

  Liu Lele, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke up: "Hao Dong brothers, the village restaurant is still open for business. Why don't we go over there and sit down?"

  Wang Haodong was a bold and daring man, so he didn't feel afraid. He thought they wouldn't play any tricks on him, so he nodded in agreement. Of course, he would also be cautious, after all, the world of martial arts is full of danger, and people who smile at you to your face might stab you in the back when no one's looking. He had suffered losses like this before, so naturally he was being careful.

  "Shufang, I'm going out to discuss something. You all rest first." Wang Haodong walked up to Zhang Shufang and said in a low voice.

  Zhang Shufang said in a low voice: "Liu Lele is not a good thing, you had conflicts this morning, it's best not to trust him too much."