Translator: Flying Lines

  The more objectively Ye Xiaoxian spoke, the gloomier Scholar Wong felt. She was being objective because she never thought about him in that way and did not like him romantically at all.

  However, Xiao Baozhu encouraged Scholar Wong seriously. “Mr. Wong, I think you will get a promising grade. You’d better not get married for now. When you pass the examination with a promising grade it won’t be too late to marry by then. Seriously, I’ve read so many novels and all the scholars in them come first in the highest imperial examination!”


  Scholar Wong smiled. There were so many students all over the state but only one of them, Zhuangyuan, came first. There were also Bangyan (second place), Tanhua (third place) and Jinshi (the highest and final degree) etc. With his talent, he would thank God for passing the provincial exam and being ranked as Juren.

  He looked at Xiao Baozhu and said to her, as if speaking to a younger sister, “Thank you for your faith.”


  Ye Xiaoxian saw that Scholar Wong stopped talking about his problem and felt relieved. She was actually afraid of anyone sharing their personal problems with her because she did not know how to enlighten them.

  Scholar Wong took a bite of his rib and then looked at Ye Xiaoxian again. “Little Ye, I feel that you and me……have an affinity, from the first time you brought Baofeng to find me.”


  Ye Xiaoxian, being sensitive, felt what Scholar Wong said was a bit odd, so she then looked up at Scholar Wong.

  Luckily Scholar Wong explained in time. “Don’t get me wrong. I don’t mean that. I know you’ve already married and we won’t have anything like that. I just feel maybe we can be friends.”


  Ye Xiaoxian did not know how ancient people define friends. She then replied to Scholar Wong, “Aren’t we friends already?”


  Scholar Wong looked at Ye Xiaoxian in surprise and asked her, “Are we really……friends?”


  “You’ve helped me, helped Baofeng and stepped up for me. If we still aren’t friends, how are we going to be friends then?” Ye Xiaoxian asked.

  Scholar Wong’s eyes shone with some surprise. “I thought that you did not consider me your friend, so can I come to you for a chat when I have some problems in the future?”


  “As long as I’m free and it’s convenient, it will be alright.” Ye Xiaoxian told him the condition first.

  Scholar Wong said, “Little Ye, don’t worry. I’m a scholar and know the boundaries. I won’t come and disturb you much. Well, you haven’t had dinner, right? Go ahead and have dinner. I’ll go back after eating.”


  Ye Xiaoxian also felt it was awkward to sit here all the time and watch Scholar Wong eat, so she pulled Baozhu again. “Baozhu, let’s go.”


  Xiao Baozhu was not moving and after Ye Xiaoxian reminded her twice she then left unwillingly……

  Ye Xiaoxian and others were also going to have dinner.

  Li Hongmei asked Ye Xiaoxian, “Little Ye, you’ve been chatting with Mr. Wong for a long time. What did you chat about?”


  Ye Xiaoxian said, “Mr. Wong said that his family have arranged a marriage for him but he wanted to take the examination first. Now he’s not sure how to choose.”


  Li Hongmei was also a bit conservative so she said right away, “Of course he should get married first. Getting married is the most important thing but the exam can wait. If he could not get married, he would be committing a big crime – he would have no children!”


  Ye Xiaoxian said, “I did not say anything. I just told him to follow his heart.”


  Xiao Baozhu only sat and remained silent. She only ate half of her rice and then put down her chopsticks, saying that she was going back to her room to rest.”


  Li Hongmei saw this and looked at Ye Xiaoxian in surprise. “What’s the problem with Baozhu then?”


  Ye Xiaoxian put more rice in her mouth and said, “I’m not sure, ma, just go and ask Baozhu yourself.”


  Ye Xiaoxian did not think she could manage so many issues. Especially concerning relations.

  Li Hongmei gave it some thought, recalling Baozhu’s behavior when she saw Scholar Wong and she had some rough idea what was going on……

  After dinner Li Hongmei came to the room to find Baozhu. She was reading a novel by candlelight. When Li Hongmei entered she did not greet her mom and was seemingly in a bad mood.

  Li Hongmei then sat down and said to Baozhu, “When we had dinner just now why did you stop eating so quickly. I tell you what, although we’re better off thanks to Little Ye and we can eat until we’re full of meat, still you should take every meal seriously. If you don’t eat now then when you’re up feeling hungry in the late evening don’t cry about it, as by then you’ll get nothing to eat.”


  Xiao Baozhu put down the novel sulkily. “You are speaking about Little Ye all the time, like she was a Buddha or something, like our whole family have to rely on her for everything. Don’t we still have second brother?”


  “You ungrateful thing, of course we’re relying on her, who else are we relying on? When your brother was a handyman, by then Little Ye was already selling cold jelly to make money. She has bought rice, flour and clothes for all of us. We’ve benefited from Little Ye for such a long time, have you forgotten this already?”


  “I haven’t!” said Xiao Baozhu.

  “So what do you mean? Because of that Mr. Wong?” Li Hongmei touched her raw nerve which made Xiao Baozhu even more upset.

  She said angrily, “Mr. Wong said he wanted to make friends with sister-in-law and I was beside them. I haven’t got married but Scholar Wong was acting like he didn’t even see me.”


  Li Hongmei sighed. “Little Ye is more mature than you, so naturally Mr. Wong would talk to her, or do you expect him talk to you, a little girl who’s still wet behind the ears? What do you know?”


  “I don’t know anything. I’m no match for Little Ye. Are you satisfied now?”


  “.……”


  Ye Xiaoxian’s room was just next door. It was a quiet evening and the wooden house was not soundproof at all, so she heard the entire conservation between Li Hongmei and Xiao Baozhu. Still, Ye Xiaoxian did not come over to explain but just sat quietly.

  There was something called affinity between one another. For some, they would be grateful for what you did for them, but for others, they would not. Even though you may give them everything, they would not think you had done it right or not given them what they wanted.

  Ye Xiaoxian thought again, maybe Baozhu was still young and not sensible. Maybe she would understand when she was older.

  Next door, Li Hongmei was still criticizing Xiao Baozhu. “Why don’t you want to compare yourself with Little Ye? There’s no comparability between you two. You’re from different worlds. You should only remember that she has done a great favor for our family. It was her who guided us to what we are now, step by step. Now we don’t have to put up with your grandpa or the first and third households. You and Baofeng don’t have to go to the mountains to chop firewood or cut grass for pigs. Baofeng can go to school and you’ve learn a lot of characters and can even do the accounts now. We should give Little Ye the credits for all this. If you reproach her again from now on, I’ll be the first one to criticize you!”


  Xiao Baozhu suddenly burst into tears. “Ma, I……I actually said that because of Mr. Wong! He only wanted to make friends with sister-in-law and did not even look at me. I……I can’t stomach an insult like this!”


  “I knew it! Baozhu, don’t blame ma for not reminding you. You and Mr. Wong are so different. The standards of his family are so high that you won’t live up to them!”


  “I might as well claw my way in, okay?” Xiao Baozhu said furiously.

  “Crawl? How are you going to crawl? Even if you want to be his concubine he may not want you, unless you will be his maid and do all the chores in his family. Baozhu, you finally don’t have to do those heavy chores now, why do you even want to stoop so low? Just do your job behind the counter now. I’ll keep an eye out for some nice chap who suits you. We’re now running a restaurant, it’s not like being in the village before. Back then you could only marry a village chap, but now if we keep looking we probably can find you a town dweller.”