The kang (heated brick bed) for left-behind women

Chapter 111 Kiss

Lin Dachun looked down at Li Ruoxue, who lay flat on her back, staring directly at him.

The two faces were very close.

There was an indescribable feeling, a mix of excitement, embarrassment, and even unbearable discomfort.

even.

It's a bit absurd.

It's the absurdity of left-behind women and all that.

The ashes under the kang (a heated brick bed) caught fire.

If you try to tinker with it with tongs, it will reignite; if you try to scrape the ashes, there will still be plenty of embers inside.

On early summer evenings, all you need is some charcoal ash to keep you warm.

Li Ruoxue's face turned red, her heart pounded, and then she looked away.

But she didn't resist, and she was conflicted inside.

"Ruoxue?" Lin Dachun called out gently.

"Um."

That "hmm" is so charming and seductive; that coquettish tone with its added undertone is enough to make a man's ears tingle.

Li Ruoxue had just finished speaking.

Lin Dachun couldn't resist and sealed her lips with his.

Their lips immediately pressed together.

That sweet taste is absolutely irresistible.

"Um??"

Li Ruoxue hummed in agreement again, her gaze darting away, utterly embarrassed.

"My great-aunt said no."

Li Ruoxue avoided looking at them and pursed her red lips.

"Then forget it?" Lin Dachun asked with a smile. "A kiss shouldn't be a problem, right? It's a way of showing affection and pampering."

Seeing Lin Dachun about to get up, Li Ruoxue blushed, nodded shyly, and said coquettishly:

"Just a quick kiss. No more than that."

"Um."

When the two people are talking, their mouths almost touch.

-------

at the same time.

It was already eight o'clock in the evening when Wu Xin stood at the gate of the matchmaker's house, holding half a pound of brown sugar.

The oil paper package in her hand was soaked with sweat and felt soft; the sugar was almost melting. She stood there for the time it takes to smoke a whole pipe before she mustered the courage to knock on the door.

The matchmaker's surname was Wang. She was in her fifties, and her face was wrinkled like a dried date, but her eyes were very bright. When she looked at people, it was as if she was weighing something.

She was hanging clothes to dry in the yard when she saw Wu Xin. Without stopping her work, she said, "Oh, isn't this Peach Blossom Mother? What brings you here again?"

Wu Xin smiled and handed over the brown sugar: "Aunt Wang, it's hot, so I brought you something sweet."

Matchmaker Wang glanced at the brown sugar but didn't answer: "Didn't I tell you last time? Your peach blossom matter is going to be difficult."

"I know it's difficult, I know it's difficult," Wu Xin hurriedly said, "so I'll have to trouble you to put in the effort. Tao Hua is already twenty, if she doesn't find someone soon..."

"Twenty?" After hanging up the last piece of clothing, Matchmaker Wang clapped her hands, turned around, and looked Wu Xin up and down. "I'm telling you, Peach Blossom Girl, you know the rules in our town. My line of work has its rules too! Don't you understand the rules?"

That word "rules" was like a needle, piercing Wu Xin's heart.

"Aunt Wang, I know the rules," Wu Xin said, her face pale. "Our Taohua is indeed not a young maiden anymore. A few years ago, her father was ill, and someone had to stay at home. But in terms of looks and temperament, how has she lost anything?"

"Looks?" Matchmaker Wang took two steps closer, lowering her voice. "What good are looks? Can they put food on the table? Let me tell you something—" She looked around, her voice even lower, "Your Peach Blossom's reputation has already spread far and wide; even the people in town know about it."

"Let me give you a straight answer. In our line of work, you have to be a virgin. That's the rule, a prerequisite, a strict requirement. If you don't meet this requirement, and I introduce someone to someone else without proper qualifications, I'll get beaten up and have to pay ten times the penalty for breach of contract. Ten times, you understand?"

Upon hearing this, Wu Xin swayed, nearly dropping the brown sugar in her hand.

"That damned Lin Liang, I want to beat him to death! What will happen to my Tao Hua?" Wu Xin was on the verge of tears.

Wu Xin's voice trembled, "Aunt Wang, please have mercy and look again. The bride price... we don't need the bride price, okay?"

Matchmaker Wang sighed and took the brown sugar this time: "Peach Blossom Mother, it's not that I don't want to help you. In all these surrounding villages, which family of marriageable age would want to marry a second-hand woman? It would be so embarrassing. The young man would never be able to hold his head up in the village. People would all say, 'That young man at the village entrance married a second-hand woman.'"

She spoke as if repeating herself, each word like a slap in Wu Xin's face.

"Then...what can we do?" Wu Xin's voice trembled with tears. "We can't just let her stay at home as an old maid, can we? Where would I put my face? We wouldn't be able to close our eyes in peace after we've passed away!"

"If you ask me," Wang the matchmaker said, tucking the brown sugar into her bosom and moving closer, her breath, a mixture of garlic and cheap hair oil, spraying onto Wu Xin's face, "if you're really in a hurry to marry off your daughter, then stop being so picky."

Wu Xin stared at her with wide eyes and said, "I'm not picky, as long as he can marry me."

"Old men, old bachelors, disabled, crippled—" Matchmaker Wang counted on her fingers, one by one, "These, perhaps, still have hope."

"How can that be!" Wu Xin blurted out, "Our Peach Blossom Garden, after all..."

"What do you mean, 'good or bad'?" Matchmaker Wang interrupted her, her eyes turning cold. "Peach Blossom Mother, wake up. Your daughter isn't a golden goose anymore; she's a cold, hard piece of bread, nobody wants to eat her. If you don't humble yourself, then you can expect her to take care of you in your old age and see you off when you die. Your Sun family will never be able to hold your head high again; you'll never be able to marry off your daughter."

Wu Xin opened her mouth, unable to speak.

"Okay, I'll do as you say."

Wu Xin said with tears in her eyes.