Playing matchmaker requires some skill, especially when the man involved is a bit clumsy.
—-
Two days passed, and just as Xu Qiao was about to forget Jiang Rui, Aunt Liu came knocking.

Xu Qiao had just gotten off work and was standing in the kitchen, wondering what to make for dinner.

Opening the door, Aunt Liu stood there with her two-year-old granddaughter in one arm and a small basket in the other. She smiled and asked, “Xiao Qiao, do you have fresh vegetables ready again? Shall we do it the usual way?”

Every year, the Xu family sold vegetables to their neighbors in the same building to earn some extra money, pricing them at 20% off the supermarket rate.

Xu Qiao was quite familiar with Aunt Liu, so she invited her in directly and led her to the planting pots. “Scallions, chives, and spinach are ready to eat. Which one do you want, Auntie?”

Aunt Liu replied, “I’ll take a bit of each. Just enough for tonight’s meal. We have a big family, and while we can occasionally indulge, we can’t afford to eat like this every day.”

Xu Qiao cut some of each vegetable, using a small scale to weigh them. The total was just over a pound, and after the discount, it came to 160 points.

Aunt Liu then pointed to the two reddest strawberries in the planting pot and said, “I’ll take these two as well, to treat Lingdang.”

Supermarkets sold strawberries individually at fifty points each.

In neighborhood transactions, it’s important to avoid giving out freebies; otherwise, giving one free today might lead to expectations of more free ones in the future.

Fortunately, Grandpa Xu had already set the tone for vegetable and fruit trading. Xu Qiao didn’t feign politeness, and Aunt Liu didn’t try to take advantage of her. Aunt Liu happily transferred 240 points to Xu Qiao.

Untreated strawberries can be eaten without washing. Aunt Liu gave one to her granddaughter and, as they walked to the entrance, she suddenly remembered something and winked at Xu Qiao. “Do you remember Jiang Rui, who came to my house last time?”

Xu Qiao replied, “The one from the Guard Corps?”

Aunt Liu confirmed, “Yes, I think he likes you. He’s been asking me about you for the past two days. Normally, he doesn’t talk much, but suddenly he’s calling me ‘Auntie’ very affectionately.”

Xu Qiao was speechless.

Aunt Liu continued, “Here’s the deal. I’ll tell you about his family situation. If you’re interested, I’ll introduce you. If not, I’ll make it clear to him to save him from unrequited feelings.”

Xu Qiao immediately stated, “Auntie, regardless of his family situation, I’m not considering dating or marriage right now…”

Aunt Liu understood. “I get it. You’re still young, no need to rush. I just think he’s a good match. At least listen, consider it as meeting a new friend. Besides, he’s in the Guard Corps and might sometimes patrol around here. You never know when you might run into him on a mission.”

Seeing Aunt Liu’s basket of vegetables, Xu Qiao reluctantly agreed, “Alright, I’ll listen.”

She realized Aunt Liu’s real intention was matchmaking, not just buying vegetables.

Aunt Liu’s enthusiastic introduction could be summarized in two parts.

Jiang Rui’s family: His father and older brother both served in the military. His father was a captain, and his thirty-something brother was a lieutenant. His mother and sister-in-law worked in official departments, making for a respectable and stable family.

Jiang Rui himself: At twenty-five, he, like his father and brother, had a combat spirit animal, the war bull, and possessed dual C-level abilities in wind and earth. He was currently a second lieutenant.

According to Aunt Liu, the three men in Jiang Rui’s family were as steadfast and reliable as their spirit animals.

Xu Qiao complimented, “They all sound impressive, but I really have no plans in that regard. Please explain this to him so he doesn’t waste his time.”

Aunt Liu left disappointed.

Xu Qiao closed the door and sighed in relief.

A lotus petal floated out and gently brushed her cheek.

Xu Qiao smiled wryly.

With the population drastically reduced in the New Era, major bases encouraged early marriage and childbearing, even lowering university graduation age to eighteen.

Many young people did marry early for various reasons. Xu Qiao hadn’t paid much attention to this issue before. If she met someone, she liked who matched her in every way, early marriage would be fine. If not, she would take her time or even stay single forever. It was better than marrying someone she didn’t love just for the sake of marriage.

But now, Xu Qiao had a secret—a big secret about her spirit animal upgrading itself.

The authorities had her spirit animal data, and the eleven-petaled lotus was clearly displayed with her photo on her electronic mercenary ID. If she were to date, she couldn’t always hide her spirit animal from her partner. If it were exposed and her partner turned out to be unreliable…

Xu Qiao didn’t want to take the risk; she’d rather keep the secret to herself.
—-
As for dinner…

She decided on pan-fried steak.

Speaking of which, the official classification of spirit animals was too generalized. In the old era, cows could be classified into many types based on origin, appearance, and use, such as yaks, water buffaloes, yellow cattle, and bison. But in the new era, regardless of the cow’s appearance, the authorities only named them based on their abilities: those suitable for combat were called war bulls, while those suitable for farming were called ordinary cows.

Of course, the authorities couldn’t be entirely blamed for being perfunctory. The same yellow cow spirit animal might be suitable for combat for one person and for farming for another. To simplify the classification, the authorities abandoned the old naming conventions.

This applied to plant spirit animals as well. Regardless of how many varieties a peony could bloom into, it was named “peony,” and no matter how many petals a lotus had, it was still classified as “lotus.”

While the authorities used these generic names, ability users were more attached to their spirit animals and often preferred to use more specific old-era names.

Xu Qiao’s great-grandfather was passionate about growing lotuses and had kept many books and pictures of them in the family study. Xu Qiao knew that her spirit animal’s specific name was likely “double-petaled lotus.”
—-
In apartment 102, Qin Chi resisted the urge to send his fire dragon to eavesdrop on Xu Qiao’s conversation with Aunt Liu at the entrance. But not long after, as he was washing vegetables in the kitchen, he overheard Aunt Liu talking on the phone from her kitchen upstairs in 202.

This time, Qin Chi could only hear Aunt Liu’s side of the conversation.

“I just went to buy vegetables from her and mentioned Jiang Rui asking about her. As I thought, as soon as I brought it up, she said she wasn’t interested.”

“I told her everything, even about Jiang Rui’s sister-in-law’s job. I think she just hasn’t realized it yet. It’s not about Jiang Rui; otherwise, with him being tall and handsome and from such a good family, which girl wouldn’t be interested?”

“Yeah, it’s up to Jiang Rui now. If I interfere too much, it might backfire. Young people these days don’t like being pushed into marriage by their elders.”

Aunt Liu fell silent, and the fire dragon emerged, spitting fire at Qin Chi: [She doesn’t like him.]

While washing the vegetables, Qin Chi whispered, “She doesn’t like being set up. It doesn’t mean Jiang Rui has no chance.”

The fire dragon: [You should compete with him!]

Qin Chi smiled and shook his head.

Human emotions are much more complicated than those of spirit animals, and for now, he had no plans of getting involved in a romantic relationship.
—-
Tuesday, May 14.

Xu Qiao was on duty in Room 206 at the clinic as usual.

Patients registered downstairs. Most of them let the system randomly assign a doctor, but a few came specifically for a particular doctor by name.

Xu Qiao was too young to have much of a reputation yet, so when the screen showed a patient who had specifically registered to see her, Xu Qiao was surprised and looked at the patient’s information.

Patient: Jiang Rui.

Xu Qiao: “…”

With the patient already there, the empty Dr. Xu could only follow the protocol and call the name.

About a minute later, steady footsteps echoed in the hallway, slowing down as they approached room 206. Finally, as if making a decision, the person took a couple of steps forward and knocked on the door.

Xu Qiao had already turned her gaze toward the slightly ajar door: “Come in.”

A large, wheat-colored hand pushed the door open, revealing the resolute face she had seen before. However, the visitor seemed surprised to find Xu Qiao waiting for him and looked over immediately. His bright black eyes quickly dropped down, and a noticeable flush spread across his face.

Xu Qiao: “…”

Just as she was about to look away, she noticed a droplet of sweat rolling down his chiseled cheek.

She was really taken aback. Was he nervous, or was the pain from his injury too much?

Her gaze drifted down to his lower leg, obscured by his black uniform pants, where the registration information indicated he had a lower leg injury.

Noticing her gaze shifting away, Jiang Rui forced himself to calm down and spoke: “Hello, I’m here for a consultation.”

Xu Qiao nodded, pointing to a chair beside her: “Have a seat, roll up your pant leg, and I’ll take a look at your injury first.”

Jiang Rui walked over, sat down, and rolled up his left pant leg. He straightened his posture, his back stiff, with his hands clenched into fists resting above his knees. Only when Xu Qiao bent down to examine his wound did he sneak a couple of quick glances at her, even if he could only see her profile and the back of her neck.

After finishing her examination, Xu Qiao frowned and asked, “Did a beast bite you?”

Jiang Rui: “Yes, I was bitten during a mission yesterday. We were in a hurry to leave, so I had the military doctor treat the bone injury before returning to the team. I thought a night of rest at home would heal it, but…”

Xu Qiao: “That’s an occupational injury, right? You can get treated for free at the military hospital?”

Jiang Rui: “I’m off today and didn’t want to rush to the Fifth Ring.”

The four major bases had similar layouts: military and political elites, along with high-level ability users, lived in the central area, while lower-level ability users lived in the second ring, ordinary people in the third ring, agriculture and military manufacturing were in the fourth ring, and the Fifth Ring housed a million guards.

Aside from the stationed military, the Fifth Ring also acted as a buffer zone between the base’s wall and the residential area, making it the largest area, and driving there could be quite time-consuming.

Since Jiang Rui mentioned it, Xu Qiao felt it was unnecessary to press further. She asked, “Would you prefer to take medicine for it, or…”

Jiang Rui: “If possible, I’d like to be treated now.”

Such a superficial injury didn’t even require a surgery room. After issuing a fee slip, Jiang Rui paid with points, and Xu Qiao began to clean the wound. With her fingers pressing on one side of his injury, she had it treated within three minutes. Besides the newly healed area being slightly whiter, it was impossible to tell that he had ever been hurt.

Jiang Rui lowered his pant leg, stood up straight, and looked at the therapist sitting in the chair with a serious expression: “Thank you.”

After saying this, he turned and walked toward the door, and with his long strides, he could exit in just four steps.

Xu Qiao: “Wait a minute.”

Jiang Rui paused, turning back to face her.

Xu Qiao: “Did you specifically make an appointment with me to support my business because of Aunt Liu, or is there another reason?”

Jiang Rui was silent for a second before looking at her and saying, “I wanted to see you, and this was the only way I could do it.”

Xu Qiao: “… I’m flattered, but I’m not interested in dating right now. If you keep paying unnecessary points just to see me, it puts a lot of pressure on me.”

Jiang Rui: “I’m sorry; I won’t do it again next time.”

Xu Qiao smiled: “Thank you.”

Jiang Rui: “Then can I walk you home once a week? You don’t have to talk to me; I can keep my distance and just watch you. I hope that when you’re ready to date, you’ll consider me first.”

Xu Qiao: “…”