Since she couldn’t get any more information, Lu Qingyuan let the system go offline.

She sat in her room for a while before getting up to push open the wooden window.

In the Lu family home, only the main hall had two wooden windows facing the front courtyard. The other rooms all had windows opening towards the backyard.

A light breeze blew in through the gaps, carrying the delicate fragrance of the half-bloomed gardenias behind the house.

Leaning on the wooden window, Lu Qingyuan lowered her gaze and looked at the gardenia tree, which was covered in buds. Her mind was made up.

No matter what, she would not marry Tan Chang’an. She had already intended to refuse before seeing the barrage of comments, and after reading them, she was even more determined.

She had no interest in being the tragic heroine of this story.

Hearing the sounds of her two little nephews playing in the courtyard, Lu Qingyuan composed herself and stepped out of her room.

“Has your great-grandma fallen asleep?”

She waved at the two boys. Once they ran up to her, she asked in a low voice.

“She has,” Jiasheng nodded, mimicking his aunt’s hushed tone. “She also drank the warm sugar water from the enamel cup.”

“Yes, yes! We watched her drink it,” Lusheng raised his hand as if swearing to its truth.

“Good. Go and play, but remember not to leave the courtyard.”

“Okay!”

The two boys happily ran off to a corner of the yard to play with mud balls again.

If only their second and third uncles had children around the same age, this big courtyard would be much livelier.

Lu Qingyuan stood at the doorway for a while, watching them. Then, she walked into the courtyard and flipped over the clothes and blankets that had been drying under the sun.

Grandma Lu’s health was unpredictable. There always needed to be someone at home, so even when Lu Qingyuan went out, she never went far.

Carrying a hoe and some seeds, she made her way to the family’s private plot. She turned over the soil where radishes had once grown.

Since they had finished eating the radishes, the land needed to be prepped for a new crop.

Lu Qingyuan had quite a bit of strength. The soil she turned over was even and neat.

When Fifth Aunt came over, she saw that Lu Qingyuan had just finished turning over that small patch of land.

Lu Qingyuan hadn’t changed her clothes and was still wearing the floral cross-collared blouse she had worn for the matchmaking meeting that morning.

She had been working for a while now, her hoe rising and falling steadily. The originally fair skin of her face was now tinged with a rosy hue, making her look as fresh and beautiful as a blooming lotus.

Standing on the small path, Fifth Aunt smiled as she watched her niece, thinking that everything about her was good.

It was a pity that the matchmaking from this morning didn’t work out.

Fortunately, she had received some new information. Without delay, she came over to share it.

“Qingyuan, what are you planning to plant here?”

“Fifth Aunt,” Lu Qingyuan lifted her head at the sound and smiled when she saw her Fifth Aunt. “I’m planting peas. We saved some seeds last year, so it’s just the right time to sow them.”

“Alright then, you keep busy. I’ll go talk to your grandma.”

Fifth Aunt waved before turning to walk towards the Lu family’s main house.

“Okay.”

Lu Qingyuan figured that since she had been working for a while, her grandmother was probably awake by now.

Her grandmother slept a lot but always woke up not long after falling asleep.

Standing outside the room, Fifth Aunt called out, “Auntie?”

Hearing her voice, Grandma Lu responded, “Oh, it’s the fifth family’s wife? Come on in.”

“It’s me,” Fifth Aunt entered the room. Her husband was the son of Grandpa Lu’s brother. “I came to tell you some good news.”

Grandma Lu propped herself up on the bed. Despite her frail appearance, she looked a little pleased. “Could it be that this morning’s match is back on?”

Fifth Aunt hurried forward to support her, then coughed lightly.

“Not that family, but the one asking me for help this time isn’t bad either. Their home is behind the public health clinic, about a twenty-minute walk from here.”

“The road behind the public health clinic…” Grandma Lu leaned against the pillow and thought for a moment. “The Shu family from the Shuangyan Production Team?”

Fifth Aunt clapped her hands and nodded excitedly.

“That’s right! It’s Shu Zilai’s third son, Shu Beiqiu! He’s twenty-five this year. Auntie, don’t mind that he’s seven years older than Qingyuan. This young man is capable…”

By the time Lu Qingyuan finished planting the pea seeds and returned home after tidying up, Fifth Aunt was already gone.

“Where did your Fifth Aunt go?”

She asked Jiasheng and Lusheng.

“She left. She went that way,” Jiasheng pointed toward Second Uncle Lu’s woodshed.

The woodshed led to a small path outside the courtyard, which was a shortcut to the backyard of Fifth Aunt’s house.

“No wonder I didn’t see her leave the usual way,” Lu Qingyuan chuckled. She then fetched some water to wash her face and hands.

She had planned to grab the two little boys to wipe their faces, but both of them resisted. Just then, Grandma Lu called for her, so she went inside.

“Grandma?”

Entering the room, she saw her grandmother leaning against the pillow, so she called out to her in confusion.

“Come, sit down,” Grandma Lu beckoned her over.

Lu Qingyuan walked over and sat down, noticing the familiar look on her grandmother’s face. Her mouth twitched slightly.

“Don’t tell me Fifth Aunt brought news of another matchmaking meeting?”

“You guessed right,” Grandma Lu smiled and reached out to tap her freshly washed cheek.

“You thought the Tan family was too well-off and didn’t want to marry into them. Well, this family is about the same as ours. Do you want to hear about them?”

Lu Qingyuan nodded. “Alright.”

Grandma Lu patted her hand gently.

“They’re from the Shu family in the Shuangyan Production Team, behind the public health clinic. I’m not particularly close to them, but I’ve never heard anything bad about their family. They’re a harmonious household.”

Lu Qingyuan nodded. There were no major conflicts in the family, which meant there was no troublemaker stirring things up, and life was peaceful.

“It’s your Fifth Aunt who brought up this marriage proposal. It’s from the Shu family—Shu Zilai and his wife—who are looking for a match for their third son, Shu Beiqiu. He’s twenty-five this year, seven years older than you, the same age as your eldest brother.”

As she spoke, Grandma Lu carefully observed Lu Qingyuan’s expression. If she found the age difference unacceptable, Grandma Lu wouldn’t push the matter further.

Lu Qingyuan didn’t feel any particular resistance to it but was a little curious.

“Grandma, if he’s the same age as Big Brother, why isn’t he married yet?”

Grandma Lu chuckled and softly shared what Fifth Aunt had found out.

“It’s like this—Shu Beiqiu enlisted in the army when he was sixteen and only left the troops at twenty-two. After his unit recommended him, he joined the county’s mechanical factory as a technician.”

“That factory is hard to get into, and their technical department is even tougher.”

Lu Qingyuan nodded in agreement. She had heard before that entering the mechanical factory’s technical department was extremely difficult.

Even if one got in, there was no guarantee they’d be able to stay.

“In his first year at the factory, Shu Beiqiu had to pay a training fee to learn the skills.”

“In the second year, he worked as an apprentice. It wasn’t until the third year that he became a formal employee and started receiving a technician’s salary. This year, he finally had time to think about his personal matters.”

Grandma Lu patted the back of Lu Qingyuan’s hand with a look of satisfaction.

“As long as he doesn’t make any mistakes, this job is his for life. You could say he’s secured an iron rice bowl.”

“Their family situation is simple too. His parents are alive, his two older sisters are married, and his younger brother is also married. His younger brother works at the commune’s health clinic as a rural doctor—that’s the same Dr. Shu we know. He’s a decent man, so his older brother can’t be too bad either.”

Grandma Lu looked at Lu Qingyuan and spoke gently. “If you think it’s okay, you can go and meet him.”

Meeting her grandmother’s expectant gaze, Lu Qingyuan nodded. “Alright.”