Chapter 172 The matchmaking agency opens. Mingxi brings Wei Ning...
Mingxi took Weining to the matchmaking agency to help out. The two of them divided the work: Mingxi was in charge of registering information, and Weining was in charge of registering information.
The first woman Mingxi received was fair-skinned, with a neat bob haircut, and looked capable. However, she had dark circles under her eyes and her eyes revealed visible fatigue.
Mingxi raised an eyebrow and pulled out a chair for her to sit down: "Hello, please sit down first, let me pour you a glass of water."
The woman opposite him gave a forced smile.
Mingxi returned with a water glass and pushed it in front of her. She held the glass with her fingers, her fingertips pale. Seeing Mingxi sit down, she couldn't wait to speak.
"Comrade, I read in the newspaper that your document review process is very strict. I hope no one is falsifying anything?"
Mingxi glanced at the form in front of her and saw that Wu Haiyan was written in the name column. She smiled and said, "Comrade Wu, right? You can rest assured. Our application review here is very strict. No one will falsify anything."
Wu Haiyan, sitting opposite, breathed a sigh of relief and said, "It's good that no one is cheating."
She sighed and said with a wry smile, "Don't let my appearance fool you, I've been scammed so many times before."
Mingxi listened curiously, wanting to hear what was going on.
Wu Haiyan tugged at the hem of her clothes and began to tell her story. Mingxi listened and fell silent.
She had seen people with bad luck, but it was rare to see someone as unlucky as Wu Haiyan.
Here's the thing: Wu Haiyan is twenty-five this year. She's not exactly young, but her family is anxious for her to find a partner. Wu Haiyan herself also wants to find someone, but she works in a garment factory where everyone is female. She's also rather introverted, has a small social circle, and knows relatively few men. Eventually, a female colleague from her workplace introduced her to a young man.
According to Wu Haiyan, the older woman from her workplace who introduced her to the blind date was a colleague in the workshop. She was usually very kind and took good care of her, so she didn't think much of it and went to meet her blind date.
Her first blind date wasn't particularly handsome, but just like the matchmaker said, he was an honest man.
Although Wu Haiyan didn't hit it off with the other person at first sight, she had a really good impression of him, and so the two quickly arranged to meet a second time.
The second time, as soon as the two met, a woman rushed out, slapped Wu Haiyan, and scolded her for being shameless, seducing a married man, and threatened to parade her through the streets.
Wu Haiyan was completely bewildered when her blind date rushed up and hugged the unfamiliar woman to explain.
It was only then that she learned that her blind date already had a boyfriend, and that the two of them were about to get married.
After returning home, she confronted the older woman who had introduced her to her by her workplace. The woman hesitated and stammered, but finally, under her pressure, she reluctantly confessed.
It turns out that this seemingly kind older sister knew her blind date had a girlfriend and that they were planning to get married. However, her blind date didn't like the woman and instead paid someone to introduce his son to a new girlfriend.
The rest is history. This kind older sister at Wu Haiyan's workplace, greedy for money, introduced Wu Haiyan to the company. But unexpectedly, that woman interfered, and the truth was exposed.
Although encountering such a thing would definitely feel unlucky, Wu Haiyan has a good mental capacity. At least she discovered this not too late, before her blind date developed a deeper relationship. At least it made her realize whether the people around her were human or ghosts.
After this incident, Wu Haiyan dared not meet just anyone. She turned around and seriously found a matchmaker to introduce her to a potential partner. Moreover, this time she learned her lesson and made sure that the person she was meeting did not have a girlfriend before meeting him.
The meeting went quite well, but she noticed that her blind date was very quiet, and he spoke very slowly, one word at a time.
Wu Haiyan didn't think much of it, only that the other person was nervous and she was quite satisfied with him. It wasn't until the second meeting that the other person couldn't hold back and stammered for two minutes before finally saying "good" to her.
Her heart immediately sank.
Forget about him being quiet or nervous; he's a complete stutterer and can't even speak fluently.
She went back and took her family to confront the matchmaker, only to find out that she had been scammed again. The matchmaker knew the other party had a stutter, but had already taken the money, so she deliberately kept it from her.
Now even the matchmaker couldn't be trusted, and Wu Haiyan was truly devastated.
However, soon after, a relative introduced her to a potential partner. She thought that since she couldn't trust outsiders, her relatives wouldn't deliberately lie to her, so she went to meet the man anyway.
Family members are indeed more reliable than outsiders. The young man she was introduced to was at least single, not disabled, and could speak normally.
But when this person arrived, he looked her up and down. To describe it, Wu Haiyan felt that the way he looked at her was like looking at a piece of pork on a chopping board, which made her extremely uncomfortable.
After looking you over, the other person seemed dissatisfied but also somewhat approving, saying, "Well, you're barely acceptable."
He said arrogantly, "Our ancestors were relatives of the emperor. With your family background, you wouldn't even be worthy to be my maid in the past. It's just that things are different now... But you have to understand that our family is not an ordinary family. After you marry into our family, you will have to abide by our family rules."
As he spoke, he tossed a notebook to the ground: "These are our family rules. Take this home and memorize them. I'll be checking them next time we meet."
Wu Haiyan: "???"
What nonsense! The Qing Dynasty is over, why is he still acting like a royal relative?
Wu Haiyan didn't even sit down; she just turned around and left.
When she got home, she told her relatives that the blind date she had been introduced to was mentally unstable.
Wu Haiyan went on three separate dates but didn't meet any normal people, which made her quite disheartened. For a time, she even began to waver in her idea of finding a partner.
Still unwilling to give up, Wu's mother saw Feng Xuenian's introduction of Mingxi and the Mingxi Sincere Marriage Agency in the newspaper. She thought it seemed reliable and recommended it to Wu Haiyan, urging her to come and give it a try. That's why Wu Haiyan came over.
After hearing all this, Mingxi looked at Wu Haiyan with sympathy. Wu Haiyan's blind date experience wasn't extensive, but she really had encountered all sorts of oddballs.
She reassured him, "Don't worry about that. Our matchmaking agency has very strict vetting processes. If the other person already has a partner, the vetting will simply not be passed. Even if someone has a disability or other health issues, we will verify it and mark it on their profile. We will never conceal this information."
Upon hearing this, Wu Haiyan, though still harboring doubts, appeared relieved.
Seeing that the other party was relieved, Mingxi began to register her information normally.
Wu Haiyan was well-prepared, bringing her work ID, last month's pay slip, and even her family's food ration book.
Mingxi completed the review and registered her basic information, but when she got to Wu Haiyan's ideal type, she suddenly got stuck.
Mingxi: "What are your requirements for a partner?"
Wu Haiyan scratched her head and said, "I...I don't have any requirements. As long as he is a normal person, doesn't have a partner, isn't disabled, and doesn't have thick family rules, that's fine."
Mingxi: ...
It's clear that the first three blind dates left Wu Haiyan with serious psychological trauma.
Mingxi repeatedly explained that their matchmaking agency would not introduce such oddballs to Wu Haiyan. To this end, she even took out the matchmaking agency's male member information cards and showed them to Wu Haiyan.
As she showed the documents to Wu Haiyan, she explained, "This man came to register with us on the first day of business. He works at a steel plant nearby. And this one, this one works in the security department of a coal mine. This one is a railway worker... These are all people who have come here legitimately to find a partner, so you don't need to be afraid."
Wu Haiyan flipped through the information cards, noting that the men's information was clearly written down, including not only their names, ages, heights, and weights, but also their workplaces, job ranks, salaries, and family situations. Some cards even had a one-inch photo of the man attached.
Mingxi explained, "We have a place to put photos on this information card, but not all comrades prepared a one-inch photo in advance, so some put it on and some didn't, but that doesn't matter. If you have any male comrades who are interested, I can have them take photos."
Wu Haiyan blushed and waved her hand, "No need, no need..."
She said she didn't need it, but her eyes were fixed on a one-inch photo of a male comrade on a data card.
The photo shows a gay man with a buzz cut. He is wearing a simple white shirt, has a stern face, and looks extremely serious, but his eyes are clear and upright, indicating that he is a decent person.
Mingxi recognized this man; he was one of the men who had been dragged to register by their families on the day their matchmaking agency opened.
His name is Wang Weiping, and he works at a steel factory. This young man is very straightforward, but because he is too straightforward, he is not good at speaking, so he is still not a partner at the age of twenty-five or twenty-six. He himself is not too worried, but his family is quite worried. So when they heard that this was a marriage agency, they immediately brought Wang Weiping here.
Mingxi remembered Wang Weiping because of Wang's mother.
The "Queen Mother" was the middle-aged woman who gossiped with Mingxi on the day of the opening.
As a fellow gossip, she naturally had a deep impression of him.
Seeing Wu Haiyan staring blankly at Wang Weiping's photo, Mingxi immediately understood. She smiled and asked, "Are you interested in Comrade Wang? Should I contact him...?"
Wu Haiyan: "No...no, you should still..."
Wu Haiyan stammered for a long time before finally saying, "I have met this Comrade Wang."
Mingxi raised an eyebrow: "Hmm?"
What a coincidence!
Wu Haiyan whispered, "When I was on my first blind date, it was the time his girlfriend interfered, and that's when I met Comrade Wang."
The woman rushed up and slapped her across the face, hurling insults at her as she did so. No one around understood what was happening, and no one stepped in to break it up. Her blind date, like a bystander, neither offered an explanation nor intervened to pull the woman away.
It was Wang Weiping who was passing by. He pulled the other person away with a stern face and said that no matter what happened, it was not a reason for the other person to beat someone up on the street.
Wu Haiyan's blind date only dared to step forward to explain after seeing his girlfriend being pulled away, but the person he was explaining to wasn't her, but rather the one who had hit her.
He kept rambling on and on, saying things like, "Don't misunderstand, we're not in that kind of relationship. It wasn't my initiative; I was forced into it," which made the people around him look at her strangely.
Wu Haiyan was completely stunned and couldn't react at all. It was only after Wang Weiping nudged her that she came to her senses and defended herself.
That day was so chaotic that she only remembered giving a jumbled explanation, and when she realized she couldn't explain it clearly, she slapped her blind date and then turned and left without even asking the name of Wang Weiping, who had helped her.
Unexpectedly, I saw Wang Weiping's photo here again.
Mingxi opened her mouth, she hadn't expected that Wu Haiyan and Wang Weiping had such a past.
But now that she's said that, she feels that the two of them are truly destined to be together.
She asked, "Why don't you ask Wang Weiping to meet you?"
Wu Haiyan bit her lip. She wanted to ask Wang Weiping to meet her to express her gratitude, but she was afraid that Wang Weiping had already forgotten who she was and would refuse to meet her this time.
Mingxi noticed Wu Haiyan's hesitation but didn't say anything, respecting Wu Haiyan's opinion.
Wu Haiyan quickly made up her mind and said, "Could you help me make an appointment with Wang Weiping?"
Mingxi smiled and said, "Okay."
She saw Wu Haiyan off, but didn't go to find Wang Weiping right away.
After all, the store was still busy, and there were still so many people's information that hadn't been registered. Only after finishing all that could she find the time to contact Wang Weiping.
After registering the information of all the other customers in the store, the sun had already set, and Mingxi took the information to the Wang family.
Upon meeting Wang Weiping, she explained her purpose. When Wang Weiping saw Wu Haiyan's photo, a subtle change was evident in his eyes.
Mingxi whistled in her heart.
Oh ho.
It turns out that not only did Wu Haiyan remember Wang Weiping, but Wang Weiping also had some impression of Wu Haiyan.
Mingxi raised her eyebrows but didn't expose the matter. She deliberately kept Wu Haiyan's recognition of Wang Weiping a secret, only saying that Wu Haiyan had registered at the marriage agency, saw Wang Weiping's information on the card, was interested in him, and wanted to ask him out to meet, asking for his opinion.
Before Wang Weiping could speak, Wang's mother rushed over, staring at Wu Haiyan's file from top to bottom, clicking her tongue as she looked: "This girl is good. She graduated from high school, is educated, and now works in a garment factory. She's capable and beautiful..."
The more she looked at the photos, the more she admired Wu Haiyan, and she wished she could recognize Wu Haiyan as her daughter-in-law right there in the pictures.
Seeing that Wang Weiping was still hesitating, she simply slapped him on the back of the head: "What are you hesitating for? Such a good girl like you, why don't you hurry up and say yes?"
Mingxi quickly said, "Oh, ma'am, that won't do. Our marriage agency's rule is to fully respect the member's opinion and not force or coerce the other party. If Comrade Wang isn't interested in Comrade Wu, that's fine. I'll go back and tell him."
As she was about to stand up, Wang Weiping seemed to finally realize what was happening and hurriedly said, "Wait..."
He said, "I agree to meet."
Mingxi smiled, but she quickly concealed the smile and said in a formal and polite manner, "Okay, I'll go back and tell Comrade Wu the good news."
Mingxi made another trip back and forth between the two places to finalize the time and place for the meeting.
Soon, the day arrived for Wu Haiyan and Wang Weiping to meet.
Wu Haiyan and Wang Weiping arranged to meet at a park. Mingxi arrived at the park entrance right on time.
As the two walked over, they saw Wang Weiping standing at the park entrance from afar. When they got closer, Mingxi raised her hand and waved to Wang Weiping.
Wang Weiping saw Mingxi and Wu Haiyan and took two steps forward.
The three met at the park entrance. The moment Wu Haiyan saw Wang Weiping, her face turned red. Wang Weiping, for some reason, looked up and down, but dared not look Wu Haiyan in the eye.
Seeing the two of them being shy, Mingxi quickly stepped in to smooth things over.
"Although you two have seen each other's photos, you don't know each other yet, right? Come, let me introduce you. This is Comrade Wu Haiyan, and this is Comrade Wang Weiping."
Wang Weiping and Wu Haiyan, one looking down and the other looking up, finally met each other's eyes. Although Wu Haiyan was shy, she took the initiative and extended a hand: "Hello, Comrade Wang. I don't know if you remember me. Last month, in this park, at that time..."
Just as Wu Haiyan was about to recount what had happened, Wang Weiping suddenly spoke up: "I remember."
His tone suddenly softened: "Are you alright? You left in such a hurry that day."
Wu Haiyan's already shy face turned even redder and flushed. She stammered, "It's okay. I went back and made it clear to the matchmaker that we have nothing to do with each other, and that woman can't find anything about me."
Speaking of this, Wu Haiyan was still quite angry. She said, "Even if that woman wants to settle scores, she should go after the man surnamed Luo. He has a girlfriend, yet he still goes out to meet other people. He's shameless. Or she should go to the person who introduced us. She knew perfectly well that the man surnamed Luo had a girlfriend, yet she still tricked me into going on a date with him. She had no good intentions. Even if the man surnamed Luo's girlfriend kicks me out, there will be other people."
The man surnamed Luo was Wu Haiyan's previous blind date.
After Wu Haiyan finished speaking, she realized that Wang Weiping was still standing in front of her. She cautiously looked at Wang Weiping, who did not show any dissatisfaction. Instead, he nodded in agreement, as if he thought Wu Haiyan was right.
Wu Haiyan breathed a small sigh of relief. She was still shy, but for some reason, she became bolder in front of Wang Weiping. She mustered up her courage and asked, "Comrade Wang, is this your first time going on a blind date?"
Wang Weiping paused and nodded: "This is the first time I've been on a formal blind date. Before that, my mom did take me to meet a friend's daughter once, though it wasn't a formal blind date."
He stood up straight and answered honestly.
Both he and Wu Haiyan knew that Wang Weiping's so-called meeting with his friend's daughter was actually a disguised way of getting to know her.
Wu Haiyan could also understand the meaning behind Wang Weiping's words: he didn't like the other person.
Wu Haiyan was not surprised. If Wang Weiping had already set his sights on someone else, then the two of them wouldn't be meeting today.
Wu Haiyan didn't take Wang Weiping's previous matchmaking experiences to heart, after all, this was the first time the two had met.
Besides, she's been on dates with other people before, so what's the big deal?
Mingxi, however, keenly noticed that Wang Weiping's fingers were clenched tightly when he answered, clearly much more nervous than before.
She raised her eyebrows, it seemed that Wang Weiping wasn't entirely uninterested in Wu Haiyan either.
That makes sense, though. If Wang Weiping wasn't interested in Wu Haiyan, he wouldn't have agreed to today's meeting.
Wang Weiping waited anxiously for a long time, but still didn't receive a reply from Wu Haiyan.
"And what about you?"
Wang Weiping suddenly asked Wu Haiyan.
Wu Haiyan was taken aback for a moment, then laughed: "I've been on blind dates, haven't you seen me? It was with someone surnamed Luo, and I ended up being scammed by him."
Wang Weiping: "Is there anything else?"
Wu Haiyan: "I've been on blind dates, but I've had bad luck. Every time I met someone, they weren't a good person. Let me tell you..."
Speaking of this, Wu Haiyan really had a lot of grievances to complain about, and once she started talking, she couldn't stop.
Seeing the two chatting so enthusiastically, Mingxi quietly slipped away to the side.
Since these two people can get along well, there's no need for her to liven things up.
Not long after Mingxi left, she suddenly felt herself bump into a warm wall of flesh. She turned around and her face immediately lit up with a smile: "What brings you here?"
Wei Ning: "Didn't you say you were coming to accompany someone to a fortune telling session today? I thought I'd come and keep you company."
He took his hands out from behind his back and said, "Ta-da!"
Mingxi's eyes lit up: "Ice cream!"
She looked up at Wei Ning: "How did you know I wanted ice cream?"
Wei Ning smiled and said, "We're on the same wavelength."
Mingxi took the ice cream from Weining and pulled him to sit down on a nearby bench.
The weather in June and July is indeed hot, but Mingxi came out early today, and it's only around nine o'clock in the morning, so it's not too hot yet. Under the shade of the trees, a cool breeze blows by. Mingxi and Weining sit side by side, eating ice cream and talking.
Mingxi whispered to Weining, "You probably don't know, but Wang Weiping and Wu Haiyan have known each other for a long time."
Wei Ning: "Oh?"
Mingxi: "Wang Weiping once rescued Wu Haiyan when she was on a blind date."
She curled the corners of her mouth, pointed to the two people talking not far away, winked, and said, "If you ask me, those two are definitely going to work out. Do you believe me?"
Wei Ning readily agreed: "Of course I believe you."
But Mingxi found Wei Ning's answer uninteresting, so she pouted and turned to talk about something else.
"Oh, He Li's due date seems to be next month. Time flies! Guan Lixin's baby is about to be born, and I'm going to be an aunt soon."
Mingxi spoke as if she weren't talking about a child, but rather a rare toy, her tone filled with novelty and excitement.
To her, children are just toys.
Mingxi said enthusiastically, "Hey, can you come with me to the department store later? I can't let Guan Lixin's kid call me 'aunt' for nothing. I should at least prepare a gift for him."
Wei Ning: "Okay, let's finish things here and then head over."
"Hmm!" Mingxi responded, then excitedly discussed with Weining, "Hey, what do you think I should buy for the child? Clothes? Do department stores sell children's clothes?"
In the future, shopping malls will definitely have a mother and baby section, but she really hasn't paid attention to it in modern department stores.
After all, she doesn't have any children.
Mingxi hesitated for a moment, then finally waved her hand and said, "Never mind, let's go take a look first."
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