Chapter 106 I Just Like You, Ding Yumei...
Ding Yumei was very decisive. Last time, she brought Wu Yue and Wei Lao Er home and gave them a good talking-to. The two of them immediately became obedient and didn't dare to make a fuss about getting a divorce.
But Ding Yumei didn't stop there. She then unleashed her ultimate move, declaring that the family would separate after Wei Ning got married.
Wu Yue perked up at this, as she had long wanted to separate the family and be in charge herself. No wonder Ming Xi called her foolish; although not separating meant contributing wages to the family coffers, given the situation of the three Wei brothers, not separating would clearly be advantageous for them. After all, only Wei the Second worked and earned a salary, so his contribution would be the least. Furthermore, since only two of them ate at home, cooking and eating together as a family, they definitely benefited even more.
Wu Yue hadn't expected any of this. She wasn't thinking about arguing with Wei Lao Er anymore, and she immediately started asking around the alley if there were any suitable girls she could introduce to Wei Ning.
Even if Wu Yue said nice things, that she was just trying to help Wei Ning, her brother-in-law, find a partner because she was kind enough to do so, everyone knew what was really going on.
Wu Yue's dislike for Wei Ning wasn't something that started overnight, so why would she be so enthusiastic about introducing him to potential partners?
Nobody would believe that!
She just wanted Wei Ning to get married soon so that the Wei family could separate their households as soon as possible.
Wu Yue also approached Ming Xi, asking her to help Wei Ning find a partner, but Ming Xi declined.
Firstly, Wu Yue didn't give any money. She came over and immediately said, "We're all from the same alley, we all grew up together. If Wei Ning can't find a partner, Ming Xi will definitely feel embarrassed."
Mingxi said she felt quite embarrassed.
Wei Ning just lives in the same alley as her, he's not her biological brother, so why is she embarrassed to see Wei Ning single? Wu Yue's words clearly indicate that she doesn't want to pay for anything.
Ha, you can get other things for free, but you want to get someone to introduce you to a partner for free too? That's incredibly shameless.
Mingxi was unwilling to work for free.
Secondly, Wu Yue came to us on her own, and it's uncertain whether Wei Ning even knew about it.
Even though Mingxi didn't live in the same courtyard as the Wei family, she still knew a little about the Wei family's affairs. Wu Yue and Wei Ning were the most at odds. Wu Yue felt that the elders in the family favored Wei Ning, while Wei Ning felt that Wu Yue was just making trouble for no reason. The two of them would often have a big fight at home.
In this situation, even if Wei Ning is satisfied with the person introduced by Wu Yue, she will not get any benefit from agreeing to help Wu Yue introduce him to someone.
In summary, agreeing to help Wei Ning find a partner through Wu Yue was a thankless and unprofitable task.
So Mingxi refused without even thinking about it.
Wu Yue was initially unwilling and wanted to challenge Ming Xi, but Ming Xi wasn't afraid of her. She glared at her with a stern face, and in the end, Wu Yue was the one who admitted defeat and slunk away.
At this moment, Mingxi didn't give Wu Yue any face in front of Wei Ning and said directly, "Your second sister-in-law came to me yesterday, wanting me to help you find a partner, but from what she said, it sounded like she wanted me to do the work for free, so I didn't agree."
She didn't hide her desire to make money.
Making money is nothing to be ashamed of.
Besides, that's her profession. Everyone who asks her to introduce them to potential partners has to pay her. Guan Lixin is her childhood friend, and he paid her too when he asked her to introduce him to someone. That's the rule.
Wu Yue wanted to get something for free, so why should Ming Xi give her face?
As soon as Mingxi started talking, Wei Ning's face immediately darkened.
He only knew that Wu Yue was shouting all over the alley that she wanted to help him find a partner, but he didn't take it seriously. Outsiders could see that Wu Yue was aiming to separate from the family as soon as possible, and he was certainly aware of his second sister-in-law's thoughts.
Unexpectedly, Wu Yue even took the matter to Ming Xi.
Wei Ning: "I'm sorry, my second sister-in-law is unpredictable. I'll go back and tell my second brother that I definitely won't let Wu Yue bother you again."
Mingxi said nonchalantly, "Your second sister-in-law didn't say anything. I just wanted to let you know that she's been a bit obsessed with finding you a partner lately. Keep that in mind."
Don't wait until Wu Yue brings a girl to Wei Ning before he gets anxious.
Mingxi was not joking. With Wu Yue's personality, she might actually do something like bringing a girl to Wei Ning and forcing the two of them to get married.
Wei Ning: "Okay, I understand."
He softened his expression: "Thank you for reminding me."
Mingxi waved her hand: "It's nothing."
Seeing that Wei Ning took this matter to heart, Ming Xi didn't say anything more.
Wei Ning was clearly not in a good mood after hearing about this. He didn't say anything more to Ming Xi, turned around and left. Ming Xi shrugged and also went home.
"Mom, I'm home."
When Zhao Sulan saw Mingxi, she subconsciously looked up at the time: "Why are you back so early today? Did the matchmaking not go well?"
As Mingxi hung her bag on the coat rack, she said, "It went smoothly in some ways, but it didn't go smoothly in others. We encountered a thief today. As soon as Cong Kai and Bai Ling met him, they grabbed the thief and took him to the police station."
Mingxi recounted the events that occurred during the fortune-telling session to Zhao Sulan in detail, and Zhao Sulan couldn't help but raise her eyebrows.
She's been a matchmaker for over twenty years, and she's never seen a first meeting end up at the police station like this.
However, on the other hand...
From what Mingxi said, it seemed that Cong Kai wasn't indifferent to Bai Ling, and Bai Ling didn't seem to be completely uninterested in Cong Kai either.
Zhao Sulan: "Is there any chance for these two?"
Mingxi affirmed, "These two have a chance."
She said, "I came back first after I finished giving my statement. Cong Kai is still at the police station, waiting for Bai Ling to finish her overtime work so we can have dinner together."
Zhao Sulan smiled jokingly: "This young man is not bad."
Mingxi nodded. Cong Kai was good, and he and Bai Ling were quite a good match.
Mingxi still thought highly of Bai Ling and Cong Kai. She felt that the next time she saw the two of them, they would probably be together.
Unexpectedly, the very next evening, Cong Kai came to her house looking completely lost. Ming Xi had just welcomed him in, asked him to sit down, and was about to pour him some water when she heard him say that.
"Comrade Ming, do you think there's something wrong with me that Bai Ling doesn't like me?"
Mingxi frowned. Did Bai Ling look down on Cong Kai?
Really?
She remembered that when Bai Ling and Cong Kai were looking at each other yesterday, she seemed quite interested in him.
Mingxi: "Wait a minute, Comrade Cong, what do you mean by that? How can you be so sure that Bai Ling doesn't like you?"
Cong Kai said with a bitter face, "Is there any need to say anything? Her behavior was already very obvious. I waited at the police station all day yesterday until she got off work in the evening. I went up to her and asked if she wanted to go out to dinner together. She shook her head and refused without even thinking about it. I went to her workplace again at noon today and asked her if she wanted to have dinner together tonight. She still refused."
Mingxi frowned; logically, this shouldn't be the case.
She looked at Cong Kai and said suspiciously, "Can you tell me in detail how Bai Ling rejected you?"
“Okay.” Cong Kai replied, puffed out his chest, and said to Ming Xi, “Last night, I suggested we go out to eat together, but she said, ‘Let’s not, it’s too late, I’m tired.’ Then at noon today, when I went to see her, she said again, ‘I’ve been too busy these past two days, I don’t have time to go out to eat, let’s not.’”
"hiss……"
Mingxi took a breath, and Cong Kai became nervous: "Comrade Ming, do you think Comrade Bai doesn't like me? Do you think I did something wrong? I felt that the atmosphere was quite good when we were chatting?"
Mingxi frowned and thought for a while, hesitating about how to say it.
Cong Kai's heart was in his throat as he nervously awaited Ming Xi's verdict.
After hesitating for a while, Mingxi asked, "Do you think it's possible that Bai Ling is really busy?"
She said, "You said it yourself, Bai Ling worked overtime all day yesterday, not getting off work until late at night. When she said she was tired, she probably really was. As for her refusal today, maybe she was just too busy?"
Even during the National Day holiday, people have to work overtime, let alone during regular working hours. Bai Ling's rejection of Cong Kai is most likely because she is genuinely busy, rather than because she is not interested in him.
"Really?!"
Mingxi nodded.
Cong Kai's face lit up with immense joy. His mouth stretched almost to his ears as he scratched the back of his head and said with a silly grin, "If that's the case, then that's great."
He was constantly worried that he might have said or done something wrong, which might have upset Bai Ling and made her unwilling to continue spending time with him.
Mingxi: "Don't think too much about it. Since you're not sure what Bai Ling is thinking, go find her yourself and ask her what's going on."
Cong Kai was a little embarrassed: "Wouldn't this be inappropriate? She's been so busy lately, and it wouldn't be right for me to bother her with something like this?"
Mingxi: "It'll only take a few words, it won't take much time. If you keep agonizing over it, that's a real waste of time. I believe even she wants you to explain yourself clearly."
Cong Kai thought about it carefully for a while, then nodded and said, "Okay, then I'll go find Bai Ling and ask her."
He stood up, greeted Mingxi, and turned to leave. Mingxi saw him off at the gate.
I heard several middle-aged women chatting together at the entrance of the courtyard.
Mingxi overheard that the older women were talking about dividing their households. Recently, many families in the alley had gone through the procedures for dividing their households. The process of dividing a household requires notifying the neighborhood committee to handle the paperwork, so this matter couldn't be kept secret.
When someone splits up their family property, the news spreads throughout the alley the very next day.
Aunt Ma: "After Ge Heping got married a while ago, the Ge family divided their property. Then it was the Kong family in the alley. Their eldest and second daughters-in-law were fighting every day. They couldn't stand being mixed up in one pot, so the Kong family proposed to divide their property. And then there's that Wang family, they're also having a dispute over dividing their property."
Aunt He: "I don't know what young people are thinking these days. Why can't they live a good life and have to make a fuss about separating the family?"
"Hey, what's so hard to understand? Who likes their elders interfering in their lives? Young people these days want to be in charge and don't want the whole family to be mixed up together. Don't even mention young people today, even back in our day, we were all looking forward to separating our families so we could be in charge ourselves."
"That's true. When I first got married, I was annoyed by my mother-in-law. She was always criticizing me and saying all sorts of things. It was so annoying. Fortunately, we separated the family later, and she went to live with her eldest son and lived separately from us. Otherwise, I really couldn't have stood it."
"Who isn't? My mother-in-law was too. She was such a nuisance, it's a good thing she passed away early... You all don't know, when I was pregnant with our first child, just because I ate one more egg, she gave me the cold shoulder. She nagged me every day, saying that men who work outside doing manual labor deserve to eat well, but we women stay at home, we don't do any work or earn any money, so we shouldn't be greedy... Anyway, what she was implying was that I shouldn't have been so greedy as to eat eggs. You all be the judge, I was just pregnant and ate one egg, how is that being greedy?"
As she spoke, Aunt Li became more and more agitated, and finally her eyes reddened, and tears streamed down her face.
Several middle-aged women patted Li's arm to comfort her. They all lived in the same alley, and everyone knew each other's situations. Li had indeed had a tough time over the years.
Mingxi had heard that Aunt Li's in-laws were a classic example of a wicked mother-in-law, with a weak and irresponsible husband. The moment she married into the family, her mother-in-law imposed strict rules on her. On the second day after her marriage, before dawn, her mother-in-law woke her up to wash clothes. In the dead of winter, the well water was icy, and even her breath was cold. Aunt Li was forced by her mother-in-law to wash two large basins of bed sheets and blankets.
Her husband didn't say a word in her defense.
After this ordeal, Li's mother-in-law knew that she was soft-hearted and easy to bully, so she exploited her even more. She made her greet her in the morning and wash her feet and massage her back in the evening. In an ordinary family, she actually made her do the old-fashioned things that wealthy families used to do.
Aunt Li wasn't always so gentle. When she first got married, she couldn't stand it and made a fuss about going back to her parents' home. But her family said that all mothers-in-law were like that and she should just endure it. When her husband came to her parents' home to pick her up, her family happily saw her off.
After this experience, she realized that no matter how much she was bullied, her family wouldn't care.
She could only endure it at her husband's family home.
She endured this for almost twenty years before her mother-in-law finally passed away.
Everyone had witnessed how badly Aunt Li had been mistreated by her mother-in-law. Knowing how difficult things had been for her, they didn't want to hurt her feelings and quickly changed the subject.
"Hey, speaking of splitting up the family, have you heard? The Wei family is splitting up."
"I heard that Ding Yumei said that she would separate the family after her third son, Wei Ning, gets married. Wu Yue has been asking around the alley these past few days if anyone knows a suitable girl so she can introduce her to Wei Ning. She's acting like a good sister-in-law, but everyone knows she just wants to separate the family as soon as possible."
"That's right. In my opinion, all her efforts are in vain. Wei Ning is a very opinionated guy. If he doesn't like her, no matter how much Wu Yue introduces her, he definitely won't want to get married."
"That's true. I wonder what kind of girl that Wei family lad likes?"
"What's wrong? Judging from your tone, you've taken a fancy to Wei Ning and want to snatch him away to be your son-in-law?"
"So what if I'm interested? Wei Ning is handsome, tall, from a good family, has a good job, and is such a capable young man. It's normal for me to want to take him home as my son-in-law!"
"Then think about it. Wei Ning is a much better catch, and besides, your daughter..."
"Hey, what's wrong with my daughter? She's doing just fine..."
Mingxi couldn't help but chuckle to herself. Aunt Liu's daughter, who said she wanted to snatch Wei Ning home as her son-in-law, was only sixteen years old and still in high school. It was a long time before she was going to get married. Aunt Liu was obviously just teasing her.
"Aunt Liu, please don't get me into trouble. Your daughter isn't of legal age yet. If I were to marry your daughter, it would be against the law."
A male voice suddenly rang out, and everyone turned around to see Wei Ning standing at the door pushing his bicycle.
Wei Ning was wearing a white shirt underneath a navy blue jacket. He was good-looking, and the color, which would normally make him look older, looked youthful on him.
The crickets were chattering behind their backs, but the person in question overheard them, and the group of middle-aged women, along with Mingxi who had come to join the fun, were all a little embarrassed.
Aunt Liu chuckled twice, touched her nose, and said, "Haha, well, we were just joking, Wei Ning, don't take it to heart."
Wei Ning smiled and said, "I know you're joking, aunties. I'm so happy to hear you praising me. Other young men don't get such high praise, right?"
Wei Ning was good with words; with just one sentence, he cheered up the middle-aged women present again.
The stagnant air began to flow again, and the awkwardness in the air was swept away.
"That's for sure. We really admire someone like you, Wei Ning. Other young men here don't get such high praise."
"Yes, yes, it's perfect that you're here, Xiao Wei. Tell us, what are your requirements for a partner? We'll try to introduce you to someone."
"Xiao Wei, tell me..."
Everyone was talking at once, but Wei Ning just kept smiling. He waited until everyone was looking at him before he spoke up: "Aunties, I'm also in a hurry to find a partner, but I came here today to talk to Mingxi. Why don't you wait until I finish talking to Mingxi, and then we can talk?"
ah?
Mingxi pointed at herself with a puzzled look on her face. Did Wei Ning want to see her about something?
What could Wei Ning possibly want from her?
"Oh, you're looking for Xiaoming? Well, Xiaoming is right here. You can talk to him, we won't bother you."
Aunt He shoved Mingxi out, and Mingxi scratched his head: "You wanted to see me?"
Wei Ning: "Would it be convenient to go inside and talk?"
"convenient."
What could be inconvenient about that? Mingxi led Weining through the door, and several middle-aged women behind them started chirping as they entered the courtyard, probably thinking they couldn't hear them.
"What does Wei want with Mingxi? I've never heard of these two having any dealings. They don't even walk close to each other in the alley."
"Hey, what are you saying? These two are the same age, a handsome man and a beautiful woman, what's wrong with them seeing each other?"
"You mean, for the sake of the boy dating Mingxi and the other girl? No way, I haven't heard anything about that?"
That's right, you haven't heard of it!
Mingxi couldn't help but shout in her heart, "If even she, one of the parties involved, hasn't heard about this, it would be strange if others had!"
These middle-aged women are really good at matchmaking; they managed to pair her and Wei Ning, two people who have absolutely no connection, together.
However, Mingxi didn't take it seriously. Before Guan Lixin was single, the aunties in the alley thought the two of them were a good match.
They even said that the two of them were childhood sweethearts, making them the perfect match.
God knows how awkward she felt when she heard those words.
She and Guan Lixin were childhood friends, but it was precisely because they were childhood friends that they felt awkward with each other. They used to be friends who would play with mud together and blow up latrines with firecrackers. When she saw his face, she could only think of how they used to cause trouble together when they were young, and she didn't have any romantic feelings for him at all!
So at this moment, Mingxi was immune to what the older women were saying, and pretended not to hear anything, leading Weining into the house.
Zhao Sulan was delighted to see Wei Ning arrive and excitedly went to the kitchen to make him tea.
When the tea was served, Mingxi glanced at it and thought, "Hmm, my mom really went all out. She didn't brew the usual high-foam tea, but jasmine tea, which is specially for honored guests."
Mingxi pursed her lips, placed the teacup in front of Wei Ning, and glanced at Wei Ning's face.
Actually, Wei Ning was quite popular in their alley; she was always the "other people's child" from childhood. Whenever someone disciplined their child, they'd inevitably say, "Look at Wei Ning, how come he's never as naughty as you!"
Wei Ning not only excelled in his studies from a young age and wasn't mischievous like other children, but after graduating from high school, he didn't ask his family for help and directly entered the propaganda department of the steel rolling mill. This made many young people in the alley who stayed at home after graduating from high school green with envy.
However, jealousy is useless; Wei Ning is indeed formidable.
When Wei Ning passed the exam for the publicity department, there were rumors that the positions were actually filled by nepotism. A factory leader wanted to put his nephew in the publicity department, but the director of the publicity department was reluctant. So the factory leaders devised this roundabout way of filling the positions, specifying age, education, and special skills. But unexpectedly, this nepotism resulted in the recruitment of Wei Ning.
Wei Ning not only met all the requirements, but his scores in the written test and interview were also higher than those of the leader's nephew. In the end, the leader had no choice but to reluctantly hire him.
Although he was recruited into the factory, they still tried to trip him up quite a bit, but Wei Ning managed to deal with them all.
This is something that not everyone can do.
Even if Mingxi was unconvinced, she had to admit that Wei Ning was indeed formidable.
She pursed her lips, pushed the teacup in front of Wei Ning, then sat down and asked, "What brings you here today?"
Wei Ning: "I'd like you to help me find someone."
Mingxi was taken aback, somewhat surprised: "Introducing someone to me?"
Wei Ning is a good catch, and many women in the factory are interested in him, but he doesn't have a girlfriend, probably because he doesn't want to.
If I really wanted to find someone, would I need her to introduce me?
Mingxi asked, "You want me to introduce you to someone?"
“Yeah.” Wei Ning shrugged, looking helpless, and said, “My mom is pressuring me to bring a boyfriend home and get married as soon as possible. My second sister-in-law is also urging me. I have no choice but to ask you to introduce me to someone.”
Mingxi chuckled: "Don't joke around, do you really need me to introduce you?"
Despite saying that, Mingxi still took out a booklet containing information on gay men and said, "Tell me, what are your criteria for finding a partner? I'll see if I have any suitable ones here."
Wei Ning crossed his arms over his chest, his knuckles clean, and said, "I don't have any special requirements, just someone like you will do. I like people like you."
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