"You Pei? Didn’t he just get transferred last year?" Over the past few years, a group of their friends have given You Pei many opportunities to meet girls, but he didn’t take a liking to any of them. When You Pei left, Liao Ye joked that once he left their group, it’d be even harder for him to find a woman, and he might end up single forever.

"Yeah, it’s closer to home over there, so his mom pesters him about marriage all the time, introducing him to all sorts of girls. At first, their demands were strict, but now, as long as it’s a girl who catches her son’s eye, they’re willing to consider any type. Yet, he hasn’t agreed to see any of them. The family has no choice but to start mobilizing friends and relatives to help introduce girls. Xiao Pei says that sometimes, he can meet over a dozen in a day in the Capital City. Frustrated, he took an assignment abroad and didn’t even go home for the New Year, directly heading to Z City. He’s been here for over a week. Just a few days ago, his mom called me, asking me to introduce him to a few girls. I’ve thought it over for a few days, but I really don’t have anyone suitable around me. The ones who are considered decent, the eighteen or nineteen-year-olds are not suitable, and the slightly older ones, like twenty-four or twenty-five, are already married or engaged. Finding someone of a similar age and suitable is really hard to arrange."

"Lijuan is twenty-five or twenty-six, and although she’s a lawyer, she could potentially change locations, right? Lijuan." Liang Hongmei thought it was a good match. Just a while ago during dinner, she mentioned that You Pei comes from a good family and holds quite a decent position now. If the two liked each other, it could also save Shen Qing some worry.

"Ah, me?" Hu Lijuan frowned slightly, feeling a bit embarrassed by the direct question. It wasn’t that she hadn’t dated before, but both times ended without any success. She doesn’t hold high hopes for arranged dates now and still thinks that falling in love freely is better.

Besides, she has thought it over: she’d like to find someone a bit older than her, someone who can take care of her, someone gentle, like Uncle Chen Haichang.

"I think meeting up would be fine. If the two of them like each other, then everything else is not a problem. Don’t you think so?" Lin Wan thought it would be okay to meet. She knew You Pei quite well and thought that if they really got married, he would make a very good husband.

"Saozi, I have a train to catch early tomorrow morning; I have to go back. Besides, Auntie already said he’s in the Capital City, and I’m in S City; the distance is too far, it isn’t very suitable." Hu Lijuan was a bit reluctant to meet.

But Liang Hongmei and Aunt Yun were interested.

"It’s almost the New Year, and you’re going back? Why don’t you spend the festival at your big brother and sister-in-law’s house instead? It wouldn’t be too late to go back after the New Year. If your mom doesn’t agree, I’ll call her and talk about it," Liang Hongmei said.

"Catching a train early tomorrow morning isn’t too late; meeting up shouldn’t take too much time," Aunt Yun said, checking the time; it was only a bit past seven. "If Lijuan agrees, I’ll call the army straight away and have Old Ying let You Pei out for the meeting. Driving from the army base to here wouldn’t take much longer than an hour."

"Sure, Aunt Yun, why don’t you first give You Pei a call? If he’s coming over, we’ll wait here," Lin Wan said with a smile.

"Okay, I’ll call right away," Aunt Yun said as she got up immediately.

Liang Hongmei also got up with a smile and said, "Come on, I’ll go with you and give Xiao Wan’s mother-in-law a call, to ask for her thoughts."

The two laughed and walked to the office next door.

Hu Lijuan, left behind, frowned with some reluctance, "Sister-in-law, isn’t this inappropriate? If the meeting doesn’t go well, wouldn’t it just be a waste of time for the two ladies?"

"That’s just how arranged dates are. If it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out; you can’t force these things... However, You Pei is actually a nice guy. He’s 185 cm tall and quite handsome. Lots of young girls like his appearance. Originally, your brother and I also helped him find dates. Out of ten, nine of them liked him. It’s just that he always said no each time." They all knew You Pei had someone in his heart, but after so many years, he should move on, shouldn’t he?

Though she never thought about introducing her little sister-in-law to him before.

"He’s met so many people and never clicked. I guess this time won’t be an exception either," Hu Lijuan mumbled to herself, thinking, "Fine, I’ll meet him. It’ll be over in an hour or two. Those two ladies put a lot of effort into this, so I can’t just reject their kindness."

Over there, Aunt Yun made a call to Old Ying and coaxed You Pei into coming over. Yes, coaxed. Because now whenever You Pei hears someone trying to set him up with a date, he leaves immediately after one sentence.

Aunt Yun had her husband tell him to come pick someone up, and they planned that after introducing them, they’d find various reasons to leave early. Since Lijuan was staying at Xiao Wan’s house, they figured they could have You Pei take her back. On the way, they could probably chat a bit, and they’d ask him how it went when they returned.

Meanwhile, after calling Shen Qing, Liang Hongmei said she wanted to introduce a match to Lijuan, explaining the guy’s family’s background so Shen Qing could have an idea.

Shen Qing felt the family’s status was way too high for them to reach. Plus, after her last visit to Capital City, she was quite put off by those high-status families.

So she didn’t want her daughter to get involved with them.

But Liang Hongmei explained, saying how wonderful the man was and how open-minded his family was, unlike the Mei family, saying so much that finally, Shen Qing reluctantly agreed to let them meet. It was just an arranged date, after all; it wasn’t certain that they would even like each other.