Han Wenke?
The man she had thought about day and night!
He was actually the man she had been set up with?
Several months earlier, she had gone out of her way to look for him, only to see a young woman linking arms with him as they chatted and laughed their way out of the veterinary station.
The moment she saw that, her heart had gone cold.
At the time, she had been utterly disheartened, thinking that the two of them would never have a chance in this lifetime.
“Come on in, Haiying, Hongxia! Have a seat!”
Zhou Hongxia was jolted out of her thoughts by her grandaunt and only just managed to pull herself together.
Wang Haiying froze for a moment when she first saw Han Wenke.
The matchmaker had only said that the man worked at the commune office. She had never mentioned his name, and Wang Haiying had never thought to ask.
The mother and daughter composed themselves and followed everyone inside.
No one else from the Han family had come. Han Wenke was the only one there.
After a round of polite greetings and a few sips of hot tea, the grandaunt quietly shot Wang Haiying a meaningful look.
“The batter I mixed is about to rise. I need to hurry and make the steamed buns. You two young people take your time and talk!”
Wang Haiying immediately stood up. “Cousin, I’ll go tend the stove for you!”
By the customs of rural matchmaking, giving the young man and woman a chance to speak privately was the most important part.
The matchmaker had not bothered with a lengthy introduction and had gone straight to leaving the two of them alone.
Zhou Hongxia was usually cheerful and straightforward, but in front of the man she had been longing for all this time, she suddenly felt completely awkward.
Whenever she thought of all the letters she had written to confess her feelings to Han Wenke, the tips of her ears grew hot, and she was too embarrassed to raise her head.
The room fell silent. It was so quiet that they could hear each other breathing, and the air seemed to grow taut.
Zhou Hongxia had no idea what to do with her hands. She lowered her head and, after a long while, finally managed to say, “Brother Han, are you… busy with work lately?”
Han Wenke sat upright across from her. He looked at her and answered in a calm, earnest voice, “It’s all right. There are a lot of odds and ends at the veterinary station, and I’m out and about all day.”
Zhou Hongxia gave a soft “Mm,” then had nothing else to say.
Her mind was a tangled mess. One moment she was thinking about the letters she had sent, which had vanished without a trace; the next, she was seeing the image of him walking side by side with another young woman that day.
Seeing that she kept her head lowered, Han Wenke spoke gently. “I heard you work at the oil field and have already become a permanent employee?”
His question sounded like simple curiosity, but there was also genuine approval in it.
Zhou Hongxia glanced up at him quickly, then lowered her eyes again. Her voice was soft. “I’m not educated. I only know how to do rough work.”
“There’s no such thing as high or low work. Every job needs someone to do it. Being hardworking and knowing how to run a household and live a good life—that matters more than anything.”
Those words made Zhou Hongxia’s heart race. Her fingers unconsciously tightened around the corner of her clothes.
She had thought today’s meeting would merely be a formality. Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined that the man she was being introduced to would be Han Wenke.
Seeing her fall silent, Han Wenke asked softly, “Hongxia, you’re a fine woman. What kind of man are you hoping to find?”
Her cheeks grew hot.
What kind of man did she want?
The man sitting right in front of her was exactly the kind she wanted.
But how could a young woman say something like that to his face?
She lowered her gaze and spoke in a barely audible voice. “I don’t have any high demands. He just has to be honest and decent, know how to care for people and look after his family, and not play tricks. That’ll do.”
Her requirements were simple and down-to-earth. Han Wenke listened carefully before saying, “Before I asked the matchmaker to come here, I made a point of asking around about you.”
Zhou Hongxia abruptly lifted her head, her eyes filled with astonishment.
Han Wenke did not beat around the bush. “You’re the head cook in the oil field cafeteria, and you’re a permanent employee. You’re hardworking, cheerful, and well regarded in the village.”
He paused, his steady gaze resting on her face.
“I didn’t come here just to go through the motions. I came because of you.”
Zhou Hongxia stopped breathing for a moment. Her ears flushed bright red, and her heart pounded wildly. She sat there completely frozen, unable to say a word.
Han Wenke’s tone remained steady. “I also know that you wrote me letters before.”
Zhou Hongxia instantly wanted the ground to open up and swallow her. Her voice tightened. “Brother Han, I know that wasn’t appropriate…”
“I never thought there was anything wrong with it,” he interrupted gently. “There were just some complications along the way. I never received the letters…”
Zhou Hongxia stared at him in confusion.
It turned out that the letters and the insoles she had asked an elementary-school classmate to deliver to Han Wenke—and the two letters she had later mailed to his workplace—had never reached him at all.
There was a female colleague at the veterinary station who happened to be the daughter of the former deputy station chief. She had been Han Wenke’s classmate in junior high and had liked him since then.
As fate would have it, the elementary-school classmate Zhou Hongxia had entrusted was related to the former deputy station chief’s family.
The letters and insoles had fallen into the deputy station chief’s daughter’s hands. Later, she had intercepted the letters mailed to the station as well.
The female colleague had always taken the initiative to approach Han Wenke, but he had rejected her clearly every time.
Because of this, her father, the former deputy station chief, had held a grudge against Han Wenke and often made things difficult for him behind the scenes.
None of it had managed to hold Han Wenke back.
He had studied for an adult junior-college degree in his spare time and successfully obtained his diploma. At work, he had always been conscientious and responsible, and his abilities were plain for everyone to see.
Last month, his superiors had promoted him directly to deputy station chief. The former deputy, who had spent his days coasting along, had been transferred to the grain depot to guard the gate.
His daughter, who had secured her accounting position through connections, had also been removed from her post and assigned to frontline disease-prevention work.
It was the elderly gatekeeper at the station who had quietly told Han Wenke about the intercepted letters. Only then had Han Wenke realized what had happened and learned the whole story.
He had once gone to Chuntao’s home to castrate a pig, and that was when he first caught sight of Zhou Hongxia. He had already formed a favorable impression of her.
After clearing up the misunderstanding, he had made a point of asking around about her. When he learned that she was still unmarried, he had wasted no time and asked a matchmaker to go to her home to propose marriage.
Zhou Hongxia’s grandaunt was a distant relative of the Han family. Han Wenke had specifically told her not to reveal his name to Hongxia, afraid that Hongxia would feel burdened and be unable to relax.
Zhou Hongxia stared blankly at him, her heart filled with shock and confusion. It took her a long while to recover.
So those letters and that pair of insoles had not been ignored by him. They had never reached him in the first place.
All the inferiority, disappointment, and humiliation she had felt back then had been caused by a misunderstanding.
She had also heard people say that Han Wenke’s first engagement had ended because the other woman’s morals were questionable.
But then who had the young woman she saw that day been?
The knot in her heart had not completely unraveled, so Zhou Hongxia decided not to hide her concerns any longer.
“Brother Han, last time I was outside the veterinary station, I saw you with a young woman. She had her arm linked through yours, and the two of you were laughing and talking.”
Han Wenke understood immediately. The tension around his eyes eased, and a faint smile appeared on his face.
“That was my cousin. She went to university in another city and had just graduated. She came all the way back to see me.”
Then he added, “She grew up in my family, so we’re practically brother and sister. She’s always been carefree and rather unrestrained. Quite a few people at the station have misunderstood our relationship.”
So it had all been one big misunderstanding.
Zhou Hongxia’s cheeks burned, and the last bit of sourness and awkwardness in her heart vanished at once.
Now that every misunderstanding had been cleared up, she felt completely at ease. The restraint and uneasiness she had felt earlier faded away as well.
The two of them chatted about everything from the harvest in the fields to trivial matters at work. The more they talked, the better they got along, as though they had known each other for years.
“The sun’s nice outside. Shall we go for a walk?” Han Wenke suggested.
Zhou Hongxia nodded lightly and agreed.
The two of them walked out of the house and headed toward the paths between the fields.
Han Wenke had long legs, but he deliberately slowed his pace to wait for her.
“I’m sorry I made you feel wronged before.”
Zhou Hongxia’s heart gave a sudden jolt, and she didn’t know how to respond.
Han Wenke continued, “There won’t be any more misunderstandings like this from now on.”
The path along the field ridge was narrow, leaving them neither far apart nor close together.
With her head lowered, Zhou Hongxia could catch the faint, clean scent of soap on him. Her heart beat faster and faster.
Han Wenke was the first man she had ever fallen for—and the only one. Zhou Hongxia had thought they were simply not meant to be in this lifetime.
But who would have thought that, after all their twists and turns, they would end up together after all? The man she loved had feelings for her too!
“Hongxia, I came here today because I want to marry you and build a good life together.”
The words landed heavily in Zhou Hongxia’s heart.
Her pretty face instantly flushed bright red. At a loss for what to do, she felt both shy and overjoyed.
