Ma Yongming had just climbed onto his motorcycle after giving instructions, and before he had a chance to signal Yan Fei to leave, he saw the youngster twist his throttle, leaving him in a cloud of smoke and speeding off instantly.
Ma Yongming was surprised, and a few people nearby laughed loudly. He muttered a curse and rode his motorcycle to the ranch. Yan Fei, busy preparing a meal and shifting a table, warmly welcomed him. "Uncle Ming, hurry up and wash your hands to eat!"
Ma Yongming’s response was to curse loudly, "What’s your hurry, kid? You’re speeding like that, do you have a death wish?"
Yan Fei was startled, then realized that he had been quite hurried earlier. He sheepishly said, "Didn’t I rush back here to prepare a meal for you?"
"Prepare, my ass! I would’ve missed the meal if I’d tried to keep up with you. Are you asking for trouble? Just tell me, why did you ask me to come here?" Ma Yongming grabbed a chair and sat down grumpily but then continued speaking in a softer tone. "Yan Fei, seriously, can’t you just safely ride your motorcycle around town instead of speeding everywhere? What if something happened?"
"Ming Uncle, here’s your chopsticks, calm down a bit. Do you want a drink? Shall I get you some?" Yan Fei quickly handed him the chopsticks, trying to prevent further nagging.
"Nah, I won’t dare to eat. First, tell me what’s up with you? Your sudden attentiveness sends chills down my spine. What’s the matter?" Ma Yongming was interrupted, and too lazily even to get angry, he just sat waiting for Yan Fei to tell him why he was so urgently needed.
"There’s no problem, Uncle Ming, you eat first. I’ll get you two tael of wine." Yan Fei mustered all the host-like abilities he could think of.
"No, no, no, you should speak first. The more diligent you are, the more unsettled my heart becomes! What is it? Have you caused some trouble?" Taking someone’s gift makes one naturally obligate. Ma Yongming, seeing Yan Fei not coming up with anything, started to worry that he had got himself into some mischief.
"Ah... why are you thinking ? Well, about Xu Xing... I find her rather odd lately. I was planning to seek some advice from you!" Yan Fei, feeling cornered and seeing that Ma Yongming’s mind was running wild, hurriedly stated his purpose.
Yan Fei invited Ma Yongming here to help analyze what he found strange about Xu Xiaoyan recently.
If it comes down to merits, Yan Fei doesn’t have many. But he does possess the valuable trait of humbly asking for advice— well, that’s what Yan Fei thinks to himself, anyway. He’d never admit it out loud when asking for someone’s help.
When he wanted to raise cattle, he went to the veterinary station daily, unabashedly observing the treatment of the livestock until he was able to lend a hand and eventually understood some common livestock diseases. When he yearned for braised meat, he pestered Old Ding—the local braised meat seller—about how to prepare it. When he wanted to brew his alcohol, he sought out Mr. He. With carpentry and cooking skills, and such, if he felt he needed to learn something, he would unabashedly go and learn it.
Now, facing a problem he couldn’t solve, he continued in the same method: when he didn’t know, he would find someone from whom he could humbly learn.
He had spent a considerable amount of time choosing his mentor. Among the people close to him, only Ma Yongming and Lin Baoguo were married. Lin Baoguo was out of a question—he was a bona fide elder. If he’d asked him today, the whole family including his grandparents would probably know about it by tomorrow.
Ma Yongming fit the bill well. Though Yan Fei addressed him as uncle, their age difference was not significant. The most crucial point was that Ma Yongming had brought his bride back from the town, making him the most suitable mentor.
When Yan Fei explained his situation, Ma Yongming frowned, "What happened? Is there a problem between you two?"
"No. You’re overthinking it," Yan Fei hurriedly explained. "Lately, she’s been behaving somewhat abnormally. I feel she’s acting kind of strange around me, can’t exactly put my finger on it. Doesn’t seem like something bad, but it makes me uncomfortable and puzzled, so I wanted to ask your advice."
"Oh, is that so?" Only then was Ma Yongming relieved. "Go ahead and tell me everything, and I can give you an analysis."
After saying that, he started to eat the dishes prepared by Yan Fei. He had been genuinely worried by Yan Fei’s frantic behavior earlier, fearing that Yan Fei might present him with a tricky issue that would make the meal difficult to enjoy!
"Well, um...never mind, I’ll just start from the beginning!" Yan Fei hesitated for a moment, then decided to start from the very beginning.
Half a meal was spent telling everything. From Xu Xiaoyan buying clothes for her, to boldly asking for money, all the way to today’s discussion about college choices, he spilled out everything.
Ma Yongming was so engrossed in the story that he barely remembered to eat his food.
"That’s it. You tell me, why is she behaving ?" Yan Fei finally finished talking after a long while, without even managing to take a bite of his food.
Ma Yongming picked up a piece of meat and chewed it thoughtfully, a contemplative look on his face.
Only then did he speak under Yan Fei’s expectant gaze: "I initially wanted to scold you a bit, but then I thought better of it. It’s not your fault, after all, you are quite young. It’s good luck for this girl to have met you, but I’m not sure whether it’s a blessing or a curse for her!"
After expressing this sentiment, before Yan Fei could reply, he asked, "Did you buy clothes for her?"
"Yes, I did!" Yan Fei was puzzled.
"That’s it." Ma Yongming nodded. "You bought clothes for her, and she bought clothes for you. That settles it. Even though your parents didn’t approve, in her heart, she has already considered herself your wife."
After a pause, seeing that Yan Fei was deep in thought, he took another bite of his food and said, "She’s your wife now. Isn’t it appropriate for her to ask you for money?"
"But she’s already my wife, isn’t she? We have agreed upon it. Also, she’s never asked me for money before. If she had asked, I wouldn’t have refused her, would I?"
"That’s why I said you are a fool. She is a young girl. How could she have the nerve to ask you directly? Moreover, you two merely gave each other verbal promises before, how could that count? Now that you both have bought clothes for each other, it is now official. Got it?"
"You..." Ma Yongming wanted to scold him, but then he ended up laughing. "In our customs, isn’t it that both sides need to exchange gifts when finalizing a marriage? You should at least know this, right? You may not take these customs seriously, but for the young girl, it’s her lifelong happiness at stake, she is taking this very seriously!"
Finally, after some thought, Yan Fei, not being a real fool, understood.
"Oh, I see. It’s no wonder she was shamelessly freeloading others’ meals to save money to buy me clothes. This is such a hassle. We already agreed, but she insisted on following these rules. She’s really dumb. I’m not nitpicky, she didn’t need to buy me something expensive, just a pair of pants or a vest would have been fine...."
"Pfft!" Ma Yongming was just about to take a sip of his drink when he heard Yan Fei’s words, and he ended up spitting it out, almost choking. "Get out of here before I smack you! Do you ever use your brain before speaking?!"
Yan Fei chuckled, he had started to understand the girl’s perspective and felt a mix of happiness and pity for her scrimping on food to save money. He didn’t know what to say, and got carried away. He knew he was wrong before Ma Yongming even started chiding him.
"What about the rest? What is the cause for that?" As soon as Ma Yongming wiped the spilled drink off his leg, Yan Fei quickly asked him.