Tang Wan hung up the phone, and Xi Fangli was still smiling at her, "That girl doesn’t have time?"
"She said she’s meeting a colleague."
"Knowing I’m back in Beijing, she wouldn’t even spare a meal to accompany me. All my affection for her is wasted."
Before Tang Wan had become his apprentice, Xi Fangli had observed her for a while.
It was nothing more than finding the young lady delicate, spoiled at home, unable to endure hardship, specifically to give her a hard time...
There was a period when Tang Wan went home with blisters developing on her fingertips and palms, which, apart from testing her determination, was also to tell her that learning a craft is difficult, and if she couldn’t endure hardship, she should go home earlier.
Later, when Shen Shuci came back to visit her family during the holidays and saw Tang Wan’s condition, she met Xi Fangli in private.
One could imagine what it looked like, a minor girl, putting on an adult’s airs, confronting him, asking him to treat Tang Wan kindly.
Xi Fangli found her quite amusing, and considering her pitiable background and strong hands-on abilities, he had once intended to take her as his apprentice.
Shen Shuci just gave him a look: "I don’t want to!"
"Do you know how many people want to learn craftsmanship under me?"
"Do they have a penchant for masochism?"
Anyway, whenever Tang Wan was learning the craft and Shen Shuci was in the country, she would come along. Once, when he teasingly commented on their close relationship, Shen Shuci directly retorted:
"I’m afraid you’ll mistreat Wanwan again."
In her heart, Xi Fangli was pretty much a sadistic maniac who liked to torture people.
This became a joke among his numerous apprentices and nearly laughed some to death.
She was younger than Tang Wan, just a child, really. Xi Fangli, in an attempt to change his image, would even offer her some pastries and candies when she visited...
Shen Shuci just thanked him and accepted them, but never ate any.
Later, he accidentally found out that Shen Shuci didn’t eat his stuff because:
He felt he was trying to bribe and please her!
She was determined to protect Tang Wan, so these little favors were useless.
Xi Fangli even asked her once, "You’re even younger than her, can you protect her?"
"I’m her little aunt, it’s only right." Thıs text ıs hosted at noveⅼfire.net
Shen Shuci felt that her life, which she came into after Tang Wan’s mother died, carried with it a responsibility to look after Tang Wan.
In any case, among all Tang Wan’s relatives and friends, Xi Fangli was quite familiar with Shen Shuci and took good care of her.
Hearing that she didn’t even have time to have a meal with him because she was going to meet a colleague, Xi Fangli couldn’t help but shake his head and sigh.
"You’re going to be in Beijing for two more days, right? I can check with my little aunt to see if she is free tomorrow?" Tang Wan said with a smile.
"Tomorrow noon I have to go out to meet someone, it’s your Master Joe’s niece, she invited me for lunch. See, even other people’s children are more considerate than her."
"Then I’ll arrange to meet her in the evening."
"Has that girl got a boyfriend yet?"
Topics of conversation among elders, always those few: work, love, marriage, having kids...
"No, not yet." Tang Wan looked down, typing a text message to Shen Shuci to arrange the time for the next evening.
"Has she never had a boyfriend before?" Xi Fangli stroked his small goatee.
"I recently hired a few young staff members responsible for marketing and liaison. There’s this young man who’s quite good, two years older than she is, handsome too, and I’ve met his parents, very reasonable people. It’s just that I don’t know if he would be interested in her."
"Are you planning to matchmake my little aunt?" Tang Wan laughed out loud.
"This is called making friends, not match-making. Get to know each other, and if they think it’s suitable, they can talk. If not, it’s good to have more friends. Nobody says they have to fall in love," Xi Fangli corrected her.
"Don’t tell her in advance, just invite her over tomorrow... here for the encounter, lest she knows and objects. Let them first meet and see the initial impression."
"If both sides have a good impression, then proceed to the next step."
Tang Wan knew all too well, from the past issue with his son’s marriage, that the father and son had many disputes. The master didn’t like arranging blind dates.
He thought it was thankless work, putting in effort for no good outcome and then having to worry about the couple’s future development. He really didn’t like doing such things.
"Why did you suddenly think of this?" Tang Wan hesitated, "It’s not very nice to trick my little aunt ..."
Hiding the truth from Shen Shuci to get her to come over for what is essentially a blind date was something Tang Wan was reluctant to help with.
"Some days ago, with the trouble you had, your grandfather and your maternal grandparents all called me. When I was chatting with your maternal grandfather, he brought up that Shuci was in Beijing alone and mentioned that they are getting older and may not be able to accompany her for long, hoping to find her a reliable family..."