Courtyard House: Become Stronger Through Blind Dates

At the alley entrance, the smile on Zhou's mother's face had vanished, replaced by barely suppressed anger.

She grabbed her daughter Zhou Xiaomei's arm with such force that Zhou Xiaomei frowned.

"Zhou Xiaomei, explain yourself clearly! What exactly happened?!" Zhou's mother stared into her daughter's eyes and asked.

"What did I tell you before you came? Huh? Comrade He is now a rising star featured in the newspapers, someone many people would love to be on his level!"

"Sister Wang went to great lengths to help us get this connection, and you, after only half an hour inside, come out saying 'it's not suitable'?"

She grew angrier as she spoke: "I think He Yuzhu is a pretty good person. He speaks politely, his house is always clean and tidy, and he can even get his hands on rare imported pastries. What makes him unworthy of you?"

"You'd better give me a straight answer today!"

Zhou Xiaomei stiffened her neck, forcefully shaking off her mother's hand, and said, "Mom! I've told you before, I don't want to get married right now!"

"I want to dedicate myself to work and contribute to socialist construction, not stay at home revolving around the stove and children! You forced me to come, and now that I'm here, I've met people, and we've talked, it just doesn't feel right. What's wrong with that?"

"You...you're going to drive me crazy!" Zhou's mother's chest heaved with anger. "What ideals? What contributions? The greatest contribution a young woman like you can make is to find a good family, live a peaceful life, have children, and be filial to your in-laws!"

"Look at your cousin Xiaobai. She's an educated woman who works at a newspaper. Doesn't she also have to think about marriage when she reaches a certain age? Are you special? Are you ahead of your time?"

The matchmaker, Wang, was so embarrassed watching this that she almost died of embarrassment. She quickly stepped in to smooth things over: "Oh dear, Miss Zhou, calm down, calm down! The child is still young; it's a good thing that he has ideas!"

"Xiaomei, don't talk back to your mother. Isn't she doing this for your own good?"

"This young man, Comrade He, is really quite a catch. Why don't you reconsider? Feelings can be cultivated over time..."

"No way!" Zhou Xiaomei replied directly. "Aunt Wang, I want to be in charge of my own life. I don't want to get married just for the sake of getting married, and I don't want to give up my own thoughts and pursuits just to meet other people's expectations."

Looking at her mother's face, flushed with anger, she felt both wronged and sad.

From childhood to adulthood, her mother always arranged everything for her with the idea of ​​"it's for your own good"—schooling, work, and even her future marriage...

She'd had enough!

"Mom, you don't understand me at all!" Zhou Xiaomei's eyes reddened, and the tears she had been holding back finally welled up.

She turned and ran, her figure quickly disappearing around the corner of the alley.

"Zhou Xiaomei! Come back here!" Zhou's mother called from behind, trying to chase after her, but was stopped by Wang the matchmaker.

"Alright, alright, Zhou family girl, let the child calm down!" Wang the matchmaker sighed.

Her heart was bleeding; it was all her fault for not finding out more clearly. If she had known about this situation, she shouldn't have brought it along.

Looking in the direction where her daughter had disappeared, Zhou's mother said with a mixture of anger and anxiety, "Sister Wang, what kind of mess have I made?"

"That brat is driving me crazy! I have no idea where she learned all those twisted and fallacious arguments from!"

Matchmaker Wang advised, "Children and grandchildren have their own destinies. Let's go back first and discuss this further..."

Zhou Xiaomei ran all the way, feeling a surge of anger with nowhere to vent it, and subconsciously ran towards the Beijing News Office.

She found Zhou Xiaobai working on her manuscript in a bungalow office behind the newspaper office.

"Sister Xiaobai..." Zhou Xiaomei called out from the doorway, her voice trembling with tears.

Zhou Xiaobai looked up when she heard the sound and was startled to see her cousin with red eyes. She quickly put down her pen, got up, and walked over.

"Xiaomei? What's wrong? Who bullied you?" She took Zhou Xiaomei's cold hand, led her into the house, pressed her down to sit in her chair, and then turned around to pour a cup of hot water and handed it to her.

Holding the enamel mug, Zhou Xiaomei felt the warmth emanating from her palms, and the pent-up grievances in her heart burst forth. She sobbed as she recounted the events of her blind date and argument with her mother that day.

"My mother doesn't understand me at all. She just wants me to get married and have children in a conventional way. Why should she arrange my life?" Zhou Xiaomei became more and more agitated as she spoke.

Zhou Xiaobai listened quietly, and only after her cousin calmed down a bit did she gently pat her shoulder and comfort her, "Xiaomei, I understand you."

"Women's pursuit of independence, having their own careers and ideals is by no means a fallacy or heresy. Our mothers' generation had limited understanding due to their living environment and the times they lived in, and this is not entirely their fault."

"But times are changing, and our generation has the right to choose the life we ​​want."

She paused, looked at her cousin, and said, "However, communicating with parents also requires skill. Simply arguing and stubbornly resisting will only deepen the rift between you."

Zhou Xiaomei wiped away her tears, then suddenly remembered something and changed the subject, saying, "Sister Xiaobai, actually... the guy I went on a blind date with today was quite special."

"Oh? How is it special?" Zhou Xiaobai asked curiously.

"He...he actually agrees with my point of view!" Zhou Xiaomei's eyes brightened a bit. "I said that women should be independent and should not depend on marriage, and he said he completely agreed."

"He proposed that housework should be divided, that reproductive rights should be decided jointly by husband and wife, and even used terms like 'gender discrimination'!"

"He also said that marriage should be the union of two independent souls, not just finding someone to support you... I think many of his ideas are even more insightful than what you've said!"

"More insightful than me?" Zhou Xiaobai was genuinely surprised.

Because of her work, she was exposed to many progressive ideas, and it was these ideas that subtly influenced her cousin.

"What's his name? How old is he? What does he do?"

"His name is He Yuzhu, he seems to be only sixteen, but he looks older than his age..." Zhou Xiaomei recalled, "He's a chef at the Oriental Hotel now, and he's even been in your newspaper!"

"He Yuzhu? Oriental Hotel?" Zhou Xiaobai jumped up and quickly walked to the filing cabinet on the other side of the office to start searching.

She quickly pulled out a copy of the Beijing Daily from a few days prior, pointed to the article, and handed it to Zhou Xiaomei: "Is it him?"

Zhou Xiaomei leaned closer and saw that the person in the newspaper was He Yuzhu, who was going on a blind date today.

"Yes, that's him!" Zhou Xiaomei nodded affirmatively.

A strong sense of curiosity and a desire to explore surged within Zhou Xiaobai. This He Yuzhu was not only highly skilled, but also possessed such advanced knowledge? It was truly extraordinary!

She remembered that tomorrow was the day of the cooking competition, and the newspaper hadn't originally planned to send a reporter, but she had changed her mind.

Zhou Xiaobai said with a smile, "Xiaomei, this report is what I wrote after interviewing him."

Zhou Xiaomei suddenly seemed a little confused: "Sister Xiaobai, you...you know him..."

Zhou Xiaobai explained, "Well, I saw him at a training session of the Food Association. I thought he was the youngest among the participants, so I thought I'd interview him."

"Oh, by the way, there's a cooking competition at the newly established food association tomorrow, and he'll be participating!"

The two sisters started talking about He Yuzhu, and Zhou Xiaomei seemed to have forgotten the unpleasantness from before.