Perfect Encounter - Chapter 4.1

PROOFREAD BY AFREANA

Chapter 4

An Ruochen was scared and crouched down abruptly.
She saw the person who pushed the door in was Granny Xu, the matchmaker for her family. She was the one who brought Qian Pei’s bridal gifts to the residence and said to her with a smile on her face, “Congratulations, Big Miss”.

Congratulations on a pig, dog, cow, sheep, chicken, duck, and goose.

An Ruochen’s back was pressed against the wall. She crouched under the window and did not dare to move. Her heart was almost jumping out of her throat. If Granny Xu sees her here, she won’t be able to explain herself. And if things get to her father’s ears, she won’t have the chance to escape.

An Ruochen did not dare to breathe, carefully listening to the movements within the next house with her eyes fixed on the half wall. When she heard Granny Xu sitting down, An Ruochen tried to climb towards the half wall.
As soon as her palm reached the ground, she heard someone knocking at the door, and Granny Xu got up with a bang. An Ruochen shrank in fear, afraid to move.

Granny Xu went to open the door. An Ruochen took the opportunity to climb to this side of the window, only three steps away from the half-broken wall. An Ruochen did not dare to move rashly. According to her visual estimation, people in the next house can see the wall through the window, and she will be seen if she climbs over. An Ruochen held her breath and waited for her chance

The person who came was a man, and Granny Xu called him “Mr. Xie”. An Ruochen could not hear how old this Mr. Xie was. He spoke in a friendly tone, but meeting with a matchmaker in a place like this is not a good thing.
An Ruochen guessed right. She heard Mr. Xie say to Granny Xu: “If those two girls don’t succeed, find another one. Don’t talk to them too much, to save yourself from having to silence them when the time comes. Don’t worry about them now. I have an important task for you to do.”

“Yes, sir, please speak.”

“Find a few people, fresh faces in the city, smart ones, and burn the granaries in the north side of the city.”

It startled An Ruochen. She could not help but probe into the house to look. The man’s back was facing the window and she could not see his face. Granny Xu’s face was serious and respectful, she listened to the man’s speech and did not look out the window at all.

An Ruochen felt her opportunity had come. Don’t care what they were going to burn. She gingerly walked over to the half wall, lifting her leg halfway, when she heard the man in the house say: “Is there someone there?”

An Ruochen nearly bites her tongue off in fear. She sped up her movements to the end of the wall and hid behind the wall.

“There’s no one. The house next door is unoccupied.” It was Granny Xu who answered.

An Ruochen stared at the narrow backyard and the dilapidated back door, cold sweat dampening her back. The narrow aisle and the half-broken wall did not differ from before. Suddenly, a cat jumped over the wall.

Granny Xu said, “It’s a cat.” But Mr. Xie still went out. He went to the broken wall and looked at it, then lifted his foot, and stepped over. The house next door was indeed empty. Mr. Xie looked through the window and was uneasy, so he entered the house. Granny Xu followed him and said, “It’s a cat.”

Mr. Xie looked around the house, opened the cupboard and looked under the bed. There was nothing, only a handful of dust. He stopped and led Granny Xu back into her house. After explaining a few things, he seemed uneasy and said, “Don’t come here again. Change the place to talk next time.”

“Yes, yes.” Granny Xu nodded her head in agreement. This Mr. Xie was cautious and suspicious. She has known this for a long time.
After talking for a while, the two people left together. When Mr. Xie left, he looked at the wooden door in the house next door.

An Ruochen hid for half a day until she did not hear any movement. She gritted her teeth and peeked out from the tank. Neither did not see anyone nor hear any sounds. She stepped out of the tank and hides behind the broken wall to listen. It seems there is no one next door. She entered the rented house, opened the front door and went out, then locked the door, and ran out of the alley.

In one breath, she ran across the street going around onto the main road. As soon as she became surrounded by pedestrians, An Ruochen relaxed. She slowed down, straightened her hair and clothes and walked towards the tea store as if nothing had happened. She already thought of a reason for leaving so long – she shopped at other stores and lost track of time.

Just as An Ruochen was walking onto the main road, a man walked into Ping Hu East Lane. It was the same Mr. Xie. He returned because he was still worried. He remembered that when he left, the door of the next house was opened with a padlock hanging on it. If the house is empty, why wouldn’t the door be locked? If there is no need to lock it, why would there still be a padlock?

Mr. Xie walked to the door of the house at the far end of the alley. The door was locked. Mr. Xie frowned. He was sure he saw the lock just hanging when he left. Mr. Xie looked at it, and with luck and force, he ripped the lock off the worn-out door and pushed it open.

The house was still the same, with no one hiding in the cupboard, or at the bottom of the bed, anywhere for that matter. He was convinced there was no one this time. But he had to look again. He searched every corner of the house carefully, but found nothing.

A large empty water jar made him irritated. He neglected it this earlier. He continued to search and found a small white jade earring pendant in the shape of a rabbit under the window of the room where he was talking with Granny Xu.

Mr. Xie took the earring and looked at it carefully in the sunlight, squinting slightly.

An Ruochen returned home without realizing she was missing an earring until the old nanny asked about it. The little maid who went out with her said, “Maybe it was left at the clothes store. I don’t know what happened today, but so many people going to that store.”

“It’s a pity.” The old nanny knew An Ruochen liked these earrings very much and wore them from time to time. She asked the little maid to go look for them in the clothes store. The little maid was too tired today and unhappy about it, but when she saw the old nanny’s expression, she left obediently.

The little maid returned half a day later and reported she hadn’t found it, which made An Ruochen nervous. The old nanny thought she couldn’t let go of the earring and said, “Isn’t there another one? I’ll take it to the jewelry store and have them make another one, just like the original one.”

“No, no, that style is old-fashioned. It is good to replace it with a new style.” An Ruochen answered. If it got lost in the wrong place and someone picked it up, then going to the jewelry store to get a new one would be the same as simply to telling the other: “Yes, it is me! I eavesdropped on your conversation.” An Ruochen rubbed her forehead and suppressed her imagination, these thoughts were scary.