C14 A Great Thing

After a busy morning, the small vegetable garden was finally sown with seeds.

“Sis, should we water them?”

“No, we soaked the ground well yesterday. We need to wait until the seedlings come up before watering again, or they’ll drown.”

As the three siblings chatted, they heard a noise at the door. Looking over, they saw a girl, probably around seventeen or eighteen, entering. She paused, surprised by their garden, then approached with a friendly smile.

“Hey, Xiuxiu’s here.”

It was Momo who greeted her first, reminding Fan Jin that this was Xiuxiu, the cousin Momo had mentioned before.

Xiuxiu had a clear, pretty face, her braids were perfectly neat, and her clothes were of noticeably better quality than those of the siblings.

Xiuxiu walked up to Fan Jin and said, “Grandma wants you to come over.”

Before Fan Jin could respond, the two little ones clung to her arm nervously. She reassured them, then asked, “What does Grandma want?”

“It’s something good, you’ll find out when you get there.”

Xiuxiu spoke mysteriously, but Fan Jin was skeptical. She doubted that the old lady would have anything good in store for her.

Sure enough, when she followed Xiuxiu to the old family house, she saw a middle-aged man sitting in the main room. Grandma Feng and an old man smoking a pipe, who was clearly Grandpa Gu, were seated in the center.

She wondered who the middle-aged man was until Xiuxiu went over and called him Dad. That cleared things up—this was Uncle Da Chuan.

Uncle Da Chuan resembled Grandma Feng more, not very tall but with a sharp look in his eyes.

“Standing there without a word, you’re an embarrassment to the Gu family.”

The speaker was Grandma Feng, who hadn’t gained any advantage from Fan Jin before. She pursed her lips in disdain, as if the person standing there wasn’t her own granddaughter.

Gu Fanjin smiled warmly and said, "Grandma, you sure know how to talk, but it's a shame you're not a Gu."

"You!"

"Alright," interrupted Grandpa Gu, tapping the edge of the table with his tobacco pipe. His voice was raspy from years of smoking. "Eldest, go ahead."

"Okay," Uncle Gu Dachuan nodded, then turned to his niece standing in the room. "Fanjin, here's the thing. Your aunt has found a good match for you. Since your parents aren't home, we called you over to discuss it and hear your thoughts."

As soon as Gu Fanjin heard this, she knew it wasn't good news. She had no intention of getting married now, especially since she was only fourteen or fifteen. She was more focused on building a prosperous future, not settling down.

Seeing her silence, Uncle Gu Dachuan continued, "The family reached out to your aunt. They're doing well, and he's the eldest son, so you wouldn't have to worry about anyone bullying you."

The eldest son?

"Uncle, how old is he?"

"Uh," Uncle Gu Dachuan was caught off guard by her direct question. "I think he's not quite twenty yet, but your aunt didn't get the exact details."

Noticing Uncle Gu Dachuan's evasive look, Gu Fanjin understood. He was definitely older than twenty, probably at least six or seven years older.

"Uncle, there's too much of an age gap between us. It's not suitable."