Feast of Flowers

ng.” 

He didn’t continue to ask Hua Jin why she didn’t want to go back to her hometown, nor did he bring it up again.

Pei Yan’s hometown was in a small county under the jurisdiction of Jiangsu City.
After the two finally arrived at the village, they were warmly welcomed by the residents.
Hua Jin saw Pei Yan take out a lot of books, medical supplies, and toys from the trunk of the car before handing them over to the elderly and the kids of the village.
When he went to offer incense, Hua Jin didn’t go with him.
She opted to stay in the village and ask some of the grandmas about how things were decades ago.

Unexpectedly, these grandmas didn’t want to talk about anything close to the embroidery style decades ago, instead were only interested in when she and Pei Yan are going to get married.
Even though she tried her best to explain that she had nothing to do with Pei Yan and that they just happened to travel together, these wizened grandmas only knowingly smiled more, seemingly saying, “We’ve been there, done that.
We understand.”

 Having seen these kinds of smiles, Hua Jin had no choice but to give up trying to explain further as these people here only knew Pei Yan and not her, so it was better to let him handle this misunderstanding himself.

Meanwhile, the villagers were incessantly praising how good the Pei Family was, like with the amount of money they donated for the road’s construction or the fact that the processing factory nearby was built by the Peis.

“Although Pei Yan’s parents passed away early, his grandparents are reasonable people, so they’d definitely not wrong you if you married into their family.” The grandma who was talking had a head of gray hair and was a bit on the thin side, but she was still in good spirits, “Don’t you agree, young lady?”

Hua Jin couldn’t refute her so she could only ‘agree’ with a smile.
In the end, she tried to steer the topic towards the martyr who died for the country.

“Those years were really difficult.” Some of the older grandmas could still recall a few things about those years, but very few of those memories were about embroidery.
Most of what they could remember was the hunger and the panic during the war.

Hua Jin even took the opportunity to see the dowry of an old grandma.
Because it was too long ago, the once white pillow had yellowed and the embroidery of mandarin ducks playing in the water on it had become stiff.
Though the stitching was quite rough, as though it was a rush job by some ordinary embroiderer, the grandma was still very proud of it, because, during those days, not many brides could manage to have an embroidered piece in their dowry.  

When Pei Yan came back from worshiping his ancestors, he saw Hua Jin and several old ladies sitting around the yard, with a small table in front of them that was full of melon seed candies.
The way she sat there denoted how comfortable she was.
He couldn’t quite figure out what he was feeling just then as he looked down at his muddy feet.
When he got closer to the circle of ladies, he heard the older ones teaching Hua Jin how to make men obedient.

It could be said that the women of the Shu and Chongqing Provinces were very good at making their men obedient.
When he heard what they were talking about, it would seem that their reputation was well deserved.
At that moment, Pei Yan felt that as a man, he had no place setting foot into the inviolable realm of women. 

Fortunately, the village chief who accompanied him to the ancestral tomb brazenly stood out and interrupted the old ladies’ makeshift school, by loudly announcing Pei Yan’s arrival and inviting him to sit and rest.

By and by, a handsome young man would always be liked by old ladies.
As soon as Pei Yan sat down, the grandmas all greeted him, showing their sincere concern for his well being.
The Young Master Pei, who was known to be unapproachable and intimidating in the outside world, was unable to resist the sincerity of the old ladies, only escaping the complete circle of caring warmth by excusing himself away to escort Hua Jin to look around their area.

There were many mature rapeseed flowers in full bloom, so a large golden area full of fragrance was made.
However, as Hua Jin looked at her muddy shoes, she sighed, “Mr Pei, regardless of your own muddy feet, did you have to pull me down with you to suffer as well?”

Pei Yan noticed that Hua Jin was having a hard time walking with her small leather shoes, so he simply turned around and started to walk back, “Then let’s go back.”

“Don’t be in such a rush.” Hua Jin stopped him.
“The cauliflowers are so beautiful, so help me take a picture with them.”

Pei Yan looked at her with a sullen face, “I’m sorry that I haven’t had many girlfriends yet, so I’m not that good at taking pictures.”

“It’s okay.
I don’t dislike that about you.” Hua Jin held her face with both her hands, “Quick, just take photos like this to illustrate how my face is so small.”

In the end, Pei Yan took out his expensive mobile phone and took a dozen photos of Hua Jin before bringing her back.

At lunch time, the village chief came to greet Hua Jin but paused before saying, “This is…?” He turned to look at Pei Yan, who had been busy the whole day and hadn’t even introduced the name of this beautiful girl.

In turn, Pei Yan just looked at Hua Jin, waiting for her to introduce herself.

“Hello.
My name is Hua Jin, but you can call me Xiao Hua.” Hua Jin said with a smile.
“I’m sorry if I disturbed you today.”

“You haven’t at all.” The village chief simply gave an honest smile.
“We’re very grateful to the Pei Family for everything they’ve done for the village.
We’re also elated that you guys are able to be here today, so how could you be a bother? You have a good name that is colorful and vibrant, just hearing it brings good fortune. 

“Then may luck also be with you.” Hua Jin smiled lightly.
As for whether he will really be lucky in the future, who knows?

When they were leaving the village, Hua Jin and Pei Yan collected a lot of souvenirs.
So much that the back seats were full of them.

“The people in your hometown are so warm.”

“It’s normal for them to be warm to me, but why are they so warm to you?!” The country road wasn’t very spacious, so Pei Yan had to drive the car very slowly.

“Maybe they think I’m your girlfriend?” Hua Jin sighed, “Unfortunately, my reputation as a beautiful single girl, that I’ve maintained for many years, has been ruined just like that.”

Pei Yan: “…”

If such a misunderstanding had occurred, just whose reputation will really suffer? 

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The Author has something to say: [Pei Yan]: Objection! We need to have equality between men and women! Who will protect the reputation of a single man?!