Feast of Flowers

cock proud of its feather-patterns.
Only peacocks with magnificent feathers were desirable.

“Mr Pei, is that lady your friend?” Chen Sen leaned over to Pei Yan, putting on a pleasing smile.
“She’s so pretty.”

“Pretty?” Pei Yan remembered those sparkling eyes before lightly saying, “That isn’t an issue here if you actually wanted to stand out on the street.”

Chen Sen: ?

“After all, there aren’t many people like you who’d go on a tirade on the street.” Pei Yan left with this sentence as he turned around and walked towards his favorite car.

Hearing it, Chen Sen’s heart tightened.
He quickly tried to follow him saying, “Mr Pei, please let me explain!”

Pei Yan ignored him, simply opening his car door and getting in.
Chen Sen held onto the car door pleading, “Mr Pei, Mr Pei…”

“Don’t worry, your father is a good man.
My personal matters with you are trivial.” Pei Yan glanced at Chen Sen’s hand still clasping the door, “Let go.”

Chen Sen quickly retracted his hand.

Pei Yan sneered as he raised the automatic window.
He sprayed Chen Sen with exhaust fumes while driving away.

He liked the fact that even though others had obvious dislike of him, they couldn’t do anything about it.

Lying on her comfy bed, Hua Jin stretched her back as much as she could.
It was already an hour past midnight but she still couldn’t sleep.
She took out her phone to look at the weather forecast for the next two days and found out that it was going to rain–no wonder her knee was hurting so badly today.

When she opened Weibo, even before the front page loaded, countless message notifications popped out from her phone that her phone OS froze.
She got so surprised that she jumped out of bed, trying to restart her phone, trying to figure out if she’s recently said something on Weibo that might have gotten her canceled.

As far as she knows, she’s only ever posted embroidery pictures on Weibo, right?

After successfully rebooting her phone, she nervously opened Weibo again while clutching her chest.
There were thousands of comments on her last Weibo post.
Hua Jin was confused.
Who were these countless unknown users who had left her reviews?

She clicked on the comments and they were all complimenting her on her good craftsmanship or on her kind-heartedness.

She was indeed elated to be praised by so many people, but… why were these people calling her a ‘Master’? Had there been a misunderstanding?

Just what had happened these past few days?

Hua Jin was frowning when she heard a knock on her door.
It’s already late at night so who could be looking for her at this time?

“Hua Jin, are you there?” It was Sister Qin’s voice.

Hua Jin put down her phone, peeked through the crack of her door before opening slightly.
“Sister Qin, it’s so late already so why aren’t you asleep yet?”

“I had something come up today, so that’s why I’m still awake.” Sister Qin was wearing a coat and looked like she was going out.
She peeked inside the apartment before asking, “Can I come in?”

“Please.” Hua Jin allowed Sister Qin to enter her room and even poured her a glass of water.

Sister Qin chatted with her about work and weather for a bit, before finally getting to the point.
“You just turned 24 today, right?”

Hua Jin paused her cutting some fruit as she turned to look at Sister Qin.

“It’s not easy for you to work hard outside, all alone right? Have you ever thought of finding someone to take care of you?” Sister Qin teased while fidgeting with the hair around her ears.
“You’re beautiful and you know your craft.
If you’re planning on finding a boyfriend, there’ll certainly be many people who’ll line up to apply.”

Placing the peeled apple slices on a plate, Hua Jin wiped the fruit knife cleanly before politely smiling, “Sister Qin, you must be joking.
I neither have a car nor a house, so how can I fairly contribute to such a relationship?”

“You may not have those, but as long as the man has them, wouldn’t that be enough?” Sister Qin continued, “There’s a young man in my family who is a college graduate, and his hometown is near here.
His parents are good-tempered and diligent, and he works for a big company.
I heard his salary was at least ¥20,000 to ¥30,000* a month.
When you visited me a few days ago, he caught a glimpse of you by accident.
Since then, he has been pestering me about giving him your contact info.
I’ve been thinking about asking you if you were willing before doing anything, but I didn’t expect you to come back so late today.
I hope I haven’t disturbed your sleep.”

Note: Chinese Yuan (¥) : US Dollar ($) = ¥6.75 : $1.00 // So, ¥20,000 is about USD$2963 per month.
Not bad, considering the cost of living in China is still way lower than compared to the US, unless you live in really big cities like Shanghai or Beijing. 

“Sister Qin, I don’t have any plans to fall in love as of now.” Hua Jin put the fruit plate in front of Sister Qin.
“Though, could you tell him that I appreciate his kind regards?” ‘He’s just seen my face and doesn’t know anything about me or my character, but he’s already wanting to be matched up? How long can such a ‘love-at-first-sight relationship even last?’ 

“I’m sure you young people have a lot of things in common to talk about, so even if you don’t want to be lovers, maybe just add him to your contacts as friends?” Seeing that Hua Jin didn’t reply, Sister Qin continued her persuasion, “Please.
He visits me every day, to the point that it is overwhelming and giving me a headache!”

“I hope you don’t start disliking your, Sister Qin’s words.
There are many young people outside of the city that are looking for a partner with a local household registry*.
You…”

Note: In China, “residency” is not automatic to the place you live in.
“Resident status” allows one certain benefits like being able to own a vehicle or purchase a house and lot or an apartment in a certain area, etc., since almost everything is government regulated.
This is especially important to schooling districts as only local residents are allowed to send their children to local schools.
This is why gaining resident status in big cities or more affluent places gives you access to the better educational facilities in that area, and education is king in China. 

Sister Qin had wanted to mention that Hua Jin was only a girl from a small place, that neither had money nor a diploma.
If her beauty was able to snag a local man, who had a car and a house, then that can already be seen as an astonishing achievement.
But this sentence remained unsaid, as Sister Qin noticed Hua Jin’s expression, she didn’t bother saying anything further.