Mister, Your Delivery…

Having received a verbal penance, Tang Jing hightailed her retreat from the café at full speed. The experienced matchmaker ditched both voluntary and forced clients and hopped onto her car, casually forgetting that she was the one who drove Mu Wuying to meet with Du Lang. Du Lang glared at the young girl for several moments, his phone in hand.

The Xiaomi was put to hard labor, and was busily occupied with attempting to contact Du Yuexin's phone. Alas, the cold voice of the automated service caller stabbed a harsh dagger into his ears.

"The number you have dialed cannot be called. Please try again at a later time."

This was the third time the female voice had clapped from the phone's pitiful speakers. Usually, the female service agent the phone line company had selected to voice the scripts was pleasant to listen to and relax while waiting for the line to connect, but Du Lang quickly found himself swamped with irritation.

Third, fourth, fifth…

"The number you have dialed cannot be called. Please try again at a later time."

"The number you have dialed cannot be called. Please try again at a later time."

"The number you have dialed cannot be called. Please try again at a later time."

Du Lang quietly smashed the innocent and innocuous Xiaomi onto the wooden table, suppressing the urge to curse. Mu Wuying displayed a naïve moment of panic as she quickly braced her fingers to stabilize Du Lang's cup from spilling over, sparing the phone and table from being covered in an irreparable mess of cooled and sticky coffee.

Du Lang quickly nodded in polite thanks and continued mashing the screen to pester his elder sister with calls and irritated messages. On the tenth call, the glorified Du Yuexin's patience seemed to have dulled as her passive and muffled voice echoed through the speakers.

"I say, Lang Lang, you really have no patience over matters, ah? Can't you just contact me tomorrow?"

There was a considerable amount of static noise as Du Yuexin seemed preoccupied by some action, for the sound of rustling cloth continued to whisper into Du Lang's ear. Nonetheless, he brought up the courage in his heart, and began his light-hearted plea while ignoring the light jabs thrown at his heart by the former.

"Elder Sister, you can't give this matter another thought? Given my career path and current situation, this is no time to be married!"

"Career path? Du Lang, weren't you fired a few days ago?" the reply was equally jovial and gentle.

"You now have all the time in the world, and as long as you don't spend your money chasing after useless women who weren't raised to be a wife, then you can live a life in luxury until you die, ah? Isn't this the best time to get married, especially with a young and cute beauty? I did raise my little brother properly, no?"

"…why do you sound like a lecherous old man drooling at a young woman?"

The only response he gained was a tittering laugh, and Du Lang hung his head in disappointment. The sound of rustling clothes whittled at his will and dignity, and it took a great modicum of mental stability not to throw inspective gazes at the quiet and courteous Mu Wuying. If there was a saving grace in his current situation, it was that the modern university student with no experience wouldn't take it upon themselves to interrupt a "senior" at work.

…although whether he could stave off any backend gossip was another matter.

"…aha, little brother, you waited so patiently for me to finish?"

Du Yuexin's chirpy voice buzzed from the Xiaomi's speakers after a bloodcurdling fifteen minutes of agony. The background noise had ceased and the voice was no longer muffled as though the speaker was quite a distance away from the microphone. The contents, however, were equally jarring to the mind.

"Ah Lang, Ah Lang… you're breaking your dear Elder Sister's heart, ah," Du Yuexin sighed with unknown emotion.

"Six times! Six times I sent a beautiful, untouched and pure maiden to be your wife. Six potential wives who could take care of your home while you worked away in Jingdou where I couldn't take care of you – and what did you do? Send them back to my door with a 'no thank you, Elder Sister, I'm rather quite busy developing my career and education and I don't need to be inconvenienced by women' response? Do you take my presence as a joke, ah – Du Lang?"

"W…wait, Elder Sister, about that –"

"Elder Sister even had a moment of thought that you were of homosexual nature. That's fine – I'll send you a pure and untouched boy to take care of you! But then you got yourself a girlfriend while in university and simultaneously developing a career in journalism and studying – and what did you say back then, that you didn't need a woman? And let's see what happened to that pure and romantic girlfriend of yours – cheated, placed a massive green hat on your head spectacular enough to dazzle the world, and who was the one who stole your girlfriend? Oh, that weekas*, incompetent employee who can't dig up a scoop to save his goddamned life without requiring assistance from you and the remainder of the team, and his articles never got recognition anyway, not to mention he would have gotten fired three times a month if it weren't for you acting as a courageous and helpful 'brother' and lending him assistance, journals, articles and giving him some of your efforts and accomplishments just to keep him afloat from the minimum qualification assessment – THIS was the man that c*cked you, not some alpha f*ckery Young Master of Beijing or Nanjing reveling in liquid gold and marching around with six or more luxury cars stained with their disgusting seminal fluid!? More shameful, you didn't even realize that you were being royally c*cked for a whole six months until the dammed sh*tter himself blabbed over a company gathering after downing three bottles of Baijiu – you disappoint me, Du Lang!!! You really do!!!"

The words spilled through the pitiable speakers increased in pace and volume with each passing breath. By the final sentence, Du Yuexin's voice had entered a piercing roar, prompting Du Lang to wince and cover his head with his other hand. He abruptly jerked the Xiaomi from his ear, only to realize that its speakers had reached the final cusp of its life.

"I'm warning you, my dear, dear little brother. You don't dare keep Mu Wuying in your home, this Elder Sister will shove a whole harem of four wives and three concubines through those gates!" Du Yuexin breathed to calm her shaking hands.

"Oh, and I didn't tell Jing Jing about this matter – a week ago, Xiao Yingying withdrew from Huazhong. If you kick her out from your home, there's nowhere for her to go except to beg on the streets or sell herself into the industry. My little brother, you claimed to be a humanitarian before, ah?"

The call was ended before Du Lang could formulate a reply in his mind. As his hand gradually lowered the dying phone from his ear, Mu Wuying directed a compassionate glance in his direction.

"Mr. Du, are you alright? Your expression… isn't that pleasant."

Bit by bit, Du Lang returned to his senses and shook his head in resignation. He shouldered his bag and gazed at the young girl, composing his words into the best combination he could think of at the moment.

"Since Sister Tang left so quickly, how about I drive you back home? Is there anywhere or anything you want to grab from Jingdou before you go?"

It was a harmless question only meant for exchanging pleasantries, but Mu Wuying had completely frozen over with an expression of panic plastered across her beautiful countenance. Du Lang heaved a light sigh and gestured for her to rise, escorting her to his car. When the young girl had calmed down in the passenger seat, he twisted the key and ignited the engine.

"Well? What exactly drove a promising student at Huazhong to seek Sister Tang for marriage? Tang Jing doesn't offer mentoring services in dating and relationships like the modern trend – rather, she's a bona fide matchmaker with traditional services."

"Er… Mr. Du, I'm sorry for inconveniencing you at this time…" Mu Wuying paused to muster her confidence.

"I… I sought after Elder Sister Tang's help after what happened at the university…"

The trivial keywords caused another sigh to well in his heart, and Du Lang grumpily stared at the scenery visible through the windshield. After taking another breath, he finally pressed on the pedal and began to short but excruciatingly long journey home.

He could predict Mu Wuying's story from start to finish. Given his experience and her current attitude and hesitation, there was really only one path for it to follow.

A sheltered, naïve young girl who enrolled into a prestigious university not through backend connections, but rather through sheer intellect, wit, and effort throughout her vital youth. Since Mu Wuying wasn't wearing any noticeably fashionable brand clothing or luxurious accessories, it was more plausible that her origins were of a village nearby Wuhan of Hubei Province.

Beautiful, adorable and kittenish personality, clean background, and no power or connections to her name; she was the type of young girl that the young scions and affluent students preyed upon. The rich Young Masters who enrolled only to have fun with the naïve and young girls, the club leaders and fraternity founders who were predators wearing the skin of saints, the salacious teachers who claimed to be virtuous; Mu Wuying fit the criteria of the young campus belle who originated from a village – tender and defenseless to the bone.

The young males overflowing with testosterone and were yet unable to taste the beautiful flower's nectar would admire and worship such divine figures at their universities, but one look into the campus belle's encounters would reveal a sickening and dark web of corruption, temptation, and lust. By her graduation, that delicate flower would have been sampled and enjoyed by numerous figures well-embedded in the upper echelons of society - a common occurrence for the women lauded by many admirers.

Hence, though inexperienced in interpersonal romantic affairs but sensible enough to notice the dark gaze of the corrupt heading her way, the smart and flexible Mu Wuying sought after the alternative option that a few young girls in her predicament could realize if they didn't lose themselves to the sheer amount of attention they received from their male colleagues and seniors. She could quickly enroll into an arranged marriage ecosystem – traditional systems if she was hurried or desperate – and hide under the divine protection of a husband carefully selected to protect her future.

Of course, if there were a few predatorial Young Masters affluent in political or legal power, then that 'husband' would have been handed a death sentence with a beautiful young girl attached on top. Just in Jingdou alone, which could only measure as a lower-to-middle ranked city throughout Hua in terms of raw economic output and circulation, had dozens of unsuspecting young men die as 'honorable husbands' to such beautiful young women each semester –

"I… there was a senior who behaved rather aggressively towards me and my roommates during the semester, and a close friend suggested I seek out Elder Sister Tang for help. And… after a few weeks, she offered to set up a meeting with Mr. Du," the young girl blurted.

"She had a few conditions that I had to follow, in exchange for guarantee that I wouldn't suffer like Xiao Chu… such as dropping out of university and leaving my phone behind."

Du Lang briefly nodded as he silently scrolled through the checklist in his mind. There were a few parts that were either mumbled through by Mu Wuying or he had tuned out in boredom, but the parts he gleaned roughly met his expectations, except –

"What did you say – you had to leave your phone behind?"

"Yes, Elder Sister Tang did say that," Mu Wuying emphatically nodded her head.

"She said to effectively distance me from that… senior, I had to clear all traceable evidence – or so she said. That, and I couldn't leave Jingdou once… once… you took me in…"

The final words were left unsaid in her heart as the car drew near Du Lang's home. The young girl's eyes bulged in shock as she quickly swept her gaze through her surroundings, and the results were jarring to her heart.

"Surprised? I guess Elder Sister Tang didn't tell you that Mr. Du was quite the rich fellow?"

Du Lang grumbled under his breath and left the car, not bothering to open the door for the young girl who had frozen in awe in her seat. He quickly raced up the steps leading from the driveway and towards the front door of the mansion, only to stop a few meters from the door.

There, a sweaty delivery man emphatically patted his head and panicked while standing next to the massive box planted on the concrete pathway. When his eyes met with Du Lang's visage, the former quickly raced to greet him with a pleasant smile, bowing low to hide his panting breath.

"Mister, sorry for the late delivery – we were scheduled to finish unloading this by noon, but the truck broke down and… ah. Mister, your delivery – there wasn't anything specified for the type of cargo, so could you please inform us so I can report to my supervisor…"