Chapter 17: Seventeen
"Is this how it's supposed to go?" she asked, shifting the topic.
"Ah!"Cang Mang recalled the date.
He had finally found his first willing participant and a date had been set. His only purpose was to introduce the two to each other before leaving.
"Well," he decided to brief her, "in most cases it starts with an introduction. You greet each other, maybe say a sentence about how you feel about being here. Then exchange names. Normally what follows after that is a few compliments. The waiter offers the menu and leaves. Compliments continue then you start asking where the other works. Say a little about work skip to life situation, family back ground. Why you decided to speed date. Preferences in life, food etc. then goodnight. Maybe you have a second date, and finally you discover that he is Prince Charming and you live happily ever after."
He said it all in one breath. When he looked up to check on Dong Mei, she was sipping on tea, not minding him at all.
She had taken a second cup and served herself some tea at some point as he spoke. She then distracted herself by looking out the window, at the street of busy people.
"I thought you were listening," he said, calling her attention.
"Uhh!" she turned to him, "who is this Wangzi you keep talking about?"
Cang Mang repeated her question, "Prince Charming?"
Two waiters walked in with their meals and placed it on the table. They encouraged them to enjoy before leaving.
Dong Mei looked at the food they served and smiled, "well, let's eat."
She closed the side of the window close to her and took off her veil.
Dong Mei grew to be much darker than most of her peers, taking after her mother. When she asked her mother, she was told that they were from a family of nomads. Her great grand parents settled here for a good enough period of time for their daughters to give birth for their husbands.
Dong Mei's mother was one of the children that resulted from this. Her parents decided to settle in the village to raise their children before they went to rejoin their family. Dong Mei's mother married the chief, resulting into Dong Mei.
Every night when she was younger, her mother would assure her that they weren't the only ones of their kind. That there were millions of them, so there was no need to feel insecure about her difference from her peers. It helped that the people around them didn't have any qualms about the differences between them.
It also helped that her skin tone was even, her skin was smooth without blemish. Under the sun, it seemed to have a golden undertone that shimmered giving her a particular glow. Her light brown eyes were highlighted by her caramel skin tone.
"Eat your steamed buns," Dong Mei said without looking up from her plate, "No matter what kind of eye you use on me, I'll not share my food with you."
Cang Mang snapped back to life, only realizing that he had been staring at her. He looked away from her and quickly stuffed a steamed bun into his mouth before downing an entire cup of tea in one go.
Dong Mei picked up her chopsticks and started to eat happily.
After a while of watching her stuff herself, Cang Mang cleared his throat and said, "the date is not just an opportunity for you to eat, you must also talk."
"Talk about what?" she asked after swallowing.
Cang Mang thought for a minute before saying, "most girls like to play the Guzheng in their free time. How about you?"
"Which girl's are those? Noble girls?" Dong Mei scoffed.
"It's a polite way of asking for your interests," Cang Mang replied.
Dong Mei clicked her tongue, "what's polite about that? Aren't you just comparing me to noble girls and making me embarrassed for not being as proficient in arts as they are? The girls I know can't even read and write. You want to talk about guzheng? On what grounds? Cang Mang, which world do you live in? Are you hiding some noble girls in your hut or are they from the brothel? Guzheng? Which girl do you know tha-," she paused then looked at him with a serious and suspicious expression, she asked, "does Li Hua know how to play the guzheng?"
The moment she started talking, Cang Mang realized his mistake. How could village girls know how to play the guzheng? Most of their time was spend doing household chores. Their free time was spent sleeping, gossiping, playing and what not. Asking them whether they play the guzheng was the same as asking whether they could do calligraphy. It was belittling.
Although it seemed too much for a first encounter, it was better to ask such girls whether they knew how to take care of a home; cook, raise children and farm.
He understood that he was wrong in saying that.
"Can she? Are you going to tell me or not?" Dong Mei was impatient.
As she looked at him, her eyes were wide with apprehension as she dared to not accept whatever affirmation he had to give.
Cang Mang nodded, "she once found a discarded guzheng in her father's small land. She cleaned it and he fixed it for her. Slowly, she taught herself. She's not much of an expert but she composed a few songs and they are soothing to listen to. Bai Yang Wei likes to listen to it as he works."
BLAM!!!
Dong Mei slammed the chopsticks onto the table. Her entire mood turned sour, and she felt that she wouldn't be able to stomach any more food.
Cang Mang watched her heave angrily. He mused over the fact that she wasn't bothered to hide that side of herself from him.
She stood abruptly.
Cang Mang stood along with her, "where are you going?"
He couldn't just let her go.
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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