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Introduction

Ten years ago, I was naive to the point of being foolish. One man left, and before I even had time to grieve, another one was already waiting at the door with flowers in hand.

Five years ago, I was just a junior employee. A man left me, and I felt a little melancholy. But then I was happy again. Luckily, he hadn't ruined my life. What does love matter? My career is the most important thing.

Three years ago, I had achieved some success in my career when a man left me. It felt like a bolt from the blue. I started to wonder if there was something wrong with me, why I could never keep him. I went home and watched Sex and the City extensively, and started talking about being single all the time.

Now—when I take my parents to visit relatives and friends during the Spring Festival, they complain. It's not because the car isn't good enough, or the gifts aren't presentable enough, it's just because their daughter is still unmarried, which is embarrassing.

Even the supportive family and friends who have been cheering me on for so many years are starting to despair. Their only advice is to just settle for someone. But at this point, is it really worth settling?

Sigh, the troubles of single women are higher than mountains and deeper than the sea—

Chapter 1

Qian Duoduo had a rather depressing New Year.

She worked hard all year, and the company didn't treat her badly. She also treated herself well. She wanted to show her filial piety by taking her parents on a trip abroad, but her mother refused outright and then launched into a barrage of criticism, almost dragging her out into the street to humiliate her.

In fact, she felt that if public humiliation wasn't so shameful, her mother would have done the same. The only thing more shameful than having a daughter who was almost thirty and still unmarried was letting the whole world know that she had a daughter who was almost thirty and still unmarried. Her mother would never do something so self-humiliating.

To fully express her dissatisfaction, Qian's mother adopted a blatant disregard for her punishment throughout the New Year period, which also affected Qian's father, making their Lunar New Year a time of constant anxiety.

Please, she's almost thirty and still single. She's under a lot of pressure, okay?

Qian Duoduo felt very wronged, and this feeling of being wronged was like the foam of beer after being shaken violently, which would burst out uncontrollably once the bottle was opened.

Why did she study so hard and strive for excellence every day since she was young? Why did she struggle through the grueling July to get into a top university?

I fought my way up to my current company, enduring a brutal and bloody battle to reach this position, but what was it all for? It turns out that all of this is less satisfying than someone else's daughter getting married in a grand and glamorous way right after graduating from university. She doesn't even want to go to relatives' houses; to be honest, she doesn't even want to go to those kinds of events.

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, she was chatting with her aunt's daughter on the sofa. In front of them were eight kinds of dried snacks, yellow and red. It was the New Year, and every family was full of joy. Her aunt could make glutinous rice balls herself. The filling was made of black sesame paste and wrapped in water-milled glutinous rice. When they were served, they were snow-white and round in the clear soup, looking very tempting. Qian Duoduo had loved this kind of food since she was a child, and she would eat it as soon as it was served.

My cousin Yuanyuan, nicknamed "Sticky Rice Ball," was sitting next to me. You can imagine how much she loves this food. But this time, she didn't even glance at it while sitting next to me. She was busy making a phone call, chattering and giggling as she talked. Her sweet voice gave Qian Duoduo goosebumps.

Finally, after waiting for her to hang up the phone, Nuomi Yuanzi remembered that she had a cousin she only saw once a year. "Cousin, are you still working at UVL?" "Ah, ah." Busy eating, Qian Duoduo's syllables were muffled.

"It must be tough." Giving her a pitying look, Nuomi Yuanzi stirred the rice balls in her bowl with a spoon, feigning a sigh. "I also want to be a successful career woman like my cousin, but Kevin says he doesn't like career-oriented women."

Choking, Qian Duoduo glanced at her sideways.

Mom leaned closer. "Kevin? Is he the guy Yuanyuan's dating?"

Auntie Qian joined in, expanding the fray. She grabbed her daughter's chubby, white hand and showed it off, the diamond sparkling brightly, dazzling everyone's eyes. "No, no, the two families just had dinner together a couple of days ago. It's a wedding, so our Yuanyuan hasn't been eating lately. She's on a diet. This little girl is determined to be pretty, just so she can look good in her wedding dress." She then burst into a seemingly embarrassed giggle, patting Auntie Qian apologetically, "Sorry, our Yuanyuan has to go first. We were hoping to attend your Duoduo's wedding first."

My aunt is from southern Fujian and has been married into the family for many years. She still occasionally slips out a word or two of her hometown dialect, especially when she is in a particularly high or low mood. This time, of course, it was the former.

Qian Duoduo felt a chill run down her spine. Looking at her mother's expression, she realized it was definitely not right. She forced out a sentence through twitching lips, "Congratulations! You must give me a big red envelope later."

On the way back, Qian Duoduo drove silently, head down. Along the way, people were setting off firecrackers and fireworks, a riot of colors and a scene of great joy. Unfortunately, the car was completely unaffected by the festive atmosphere.

When they got home, Mom threw her coat on the sofa, turned around and went into the room, slamming the door shut, leaving Qian Duoduo and her father looking at each other in bewilderment.

Later, the two sat on the sofa and chatted for a while. Mr. Qian was a retired professor who had been a refined gentleman all his life. His wife was the former head of the publicity department of a steel factory. It was easy to imagine who was stronger between them. Before speaking after sitting down, he sighed and patted his daughter's shoulder, "Duoduo, you must know that everything in the world has its time."

Qian Duoduo also wanted to sigh. Her father was good in every way, but whenever he wanted to talk to her about life, he liked to start from the beginning of the universe. It would take at least half a day to get to the point. To be honest, deep down, she did sympathize with those students.

"Dad, are you trying to say that my time to find a partner is almost over, and if I don't hurry, I might become an unsaleable product?" Accustomed to giving summarizing speeches, Qian Duoduo cut straight to the point.

When his daughter was so blunt, Mr. Qian was a little at a loss for words. He taught Chinese classics and liked to quote classical texts in everything he said, but unfortunately, neither of the two women in his family appreciated this trait, leaving him no room to elaborate.

After thinking for a moment, Mr. Qian patted his daughter on the shoulder again, saying, "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, for they will soon be bare and withered."

Qian Duoduo was exasperated. "Dad, it's not that I don't want people to pick them, it's that nobody wants to pick them, okay?"

The door, which had just slammed shut, was slammed open again, and Qian's mother rushed out, yelling, "Who told you not to go on blind dates? There isn't a single normal man in the place you live in, where are you going to find someone to marry!"

Qian's mother was incredibly imposing. Duo Duo and her father, sitting on the sofa, both felt an urge to cover their heads. After regaining their senses, Qian Duo Duo, who had always had excellent grades and a smooth career, became indignant and stood up, shouting, "It's just marriage! I refuse to believe I can't get married. You wait and see, I will definitely finish this project this year!"

Chapter Two

Qian Duoduo's current position is Senior Marketing Manager. Most of her peers in the company are around thirty-five years old, and she is the only woman. In such an international company that values seniority and has a strict hierarchy, she can be described as very successful.

Unfortunately, this kind of success was worthless in her life after leaving the company. No one was proud of Duoduo's rapid promotion. In contrast, Yuanyuan, who had been happily preparing for marriage for less than two years after graduation, was the role model that all the sisters wanted to learn from.

It is said that Yuanyuan's fiancé, Kevin, fell in love with her at first sight and was devoted to her.

It is said that Yuanyuan's future in-laws are very wealthy, and the engagement ring will be at least one carat.

It is said that after Yuanyuan gets married, she can start living the life of a full-time housewife and no longer have to endure the hardship of working nine to five.

It is said that—we'll talk about it later? Yuanyuan is already surrounded by countless halos; if we keep talking, Duoduo will be kicked out of the house by her mother.

However, none of these things held much appeal for Duoduo.

After working for many years, she felt that she was also a rich person. A one-carat diamond ring could be worn on her right hand without any problem, as long as it wasn't on her left hand.

As for being a full-time housewife, that's not even a consideration for her. Her next promotion plan is to become the director of the marketing department. The current director's term is about to expire, and he has already hinted that she is the best candidate.

The only trouble was finding a partner to marry, but now that she had a goal, Duoduo, who was always an efficient person, quickly began to summarize her past failures and start to arrange specific implementation measures.

Compared to Qian Duoduo's other fruitful achievements, her romantic experience can be described as a complete failure.

They were childhood sweethearts in high school, holding hands and making vows of eternal love. On Valentine's Day, they took the train to Suzhou and foolishly got soaked in the rain all day. They were sneezing and kissing passionately in front of their house, and Qian's father walked by without noticing.

So what? After getting into universities in two different places, we went our separate ways. When we met again many years later, we couldn't even remember what we looked like back then.

When she first joined the company, she caught the eye of a young man from another company, who sent her a bouquet of flowers to her desk every day. At the time, her boss was a 30-year-old elite woman who scoffed at such tactics. One evening, she had a long talk with her and said, "Duoduo, I have high hopes for your abilities and bright future. Whether you want it or not is up to you."

Later, the young lady became resentful and angry because of her frequent overtime and business trips, and left in a huff. However, her boss finally got married, gave up another promotion, married a foreigner, and happily packed his bags and went to France. He kept his promise and passed the position to her.

The first two relationships were alright, but what truly hurt Qian Duoduo was the third. She was twenty-seven then, stationed in Singapore. Five minutes into her conversation with the development director at the Singapore headquarters at the company's annual meeting, she felt an electric current between them. Then came a moonlit stroll, a candlelight dinner, and perfect sex—everything fulfilled all her teenage dreams. She fully expected that walking down the aisle together would be a natural progression. However, when her two-year contract expired and Duoduo had to return to Shanghai to take a senior marketing manager position, the director suddenly realized what was happening. He grabbed Duoduo's hand in shock and asked, "Duoduo, why are you going back? What will we do if you go back?" "I can't leave Singapore!"

Qian Duoduo gasped for breath. If he couldn't leave Singapore, what would happen to her, the senior manager of the Shanghai marketing department? The two parted on bad terms and argued several more times afterward. The director was unwilling to give up his years of hard work in Singapore, while Duoduo was determined to return to Shanghai to continue her next career peak. The two parted on bad terms again. No sooner had Qian Duoduo returned to Shanghai than she heard the good news of her director's engagement. Before she could even lick her wounds, the wedding invitations had already been sent to everyone.

If it were so fast, and you knew marriage was such a simple thing, would Qian Duoduo have persisted in believing in "the one" until today?

"It's okay, if a man can do it, she can too." Qian Duoduo swore to herself in the mirror, "It's just finding someone to marry, right? Let's see how quickly I can get it over with."

Chapter Three

The women in the Qian family are all incredibly efficient. After her daughter agreed, Qian's mother took advantage of the New Year holiday to make a round of arrangements, and in the blink of an eye, the list of potential blind dates was already quite long.

The first blind date was at the Garden Hotel. The man was in his early thirties and drove a BMW 7 Series. He didn't even look at the menu when he sat down and ordered bird's nest and shark fin soup first. Qian Duoduo immediately thought of her ex-boyfriend, a young man from a long time ago, so her first question was, "Sir, what are your requirements for your future wife's married life?"

Duoduo is beautiful, and the other party is very satisfied with her. At this moment, she wipes her mouth with a snow-white napkin and answers with a smile, "Of course, I'll stay at home to be a good wife and mother. My parents are old-fashioned and like a lively atmosphere. It would be best if they could have more children."

Qian Duoduo reacted quickly, "How about having two children in three years?" Before the other party realized the problem, her eyes lit up, "That would be the best."

Blind dates are better; you can get to know each other so thoroughly from the start, which is definitely the best thing. Qian Duoduo smiled as she swallowed the last bite of bird's nest, and didn't even turn her head when she said goodbye.

Learning from the first experience, the second time a professional was arranged to take the stage. He was said to be a pillar of a law firm. He introduced himself in a very formal and serious manner. After leaving the restaurant, he carefully studied Qian Duoduo's car for a while before asking a very professional question.

"Ms. Qian, what exactly is your monthly income?"

He's a lawyer after all; he's really sharp. Qian Duoduo looks up at the sky.

After returning home, the matchmaker relayed a message: the other party felt that Duoduo was good in every way, except that she might be a little too capable. They thought it would be better for the couple to complement each other. If they were both out there fighting for their careers, who would take care of the family?

Okay, if we're going to complement each other, then so be it. Duoduo's third blind date was an IT guy. He looked very honest and kind. His job was to work from nine to five, coding on a computer. Once he finished coding, he would wait for the program to have a problem, and then he could go back to work and focus on solving the problem.

The advantages of IT guys are obvious: they don't have as high demands on their wives as they do on their computers. As long as their wives don't smash the computers, everything is negotiable.

Mrs. Qian was quite satisfied, and Duo Duo wasn't opposed to it either. Anyway, there wasn't much need to communicate with a man who was always glued to his computer, and neither of them had high expectations of the other, so getting along was quite easy.

After several rounds of dating, the IT guy finally followed the usual procedure and cautiously took Duoduo's hand after dinner one day.

Despite it being the dead of winter, his hands were sweaty, as was his forehead above his glasses. It was clear he had little experience and was extremely nervous.

Duoduo initially found it a bit funny, and just as she was about to smile, tears suddenly streamed down her face, startling the IT guy into a state of panic. He stood on the street, dumbfounded, staring at her.

After apologizing, Duoduo fled home and cried in the car just as heartbroken as when she was a very young girl and was unjustly accused of cheating on a test by her teacher.

She remembered a time in Singapore when they worked overtime all night and walked together to find the last Bak Kut Teh stall. It was raining, and there was a puddle on the sidewalk when they got out of the car. The man who opened the car door stretched out a hand, and they clasped hands together, easily jumping onto the sidewalk. When she looked up, they smiled at each other.

He was happy, but for a man, there are countless doors in his heart, and each door can house a woman. They don't conflict with each other, nor do they prevent him from turning around and holding another person's hand to spend his life together.

For women, there is only one room to come and go. Only when one leaves can another move in. Duoduo's room is now empty, but it's a lifetime after all. Is she really going to just make do with an empty room like this?

Chapter Four

I thought getting married would be easy, but I failed in three blind dates. I efficiently summarized my experiences and lessons learned, and concluded that the problem still lay with me.

Her goal is to get married, with the condition that it cannot affect her work and life. Only a like-minded marriage partner can be the cornerstone for peaceful coexistence and mutual protection in the long years to come. Nothing in the world is perfect. To gain some things, you have to give up others. Pure attraction between men and women is too absurd. She is not looking for spiritual opium.

She had a perfect idea, but as partners, they had to be evenly matched. Where could she find someone like that in such a short time?

Feeling down, Qian Duoduo called her best friend of many years near the end of the workday to ask her to meet up and chat to cheer herself up.

Yiyi is Qian Duoduo's best friend. The two have been inseparable since kindergarten, and they were close friends all the way until they graduated from high school. They were the same two sisters who went to the same school and were in the same class.

Qian Duoduo always admired her petite and delicate friend, mainly because of Yiyi's unwavering life goals and her relentless pursuit of them, which ultimately led to her great achievement.

When they were 6 years old, Qian Duoduo's wish was to be the class monitor, and Yiyi's wish was to marry a rich man when she grew up.

When Qian Duoduo was 12 years old, her wish was to get first place in her grade and smile as she went on stage to receive the award. Yiyi's wish was to marry a rich man when she grew up.

At 18, Qian Duoduo's wish was to get into a top-tier university and make a name for herself after graduation, while Yiyi's wish was to marry a rich man.

Duoduo, who graduated from university at 22 and achieved every wish along the way, entered her dream school, UVL. Yiyi, after dating a real estate tycoon for several years, finally got her wish and walked down the aisle with him, overcoming the heartbreak of countless men. She didn't work a single day and smoothly transitioned from one ivory tower to another.

The background noise on the other end of the phone was a bit chaotic, and Yiyi was clearly shopping. Qian Duoduo could hear the polite greeting from the saleswoman. She sighed, "You're shopping again."

"It's just the changing seasons," Yiyi said with a grin. "Where are you?" "Still at the company, wanted to chat with you." "Sure, sure!" Yiyi responded enthusiastically. "How about I wait for you at our usual spot?"

The usual spot that Yiyi mentioned is in the city center, right next to Meilong Town. It's their usual hangout spot, so they always meet up at the same place.

Qian Duoduo dislikes driving in busy urban areas, especially during rush hour, when traffic jams can be a nightmare, wasting both gas and time. So she parks her car at the nearest subway station to her company and then takes the most convenient and fastest mode of transportation.

The subway was packed with people. Single passengers all had serious expressions, either looking down at their phones or reading newspapers seriously. Those with nothing to do just stared blankly at the billboards outside the train window. Couples, on the other hand, were completely different. No matter how many people there were, they held hands intimately and whispered in each other's ears, like conjoined twins.