Madam Yan's Matchmaking Pavilion for Men

45 An Opportunity for a Meeting, Too Awkward

Yu Huang Rong went straight to Luan Xin's study. When he arrived, it was empty though. He raised his brows and looked around. Shouldn't his friend be here at this time, handling some documents or something? How come he couldn't be seen at all?

He pursed his lips and went over to the table, sitting down with a huff. Wherever Luan Xin was, he would return here later on. He just had to wait until then. In the meantime, he might as well ponder the tasks Madam Yan had given him.

Yu Huang Rong fetched himself a scroll of paper, ground the ink and picked up a brush. Mn, finding out about these women and coming up with opportunities for their parents to meet. The women could be left to Luan Xin. That should get them the best results. As for the opportunities ...

He knocked the end of the brush against the table and pondered. If he remembered correctly, the autumn hunt should be coming up in about a month or so? Maybe that would be an opportunity to have their fathers meet? He could also try to leave Mister Zhang with a good impression himself at that opportunity. Ah, he should leave some of that to Luan Xin as well. He could arrange for them to travel together or something.

Yu Huang Rong pursed his lips. Well, that was one opportunity but it was still far away and it wouldn't be enough by far. If their fathers didn't hit it right off and became best friends, it would hardly get them anywhere. After all, his father had returned from being stationed on the battlefield all year round a while ago and spent most of his time in the capital, taking care of the matters here. He had certainly seen Mister Zhang every now and then. Since they weren't friends yet, they had to push things further. Just letting them meet wasn't enough.

Eh? Maybe he should get them to go and drink together? With a few flasks of wine shared among them, their relationship should advance by leaps and bounds, shouldn't it? He grinned to himself but couldn't help but shake his head at himself the next moment. He didn't remember Mister Zhang very well but if he was anything like his son, he also had to be the scholarly type. He definitely wouldn't be able to best his father in drinking. No, if he wasn't careful, his future father-in-law might even collapse and make his father look down on him while he would think of his father as a boorish brute. He definitely couldn't let that happen!

So, no drinking. Then what else? Let them have a discussion about literature? His father would grow bored out of his mind! Even if he tried to make them discuss the Art of War, it wouldn't work. He could already imagine his father grumbling how these scholars that only ever stayed in their studies and knew nothing but books believed they knew everything while they were actually blind but trying to speak of color. Simply delusional!

In other words: This wouldn't work either. Yu Huang Rong sighed to himself and played around with the brush. Mn, two very different people ... just what did they have in common?

He thought back to the day before and raised his brows. It seemed Qian Mu Qing and he were also very different people but they had managed to look past those differences when they discussed some general topics and then played a round of weiqi. Actually, strategizing was something that was needed in battle and in business as well. And thinking complicated matters through was also something that scholars like Mister Zhang would do. So maybe this could also work with his father and future father-in-law?

Well, at the very least, it was worth a try. If it didn't work out, they wouldn't have lost anything but they might gain a lot if it worked. Now, the only question was how to get these two to play together. He pondered the issue but couldn't come up with anything. Well, at the very least, he had an idea of what to accomplish. Maybe Zhang Shi Lan would be able to come up with a way to make them do it. It wasn't impossible at the very least.