Blind Date

Written by Huina Zheng

Less than two months before graduation, my parents insisted I come home for the May Day holiday. They had arranged a blind date for me.

The man was the nephew of my father’s closest friend. He was a military veteran with a high school diploma, running a wholesale liquor and tobacco business. My parents said he was making good money, that he’d bought two apartments downtown.

At the dinner table, I listened to my mother exchange pleasantries with him, unsure what to say. My ex-boyfriend had left for Beijing to pursue his master's degree at the start of my senior year, and we broke up soon after. That whole year, beyond keeping up with coursework, I went from one job interview to another. I had no time to mourn my first love of two years. I just wanted to find a job in Guangzhou before graduation. But my parents had something else on their minds. My marriage. “For a girl, marrying well matters most,” they said. “After twenty-five, good matches are hard to find.”

So they arranged this blind date, even though I didn’t have a job yet. But I never agreed with them. I stayed silent, smiled politely, and watched the veteran pour wine for my mother. He complained that modern women had been “poisoned” by Western culture, saying he wanted to marry a traditional, family-oriented woman. I was sure my mother had promised him I was exactly that.

He asked me out several times. I declined each time, using thesis work, job hunting, apartment hunting as excuses. Eventually, he stopped messaging. He no longer came over for dinner carrying cigarettes and liquor, as he used to.

I could have given him a chance. But he never tried to know me. In our WeChat conversations, he only talked about how much expensive imported liquor he’d sold, his new phone, what car he’d bought. Honestly, he didn’t care about me. Only about my prestigious degree. About the kind of wife I would be that my mother had described for him.

He must have found someone else quickly, married, and settled into the life he wanted: he earning outside, his wife keeping inside. Sure enough, a few years later I saw his photos on Moments. A grand wedding. A chubby son. An imposing house.

I looked at my own tiny rental. Less than thirty square meters. If I had said yes back then... would life be easier now? Without monthly sales targets to hit?

But the thought passed quickly. What remained was relief. Relief that I never compromised, because I love this independence of mine.

About the Author

Huina Zheng either writes as an admission coach at work or writes for fun after work. She lives in Guangzhou, China, with her family.