Panning for gold in shit

Apparently, no one else knew yet that he and Sun Liang had broken off their engagement.

That made sense. He wasn't some top celebrity whose every little move in life got secretly photographed. As a nobody in the entertainment industry, this was probably the biggest perk.

Should he tell Sister Qian? Wei Zisu thought it over and decided against it. He would tell her the next time they met.

He was afraid he wouldn't be able to withstand Sister Qian's fury. After all, she had long since regretted taking on a jinx like him, so he would put it off as long as he could.

A little hungry, he took a box of coconut-coated milk cubes out of the fridge and ate them at a leisurely pace.

Just then, his phone rang. The name on the screen was Xiangxiang.

Wei Zisu answered, and a shriek immediately came through the receiver!

"Wei Zisu, is there something wrong with you?! Why did you suddenly break off your engagement to Sun Liang?! How old are you? You're almost twenty-seven! Are you planning to find an alpha through a blind draw like me?"

He had probably heard the news from Wei Zisu's mother.

Cui Xiangxiang and Wei Zisu had been neighbors as children. Xiangxiang was two years older, and the two had played together since they were running around bare-bottomed. They'd had to separate later because of school, but they had never lost touch.

Cui Xiangxiang might have only had two more years under his belt than Wei Zisu, but he had already been through two marriages and was now single again. He had quite a wealth of experience. For his first marriage, he had waited until he turned twenty-seven and the state assigned him an alpha, but they had divorced within six months. His second marriage had been a love match with a handsome old man, but that marriage hadn't lasted long either before his stepson, who was about his age, forcibly broke them up.

On the principle that good buddies shouldn't keep secrets from each other, Wei Zisu told Cui Xiangxiang everything Sun Liang had said and done.

After hearing it, Cui Xiangxiang cursed Sun Liang for over an hour without repeating himself.

Once he finished cursing, he was still worried about Wei Zisu.

"Zisu, do you have the money to pay the fine? If you don't, you'll really have to marry an alpha the state picks for you. That's no easy road. It's like panning for gold in shit. You get shit all over your hands, and you might not even find any gold. Aren't I a living example of what not to do? I fucking read too many brain-dead novels back then and thought getting married first and falling in love afterward would be romantic. Who knew I'd be stepping straight into a cesspit!"

Wei Zisu looked at the coconut-coated milk cubes in his hand and suddenly lost his appetite.

"Even if you pull your foot out of the cesspit, you can't shake off the stink of shit all over you!" Cui Xiangxiang said angrily.

Wei Zisu frowned and put down the coconut-coated milk cubes, no longer wanting to eat them at all.

He had no money, so he planned to ask Cui Xiangxiang about the process he'd gone through when the state matched him with an alpha.

Cui Xiangxiang told him everything he knew.

"Once your twenty-seventh birthday has passed, you'll get a call from someone at the Civil Affairs Bureau asking you to go in and fill out a pile of forms. Then they'll start matching you with single alphas from all over the country, in three batches of four. Of course, the first batch has the highest pheromone compatibility with you. If you've met them all individually and still aren't satisfied, you can meet the second batch. You get two weeks to go on matchmaking dates with them and make your choice. If you're not satisfied with any of the three batches, heh, you either pay the fine or let the state pick one at random and register your marriage to him!"

With the spoon between his lips, Wei Zisu thought, So I actually get a choice.

He had thought the state would force an alpha on him and that they wouldn't meet until the day they registered their marriage.

Looked at that way, things weren't so bad.

"Then, since you had more than ten options, how did you end up choosing a mama's boy who lived off you?" Wei Zisu asked, hitting him right where it hurt.

"How the hell was I supposed to know he was a mama's boy and a freeloader!!! There were only a few days between meeting him and getting married. How was I supposed to get to know him in time?!"

For the next two hours, Wei Zisu quietly listened to Cui Xiangxiang curse his two ex-husbands. He was perfectly evenhanded about it, spending an hour cursing each without favoring either.

Wei Zisu's birthday arrived on Children's Day, June 1, but apart from Cui Xiangxiang and Sun Zhe, no one seemed to remember.

Cui Xiangxiang had lunch with him and reminded him that he should receive a call from the Civil Affairs Bureau tomorrow. Wei Zisu nodded. He was ready.

Sun Zhe came downstairs from his apartment that evening and brought him a few little ornaments as birthday presents. He knew Wei Zisu; if they were anything expensive, he definitely wouldn't accept them.

That night, Wei Zisu bought himself a small cake, clasped his hands together, closed his eyes, and made the same wish he made every year before blowing out the candles.

And just like that, his twenty-seventh birthday was over.

The next day, he did indeed receive a call from the Civil Affairs Bureau.

The person handling his alpha matching was a young beta woman who seemed very patient.

"Mr. Wei, your matching results are ready. Here is the information on the first batch of alphas." The young woman turned the computer screen toward Wei Zisu. "It lists their height, weight, age, occupation, pheromones, and compatibility with you."

Wei Zisu gave it a quick scan and asked, "When can I meet them?"

The young woman said, "You can start by giving us your availability and choosing the first alpha you'd like to meet. Then we'll call him to confirm a meeting time."

The first one...

Wei Zisu frowned slightly. Meeting them one at a time seemed like too much of a waste of time.

So he asked, "Can I meet all four at once?"