Sweet Candy of the 1970s

Everyone in the village knew that Shen Defu’s daughter Pearl had three defining traits: she was pretty, delicate, and shy around strangers. She blushed whenever anyone spoke to her, her voice was as faint as a mosquito’s hum, and she was like a rabbit, ready to bolt at the slightest fright.

So when Lu Zheng moved into the west room of the Shen house, everyone waited for the spectacle.

They expected Pearl to be so scared she’d hide in the inner room and refuse to come out.

They expected her to blush to the roots of her hair after saying a single word to Lu Zheng.

They expected her girlish ways to drive the company commander crazy and make him leave.

But the joke they’d been waiting for never came. Instead, they got quite a show.

Someone saw Lu Zheng teaching Pearl how to start a fire in the kitchen. She lit the stove and nearly singed off her eyebrows, so Lu Zheng pulled her close and shielded her face with his hand.

Someone saw Pearl washing clothes by the river. Lu Zheng passed by, stopped for a while, then took the clothes and washed them all himself. Pearl stood beside him, blushing as red as the yarn at the end of her braid.

And someone saw Lu Zheng return from visiting family in the provincial capital with a packet of brown sugar. He slipped it to Pearl and said, “Wasn’t this for making you sweet buns? Take it.”

Pearl lowered her head, her voice faint as a mosquito’s. “H-How did you know I like sweet buns?”

Lu Zheng looked at her for a long moment. “The first time I saw you, you were holding brown sugar.”

The whole village knew it by then: Company Commander Lu was done for. Pearl had him completely wrapped around her finger.

Only Pearl herself had no idea. She still thought he’d just been kind enough to help her tie a rope once.