STIGMA

Propping her chin up with her hands, Rachel Ruan heaved a sigh as she watched Fannie Ruan pack. It was all she could do.

"Why do you sigh? What I'm doing is in your best interests." Fannie Ruan put the candles and the joss paper* carefully into her pocket, and then turned around to look at her daughter.

(*TN: Joss paper are sheets of paper that are burned in traditional Chinese deity or ancestor worship ceremonies during special holidays.)

They were planning to return to their hometown where they might have to spend at least two days. Rachel was unwilling to go back with Fannie. Noticing that her mother was ready, Rachel lowered her head and reluctantly stuffed her cellphone and charger into her brown bag.

On the bus, Rachel gazed at the scenery outside the window while her mother babbled on and on about her blind dates.

It had rained the night before and the roads in the village were slippery. After they got off the bus, she took the bag over from her mother and held her arm.

"Rachel, I'm sorry. Mom's not able to find a way out. Look, both your campus romance and your blind date didn't have a happy ending. You really make me lose face!" It seemed that Fannie had no intention to stop talking.

Every time Fannie thought of her daughter's love story, she heaved a huge sigh. There was always idle gossip behind her back.

Something like "Look, this is the mother of that jinx".

In the past two years, Rachel had had several blind dates. Some of the men had been ideal soulmates. However, each time Rachel's relationship with them developed, something bad happened to them.

Two of them had had traffic accidents, two had two-timed her, and another two had gotten serious diseases right before marriage.

Although similar coincidences often occurred to other people, the accidents seemed to be too frequent for Rachel.

After all those misfortunes, nobody dared to be the matchmaker for Rachel because everybody was afraid of getting into trouble.

"Mom, would you please stop? In the society we're living in now, it's pretty normal to have a lot of blind dates. And accidents and diseases are happening every second, every minute and every hour. No one can claim it's my fault."

Still, in Rachel's eyes, these coincidences were setbacks in her life. And yet, she believed that she would find her Mr. Right someday.

Shooting Rachel a glance, Fannie grabbed the bag from her hand and said, "Honey, if you don't do something to expel the bad luck, I might also be cursed by you soon!"

Turning around a corner, they headed towards their old house.

Trailing behind her mother, Rachel shrugged her shoulders. She heard a car driving by. Turning around, she caught a glimpse of a luxurious black Maybach driving towards the old houses beyond the one they were headed to.

"Oh, what a rich man!" she thought, "How could he drive such a luxurious car on this muddy road without worrying about getting it dirty?"

Grumbling, she took a look at her muddy shoes and then headed to the old house.

XH Village was an ancient village with a three-hundred-year history. There were many old buildings in pristine condition, especially the old temple. The old temple was preserved very well and thronged with pilgrims. The burning incense in the temple had not been extinguished till now.

"Mr. Hiram, would you please hurry up? Your mother has been waiting for a long time. She said that the best incense-offering time was 9 o'clock in the morning."

In front of a full-length bronze mirror, a man was smoothing down his shirt. Frowning, he gave the butler a cold look.

His dark eyes resembled the starry sky and his commanding temperament was daunting. Seeing his eyes, the butler immediately shut up.

"I don't like this tie. Give me another one."

He said coolly, throwing the tie away.