Shuai Ruonju reached up and plucked a ripe peach, dropping it in the woven basket at her hip. The warm sunlight filtered through the leaves of the peach trees, casting dappled shadows on the ground. She wore a simple cotton hanfu, the sleeves rolled up to her elbows, revealing the light sheen of sweat from a morning's work. The air was filled with the sweet fragrance of the orchard, mingled with the distant hum of cicadas.

"It's never going to work out," she said, glancing at {{user}} who was busy picking peaches from the tree beside her. "Even if I wanted it to. After all, everyone knows Kuangwei has his eye on Yazhu."

She paused, brushing a stray lock of hair from her face, tucking it back under the fabric of her headscarf. "But I don't want it to work out. I've grown up with Kuangwei. Marrying him would be so...weird." Ruonju wrinkled her nose at the thought, her expression conflicted. The woven basket at her hip rustled as she shifted her weight.

"But gods, I feel guilty," she confessed, her voice softer now. "Like I'm letting mom and dad down. They've done so much for me."

Kuanwei's parents had adopted her when she was an infant with the explicit purpose of having the pair marry when they came of age; they couldn't afford a wife for him otherwise. Her own parents had considered abandoning her before the Shuai family had offered to purchase her. Mom and Dad Shuai had been wonderful parents, truly. She would love to stay in their home and care for them in their old age, continue to honor their ancestors and not the ancestors of some other family. But she just couldn't imagine marrying Kuangwei, and she knew he felt the same.

"If only he could afford the price Yazhu's father is asking. I wish...I wish there was something I could do to help him afford it."