During the Spring Festival, blind dating becomes the hottest topic in rural areas. For parents whose children have not yet found a partner, arranging blind dates for them is a matter of paramount importance.

　　"My son got engaged the year before last, but later he and the girl just couldn't get along. They were fine when they didn't talk, but the moment they did, they'd argue, so we had to call off the engagement," Liang Chao's mother told this reporter. "Last year, my son had an allergic reaction and his face was covered in pimples, so he didn't go on any blind dates. But this year, as soon as the girl's parents heard my son is 24, they wouldn't even consider him."

　　Liang Chao lives in Chefu Mountain Town, Pizhou City, Jiangsu Province. Standing 1.78 meters tall, he is a sturdy young man currently working in renovation in Changzhou, Jiangsu. But since his work brings him into contact with no young women, and he is not much of a talker and doesn't know how to find a girlfriend online, his only option is to rely on matchmakers to set up blind dates back home during the Spring Festival.

　　Before Liang Chao came home, his mother had already mobilized matchmakers, relatives and friends to look for girls of a similar age for her son. But to her dismay, the girls in their village who were the same age as Liang Chao had long since been spoken for, and several were already married with children. Most of the single girls in the village are currently under 20. After making extensive inquiries, Liang's mother finally found three girls for her son in other villages.

　　According to this reporter's understanding, in local rural areas, 20 is the golden age for blind dating. If a young person fails to get engaged that year, they can only wait until the next Spring Festival, when young people working elsewhere all return home, for another chance at a blind date. But by then, the girls have either fallen in love freely with boys they work with in the factories or met other boys through their phones, and by the time they come home for the New Year, there are very few single girls left in the village. Boys over 22 are already considered older unmarried young men in rural areas, and Liang Chao unfortunately falls into that category.

　　Aunt Gu, who often introduces young people to each other in the village, told this reporter: "In rural areas, because of the preference for boys over girls, there are far more boys than girls. Some girls can go on five blind dates in a single day and have plenty of choices. Unless a boy's qualifications are exceptionally good, he can only be picked over by the girl's side. But then again, boys with really good qualifications wouldn't be back home doing blind dates at all."

　　During this year's Spring Festival, Liang Chao met with three girls, but none of the blind dates worked out. The first girl was only 20 and thought he was too old. The second girl was 22 and was fairly happy with Liang Chao as a person, but her parents demanded a bride price of 100,000 yuan and required Liang Chao to add another story on top of his existing three-room single-story house to make it a two-story building. Liang Chao couldn't come up with that much money and had to give up. The third girl was 21, but she looked down on Liang Chao for having only a junior high school education, while she herself was a high school graduate.

　　Starting from the sixth day of the first lunar month, the girls in the village began returning to the cities where they work one after another. Seeing that her son's marriage prospects were about to fall through again this year, Liang's mother grew even more anxious and hurriedly urged the matchmaker to find other girls for her son. "We don't have any requirements now. As long as she's a girl in her twenties and not foolish or simple-minded, that's fine."