Yifan woke up to the shrill sound of his mothers voice. 

"Hurry Yifan! You have just 1 hour to get ready before you meet with the Matchmaker! Hurry!!"

Yifan groaned. She was frantic and that was never good!

"YIFAN!" She shouted. 

"Alright, alright i'm getting up!" He yelled back, slowly getting up out of bed. 

His mother stormed into his room, wielding a hairbrush and some neatly folded clothes. 

"Um, what's wrong with my own clothes?" 

"It's old and wrinkled! This was the robe your father wore on our wedding day!" She smiled happily at the garments. 

"Argh!" He slammed himself back onto his bed face down. 

"Hurry and get this on, brush your hair and I want you downstairs in 15 minutes!" And with that his mother put the clothes onto his bed, placed the brush neatly on top and walked out of the room.

Yifan lifted himself from his bed and reluctantly dragged the clothes over his head. They fitted, which was annoying. He then brushed his hair into some sort of neatness and made his way downstairs. 

It was now 6:15. Which meant 45 minutes of torture until about an hour of torture. 

Great.

"There, don't you look dashing!" His mother screeched as he walked downstairs.

As if to add to his discomfort; his grandmother, father and uncle (who he only ever saw once every 3 years) were sitting waiting for him to come down. 

"You look lovely dear!" His grandmother said affectionately. And, as much as he hated them for forcing him into this, he knew they meant well.

"Hey, boy!" His uncle yelled at him (his uncle was always yelling... it was just something he did). "Got yourself a girly yet?"

Yifan shook his head and waited for the blow to fall.

"What!?" His uncle exclaimed and turned to Yifans father. "No girl? What have you done to him? He ain't gonna be one of these softies?" 

"Of course not! He's just... picky!" His father had strong feelings about what everyone else thought, even his own brother. 

"Picky, eh?" His uncle leaned forward and indicated for Yifan to do the same. "You know what happens to picky lads, boy?"

Yifan shook his head. 

"They get nothing, and end up like me!" He laughed loudly and began to talk to Yifans mother as if the previous conversation never happened. 

Yifans mother then insisted he must have a bowl of porridge twice the size of a normal portion so he can 'have enough energy' and made sure he knew all the regulations of the matchmakers wishes. 

"Now, if the matchmaker asks you about girl type you will say.."

"That i'm not interested at the moment and would much rather be at home asleep..." 

"Argh, Yifan!!" His mother sighed and decided to give up.

It was now 5 to 7, and all 5 Wu's made their way to the matchmakers house. It was near to their own house, so they didn't need a long walk. 

There were many rumours about the matchmaker. Some say that they are strict and evil, but others say the complete opposite. Yifan just hoped that, if it were one person, he caught them on a good day or, if it were different people, he got the latter. 

His family wished him luck as he knocked on the door. 

He was nervous. Though he cared nothing for getting married, his family cared a great deal. And he never wanted to disappiont them. 

The door opened and an elderly woman stood there. She had stern eyes, and a thin line of a mouth. Yifan guessed this was the evil one.

Great.

"Come in." She said. Her voice was deep and gravelly, almost like a mans. She stepped inside once more and Yifan took this as an indication to follow. He took one final glance back at his family, who were all smiling hopefully at him. 

The inside of the matchmakers house was plain and simple. There were no tapestries on the walls and the furniture was undecorated and plain. 

"Take a seat." The matchmaker indicated to a small wooden chair which was directly opposite a larger chair. Presumably, this was where he would be interrogated. 

Gulp.

"Now, let us begin." The matchmaker, as Yifan had suspected, sat opposite him on the larger chair. As if she wasn't intimidating enough! 

"You are Wu Yifan? Son of Wu Zhou?" 

"Yes, Ma'am"

"Do you currently have a girl?"

"No, Ma'am"

"What sort of girl would you be interested in"

"A... erm... girly one..."

"Any particulars in looks?"

"Erm... pretty..."

"Ok Mr. Wu, we will move on to the practical side now." She got up and indicated Yifan to do so too. 

"Now, i want you to pretend that i am a pretty, "girly" girl that you are interested in... you must try to persuade me to go for you over the rich merchants son down the road." 

Yifan gasped slightly. His family definitely didn't tell him about the 'practical side'. 

"Erm... Hello would you like to... umm... er... eh..." His confidence broke and he stopped talking.

"Ok, so that was an OK effort, but it needs improvement!"

Yifan simply nodded and glanced to his side. There was a large opening which lead out to what looked like a private garden. However, there was a young man in the garden, apparently having problems. His arms and legs were flailing about and his eyes were darting everywhere. 

"To start with, you were far to direct with your question, Mr. Wu. You need to be much subtler if you wish to win the heart of a lady."

Yifan snapped his attention back to the matchmaker, however he could still see the flailing man out of the corner of his eye. 

"For example, you should start by complimenting the woman on her appearance. Perhaps a garment she is wearing, or on her hair. This helps to diffuse tension... Mr. Wu are you listening?"

"Erm... Yes! I... I need to compliment her to diffuse tension..."

"Yes, and also remember to keep eye contact at all times, makes her less nervous."

Yifan nodded, but felt him self get more and more distracted by the man running around out side. The man had started making noises as well as flailing his arm about. It sounded to Yifan something like 'bees' but he couldn't be sure. Besides, he should be listening to the matchmaker. 

"Ok, so try again. This time, try to have more self confidence!" 

Yifan tried again, but his second attempt went worse because the man outside shouted something that sounded like 'ow my arm is going to fall off!'. 

"Argh! Mr. Wu i don't believe you took any of my advice into consideration!!" 

"I'm really sorry, it's just the outside is distracting me i'm really sor-"

"Outside? Ok, should we stand over there then?" She got up and made her way to the opening. 

Yifan followed and stood facing her, and ( it just so happens) facing the man outside. 

He tried again, but this time went well until the man outside fell over the edge of a large step. Yifan stopped talking and ran over to see if he was OK. 

The man was young, possibly younger than Yifan. His eyes were close and there were red blotches all over his face. Yifan gently tapped his cheek, which caused him to scrunch up his face in frustration.

"Hey!" He yelled after a few times of feeling the annoying tapping on his cheek. He opened his eyes to see a worried Yifan over him. 

"Who are you?" The man asked, frowning. Then he winced in pain and touched his face. "Argh! It hurts so much!"

"I'm Wu Yifan... You were... distracting me from my matchmaker..." Speaking of whom...

"Mr. Wu, you will never get advice from me again! You will never find a woman, and you are not welcome here again!" The screeching sound of the matchmaker brought Yifan back to reality.

So he now has no chance of making his family happy, and probably never has a chance of ever getting married to Wong Mei, if the matchmaker had a say in it. 

Great.