Chapter 96

“Did you come to see me first thing in the morning just to ask about this?” Fu Qingshan was a bit amused and confused. “Why did you suddenly think of asking this?” 

“My mom and Qiao Baihe said what I did wasn’t right—that I didn’t consider your feelings at the time.” Since she came to resolve the issue, Qiao Xinyi was very honest. “So, were you unhappy that day?” 

Fu Qingshan smiled. “Do you think there was any chance you wouldn’t get your diploma that day?” 

“Impossible.” Qiao Xinyi answered without hesitation. 

“But what if the questions Liu Yun gave you that day were really too hard for you?” 

“It was the elementary school graduation exam, especially math. If there were questions so hard I couldn’t answer them, after handing in my paper, I would have Liu Yun try to solve them too.” 

“If she couldn’t answer, I’d report that all her academic credentials are fake—she can’t even handle the elementary school graduation exam questions. How did she get into middle school?” Qiao Xinyi lifted her chin proudly. “I’m good at writing reports. When the time comes, I’ll take those elementary school graduation questions Liu Yun gave me to their local Education Department, plus a letter of commendation praising their elementary education for its depth.” 

“I have confidence in myself. I’m not going to lose.” Qiao Xinyi explained, “When I heard Liu Yun wanted to bet on me passing the elementary graduation, that bet seemed to me like someone saying, ‘I’ll give you 100 yuan if you just take a sip of water’—it’s free money.” 

“If, by some tiny chance, something went wrong…” Qiao Xinyi touched her nose, “cheating isn’t off the table~ Could Liu Yun really go around telling people she tried to steal someone’s boyfriend but got cheated herself?” 

“If she dares to say that, I don’t care—I’m thick-skinned and not afraid of gossip.” 

In short, there was no way she would ever voluntarily back out and give Fu Qingshan up. 

Fu Qingshan had guessed what Qiao Xinyi was thinking that day. She was radiating confidence and even smiling a little slyly when she agreed to the bet. 

“Don’t worry, I wasn’t angry.” Fu Qingshan shook his head. “You don’t have to make a special trip over such a small thing next time. If there’s something, we can talk about it the next time we meet.” 

“That won’t do. If you really were angry and kept it inside, you’d get more and more upset. I’d have to apologize quickly and make you feel better.” 

Hearing Qiao Xinyi say she’d make him feel better made Fu Qingshan laugh out loud. That was a new way of putting it—he’d never heard a woman talk about cheering up a man like that before. 

Fu Qingshan took Qiao Xinyi’s hand and gently squeezed it. He was genuinely happy to see her today. 

The two children knew their uncle had gone to pick up “Bald Auntie” and sat early on the doorstep waiting. They ran to the road to look and then ran back to wait some more. 

When they saw Qiao Xinyi, the two kids ran wildly toward her. 

They pushed Fu Qingshan aside—one on each side—and Fu Linzhou even grabbed the hand Fu Qingshan was holding and held it himself. 

“Bald Auntie, did you come to take me and my brother to the zoo? You’re so fast!” Fu Linzhou tightly held “Bald Auntie’s” hand with both of his and jumped up and down happily while swinging Qiao Xinyi’s hand. 

“I have other things to do today. I’ll come pick you up to go to the zoo tomorrow.” 

Qiao Xinyi was almost pulled forward by the two kids as they ran. 

The two children immediately said, “Then Bald Auntie has to come as early tomorrow as she did today!” 

After Qiao Xinyi nodded, the two kids grabbed her again and ran, pulling her straight into the yard and then inside the house.

“Auntie Baldy, my brother and I picked out rooms for you,” Fu Linzhou said excitedly, pointing upstairs. “The attic upstairs is for me and my brother. The biggest room on the first floor is for Auntie Baldy, and uncle gets the smaller one.”

The two kids pushed Qiao Xinyi toward the door of the room. Fu Zeyu said, “My brother and I will help clean this room for Auntie Baldy later. Once we finish, you can move in.”

Fu Qingshan was taking off his shoes at the door and overheard the kids’ conversation. He walked in barefoot and added, “She’ll share a room with me. I’ll clean our room, and you two should just keep your own rooms tidy.”

The two kids furrowed their brows, hands on hips, glanced at Qiao Xinyi and then at Fu Qingshan, shaking their heads with a look that said, “We really don’t understand why adults are so strange.”

“Sometimes you sleep together, sometimes apart. Adults sure are fickle,” they said.

Last time Qiao Xinyi came, she mostly just stood in the yard, but this time her status had changed, so she freely inspected the house.

Fu Qingshan’s transfer to the provincial city was very temporary. There were no vacant second apartments in the new family housing to assign to him. So, after some discussion upstairs, they decided to let him move here first. This two-story house was given to him temporarily, and once there was a vacancy in the new housing, he would move there.

Though called a two-story house, it was really only one and a half floors. There was only one room upstairs, but it was quite large. The two kids chose that room, and Fu Qingshan arranged two sets of furniture inside.

The rest of the upstairs was a terrace, probably used for drying clothes.

Downstairs were two rooms, one large and one small, plus a modest kitchen. Outside the kitchen was the dining area, now set up with a square eight-immortal table and four long benches.

After Qiao Xinyi finished touring the house, Fu Qingshan asked, “We’ll probably live here for two or three years before moving. We should make the place a little nicer so it’s more comfortable to live in. How do you want to arrange things?”

He pointed to a corner of the yard. “This place isn’t very close to the public restroom. I’m planning to build a toilet in the yard corner myself.”

“We’ll also need to build a shower room,” Qiao Xinyi replied.

Houses built years ago didn’t have separate shower rooms—everyone used to shower in the kitchen before bed, making do for decades.

“Okay,” Fu Qingshan agreed and then asked about her furniture preferences.

“We need a big bed and wardrobe, and a dressing table. If our room can’t fit a desk, we can use the empty room next door as our study,” Qiao Xinyi said plainly. She wasn’t shy, and she directly pulled Fu Qingshan into the room to show him how she wanted the furniture arranged.

Fu Qingshan took notes carefully and agreed to everything she said without objection.

The two kids listened with bright eyes and insisted Qiao Xinyi help them arrange their rooms as well.

After the four finished looking around inside, they went out to the large terrace. It was only then that Qiao Xinyi learned from Fu Qingshan that the family compound even came with vegetable plots.

“Long ago, there were fields. Each family got a small share. If you wanted to farm, it could save quite a bit on food. Later, these fields were merged into the army’s farm and managed collectively. But they still left each family two small vegetable plots,” Fu Qingshan explained and then asked, “Do you know how to grow vegetables?”

Qiao Xinyi honestly shook her head.

“That’s okay, I do,” Fu Qingshan said. He already knew what vegetables she liked. This morning on his jog, he stopped by and planted some seeds. “When the vegetables are ready, I’ll cook for you.”

Qiao Xinyi loved hearing that—he grows, she cooks.

Just as the four were about to head downstairs, Xiao Mao came in and shouted from the yard toward upstairs, “Captain, the political commissar heard Sister-in-law came. He said he has something to talk to Sister-in-law about and is asking her to come over.”

Fu Qingshan replied for Qiao Xinyi, and the four went downstairs together.