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“What’s wrong, Brother Yan?”
Yan Xiao didn’t respond to Feng Tiezhu. He walked toward Wen Qinghe but didn’t dare get too close.
His voice was as gentle as he could make it:
“Comrade Wen, if you don’t mind… I have a bed from when I was a child. It should fit in this room just right.”
Wen Qinghe’s face lit up in delight. Of course she didn’t mind—compared to wooden planks, she’d much rather sleep on a bed.
Her fear forgotten, she lifted her head, eyes sparkling as she looked at him.
“I don’t mind at all, thank you!”
Seeing the exquisite young girl in front of him looking up at him with such a gaze, Yan Xiao’s handsome face turned red. The twenty-six-year-old, usually so calm, nearly snapped to attention like a soldier.
For a moment, he lost composure, shifting slightly to the side and pulling his broad coat around himself to cover up.
Looking at the fragile, kitten-like figure before him, so small and delicate, he cursed himself inwardly—beast!
He didn’t dare look again. Leaving behind only a quick,
“Wait for me a while,”
he hurried off with long strides.
Feng Tiezhu assumed he just wanted to get things done early so they could head up the mountain.
About half an hour later, Yan Xiao finally appeared carrying a bed.
During that half hour, Feng Tiezhu had tried chatting nonstop with the fairy-like girl, nearly talking her to death, but Yan Xiao still hadn’t come back.
Now he couldn’t help complaining:
“Brother Yan, why did you take so long?”
“Oh, I saw that bed at home was broken, so I spent some time making a new one.”
In truth, there was never any such small bed. Even if there had been, it would have been too old to sleep on.
He had rushed home, gathered materials, and quickly built one. If he’d had more time, he would’ve made her a little cabinet too.
He thought to himself—perhaps he could ask her later what else she needed, and make it for her tomorrow.
Feng Tiezhu was astonished:
“No wonder it looks so new!”
Wen Qinghe saw him carrying in a freshly built bed, and she was very satisfied. She quickly asked how much it cost and prepared to pay.
But the man said,
“Those pieces of wood at my place were just taking up space. I was going to throw them out anyway. Making a bed for you also clears up some room. No need to pay.”
“How could that be? At least your labor needs to be paid for!”
Seeing she wouldn’t give up, Yan Xiao relented and said,
“Twenty cents. Just give me twenty cents.”
Feng Tiezhu’s eyes nearly popped out. Those logs were black walnut wood he and Yan Xiao had chopped together, resistant to rot and insects. He’d even wanted Yan Xiao to save him a bit to make a table.
And now Yan Xiao said he was going to throw them away??
Tsk tsk… fine then. Since it was for the fairy, he supposed he couldn’t complain.
Wen Qinghe looked at the bed, which fit the room just right. There was even space left over—perhaps a small cabinet could be added later.
She was lucky she wasn’t tall. Her original body had been 1.65 meters, but this one, probably due to childhood frailty, was at most 1.62.
She sat down to test it. For one person, it was enough.
Not bad. She was very satisfied!
She pulled out five yuan and a handful of fruit candies from her shoulder bag—something she had prepared in advance, knowing she’d need to ask for favors in the village.
“Comrade Yan, thank you! Here’s five yuan. Tomorrow, could you also make me a small cabinet? Not too big, just something that fits this room. A drawer on top and two shelves below for clothes.”
Yan Xiao’s lips pressed together as he thought over the design she described. Then he said in a low voice:
“Take the money back. I’ll make the cabinet tomorrow and bring it over. I said twenty cents was enough. Five yuan is too much—I don’t have change.”
Feng Tiezhu: …
Don’t have change???
This man had sold tiger skins for hundreds of yuan before, yet now he claimed he couldn’t break five yuan??
Could it be that Brother Yan had his eye on the fairy-like girl?
No, it couldn’t be! They had to compete fairly!
“Comrade Wen, I can make one too! And I won’t charge!”
The words were barely out of his mouth before he felt Yan Xiao’s abyss-like gaze fall on him.
He wasn’t afraid. Not at all. Well… except his legs wanted to tremble on their own.
Damn it! Was he not even allowed to compete fairly?
Wen Qinghe didn’t hesitate. She handed two dimes to Yan Xiao.
Take something for free? Impossible. Even if it was good quality, she wouldn’t dare accept it.
There’s no such thing as a free lunch.
If there was, she’d choose the one that charged a fee.
After the two men left, she finally had a chance to carefully look at her small room—five to six square meters.
Against the wall stood the one-meter-wide, one-point-eight-meter-long bed.
In barely half an hour, the wood had been sanded smooth.
Aside from the mud walls, the place had been swept spotless. Even the spiderwebs she’d noticed earlier were gone.
Her luggage had been brought in by Yan Xiao, stacked on a temporary wooden frame.
She unpacked a quilt and spread it on the bed.
The difference from her former three-meter-wide Simmons bed was jarring, but she’d have to make do.
This was her room now. The environment couldn’t be changed, but she could at least make it more comfortable.
Maybe tomorrow she could paste old newspapers over the dusty walls, and hang a scrap of fabric as a curtain for the fifty-centimeter-wide window.
She could also add some small, practical things.
In any case, it was private, and that was nice.
She took out a kettle, basin, and other daily items from her bundle. They were all brand new—saving her the trouble of asking the brigade leader for help buying them.
Just as she finished tidying up, she heard noisy voices and many footsteps outside.
“New educated youths arrived today?”
“I heard the captain say five came.”
“Ah, guess we’ll be crowded again at night…”
…
Hearing the voices, she and Liu Meihua stepped outside. At once, a chorus of gasps sounded.
Their gazes swept over her—some amazed, some lovestruck, some envious, some scrutinizing, some jealous.
“Oh my god, am I seeing things? Where did this fairy come from?”
“So this is the new educated youth? She’s so beautiful!”
“Bah. Give it a few days in the fields and she’ll look just like us.”
“Exactly. That frail little body looks so delicate—she might not even last as long as we do!”