Chapter 20

Last night, Su Ye had a beautiful dream. In the dream, she was all over Gu Xiangqian—his abs, his muscular waist, his long legs—everything was on full display. The pleasure was so intense that Su Ye didn’t even feel the pain and kept teasing him repeatedly.

In the dream, Gu Xiangqian was especially enticing. He was wearing a white shirt, slowly undoing his buttons. When he lifted his hat, his sharp brows and eyes were revealed, and underneath his shirt were solid muscles. It wasn’t until Su Ye’s eyes were too tired to stay open that the dream finally ended.

But to her surprise… this turned out to be real? Su Ye shivered involuntarily.

Su Ye had never thought about taking responsibility for Gu Xiangqian, but now… the meat had already been eaten, can she spit it out and back out?

“Sorry?” Gu Xiangqian raised his brows slightly, repeating Su Ye’s words.

He took a look at his watch by the bed—5:50 AM. There were still ten minutes before the spring wake-up bell would ring. Usually, Gu Xiangqian would wake up at exactly 5:00 AM, but today, he had been late by fifty minutes.

Su Ye lowered her head, trying to hide the pain on her face. “I was just talking nonsense.”

She quickly found her clothes and put them on, leaving the bed. The room was a mess. The leftover Dongpo pork from last night had solidified, carelessly sitting on the table, and the liquor bottle was spilled on the floor. The books Gu Xiangqian cherished had fallen all over the place, and the students’ assignments were stacked haphazardly.

The scene vaguely suggested that something impure had happened here, and Su Ye couldn’t help but look away, her eyes burning. Even pretending to have amnesia and denying everything wasn’t going to work.

Gu Xiangqian dressed, patted Su Ye’s shoulder, and stood up to go wash up.

In contrast to Su Ye’s “shy and awkward” demeanor, Gu Xiangqian seemed full of energy and vitality. He went out with the ration coupons to buy four meat buns from the canteen.

While waiting for the first batch of buns to be steamed, people constantly greeted him.

“Xiangqian, what’s the good news today? You look in a great mood.”

“You look like a different person today, full of energy.”

“Hey, what’s the occasion? Meat buns for breakfast?”

Although the food supply in the military was generally assured, meat buns were a rare treat. Not everyone could get them whenever they wanted. For someone like Gu Xiangqian, his monthly share of pork was only one kilogram, so these four buns meant that he wouldn’t need to eat meat for the rest of the month.

Gu Xiangqian brought the buns home. The stove in the house was still burning, and the warmth filled the room. Accustomed to the cold, Gu Xiangqian took off his coat, leaving only a cotton undershirt underneath.

He took some dried noodles, chopped a little shepherd’s purse, and added the noodles and vegetables to boiling water to make soup noodles. Then, he poured hot water from the thermos and made two cups of malted milk drink.

The figure standing by the windowsill was bathed in the faint, soft morning light, causing his shirt to appear slightly pale.

In this era, there were few overweight people, everyone was thin and gaunt. Gu Xiangqian’s back looked lean, but in reality, he was one of those who looked slim when dressed, but had muscles underneath. After a month of recovering from his injury, his abs were still intact, as solid as iron.

Su Ye’s stomach growled, and she hesitated before averting her gaze.

She couldn’t tell if it was hunger or desire that was making her feel this way.

On the table were two bowls of steaming soup noodles, four meat buns, and two cups of malted milk drink, filling the air with the sweet aroma of food.

Normally, breakfast wasn’t so lavish. On regular mornings, Gu Xiangqian would bring back four coarse steamed buns, and occasionally, he would have a bowl of noodles. When it was time for sorghum or buckwheat buns, Su Ye wouldn’t even want to eat breakfast.

But at this time, the freshly steamed meat buns were plump and white, larger than a fist. The buns held a thin layer of steam, and their skins were soft yet chewy. The ingredients in the canteen were quite generous, and with just one bite, Su Ye could taste the rich meat juice. The hot filling made her eyes sparkle with delight.

“Is it good?” Gu Xiangqian asked.

Looking at Su Ye’s sparkling eyes, he already knew the answer. “The master who makes these buns, Master Yang, used to be a chef at a state-owned restaurant. He’s been making meat-filled buns for over twenty years. Whenever we finished a mission and returned to the base, the first thing we looked forward to was a good meal of his buns.”

In recent years, food had become scarcer, and meat buns had become even more of a luxury. Newlywed couples in the military always made sure to include Master Yang’s buns at their wedding feasts.

Su Ye nodded, taking several more bites of the buns. She didn’t know if it was because she hadn’t had anything this good in a while, but the large bun disappeared in just a few bites.

She had been here for nearly two months, and this was her first time tasting the soft white flour meat buns.

One bun was enough to fill her up, and she was already too full to finish the soup noodles. However, knowing that food was precious and should not be wasted, Su Ye planned to pack the leftover noodles in a lunchbox for school.

Seeing this, Gu Xiangqian finished his noodles and started eating the leftover noodles in Su Ye’s bowl, as if he didn’t mind her saliva at all.

Su Ye blushed from embarrassment, unable to speak for a moment.

After finishing breakfast, Gu Xiangqian changed into his “pine green” military uniform and headed to the training field.

—

At the No. 1 Middle school.

After receiving a few broken watches from her students, Su Ye spent her free time after school focusing on fixing them. She even allowed the students to watch her work.

Ten broken watches were dismantled, cleaned, and reassembled under Su Ye’s careful hands, leaving her with five functional watches. The remaining five watches were not entirely useless, they still had many intact parts that Su Ye carefully removed, which would be useful later.

Su Ye wiped down each watch repeatedly until they gleamed with a bright shine.

Considering the workers in the factory had better economic conditions, she decided to hand the finished watches over to Yang Xue.

“Go home and ask your dad if any of the uncles and aunties at the factory need a watch. They can take one for just ten yuan.”

Yang Xue nodded and packed the watches into her bag. She believed that even if they were sold for twenty yuan, many people would still buy them.

A brand-new watch costs over a hundred yuan, so buying a second-hand one for less than a tenth of that price was quite a bargain. Moreover, after Su Ye had removed the rust and polished them, the second-hand watches looked nearly as good as new.

They had bought the broken watches for just twenty yuan, and by selling them for ten yuan each, they were making a thirty-yuan profit per watch. The tuition for junior high school at No. 1 Middle School was only ten yuan, and Su Ye had earned enough to cover the tuition of three students in just a few days.

Yang Xue’s admiration for her grew even more.

Su Ye had been fixing the watches in the office without any intention of hiding her actions. At first, the math and physics teachers thought Su Ye was just someone who likes to tinker and experiment. They hadn’t expected her to come up with such a profitable scheme.

Teacher Lu, the physics teacher, quickly said, “Wait a minute, Su Ye, could I take a look at one?”

Although Teacher Lu had been a teacher for many years, he had never owned a wristwatch. He held the watch up to his eyes, carefully examining it, and adjusted the winding knob. It didn’t seem to have any major issues, and the time was running accurately.

He thought to himself that if the watch really worked, it would be an incredible bargain. Su Ye worked at No. 1 Middle School, and she wouldn’t scam a colleague, right?

Thinking this, Teacher Lu decisively took ten yuan from his pocket and handed it to Su Ye.

“This first sale is mine. I’m supporting Teacher Su’s business,” he said.

He looked at the watch in his hands and became more and more satisfied. “Thank you, Teacher Su. Even someone like me, who struggles to get by, will finally be able to use a watch.”

Liu Qiu, who shared the same office, was startled and quickly withdrew her gaze. Su Ye had this kind of skill, yet she was still working as a teacher at the school? Why bother earning a little extra money?

Su Ye shook her head and firmly corrected her, “This isn’t my business.”

Although the country was cracking down on speculation, it was aimed at those who maliciously inflated food prices and disrupted the market. There weren’t many restrictions on something as small as a watch. Nowadays, farmers often come to the city to sell their homemade agricultural products at small stands.

However, Su Ye wanted to frame this activity as a public service and charity, and no one would be allowed to interfere with it.

She patted the students around her and smiled. “This is their ‘business’.”

“They buy broken watches from neighbors, repair and reassemble them into functioning watches, and then resell them at low prices. The money earned from selling the watches will be donated to the junior high department to help students from low-income families afford their education.”

“I’m just playing a guiding role in this, I can’t take credit for their hard work,” Su Ye said.

Teacher Lu listened, his eyes widening in disbelief. “What? You’re donating it to students who can’t afford to go to school?”

Su Ye nodded. “A few students from their class dropped out this semester. They were really upset about it and decided to do something for them. If this project gains momentum, I’ll make a formal plan later.”

Teacher Lu fell silent as he listened. Holding the watch in his hands, he suddenly felt uneasy.

Nearby, Teacher He, who had been listening intently, said, “So Teacher Su has been doing this? This is such a great thing! If you need any help, don’t hesitate to ask. I’ll definitely pitch in!”

Su Ye nodded and accepted Teacher He’s offer. Free labor that came to her door—why turn it down?

Yang Xue, holding the repaired watches, felt a warmth in her heart. It seemed these watches were no longer just simple timepieces, they had become symbols of hope for many.

—

Yang Xue took the repaired watches home and gave them to her father, telling him about Su Ye’s plan.

After hearing this, Yang Xue’s father couldn’t help but sigh. “Your teacher Su, is truly thoughtful, and she has such great skills.”

He knew what his daughter had been up to lately—helping others repair watches for free. Among the watches, one seemed familiar to him. Wasn’t that the one Yang Xue had bought from Old Wang’s house for just a yuan a few days ago?

That particular watch had been broken for years. Old Wang, too stingy to throw it away or even take it to the recycling station, had kept it around. When he heard that an old watch could be exchanged for a yuan, he eagerly brought it over.

Who would have thought that Su Ye was so skilled that even this broken watch could be repaired?

Yang Xue’s father carefully examined the watches and took them. “Tomorrow, I’ll ask around for you. I’m sure there will be many people willing to buy.”

He didn’t even wait until tomorrow. After dinner, he visited a colleague’s house. He pulled out the four watches and said, “These watches are ten yuan each. Can you help me find out who wants to buy one?”

As soon as Yang Xue’s father said this, the others were stunned. Ten yuan each? That was practically a bargain! They couldn’t believe the price—weren’t they just giving them away? Who would sell something so cheap?

The others exchanged skeptical looks, wondering if these were stolen goods. But then they thought about it: if they were stolen, the price wouldn’t be this low. Selling stolen goods at this price would cause the smugglers to lose money.

Seeing the suspicious glances from his colleagues, Yang Xue’s father angrily said, “These are watches that my daughter’s teacher repaired. They were broken, but she fixed them, so they’re being sold at a lower price. If you’re not going to help, forget it, I’ll leave.”

His colleagues quickly stopped him, warmly brushing off his clothes. “No, no, no, we don’t need to ask anyone else! Yang, do you think we’re suitable for these watches?”

Even if they were stolen goods, they would still take them at that price! It was such a good deal, and they appreciated how considerate it was for the workers facing financial difficulties.