Chapter 50 ☆ Save money for your Wife (Part 1)

“Did you touch me?”

After Cheng Yaoyao asked this, Xie San’s face turned red instantly, and veins bulged on his forehead and neck as if he would expose himself at any moment.

The man’s narrow eyes revealed disbelief and panic. He glanced around and lowered his voice, asking, “Why… why did you suddenly bring this up?”

“You bastard!” Xie San’s guilty expression confirmed Cheng Yaoyao’s suspicion.

In broad daylight, with the world bright and clear, the young men and the gatekeeper nearby stared at the two with sharp eyes. Xie San felt like finding a crack in the ground to hide in. “I… I did not…”

“You did!” Cheng Yaoyao’s cheeks were also hot. After hearing Xie San’s denial, she felt a strong sense of grievance. “My body… is all red. How could you do this?”

Xie San’s mind replayed the erotic scene of that night. His nose felt hot, and he closed his eyes almost in pain, pleading, “Yaoyao!”

The two faced each other, their voices lowered. Xie San’s tone was filled with a mix of regret and affection, while Cheng Yaoyao’s anger was evident. Those watching from a distance couldn’t guess what the two were discussing.

Xie San’s mind was occupied with one thought: Yaoyao was acting like a spoiled child again!

Cheng Yaoyao’s heart was filled with alarm: Did this guy refuse to admit his mistake?

Cheng Yaoyao’s eyes were filled with rage, and her cheeks were flushed like roses. To Xie San, she looked intoxicated and infatuated, wanting to be loved. He resisted the urge to hug her and said in a hoarse voice, “Yaoyao, this matter… I’ll come to you after I rest, okay?”

“Who asked you to come to me?” Cheng Yaoyao spat out angrily, suddenly raising her voice and saying expressionlessly, “Grandma asked me to deliver the things. I’m leaving now.”

When she was as cold as ice, she had an air of arrogance and indifference that made people afraid to approach her. Zhao Hai, the director of the machinery factory, paused for a moment. Only when Cheng Yaoyao turned and left did he react. He patted Xie San on the shoulder and said with a smile, “This girl has a bad temper. Is she your relative?”

“Yeah,” Xie San came back to his senses, calmed down, and said, “Director, you’re looking for me?”

Zhao Hai didn’t ask any more questions but said, “This morning, the driver of car No. 1 didn’t come, so you can take them to practice driving. Is that okay?”

“Okay!” Xie San replied and unconsciously looked in the direction where Cheng Yaoyao had left.

Zhao Hai was completely unaware of the situation and talked to Xie San about the current situation, urging him to perform well. After speaking until his mouth was dry, he patted Xie San’s shoulder with a reluctant look, offered a few words of encouragement, and left.

Xie San immediately turned his head to look at the street. People in dark blue and khaki work clothes were coming and going, but there was no sign of the slim figure in goose yellow.

Xie San lowered his eyes, bent down to pick up a bag of breakfast from the ground, brushed the dust off the oil-paper wrapper, and lifted the bag again. It was heavy, and he wondered how Cheng Yaoyao had carried it.

She left in such a hurry; he didn’t know how much effort it would take to make it up to her.

Xie San’s thoughts were interrupted by a group of young people. They couldn’t contain their curiosity and rushed over to Xie San, asking, “Brother Xie, who was that girl just now?”

“She must be Brother Xie’s sister. Brother Xie looks like Yue Yun, and that girl looks like Guanyin!”

“If you ask me, it must be Brother Xie’s… hehe.”

Xie San replied in a deep voice, “Don’t talk nonsense! Go back and have breakfast!”

A big guy with a plaster on his nose pushed the others aside and shouted, “Didn’t you hear what Brother Xie said? Go, go, go!”

After everyone else left, Zhao Dayong chuckled and said, “Wasn’t that Cheng Zhiqing, the one we competed for last time? What’s that in your arms? Is it the food she brought you? Brother Xie, that girl gave you so many things before, but you never accepted them. You…”

Xie San opened the paper bag and said, “The girl’s reputation is important; don’t talk nonsense.”

“That’s true. These city girls are so proud nowadays. The ones in our educated youth group are all arrogant. Besides, this educated youth Cheng is so pretty. I heard her father is a senior engineer.” Zhao Dayong had a good relationship with the female educated youths in their group and knew a lot of gossip.

Hearing about Cheng Yaoyao, Xie San’s ears perked up. Senior engineer—that was the first time he had heard such a title. No wonder Cheng Yaoyao had such a demeanor and could be so spoiled. A hint of sadness flashed across Xie San’s eyes as he felt that the distance between him and Cheng Yaoyao had suddenly widened.

“Wow, meat buns!” Zhao Dayong’s eyes lit up as he stared at the paper package Xie San opened.

Xie San threw one at him. Zhao Dayong quickly caught it. The big meat bun was still warm, and when he bit into it, hot gravy flowed out. It was filled with a lot of fat cubes. Zhao Dayong ate the bun and said with a greasy mouth, “Brother, I’ll go get some food. Can I get you one?”

“Yeah.” Xie San handed him the lunch box and carried the things back to the dormitory.

The dormitories of the machinery factory had two rooms allocated for the young people learning to drive. The twelve-person room had bunk beds and was spacious and bright. Xie San’s bunk was on the lower bed near the window. The bed was clean, with only a pillow and a torn blanket.

Xie San put the breakfast on the table and opened the cloth bag first. There were two jars: one with pickles made by grandma and the other with oily chicken mushrooms. There was also a stack of oil-paper wrapped cakes. When opened, each cake was about the size of a palm, roasted on both sides, golden brown, and had a unique aroma of white flour. Xie San feared that the fine grain at home was all in these cakes.

Xie San and his friends ate in the canteen of the machinery factory. The village subsidized them with one pound of food coupons and two cents a day. They were young and strong men, and learning to drive was mentally and physically demanding. They could only eat half full. Xie San didn’t go hungry thanks to the dry food sent by his family.

Xie San rewrapped the bread and put it in the cupboard. When packing up his cloth bag, he found something else inside. He took it out and saw it was a brand-new towel, a new toothbrush, and a new tube of toothpaste.

This towel was very soft and was the most expensive one sold in the supply and marketing cooperative. The same was true for the toothpaste and toothbrush. Xie San had bought all these things from the supply-and-marketing cooperative himself. The last time he bought a toothbrush was before the Chinese New Year, and the bristles were almost all gone. Such good items could only be brought by Cheng Yaoyao.

The scene of washing his face that morning replayed in Xie San’s mind. His torn towel and broken toothbrush were accidentally displayed in front of Cheng Yaoyao. Although he took them away quickly, did she still see them?

Holding the soft towel in his hand and the bag of food and pickles in front of him, Xie San’s chest was filled with a complex mix of joy and anxiety. He wished he could finish the course tomorrow and return to Cheng Yaoyao. He also wanted to make money as soon as possible, so he could stand on equal footing with Cheng Yaoyao, marry her, and love her instead of eating her food, using her gifts, and asking her to follow him and endure hardships.

Zhao Dayong, carrying two boxes of lunch, pushed the door open with his shoulder and came in. “Quick, clear the table, it’s scalding me!”

Xie San composed himself, cleared the clutter from the table, and dropped the lunch box with a clang. Zhao Dayong shook his hands. “This morning, we had porridge and two buckwheat buns! The food is getting worse and worse!”

Xie San opened the lunch box. The corn porridge was thin and steaming. Xie San took a sip and said with a blank expression, “Let’s go learn how to drive after eating. I’ll teach you today.”

Zhao Dayong shouted, “Why do you need to be a master again? Brother Xie, you only need to teach me. Don’t teach them everything and hide your skills!”

Xie San chewed a steamed bun, which was made of Fuqiang flour and sweetened with sugar. He said calmly, “Driving is a job that concerns human life. The more you learn, the safer you will be.”

After listening, Zhao Dayong nodded in agreement.

Xie San added, “I will teach you how to turn later.”

Zhao Dayong was happy. “That’s great! I just can’t learn this. Brother Xie, you teach much more clearly than the master!”

“You’re the one who doesn’t study hard enough.” With the heat from the breakfast still lingering, Xie San handed a fried dough stick to Zhao Dayong. They wolfed down their food with porridge, rinsed their lunch boxes, and went to the playground to learn how to drive.

Zhao Dayong was originally an educated youth. Zhao Hai, the director of the machinery factory, was his distant uncle. He used some connections to get him into tractor training just to get by. But Xie San was different. With a low life and a poor family background, he seized every opportunity to make a living.

Xie San was silent, but he learned quickly and well. He watched coldly from the sidelines as the master kept things to himself and refused to teach him. He took on all the work of washing the car and learned it by himself. Others were jealous and couldn’t help but laugh at his desperate efforts behind his back.

Xie San did not refute; he was indeed working hard. He wanted to save money for a wife and bring Jiaojiao home as soon as possible.

On this side, after Cheng Yaoyao ran away angrily, tears welled up in her eyes and were about to fall. Xie San had touched her, refused to admit it, and was even mean to her! What a stinky man!

If she hadn’t been stared at by a group of people just now, Cheng Yaoyao would have jumped over and scratched his face! She was also angry at herself for not being able to live up to her expectations. How could she not use the speech she had prepared for so long? She almost cried when she opened her mouth. She was so weak! Now she had a lot of curse words coming out, but the person she was talking to was not in front of her.

Cheng Yaoyao’s rosy lips were flattened, and her red eyes made her look like she had suffered a great injustice. She was wearing a beautiful and exquisite dress, looking extremely delicate, and at first glance, she looked like a naive little girl.

A man’s voice rang out from the side: “Comrade, who bullied you? Don’t cry, tell me, I’ll take care of it for you!”

Cheng Yaoyao turned around and saw the man’s square face. She couldn’t hide the greed in her eyes, but she pretended to be concerned.

Only then did she realize that the person who had been following her was not Xie San. He didn’t catch up with her? Cheng Yaoyao’s tears were immediately withdrawn. Her eyebrows were raised, and her pretty face was cold: “It’s none of your business. Get out! You stinky hooligan!”

This was on a busy street. The man was not a veteran hooligan, just a middle-aged man who was tempted by a woman and couldn’t walk. Cheng Yaoyao scolded him loudly, and several people rushed over: “How dare you act like a hooligan?! We’ll take you to the police station!”

The man quickly raised his briefcase to cover his face and ran away in shame.

After this incident, Cheng Yaoyao let out a sigh of relief and finally remembered the serious matter. She asked around and found the county cultural center. Today, the entrance was quite busy, with many young girls and their families waiting at the entrance.