Chapter 51

Once they entered Star City territory, the tractor kept going forward.

In her previous life Ye Wanqing had stayed in the provincial capital the whole time and would go back to Qingshui County now and then. Although time had rolled back ten or twenty years for her, she was still fairly clear on the general direction.

The direction this vehicle was heading was clearly straight toward Xiangnan University.

She could not help asking again. “Yuan-ge, where are we going? Don’t tell me we’re going straight to look for a place near Xiangnan University?”

This time Ge Yuan turned his head and glanced at her, his dark eyes full of pleased laughter. “Didn’t I say I was giving you a surprise? Be good and wait!”

Old Zhong snorted at that. “Won’t even give a straight answer. Only knows how to play the mysterious.”

Ge Yuan lifted his chin. “This is called having ability. What does an old man like you know? Isn’t it just that I didn’t bring those broken odds and ends of yours? Worth giving me the eye and turning your nose up? Wait. Tomorrow this young master will go move those scraps over for you!”

“What scraps? Those are treasures. All treasures!”

“All right, all right, treasures.” Ge Yuan’s perfunctory attitude could not have been more obvious. It made Old Zhong so angry he blew his beard and glared.

Ye Wanqing pressed her lips and smiled.

To Old Zhong those old books and antiques were half a lifetime of painstaking effort and accumulation. Naturally they were treasures beyond price. To Ge Yuan those broken things could not be eaten and could not be drunk, and they only looked so-so. They were of no use at all.

This was just different tastes.

“Pretty sister-in-law, I want a plum.” Ge Yue’s little hand tugged at Ye Wanqing.

It was Ge Yue’s first time on a tractor. She had been jolted until she threw up several times. Ye Wanqing looked down and saw her color was not good, fed her a sour preserved plum, and let her lean in her arms and sleep a little more.

The little girl was very good. She did not fuss. She leaned softly against Ye Wanqing’s arm and closed her eyes in the rocking and jolting of the tractor.

—

The tractor finally drove into a village along the river and stopped in front of a small courtyard.

The rumbling tractor drew the attention of quite a few children. A group of naughty little monkeys ran after the tractor, shouting and jumping under the blazing sun, not knowing tiredness at all.

It was already close to mealtime. Quite a few adults called their own children home to eat while watching Ye Wanqing’s group, curiosity in their eyes.

Ge Yue hugged her little tin bucket. A pair of ink-grape eyes also sized up those jumping little monkeys, her face serious. No one knew what she was thinking.

Ye Wanqing looked at the courtyard in front of her and wanted to laugh.

Her big man had indeed done another big thing, and a very necessary one, very much to her liking.

“Yuan-ge, this is the surprise you prepared for me?” she asked.

Ge Yuan pushed open the courtyard gate and opened a brilliant smile. “How is it? This surprise isn’t bad, right? Wait a moment. Let me get Old Zhong inside first.”

Old Zhong had sat on the tractor for several hours and was not very comfortable. Ge Yuan first supported him into the main room to sit, let him drink some tea and rest, and recover a while.

Once Old Zhong was settled, he ran back in front of Ye Wanqing, smiling both silly and sunny.

He was already extremely handsome and sharp. Now, with a bit of pride lifting his brows, this look was especially charming. The daylight filling the sky could not compare to him.

Ye Wanqing smiled and glanced at him, deciding that whether or not this courtyard could surprise her, she would kiss this fellow a few more times later when no one was around.

The moment she stepped into the courtyard, she rather liked it.

This little courtyard looked a bit larger than the Ge family courtyard. The white-walled, dark-tiled house faced south. Opening the windows let the air move. There were more rooms too. Facing the courtyard gate was a bright, spacious main hall. On each side of the main hall were two rooms, all usable as bedrooms.

The house looked as if it had just been renovated. The beams and the wooden window frames had all been freshly painted, clean and solid. The courtyard ground was also paved with a layer of neatly cut bluestone slabs, so rainy days would not leave mud on the feet, and it was easy to sweep.

The kitchen and the washroom were not built together with the living rooms. They were built on the right side of the courtyard and looked newly built.

What Ye Wanqing cared about most was probably bathing and sanitation. Curious, she walked to the washroom door and looked. She found this place had actually been fixed up even better than the washroom back in Qingshui County, clean and fresh.

Although the Ge family courtyard had built a washroom, for the three urgencies they still used a traditional outhouse.

That kind where a big pit was dug in the dirt, a big jar set in the pit, and two wide boards laid across the mouth of the jar for footing, so a person stood on the boards to relieve themselves.

Used to flush toilets and squat toilets of later times, every time Ye Wanqing went to the washroom she felt it was a challenge, even a kind of torment. She was afraid that if she was not careful she would step empty and half her body would fall into the gold…

She had once mentioned this casually to Ge Yuan. She had not expected him to keep it in his heart and give her such a big surprise.

Unlike the Ge family courtyard, the newly built washroom was divided into inside and outside. Inside was a bathing space of about one and a half square meters. Close the door and you could bathe.

Outside was a squat toilet built of cement. A slope went down. One flush of water and there was no filth, roughly the same type as the toilets at gas stations.

The house had been fixed up this well. The preparations inside were of course not lacking. Furniture was certainly complete. Most daily necessities were in place. Whatever was needed later could be added. Moving in with just their bags was absolutely no problem.

Really very good.

Ye Wanqing pinched Ge Yuan’s hand and gave him an approving look. Ge Yuan straightened his back. A pair of dark eyes shone, and he grew even more pleased.

“I originally thought of buying a flat, but thinking the flat area was small and living would be too crowded, I still chose a courtyard. If you want to live in a flat later, tell me. Your husband will definitely make you happy.”

Husband already?

Glancing at someone’s reddening earlobes, Ye Wanqing pressed her lips and smiled. “I’m very satisfied right now.”

To tell the truth, the layouts of this time mostly had not gone through scientific design. Area was generally seventy or eighty square meters, and most of them had a very large living room while the bedrooms were small, and the kitchen and bath were pitifully small.

The layout was not very reasonable. Living in them was actually not comfortable. It was only that living in a flat sounded foreign and respectable.

Finding a courtyard this good was very rare. By comparison she liked it here more.

Also, Old Zhong and Ge Yue both had to live with them. If they lived in a flat, climbing up and down would be hard on the old man and the child. The first and second floors were also too dark, cold, and damp. Nothing as free as now.

—

The two of them strolled around the courtyard a little, then still had to sort the things on the tractor.

The tractor only had so much space, and three people had to sit on it, so when Ye Wanqing packed she only brought things that were not easy to buy right away, such as clothes, bedding, and summer mats.

Most things were still left at the Ge family courtyard. If they needed to go back later for something, it would also be convenient.

Even so, the things Ye Wanqing had packed were already a lot and had stuffed the tractor full.

Children had endless energy. The moment Ge Yue got off the vehicle she came alive, sitting on the courtyard threshold and looking left and right.

Seeing Ye Wanqing and Ge Yuan unloading things from the tractor, she quickly put her little tin bucket on the table in the main hall, ran to the door, and wanted to take the bundle from Ye Wanqing’s hands.

“Pretty sister-in-law, give it to me, give it to me. I’ll carry it in for you!”

Ye Wanqing thought it was good for a child to do some housework within her ability and did not refuse her. She only weighed the bundle in her hand and switched her to a lighter one. “You take this one. Put it on the floor of the main hall.”

“Okay!” Ge Yue smiled especially sweet.

The little thing hugged a bundle not much smaller than her own body, struggled over the courtyard threshold, and walked step by step toward the main hall like a little duck. The look was especially funny.

Ye Wanqing stood where she was and watched, unable to hold back a laugh.

—

Ye Wanqing spent a dozen minutes sorting the few people’s things a little and sending them to each room. It was already nearly one o’clock.

Hungry until her front stuck to her back, she had no strength to keep working and simply went into the kitchen.

The kitchen had also been cleaned spotless. The stove top had been washed until there was not much grease. Pots and knives were all there.

But because no one had moved in, fresh ingredients could not be stored. The kitchen only had rice and flour filled to the brim, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, tea, and some other seasonings. Nothing else.

Ye Wanqing had considered this situation and brought pork pies made early that morning from Qingshui County. Sticking them in the pan and frying them in oil could also make do for a meal.

She had just prepared to start when Ge Yuan came into the kitchen.

“I bought some vegetables from the neighbors. See if they can make do for a meal?”

Ye Wanqing looked. Ge Yuan was holding two or three tomatoes, a few sections of smoked sausage the neighbors had cured themselves, a small handful of red chili peppers, and a few eggs. Not rich, but enough.

Being able to eat something fresh was always better than eating pies that had gone cold and been heated again. The old man and the child both needed more attention. Old Zhong and Ge Yue had both been uncomfortable on the tractor. Ye Wanqing wanted them to eat something easy to digest, like noodles.

She sliced the homemade sausage thin, put it in an oiled pan and stir-fried it. After the oil rendered, the fat in the sausage turned transparent and the red of the lean meat turned dark red.

The sausage curled slightly. A nose-filling fragrance carried the smell of smoked firewood and opened the appetite.

Then she put the tomatoes cut into small pieces into the pan and stir-fried them together, sprinkled a small spoon of salt, and when the tomatoes had been fried until they released juice and softened, added a few bowls of clear water and brought it to a boil. A simple pot of noodle topping was done.

A few more small spoons of salt in the soup for seasoning, a little soy sauce, and the taste was even fresher.

She started another pot of boiling water, put in a few handfuls of dried noodles, cooked them, scooped them into bowls, ladled on a few spoons of sausage and tomato soup, and sprinkled a small handful of green scallions. The noodles were done.

She took a cucumber, cut it into two-centimeter sections, smashed them with the knife, drizzled on vinegar, light soy sauce, and sesame oil, added a handful of finely chopped red chili, mixed it, and added a little cilantro. A plate of refreshing, spicy, appetite-opening smashed cucumber came out clean and cool.

Their stomachs were empty. Although it was only a simple bowl of noodles with smashed cucumber as a cold dish, the four of them sat around the table and ate a fine meal.

After eating, Old Zhong went to his room to sleep. Ge Yue was also a little drowsy.

Ye Wanqing turned on the fan for Ge Yue, watched her sleep until she started snoring softly, brushed aside the soft damp strands on her forehead, smiled lightly, shook out the quilt on the bed, and covered her little belly so she would not catch cold.

Sitting in the vehicle in the morning had been a bit tiring. At noon Ye Wanqing wiped herself down and also planned to take a nap and rest.

Only in weather this hot, with a furnace stuck to her side that would not be kicked away, it really made a person a little irritable.

The man’s solid, strong arm rested on her waist. Her back was pressed to his scalding chest. Ye Wanqing sweated all over again as she slept and suddenly felt a little angry. She fished over her newly promoted husband’s arm and bit it in a fit of venting, then turned over and went back to sleep.

Ge Yuan had good energy and had not fallen asleep at all. He happily looked at the tooth mark on his arm and stubbornly stuck close to his little woman. His big hand could not help stroking her body, grabbing and pinching, playing to his heart’s content.

“You bit me!” he asked again. “Want me to go wash and then let you bite?”

Wash, then bite?

In an instant very unhealthy, discordant content slid through Ye Wanqing’s mind. Both shy and angry, she kicked him without good temper. “No!”

“Heh heh.”

“Sleep farther away and let me have a proper nap. Otherwise tonight don’t even think of getting in bed, and don’t think of me letting you touch!”

“Oh…” Ge Yuan answered, his voice a little aggrieved, but at least he behaved.

Soon he muttered again. “That day you already grabbed me until it hurt, and you didn’t compensate me… and you’re still this fierce…”

Ye Wanqing: “…”

This man was really getting more and more hopeless.

—

After resting at home for an afternoon and a night, the next morning Ye Wanqing pulled Ge Yuan to the state-run department store over in Xitang.

Although goods were not very abundant at this time, and even a state-run department store could probably be walked through quickly, a woman’s shopping desire was naturally strong, and there were still some things the house needed. Ye Wanqing was still looking forward to the trip.

State-run stores of this time were all glass-counter style. If you took a fancy to something you had to ask the salesperson to take it out. You could not freely choose yourself.

Ye Wanqing did not buy anything first. She walked a circle of the counters to see what could be bought and found the goods here were still fairly complete.

There were counters selling daily goods, clothes and cloth, electrical appliances, and all kinds of bedding… There were not many kinds of goods at this time, and Ye Wanqing was not a fussy person. She quickly settled on what to buy.

She bought four iron-cased thermos flasks. One flask was fifteen yuan. Together that was sixty.

She bought Ge Yuan a Shanghai-brand watch and two white shirts and five or six white tank tops. These together were a little over a hundred.

Thinking of the colorful clothes her rough man had bought that were in the wardrobe, Ye Wanqing sighed and chose a goose-yellow dacron skirt and a rain-washed sky-blue cotton skirt for herself.

Recalling that last time when she tried on the red skirt Wei Hong had made, Ge Yue had also said she wanted pretty little clothes, so she also pulled several large pieces of cloth with nice patterns.

Finally Ye Wanqing took a fancy to a jacquard thread blanket.

This kind of thread blanket was only one meter eight by two meters, a thin layer. As a summer quilt it was quite good.

She pointed at the jacquard thread blankets in the glass counter and asked the salesperson to get them. “Hello, please get me four of these thread blankets, one each of red, yellow, blue, and green.”

“Why four?” Ge Yuan, loaded with bags, quickly asked.

Ye Wanqing counted on her fingers. “Old Zhong and Little Moon each need one. You and I each get one. I didn’t count wrong.”

Her bed with Ge Yuan was big. In the great heat the two of them could use one quilt, but she worried she was too greedy and would hog the quilt, so she thought they might as well each use one, to keep Ge Yuan from catching cold.

Anyway it was not that they could not afford it.

“…All right.” Ge Yuan jerked his chin at a counter not far away. “Didn’t you still want to buy pillow covers? You go choose first. I’ll handle this.”

“All right.” Ye Wanqing nodded.

The two of them came out of the department store loaded with bags. Both bicycles were hung full.

At the time Ye Wanqing did not feel anything was wrong. Only when she got home and sorted the things, no matter how she sorted she found one jacquard thread blanket missing, and she was immediately a little annoyed.

“Yuan-ge, it seems we lost a thread blanket. I don’t know if it fell on the road. How did we not notice?”

“No.” Ge Yuan rubbed his high nose bridge. “That… I only bought three.”

“Why?” Ye Wanqing widened her apricot eyes.

“What why?” Ge Yuan picked up one of the thread blankets and tossed it on the bed, speaking with perfect justification. “We’re married. I’m your husband. Why do we still need two quilts? No!”

Absolutely not!

Ye Wanqing: “…But if I steal the quilt, you’ll easily catch cold.”

“Catching cold is better than not sleeping with my wife!”

Ye Wanqing: “…”

Forget it. The man she chose herself. Even if she cried she had to keep spoiling him.

Seeing Ye Wanqing did not object, Ge Yuan was delighted, feeling he had won a battle. He helped her sort everything, and whatever he did he had special energy.

He was a man with status now. He absolutely would not cover two quilts with his wife!

Only, late at night when it was almost time to sleep, he ran into Ge Yue at the bedroom door, hugging her little tin bucket and rubbing over. His face nearly turned green.

“You’re not sleeping in your bed. What are you running to our room for?”

Ge Yue hugged her little tin bucket and wanted to squeeze through the door. Unfortunately Ge Yuan stood in the doorway like a door god. No matter how she squeezed she could not get in. Immediately her big eyes misted with grievance.

“I’m scared. I want to sleep with pretty sister-in-law!”

Ge Yuan did not agree. “You slept fine last night!”

“You don’t understand!” Ge Yue pouted her little mouth and shook her head very fearfully. “Last night I was almost taken by a monster. I was afraid you would cry, so I didn’t say. I’m very good!”

Ge Yuan: “…”

Damn it, he did not understand!

“Go, go, go. Go sleep by yourself. Don’t make a fuss here. If a child doesn’t sleep alone she won’t grow tall. You don’t want to be a little shorty your whole life, do you.”

“Then why do you sleep with pretty sister-in-law?”

“Shorty! When you’re as tall as me, you can also sleep with whoever you want!”

“Wah… wuwuwu…”

“Damn, even if you cry I won’t give up my bed!”

“Wah!”

As the siblings talked, Ge Yue started crying. Ye Wanqing hurried over. “What’s going on?”

Ge Yuan felt he was about to cry too. But the moment he was not paying attention Ge Yue slipped into the room, hugged Ye Wanqing’s waist and would not let go, crying even harder. “Pretty sister-in-law, wuwu… I want to sleep with you. I’m scared…”

“All right.”

Ge Yuan felt he was going to cry too.

The little one’s crying was like a summer shower. It came when it wanted and left when it wanted, very efficient. The moment she climbed onto the bed she stopped.

Once she stopped crying, she hugged the pillow and closed her eyes.

Ge Yuan was furious. Watching an obstructive little thing appear on the big bed, so that even kissing and touching his little woman could not be done, a bellyful of wicked fire was pent up in his heart and hard to bear.

Ye Wanqing could not help laughing. She took Ge Yuan’s hand and whispered in his ear, “Sleep.”

Once the little one was asleep they could carry her over.

That was the only way.

The light was turned off. Ge Yuan suffered in the dark for half an hour, counted the time, leaped up from the bed, neatly sent the obstructive little sister to her own room, and in two or three steps was back in the room. Locking the door and getting into bed was done in one smooth motion.

“Wife…” He pinched Ye Wanqing’s hand. His narrow waist kept rubbing against her. “I want it today too.”

Ye Wanqing turned over. “Why are you so much like a teddy?”

“What’s a teddy?”

“Mm… a superhero Americans worship a lot. The kind with endless energy.”

“Mm!” Ge Yuan nodded hard. “Then I definitely am. Even more impressive!”

Ye Wanqing held back the laughter about to spill from her lips until her body trembled lightly.

—

The house was settled, and there were still several days before school started. Ye Wanqing got the idea of looking over the market near Xiangnan University.

She and Ge Yuan had once discussed taking over a food factory, but you could not get fat in one bite. The funds in her hands were not much. She still had to open a shop and accumulate some capital first.

There were quite a few storefronts outside Xiangnan University, only none of these storefronts were for rent, and none were for sale. They could not be taken over in a short time.

Ye Wanqing asked around and learned there was also a “food street” near Xiangnan University.

The stalls on food street were all small. It was said the scale was a bit small and the environment was not great, but the prices were very friendly. It was the first choice for many students who wanted to treat themselves.

Also, it was said there were still empty stalls there. Renting a stall on food street should be much easier than taking over a storefront.

Ye Wanqing went to food street with the idea of looking on the spot and found it was actually a temporarily built square. Several rows of stalls were set on the open ground. Most of what was sold was snacks and simple fast food.

If she set up a stall here, the grade would not be high, a bit off from the plan she had started with.

But if she kept waiting for a storefront, that would waste time.

Her mind turned a few circles. Ye Wanqing did not think much more. After asking clearly where to rent a stall, she decided to rent one first and try.