CHAPTER 36: CHAPTER 36: HOME DELIVERY

"I heard that you have Zhiqing coming, your Uncle Yonggui brought some wood from the mountains and made two kang cabinets. If you want them, you can take them now." Aunt Zaohua welcomed the two into the house.

The houses here are mostly designed where you enter into the stove room, walk past the stove to reach the inner room, remove your shoes and get on the kang bed. On the west side of the upper room, two kang cabinets were stacked, with two coats of tung oil on the raw wood. The craftsmanship wasn’t exquisite, but the size was right and very practical.

Beside it, there was also a wooden basin about half a meter high and half a meter in diameter, also newly made, exuding the smell of tung oil, which Xu Qinghuan immediately took a liking to.

She chose a kang cabinet here, two pieces of kang mats, a wooden basin, and initially, she wanted to buy a table and a big cabinet too. Her mailed package would take at least another week to arrive, and the cotton quilts needed a cabinet to be stored, but considering the small size of the Zhiqing point, she had to temporarily give up the idea.

Aunt Zaohua was quite nice. The kang cabinet was not easy to move, so she had her youngest son use a cart to help Xu Qinghuan transport the purchased items, and even gave Xu Qinghuan a bamboo basket for free.

Saying that she would find it useful in the future.

Each kang cabinet cost three yuan and fifty cents, kang mats were thirty cents each, and the wooden basin cost Xu Qinghuan four yuan, totaling eight yuan and one cent. The items weren’t expensive and could be used for ten to eight years without breaking.

Xu Qinghuan still had two thousand four hundred seventy-one yuan and eighty-four cents on hand.

On the way back to the Zhiqing point, Qiao Xinyu took Xu Qinghuan through another path, where they saw two lonely households at the foot of the mountain. One of them was surprisingly a large green brick house with a courtyard with two entrances and half an acre of yard inside. Xu Qinghuan was a bit surprised and asked, "Whose house is this?"

"This was the old house of the big landlord that used to be here. I heard that their family got too big, so they moved and built two big houses over by our current brigade headquarters, leaving this one empty. Later, you know... no one dared to live here anymore."

Qiao Xinyu saw the light in her sister’s eyes as if twinkling, "You aren’t thinking of this house, are you?"

Xu Qinghuan nodded vigorously, "Can’t I? Can’t I even buy it?"

Qiao Xinyu thought for a while, "It’s not that you can’t, it’s just, you see, although it’s close to the brigade headquarters, it’s the only one nearby and very close to the mountains. It’s said that wild beasts often come down from there. Also, do you know who lives next door?"

Qiao Xinyu pointed to the low earthen house next to the green brick house and asked.

Xu Qinghuan had no idea and shook her head, "Is this family very fierce?"

"How can they not be fierce? Do you remember the person driving the tractor today?" Qiao Xinyu said with a hint of fear.

Xu Qinghuan nodded, "Jiang Xingye, the one who saved my life, isn’t he pretty nice?"

Qiao Xinyu clutched her heart, as if her sister had said something astonishing, "That’s still a good person? Do you know what kind of reputation he has in the production team?"

Xu Qinghuan shook her head with a smile, very curious, "What kind of reputation?"

Could it be that the future big shot really had a bad reputation when he was young? Just a loafer, a village tyrant, idle and ruthless, what more could it be?

"No one in the entire production team wants to deal with him, avoiding him like a snake. They say there’s no one, young or old, that he hasn’t beaten. No one dares provoke him. Whenever someone speaks to him, he glares back as if about to devour someone, ignoring them, and starting to fight with the slightest disagreement."

Qiao Xinyu grew more afraid as she spoke, lowering her voice, "I heard he almost killed someone. Anyway, I dare not provoke him; I’m afraid he’ll beat me."

Xu Qinghuan gasped. She didn’t expect that people from major teams would treat Jiang Xingye like this, and an anger surged within her, her voice carrying some resentment, "There must be a reason for that too!"

Qiao Xinyu was taken aback, incredulous, "What reason?"

Xu Qinghuan didn’t think much of it, "Anyway, that person must be a bad guy, a very, very bad guy!"

At that time, Jiang Xingye was very young and severely injured, but no one considered things from his perspective.

The murder case was stirred up by Jiang Xingye’s mother, while the witness who accused Jiang Xingye was also his biological mother.

Since it involved Jiang Xingye’s family matters, Xu Qinghuan didn’t feel it was right to explain the specifics, but she felt it was extremely unfair for him to be misunderstood and rejected in this way.

Qiao Xinyu was utterly baffled, "No, Huanhuan, how do you know? Do you know him from before?"

Xu Qinghuan inwardly thought, "Oops," she had wholeheartedly defended the big shot but overdid it, "Of course... I don’t know him. I just think he’s a good person, after all, he just saved me. If he wanted to kill the other person, then that person certainly wasn’t good."

Qiao Xinyu breathed a sigh of relief, not doubting this explanation because the two grew up together, knowing each other too well. Even if Xu Qinghuan said she knew Jiang Xingye, Qiao Xinyu wouldn’t believe it.

"All right, just stay away from him in the future. Remember, we’re going back to the city later, keep your distance from all the male comrades in the production team." Qiao Xinyu advised her sister like an elder sister.

"Got it!" Xu Qinghuan thought about clinging to the big shot’s golden thigh but found it unwise to mention at this moment, fearing it would scare her sister.

As the two walked far away, a person slowly walked up from under the slope, their narrow eyes as sharp as a beast’s, with a hint of ferocity, staring at Xu Qinghuan’s back as she went away, their thin lips slightly curled, with a trace of satire in the piercing cold look.

Who else could it be but Jiang Xingye!

He had overheard all the conversation between the two just now. He didn’t expect the new Zhiqing to be so naive, just because he lent a hand, she directly deemed him a good person!

For someone like her to have survived until now is truly remarkable!

At the entrance of the Zhiqing point, the old yellow cow finally arrived, the new Zhiqing were unloading baggage, and walking over ten li almost cost these people half their lives.

Seeing Xu Qinghuan and Qiao Xinyu returning from who knows where, Ma Lijuan and Lu Nianying were almost mad with jealousy.

They wanted to ride the ox cart, but the team leader did not allow it, saying the livestock were more precious than people, what kind of logic is this!

As they saw Xu Qinghuan and Qiao Xinyu walk straight past without a glance at the luggage piled on the ground, Lu Nianying felt extremely aggrieved, "Xu Qinghuan, we are sisters after all, now in this unfamiliar place, can’t you lend a hand?"

She pointed at the luggage on the ground, accusing.

Xu Qinghuan stopped, looked at her sideways and said, "Sisters? Don’t you have a clue about your own background? Even though my mom abandoned me, my dad and my mom legally married and had children. What do you count as something with an unknown father, trying to claim sisterhood with me!"

There were other Zhiqing at the entrance, all coming to recognize the newcomers, and even the cowherd driving the cart and the team leader hadn’t left yet. Several others came to watch, hearing these words, all filled with gossip, wishing Xu Qinghuan would say more.

Lu Nianying’s face went pale, she looked at Xu Qinghuan in disbelief, how did she know? How could she know? Someone must have told her, but who else could it be besides Song Wanlin!