Volume One, Chapter 13: Gu Shen

When Yu Nian’an arrived, there was no one in the courtyard. It was Aunt Chunxing who heard the commotion outside and came out from the kitchen.

“Annie, what brings you here?”

“Auntie, Brother Yu asked me to bring you some things. I just got back, so I brought them over first.” Yu Nian’an handed her the things and explained.

“Oh, that boy! Why does he keep bringing things home? And now he’s troubling you by making you come all this way.”

Aunt Chunxing scolded him with her lips, but her hands firmly accepted the basket. The smile on her face was impossible to hide. Then she looked at Yu Nian’an.

“Girl, don’t leave just yet. Stay here and have a meal with us.”

Yu Nian’an smiled and shook her head. “No, Auntie. I already ate on the way back.”

Hearing that, Aunt Chunxing did not press her. Instead, she turned and went into the kitchen, brought out two heads of freshly pulled cabbage, and gave them to Yu Nian’an. On the way home, she also asked her to tell her husband that the meal was ready.

The timing could not have been better. Yu Nian’an had been growing tired of sweet potatoes and was just thinking of changing up her meals. After thanking Aunt Chunxing, she hugged the cabbages to her chest and headed home.

That evening, she planned to render the fatty pork and braise the cabbage in the resulting cracklings. Then she would ladle it over rice. Just thinking about it made her mouth water.

When she returned home, however, she discovered that Lin Zhi and the other two were nowhere to be seen. She was searching the courtyard when Yu Jianping called out from nearby.

“Girl, that little educated youth asked me to tell you that she went back to the educated youth compound first. She’ll come find you this afternoon.”

She had left? Wasn’t she going to ask about building the toilet?

Yu Nian’an assumed Lin Zhi had changed her mind again and did not ask further. Instead, she relayed Aunt Chunxing’s message and urged them to go home and eat before doing anything else.

Uncle Jianping nodded, set his tools beneath the eaves, exchanged a few words with her, and then took his two nephews home.

Once everyone had left, Yu Nian’an took the opportunity to go into the kitchen and remove several things from the cupboard.

She turned the fatty pork upside down in the pot, covered it with the lid, then measured out the last bit of coarse rice from the rice jar and set it aside before pouring in the white rice she had bought.

As for the salt, Yu Nian’an found a chipped bowl to use in place of a salt jar.

After putting everything in order, she returned to the house and hid the remaining money behind one of the roof beams. Then she walked around the outside of the house, inspecting the progress of the work over the past two days.

The outhouse behind the kitchen had already been demolished, and Uncle Jianping had thoughtfully filled in the pit.

There was a slope behind the house, so only three sides of the courtyard wall needed to be built. The well had been placed on the left side of the courtyard, beside the kitchen, leaving a large open space in the yard.

Land now belonged collectively to the commune. The cabbage at Aunt Chunxing’s home, for instance, had been planted in a small private plot carved out of her own courtyard.

Looking at the remaining space, Yu Nian’an thought she might make a similar plot herself and grow some vegetables. The weather was just right for raising seedlings.

Once the idea had taken root, she decided to ask Aunt Chunxing about it when they went to work that afternoon.

Not long after noon, Yu Jianping and the others returned after eating and continued working. The toilet and bathing shed had already begun to take shape; all that remained was to put roofs on them.

The roofs were to be assembled from wooden planks. Since the boards that had been delivered had not been trimmed in advance, Uncle Jianping was using his tools to saw away most of the irregular edges.

Seeing this, Yu Nian’an walked over and gathered up the discarded pieces of wood scattered across the ground. They were too damp to take to the kitchen for the time being, so she laid them beneath the courtyard wall to dry for a few days.

But as she arranged them, another idea occurred to her. She hurriedly called out, “Uncle, are we allowed to raise chickens at home in this village?”

Yu Jianping wiped the sweat from his brow. “Of course. Are you thinking of raising some, girl?”

“Mm!”

Seeing that she was serious, Yu Jianping instructed her to sort out the pieces of wood that were the right sizes. Once he finished his current work, he would nail together a chicken coop for her.

After all, the wood had been bought with money. Burning it as firewood would be a waste, so it was better to put it to use.

“Uncle, you know how to do this too?” Yu Nian’an asked in surprise.

Uncle Jianping replied modestly, “I learned it from my father. I can manage well enough.”

Yu Nian’an silently gave him a thumbs-up. Now she understood why people often said that having more skills never weighed one down. Uncle Jianping was practically a jack-of-all-trades.

Once the coop was finished, she would raise two hens. They could take turns laying eggs, and when necessary, one could even be slaughtered for meat.

Life was steadily improving, and Yu Nian’an was gradually shedding the confusion she had felt when she first transmigrated into the novel.

When the whistle signaling the afternoon work shift sounded, she exchanged a few words with Uncle Jianping and the others and was just about to leave when she saw Lin Zhi and the other two approaching from a distance.

After a moment’s thought, Yu Nian’an stopped and waited for Lin Zhi to come over. Then she asked about adding another toilet to the educated youth compound.

“When you left at noon, I already asked Uncle Jianping about it. He said that once he finished the work here, he would go over to our place.” Lin Zhi patted her hand and cleared up her confusion.

Since the matter had already been settled, Yu Nian’an did not ask anything else.

The trio’s little procession gained another member. Along the way, Yu Nian’an kept wondering how she had managed to blend in so quickly.

When they reached the fields, Lin Zhi and Ye Xiao went off to one side, while Gu Shen remained with her.

After what had happened that morning, Yu Nian’an could no longer remain as silent as before. They had known each other for so long, yet she still did not know his name.

And the man seemed unwilling to speak as soon as he returned to the village.

She gathered her courage inwardly and was just preparing to speak first when she met his gaze and swallowed the words again.

Asking a young man his name out of the blue felt somewhat forward, so she could only cover her awkwardness with a smile.

Gu Shen had noticed that ever since they reached the fields, her gaze had kept falling on him, as though she wanted to say something.

When he saw her suddenly smile, her eyes seemed to sparkle like a river of stars.

So he took the initiative.

“My name is Gu Shen.”

Gu Shen?

Yu Nian’an studied his face and searched her memory once more, but found no recollection of him.

Still, at least now she knew his name.

The work of turning over the seedlings was nearing its end. The plot assigned to Yu Nian’an was completely finished before long, and quite a few people nearby had already knocked off early.

Seeing Gu Shen go to find Ye Xiao, Yu Nian’an thought for a moment, then went over to Aunt Chunxing, intending to help her finish the remaining work.

When Aunt Chunxing learned why she had come, she hurriedly waved her off.

“Oh, there are only two rows left. I can finish them myself with a little turning over. Don’t trouble yourself.”

After being refused, Yu Nian’an could only find a place to sit. She took the opportunity to ask about fencing off a plot in her courtyard.

Aunt Chunxing continued working without pause, answering her whenever she had a free moment.

“That’s easy. Just have your Uncle Jianping do it for you while he’s at it. As for whatever vegetable seedlings you need later, you can come dig some up from our plot.”

Well then, Uncle Jianping really was a jack-of-all-trades. He had taken care of practically every bit of work at her home.

Yu Nian’an thought about how kind Aunt Chunxing had been to her. She could not be so ignorant of human relationships. After troubling them with so many things, she would quietly give them a payment once the work was finished.