Zhou Xiaomei, now in better spirits, began looking at the things on Cheng Ning’s desk. She spotted a small frame woven from twigs, exclaimed “Oh!” and picked it up: “Cheng Ning, this frame is so pretty. Did you bring it from Beicheng?”
Cheng Ning turned her head. It was a little wicker square basket she had bought from her neighbor, Granny Fang, who had gifted it to her.
Cheng Ning had carefully packed it at the bottom of her luggage to bring along. She nodded: “Yes, it was a gift from a neighbor granny in our compound.”
“So pretty.” Zhou Xiaomei turned it over in her hands, smiling: “Funny, it’s the same kind of thing, but in your hands it looks so much nicer.”
In the mountains, they had plenty of woven baskets made from bamboo strips and reeds, but compared to Cheng Ning’s, theirs looked rough.
Cheng Ning laughed, tugged at the basket, and said: “I know how to weave these. I learned from Granny before coming. When we get fresh willow branches, I’ll teach you all.”
Zhou Xiaomei’s eyes lit up instantly. This was why she especially liked Cheng Ning—not only because she had so many nice things, but because she was gentle and generous, without the aloofness some educated youths carried. Being around her made Zhou Xiaomei feel that she was becoming better, too.
After chatting for a while, Zhou Xiaomei left.
Cheng Ning tidied her things into the basket, then told her roommates:
“I’m taking this to Comrade Han. You all go ahead and sleep.”
Her manner was calm and natural, clearly unaffected by Jiang Shanshan’s earlier words.
Ma Tingting, hearing she was going to Han Dongyuan’s dorm, opened her mouth but said nothing as she watched Cheng Ning leave.
Xu Dongmei turned to Ma Tingting and said gently: “If you want to go along, then just go. I used to think it wasn’t good for a girl to be too forward, but watching Cheng Ning now, I think it’s rather cute.” She chuckled: “I’d say Han Dongyuan is the one suffering. He finally met his match.”
Her words made Wang Xiaojuan and Ma Tingting laugh.
After today’s events, they too misunderstood, thinking Cheng Ning really was chasing after Han Dongyuan. That talk about “Han Dongyuan not being able to date for a few years”—surely it was just her way of staking a claim?
Of course, Han Dongyuan clearly treated Cheng Ning differently. Life in the remote countryside was dull and harsh. Cheng Ning’s arrival, with her vitality and ease, seemed to inject something fresh into their lives.
Meanwhile, over at Han Dongyuan’s side, the whole scene between Cheng Ning and Jiang Shanshan had unfolded right outside the brigade canteen, on the main road. It was mealtime, and everyone was returning to their dorms, so naturally, many people saw it. The words exchanged between the two—or rather, among several female educated youths—were heard clearly by many, including Han Dongyuan’s roommate, Sun Jian.
Sun Jian was an honest, upright comrade. Cheng Ning had grown up in the same compound as Liao Sheng and Han Dongyuan—she might even be Han Dongyuan’s intended. Jiang Shanshan was the roommate of his girlfriend, Shen Qing. They had all lived together for years. Aside from being proud and sharp-tongued, she was also a decent comrade. He felt it wasn’t good for the two of them to be at odds. And at the root of it all was Han Dongyuan. So after weighing things carefully, he returned to the dormitory and repeated the girls’ conversation to Han Dongyuan, who was sitting at the kang table, carving something with a knife.
He said: “Brother Yuan, you really ought to clarify this matter with everyone. Otherwise, if people misunderstand, it won’t be good for Comrade Cheng.”
These past few days, he had eaten plenty of the sauced pork, beef, and chili paste that Cheng Ning had sent to Liao Sheng. He had a pretty good impression of her.
Liao Sheng’s mouth fell open in shock. Then, after the surprise, he even found it funny. He grinned broadly and said to Han Dongyuan: “Brother, who would’ve thought Ning Ning’s little mouth was so sharp? I never noticed before. I only saw you bullying her like she was a grasshopper—poke her and she’d explode, haha. And yet she still dared to be angry without daring to speak out, hahaha…”
Sun Jian: “……” He stared at Liao Sheng in disbelief. *Is this guy brainless? He must be brainless, right?*
Han Dongyuan’s face darkened. His hand gripped the carving knife, and he shot Liao Sheng a glare so fierce it looked like he might carve his face with it.
Liao Sheng’s laughter faltered. He felt he must have been asking for trouble lately. Before he could say anything more, the dormitory door rattled.
Someone knocked.
Sun Jian thought his roommates were all abnormal. Exhausted, he turned to open the door. And there stood Cheng Ning, smiling softly at the doorway.
Sun Jian jumped in fright. So it was true—you shouldn’t talk about people behind their backs. Hadn’t he just made sure not to say anything bad about her?
Feeling a little guilty, Sun Jian quickly forced a somewhat unnatural smile, welcomed Cheng Ning inside, and asked: “Comrade Cheng, you came? Are you here to see Shengzi?”
Because Cheng Ning had visited their dorm before—bringing things from Liao Sheng’s family.
Cheng Ning shook her head with a polite smile: “No, I’m here for Comrade Han, to deliver something from his family.”
Sun Jian suddenly felt nervous. He turned toward Han Dongyuan, who was sitting under the kerosene lamp, carving with a knife.
Han Dongyuan glanced once at the doorway, then lowered his head and continued carving, expressionless.
Sun Jian: “……???”
But Liao Sheng immediately jumped up. He first invited Cheng Ning to sit at the kang table opposite Han Dongyuan, then grabbed Sun Jian and dragged him outside, thoughtfully closing the door behind them.
Dragged into the corridor, Sun Jian shivered as a cold wind scraped his neck. In this snowy weather, leaving the warm kang meant the chill cut straight to the lungs. He stomped his feet, looked back at the tightly closed dorm door, and asked: “Shengzi, is Comrade Cheng really Dongyuan’s girlfriend?”
Everything felt too strange. All of it was too strange. Even Han Dongyuan’s reaction was too strange. It made him doubt his own judgment deeply.
Liao Sheng was momentarily choked by the question. He pulled Sun Jian into the main room and said: “What are you thinking? With Dongyuan’s dog temper, how could he have a girlfriend? Just watch—ten minutes, at most ten minutes, and Ning Ning will be kicked out. We’ll just wait it out. I only dragged you out because I didn’t want that dog to show Ning Ning a sour face. It wouldn’t look good for her.”
Sun Jian: “……” *You dare call him a dog to his face? Try it!*
Inside the room, Cheng Ning walked to the kang table. Han Dongyuan sat on the kang, carving something under the kerosene lamp.
Looking closer, it was a rectangular tube—likely a pen holder.
Several wooden panels had been fitted together, polished finely, with most of the carved design already complete. It was very delicate.
She didn’t disturb him. She simply placed the small basket on the table and quietly watched him carve, saying nothing.
She had entered the Han household at age four, following her aunt. She had practically grown up there, so of course, she knew he had been carving since primary school, the knife almost never leaving his hand. Despite his terrible temper and lack of patience with people, he could sit for 10 hours straight and produce the most intricate work. Carving had become second nature to him. But after losing that arm, he had forcibly stripped the habit away for a long time.
Thinking of this, her nose stung with sudden emotion. She watched him, head bent, one hand gripping the pen holder, the other moving the carving knife. The kerosene lamp flickered, shadows dancing across his face. She grew dazed, almost overcome by the impulse to reach out and touch him.
Han Dongyuan’s hand tightened. He pressed the knife against the table, lifted his head expressionlessly, and asked: “What are you doing?”
Cheng Ning snapped back to herself. Because of those fragments of memory, her expression softened, becoming gentle and calm. She withdrew her hand and said: “I brought you some things.”
“Didn’t I say I didn’t want them?”
Cheng Ning ignored his harsh tone. She pushed the little basket closer to him and began taking things out as she spoke: “This is a letter from your family. After it was decided I’d be sent down here, they also sent you a letter, but with all this heavy snow, it must have been delayed on the road.”
“This is braised pork and dried fish with chili paste—Grandmother made it especially for you. This is braised beef—Eldest Brother bought it from the state-run restaurant…”
Han Dongyuan watched her chatter away, pulling out bag after bag of food, his face expressionless. Finally, when she even produced a bag of White Rabbit milk candies, the corner of his eye twitched. Was this something his three-year-old nephew had packed? Everyone at home knew he hated sweets.
Seeing his unfriendly gaze fixed on the candy, Cheng Ning patiently explained: “This one I prepared for you. I know you don’t like sweets, but they’re useful. If you’re out in the mountains and get delayed, a single milk candy can provide energy for a long time.”
Han Dongyuan: “……” For once, he didn’t know how to refute her.
“Besides these, I also brought salted fish and cured meat from home. Those can’t be eaten directly—you’ll need to steam or stir-fry them. I’ll cook them for you on a rest day and bring them over.”
Originally, the village didn’t have weekends. But after the educated youths arrived, unable to endure the endless heavy labor, they negotiated with the brigade for Sundays off. On that day, they could forgo work points.
Han Dongyuan looked at the table now covered with food, then raised his eyes to Cheng Ning. He studied her for a long moment before saying faintly: “Were we ever on good terms before?”
His tone carried a strange mix of mockery and doubt. Her familiar way of speaking gave the illusion that they hadn’t always avoided each other, but had once been close.
Cheng Ning was taken aback. On good terms before? It had been decades. Honestly, she couldn’t remember clearly. But what was the point of saying that?
She was no longer the eighteen-year-old Cheng Ning. She wouldn’t be frightened by his cold face nor jump in anger at his harsh words and bad temper.
She said: “Does it matter if we were? This place is unfamiliar to me. Apart from you, I don’t know anyone here—oh, and Liao Sheng, but he’s your friend.”
Han Dongyuan snorted: “At least you know your place.”
Cheng Ning ignored him. She pulled out the last envelope from the basket, opened it, and revealed a stack of money and ration tickets.
“This is the money and tickets I got from selling the job assignment.”
Han Dongyuan’s gaze shifted from her to the pile of money and tickets. Finally, he said lazily: “If you don’t want them, just leave them.”
Cheng Ning: “……”
Actually, she still wanted to keep it. Even though she already had quite a bit of money in her pocket—between her aunt, uncle, Grandma Han, Han Dongzhi, and Han Yimei, she had over two hundred yuan in total—who ever complains about having too much money? Even if it wasn’t useful now, once the reforms came and she went to university, this money could buy her a small house.
She resisted the urge to slip the money back into her own pocket, pressed the envelope onto the kang table, and was about to turn and leave. But then she paused, took a deep breath, steadied herself, and said to him: “By the way, one more thing. Today, when you kicked Zhou Xiong, you used too much force. What if his body couldn’t take it and you killed him with one kick? And also—how could you say something like ‘Careful, or I’ll take your life’? What if you said that in the morning, and then at night he fell into the river and died? Wouldn’t people say his death was connected to you?”
Han Dongyuan: “……????” What on earth is she talking about???