A few minutes later, Yan Xue was pulled along by Liu Chuncao, who strode ahead confidently. Liu Weiguo and Qi Fang lagged slightly behind—one had just bathed and groomed his hair and beard, looking noticeably more sharp-eyed and spirited, while the other remained as aloof and silent as ever.
"My brother’s quite handsome, right? I wasn’t wrong, was I?" Liu Chuncao nudged Yan Xue, whispering as if no one else could hear.
Under the girl’s expectant gaze, Yan Xue glanced back, pretending to scrutinize him. "He is good-looking. Takes after Aunt Liu."
Her voice was even softer, but Liu Weiguo, ever the sociable one, immediately chimed in, "Actually, I look more like my uncle."
At that, Qi Fang lifted his eyes to give him a look, instantly reminding Yan Xue of the subtly odd expression he’d worn back at the guesthouse when Liu Weiguo was mentioned.
Yan Xue had no intention of playing mediator. She smoothly turned back to Liu Chuncao and asked, "Can you really fish in winter?"
"Of course," Liu Chuncao said. "But you need to know where to look and how to prepare the bait. Not just anyone can do it."
The girl had clearly chosen an activity that would showcase her brother’s skills. "In this whole forest farm, hardly anyone’s better at it than him. Ask Qi Fang—he’s seen it before."
Honestly, Yan Xue was tempted to turn around and ask, "Really?" just to see Qi Fang’s reaction.
But before she could act, Liu Weiguo interjected, "That’s just because you were craving fish but too embarrassed to say so, so you dragged Qi Fang along as an excuse."
As they chatted, the group neared the river, where several holes had been chiseled into the ice.
Instead of heading straight for the main channel, Liu Weiguo detoured to a slower-moving tributary and started chipping away at the ice.
"In winter, the fish gather near the surface to breathe where the ice is broken. Makes them easy to catch."
The ice was thick, and even with both Liu Weiguo and Qi Fang working at it with iron picks—Liu Chuncao even gave it a try before giving up—it took a while to carve out a small opening.
Liu Weiguo baited his homemade fishing rod and dropped it in. Almost immediately, he hooked a foot-long mandarin fish.
"That’s got to be at least a pound," Yan Xue estimated.
She recognized the species—a prized, meat-eating fish from the Yalu River, known for its tender flesh. The usual catch weighed around six or seven ounces.
Liu Weiguo shrugged. "Just about a pound. If you want big, go for carp. The Yalu yields twenty- or thirty-pounders every year—thick as a waist, with scales the size of small mirrors. They have to be sold in chunks, and even then, they don’t always sell out. Most end up supplied to work units. Our forest farm used to buy them."
He tossed the mandarin fish onto the ice, rebaited the hook, and handed the rod to Yan Xue. "Your turn."
"Why don’t you let me try?" Liu Chuncao grumbled.
Without looking up, Liu Weiguo retorted, "Since when do you have the patience? You’d just keep pulling the hook up to check, scaring off any fish."
Liu Chuncao pouted but, after a moment’s thought, fell silent. Instead, she urged Yan Xue, "Go on, give it a shot!"
Yan Xue didn’t hesitate. She crouched, took the rod, and asked, "What do I do?"
To steady her grip, she even removed her gloves. Her slender, pale fingers curled into her sleeves as she held the rod motionless, seemingly unfazed by the cold.
Her focus paid off—the moment the line twitched, she flicked it up, landing a fish nearly as long as her hand.
Liu Chuncao peered at it. "A crucian carp!" Her excitement eclipsed even her brother’s earlier triumph.
But her voice carried, drawing a jeering, adolescent shout from the riverbank: "What’s so great about a crucian carp? Never seen one before?"
A group of boys around Liu Chuncao’s age stood there. She shot them a glare. "I’m happy if I want to be! None of your business!"
They laughed, unfazed by the presence of Liu Weiguo and Qi Fang, and dangled a pair of ice skates. "Fishing’s boring. Come skate with us instead."
"Skating’s boring! I like fishing!" Liu Chuncao turned her back on them, refusing to engage no matter what they said. Only after they left did she sneak a glance their way.
Yan Xue, standing close, caught the envy in her eyes—and a flicker of something sadder.
In all her time at the forest farm, Yan Xue had never seen Liu Chuncao or the other Liu kids skate, even though makeshift skates could be cobbled together from wood and wire.
The fishing hole fell quiet until Liu Weiguo tried to lighten the mood. "Watch me land a big one this time."
Then Qi Fang, who’d been mostly silent, spoke up. "Can we come back in a couple of days?"
"Why? You hungry?" Liu Weiguo sounded surprised—Qi Fang wasn’t one to fuss over food.
Qi Fang’s reply was casual. "Yan Xue and I are getting married soon. We’re short on dishes."
Thud.
Liu Weiguo dropped his fishing rod.
"The rod, the rod!" Liu Chuncao yelped, then belatedly processed the words. "Wait—what? You and Yan Xue are getting married?"
Chaos erupted.
Liu Weiguo managed to snatch the rod back, but the bait box tipped over, spilling its contents into the water—a feast for the oblivious fish below.
Fishing was abandoned. Skating forgotten. Liu Weiguo packed up and hauled Qi Fang aside for interrogation.
Liu Chuncao took it harder. Her ideal sister-in-law had been snatched away. Back home, she kept muttering, "I thought she was his cousin? Since when are they getting married?"
Liu Daniu’s wife had seen it coming. "No cousin travels this far to stay for days unless they’re looking for a match. And if they were that close, Qi Fang would’ve mentioned her before. Did he?"
"Then why didn’t he say anything sooner?" Liu Chuncao sulked, clearly still upset.
Liu Weiguo, sprawled on the heated kang after returning from the river, groaned. "Yeah, when I asked if she had a boyfriend, he said no."
"Would you go around announcing it before anything’s settled? What if it fell through?"
Liu Daniu’s wife, winding thread nearby, shot her son a look. "Besides, she didn’t have a boyfriend. If it works out, they marry. If not, she goes home."
"That’s not what he said! He claimed a fiancé doesn’t count as a boyfriend."
Liu Weiguo grumbled, earning another eye-roll from his mother. "What’s with the theatrics? Did you take a liking to Yan Xue?"
"I only thought she was really his cousin!"
Before he could finish, his father—fresh from cleaning the fish—kicked him. "Pathetic. One pretty girl, and you’re already mooning."
"Oh, like you didn’t moon? You hauled water for Grandma’s family for two years just to—"
"You little—!"
At Liu Daniu’s roar, Liu Weiguo bolted.
"You just came down from the mountain and already causing a fuss, aren’t you tired?" Liu Daniu's wife tossed the wound-up thread into the sewing basket, stuffed the large spool into the cabinet, and glanced at the calendar on the wall. "There are only a few days left before the New Year, and work resumes on the eighth day of the lunar new year. Why did they have to pick this time? It’s too tight."
Yan Xue sat at the writing desk with a notebook in hand, also feeling the time was a bit rushed.
The guesthouse wasn’t a convenient place to talk, so after Qi Fang went back and saw that most people had already gone home for the New Year, he brought Yan Xue to the dormitory.
The conditions here were much better than up in the mountains. There was a heated kang, a writing desk, and stools. On the desk sat a copy of the leader’s quotations, placed respectfully for everyone to study.
Yan Xue was a woman of action, organized and efficient. After taking off her scarf and gloves, she immediately started planning. "We only have about thirteen or fourteen days. The New Year is definitely out of the question. Which of the remaining days do you think would work?"
"If we can rent a place, then the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month," Qi Fang bent over, rummaging through the cabinet for something.
Yan Xue checked the calendar. "February 14th?"
"Not good?"
It wasn’t that it wasn’t good—it was just that the date was too coincidental. The famously romantic Valentine’s Day.
But in this era, no one would know about it, let alone celebrate it. Yan Xue wrote it down in her notebook. "It just feels a bit rushed. There are less than five days left."
Hearing this, Qi Fang didn’t press further. He took out a small wooden box, about a foot square, placed it on the kang, and opened it. "I’ll find the house."
"Then I’ll leave that to you." Yan Xue crossed it off her list. "There’s no time to make new furniture, so we’ll set that aside for now. The important thing is to prepare the luggage and clothes."
As soon as she finished speaking, a stack of paper slips landed beside her. "Fabric coupons."
Then a few more. "Cotton coupons."
Next came industrial coupons, and finally, a small pile of money. A quick glance suggested it was at least three or four hundred yuan.
Yan Xue was stunned. "You haven’t spent a single cent these past few years?"
Young, single men usually weren’t the best at managing their lives. How had he saved up so much? Did he never even buy clothes?
Qi Fang didn’t answer. He locked the box and put it back in the cabinet.
Yan Xue didn’t press further. "Then tomorrow we’ll go to town and buy what we need."
"Tomorrow might not work."
"Aren’t you on leave?" Yan Xue looked up in surprise.
The light outside the window was fading. The man stood with his back to it, making it hard to tell if he had hesitated before answering. "The forestry assigned me to guard the equipment shed up the mountain. I need to have them arrange for someone else. I might not be able to sort it out by tomorrow."
So, was he really that lacking in confidence, instinctively assuming she’d back out after seeing his place?
Yan Xue studied him for a moment, but he kept his eyes downcast. She finally looked away. "Then I’ll go by myself. If you have time, try to find a house."
Expecting to buy quite a few things, she even borrowed a small sled from the Liu family.
Not the big one—this one was about half a meter wide, just enough to seat one person and carry a load of a hundred or so kilograms.
She didn’t see Liu Weiguo when she went, but Liu Daniu's wife seemed perfectly normal, even helping to carry out two bags of pine nuts for her.
Liu Daniu's wife probably didn’t know Qi Fang had been assigned to guard the shed. Otherwise, hearing that Yan Xue was going to town alone, she might have insisted on accompanying her.
A trip to town was both time-consuming and costly, and neither of them wanted to trouble her, so they didn’t explain. Qi Fang took the things back first, planning to send them off on the small train the next morning.
"If it’s too heavy, ask the conductor for help," the man said in a low voice after loading everything.
Yan Xue still remembered how she had been forcibly taken away by the small train before. She waved him off. "Got it. Hurry up and get off before you can’t."
Was she really so indifferent about having company?
Qi Fang gave her a look, then turned and left.
Yan Xue knew there were plenty of thieves on trains in this era. She tucked all her money except the four mao for the ticket into a hidden pocket sewn inside her clothes, keeping an eye only on the sled and the pine nuts.
As the train began to move, the last passenger boarded, placing a woven basket on the seat across from her.
Yan Xue glanced over casually, only to find the other person looking right back at her. Their eyes met, and Yan Xue’s narrowed instantly.
Well, well. An old acquaintance!
Or perhaps more accurately… an old enemy…
