Zhang Guogang had indeed borrowed another watch and replaced one of its parts. Initially, he considered simply removing a part, but he feared Qi Fang might actually know how to repair it, and the missing piece would be too obvious. This way, even if Qi Fang tried to fix it, he wouldn’t succeed, giving them an opportunity to mock Liu Weiguo and possibly even sabotage his budding relationship with Zhou Wenhui.
To their surprise, Qi Fang had a sharp eye and noticed even the slightest discrepancy. Now, under the scrutiny of the two female educated youths, Zhang Guogang’s mind went blank, and he stood speechless for a long moment.
It was Yang Tao who stepped in to smooth things over. "How could that be? The part must just be worn out. You must’ve mistaken it."
"This watch is a Beijing brand, but the part is from a Shanghai brand," Qi Fang calmly pointed out. "My family owns a Shanghai-brand men’s watch. If you want proof, I can take it apart to show you."
That shut even Yang Tao up. If they kept denying it, they’d only humiliate themselves further.
"So it’s true?" Zhou Wenhui’s voice was laced with disbelief and burning anger. "What did they ever do to you? They didn’t offend you, and even kindly offered to fix your things. And this is how you repay them?"
The usually easygoing girl was so furious her eyes turned red. "And you!" She pointed at the instigator. "You even accused Yan Xue’s husband of breaking your things and demanded compensation. How shameless—how utterly shameless!"
Being a well-mannered young woman, she couldn’t bring herself to outright curse, but her anger was palpable.
Her outburst cooled Liu Weiguo’s own rage slightly. "Don’t waste your breath on people like them," he said.
The accused flushed crimson. "I was just joking! I never actually meant to make them pay…"
"Yeah, we were just having a laugh. It’s not like we were trying to take advantage of them. Why are you making such a big deal out of it?"
Others chimed in with excuses, but Zhou Wenhui wasn’t buying any of it.
Liu Weiguo turned to Qi Fang. "Whatever parts they messed with, just put it back together and get them out of here!"
His words were harsh, but after being exposed in front of everyone—especially the two female educated youths—the culprits had no face left to save.
One of them still tried to justify himself, but Zhang Guogang, at least, had some dignity left. He snatched the watch back from Qi Fang. "I’ll fix it myself. Don’t bother."
The group tried to storm out with what little pride they had left, but before they could reach the door, Qi Fang’s cold voice stopped them. "One more thing. The internal structures of these two watch brands are nearly identical. Even with a swapped part, it would still function—barely."
In other words, their scheme had been pointless from the start.
Their footsteps faltered, followed by the loud slam of the door.
Liu Weiguo immediately chased after them. "You’re the ones who messed up and couldn’t even think straight, and now you have the nerve to slam doors?"
The room fell silent, leaving only Yan Xue, her husband, and the two female educated youths. The earlier tension gave way to an awkward atmosphere.
"I’m sorry," Zhou Wenhui murmured, bowing her head to the couple. "If I’d known they’d act like this, I never would’ve brought them here or let them ask you for help."
"It wasn’t your fault," Liu Weiguo interjected, returning from outside. "They were the ones who insisted I find someone to fix it."
He then turned apologetically to Qi Fang. "Sorry about this. I won’t drag you into any more trouble."
The two of them apologized one after another, so sincerely that the other female educated youth standing nearby began to feel out of place.
She cleared her throat. "I should apologize too. I was the one who spread the word about the alarm clock repair."
"What is this, a confession session?" Yan Xue couldn’t help but laugh, her eyes crinkling. Her lightheartedness dispelled the lingering tension in the room.
Liu Weiguo rubbed his nose sheepishly. "I just feel bad for Qi Fang."
Qi Fang remained indifferent. "Just stop using me as an excuse in the future."
He was clearly referring to how Liu Weiguo had dragged him into things to get closer to Zhou Wenhui, leading to rumors that Qi Fang was overly possessive.
Liu Weiguo chuckled. "Oh, come on. You didn’t exactly resist. If you really didn’t want to go, could I have forced you?"
As friends, once things were aired out and apologies made, the matter was settled. But Zhou Wenhui still couldn’t shake her guilt, feeling responsible for the whole ordeal. She kept apologizing profusely.
The girl had a strong moral compass—even when told it wasn’t her fault, she couldn’t let it go.
Suddenly, Qi Fang asked her, "Do you have family working in the forestry bureau’s logistics department?"
Zhou Wenhui was taken aback by the question. "Yes, my uncle works in logistics, delivering supplies to the general stores in the forest farms. How did you know?"
"I’ve seen deliverymen bring you things before." Qi Fang’s gaze shifted to Yan Xue.
At first, Yan Xue didn’t catch on, but then it hit her—the forestry bureau operated independently, and its general stores sourced goods through logistics. That meant the department had procurement channels.
Should she ask about agar directly?
Probably not the best approach.
Her mind raced, and soon she found an angle. "Does your uncle know where the stores get their seaweed from?"
"Oh, I know that," Zhou Wenhui said. "The county’s local products company imports it from other regions."
In this era, table salt wasn’t iodized, so people relied on seaweed to prevent goiters. The local products company imported large quantities every year.
Zhou Wenhui tilted her head. "Do you want to buy more, or get it cheaper?"
"Neither. I’m looking for something else."
Yan Xue was about to probe further when Zhou Wenhui unexpectedly offered, "I can ask my uncle for you. He has connections at the local products company and the wholesale department. They could help source what you need during their next procurement."
This was an unexpected boon. Yan Xue had assumed it would take much more effort.
"That’d be amazing. Let me write it down for you."
She moved toward the desk, but Qi Fang, who had been leaning against it, had already opened the drawer and handed her paper and pen.
Yan Xue took them and wrote down "Gracilaria" and "Gloiopeltis." After a moment’s thought, she added, "If those aren’t available, nori would work too."
"What are you planning to do?" Liu Weiguo peered over curiously.
Yan Xue was, of course, planning to make agar herself, but since she hadn’t secured the ingredients yet, she played coy. "Guess."
"I won’t." Liu Weiguo turned to Qi Fang instead. "What’s your wife up to?"
Qi Fang gave him the same answer: "Guess."
Liu Weiguo rolled his eyes.
With the list in hand, Zhou Wenhui prepared to leave. Having a way to make amends clearly eased her conscience.
Liu Weiguo stayed behind, plopping down on the kang and apologizing again to Qi Fang. "Those male educated youths probably targeted you because they’re jealous of how close I am to Zhou Wenhui."
"Mm. At least you’re self-aware," Qi Fang replied dryly, his tone laced with faint mockery.
Liu Weiguo didn’t mind the teasing. "I caused the trouble, so go ahead and mock me. Luckily, you’re capable—otherwise, we’d be the ones getting mocked today, and we might’ve even had to pay compensation."
The other party had made it sound like a harmless joke, but was there really such a thing as a joke that left people humiliated?
If Qi Fang hadn’t been able to fix the watch today, being laughed at would’ve been the least of their worries. Someone might’ve even accused them of breaking it, leaving them to either pay up or deal with the fallout.
Worse, it was Liu Weiguo who’d stirred things up, yet Qi Fang had gotten dragged into it. How were they supposed to get along after this?
"These city-educated youths, they don’t do any real work—just stir up trouble. A couple of years back, they even stole chickens from several families and roasted them up in the mountains."
Liu Weiguo was still fuming, but Yan Xue chuckled and remarked, "Zhou Wenhui is also a city-educated youth."
That shut him up. "That’s different. She never did anything like that."
From today’s incident, Zhou Wenhui had proven herself fair-minded and discerning.
Yan Xue shot Liu Weiguo an amused glance. "You’ve got good taste."
"Damn right." Liu Weiguo immediately puffed up with pride, then, remembering he’d once had a thing for Yan Xue, quickly glanced at Qi Fang. "Hey, Qi Fang, did you grow up taking stuff apart or something? How’d you know right away that the parts had been swapped?"
"No. Just a good memory." Qi Fang’s reply was terse—whether because he was recalling the past or simply didn’t want to discuss it, it was hard to say.
But a memory that sharp was rare. Yan Xue couldn’t help feeling a pang of regret that he’d missed the chance to attend university.
Liu Weiguo shared the sentiment. "You’d be wasted in a small repair shop. With skills like yours, you ought to be an engineer at the town’s machinery plant at the very least."
Qi Fang, however, remained indifferent, quietly packing away the tools he’d used to fix the watch.
They sat for a while longer before Liu Weiguo finally got up to leave—only for someone to call from outside, "Does Qi Fang live here?"
Yan Xue didn’t recognize the voice, but Liu Weiguo peeked out and exclaimed, "Da Wei?"
"You’re here too?" The man grinned. "Perfect. Will anyone be home during the day? We’re delivering firewood to your place today."
"Yes," Yan Xue nodded. "Someone will be here all day."
"Great. I’ll let them know to load up the cart. Should be here in about an hour."
With that, Liu Weiguo decided to stick around and help with the firewood. To their surprise, two carts arrived—one and a half of them piled high with tree stumps.
At first, they couldn’t tell—the sides of the horse-drawn carts blocked the view. But once the carts stopped outside, the driver loosened the bellyband of the lead horse, lifted the shafts, and gently urged the animal forward. The contents spilled out in a thunderous crash, revealing the full load.
"This much?" Aunt Guo, who usually kept only one side of her gate open, came out to unlock the other half and gasped at the sight.
Liu Weiguo let out an impressed whistle. "Qi Fang, did they dump every tree stump we felled this year on you?"
"Yan Xue’s doing," Qi Fang said simply, pulling on a pair of work gloves and starting to unload.
Liu Weiguo laughed. "Who asked whose idea it was? What, afraid people won’t know how capable your wife is?"
Qi Fang ignored him. Liu Weiguo put on his own gloves, grabbed a few logs, and followed. "I thought you got approval from the farm for the lumber to build the house. Why’d you haul all these stumps?"
This time, Qi Fang answered—with two words: "Guess."
Liu Weiguo winced. "You two are cut from the same cloth, always playing coy."
Truth was, even Qi Fang didn’t know exactly what Yan Xue was planning. But judging by her need for agar, he had an inkling.
Still, it was her business. If she hadn’t told him, he certainly wouldn’t bring it up with others.
The two carts’ worth of firewood took Yan Xue, Qi Fang, Liu Weiguo, and their neighbors Guo Changping and his wife most of the day to haul into the yard.
Stacking and splitting it would take a few more days, but that was for Yan Xue and Qi Fang to handle.
Yan Xue offered to let Liu Weiguo stay for dinner, but he bolted. "I’ve got to swing by the educated youth dorm and talk to Zhou Wenhui—make sure she doesn’t blame herself."
So that was why he hadn’t left with her earlier—he’d just been waiting for the others to clear out.
Yan Xue shook her head as she watched him sprint away. "The stench of young love."
"What stinks?" Qi Fang walked in, peeling off his gloves, having only caught the tail end of her remark. He frowned, sniffing the air.
Yan Xue couldn’t very well say it was his friend, so she nudged him toward the washbasin. "All done?"
She hadn’t pushed hard, but he let himself be steered. "Yeah." As he washed his hands, he asked, "Is this enough? If not, we can spare some from the house materials."
She knew he meant the stumps. "It’s plenty. I’ve never tried this before—I might not even use all of it."
Normally, mushroom cultivation would involve inoculating logs with spores by now. But she didn’t have any ready-made spawn and would have to cultivate her own. No telling how much she’d manage this year.
Since he’d brought up the house, she asked, "Has the approval come through? When are you planning to build?"
"The farm’s signed off. We’ll start once the weather warms up, after the tree-planting season."
Tree planting usually began in early May, around the same time as crop sowing. By the time that was done, the weather would be warm enough, and the forestry station would have another short break.
Yan Xue thought the timing was perfect. "And the location? Where are you building?"
"There’s a patch of unused land northwest of here. Used to be the farm’s vegetable plot, but they moved it when housing got tight."
She quickly pictured the spot. "I thought you’d pick somewhere behind this house."
Building there would’ve kept them close to the Lius and the Guos, making visits easier. The northwest plot was a bit farther out—though the entire station wasn’t that big to begin with.
Qi Fang was drying his hands and didn’t look up. "That area’s bigger."
Yan Xue had wanted more space for the logs she’d use to grow mushrooms, but it seemed he’d had the same thought.
She raised a brow, studying his expression. "Why do you need so much room? Got plans?"
He paused, meeting her gaze with those peach-blossom eyes, and actually gave a reason. "Yeah. I’ll get a puppy from Liu Weiguo’s place."
One of the Lius’ three dogs was a formidable-looking female. Breeding season hadn’t even started, yet half the station had already put in requests for pups. Once they had their own house with a yard, they’d need a guard dog.
Before Yan Xue could respond, he changed the subject. "I’m heading up the mountain in a couple of days. Want to come dig up some gastrodia?"
The best time to dig for gastrodia elata is actually in May, when the tubers are large enough but haven’t sprouted yet, ensuring the best quality. However, by early May, afforestation work begins, and everyone—permanent workers like Qi Fang, temporary laborers like her, even elementary and middle school students—heads up the mountains to participate. The area becomes crowded.
Yan Xue had been planning to go digging for gastrodia elata these past few days. Since Qi Fang was also going, it worked out perfectly for them to go together.
The two spent some time sorting through the tree stumps, setting aside those of suitable length and thickness into a separate pile. The remaining usable pieces could be used for scaffolding, while the unusable ones were tossed into the firewood pile.
Once finished, the couple each shouldered a basket and followed the narrow-gauge railway tracks up the mountain.
This time, there was no vehicle to hitch a ride on, so they walked for nearly two hours before reaching the abandoned campsite at the end of the tracks.
Most of the structures had already been dismantled, and the underground shelters once hidden beneath the snow were now exposed, their roofs gone, leaving only rows of hollow cavities. At a glance, the scene was as desolate as the surrounding deforested mountains, evoking a deep sense of melancholy.
Yan Xue’s expression remained impassive as she stood there for a long moment before heading toward the spot where she had previously found gastrodia elata.
Qi Fang didn’t speak either. After walking nearly a hundred meters, he raised a hand and pointed in a direction. “This way.”
His sense of direction was far better than Yan Xue’s, and the mark she had left wasn’t hard to find. Soon, they spotted it on a tree stump.
Yan Xue followed the marker’s direction and counted eleven steps before tapping the ground. “It should be around here.”
Before she could finish, Qi Fang was already crouching, digging into the soil with a branch.
The forest floor was rich with humus-laden black soil, soft and moist. Even though the ground had only recently thawed, it wasn’t difficult to dig. Before long, one of the shallow pits they had dug revealed a spindle-shaped tuber, about the size of a potato.
This was gastrodia elata. It seemed Yan Xue and Qi Fang hadn’t been mistaken back then, and no one else had discovered it since.
They expanded their digging around the initial find and, luckily, uncovered several smaller tubers—likely offspring left behind after a larger one had decomposed.
After gathering them, Yan Xue weighed them in her hand. “About six or seven pounds. Not a wasted trip.”
Six or seven pounds of fresh gastrodia elata would yield roughly half a pound when dried, which could be sold for over five yuan at the procurement station—equivalent to three days’ wages for Yan Xue as a temporary laborer.
The rest was up to luck. As she packed the tubers into her basket, she asked Qi Fang, “Did you ever come here before the logging started?”
Gastrodia elata thrives where its symbiotic fungus, Armillaria mellea (locally known as honey mushroom), grows. While honey mushrooms aren’t as valuable as frozen mushrooms, they’re still quite tasty, and their young sprouts glow at night.
Those familiar with the mountains would know where to find honey mushrooms and could dig nearby for gastrodia elata, sometimes striking it rich.
Unfortunately, Qi Fang had little interest in foraging. Despite working at the forestry station for years, he had never ventured here before and didn’t know if Armillaria grew in the area. However, he had briefly left earlier and returned with more gastrodia elata in his basket. “Found them during the later stages of logging.”
So that was why he had come up the mountain—no wonder he had asked her to join him.
Yan Xue weighed his haul and found another five or six pounds. Combined with what they had dug up nearby, they had gathered over twenty pounds in total.
That was over twenty yuan. Yan Xue sat down on a large rock in the forest. “I’ll split it with you when we get back.”
“No need. Keep it.”
Qi Fang was a man of his word. After returning from the county, he had given Yan Xue the over eight hundred yuan he had saved, and since then, his wages had also been handed over to her.
Noticing that she had only taken up half the rock, leaving the other half for him, he sat down beside her. His gaze dropped to the slopes below as he asked, “How much longer do you think the logging can continue here?”
It was the same question he had once asked Liu Weiguo, but this time, Yan Xue couldn’t possibly misunderstand his meaning.
She turned to look at him. “Why do you ask?”
Qi Fang didn’t meet her eyes. Instead, he pointed into the distance. “That was last year’s logging area.” Then he gestured beneath them. “This is this year’s.” Finally, his hand swept across the endless mountains. “Soon, it’ll be their turn.”
His tone was flat, as if merely stating facts, but the weight behind his words was undeniable.
Yan Xue guessed he must have noticed her hesitation when they first arrived. Her gaze followed his, settling on the scarred land beneath them. “It won’t last much longer.”
Before he could ask what she meant, she continued, “If a poor mother sells her blood to feed her child, it doesn’t mean she’ll always have to. Given the chance, she’ll cherish everything that sustains her and her child.”
The devastation of the Changbai and Greater and Lesser Khingan Mountains was a wound in the hearts of a generation. Even after logging was replaced by afforestation, the ecological damage remained irreversible.
But for now, there was no other choice. Yan Xue sighed. “Selling blood harms the body, but at least it keeps you alive. Right now, survival comes first.”
Surviving the hardships until, through the efforts of generations, they could stand tall and speak to the world with their own strength and technology.
Qi Fang said nothing, leaving it unclear whether he agreed or simply didn’t care to argue.
Yan Xue propped her chin on her hand and studied him. “Did anyone ever beat you up as a kid?”
Qi Fang gave her a puzzled look.
“You started this conversation, and I gave you a serious answer. Yet you don’t react at all. Are you sure no one ever hit you?”
Now that he was so tall and grown, she couldn’t help but feel the urge to smack him—or at least give him a piece of her mind.
The remark earned her another glance from Qi Fang. In the beginning, she had been far more reserved, never asking unnecessary questions.
He stretched out his long legs and rested his hands on his knees. “I was just thinking—how much longer will this blood-selling last? Ten years? Twenty? Fifty? Will this mother live long enough to see the day she no longer has to?”
Yan Xue had no answer. She was speaking from the perspective of someone who had seen the future, while he could only see the unending present.
Knowing an endpoint at least gave hope. Without one, his doubts were understandable.
Just then, a distant voice called out, “Hey! You two over there—is this the way to Xiaojinchuan Forestry Station?”
Yan Xue had no idea, so she nudged Qi Fang.
His ticklish side provoked, he subtly shifted away before raising his voice. “You’ve gone too far. This is Jinchuan Forestry Station already.”
The stranger sounded bewildered. “Then how do I get back?”
Clearly lost—and badly so. After a brief discussion, Yan Xue suggested, “This area is too remote, and we don’t know the way either. Why don’t you come with us to Jinchuan Station and take the train tracks back?”
The man hesitated for a moment before quickly walking over. "Well, alright then. Thank you both, comrades..."
When he looked up, the sheepish expression on his honest face shifted into surprise. "It's you?"
Yan Xue was also taken aback. "What are you doing on this side?"
