"What do they all want that stuff for? Splitting firewood is such a hassle."
Upon hearing that everyone had come to claim the tree tops, Yan Xue hadn’t even spoken before someone else voiced their confusion.
After all, the branches were thin, and the tree tops needed to be sawed into sections before they could be burned. Most households didn’t bother with them unless they were building houses or making furniture.
Ge Erzhu clearly didn’t understand either. "How would I know? The tree tops from our forestry station this year aren’t even enough to go around as it is."
Of course, some people were better informed. One of them glanced at Yan Xue but said nothing.
Yan Xue wasn’t surprised that someone might know why she wanted the tree tops. After all, the evidence was right there in her yard. Even with the wooden fence, anyone determined enough could find out.
But for the tree tops to be claimed before she even arrived—she didn’t believe that was a coincidence.
"Could you tell me who took them?" she asked Ge Erzhu. "If it’s someone I know, maybe I can ask them to share some with me."
Ge Erzhu nodded. "Good point. Most people don’t need a whole cartload anyway. Let me check for you."
He rummaged through his desk. "There were so many people asking, I wrote the names down so I wouldn’t forget."
Soon, he handed her a slip of paper. "Here, these are the ones who took them."
Yan Xue scanned the list and recognized a few names right away—first was Li Shuwu, followed by Old Man Wang’s son, Wang Lianfu.
Even without considering the others, just these two made it impossible for her to believe it was a coincidence. Both had previously asked the Guo family about her mushroom cultivation, and Old Man Wang had even peeked over her fence last year.
But she kept her expression neutral, feigning disappointment as she returned the list. "I’m not really familiar with any of them."
"Then there’s nothing to be done. Maybe you could slip the loading crew a pack of cigarettes and see if they’ll sneak some for you."
It was a practical suggestion—if Yan Xue only needed a little, it might have worked.
But she was growing mushrooms, and she needed at least a hundred or so logs. Relying on the loaders to spare a few wouldn’t make a dent.
Still, she thanked him before leaving. The moment she stepped out of the office, the disappointment in her eyes hardened.
Were they trying to copy her success now that she was making money? Or did they just not want her to keep profiting?
Given her history with Li Shuwu and Old Man Wang’s family, it was unlikely they’d get any cultivation tips from her.
And this was without them even knowing how much she’d earned—or that the mushrooms could be harvested for three years straight. If they found out…
Her thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice. "What’s wrong? You don’t look too happy."
Yan Xue looked up to see Huang Fengying and smiled. "Aunt Liu."
Huang Fengying had just come from the store, a pack of matches in hand. She returned the greeting, then asked, "Where’ve you been?"
There was no reason to hide it, so Yan Xue explained. Huang Fengying frowned. "They did it on purpose, didn’t they? Who else would want that stuff? Wonder if they’re planning to grow mushrooms themselves or what."
She still remembered how Old Man Wang had cheated her daughter. "Never realized how rotten that old man was—rotten to the core."
Worried, she asked, "Can you still grow your mushrooms? Maybe you could ask Secretary Lang for help, pull some strings?"
Pulling strings might get her the tree tops, but Yan Xue shook her head with a wry smile. "I don’t dare. What if it just draws more attention?"
Huang Fengying sighed in agreement, then cursed the culprits again. "Well, think of another way. I’ll see if I can come up with something too."
She wasn’t just offering empty comfort. That very noon, as soon as Qi Fang got off work, she returned. "Did you know the forestry bureau sells firewood?"
Yan Xue didn’t. Living near the mountains, most people here didn’t need to buy firewood.
Huang Fengying could tell from her expression. "I didn’t either until I mentioned your situation to Wenhui and she told me."
Zhou Wenhui had grown up in town, where firewood wasn’t as easy to come by, so she’d know about buying it.
Huang Fengying explained, "She said the forestry bureau sells firewood too—you just need a permit. Her uncle helped her family buy some before, ten yuan for a cartload."
Ten yuan was cheap. Even if the price doubled or tripled, Yan Xue could still turn a profit.
Huang Fengying suggested, "Why not buy a cartload and specify tree tops? If you can’t find a connection, I can ask Wenhui to help."
It was a solid plan. Yan Xue thanked her. "No need to trouble Wenhui, especially since she’s pregnant."
"Oh, she’d love the distraction. You have no idea how bored she is—she was even helping Chuncai with her homework the other day."
That did sound restless. Back when they’d worked in the labor team, Zhou Wenhui had been one of the few educated youths who actually put in effort. Even now, pregnancy hadn’t slowed her down.
Huang Fengying chatted a bit more about household matters before leaving, but not without a final reminder: "If you need anything, just come find me."
Yan Xue agreed and saw her out. When she returned, she couldn’t help but smile. "Aunt Liu really is so kind."
She hadn’t even asked for help, yet Huang Fengying had gone out of her way to offer a solution.
"When I first came to the forestry station and had nowhere to stay, Uncle Liu invited me to their place, and Aunt Liu agreed right away," Qi Fang said.
Then he studied Yan Xue. "What happened? Did the station refuse to give you the tree tops?"
She hadn’t had a chance to tell him yet. "They were already taken before I got there."
Qi Fang frowned. "They did it on purpose?" He didn’t need to ask who—he could guess.
Yan Xue handed him the list she’d copied. "I can’t speak for the others, but Li Shuwu and Old Man Wang’s family definitely did."
His frown deepened, but he didn’t dwell on it. Instead, he asked, "Should I try to get a permit for you?"
As a formal employee of the station—and one who’d recently contributed to the bureau—getting a few cartloads of firewood wouldn’t be an issue.
But Yan Xue shook her head, her expression serious. "No. I’ve decided not to grow any this year."
That surprised him.
While the second year was the peak harvest for mushrooms, and skipping this season wouldn’t hurt her earnings much, Yan Xue wasn’t the type to back down from a challenge.
Without explaining further, she pulled a notebook from the drawer and handed it to him. "I’ve only just started writing it."
Qi Fang took it and understood immediately. "You’re going to submit this to the bureau?"
"If I don’t, there’ll always be someone causing trouble. Do I have time to deal with that every day?"
She could follow Huang Fengying’s advice and find another source for tree tops—even if not from their own station, she could buy from others.
But constantly fending off petty schemes was exhausting. Instead of playing defense, she’d rather hand over her methods and secure the bureau’s backing.
"Last year, I hadn’t even tried growing them yet—I wouldn’t have had proof. But now I have the data."
Yan Xue had another reason she didn’t mention. Last year, when she decided to grow wood ear mushrooms, she hadn’t known that Qi Fang was Qi Jingshu, nor had she been aware that Wu Xingde was secretly watching her.
Wu Xingde had already been tricked by her once last year, and Qi Fang hadn’t been cooperative either. Who knew if Wu Xingde might act out of desperation?
But even if she didn’t say it, Qi Fang understood. He pressed his lips together, lowering his peach-blossom eyes, his slender fingers tightening imperceptibly around the notebook in his hands.
“Hey, what’s with that look?” Yan Xue couldn’t help nudging him. “I’m amazing—I came up with something this good. Maybe I’ll even land myself an official position.”
Qi Fang let her push him. “Mm, you’re the best.” After a pause, he added, “You’ll definitely become a high-ranking official.”
“You’re really planning to submit this to the bureau?” Secretary Lang was surprised when he received Yan Xue’s thick proposal.
He didn’t know exactly how much Yan Xue had earned last year, but she had certainly profited. That much wood ear would have fetched a decent sum at the purchasing station.
Most people would have kept it to themselves, afraid others might learn the trade. Yet Yan Xue was willing to share it.
Having dealt with Secretary Lang multiple times, Yan Xue got straight to the point. “I don’t have much choice. This year, before I even had a chance to ask, all the tree stumps were already allocated.”
Then she grinned. “Of course, I can’t say that publicly. I’ll just claim I was conducting experiments for the bureau last year, and now that it’s proven viable, I’m sharing it.”
If she had only said the latter, it would have sounded polished but distant. The honesty in her first remark made it feel more personal.
Sure enough, Secretary Lang chuckled. “Well then, tell me—what do you want in return? You’re not giving this away for free.”
Talking to someone sharp-witted saved a lot of unnecessary words. Yan Xue smiled. “First, I should be made a permanent employee.”
Her proposal was detailed—listing the months for cultivating spores, inoculation periods, growth timelines, and estimated yields.
But it didn’t include the medium formula or specific techniques. No one could just take the proposal and think they didn’t need her anymore.
Secretary Lang noticed this and nodded. “Something this important shouldn’t be left to a temporary worker.”
When he mentioned responsibility, Yan Xue knew he wasn’t planning to cut her out. He’d do his best to advocate for her.
That put her even more at ease. “Also, I’ve had a few people helping me before. I’d prefer to keep using them rather than bring in strangers.”
In other words, she didn’t want outsiders interfering. Secretary Lang nodded solemnly. “Experienced hands are indeed more reliable.”
This time, he didn’t even wait for her to explain—he came up with a diplomatic justification himself.
Secretary Lang found Yan Xue and Qi Fang quite the pair—both capable and willing to hand him ready-made achievements.
If not for Qi Fang last time, the incident involving Yu Yongzhi would have dragged him down too. Instead, he’d been praised at the year-end meeting.
Now, right at the start of the new year, Yan Xue was offering him this. If implemented, their forestry center would earn another commendation.
And if it succeeded in Jinchuan Forestry Center, they’d have extra income to contribute to the state.
Having reached a preliminary agreement, both seemed satisfied. Secretary Lang tucked away the proposal. “I’ll need to study this further.”
How else could he negotiate with the town’s forestry bureau leaders without fully grasping it?
Yan Xue understood. She smiled. “If anything’s unclear, feel free to ask me anytime.”
With this settled, at least within Jinchuan Forestry Center, she had nothing to fear now.
Anyone who tried to cause trouble for her would be going up against the center, the bureau, and the state itself.
Now she just had to see what those who’d rushed to claim the tree stumps were up to. Hopefully, they actually needed them.
But the very next day after submitting the proposal, Li Shuwu’s wife showed up at her door.
Yan Xue and Qi Fang were about to leave, already wearing their coats, when Qi Fang bluntly asked, “Did your house collapse again?”
Li Shuwu’s wife stiffened. “What kind of question is that? Who’s house collapses all the time?”
“Then are you here to borrow money?” Qi Fang asked, expression unchanging.
She choked again. Just before New Year’s, she’d been hounded by debt collectors—she hadn’t even had money for the holidays. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have resorted to this.
This Qi Fang really had no tact. She turned to Yan Xue instead. “I heard you went to the center a few days ago for tree stumps but didn’t get any.”
News traveled fast. Yan Xue nodded. “That’s right.” She waited to see where this was going.
Li Shuwu’s wife put on an apologetic act. “I didn’t know you wanted them—I already asked the center to allocate them to my family.”
Lowering her voice, she added, “I don’t need that many. How about we work something out? I’ll share some with you so you’re not held back.”
“You mean trade for our truck? Sure.” Yan Xue pretended to misunderstand.
Li Shuwu’s wife was stumped again. “No, I mean I’ll give you all our stumps. We’ll just gather firewood from the mountains.”
She held up five fingers. “Since you’re in a hurry, and we’d only use them for firewood anyway.”
The audacity. The forestry bureau sold a truckload of firewood for ten yuan—she was asking for fifty.
Qi Fang glanced at her. “You’ve got quite the appetite.”
Li Shuwu’s wife didn’t catch the insult, but Yan Xue did and nearly laughed.
She did laugh. “But the firewood hasn’t even been delivered yet. Isn’t it too early to discuss this?”
“If we don’t settle it now, you’ll regret it when you’re desperate.”
Li Shuwu’s wife lowered her voice further, even winking. “If this delays your plans, it’ll cost you more than two fifties, won’t it?”
She’d picked the wrong target. Yan Xue didn’t reveal she wasn’t planting this year. “Don’t worry, the center said they’d help me out.”
“You trust their word? The center barely has enough to go around as it is!”
Before she could press further, Yan Xue put on her hat. “Sister Li, we’ve got to go or we’ll miss the bus.”
The couple grabbed their things and walked right past her, leaving her fuming. “You’ll regret this when you’ve got nothing to plant!”
Too stubborn to give up, she went to ask Second Old Lady, who was still at home. “Auntie, did Yan Xue get tree stumps from somewhere else?”
But the old woman knew nothing. “What’s a tree stump?”
Furious, Li Shuwu’s wife nearly returned the whole truckload—after all, they were a pain to chop. But then she’d just be handing Yan Xue an advantage, so she kept them.
Perhaps Yan Xue was waiting for her to return the items, but she wouldn’t. Let’s see what Yan Xue would do when she ran out of supplies. If she came begging later, fifty yuan wouldn’t even cut it.
Yan Xue also guessed that Li Shuwu's wife wouldn’t return the items. After all, in everyone’s eyes, she wouldn’t just give up on growing mushrooms overnight.
“Do you think Old Man Wang might be scheming the same thing?” she asked Qi Fang on the way.
“No idea,” Qi Fang couldn’t be bothered to speculate. “Whatever he’s plotting, it’ll come to nothing anyway.”
He set the basket of eggs down by his feet. “Should I pick you up at noon, or meet you at the restaurant?”
“Just wait at the restaurant. If you’re busy, don’t worry about me.” Calculating the days, Shan Qiufang should have already given birth, and Yan Xue planned to visit her and the baby.
Coincidentally, the town’s forestry bureau had informed Qi Fang that the first batch of parts he ordered had arrived, so he needed to check if they were correct before sending them to Jinchuan.
When they arrived at Shan Qiufang’s house, sure enough, she had already delivered. A petite elderly woman around sixty was taking care of her—her mother-in-law.
The moment Shan Qiufang saw Yan Xue, she called out, “I was just telling the baby’s grandma that if it weren’t for you, this little one would’ve been born way too early.”
Her mother-in-law had been feeding her millet porridge but quickly made room for Yan Xue by the kang. “So you’re the one who kept Qiufang from falling off the cart?”
“Exactly!” Shan Qiufang chimed in. “She dislocated her arm shielding me and only got the brace off last month.”
Her mother-in-law immediately thanked Yan Xue. “We really owe you. At her stage, a fall could’ve been disastrous. I heard there was even a traffic jam after the accident—if anything had happened, help wouldn’t have made it back in time.”
“Aunt Qiufang and the baby were just lucky. I happened to be right below them—otherwise, there’d have been no way to help.”
Yan Xue gently touched the baby’s swaddle, then glanced up to find Qi Fang staring at her intently, silent.
She instinctively averted her gaze and asked him, “Don’t you have business at the bureau?”
Instead of answering, Qi Fang turned to Shan Qiufang. “Was it really that dangerous back then?”
“Absolutely! We nearly crashed into the car ahead. That out-of-town driver had no sense—who speeds like that on a mountain road?”
Shan Qiufang was still indignant. “If it hadn’t been early November with little snow, his car would’ve gone straight off the slope.”
Qi Fang didn’t press further. “Take care of yourself. I’ve got things to handle.”
“Go ahead,” Shan Qiufang said, not keeping him. “Just remember to come back for lunch, alright? Eat here.”
Qi Fang left without another word, not even glancing at Yan Xue, which immediately struck her as odd.
Shan Qiufang, oblivious, leaned in conspiratorially. “Guess what my family wrote to me about?”
Since Qi Fang was already gone, Yan Xue didn’t show her unease. “What did they say?”
“You know your old house was sold to your uncle, right? Right after you left, they fixed it up for their son’s wedding.”
Shan Qiufang scoffed. “Last month, my mom wrote saying their daughter-in-law slipped on New Year’s Day and had a baby boy—who survived.”
Yan Xue had returned in June. Even if Yan Songshan’s family had rushed things, Yan Jizu couldn’t have married before late June. Even if the couple conceived immediately, by New Year’s, it’d only be six months.
And everyone knew a six-month baby wouldn’t survive—seven months was the bare minimum.
“Now we know why they were in such a hurry, even resorting to scaring kids—such a rotten thing to do. Turns out the daughter-in-law was already pregnant, and they were desperate to hide it.”
If Yan Jizu’s wife hadn’t slipped, they could’ve passed the baby off as premature at full term. But with their track record of misdeeds, luck wasn’t on their side.
Now, with the birth, the truth was out. The village would gossip for ages, and premature babies were hard to raise.
Shan Qiufang relished the drama. “They say grandparents’ virtue blesses their grandchildren. Well, those two have none, and their son’s no better…”
Meanwhile, at the town forestry bureau, the atmosphere was far less cordial than Yan Xue’s side.
After inspecting the parts the supply department had brought back, Qi Fang asked just one question: “Is this what I asked you to buy?”
The supply officer had expected this. “It’s a little off, but the part you wanted was impossible to find. I heard this one works just as well—”
Qi Fang cut him off. “Who said that? Bring them here to install it, then.”
He didn’t wait for excuses. “And to avoid this exact problem, I picked the most common, easiest-to-find parts. You’re telling me the most basic model was unavailable, but this one—50% more expensive and rarely used—wasn’t? Who’s the fool here, you or me?”
His tone was calm, his face expressionless, but each word stabbed deeper, leaving the man red-faced and speechless.
Qi Fang even added a dry jab: “Since you love taking initiative, why don’t you handle the installation, and I’ll take your supply job? Seems easy enough.”
It was practically a direct insult—how could someone so inept work in supply? The man flushed with anger but had no retort. “Fine, buy it yourself if you’re so capable!”
Qi Fang seemed to have been waiting for this. “Then have the bureau allocate the funds. I’ll get them from the county machinery plant.”
He’d worked there for two months, solving problems and earning favors. Getting parts wouldn’t be hard.
But since this was for the bureau’s machines, bypassing them would humiliate the town forestry bureau.
Furious yet helpless, the supply officer could only promise to be more careful next time before storming off to Director Liu. “Why didn’t you warn me Qi Fang was this difficult?”
Later, in Qu Mingli’s office, Qi Fang remained impassive. “Three parts don’t match. Two are missing, one’s wrong.”
Qu Mingli wasn’t surprised. “Can you work with what’s left?” He handed Qi Fang a list. “Check if the prices are off.”
“Yes.” Qi Fang skimmed the list. “These are 5% above market rate. These two, 20%.”
The 5% markup items were common, but the 20% ones were critical components—including the wrong part the supply officer had bought.
Qu Mingli understood immediately. Qi Fang didn’t linger. “Have the engine department send the parts. I won’t accompany them.”
Pausing, he added, “My wife’s relative just had a baby. I came down with her.”
Qu Mingli perked up. “Is Yan Xue’s arm better? Last time I saw her, the injury looked serious.”
So that’s why he’d urged him to go home—he’d known about Yan Xue’s injury. While Qi Fang had been left in the dark…
Qi Fang: Wuwuwu... My wife got hurt and didn’t tell me—I’m gonna tear everyone apart!
