Chapter 37: Who Are You

a"Oh right, sister-in-law." Li Chun thought of something and turned back, "There's a bathhouse behind this row of houses. Both men and women have bathhouses, but women's bathhouses are smaller. After all, we don't have many women here. There's hot water at eight o'clock in the evening. If you want to take a shower, you might have to wait."

"Also, the toilet is at the two ends of the dormitory. The men's one is on the left and the women's one is on the right. If you need to..." Li Chun was too embarrassed to continue.

Guo Xiang nodded. "I understand. Thank you!"

Li Chun gave a few more instructions before returning to his own dormitory.

The weather was hot, and Guo Xiang's face was covered in sweat.

She took out her towel from her bag and a white enamel basin with red flowers on the basin rack. She looked outside the door. There was a faucet at the door. It was convenient for washing up.

Guo Xiang looked along the row. There were faucets in front of each room. Some of them even had coal stoves and iron pots. It seemed that people cook here.

There was an empty space in front of the dormitory. There was a row of laundry basins. In front of it were a row of cement columns and steel rope drying racks. Clothes and bed sheets were hung all over them. It was a very lively work area.

Guo Xiang took the water into the room, washed her face, and hung the towel on the washbasin rack.

On the washbasin rack was a half-used towel and a bar of soap. They were all very clean.

Looking at the room again, although it was simple and crude, it was well organized. It did not look like a place where a bachelor lived. It seemed that Gu Zhennan was still a person who liked to be clean.

Guo Xiang liked this very much. Doctors were more or less obsessed with cleanliness. If she came into the room full of smelly socks and clothes, she might not be able to stay for a minute.

She climbed up the bed. At the end of the bed, there was a cabinet. On one side were quilts, blankets, pillows, and clothes. They were all neatly arranged.

On the opposite side was a desk. There were a few books, a pen container, and a few pieces of white paper pressed under a paperweight stone.

Guo Xiang walked over and took a look. It was a mechanical blueprint.

Li Chun had said that Gu Zhennan had taught himself mechanical repair. She did not expect him to know how to draw. It seemed that he was a person who was willing to use his brain.

Around 5:30, Li Chun brought the food over.

"Guo Xiang, the food is ready for you. I also brought Zhennan's food," Li Chun said.

"Thank you!" Guo Xiang opened the lunchbox. It was quite sumptuous. There were potatoes, eggs, and braised pork.

The oil fields were rich, and the food was so good.

"Can family members eat in the cafeteria?" Guo Xiang couldn't help but ask.

"We use coupons to buy our meals. We get issued a fixed meal coupon every month. If there are family members who don't have enough to eat, they will have to pay for it themselves. If they don't need coupons, all the relatives will come here to eat. That's won't do." Li Chun said with a smile.

"That's true." Guo Xiang nodded. That was the only reasonable way.

"Therefore, some family members will cook by themselves. It's cheaper to cook by themselves, so they can save some money. The extra meal ticket can be sold to people who need it, and they can also save some money."

Li Chun said, "Although the wages here are higher than others, many people have to support a big family. It's not easy."

Guo Xiang nodded. It was true. For Gu Zhennan, it was hard for him to earn money alone. It was fine if he didn't owe money. Now that the family owed money, they couldn't even eat rice.

That was the reason why some people had coal stoves in front of their houses.

"Please enjoy your meal. I'm going back now. I have to go to work tomorrow. You can go to the cafeteria to get your meal. The meal coupons are all in the drawer," said Li Chun.

"I've really troubled you today." Guo Xiang sent Li Chun out.

"You're being too nice." Li Chun smiled and went back to the dormitory.

Guo Xiang picked up her chopsticks and ate. He got her so much food that it filled up the whole container. It should be the amount of a man. They were oil workers. They were tired from work, so they ate a lot.

Guo Xiang felt that she had enough food for two meals.

After eating half of it, she really couldn't eat anymore. She touched her round belly. It had been a long time since she had eaten so much.

When she was full, she felt sleepy. However, her body was too dirty and she needed to take a bath.

However, the bathhouse would only open at eight o'clock. Guo Xiang couldn't wait.

And to be honest, in her previous life, she rarely took a bath in a public bathhouse. She wasn't used to it.

There was a bucket under the basin rack, and Guo Xiang took the bucket outside to fetch a bucket of water.

It was hot now, so even if she used cold water, it would not be too cold, so she might as well use cold water to wash herself.

The room was about ten square meters. On the right was a bed, and next to the door was a basin rack. On the left was a desk and chairs, and there was only an empty space in the upper left corner.

Guo Xiang plugged the door, closed the curtains, and lifted the bucket to that corner.

She just had to be careful when she washed. Besides, it was hot now, so even if she sprinkled water on the ground, it would dry quickly.

Some people were so hot that they deliberately sprinkled water on the ground.

When she took off her clothes, she realized that there was no soap.

There was raw soap on the basin rack, but it'll make her skin too dry.

Guo Xiang searched in the drawer and found two pieces of soap.

Thinking of the soap used at home, they should have all been brought back by Gu Zhennan. He was really a family man!

Guo Xiang took a good shower after taking out a piece of soap. Although she could not splash water on herself, she felt much better.

She realized that she did not have pajamas when she was changing.

When she went to Yunnan, she always slept in her daytime clothes because it was inconvenient. Now that she was relaxed, she felt that it was too hot and too restrictive to wear long clothes and trousers.

When she looked again, she saw that there was no electric fan in the room. Gu Zhennan was really frugal. Was it not hot without a fan on such a hot day?

Guo Xiang climbed up the bed and searched the cabinet. She found a pair of blue shorts. They were still new. They should have been issued by the factory.

Who cares? Let's make do with them first.

The shorts were already below Guo Xiang's knees when she put them on. It seemed that Gu Zhennan was very tall.

It was much cooler to wear shorts. Guo Xiang opened the window. The curtains were half-drawn and the door was half-closed. This way, she could get some air without people directly seeing inside.

She was a little tired after doing all this. She didn't want to wash the clothes. It was a tomorrow problem.

Guo Xiang pulled out a chair and picked up the book on Gu Zhennan's desk to read.

The lights in the room were too dim. Fortunately, there was a desk lamp on the table. Guo Xiang turned on the desk lamp and turned off the headlights in the room.

As she read, her eyelids gradually became heavy. She lay on the table and fell asleep.

When Gu Zhennan came back, he saw the light coming from the window in the distance. He guessed that Li Chun had come and helped him to get food again?

They used to work in the forest together. The two of them took care of each other and were very good brothers.

But why was the door not locked? Was he still inside?

Gu Zhennan pushed the door open and saw a woman with bare arms and legs lying on his table asleep.

His face turned dark, "who are you?"

Guo Xiang woke up suddenly and turned to look at the person who came in. She was shocked.

Oh my God, this is Gu Zhennan? Is he black? Why is his skin so dark? She could only see a pair of eyes and a set of white teeth. Did he fall into the oil barrel?

"I... I Am Guo Xiang!" Guo Xiang stuttered.

"Guo Xiang?" Gu Zhennan frowned. Wasn't Guo Xiang a fool?