Chapter 31: Returning the Favor

Human joys and sorrows do not truly intersect.

Su Yuncheng walked back to the town with a furrowed brow, recalling the little girl's every frown and smile from the past few days.

And the person he was thinking about had already shut her windows, drawn her curtains, and slipped into her soft silk pajamas, blissfully off to meet Duke Zhou in her dreams.

Wang Shumei wanted to ask Lin Nianhe how things were going after getting off work, but as soon as she reached the backyard, she saw the tightly shut doors and windows and the black curtains that kept people at a thousand miles distance.

She could only suppress her curiosity and go back to cooking.

Lin Nianhe's nap was anything but peaceful.

First, the clattering of pots and pans from the front yard woke her; then, the gong signaling the start of work startled her. Just as she finally managed to wait for the world to quiet down, it wasn't long before she heard the sound of a bicycle.

Desperate, she sat up from the kang bed, hating her excellent senses for the first time.

Good hearing made it difficult to get a peaceful sleep.

Climbing off the kang, she changed out of her pajamas and stuffed herself back into cotton clothes.

As soon as she opened the door, she met Su Yuncheng's gaze.

"Did I wake you up?" Su Yuncheng, holding some items, looked into Lin Nianhe's eyes with a hint of apology.

Lin Nianhe shook her head: "No, I've been awake for a while, just got out of bed."

She hadn't slept well, and her eyes were sore, causing her to involuntarily lift her hand to rub them.

Su Yuncheng's mouth curled up slightly, "The books are a bit heavy, let me put them inside for you."

"Oh, okay." Lin Nianhe stepped aside from the door.

The curtains in the inner room were still closed, shrouded in darkness. With the light pouring in from the open door of the outer room, one could vaguely see that the quilt on the kang hadn't been folded.

Su Yuncheng put down the books and came out, conveniently placing two lunch boxes on the stove and telling her, "The State-Owned Restaurant has braised fish today; I got you a portion, save it for dinner."

"Ah?" Lin Nianhe reached into her pocket reflexively, "How much?"

Su Yuncheng frowned: "Nianhe."

Lin Nianhe, under the pretense of searching her pockets, took out some change and Food Tickets from her space.

She handed them to him, her gaze particularly serious: "If you don't take this, I really won't dare to accept your things in the future."

Su Yuncheng felt somewhat helpless, thought for a moment, and took one yuan from her hand: "That's enough."

Lin Nianhe had gained some understanding of this era and asked, "What about the Food Tickets?"

"No need, I have plenty of tickets, can't use them all," Su Yuncheng answered.

Lin Nianhe insisted: "I also have a lot."

"Then wait until I run out to ask you for some," Su Yuncheng said, walking towards the door.

"Hey…"

"Listen to me."

Su Yuncheng paused in his step, frowning slightly as he looked at her.

Lin Nianhe swallowed her words of refusal and instead said, "Then come get the lunch boxes after you're done with your work."

"Alright."

Su Yuncheng's lips unconsciously curved up again, adding, "There's a piece of unused checkered fabric at home, I brought it along for you, use it to make curtains."

The pitch-black curtains didn't suit her at all; Su Yuncheng felt they wronged her just by looking at them.

After saying this, he didn't wait for Lin Nianhe to reply, waved at her, and left straight away.

Lin Nianhe looked at his retreating back, then at the pitch-dark room.

She thought her curtains were quite fine.

Look, how good they were at blocking light.

The checkered fabric Su Yuncheng brought closely resembled Lin Nianhe's tablecloth; no matter how one looked at it, it seemed like it was bought specially.

Lin Nianhe didn't dwell too long on the piece of fabric, as her attention was quickly drawn to the stack of books about a foot thick.

Su Yuncheng had brought quite a few books.

In addition to textbooks, there were "Red Rock," "Red Sun," "Youth Song"... these red literature novels.

The books were all very new, without a single crease or curled edge. It was evident that he cherished them greatly.

Since Su Yuncheng was so generous as to give them to her, it naturally meant that they were for reading.

After pondering for a moment, Lin Nianhe used these books to fill her empty desk.

Her desk was by the window, overlooking the fields outside. To prevent dust from settling on the book pages, Lin Nianhe covered them with the checkered cloth he had brought.

She couldn't treat things that others had carefully preserved as disposable trash.

Lin Nianhe leaned back in her chair and took a cup of milk tea from her space, taking a big gulp.

The fatigue from a lack of sleep was driven away by the sweet sugar, and as Lin Nianhe sipped her milk tea, thinking of the braised fish and lunch box still outside, she decided to procrastinate a bit.

Procrastination was kicking in, even if the sky fell, she would put off running for a while.

She procrastinated for a while, and then another while... finally, seconds before Su Yuncheng entered the Educated Youth Corps, she cleaned and refilled those two lunch boxes.

"Brother Cheng, are we going straight to Nine-miles Team to catch people?"

Besides the female doctor from the health clinic, Zhou Fenyang, who came with Su Yuncheng, there was also a chubby guy from the team named Feng Wei.

In this era, it was rare to see a fat person, and Feng Wei wasn't from a wealthy family either; he was the kind who would gain weight even from just drinking water.

Feng Wei, pushing his bicycle, panted heavily: "Brother Cheng, just the two of us, aren't we short on manpower?"

Su Yuncheng stopped in front of the Educated Youth Corps, saying, "Before coming, I communicated with Team Two, and they will be making the arrests."

"Oh, that's good then." Feng Wei sighed in relief, took a few steps, then suddenly remembered to ask, "Brother Cheng, where's your bike?"

Su Yuncheng turned and walked towards the Educated Youth Corps, saying as he went: "You guys go ahead, I'll catch up in a bit."

Feng Wei scratched his head: "Brother Cheng, what are you off to do?"

The one who answered him, however, was Zhou Fenyang: "I heard from my brother before that Yuncheng has a sister who went to the countryside."

"Ah?" Feng Wei's eyes widened for a moment, then he smacked his forehead, "That's why my brother suddenly started asking about the team's affairs two months ago, it was to choose a place for his sister to go to the countryside."

Zhou Fenyang's eyes flickered as she asked him, "Haven't you heard Yuncheng mention it?"

"Nope," Feng Wei replied innocently.

Zhou Fenyang quietly let out a sigh of relief.

Backyard.

Lin Nianhe gave the two full lunch boxes back to Su Yuncheng and handed him a cup of iced tea: "Have some water before you leave."

Su Yuncheng took the teacup and only after taking a sip did he ask, "What's in the lunch box?"

Lin Nianhe's voice lowered mysteriously: "I bought some meat jerky from a classmate before I came, have it as a snack."

There would be no problem befriending him this way; privately reselling things was something she could never admit, and even if he wanted to investigate, there was no way he could.

Su Yuncheng declined: "I don't like these things, you keep them for yourself."

"No need, I have more," Lin Nianhe shook her head, "I've made arrangements with her, her mom will send me some every month, I have plenty to worry about getting tired of eating it."

Indeed, she had a lot, enough for two people to last a lifetime.

Su Yuncheng wanted to refuse again, but Lin Nianhe's face became stern: "You always tell me not to be polite with you, so why are you doing the same?"

Su Yuncheng was left without a response.

After finishing his iced tea, he said in a low voice, "My colleagues have gone to Nine-miles Team to make the arrests, I will tell you once there is a verdict."

"Okay," Lin Nianhe said gratefully, "Thank you for your hard work, otherwise this wouldn't have gone so smoothly."

"No..."

"Comrade Lin, can I ask your brother for a favor?"

A gentle and sweet voice came through, interrupting their conversation.