The hard wooden bed was covered with two layers of mattresses, and the quilt embroidered with bright red peonies and mandarin ducks was specially made by his mother, who had commissioned someone in the county town to do it.
On the peeling walls hung a brand-new, bright red "Double Happiness" character. Although the room looked somewhat crude, it inexplicably gave off a cozy feeling.
Gu Panpan sat on the bed, her hands twisting nervously. On the quilt, red dates, peanuts, lotus seeds, and melon seeds were arranged to spell out a phrase wishing them an early birth of a son.
Listening to the "creak, creak, creak, spit" sounds of Hou Yong brushing his teeth in the courtyard, Gu Panpan felt as if her heart was about to leap out of her throat.
Her mouth felt a bit dry, so she instinctively reached out and grabbed a handful of melon seeds from the side, ate two, and then stopped.
Would she get pregnant just from eating this?
How terrifying.
Tsk, but if she just spat them out like this, would it be bad luck?
With a "creak," Hou Yong pushed the door open and walked in. Gu Panpan jumped in fright, and the melon seeds in her hand scattered all over the floor. Hou Yong was wearing only a white tank top, through which his well-defined muscle lines were faintly visible. Remembering that she had just been eating melon seeds, Gu Panpan's face turned beet red in an instant.
"What's wrong? Did I scare you?"
Hou Yong walked over to Gu Panpan and sat down. The village had not yet been wired for electricity, and a kerosene lamp sat on a small table not far away. In the quiet room, neither of them spoke; only the "crackling" sound of the small flame burning could be heard.
"You... I... um, no."
Gu Panpan first nodded, then shook her head vigorously.
In the dim lamplight, the girl's blushing cheeks looked very alluring. Hou Yong reached out and placed his hand over Gu Panpan's. The girl's body trembled slightly, but she didn't struggle.
Though it was early summer, the girl's hands were frighteningly cold, yet touching them felt like feeling a piece of fine mutton-fat jade.
"Pan'er, thank you for today."
Thinking of that snowy night in her past life, when Gu Panpan had held him in her arms and given him her final warmth, Hou Yong uttered this heartfelt sentiment.
The girl didn't speak, only gently nodded.
"Pan'er, are you going off to university soon?"
Hou Yong didn't want to make small talk awkward, so he tried to find a topic from her to help ease her nervous tension.
"Um... do you want me to go?"
Gu Panpan finally came back to her senses a little, turned to look at Hou Yong's somewhat perplexed expression, and added, "What I mean is, I'm already married to you now. Besides, you have a job at the factory. How about I don't go to school?"
This meant she was ready to follow her husband wherever he went, whether chicken or dog.
Apart from being deeply moved, Hou Yong even felt a touch of absurdity.
When he and Wang Xue had shared their wedding night in his past life, they had a similar conversation, except that back then, Wang Xue had laid down three strict rules for him.
She wanted Hou Yong to keep working at the factory, provided that he regularly covered her living expenses for school, and she even told Hou Yong not to come looking for her at the school unless necessary.
It was Hou Yong who had shamelessly followed her to the city, bringing the savings his family had saved up for him to stay in the city, where he endured cold stares at the bottom of the ladder and built things up bit by bit.
Although Gu Panpan's perspective was limited by this era, an educated youth capable of passing the university entrance exams was certainly no ordinary girl. She knew very well what staying behind in the village to accompany him would mean if she gave up the chance to go to university.
Precisely because of this, seeing the girl's initiative and sacrifice, how could he possibly clip the wings of the girl he loved?
"You silly goose."
Hou Yong reached out and patted the top of Gu Panpan's head. In his past life, he also liked doing this gesture, though back then it was how he treated a little sister, but now it instantly made the girl's face flush.
"Of course you have to go to school! At worst, I'll just quit my job at the factory and go to the city to work and support you."
Hou Yong said with a smile, "You just focus on your studies. You don't need to worry about things at home; I'll make money to support the family. Then next year, I'll take the university entrance exam too, and become your underclassman."
"Become my underclassman?"
Gu Panpan imagined that scenario; it sounded somewhat tempting.
Her train of thought derailed for just a second before she yanked herself right back to reality.
"You should keep your job at the factory. Otherwise, I can come back to keep you company during my weekly breaks."
In this era, factory jobs still carried a magical system of inheritance. For example, once Hou's father worked until retirement, his position was supposed to be passed on to Hou Yong.
"It's settled. I'm going with you to the city."
For the first time, Hou Yong showed a bit of the boldness expected of the head of a household.
When he first entered the city in his past life, he actually didn't have many advantages. The inherent prejudice where city people looked down on rural folk was a natural reality.
During her university years, Wang Xue was excessively vain. When the seasons changed, she needed clothes for the new weather, treated classmates to dinners, and bought gifts for her instructors—all she had to do was hold out her hand to ask Hou Yong for money.
Naturally, Hou Yong had racked his brains and worked desperately to make money. Looking back now, his desire for money was no longer that intense.
If he wanted to get rich, based on memories from his past life, there was a snuff bottle by the late Qing and early Republic era master Ma Shaoxuan right over in neighboring Li Village. If that thing were taken into the city nowadays, it could sell for several thousand yuan in a split second.
However, that family in Li Village still had two months of renovations left. It wouldn't be too late to go pedal a tricycle and collect scrap metal when the time came.
Chatting with his old man earlier, he had just learned that the family had actually borrowed a significant amount of external debt just to pay for his wedding.
When he followed her into the city in his past life, his parents couldn't bear to see him suffer too much, so behind his back, they supported his little household while paying off debts at the same time. No wonder his father's illness kept dragging on and worsening.
Hou Yong could even imagine that the nine hundred and twenty-seven yuan the family currently owed was probably not even fully paid off by the day his father closed his eyes.
That debt must have later dragged Dong'er down as well, which explained why his sister hated him so much right up until her death.
In this era, no family could casually pull out that much cash all at once. The money had been borrowed from household to household, and the biscuit tin under the bed in his parents' room was full of I.O.U.s from the villagers.
The people of Bafang Village were very close-knit, and his parents had good relations with everyone. Knowing that Hou Yong was going to marry a female educated youth was considered a tremendous honor. To Hou Yong, this was a massive favor owed to them.
Hou Yong thought carefully: how could he lead this group of kind villagers to make some money together?
Teach them qigong? After all, special functions and qigong were all the rage right now. The thought flashed for a split second before Hou Yong dismissed it. That wasn't leading the village to prosperity; that was fleecing a flock of sheep.
In the future, if he attended some summit forum where everyone else talked about their startup experiences, and the host asked him, "I hear President Hou started out with qigong, please demonstrate a strike across mountains for us," Hou Yong felt it would be a bit humiliating.
Sell goods to the villagers using modern internet thinking? In this era where everyone's primary concern was simply getting enough to eat, the village didn't actually have any special products to push out. If they forced it, the packaging and promotion costs would just be another expense.
He didn't need high-end businesses right now. Quick, short, and shallow low-end small businesses—what were the kinds of ventures that could make money fast?
Hou Yong turned his head and glanced sideways at his little wife. The room was terribly stuffy, and the girl's white button-down shirt clinging to her skin was soaked through with sweat. Beads of sweat slid down her lovely curves, sending a surge of fiery heat straight through Hou Yong's heart.