Chapter 6: Wedding Gift

A subtle fragrance of orchids wafted beneath Ye Changzheng’s nose.

He looked into Xie Jinyu’s smiling eyes, feeling a warmth in his heart, and hoarsely said, “It’s fragrant.”

Because she had applied fragrant snow cream, Xie Jinyu’s mood was visibly radiant.

How could it not be?

For the rest of her life, she would have no more entanglements with Chen Wanru or Lu Qianjin.

She would personally create a brilliant life that belonged to her.

That unknown yet beautiful life was beckoning Xie Jinyu.

The tractor would not return to the village until two in the afternoon. Since waiting idly was pointless, Xie Jinyu decided to drag Ye Changzheng to the district’s recycling center.

“Teacher Xie, if you want to buy books, we should go to the Xinhua Bookstore,” Ye Changzheng said, somewhat disapproving of Xie Jinyu scavenging for books here.

“Books at Xinhua are so expensive. From now on, we need to save wherever we can and spend wisely,” Xie Jinyu tossed her scarf aside and began sifting through the piles of discarded paper for the books she wanted.

Xie Jinyu knew the college entrance exams would be reinstated, so she had to start studying seriously now, striving to get into a university in the capital.

Although Ye Changzheng didn’t approve of her searching for books at the recycling center, he still accompanied her.

Soon enough, Xie Jinyu had gathered a large pile.

Not only did she find books, but she also discovered a broken, battered radio.

“Sir, can I buy this radio as well?”

The recycling center’s old man, seeing how many books Xie Jinyu had collected, generously said, “It’s just a broken, unusable junk. Consider it a gift.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Xie Jinyu not only gathered books she could read herself but also collected some textbooks for elementary students.

The two types of textbooks together weren’t conspicuous in her basket.

“Sir, do you have a knife for sharpening? Can I borrow it?”

Though in her past life she was just an ordinary teacher, the scarcity of teachers meant she had to teach not only the main subjects but also chemistry, physics, biology, history, geography, politics, music, and art.

Back then, to make the children like physics, she had even bought parts online to assemble a radio herself.

She thought, if she could assemble one, repairing a radio shouldn’t be difficult.

With swift hands, she took the radio apart.

After fiddling for a long time, the radio still showed no sign of life.

Ye Changzheng glanced at Xie Jinyu, who was deeply focused amid the scattered radio parts, then picked up a few inconspicuous components from the scrap heap.

“Teacher Xie, let me try.”

Feeling a bit sheepish, Xie Jinyu moved aside. Ye Changzheng squatted down and carefully reassembled all the parts.

“Try putting in the batteries.”

The old man at the recycling center removed the batteries from his own radio and handed them to Xie Jinyu.

Skeptical but hopeful, she inserted the batteries into the radio, and as she tuned the frequency, sound came through.

“Ye Changzheng! You’re amazing!”

Xie Jinyu couldn’t help but give him a thumbs-up.

Though others had praised Ye Changzheng before, when Xie Jinyu’s clear, bright eyes looked at him like that, he felt as if he had received a certificate of honor.

“Little brother.”

The old man turned and went inside, returning with three radios in better condition and placed them before Ye Changzheng.

“See if you can fix these. If you do, I won’t charge you for these books—I’ll give them to you.”

“I’ll give it a try,” Ye Changzheng said.

His hands were deft.

In less than half an hour, he had repaired all three radios.

The old man’s weathered face bloomed into a smile.

Not only did he bring steamed buns for Ye Changzheng and Xie Jinyu, but he also gifted Xie Jinyu a large stash of hidden books.

After leaving the recycling center, the two went to the photo studio to pick up their wedding photos, then headed to the meeting point.

The other villagers had not yet arrived, so Xie Jinyu and Ye Changzheng boarded the vehicle and claimed a better seat.

As it neared two o'clock, more villagers trickled in.

Only Lu Qianjin and Chen Wanru were absent. When someone asked the village party secretary, he said, “They’re hospitalized for a few days; they’ll return for the next round.”

The tractor bumped along the country dirt road, and as it crossed a stone bridge, some children were crying and shouting.

The party secretary recognized one of them and asked, “Goudan, why are you crying?”

“Grandpa Lu, the neighbor’s calf fell into the river…”

The party secretary immediately called on the villagers to rescue the child.

Unlike in the past when Ye Changzheng had to rescue alone, this time the party secretary shouted from the bridge, and villagers from both sides of the river, who had been staying indoors, came out to help.

Some broke the ice; others went into the water.

Ye Changzheng naturally joined the rescue team.

About ten minutes later, Ye Changzheng pulled the calf child from the water.

But… after being submerged in icy water for so long, the child was not breathing.

The child’s parents and relatives wept bitterly.

Xie Jinyu approached the child, knelt down, and began CPR.

Time passed unknowingly…

Finally, the child breathed faintly.

Seeing Xie Jinyu’s strength fading, Ye Changzheng, despite his clothes freezing stiff, immediately took over and continued CPR.

Ten minutes later, the child awakened.

Xie Jinyu and Ye Changzheng exchanged a smile—they had not only saved a drowning child but their lives would now be forever changed.

“Dad! Mom!”

Upon waking, the child’s honest farmer father gave several sharp slaps to his son’s backside.

“Running off to play in the river!”

“Going ice skating!”

“Not listening to us!”

The calf child’s near-drowning had terrified not only his parents but also the parents of other children.

Tonight, these children would undoubtedly have a meal of stir-fried bamboo shoots with pork to remind them to be careful.

The child’s parents wanted to thank Xie Jinyu and Ye Changzheng by inviting them to dinner, but the two politely declined; only the party secretary stayed.

Xie Jinyu and Ye Changzheng rode the tractor back to the village, got off at the barnyard, and walked back to the cowshed.

In the morning, the cowshed looked as usual, but now there was a hint of festivity.

Yan Hongying had somehow procured red paper and pasted “Double Happiness” paper-cut decorations on the cowshed’s gate and windows.

“Grandma.”

“Teacher.”

Hearing Xie Jinyu and Ye Changzheng’s voices, Yan Hongying stepped out of the yard.

“You’re back? What happened to Changzheng?”

As soon as they returned to the cowshed, Xie Jinyu quickly poured hot water from the kettle to prepare a basin for Ye Changzheng.

“Ye Changzheng, quickly use the hot water to wipe down and change clothes.”

After stoking the fire to a blaze, Yan Hongying came outside with Xie Jinyu.

Ye Changzheng wiped himself by the fire with hot water and changed into clean clothes.

Yan Hongying brewed a pot of ginger tea to dispel the cold.

Xie Jinyu handed Ye Changzheng the scarf and gloves she had knitted earlier, openly saying, “A return gift for the snow cream.”