“Oh, Xiao Ji! On leave?”
“Yeah, on leave. I was passing by and brought you some food and drink.”
“By the way, who was that who just left…”
Old Hu, who was sorting through medicinal herbs, chuckled when he heard this. “You don’t recognize Gu Zhengrong, Regiment Commander Gu? He was transferred to the island this year. But I suppose that makes sense—you don’t usually come back home much. There are quite a few people in the military district on the island. It’s normal not to know him. Why? Did he offend you?”
Ji Xiangtian looked up toward the increasingly noisy drainage ditch and shook his head. “No, nothing like that. I just felt something was a bit off. What medicine did he come to you for?”
That wasn’t a secret, so Old Hu answered directly. “His mother has angina. As you know, that medicine is hard to come by. Traditional Chinese medicine is working well for her as a conditioning treatment. After he was transferred here, he brought his mother to me. The brigade leader knows about this.”
Old Hu had been sent down from the Yangcheng Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital. Actually, to be precise, he had deliberately arranged to be sent down to leave the hospital. Coming to the island meant fewer complications. He had old friends here, and the villagers respected doctors. All things considered, he lived a pretty good life.
The commotion by the drainage ditch grew louder at that moment. He sighed. The only downside was where he lived—it was too damn smelly!
Ji Xiangtian nodded and didn’t ask further. He trusted that Old Hu knew his limits.
Earlier that morning, when he’d returned to the island, he never expected to fall into the sea. He was still investigating the details. But at that moment, he truly felt like he might die. Fortunately, Comrade Yun had saved him.
Thinking of this, Ji Xiangtian noticed his heart rate becoming irregular again.
He looked down at Old Hu and wondered whether he should ask him to take his pulse. But seeing that Old Hu’s attention was entirely on the drainage ditch, he shook his head and decided against it.
——
“Grab the rope tight…”
“You… stand here… you… stand here…”
Yun Su stood with her eldest brother and little brother, watching how Yun Feng pleaded with the brigade members for help, and how Hu Chunhua made an unreasonable fuss. Seeing that none of this trouble involved them, she found it quite amusing.
Indeed, watching other people’s drama was really entertaining.
When the ropes were finally tied and the people pulling them were in position, Yun Su immediately grabbed her little brother, who was trying to get closer for a better look, and took several big steps back. Of course, she didn’t forget to call her eldest brother to step back as well.
Now that they were about to pull Hu Daqiang up with ropes, if they didn’t step back, muddy sludge would go flying everywhere.
That was one kind of “grease” she didn’t want to get on herself!
But stepping back brought them right next to the thatched cottages. Yun Su remembered that these cottages housed several sent-down experts and professors. The book had mentioned that Yun Feng secretly built relationships with these experts and professors. After they were rehabilitated, Yun Feng received a lot of help from them.
Otherwise, how could a mere military wife later have such connections that she could single-handedly take over the only seafood processing plant on the island? That step was a major leap in the female lead Yun Feng’s path to wealth!!
Yun Su had no intention of building relationships with these big shots. After all, if they were big shots, they weren’t fools. In her past life, she had gone against her own wishes to curry favor with bosses, clients, and government agencies, and it had worn her out.
In this life, she truly wanted to live a more comfortable existence.
Still, she was curious about these legendary big shots.
Since she was already here, Yun Su wanted to see these legendary figures—the female lead’s golden fingers.
Instead, she saw a very handsome man…
Oh, the very handsome man who would later become the female lead’s stepping stone—Ji Xiangtian.
——
“What a coincidence, Comrade Ji. Did you come to see Old Hu for a prescription?” Yun Huaimin greeted him warmly.
Old Hu had been in their brigade for several years now. Everyone knew he was skilled. Whenever they had a headache or fever, they’d come to Old Hu for a look. His medicines were cheap, easy to find in the mountains or fields, and could be bought at the market when they went to town.
Ji Xiangtian replied, “Hello, Comrade Yun. I was actually planning to visit your home. Since you’re here, please accept these as thank-you gifts. I want to express my gratitude to you and your sister, Comrade Yun, for saving me…”
Yun Su had just been pondering the future of this handsome stepping stone. When she heard the awkward phrasing—”you and your sister, Comrade Yun”—she couldn’t help but let out a chuckle.
Seeing his sister laugh, Yun Huaimin felt a bit embarrassed. “No need to be so polite, Comrade Ji. We coastal folk help each other as a matter of course. You save me today, I’ll save you tomorrow. We don’t stand on ceremony. There’s no need for thank-you gifts.”
“Yeah, exactly! It’s nothing. Saving people is just what you do.”
Yun Su had just laughed at him, so she immediately made up for it with a cheerful expression.
Ji Xiangtian felt his heartbeat go irregular again!
That lively, radiant smile reminded Ji Xiangtian of that morning in the sea—how, under the pitch-black clouds, the young girl’s calm eyes had seemed to hold the stars.
In that moment, his heart had begun to race uncontrollably.
As for the thank-you gifts, after a few polite refusals, they quickly settled the matter. After all, they were all young people and didn’t stand on ceremony. Her eldest brother simply reached out and patted Ji Xiangtian’s muscular arm, then invited him to visit their home.
Ji Xiangtian wanted to refuse. After all, they had just met that day, and it felt a bit presumptuous to show up at their door.
But not only was his heartbeat out of control, his legs seemed to have a mind of their own. They followed behind Yun Su without his permission.
Watching the whole scene, Old Hu shook his head in amusement. Ah, young people these days…
…
“Yes, please come by whenever you’re free.”
“Haha, I didn’t expect you to be so skilled. So you’re an orthopedic doctor? I heard…”
“Hey, from now on, can I call you Tian Ji…”
Yun Su was sitting on a bamboo chair under the eaves, peeling and eating longans. When she heard the nickname “Tian Ji,” she burst out laughing again.
In their local dialect, when addressing someone close, they would take the last character of their given name and add “ji” or “zai” (pronounced with a third tone) to it. This indicated a familiar and close relationship.
For example, her eldest brother, Yun Huaimin, was called “Min Zai” by his friends. Her little brother, Yun Huaifu, was called “Fu Zai.” Even the elders in the family used these nicknames.
As for her, Yun Su, no one called her “Su Zai.” Because when she was little, some mischievous kids would call her “Su Xia Zai,” which in the local dialect meant “little baby.”
Because of this, her family called her “Su Su,” and people outside called her “Xiao Su.”
Right now, the three siblings and Ji Xiangtian were all sitting in the yard.
They had originally gone to watch the spectacle of Hu Daqiang falling into the drainage ditch. But because of the stench, and because they’d run into Ji Xiangtian, they decided to leave early.
The latest news from the ditch when they left was that Hu Daqiang didn’t have the strength to hold onto the rope tightly. He had almost been pulled up, but then he splashed back down into the ditch.
This turn of events was unexpected for Yun Su, but she was very happy about it. She even thought it would be great if Hu Daqiang could fall back in ten or twenty times.
——
Once her eldest brother used the nickname “Tian Ji,” the previously somewhat restrained atmosphere became much more lively.
Even her little brother, Fu Zai, gradually loosened up and started asking Ji Xiangtian about military matters.
As for Ji Xiangtian, although his family were all military doctors, they were still soldiers, so he naturally had plenty of interesting stories about military life to share.
Thus, the yard became increasingly lively.
As Yun Su ate freshly picked longans, their sweet juice bursting in her mouth, she felt that life was quite comfortable.
Before she knew it, more than half an hour had passed. Yun Su was wondering whether she should invite Ji Xiangtian to stay for dinner when she heard a commotion coming from the intersection.
Her little brother, Fu Zai, jumped up and ran to the wooden gate. A moment later, he came running back. “Oh my, it’s really something…”
Seeing her little brother’s excitement, Yun Su figured there must be some entertainment to watch. But then she noticed a faint smell of the drainage ditch beginning to mix with the air.
Since their home was by the sea, the air naturally carried a slight saltiness. Although Yun Su had only been here less than a day, she had already grown accustomed to it. But now the air carried the stench of the ditch. Thinking back to the situation at the ditch before they left, Yun Su thought, It couldn’t be that ridiculous, could it?
But it really was that ridiculous!
——
“Hey, you guys left too early—what a waste. You didn’t see how weak Hu Daqiang was! He couldn’t hold onto the rope several times, saying he had no strength left. Finally, the old uncle told someone to climb down into the ditch and tie the rope directly around Hu Daqiang before pulling him up. Who could stand that smell?!”
Right now, Yun Su was watching Yun Feng, who was stopped at her own front gate. Listening to her cousin from the same branch of the family describe what had happened at the ditch after they left, she couldn’t help but think that being the female lead was really not easy.
It turned out that after they left, Hu Daqiang couldn’t hold onto the rope. After several failed attempts, the brigade leader lost patience and told someone to go down and tie the rope around him. But who would want to get covered in ditch sludge? So in the end, they made Hu Chunhua, his own sister, do it.
Hu Chunhua went down, successfully tied Hu Daqiang securely, and got him pulled up. But then, after climbing out, she enthusiastically hugged Yun Feng to express her gratitude.
She thanked Yun Feng for helping them say good things to the villagers during the rescue operation.
The result, of course, was that Yun Feng ended up covered in black, stinking mud!
Yun Su looked at the black, smelly mud smeared on Yun Feng’s face and clothes—a hug of love from her dear sister Hu Chunhua. It was almost impressive! Being the female lead was really, really hard.
——
The key thing was that Yun Feng didn’t seem to mind at all. Instead, she stood patiently at her door and called out, “Yun Yan, Yun Que, quickly open the door for your eldest sister. My clothes are dirty and I need to change.”
From inside the house came Yun Yan’s sharp voice: “You stink! If you want to wash up, go rinse off in the sea first and then come back.”
“Ah, that Yun family, second branch—aside from Yun Feng, the rest aren’t much.”
The neighbors all knew what had happened. Hearing Yun Feng being blocked from her own home by her sisters, they all sighed sympathetically.
But as soon as this was said, Yun Yan inside shot back without any courtesy, “If you feel so sorry for her, take her to your house to wash up!”
The stench of that mud was powerful. No one wanted that stuff in their own home. Someone like Yun Feng would need to first rinse off the mud with several buckets of water, then slowly wash herself again bit by bit.
In any case, this cleaning process would produce a large amount of foul water. Rinsing off inside the house wasn’t practical. If done in the yard—theirs had open drainage channels for household water—the water could be drained away. But the smell from the dirty water wouldn’t dissipate easily.
Every household dried seafood and seaweed in their yards. If those got contaminated by the smell, their dried seafood and seaweed wouldn’t sell well.
So once Yun Yan spoke, many who had been about to advise otherwise fell silent.
Some troublemakers suggested she go across the way to Yun Su’s house to wash up.
Hearing this, Yun Su rolled her eyes directly.
Just then, Yun Feng’s parents—Yun Su’s second uncle and aunt—returned cheerfully, carrying a shoulder pole laden with goods, accompanied by their youngest daughter and little son.
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