Chapter 34 It’s okay if it’s lost, you can always find it.

"You said your nephew didn't see anyone? Impossible!"

The two hurried to Shan Qiufang's house, but Shan Qiufang refused to acknowledge the payment for the wine. "I personally went to the station to pick her up and put her on the train myself. How could I not have seen her? Besides, she came to my house later to drop off something and said she had seen her. The cans and bottles are still there."

He went straight to the kitchen and took out a bottle of fresh pickled vegetables.

She said this with such conviction that she didn't seem to be feeling guilty at all. Aunt Qi could only confirm with her nephew: "You really didn't see anyone?"

Shan Qiufang then noticed Qi Fang standing behind her. "Is this your nephew? He's grown up like this after not seeing him for a few years?"

She remembered that she was quite tall and had big eyes when she was a child.

Shan Qiufang is a straightforward person with a quick tongue. Aunt Qi has known this for a long time, but is now the time to talk about this?

Seeing her nephew looked a little embarrassed, but nodded, she quickly got back to the point. "I know my own nephew, he said he didn't see her, and that's it. What about your niece? Did she run away with my money?"

Dan Qiufang didn't like hearing this. "She's just an adult. Where can she go? Besides, who needs that hundred dollars from your family?"

"That's not necessarily true. Just find a big ditch, open up a piece of land, and you can't make a living. It's not like there are no illegal immigrants from the border areas in our ditch."

"Then why did she come here to get married? It's not like she can't get through the customs."

Shan Qiufang simply led the man to her sister-in-law's house across the street. "Sister-in-law, can you testify for me? Didn't my niece come over before the New Year? She said she met someone at the forest farm and gave me two cans of food?"

"That not-too-tall girl with big, pretty eyes?" The sister-in-law obviously still remembered Yan Xue.

Shan Qiufang nodded, "Yes, that's her. I don't have any other nieces here."

"I have indeed seen her. She came here once after the Chinese New Year with her lover."

"Yeah, I said it's impossible that he didn't see her." Shan Qiufang immediately turned around to look at the Qi family's aunt and nephew, especially Qi Fang. "What do you mean? The marriage is already over and you're saying you didn't see her? What do you mean you want to cancel it?"

If this kid from the Qi family is this kind of person, she will not let it go and will have to demand an explanation from their family.

Xiaoxue is a very pretty girl and is said to be very capable. She is more than a match for him, and he still has the nerve to do this.

Both of them spoke with certainty. Even though Aunt Qi knew Qi Fang very well, she couldn't help but look at her nephew.

Qi Fang wasn't good at speaking, and after being stared at by several pairs of eyes, he managed to hold it in for a long time before finally saying, "I really didn't see anyone."

"You didn't see anyone? If you didn't see anyone, did they get lost?"

Shan Qiufang didn't believe him, and she became even more furious when she saw him being stubborn. "You look quite honest, why are you lying so easily?"

"I really didn't see it." Qi Fang was also anxious.

Aunt Qi was afraid that her nephew would suffer a loss, so she quickly stopped him and said, "You should ask again. Qi Fang is not that kind of person."

Just as the situation was about to get out of hand, the sister-in-law next door suddenly looked at Qi Fang and said, "It doesn't look like he was the one I saw."

Everyone was stunned, especially Shan Qiufang, who immediately stepped forward. "What? You didn't see him? How could you not see him?"

Xiaoxue came here to have a blind date with him. There couldn’t be another Qi Fang in Xiaojinchuan Forest Farm, right?

Seeing that everyone had a bad expression, the sister-in-law looked at him carefully again and said, "They really don't look alike. That one is taller than him, about this much taller." She used her hand to measure two inches.

As for the fact that she looked much better than him, she didn't say that in front of him and his family.

Qiu Fang was not only stunned by this order, but also became extremely anxious. "It's over. Could Xiaoxue have been kidnapped?"

Aunt Qi hadn't expected things to turn out this way, and she had to comfort her, "It shouldn't be possible. What kind of society is this now? How can a living person be lost?"

"That's not certain. What if someone really has such evil intentions? There are no illegal immigrants from the border areas in our Dagou."

Shan Qiufang actually said that back to her, "You don't know, this is the first time my niece has gone out since she was a child. She's so pretty. If something happens to her, how am I going to explain it to her family?"

I was so anxious that I kept pacing in the middle of the room. "No, I have to go to the police station to report the case. Maybe they can find out more."

Aunt Qi and Qi Fang were a little worried by her behavior, but the sister-in-law was not too affected. "No way? If she was really kidnapped, would they still let her out?"

This calmed Shan Qiufang down a bit, but she was still worried. "Didn't you mention there was a man with you? Are you afraid she'll run away and keep an eye on her?"

"Didn't she come here by herself before the New Year?" After all, she wasn't her niece, so Aunt Qi calmed down. "If there really was something wrong, wouldn't she have run away if she had the chance?"

But if he wasn't kidnapped, how could he not meet the person when he went on a blind date?

Shan Qiufang began to feel annoyed. "If I had known that day, I would have dragged her out of the car no matter what and went with her the next day."

What’s the point of saying this now? The key is where the people have gone.

And Qi Fang clearly didn't see anyone, but she said she saw one. It couldn't be that what she saw was a ghost, right?

Bah! These days, all that nonsense is out of the question!

Aunt Qi restrained herself from thinking about the fox fairies and yellow fairies the old man had mentioned. Although she had heard that those things would indeed make people talk nonsense when they touched them, and they couldn't even tell who was who...

Finally, seeing that they were at their wit's end, Qi Fang said, "Why don't we ask back home?"

Several people glanced over at once, and he paused for a moment. "I just thought that since she could come here, she might write a letter home."

"Yeah, how could I forget about this." Shan Qiufang slapped her forehead and hurried back to the house to find the address. "I'll send a telegram to my hometown right away."

As long as Yan Xue wrote a letter to her hometown, there must be an address there, and the person would be found.

Even in those days, telegrams were expensive, charged by the word count, and even a few words in a telegram wouldn't be enough to make it clear. Furthermore, her hometown was in the countryside, so even if she sent it today, it wouldn't arrive until tomorrow, and there was no telling how long it would take for the return message to arrive. So, Shan Qiufang simply bought envelopes, stationery, and stamps at the post office and wrote another letter.

Although this is slow, at least it can explain it clearly, and there is really no better way now.

All that can be done has been done, and all that is left is to wait.

Shan Qiufang was worried, and Aunt Qi saw that she couldn't bring up the matter of the hundred yuan, so she said goodbye to her nephew.

"What the hell is going on?" she continued on the way back. "It was a good blind date, but you ended up ruining it."

Qi Fang walked beside her without saying a word. He just wanted to know whether the girl named Yan Xue was safe or not. He didn't care about anything else.

Anyway, he is no longer as enthusiastic about the matter of marriage as he was when he first learned that he was going to be introduced to a partner. As long as the person is fine, it doesn't matter if it doesn't work out.

After staying at his aunt's house for another half day, he said goodbye and prepared to go back to the forest farm to wait for news. Unexpectedly, as soon as he got in the car, he saw the lover of the girl he had met before.

The man had short, neat hair, revealing handsome yet somewhat aggressive facial features. They were both wearing Mao suits when going out, and perhaps because he was particularly tall, the other person looked taller than him.

He hesitated for a moment in the aisle, and the man looked up at him, his deep eyes clear and calm.

It would be impolite to pretend not to see it at this point, so he could only smile at the other person and say, "What a coincidence, comrade."

The man also nodded at him and said, "Hello." As always, he was very frugal with his words.

Qi Fang immediately remembered the discomfort he felt on the way down the mountain. He wanted to sit somewhere else, but there was no seat left in the carriage. If he didn't sit, he could only stand.

The key point was that no one was standing in this carriage. If he chose not to sit down when he clearly had a seat, it would be too conspicuous. He had no choice but to sit down across from the man.

The man glanced at what he was holding and moved his own belongings on the small table inward to make room for him.

He quickly thanked her and put the things down with some embarrassment, "My aunt packed some food for me, and a few pairs of insoles."

When he mentioned his aunt, the man looked at him and asked, "Did you see her this time?"

The last time they met, the girl was concerned about whether he had seen her, so Qi Fang added a few words: "Yes, she did. She came back on May 1st. I was patrolling the mountains at the time and didn't have time to come down."

The man nodded when he heard this, "That's good."

This also saves the two of them from having to ask Yan Xue again when they see her again. They clearly don't even know her name, but they act like they know her very well.

After Qi Fang finished speaking, he looked out the window again.

Perhaps because he was in a good mood, or because it was too awkward to just sit there, Qi Fang spoke again, "I'm going to see my aunt. Mainly, she introduced me to someone."

When Qi Fang heard this, he immediately turned his gaze back and asked, "Did the introduction go through?"

Qi Fang hadn't expected him to ask that question, so he paused for a moment, "I don't know. I haven't seen him yet."

"Didn't you see anyone?" The man opposite seemed confused.

Qi Fang nodded. "It seems like there was a mistake. I didn't see her. Her relatives don't know where she went and are looking for her."

"It's okay, we can always find it." Qi Fang actually comforted him.

Qi Fang was a little flattered. "Thank you."

When they first met on the mountain, he found that the other party was very quiet and had a somewhat cold personality, especially towards an outsider like him.

The last time they walked together for more than an hour, the man didn't say as much to him as he did in just a short while today, let alone comfort him.

This made him unable to help but look at the man again. He didn't know if it was an illusion, but the man was still the same person, but he seemed not as aloof as when he first got on the car.

Qi Fang secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He wanted to ask if the other person came out alone, but it seemed awkward. After a long pause, he only managed to ask, "Are you going to town?"

As soon as he said it, he felt it was pure nonsense. If they weren't going to town, how could they possibly meet in this car...

Fortunately, the flight attendant came over at this time. Seeing the two of them sitting together, he looked at them curiously for a few more times. He hurriedly greeted each other and finally changed the conversation.

But the girl's lover was really in a good mood today, or maybe he had a misunderstanding about her. When the man got off the car, he wished him to find the person he was going to have a blind date with as soon as possible.

He could only say "thank you" again and scratch his head. "She's a very nice person to her husband."

When I came over to open and close the door, I just heard the attendant who had been there the entire time: “…”

Forget it, as long as he thinks she is doing well, it’s fine. It’s better than thinking about the girl’s misfortune all day long.

When Yan Xue returned home in the evening, she found that the sheets and quilts that were drying in the yard had been taken away.

It was obvious that Qi Fang had returned. As expected, when he entered the room, the man was rolling up his shirt sleeves and diligently starching the sheets.

Just soak the washed sheets and quilts in water with flour again, and then dry them to make the cotton cloth more wear-resistant and durable.

As the weather got warmer, he wore less clothes. When he worked, he usually wore just a shirt tucked into his trousers, with a belt around his waist to show off his figure.

Yan Xue didn't rush in, but stood by the door and admired it for a while.

This is the advantage of finding a good-looking partner. You will be living with a stranger anyway, so at least she will be more accepting if he is good-looking.

Even if she had such a perfect "little husband" who did her laundry and cooked for her every day, waited for her to come home, and let her earn money to support him, she would not be opposed to it.

Just as I thought of this, my "little husband" raised his eyes and looked over, "Going up the mountain?"

Yan Xue hummed, turned around, untied the backpack and put it in the main room, and said, "I went with Aunt Liu to pick some wild celery, as well as Acanthopanax senticosus and Echinops edulis."

Wild celery grows quickly, becoming mature in just a few days if the weather is good. She still pulls it from the shady slopes. However, the buds of Acanthopanax and Echinops are at their peak, not too big to lose their freshness, but not too small to lose their wild vegetable flavor.

Yan Xue went to the washbasin rack to wash her hands. When she turned back, the man had already starched and wrung out the bill. "I sold the Gastrodia elata for you. 23.6. I've brought the item back. It's on the table."

She responded, went in, counted the money and put it away before opening the two paper packages.

Glucose would be fine, but what I bought from the local products section was actually agar-agar.

Although the quantity was not as much as she wanted, only about six or seven pounds, the gel yield of this thing was as high as 25%, and more than one pound of agar could be boiled out from this alone.

To cultivate a bottle of mother fungus, 20 grams is enough, and a bottle of mother fungus can be used to cultivate dozens of bottles of cultivated varieties.

Yan Xue rewrapped the things and prepared to find time to make the agar. Before she finished, Qi Fang came in from outside and touched her head with wet hands. "I gave you a pack of cigarettes as you asked. Do you think these are enough? If not, they said they can make more for you."

She gave him a whole carton of cigarettes at once just to make it easier for her to speak again later. She tilted her head and said, "That's enough, at least for this year."

Unexpectedly, she failed to dodge and the man chased her and rubbed her head.

This made her feel half a head shorter in an instant, and she couldn't help but glare at him, "Are you childish?" She quickly used her hands to pull it away.

Both hands grabbed the man's slender fingers and finally shook off the troublesome hand. The man didn't react even after being glared at. He turned around, picked up the basin, and took the starched sheet out to dry.

Yan Xue had a little difficulty reaching the clothes-drying rope, and he hung all the things up in a few strokes. Then he came back and took Yan Xue's backpack and took out the wild vegetables to pick.

Yan Xue came out of the inner room to put the paper bag away and couldn't help but glance at him again, "Why are you so diligent today?"

I do everything by myself without being told. Is it because things are going smoothly and I’m in a good mood?

Qi Fang was picking vegetables, but he just frowned, "I am usually lazy?"

"That's not the case."

Qi Fang can wash dishes, do laundry, and help her pick vegetables. He is much better than most men in this era who just act like masters and wait on others to serve them.

But Yan Xue just felt that this man was particularly diligent today, but she couldn't tell what was different.

While I was still pondering, the man had already changed the subject, "Tomorrow there will be a truck coming to the forest farm to deliver goods. I have already arranged for the carriage to be attached. Tomorrow Weiguo and I will take the train down first."

Since this was about delivering bricks and tiles, Yan Xue didn't think about it anymore. "What time will it arrive? I'll go borrow the carriage in advance."

The railway track was a bit far from the new house, and they couldn't move there by themselves, so they contacted the farm a few days in advance to borrow a horse-drawn carriage.

Unexpectedly, when I really went there the next day and asked for it, all the carriages that were always available in the farm had been borrowed, leaving only one, and its shaft was broken and was being rebuilt.

Yan Xue had been asking for help a lot lately, and she had gotten used to carrying a pack of cigarettes around with her. She immediately handed a cigarette to the driver who was working on the shaft of a cart, "Comrade, do you know who borrowed all these cigarettes?"

The other person knew they were good cigarettes at first sight, and put them between his ears. "One was borrowed by Lao Zhao from the Security Department. He said his family needed to re-sew the kang and put up some mud. Two were borrowed by Yu Cuiyun. Her fourth son's sister-in-law is moving these days, and they're all going to Xibeicha to help move things."

"Are you saying that Yu Cuiyun's fourth sister's sister-in-law has moved to Xibeicha?"

"That's right. Northwest Fork has its own horse and ox carts. Why would they borrow one from us? They're just showing off that they have a relative who's the head of the farm here."

The horses that the Forestry Bureau is responsible for transportation are different from those raised by ordinary villages. They must be able to carry heavy loads and have good endurance. Many of them are retired from the army and have numbers branded on their buttocks.

Anyone who can borrow one of these will definitely be very proud, not to mention that they can borrow two.

Yan Xue didn't say anything else. After returning home, she went straight to find Auntie Guo next door. "Auntie, I remember Sister Baozhi is from the nearby Dahuan Village. How far is Dahuan Village from here?"

"It's not far," Aunt Guo said. "Only four or five miles. We'll be there in about twenty minutes. What's the matter? What's going on?"

Yan Xue did not hide it from her, "The bricks and tiles arrived today, and there is not a single carriage left in the side yard. I want to ask if I can borrow one from Dahuan Village. Even an ox cart will do."

When Aunt Guo heard this, she quickly put down her needlework and said, "Wait for me to see if Changping has returned from fetching water. Let him run over. Baozhi went back to her parents' home this morning and hasn't come back yet."

"No rush," Yan Xue checked her watch, "there's still an hour left."

"There's only an hour left, aren't you in a hurry? This round trip will take dozens of minutes."

As the two hurried out of the room, they saw Jin Baozhi coming back with a large bamboo basket on her back.

Seeing Yan Xue, she pointed to the covered basket and asked, "Shall I take it straight to your room?"

Apparently she went back to her parents' home early in the morning to buy food for Yan Xue.

Before Yan Xue could say anything, Aunt Guo said anxiously, "It's just right that you're back. Go back and ask your uncle to borrow his ox cart. Little Yan needs it."

When Jin Baozhi heard this, she didn't ask any questions and immediately put down the basket. "Do you want to use it now?"

Aunt Guo nodded and said, "The bricks and tiles Xiao Yan's family ordered will arrive in an hour, and they haven't borrowed the car yet."

Jin Baozhi said nothing more and turned and left.

"Sister Baozhi, wait a moment." Yan Xue hurried back to the house and came out again with two more packs of cigarettes in her hand. "These are for your Third Uncle. We can't let him make a wasted trip."

If the Guo family needed it, then it would be fine for relatives to help out, but Yan Xue didn't want to use them for free.

Seeing Jin Baozhi's hesitation, Yan Xue smiled and said, "If you borrow a carriage from the farm, you have to give cigarettes to the driver, too. It's the same."

Jin Baozhi didn't say anything else, took the cigarette and walked away quickly.

When the delivery engine arrived, Qi Fang and Liu Weiguo stood on the last carriage loaded with bricks and tiles, and saw Yan Xue and Guo Changping waiting below at a glance.

Guo Changping came to help, pushing a wheelbarrow like Yan Xue.

The wheelbarrow is a memory of a generation. The first batch of people who crossed Guandong pushed wheelbarrows with their belongings and children on them. However, the wheelbarrows at that time were all made of wood. They are still available today. The forest farm has iron sheets and electric welding, so they weld iron ones with a dump bucket.

Because the internal combustion engine had to deliver goods to other places, it simply found a side road where no other cars were moving and unloaded this carriage.

Several people put up a long board, pushed the wheelbarrow onto it and started loading. After loading, they unloaded it to an open space not far away and waited for the carriage to come and pull it over.

While moving, Liu Weiguo kept saying, "You built this house well. When I get married to Zhou Wenhui, I will build it like this too." He never forgot to show his love.

However, while Qi Fang was waiting for the wheelbarrow to be unloaded, he glanced at Yan Xue and asked, "Is there anything else?"

"You can see this?" Yan Xue didn't think she had done anything wrong.

Qi Fang could easily tell whether she was really smiling or just being polite. He glanced around and asked, "Didn't you manage to borrow the carriage?"

Since he had seen through it, Yan Xue had no intention of hiding it from him. "Yes, I couldn't borrow one. The three usable ones in the yard have all been borrowed. The shaft of another one is broken and is being repaired."

It tells you who borrowed them and why, without any bias.

When Liu Weiguo came back and heard this, he still frowned. "Her sister and sister-in-law are getting married, and she came to borrow money. Why is she so diligent? Is she doing it on purpose?"

Yan Xue didn't comment. "It's okay. Sister Baozhi has gone back to her parents' home to borrow a bullock cart for me. She'll be here soon."

Just as the internal combustion engine was about to leave, Qi Fang and Liu Weiguo hurried over to offer cigarettes and thank him. When they came back, there was a man standing by the open space, talking to Yan Xue with a smile on his face.

"You have a lot of stuff, right? Do you want me to drive the tractor and help you haul it?"

Liang Qimao pointed to the log-collecting tractor parked not far away and said, "It just so happens that a new tractor has arrived at the farm, so we can make a few more trips to compact the roads. I run everywhere."

Yan Xue smiled politely, "No need, we have a car."

"Aren't all the carriages in the yard loaned out?" Liang Qimao said. "Actually, I think your Qi Fang shouldn't have gone to the yard to borrow one. Why don't you just come to me directly? Can't my tractor carry more than a carriage? I can put a board in the back and block the sides, and I can pull it over for you in one trip."

Seeing Yan Xue loading the truck by herself, she came over to help, "Where's your Qi Fang? Are you letting you do all this work by yourself?"

Liu Weiguo hissed at that moment. "Why is he standing here if he's not helping his sister-in-law's sister-in-law move?"

Qi Fang didn't say anything. Just then, Jin Baozhi arrived with her third uncle's ox cart. Liang Qimao also saw the two people here. He said a few polite words to Yan Xue, jumped on the tractor and left.

Several people quickly loaded the unloaded bricks and tiles onto the ox cart. After loading the first cart, Yan Xue and Jin Baozhi followed the cart to the new house to unload them, while they continued to pull them down from the carriage.

Liu Weiguo almost forgot what happened just now, but he heard Qi Fang beside him said calmly: "Weiguo, please pay attention to something for me."

He looked over and saw the man lower his eyes and slowly adjusted his gloves. But what he said was like a bolt of lightning, "Pay attention to Liang Qimao and Cheng Yuzhen."