Love requires courage; a real man doesn't hesitate.

Without further ado, the next day Chen Shi invited Song Jiajia to the stream to ask for her opinion privately.

On an autumn afternoon, the shimmering surface of the stream reflected their figures. A gentle breeze ruffled their hair as they gazed at Song Jiajia before them, confessing their love.

His eyes revealed boundless affection as he gently exhaled and asked, "Song Jiajia, I love you! Will you marry me?"

“I do, Chen Shi,” Song Jiajia answered without any hesitation.

Her gentle eyes glistened with tears.

Upon hearing the answer, Chen immediately hugged Song Jiajia tightly, his expression of happiness as if he possessed the whole world.

Love is the seed of hope, sprouting in the hearts of those who love each other.

After the proposal, Shen Shi began preparing for the wedding.

First, he wrote to his family, saying that he had found someone he liked and planned to propose marriage.

Even though his home is quite far away, if no one from the groom's side comes to the wedding, it will be considered that they don't value the girl.

Marriage is a once-in-a-lifetime event, and Chen Shi still hopes that one of his parents can take time off to come.

After getting married, of course I can't live in the educated youth settlement, and I won't be like I was in my previous life, shamelessly staying at the girl's house.

When Chen Shi was in trouble, he planned to look around the village for any vacant houses.

After all, we'll only be living here for two or three years. Building a house is a long and complicated process, so it would be best to rent out any vacant properties.

If not, then we'll have to start construction.

Song's father was the brigade leader, mainly responsible for the village's production work.

The village chief is in charge of things like handling household registration and homestead land, and going to meetings and negotiations outside the village.

Since Shen Shi didn't know much about the village, he decided to go ask the village chief first.

I picked out some suitable gifts and carried them to the village chief's house.

The person who opened the door after he knocked was the village chief's wife, Wang Guiying.

Aunt Wang was a very warm person. As soon as she saw Shen, she greeted him, "Little Shen is here. Come in and sit down."

Shen followed her into the courtyard. The village chief's house looked quite nice, with several brick and tile houses.

Seeing Aunt Wang enthusiastically pouring him water, Chen Shi said, "Don't bother, Auntie. Is Uncle Liu home? I want to ask him something."

"He's in the shed behind the house. He hasn't come out all day. He must be busy with his carpentry work again. Wait for me, I'll go call him." Aunt Wang was a woman of strong character, and she started to walk away as she spoke.

When Shen Shi came to ask someone for a favor, he couldn't just sit and wait for the person to come to him, so he quickly followed after them.

Following Aunt Wang to the back of the house, we saw Village Chief Liu in the shed.

The shed was filled with wood—logs, pieces of wood sawn into sawdust, and a strangely shaped wooden horse lying there.

Meanwhile, Village Chief Liu sat among the pile of wood, fiddling with the wooden horse, trying to make it stand up.

After nodding in agreement, he continued tinkering.

He's clearly a devoted woodworking enthusiast.

Seeing the perfectly good firewood turned into this state, Aunt Wang was about to start cursing when she saw Chen Shi walk over.

Chen Shi squatted down and looked at the wooden horse in front of Village Chief Liu. He said, "Uncle Liu, this wooden horse seems to be misassembled. I happen to know a little woodworking; let me try!"

Village Chief Liu looked at Chen Shi in front of him. This young man actually dared to say that his wooden horse was not properly assembled, and he was furious.

This is questioning his skills!

But I've been working on this Trojan horse for a long time, and no matter how much I try to figure it out, I just can't get it to stand up.

Village Chief Liu still gave the tools to Chen Shi, wanting to see if he had any solutions.

Chen Shi had indeed studied a bit, and he could tell at a glance that the rocking horse couldn't stand up because one of the boards was made of relatively soft wood, which made it easy for it to tilt after assembly.

After taking the tools, Chen Shi disassembled the reclining wooden horse into pieces of wood without saying a word.

Village Chief Liu felt a pang of heartache upon seeing this.

When Shen saw it, he thought the old man was quite cute.

Then they picked out the problematic board and made another one using hard wood, matching its shape.

After a period of time and assembly, the wooden horse stood up.

The whole process took no more than thirty minutes, which surprised Village Chief Liu, who hurriedly asked the reason for the delay.

Shen Shi told the truth, and it was clear that the village chief really liked woodworking, so he went on to explain all the woodworking knowledge he knew.

Village Chief Liu suddenly understood, and when he saw Chen Shi, he looked as if he had found a close friend.

Upon seeing this, Chen quickly seized the opportunity and explained his purpose.

Village Chief Liu wasn't upset after hearing this. Instead, he pointed at Chen Shi's head and said with a smile, "You've helped me, Old Liu, so I can't refuse to help you! You little rascal, you were just waiting for me here."

"No, no." Sensing that Village Chief Liu was joking, Shen Shi laughed it off.

Village Chief Liu frowned and thought for a while before saying to Shen Shi, "Nowadays, everyone builds houses to live in themselves, and the only empty house seems to be the landlord's old house at the west end of the village. Although it's a bit out of the way, it's a brick and tile house and has a lot of space. What do you think? If it doesn't work out, then there really won't be any more."

The old house of the landlord at the west end of the village!

Isn't this the place where he used to date Song Jiajia?

It was truly fate; Shen agreed without even thinking.

He then assured the village chief, "Thank you so much, Uncle Liu. Don't worry, I won't stay for free. I'll give the village twenty yuan a year as rent."

Twenty a year is a lot, and it's just sitting there empty anyway.

Liu Aimin was also quite happy, as this had generated extra income for the village.

Shen Shi had already made arrangements with Village Chief Liu to pay three years' rent upfront, and they agreed to go to the village committee the next day to draft a contract.

This chapter is not finished, please click the next page to continue reading!