Chapter 68: But I Just Don’t Like It
Huai Yu stared steadily at Zhou Qian, his face marked with a long, narrow blood scab that stood out sharply.
She didn’t know when, but her tears had stopped falling. However, the light in her eyes made Zhou Qian feel as though he could not hide from her gaze.
After a moment, Huai Yu softly asked,
“Where are the fragments?”
“What?” Zhou Qian was momentarily stunned.
“I’m talking about the ice sculpture fragments Lin Xuefeng gave me.” She asked with emphasis on her words.
Zhou Qian’s face reddened. At this moment, he felt at a loss for words, and he began to feel a vague sense of resentment toward General Wu.
But no matter what, the truth had to be told:
“Once the power of the ice shards was released, they could no longer maintain their original form… They probably… melted.”
Huai Yu turned to look at her disheveled house. Since the bucket had broken, she hadn’t noticed any water stains in the house.
Now, looking again, it seemed like the effort she had put into building the house was nothing but a dream.
And the person who, on that rainy night, had shared secrets with her, taught her about this world, and showed her how to stay safe, had left no trace behind—just like a fleeting dream.
She stood up, wiped away the tears from her shoulder, and then let out a long sigh:
“Captain Zhou, did you come here to help me rebuild my house?”
Zhou Qian furrowed his brows but soon relaxed:
“Yes! We’ll rebuild it even better. I can provide everything you need, and the funds will be reported to General Wu.”
“I hate him.” She looked up at Zhou Qian, her dark eyes brimming with deep disgust. “I hate him, and I don’t want to hear his name again.”
Then she lowered her head and softly said, “Captain Zhou, I’m sorry. I know it’s not your fault.”
“Thank you for helping me rebuild my house.”
Zhou Qian stood there, letting out a deep sigh, equally speechless.
After a brief silence, he raised his hand:
“You can stay in the female soldiers’ dormitory tonight. We’ve divided into two teams, and we’ll build you a better brick house.”
Huai Yu shook her head:
“It’s not that cold anymore. The treehouse is still livable, and I bought some little chicks. I need to stay at my own place tonight.”
Zhou Qian was dumbfounded.
She even managed to buy chicks? Something like that could only be found in a livestock farm. Even he would have trouble getting them, and they weren’t cheap.
He wanted to praise her for being capable, but seeing the rundown house in front of him, he couldn’t bring himself to say it.
In the end, he could only wave his hand:
“Don’t worry. We have surveyors. We’ll find a more suitable spot nearby.”
The sunset gradually disappeared over the mountain, leaving behind large swaths of golden-orange clouds. Further away, the mountain peaks shimmered with a bluish-purple gradient.
Huai Yu quietly arranged a warm area for the little chicks inside the house using a grass mat, when her gaze suddenly fell on the rose in the vase, standing calm and steady.
In the corner, three bamboo baskets were there, one of which had been split in half.
The other two were covered with damp towels, still quietly sprouting bean sprouts…
Unknowingly, she began to cry again and murmured:
“The new house will definitely be very good, but I just don’t like it.”
…
The sun had fully set, and a large bonfire had been lit in the open space, which Zhou Qian had arranged when he saw Huai Yu gathering wood ash.
Bright lights illuminated the surroundings, attracting small insects that danced around. The scarce resources—electricity or oil—seemed to be no object tonight.
Huai Yu bit a packet of nutrition liquid as Zhou Qian brought her a bowl of porridge:
“Try it, this is our field ration. It tastes pretty good.”
Huai Yu silently took it, then looked at the defense troops stacking bricks under the lights in the late night:
“Can you really help me rebuild the house?”
It seemed like she had come to terms with things. She actively asked, and Zhou Qian finally breathed a sigh of relief and smiled:
“It’s no problem. Everyone is eager to take on the task. After all… the rewards are good, and all the expenses will be deducted from… there. He doesn’t lack contribution points.”
“That’s good.” Huai Yu tasted the field ration and found that it tasted more like oily tea—rich, slightly salty, with the fragrance of ghee…
“It’s quite good.” She gave an objective evaluation. After all, the contamination level was probably not too high—around 15.
It couldn’t compare to what she normally ate, but it was probably considered good.
“Good enough!” Zhou Qian took out his notebook happily and jotted it down:
“I’ll get you ten different flavors.”
Then he asked:
“Your field bed might feel a little light. Although it’s not broken, it’s not very comfortable either. Let me get you a bunk bed!”
“We use those in the dormitory, 1.2 meters wide, very sturdy. You can use the top bunk for storage—I’ll also get you two more dormitory-style lockers for hanging clothes and such.”
He wrote quickly in his notebook, and soon a long list of things was written down:
“You girls don’t like sleeping on hardboards, right? I’ll apply for two more mattresses for you.”
“I’ll also get you a solar lamp.”
“I’ll bring a whole set of kitchenware… Do you have baskets? Never mind, I’ll write it down!”
“And clothes… We don’t have regular styles, but it’s okay, I’ll give you a thousand points as compensation so you can buy your own.”
He looked at Huai Yu, the heavy burden finally lifted from him. He comforted her:
“The new house will be built on the original foundation of the Rose Corridor, about 30 square meters. One side will be a shed for firewood, and I’ll model it after the layout you had before, with a covered corridor leading to the bathroom.”
“I’ll build a bathroom for you, like a rural dry toilet, but more convenient with cement walls.”
“When conditions improve and we can bring electricity here, you can install a water tower or even a flush toilet.”
“The house will need to dry for a few more days since we used fast-drying materials for the walls. The walls will be sprayed with a simple coating… It’ll be ready to move in after a couple of days of drying.”
He thought for a while, reviewed the notes, and then handed the notebook to her:
“Take a look and see if there’s anything else you want. Take advantage of this opportunity to ask for more.”
“Although the house was destroyed, we must have the mindset to turn this disaster into a blessing.”
At this point, he hesitated because the protection left by the ice sculpture Lin Xuefeng had given her was actually more valuable than these material things.
But… that was irreplaceable, so he quietly skipped over it.
Huai Yu looked carefully at the list in the notebook, then added one more thing:
“The vase.”
“I want three vases of different sizes, but they must be very beautiful.”
[“They are all very good, but I just don’t like them.”] A quote from Li Wenxiu in The White Horse Whistles in the West Wind, a novel she read 20 years ago. After so many years, she still remembered these words clearly.
