Xing Wu told Qing to take a bath, but she said she bathed slowly and asked him to go first. A casual smile crossed Xing Wu’s lips: “Let’s bathe together.”

Looking back, he saw Qing sitting on the bed, hugging the quilt in a shy manner that made him laugh as he walked into the bathroom.

Although yesterday there was nothing to be reserved about between her and Xing Wu,… asking her to bathe with Xing Wu was something she couldn’t do. It was too embarrassing.

Xing Wu bathed quickly, just a quick rinse before coming out. As Qing stood up to put on her slippers, he deliberately hugged her from behind and bent down to say intimately: “Bathe quickly.”

Qing pressed her lips together and ran into the bathroom with her head down. Xing Wu turned to look at her, silently curling his lips into a smile. He didn’t know why he loved seeing Qing’s flustered and shy appearance so much – it was adorable.

While Qing was bathing, she noticed through the bathroom mirror that her cheeks were burning hot, and her mind was filled with indescribable scenes between her and Xing Wu. Thinking about what might happen later made her feel very nervous!

However, when she came out of the bathroom, she found Xing Wu already asleep, his phone still in his hand, but he was in deep sleep.

She went around to his side and bent down to look at him carefully. His breathing was even, his eye sockets deep, long eyelashes drooping, thick eyebrows slightly raised, carrying a hint of rebelliousness. But with his eyes closed, he had shed that aggressive aura and looked like a quiet young man.

Xing Wu usually had very high alertness. Normally, even with his eyes closed, he could sense when Qing was watching him from another bed. Today he must have been too tired – Qing looked at him up close for quite a while without any reaction from him.

After all, people aren’t made of iron. Last night they had experienced a terrifying fire, followed by intense activity in the late hours. He hadn’t slept all night, then had to go shopping in the morning, deal with the police, and arrange things at home. Even the strongest person would be exhausted by now.

Qing pulled his phone away and placed it on the bedside table, then tucked him in with the blanket. However, she didn’t sleep but instead opened her laptop, connected to the hotel’s wi-fi, and spent some time researching online store business models, browsing forums and posts before finally closing the computer and going to bed.

Qing had always been particular about beds. For instance, when she first came to Zhazha Pavilion, it took her a long time to adjust to the hardness of Xing Wu’s bed boards. Previously when traveling, she cared most about accommodation conditions. No matter how fun a place was, if there was a musty smell when opening the hotel door, or if it felt oppressive and unclean, it would be a failed trip. So she would never stay in small hotels like this when traveling.

But perhaps because Xing Wu was lying beside her, she miraculously didn’t feel uncomfortable with the bed. She snuggled into his embrace and quickly fell asleep.

On New Year’s Day, Qing didn’t sleep in – she woke up around seven, but Xing Wu had woken even earlier, as he wasn’t in the room when she opened her eyes.

In previous years, New Year’s Day was Qing’s busiest day. Either her father’s friends and subordinates would come to pay New Year’s visits, or she would follow her parents to visit others’ homes. Anyway, the schedule was similar every year – getting up early, putting on new clothes, getting dressed, and following her parents around to collect red envelopes.

However, this year was the most special Spring Festival. She found that after waking up, there was nothing to do. Xing Wu, worried she would be cold when getting up, had adjusted the heater temperature before leaving. So Qing didn’t want to put on a sweater after getting up. Seeing Xing Wu’s long-sleeved t-shirt had dried in the bathroom, she simply took it down and put it on – the temperature was just right.

She was planning to call Xing Wu after finishing her grooming, but while she was combing her hair, Xing Wu had already returned, carrying a thermos in his hand. He looked somewhat oddly at Qing standing in the bathroom: “Up so early?”

Then he walked to the window and put things on the table. Qing put down her comb and asked him: “Are there still places selling breakfast today?”

“No, I made it at home. Grandmother wouldn’t eat anything last night, so I made some porridge and fed her. I might need to take her to the county hospital in a few days.”

Qing came out and asked: “What happened?”

Xing Wu opened the thermos and spooned out the porridge one scoop at a time, his voice somewhat muffled: “The situation isn’t good.”

As Xing Wu stood with his back to her, head down spooning porridge, his whole person seemed shrouded in gloom. Qing walked over in a few steps and hugged his waist from behind, resting her face against his back.

Feeling the slender arms around his waist and the soft body behind him, Xing Wu’s tightly knit brows finally relaxed a little. Qing buried her face in his back and said to him: “I have something to tell you.”

Hearing her tone, Xing Wu paused: “What is it?”

“I heard from Huang Mao yesterday that building a house here only costs around 200,000 yuan. I have 300,000 yuan – around 200,000 for building the house, and the remaining tens of thousands should be enough for furniture and appliances.”

Xing Wu immediately put down the spoon, pulled away her hands from his waist, and turned around to frown at Qing: “I didn’t even take their money yesterday, you think I would take your money? Moreover, this money is for your education – don’t even think about it.”

Qing had anticipated this reaction from Xing Wu and knew he would be somewhat angry when she said this, so she directly moved closer to him. Xing Wu pulled away from her without hesitation. Qing’s big eyes widened, and she rose on her tiptoes to hook his neck, her temper immediately flaring: “Try pulling away from me again!”

Xing Wu stopped moving, though his expression wasn’t particularly pleasant. Qing’s clear eyes stared directly into his: “Listen to me finish. With this 300,000, we can rebuild a house on the original site. Didn’t you give me 50,000 before? I haven’t touched it. After the New Year, we can talk to Old Xie and see if we can take over his factory for 50,000.”

Xing Wu’s frown deepened: “You want to take over that nearly bankrupt factory? Are you joking?”

But Qing spoke with absolute seriousness: “I’m not joking with you. My current money isn’t enough for studying abroad anyway, and money just sitting there will only decrease, not increase. Since it’s just this much money, why not take a gamble and try to make money grow? Think about it – I need money for school, my Grandmother needs money for medical care, and the whole family needs money for living. Xuan Island is gone, we must have a source of income. Liu Nian and Yan Yan don’t have any prospects yet either, we can call them to work together. It might be hard, but what if we succeed?”

Xing Wu pondered for a moment and said: “Running a factory isn’t that simple. You need to attend classes and prepare for exams, and I can’t stay there all day either. Besides, none of us have experience in that business. From production to packaging to shipping, we need people, and even if we take over the factory, we don’t have money to hire workers.”

Qing stood on tiptoes and nuzzled his chin: “Xiao Lington said others in class want to come too, but I’ve been holding back on numbers because I was worried about Old Xie’s opinion. If we take over the factory ourselves, we’ll also have a place to study. After the New Year, I want to open a college entrance exam tutoring class.”

Xing Wu held her shoulders and bent down to look at her: “You want to take over the factory to make money from tutoring?”

Qing laughed: “What are you thinking? How could I charge my classmates money? Am I that money-hungry? Didn’t you just say we don’t have money to hire workers? I’ll teach them and work my brain without charging a penny, asking for their help in return isn’t too much, right?”

Xing Wu immediately understood and straightened up, sighing: “City people are so cunning! Looks like you’ve planned everything?”

“Mm, I’ve thought about it for two days. I think we can give it a try. Everyone goes from not knowing to knowing, from novice to expert. Anyway, we’re already poor enough, so we have nothing to lose, right?”

“I don’t object to you taking over the factory, but I won’t touch that 300,000 for studying abroad.”

Qing lowered her eyes and slowly pressed her forehead against his chest, speaking softly: “Xing Wu… we can’t be without a home.”

That voice hit squarely into his chest, blocking all the words he wanted to say. His heart was deeply moved. “Their home” had a special magic for him. He had never imagined that a rich city girl like Qing – smart, beautiful, high above others – would one day willingly share hardships with him. What had he, Xing Wu, done to deserve such a girl? The emotions in his heart came like an avalanche, and he looked down at her with a serious expression.

Qing raised her head and said to him: “We’ll have everything. In the future, we’ll have a big house, nice cars, and lots of money, more money than we can spend…”

She started laughing as she said this, her brilliant smile shining like warm sunlight into Xing Wu’s heart.

“So don’t think too much. Money can be earned slowly, but we can’t be without a home. Listen to me on this, there’s no room for discussion.”

Finally, there was some softening in Xing Wu’s eyes. Looking at Qing’s optimistic and confident appearance, it seemed like the gloom shrouding his heart had dissipated somewhat. He didn’t know why the girl before him was like a treasure, always able to bring light to him when he was at his lowest, making him love her uncontrollably.

He reached out to lift her and hold her against him, but suddenly paused: “You’re not wearing pants?”

Qing awkwardly pulled his t-shirt lower and lower. Xing Wu’s gaze moved downward – her smooth, well-proportioned legs were exposed, blindingly white. Xing Wu immediately moved the porridge aside, lifted her waist with one hand, and placed her on the window-side table, kissing her lips and saying: “Happy New Year.”

Early in the morning, Qing’s face flushed from his French kiss, but she felt something being placed in her hand. She moved away from him and looked down, discovering that Xing Wu had given her a red envelope. She had thought she wouldn’t receive any red envelopes this year, and immediately smiled, jumping down from the table to tell him: “Wait a moment.”

She opened her bag – actually, she had also prepared a red envelope for Xing Wu but hadn’t expected to receive his first.

She took out the pre-prepared red envelope and gave it to Xing Wu, rising on her tiptoes to kiss him: “Happy New Year, how much did you put in?”

“See for yourself.”

So they opened their red envelopes simultaneously, discovering they had both coincidentally put in 1,000 yuan. They looked up at each other and couldn’t help laughing, though there was a hint of desolation in their laughter. Qing said while laughing: “How did we end up so miserable? Having to give each other New Year money.”

Xing Wu rubbed her head and urged her to get into bed and cover her legs to avoid getting cold, then brought the porridge to her bedside.

While eating breakfast, Qing discussed the house-building details with him further. She knew nothing about this, but Xing Wu knew quite a lot, such as the prices of sand, cement, and blocks, and how frame structure and brick-concrete structure had different prices per square meter. Xing Wu roughly estimated that if he bought all the materials himself and found familiar friends to help, they could save quite a bit of money – probably could manage with just over 100,000 yuan.

Hearing this, Qing became so excited she wanted to withdraw the money immediately. Xing Wu reminded her: “It’s New Year’s, not only can’t we buy things, but no one’s taking jobs. The earliest would be after the New Year.”

Qing thought about it and realized he was right. She smiled and said: “I don’t have many requirements, just that our room needs to have a big window.”

“Why not make a balcony instead?”

“Can we?”

Seeing her eyes full of expectation, Xing Wu smiled: “Why not?”

“That’s great!” Qing immediately became excited, seemingly unable to wait to see their new home.

After drinking the hot porridge, she felt very warm in her stomach. Her eyes sparkled as she looked at Xing Wu: “So what are we doing today?”

Xing Wu packed up the thermos, looked at her, and then fell silent for a while before saying to her: “If we plan to build a house, there are some things I must deal with first.”

Qing blinked: “What things?”

“Family matters. I’ll tell you when I go back at noon. You better not come back with me then.”

“No, I want to go back with you.”

Xing Wu looked at her, seeming to want to say something but holding back.

Qing started acting cute and coquettish again: “How can you leave me alone in the hotel during New Year’s? I want to go back with you. You handle your business, I won’t say anything.”

Xing Wu said with a half-smile: “Get dressed then.”