Fang Muyang read the internal report and realized that the disaster in Tangshan was far more severe than he had imagined. Editor-in-Chief Fu informed him that the publishing house would be sending people to the disaster area, and members from the training program would also be deployed to the front lines.

The primary requirements for selection were strong ideological conviction and physical fitness, with professional skills being secondary. Even those with the highest creative abilities would be more of a burden than help to the earthquake victims if they weren’t physically capable, let alone creating works about disaster relief.

“Do you think I’m suitable?” Fang Muyang asked.

“The conditions might be even harsher than you imagine.”

Fang Muyang asked directly, “What time do we leave tomorrow?”

When Fang Muyang cycled back to the earthquake shelter, he had a miner’s lamp in his basket. He kept glancing at a small pile of wooden boards in the open space—boards he had prepared for building a new shelter. The neighborhood committee had distributed wooden boards for residents to build earthquake shelters, and after yesterday’s construction was complete, there were some left over. He had collected them this morning after getting permission.

Fei Ni was standing outside the earthquake shelter and spotted Fang Muyang from afar. When he cycled over, she asked, “Why did you bring back a miner’s helmet?”

“I’ll need the lamp to build the shelter tonight.”

“You spent all of yesterday building shelters. Leave it for another day. Come eat first.”

Fei Ni handed him a lunch box containing two steamed buns and tomato scrambled eggs. The buns were from the cafeteria where Fei Ni worked, and the tomatoes were left over from what Fang Muyang bought yesterday. Fei’s mother had made the scrambled eggs using five tomatoes and one egg. Today, Old Fei had managed to get only one jin of eggs after queuing. Eggs were scarce and had to be used sparingly. However, looking at Fang Muyang’s lunch box, one might think there were two eggs in the dish.

“We’ve all eaten, go ahead.” Originally, Fei’s parents wanted to wait for Fang Muyang, but Fei Ni told them not to. She had portioned some of the food into the lunch box before eating with her parents.

“Why are you back so late?”

Fei Ni had never seen Fang Muyang’s expression so grave. Yesterday, while building the earthquake shelter, his hands were covered in blisters, and his forearms had fed countless mosquitoes. This morning he had still been in the mood to tease her, but tonight he returned with a completely different face.

“I’m going to Tangshan tomorrow.”

When Fei Ni heard the words “Tangshan,” she couldn’t control the anxiety in her voice. “What are you going there for? That’s the epicenter—it’s much worse than here.” Her colleague had relatives in Tangshan, and it was impossible to get through by long-distance calls or telegrams.

“I know.” He understood more than Fei Ni did. After reading the reports, he could barely swallow his food, though the steamed buns were the same as yesterday’s.

Fei Ni asked, “Was it your work unit that assigned you?” His short twenty-some years had been too tumultuous; privately, she didn’t want him to take any more risks.

“I want to go too.” After these few words, Fang Muyang lowered his head and ate in silence.

“Do you have to go?”

Instead of answering directly, Fang Muyang said, “I’ll build your shelter tonight, and you can move in tomorrow. As for the furniture, I’ll make it when I return. While I’m away, you can think about what furniture you’d like. If you want to change the design, I can modify it according to your wishes.”

It was as if her attempt to keep him here was just about getting him to build her shelter now and make furniture later. She wasn’t Huang Shiren.

“You don’t need to build me a shelter; the current one is fine.”

“I want to build it for you, is that not allowed?”

“What time are you leaving tomorrow?”

“Around five in the morning.”

“Leaving so early, why bother building a shelter tonight? Don’t you need to sleep?”

“This won’t take long.”

Fang Muyang ignored Fei Ni’s protests and began building the wooden shelter according to the design in his mind, wearing the miner’s lamp. When others offered to help, he declined.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to trouble others; he simply didn’t trust them.

Fei Ni told him to stop building, but Fang Muyang wouldn’t listen.

While working, he told her he didn’t like leaving things half-finished. When he said this, there was no room for discussion.

Usually, when Fei Ni was upset, he would comfort her, but today, he wouldn’t even look at her directly, showing only his back.

Fei Ni wished he would return to his usual playful self, smiling and saying he’d do whatever she wanted. She was used to having her way with him, and when he suddenly stopped listening to her, she felt quite uncomfortable.

Although she was angry with him, knowing he was leaving tomorrow, she couldn’t help but pack things for him. She knew his belongings better than anyone. There was so much to prepare, starting with food. Fortunately, her father had bought five jin of biscuits from the pastry shop today, and there were still some left from yesterday’s purchase that she could pack for him. After all, buying food at home was still relatively easy. But these biscuits wouldn’t last more than a few days, and she regretted not buying more steamed buns today. At this hour, it was impossible to buy anything.

While Fang Muyang continued building his shelter, Fei Ni silently called him a fool. He didn’t even have a watch, so why roll up his sleeves to the elbows? Was he afraid the mosquitoes would starve to death without enough blood?

She brought him some feng you jing (essential balm) and said in a cold tone, “Here’s some essential balm, put some on.”

“In a moment, just leave it there.”

Fei Ni mocked him in her heart—it’s just building a shelter, why take it so seriously? However, she couldn’t bear to watch anymore and opened the bottle, applying the balm to his forearms and spreading it with the bottom of the bottle. She could feel his muscles twitching beneath the skin.

Fang Muyang finally said thank you.

“Stop building for now and take me to my sister’s place by bicycle.”

“What for?”

“You’ll know when we get back. Hurry, they’ll be going to bed soon.”

Fei Ni hopped onto the back of the bicycle, holding an empty biscuit container. She had applied too much essential balm on his arms, and her nose was full of the scent. To avoid getting the smell on herself, she held onto the bike seat, maintaining her distance from Fang Muyang.

He didn’t initiate conversation, and she didn’t feel like talking to him either.

As they approached her second sister’s earthquake shelter, Fei Ni jumped off and told Fang Muyang to wait outside, preferably at a distance.

After hearing from Fang Muyang that day, her brother-in-law had immediately found materials to build an earthquake shelter. The three of them lived in one room—cramped but orderly.

When Fei Ni arrived, she had it all planned out, but upon seeing her sister, she became shy. After greeting the elderly woman, she suppressed her embarrassment and asked her sister how many biscuits they had at home. She explained that Fang Muyang needed to travel far on short notice, and she wanted to borrow some biscuits for him, promising to replace them tomorrow at the pastry shop.

“Where is Little Fang going?”

Everyone knew where the earthquake’s epicenter was now, and Fei Ni, knowing they would worry if she mentioned Tangshan, named a different city.

Seeing her urgency, her second sister said they had just stocked up on five jin of biscuits and some canned bread. They could keep a little and give her the rest.

Fei Ni said she didn’t need the canned food, just half of the biscuits and bread would do, and she would replace them tomorrow. These days, everyone needed to keep some supplies at home.

Fei Ni had come prepared with her large biscuit container, which perfectly fit the biscuits and bread her sister gave her.

After saying goodbye to her sister, brother-in-law, and the elderly woman, she hugged the biscuit container and hopped back onto Fang Muyang’s bicycle.

On the way home, Fei Ni only said one thing to Fang Muyang: “Don’t tell them you’re going to Tangshan. My parents will worry.”

Fang Muyang agreed and said nothing more.

“Have you prepared food?”

“I bought steamed buns.” On the way back, he had a bag of buns hidden under the miner’s lamp, which Fei Ni hadn’t noticed.

“How many?”

“Enough for several meals.”

“But you won’t be there for just a day or two.”

“There should be compressed rations available.”

Each of his responses could have ended the conversation, but Fei Ni couldn’t help continuing: “Don’t build the shelter when we get back. It’ll disturb everyone’s rest.”

“If it disturbs them, so be it. It won’t take long.”

“Why are you being like this?”

Fei Ni got off the bicycle, and Fang Muyang went back to building the shelter. She took the biscuit container back to the earthquake shelter and told her parents that Fang Muyang was going on a business trip. She was preparing things for him—not just food, but also medicines like Huoxiang Zhengqi Water and iodine, and two military water bottles to fill with water tomorrow morning. She had read in the newspaper about the importance of clean water. If his attitude had been better, she might have sewn him a mask. But now, she had completely abandoned that idea.

She went out of the shelter to ask Fang Muyang for his travel bag. He was still wearing the miner’s lamp, building what looked less like a shelter and more like a small triangular wooden house. However, due to the shortage of wood, the frame was somewhat sparse.

This time, Fang Muyang spoke to her first: “How does this look? Are you satisfied?”

Fang Muyang’s miner’s lamp shone on Fei Ni’s face, making it appear soft in the darkness.

Thinking about his early departure tomorrow, Fei Ni no longer dwelled on his earlier cold attitude and said, “It’s good. You should rest now.”

“This is only half-finished. I still need to work on it more.”

“Is this for you to live in or for me? If you’re not going to live here, why do you have so many opinions?”

However, Fang Muyang believed Fei Ni had no right to comment until she moved in.

“Where’s your travel bag?”

“What do you need it for?”

“I want to pack some food for you.”

“No need, keep it for yourself.”

Fei Ni insisted: “Food will be scarce there. Even if you have enough, you can share with others. There’s no harm in bringing more.”

There were too many people in the earthquake shelter, so Fei Ni moved the packed travel bag to the small wooden shelter Fang Muyang was building, saving him an extra trip tomorrow.

Fang Muyang reached out to pinch Fei Ni’s face but missed and stuffed his hand back into his pocket. He had many things he wanted to say, but when they reached his lips, they became simple: “You should go rest early.”