When An An was twenty-seven years old, she encountered a new resident who had come to live nearby, on her usual route home from the market.
In the distance, there was the sound of a tree falling. At first, she thought it was one of her neighbors cutting down trees. Little Jin's place was the closest to where the river met the main road.
Later, she heard that there was a new young man there, who looked to be in his twenties and was exceptionally tall.
When An An saw him, she realized that Uncle Little Jin hadn't been exaggerating. His height made him stand out even in the crowd at the market.
She thought he must be at least 6'3" (190 cm).
Although people had been migrating northward for a while, that was mostly in earlier years. It seemed strange to her that such a young person would suddenly move north.
The young people in the local villages and small towns were more interested in going south to see the prosperous areas. The winters in the north were too long.
Later, the young man came to visit. He wanted to build a house and, as it was the transition between spring and summer, he hoped to complete the work quickly. So he was looking to pay the neighbors for help.
They could build brick houses now, or wooden ones - it mainly depended on what the young man wanted.
Building materials could be shipped and collected at the dock, or even delivered to the doorstep if one had enough money.
The young man had gone to Little Jin's house and asked him to pass the message to the other neighboring families.
Guoguo from Ni Sha's family's husband went, and An An thought the young man wouldn't ask for her help. But later, Little Jin said the young man was looking for workers regardless of gender, so An An went to check out the situation too.
At first, someone suggested that the young man ask An An to help with cooking, but An An immediately refused.
She had just come to see what was going on and meet the new neighbor, not necessarily to work there.
The young man's name was Yin Chuan, and he seemed to have quite a bit of money. From the moment he chose the location, he had been paying people for everything.
It was as if he was neither a hunter nor a farmer, but a city dweller out for a countryside excursion.
An An asked him why he had come here, and his answer was that his ancestors were originally from this area.
She nodded, finding this answer relatively reasonable.
Later, when the first house was completed, Yin Chuan came by again, coincidentally arriving at Wenqian's family's doorstep.
He had come to buy food, and following the principle of convenience, he decided to ask the neighbors first.
After all, if the neighbors had food they were planning to take to the market, it would be easier to sell it to him than to make the long journey. So Yin Chuan's approach allowed him to buy quite a lot.
When he first saw Wenqian's house, his eyes showed surprise. The height of the surrounding wall indicated that this family was not to be trifled with.
When he found the main gate, the small door above it was open. By this time, the iron gate had completely rusted away, so Wen Qian and An An had replaced it with a heavy wooden door.
When opened or closed, the door would emit a long, creaking sound, almost like a doorbell.
When Yin Chuan arrived, An An was out, and only Wen Qian was at home.
Wen Qian was on a lounge chair. Hearing the noise, she got up to take a look and asked, "Are you the new young man?"
An An had mentioned him to Wen Qian, and his features were quite distinctive, so she could tell at a glance.
"Hello, grandmother. I was wondering if I could trade for some food? I've been busy building the house and haven't had time to go hunting myself."
"You'll have to ask my daughter about that. She knows what we have in the house better than I do."
Just as Yin Chuan was about to ask where he could find her, Wen Qian said, "Wait a moment. She'll be back soon. How about chatting with me in the meantime?"
Yin Chuan paused for a moment, then said, "Alright."
"You're from the south? Which part of the south, if you don't mind me asking?"
Yin Chuan: "The Second Base City."
"That's a very old name. Hasn't it been renamed?"
Yin Chuan's expression darkened: "Yes, it has been renamed. The numbers were all removed."
"Are there many people like you moving from south to north these days?"
Yin Chuan looked up at her, somewhat confused: "Why do you ask that?"
"Hehe, no reason. I'm just curious. There are so many bases in the south, and quite a few cities left afterwards. It's quite remarkable that there hasn't been any fighting."
This was something Wen Qian had always been curious about. She believed that wherever there were people, there would be war, so she found it surprising that the south had managed to maintain peace for so long.
At first, Yin Chuan hadn't expected the conversation to go in this direction. He had thought the old lady would at most ask typical getting-to-know-you questions.
For example, how old he was, whether he was single, how many people were in his family.
He hadn't anticipated her asking about whether there was war in the south.
So Yin Chuan smiled and said, "Who knows? Maybe soon."
The old lady poured him a cup of tea and offered him some fruit that had been sitting on the side table.
At this moment, An An returned from outside. Seeing the two chatting happily, she wondered if her mother was just curious about the newcomer.
An An exchanged some food with Yin Chuan, mainly smoked meat from the back room.
She figured that neither she nor her mother particularly liked it, so if he wanted it, she could sell quite a bit.
Yin Chuan didn't seem to care what kind of food it was. As long as it was good, he was willing to trade.
As Yin Chuan was leaving, Wen Qian told him to come sit again when he had time, which surprised An An.
Her mother wasn't a particularly warm person. While she wouldn't chase people away, she also wouldn't so readily invite them to come sit again.
Yin Chuan also said that once the house was built, he'd invite everyone over for a meal and they could chat more then.
After he left, An An asked her mother why she seemed to like this person so much.
Wen Qian smiled: "It's not that. It's just so intriguing to have someone from the far south here."
An An took a piece of fruit to eat: "I thought maybe you found him handsome, and that's why you enjoyed talking to him."
"He is handsome, don't you think?" Wen Qian asked in return.
"Mm, he is. Guo Guo said so too."
"Regardless of the era, beauty is universally recognized, no matter where you're from," Wen Qian believed that people always enjoyed looking at beautiful people or things, and there was nothing to be ashamed of in that.
Even at her advanced age, seeing beauty improved her mood.
An An said: "If good looks could be eaten, that would be great. Otherwise, it's just a waste, useless."
"Have I ever told you? When I was young, attractive men and women could actually make a living off their looks."
The older one gets, the more one likes to reminisce about the past and talk about one's own experiences. Wen Qian suddenly realized that she might not have told An An about the various professions from back then.
An An had heard Wen Qian mention that in the past, the internet was highly developed, and it could be called an era of information explosion.
However, when she was told that handsome guys and beautiful girls could earn a lot of money just by livestreaming from home, she still couldn't quite imagine it.
Moreover, it was amazing that people with pleasant voices or attractive hands could even have related professions to make money.
An An enjoyed listening, so Wen Qian became even more enthusiastic in her storytelling.
Although she wasn't from that era, she felt that life back then must have been truly colorful.
