Chapter 110: Let Me Help You With the Laundry

“Brother, thank you. From now on, you’ll be my lifelong brother. To save me, you even dared to give me mouth-to-mouth resuscitation,” Liu Yicheng said, feigning weakness.

In his heart, he grumbled about Xiao Weiguo refusing Cui Juan’s offer for artificial respiration—what a missed opportunity.

Xiao Weiguo, however, thought differently. This wasn’t like in the future; a woman’s reputation lasts a lifetime, and if you don’t eventually marry her, how could she possibly marry anyone else?

Besides, this was a good way to test who had deeper feelings for Liu Yicheng.

After helping Liu Yicheng to his feet, the group planned to quickly return to their dormitories to change into dry clothes. After all, the four of them were drenched from head to toe.

Only Liu Yanran’s clothes remained dry.

At that moment, the lakeside staff arrived upon hearing the news. After understanding the situation, they pulled away with two boats.

The group then trudged back to the dormitory area, looking like a bunch of drenched chickens. Fortunately, everyone lived in the factory dormitories except Xiao Weiguo, but he could still change at Liu Yicheng’s place.

They first sent the three girls back to their dormitory building, then Xiao Weiguo and Liu Yicheng headed to Liu’s quarters.

Liu Yicheng took out a spare set of clothes and handed it to Xiao Weiguo. The fit was surprisingly good; if Xiao Weiguo grew two more years, it might not fit anymore.

Xiao Weiguo gathered his wet clothes, planning to take them home for washing.

Speaking of which, the hardest adjustment for Xiao Weiguo in this era was having to wash clothes by hand—a chore he detested. Unlike the future, where even socks are thrown into a washing machine.

Leaving Liu Yicheng’s dormitory, dusk was settling in as Xiao Weiguo pushed his bike toward the factory gate.

Not far along, Liu Yanran stopped him. “Weiguo, your clothes are soaked. Give them to me, I’ll wash them for you. It’s my way of thanking you for saving them today,” she said.

Seeing Liu Yanran waiting there, Xiao Weiguo knew she must have been standing there a long time—truly a foolish girl.

Without thinking, he handed her the wet clothes.

Liu Yanran received them happily and, though seeming slow, quickly walked off into the distance.

Before Xiao Weiguo could say thank you, he smiled faintly, shook his head, and watched her leave. He resolved to let things take their natural course.

Back in the courtyard, Liu Erli came running upon hearing the news and said to Xiao Weiguo, “Weiguo, this afternoon I contacted eight more families to sell chickens—ten in total. When do you want them delivered?”

Xiao Weiguo put down the bicycle stand and replied, “Erli, have them send them over now. Also, make sure they’re well fed before delivery, since they’ll be here overnight.”

Unexpectedly, Liu Erli asked, “Weiguo, if the chickens lay eggs tomorrow morning, will the eggs be yours or theirs?”

Xiao Weiguo stared into Liu Erli’s eyes, wondering how he could ask such a brazen question. “The eggs are naturally yours, Erli. You’ve been running around on my behalf. If the chickens lay eggs tomorrow morning, they’re all yours. Just remember to take them away before I start work.”

Liu Erli didn’t expect such a pleasant surprise and happily agreed, then went to notify the chicken sellers.

To be honest, no one usually sells hens that are laying eggs. Even if they lay one egg every two days, almost 200 eggs a year, at two cents apiece, that’s four yuan from eggs alone per year. All it costs is some bran scraps—truly a “chicken butt bank.”

But policies forbade further raising, so they had to sell them off.

Xiao Weiguo could raise them in his own space for egg production, but eggs were already plentiful there, so it was better to treat these as procurement supplies.

Once all the chickens arrived and payments were settled, Xiao Weiguo borrowed several chicken cages, stuffed the chickens inside, and planned to deliver them to the factory the next day.

After a simple meal and tidying up the space, Xiao Weiguo fell into a deep sleep.

The night passed without incident.

The next morning, Liu Erli, as the earliest riser in the courtyard, cheerfully came to Xiao Weiguo’s door, struggled to retrieve seven eggs from the cages, greeted Xiao Weiguo, then happily returned home.

Xiao Weiguo was indifferent, treating it as a courier fee. After all, Liu Erli had worked hard running errands the day before.

In courtyard life, sometimes yielding small benefits can unconsciously bring greater advantages.

Just as he was about to leave, a few more families came to sell chickens. Xiao Weiguo guessed he’d rounded up all the chickens in the nearby courtyards.

He paid two yuan per chicken, but for the visibly smaller ones, he offered one yuan each—not wanting to be an obvious sucker.

If anyone accused him of profiteering, Xiao Weiguo declared this was purely a government procurement project—absolutely safe.

Facing the eighteen chickens before him, Xiao Weiguo was at a loss; there were simply too many.

He went out to find a cart owner, negotiated a price, placed the chickens on the flatbed, and walked slowly toward the factory, Xiao Weiguo in front, the cart owner behind.

No way to speed up; the cart owner was on foot and pulling the cart.

As they left the courtyard, Xiao Weiguo glanced at the middle courtyard’s cafeteria, already cleaned and seemingly ready to open anytime.

He mused that he should visit the countryside team someday to see how the rural canteen was doing—purely out of curiosity.

Upon reaching the factory and reporting at the gate, he and the cart owner headed to the first canteen.

Just like yesterday, Xiao Weiguo received a slip.

He didn’t forget to have the cart owner issue a receipt—it was reimbursable.

After the cart owner left, Xiao Weiguo went to the third group’s office, handed over the orders from today and yesterday to Sister Ling.

More than twenty chickens was a lot, and Sister Ling praised Xiao Weiguo’s work capability.

She then glanced at Liu Yicheng, who was sneezing nearby.

Indeed, Liu Yicheng had caught a cold, his runny nose long and streaming. He was wandering around the large office, giving good reason for failing to complete this week’s procurement tasks.

Xiao Weiguo looked at Liu Yicheng’s dripping nose and said, “Yicheng, I know you’re sick, but you should wipe your nose.”

Liu Yicheng deliberately didn’t and instead circled Sister Ling, saying, “Sister Ling, it’s not that I don’t want to procure; I’m just too sick to go to the countryside. I really want to go.”

Sister Ling kept telling him, “Go, go, don’t loiter in front of me,” but her eyes betrayed concern.

She added, “Go see the factory clinic quickly.”

Liu Yicheng refused to leave, pulled up a chair, sat right outside the office door, and took a handkerchief from his pocket to wipe his nose.

Xiao Weiguo found this quite amusing.

Inside the office, he chatted a while longer with Liu Yicheng, Sister Ling, and Xiao He. Seeing the time, he planned to return to the Xiao family team, ostensibly for countryside procurement.

In truth, Xiao Weiguo wanted to find some fruit trees to plant in his space; things had to be done step by step.

Just as he was about to leave, Li Daniu came rushing in, breathless and shouting, “Weiguo, are you here? I’ve come to find you! Good news, very good news!”