The kang (heated brick bed) for left-behind women

"He Xiulan is quite a beautiful and kind woman. Why don't you consider her?" Li Ruoxue said jokingly while busy with her work.

"At my age, what am I thinking about finding a wife? There's no hope for me anymore," Lin Dachun replied truthfully.

Li Ruoxue glanced at Dachun and asked, "Did Aunt Zhou say that the Lin family has no descendants hurt you?"

"What?"

"How about I have one?" Li Ruoxue said softly.

"Nonsense, Aunt Zhou's words are not right, you can't do that. Although..." Lin Dachun recalled some things.

Those events cut into his memory like a knife.

"Hmm, you didn't understand what I meant." After saying that, Li Ruoxue fell silent.

It had only been two days since Aunt Zhou came to arrange the marriage.

Lin Dachun and Li Ruoxue were drying processed sea buckthorn berries in front of the cave dwelling when they saw He Xiulan standing somewhat awkwardly at the bottom of the slope, looking in their direction.

Li Ruoxue, with her sharp eyes, spotted it first and gently nudged Lin Dachun with her elbow: "Aunt He is here."

Lin Dachun looked up and saw He Xiulan. Remembering what Aunt Zhou had said, he felt a little strange, but he still put down his work and went to greet her.

Today, He Xiulan wore a faded blue cotton blouse, her hair was neatly combed, her face had an unnatural blush, and her eyes were somewhat evasive.

She walked closer and greeted Li Ruoxue first: "Ruoxue is here too."

Then he turned to Lin Dachun, his voice weaker than usual:

"Brother Dachun, sorry to bother you. It's...it's like this, my kang (heated brick bed) has been smoking backwards for the past two days, making it unbearable to sit on, and the surface isn't warm anymore. I was thinking...you know a bit about masonry, could you...take a look for me when you have some free time?"

She paused, then quickly added, "I won't let you work for nothing; I'll pay you."

Lin Dachun listened, his brows relaxing slightly.

So it was to repair the kang (heated brick bed); that makes perfect sense.

In rural areas, it's common for the kang (heated brick bed) hole to get blocked or collapse, something women often can't fix.

Before he could speak, Li Ruoxue said, "Aunt He, what's the big deal? Let Dachun take a look for you. We're all neighbors, why are you talking about wages?"

As she spoke, she secretly gave Lin Dachun a wink.

Lin Dachun understood what Li Ruoxue meant: she wanted him not to deliberately avoid suspicion because of Aunt Zhou's matter, otherwise it would make him seem guilty.

He nodded and said to He Xiulan, "Okay, I'll go with you to take a look."

He went back into the house to get a trowel and a small bundle of hemp rope, and told Li Ruoxue, "Watch over these, don't let the sparrows peck at them."

He then followed He Xiulan toward the east end of the village.

The two kept a few steps apart and didn't say much along the way.

The only sound was the soft rustling of footsteps on the dirt road.

Upon arriving at He Xiulan's house, a strong smell of smoke was indeed detected as soon as one entered.

He Xiulan pointed to the kang (heated brick bed) against the east wall: "Right here, these past two days when we've been burning firewood, the smoke has been billowing out."

Lin Dachun didn't say much. He squatted down, first checked the door of the kang (heated brick bed), and then carefully touched the surface of the kang to feel the temperature distribution.

"I'm afraid the ash in the kang (heated brick bed) is clogged, or some mud brick has collapsed and blocked the flue." He stood up. "We need to clean out the kang."

He Xiulan quickly said, "Oh, thank you for your trouble, Brother Dachun. All the equipment is in the yard."

Lin Dachun took off his thick cotton-padded coat, leaving him in only a thin old jacket. He picked up a shovel and rake and began cleaning the accumulated ash from the kang (heated brick bed).

The job was dirty and tiring, with dust flying everywhere, which quickly turned his face and arms black.

He worked with focused concentration, sweat mixed with dust streaming down his face.

He Xiulan watched from the side, wanting to help but unable to get a hand in it, so she quickly poured a bowl of hot water and placed it aside, then picked up a rag and wiped the edges of the kang (heated brick bed) and the walls that were blackened by smoke.

After working for nearly an hour, Lin Dachun pulled out a large pile of ashes and several broken adobe bricks from the kang hole.

"It's blocked here."

He pointed to the chimney opening.

Then, he skillfully used fresh mud to repair the damaged area.

"Try lighting it," he said, wiping his sweat.

He Xiulan quickly added firewood to the stove and lit it.

This time, the smoke rose gently up the chimney and did not flow back up.

After a while, the surface of the kang (a heated brick bed) began to heat up evenly.

"All done! All done!" He Xiulan's face lit up with a genuine smile, filled with gratitude. "Brother Dachun, thank you so much! Quick, wash your face and have a drink of water."

She hurriedly handed over the water and towel.

Lin Dachun washed his face with the cold water in the basin and then gulped down a large bowl of water before he felt better.

He Xiulan took out a small cloth bag from the inner room and was about to stuff it into Lin Dachun's hand: "Brother Dachun, take this money and buy a pack of cigarettes."

Lin Dachun recoiled as if burned, waving his hands and backing away, saying, "What are you doing? I already said no. We're neighbors, helping each other is the right thing to do."

"Then why don't you stay for dinner? That would be alright, otherwise I'd feel bad," He Xiulan said sincerely.