The Secret of the Yoga Club: The Women's Identity is Not Simple

The next morning, Lin Feng was awakened by the sound of roosters crowing in the yard.

She rolled over, her arm instinctively reaching out to the side, only to find nothing. Wang Yue had quietly gone back to her room sometime earlier, probably afraid that her parents would see her if they got up early.

He lay on the bed staring at the wooden beam above his head for a long time, listening to the crowing of roosters and barking of dogs outside, before slowly coming back to his senses and realizing that he was lying in a small mountain village.

I rolled out of bed, put on my clothes, and pushed open the door. The morning light had just spilled over the eastern hills, and the rice leaves in the terraced fields were covered with dewdrops, glistening in the sunlight.

The air smelled of cooking smoke and dew, and it felt cool when you breathed it in, completely different from the smell of exhaust fumes and hot air from air conditioner units that perpetually filled the air in Hehai City.

Father Wang was already chopping firewood in the yard. The axe struck the wood with a crisp sound, and a few wood chips splashed onto the chicken coop next to him, causing the hens to cluck incessantly.

Wang's mother was squatting next to the hand pump washing vegetables when she saw Lin Feng come out, and quickly wiped her hands on her apron.

"Xiaolin, you're up? Did you sleep well last night? There are a lot of mosquitoes in the mountains, and Yueyue didn't even bother to light a few more mosquito coils for you." As she spoke, Wang's mother called out towards the kitchen, "Yueyue, Xiaolin, you're up. Bring out breakfast."

"I slept well, it's much quieter than in the city." Lin Feng walked to the hand pump, took the water ladle handed to him by the Queen Mother, and splashed some cool water on his face.

The icy well water in the mountains sent a shiver down his spine, instantly waking him up.

Shaking the water off her hands, she saw Wang Yue carrying a large bowl of steaming noodles out of the kitchen, her two dimples looking especially beautiful in the morning light.

"Grandma specially asked me to cook this for you this morning. She said it's eggs from our own free-range chickens, and you can't get them in the city." Wang Yue put the bowl on the wooden table in the yard and then went back to get a plate of pickled radish.

Lin Feng sat down, picked up his chopsticks, and took a big bite of noodles. The noodles were chewy and springy, and the soup was made with free-range chicken. On top of the noodles was a golden poached egg with a runny yolk.

After breakfast, Lin Feng put down his chopsticks and asked Wang's father, "Uncle, are there any catering companies around here that specialize in weddings and funerals? I want to make Grandma's birthday banquet a bit more formal."

After thinking for a moment, Mr. Wang said that there was a boss in town named Wang who was very famous in the area. He specialized in catering for all kinds of banquets, and he had more than a dozen cooks and helpers. However, the price was not cheap, costing several hundred yuan per table.

Lin Feng smiled and said, "A few hundred yuan for a table isn't expensive. Uncle, could you help me contact him and ask if he can come the day after tomorrow? The dishes need to be plentiful, and the cigarettes and alcohol need to be high-end."

Mr. Wang took out his phone and scrolled for a while before finding Boss Wang's number. After dialing and saying a few words, he handed the phone to Lin Feng.

Lin Feng took the phone and briefly explained his requirements. Boss Wang on the other end quoted a price, which Lin Feng immediately agreed to. "Bring as many people as you can, and prepare tables, chairs, benches, bowls, and chopsticks. Also, help me contact a song and dance troupe and a lion dance troupe; the more lively the better."

Mr. Wang repeatedly said on the phone that there was no problem, saying that there happened to be an amateur song and dance troupe in the town. Although it could not compare to the professional performances in the city, it was still quite respectable in the surrounding area. They performed at the town's temple fair every year.

Raymond Lam said that as long as he can sing, it's fine; he just wants to have some fun.

After hanging up the phone, he walked around the yard and looked up at the roof tiles.

Several sections of the roof were already loose, and several rafters under the eaves were rotten. They were temporarily supported by a few bamboo poles, and the whole roof would creak and groan when the wind was strong.

Several large chunks of white plaster had peeled off the courtyard wall, revealing the yellow adobe bricks underneath. In the corner of the wall were a few bundles of firewood and several old bamboo baskets.

Mr. Wang, standing to the side, rubbed his hands together, somewhat embarrassed, and said, "This house is decades old. I've wanted to repair it for a long time, but I've never been able to save enough money. Yueyue's mother said she'll repair it after selling the pigs this year, so we'll just make do with it for now."

"No need to wait. Uncle, do you know anyone in the construction business? Go talk to the village chief and ask him to help find some people to repair the yard first. After the birthday banquet the day after tomorrow, we'll renovate the house again."

Mr. Wang paused for a moment, his lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he just nodded vigorously, turned around and went to the stove to get the kettle to refill Lin Feng's tea.

My hands were shaking a little, and I almost spilled the tea.

Lin Feng found Old Zhang, the village chief, under the banyan tree at the village entrance. Old Zhang was squatting in front of his yard smoking a pipe. Seeing Lin Feng approach, he quickly stood up, wiped his hands on his pants, and greeted him with a smile. Lin Feng handed him a Zhonghua cigarette and got straight to the point.

"Uncle Zhang, I'd like to ask you to help me find some people to properly renovate Old Wang's house. Replace all the roof tiles, replace the rafters that need replacing, repaint the courtyard walls, pave the yard with cement, and build a sunshade in the yard. Do you think you can finish it by tomorrow?"

Old Zhang took the cigarette and tucked it behind his ear. After listening, he nodded repeatedly. "Yes, yes, yes, this job is no problem! I have several good workers under me, and if I call on a few strong young men from the village, I guarantee it will be done neatly by dark tomorrow."

He patted Lin Feng on the shoulder with a smile, "The Wang family has found a good son-in-law. I've lived this long and have never seen such a generous and filial young man as you."

The news spread quickly throughout the village.

Dance troupes, lion dances, and banquets—these things haven't been seen in this remote mountain village for decades.

What excited the villagers even more was that Lin Feng also announced that every household that attended the birthday banquet would receive a piglet.

The news spread like wildfire throughout several nearby villages, and several pig farmers from the neighboring village drove over that very day with several truckloads of piglets.

The piglets in the carriage were huddled together, their pink noses twitching and squealing incessantly. Lin Feng told Old Zhang to pay them one by one.

"We'll send as much as we can, and if we need more, we'll buy more. We'll ask all the pig farmers in the nearby villages and bring them all over so we can have enough."

Most rural people are simple and honest. Seeing that Lin Feng was generous and approachable, they all took the initiative to come and help with the work.

Some people helped build the shed, some helped move the tables and chairs, and some helped set up a stove in the yard.

The dilapidated courtyard was transformed in just half a day. New tiles were installed on the roof, the walls were painted white, a smooth cement floor was laid in the courtyard, and a sunshade that could accommodate seven or eight tables of banquet was erected in the middle, with several red lanterns hanging on the roof.

Lin Feng would have several packs of Zhonghua cigarettes placed in the yard every day, so that anyone who was tired from working could take one.

This kind of treatment was unheard of in the village. More and more people came to work, and sometimes even people from neighboring villages would come to help, just to get a free cigarette.

While everyone was busy, Lin Feng went to the banyan tree at the entrance of the village and found Old Chen, the village secretary.

Old Chen was sitting on a stone bench under a banyan tree playing chess with some elderly people when he saw Lin Feng coming over. He quickly stood up and shook hands with him.

Lin Feng lit a cigarette and then pointed to the bumpy dirt road at the entrance of the village.

"Secretary Chen, I'd like to fund the construction of a cement road for the village, connecting it to the town, to make it easier for villagers to get in and out. Do you think this is feasible?"

Upon hearing this, the village secretary nearly dropped his cigarette. He stared wide-eyed at Lin Feng, his lips moving several times before he could finally speak.

"Mr. Lin, we've been hoping for this road for generations. We've applied to the town government several times before, but it's always been rejected due to funding issues. Are you really going to build it?"

Lin Feng nodded. "I've roughly estimated that it will cost several million yuan to get from the village entrance to the town road. I'll cover the cost, but there's only one condition: the road must be named after Grandma Wang Yue, called Cuifang Road."