Chapter 156: Laying the Groundwork

October 20, 2023

Author: Zi Tao

Chu Xuan tried hard to recall the time in her previous life when she answered that man’s phone call.

She remembered wearing a long-sleeved shirt—it must have been October.

But what day in October?

Chu Xuan closed her eyes and thought harder.

That’s right, the village office calendar had shown the 5th.

So this time around, as long as Feng Chunhua was in the village on the 5th and able to answer the phone, she’d be able to find some clues.

She knew how to set up a phone extension—Mu Chenze had taught her in her previous life.

If she connected an extension to the village office phone in advance, she could eavesdrop on Feng Chunhua’s conversation with that man.

Or she could talk to Wei Qiang and use some tech to monitor the village phone, but that would be too much trouble and might alert the target.

It’d be better to discuss it with Grandpa Wang, the village chief, and secretly set up an extension.

Once Feng Chunhua got a call, she could just pick up the extension and listen in.

To avoid any leaks, when Wei Qiang came to ask if the voice sounded familiar, Chu Xuan chose to shake her head.

Guo Hailian was sent back to the psychiatric hospital for supervision, and the Guo family paid Chu Xuan compensation for her bike repairs.

Chu Xuan accepted it.

After getting her bike fixed, she rode back to the village.

She remembered there was an old phone in the village, one that had been replaced.

It could only receive calls, not make them.

Currently, Wang Depin was in charge of it.

After lunch, Chu Xuan heard that Wang Depin was on duty at the village office that afternoon, so she grabbed a few sheets of paper filled with client information, stuffed them in her pocket, and biked over.

When she arrived, only Wang Depin was there.

Perfect time to talk.

“Grandpa Wang, I came to drop off the client info. Just finished sorting it—take a look and see if anything needs to be added.”

Wang Depin took the papers and looked them over carefully.

Each client’s name was followed by their contact info, address, shop location, order quantity, delivery method, and so on.

He nodded in satisfaction. “Well done, Xiao Xuan. Thank you for your hard work.”

“It’s no trouble. After all, I get a commission for this—it’s my job.” Chu Xuan glanced around the office, her eyes landing on the phone. “Grandpa Wang, I remember you’re keeping an old broken phone. Can I take a look at it?”

Wang Depin pointed at the working phone on the desk. “If you want to see a phone, look at this one. That old phone’s crank is broken—it can’t make calls.”

“But it can still receive calls! Could you get it out for me? I want to see if I can set up an extension—just to receive, not to make calls. I want to practice my skills. I just learned a new trick from a master in the county. Please keep it a secret for now—let’s only tell others after I get it working, okay?”

Wang Depin had always treated Chu Xuan like family, and besides, this was a great way to repurpose something old, so he was all for it.

“Of course. Where do you want to put the extension? How about the next room?”

“That’s too close. How about over at the village food factory? Maybe the HR office?”

The HR office was empty—staff from the village office doubled up to save on wages, so they rarely worked over there. Most business was handled in the main office.

The HR office was only separated from the main office by a wall.

If it weren’t for wanting to look more official for visiting clients, they wouldn’t have bothered with a separate HR office at all.

But the workshop where they made grilled fish snacks was a bit farther away.

Wang Depin agreed right away.

If it worked, they could buy more phone wire and move the extension to the workshop.

A lot of villagers worked in the workshop, so it’d be easier to call people to the phone.

Wang Depin handed over the HR office key and some extra phone wire to Chu Xuan, though it wasn’t quite long enough—she’d need to find a few more meters.

Chu Xuan thanked him and promised to call him over to check once the extension was set up.

Since it was just the two of them, and the office had matches, scissors, and electrical tape, Chu Xuan ran a wire from the main phone, tossed it over the wall, and planned to finish the extension once she got more wire.

She put the extension phone in a cardboard box.

Then, using the side door, she carried it to the HR office next door.

Good thing Wang Depin had the key—otherwise, one more person would have to know about the extension.

That afternoon, Chu Xuan went to town to discuss something with Uncle Long.

She also borrowed a few meters of phone wire from him.

But she didn’t rush to set up the extension.

The next day, Chu Xuan went to her secret spot by the tide pools, but the tide hadn’t fully gone out yet.

There were lots of mussels on the beach, but they didn’t sell for much—just a few cents per basket.

Still, mussels were good for preventing anemia, improving health, and warming the kidneys.

She planned to pick some for Xiao Feng to eat at home.

She’d only picked a few pounds when Mu Chenze’s voice sounded behind her.

“That’s enough. You’re on herbal medicine, so you can’t eat these. Xiao Feng’s too young to eat much, either. The tide pool’s exposed now—want to take a look?”

Chu Xuan straightened up and turned to look at Mu Chenze.

Today, he was wearing a navy blue tracksuit with two white stripes—sunny and handsome.

She couldn’t help but be drawn to him.

She quickly composed herself and said seriously, “Let’s go.”

She walked toward the tide pool.

Mu Chenze followed, a smug smile on his lips—he’d just caught Chu Xuan staring.

She always said she didn’t like pretty boys, but in reality, Chu Xuan was totally into good looks.

By the tide pool, they found some great stuff.

Three bass weighing five or six pounds each, a dozen octopuses weighing three or four pounds each, and plenty of big swimming crabs.

The two split up and got to work, sorting everything into baskets and buckets in less than half an hour.

After hauling everything to shore, they took out a long rope—one end tied to a tree, the other to themselves.

They went for a swim in the sea.

Chu Xuan hadn’t swum in days, but she was even better than before. Even after swimming for over an hour, she didn’t get leg cramps like she used to.

Mu Chenze praised her generously.

Chu Xuan was in a great mood from the compliments.

Back on shore, Mu Chenze didn’t dare look at her until she’d changed into clean clothes.

Her clothes were loose and baggy.

“You’ve lost a lot of weight—you should get some new clothes. I remember I promised to buy you a few outfits. Measure your waist and stuff when you get home this afternoon. I’ll buy them for you in the city tomorrow.”

Chu Xuan grinned. “No need yet. I’ll wait until I’m down to about 135 pounds—I don’t want to waste fabric.”

“Who knows when you’ll get to 135? We have to buy some now.”

“Really, it’s fine. These clothes are just baggy because I haven’t had time to take them in. I’ll ask Aunt Qin and Grandma Gao to help me alter them when I get home.”

“You do your alterations, I’ll do my shopping.”

Mu Chenze said as he grabbed his clean clothes and went to change somewhere private.

Chu Xuan saw she couldn’t stop him, so she didn’t try.

If she refused the clothes, he’d get mad—and she didn’t want that, so she accepted.

She couldn’t help but think of her past life, when, after she’d lost weight, he’d bought her clothes. The first outfit was a blue long-sleeved dress with white trim and black low-cut leather shoes.

She wondered what kind he’d pick for her this time.

“Mu Chenze, let’s go home!”

“Okay! But before we go, I want to remind you of something.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t like chubby girls…”

Chu Xuan cut him off, “I know. You don’t have to remind me—I never wanted you to like me.”"