Chapter 20: The Mighty Hercules with Boundless Strength

“It seems I must find a way to earn money, or this bit of cash will soon be spent!”

Chen Anquan made a trip to the market, buying some meat and vegetables, along with a few kitchen utensils. When he returned to the appliance store, he saw a silver pickup truck parked by the roadside, loaded with several boxes of various sizes and heights.

“Boss, your stuff is loaded up. Are we heading out now?” The delivery boy greeted Chen Anquan with a cheerful smile as he approached.

“Yes,” Chen Anquan replied.

“Then hop in, boss.”

With a driver and the delivery boy occupying the front seats, Chen Anquan climbed into the back of the pickup.

They drove in silence.

As the truck passed Maplewood Village, the delivery boy glanced back at Chen Anquan. “Boss, you’ve bought so many appliances—must be moving into a new home?”

A new home?

Chen Anquan’s house was actually the mud-brick dwelling his grandfather left him. Though the black tiles on the roof hadn’t fallen and the yellow earth bricks hadn’t crumbled, it could hardly be considered new. In fact, calling it simply an old house was an understatement.

There were still quite a few mud-brick houses in Aobei Village, but except for Chen Anquan’s, all had been abandoned. Some served as storerooms for miscellaneous items; others were simply left to decay, becoming ruins.

After living in the mountain village for a few days, Chen Anquan noticed one thing about these mud-brick houses: if abandoned, their roofs either had gaping holes or their walls had collapsed—sometimes the whole house was reduced to rubble. Those used as storerooms, aside from being dusty and filled with spider webs and small animals, were generally intact.

Chen Anquan knew the delivery boy was just being polite and meant no harm. “I live in an old house,” he replied.

The delivery boy smiled but didn’t press further.

When the truck finally stopped at the basketball court in Aobei Village and Chen Anquan pointed to the mud-brick house at its edge, both the delivery boy and the driver were stunned.

“Boss, this house is really...” The delivery boy tried, but didn’t finish his sentence.

It was already 2022, and yet someone was still poor enough to live in a mud-brick house!

Their county had long since lifted everyone out of poverty; all those on welfare or government support lived in bright, new little villas. Only a few stubborn elders clung to their old mud-brick homes, not because they couldn’t afford better, but because they were simply used to them and unwilling to change.

To the delivery boy and the driver, Chen Anquan was nothing less than a disgrace to the younger generation.

The vehicle came to a halt.

Both the delivery boy and the driver got out.

Free home delivery and installation had its perks—no need to worry about a thing. If anything went wrong with the appliances, a quick call to the store owner would bring someone out to fix it.

Chen Anquan watched as the two carefully carried the refrigerator across the ditch between the basketball court and the old house. He had already opened the door to make it easier for them to enter.

But the next moment, they were truly dumbfounded.

The modest main hall was crammed with old furniture and farm tools!

The delivery boy looked at Chen Anquan in disbelief. “Boss, there’s no way to put the fridge in here!”

He craned his neck, peering down the cramped passage toward Chen Anquan’s bedroom.

It was truly bare.

Inside, a broken wooden bed stood alone, surrounded only by yellowish earth walls, with not a single other piece of furniture.

Chen Anquan replied, “Just leave everything at the door. I’ll move it in myself later. Thank you.”

“Alright,” the delivery boy said, relieved.

Soon, with their combined effort, all the appliances were set down at Chen Anquan’s doorstep.

Seeing the main hall packed with so much clutter, the delivery boy guessed Chen Anquan had only recently moved back. He began to pitch more appliances. “Boss, would you like to buy a water heater?”

“A water heater?”

For the past few days, Chen Anquan had been bathing at Second Uncle’s house, using their coal stove to heat water.

Honestly, it was anything but convenient.

But as his constitution gradually strengthened, he found that while his sensitivity to cold had increased, so had his resistance to it.

Why not?

A plan formed in his mind.

He politely declined, “No need. I have an instant heater at home. If I need anything else, I’ll contact you.”

“Instant heaters aren’t safe, especially in an old house like yours. The wiring is ancient—easy to short-circuit.”

“You don’t need to worry about that.”

Seeing Chen Anquan so impervious, the delivery boy gave up. He climbed into the passenger seat, poked his head out, and said, “Boss, if you need any more appliances, remember to call me.”

“Of course.”

The truck started up and drove away.

The delivery boy sighed, “These days, there really are young people who can stand living in mud-brick houses!”

The driver gripped the steering wheel with one hand, leaning the other against the window. “Just poor, that’s all.”

“Well, yeah... How’s a guy like that ever going to find a wife?”

The driver turned to him, joking, “Shorty... isn’t it hard for you to get married too?”

The delivery boy protested, “You should introduce your sister to me...”

At that moment, he happened to glance at the right side mirror.

He saw Chen Anquan trying to enter the main hall, only to find the doorway blocked by a two-meter-tall cardboard box.

With both hands, he moved the box aside as if it were a foam toy.

“Damn! That fridge and box weigh nearly two hundred pounds, and he’s lifting them like they’re stuffed dolls!”

“Shorty, are you seeing things?”

A box two meters high, seventy centimeters wide, and weighing almost two hundred pounds—two people together would struggle, yet Chen Anquan moved it with ease.

The driver glanced at the rearview mirror, noting the fridge had already been shifted. “Probably just pushed it. Shorty, maybe you’re seeing things after too much late-night activity.”

“I swear! I’m not lying!” the delivery boy protested, but with no evidence, he could only drop it.

After a moment, he muttered, “Maybe you should introduce your sister to him. A strong man surely has stamina—she’d be happy.”

The driver shot him a look. “Strength isn’t everything. I don’t want my sister marrying a pauper.”

Chen Anquan, busy clearing out the clutter in the main hall, had no idea his every move had been noticed by the delivery boy, nor that in their eyes, he was a true pauper.

Just last night, he’d received permission from Second Aunt to move all the items from the hall back to Second Uncle’s house.