When you find a girlfriend in the future, are you sure she won’t die?

Since they could all strengthen their bodies through labor, why couldn't he do the same and learn from them?

Second Aunt was the last to enter the main room. She glanced at Chen Anquan, who was eating with great relish. “Anquan, how’s your herb digging going lately? Have you found anything good?”

“I’ve dug up quite a few good things. In a few days, I plan to take them to the town to sell.”

“Did you find any…” Second Aunt seemed to hesitate. She looked over at Second Uncle, who was happily slurping his noodles alone, “Could you save some herbs that help with kidney health and vitality for your Second Uncle to brew medicinal wine?”

Her words came out rather abruptly, but Chen Anquan, being an adult and having worked in a hospital, showed no embarrassment upon hearing them. He smiled in Second Uncle’s direction. “Second Uncle, I still have some three-year-old Millettia, five-year-old processed Rehmannia, and eight-year-old Chain Fern… If you want, I’ll set aside a bit of each for you.”

Hearing names of such aged medicinal herbs, even though Second Uncle and Second Aunt weren’t versed in medicine, they still found it impressively grand.

Millettia fetches about thirty yuan per kilo on the market. Processed Rehmannia is about the same, and Chain Fern goes for twenty a kilo. But that’s just the price for cultivated herbs; if they’re truly wild, the price doubles, and for especially old specimens, it might multiply several times over.

Of course, some rare wild herbs, once unearthed, would be kept by the herb gatherers themselves—they’d never be willing to sell them.

The batch Chen Anquan planned to sell consisted of herbs with relatively few years of age. As for the truly valuable ones, he would keep those for himself.

“I’m done eating.”

Second Uncle seemed a bit embarrassed. He had slurped down his noodles so quickly that in just a couple of minutes, his big bowl was empty. “I’m off to help build the Wang family’s house. They want it finished early, so I might not be back until dark.”

“Be careful,” Second Aunt reminded him kindly as she slurped her noodles. Building houses was dangerous work—one careless moment could lead to an accident.

“Second Uncle.” At that moment, Chen Anquan finished the last bite of his noodles and called out to his uncle, who was just about to leave. “Are you still short-handed over there?”

His question caught both Second Uncle and Second Aunt’s attention.

What puzzled Second Aunt most was that, as a proper university graduate and an excellent rehabilitation therapist at the hospital, why would Chen Anquan suddenly want to go help build houses in the countryside?

It was as if, after all the years his father had toiled building houses for others, just so his son could have a decent, stable job, he now wished to build houses himself after graduation. Was all that hard work for nothing?

The scene was suddenly awkward.

Second Aunt shot Chen Anquan a disdainful look. “What are you thinking, Anquan? Isn’t digging for herbs good enough? That’s a skilled job too. Building houses for others is both exhausting and dangerous.”

“That’s right,” Second Uncle chimed in, now taking the opposite side. “We’re not your parents and won’t stop you from coming back home to start a business, but if you go build houses, wasn’t all your studying for nothing?”

Chen Anquan had long prepared himself for such objections. In the past, as a university graduate, he might joke online about working construction when strapped for cash, but actually doing it would have been a blow to his pride.

“I mean it. Working on a construction site not only pays but is also good for your health.”

Second Aunt could only shake her head helplessly. Her nephew was already strong enough; if he found a girlfriend, was he sure she could handle it?

“We could use more people. These days, it’s hard to find workers for construction sites—it’s mostly us older men. You’re the first young person I’ve seen wanting to do this,” said Second Uncle, straightforward as always. Seeing Chen Anquan was determined, he could only agree.

In Second Uncle’s eyes, with Chen Anquan’s physical strength, he could just as well be a special forces soldier or a national athlete.

Chen Anquan followed his uncle out into the yard.

In the shed stood old furniture and farm tools that used to be in Chen Anquan’s house. In the empty space, there was a three-wheeled motorcycle.

“Hop on.”

Second Uncle climbed into the driver’s seat and pressed the starter.

A deep engine growl sounded as he stomped on the pedal, and the whole tricycle shook as if in an earthquake, yet still failed to start.

Chen Anquan watched, amazed at how a single kick could make the small vehicle shake so violently. Wouldn’t it tip over on the mountain road?

“Get in, Anquan.” Second Uncle pulled out a pack of White Sand cigarettes, lit one, and stomped the starter again.

Thus, this two-meter-long, 1.3-meter-wide old tricycle shuddered again in front of the two men.

Chen Anquan shook his head, took hold of the edge of the cargo bed with both hands, flexed his arms, and swung himself toward the truck bed like a fish in water.

But while he was still airborne, the tricycle could withstand the shaking no more—it began to tilt toward him.

“What are you doing, Anquan?” Second Uncle cried out in alarm as the tricycle, with him in the driver’s seat, tilted with it.

In an instant, the vehicle lost its balance and toppled to the ground.

Chen Anquan was equally stunned. He hadn’t expected that a single motion would flip the tricycle.

But by then, he was already airborne above the tricycle—there was no going back.

“Damn it!”

With a burst of strength, Chen Anquan used the remaining momentum to hurl himself over to the other side of the vehicle.

From his seat, Second Uncle watched in horror as Chen Anquan, behind him, performed a gymnastics move of extreme difficulty, like a parallel bars athlete.

Once Chen Anquan landed safely on the other side, Second Uncle was almost heartbroken for his old vehicle. “You’re too strong—please don’t mess around like that again. My tricycle can’t handle it.”

“Alright, alright,” Chen Anquan replied sheepishly, and slowly climbed onto the truck bed.

Seeing this, Second Uncle tried starting the tricycle again.

Vroom!

It started!

“Hey, you just gave it a shake and it started!” Second Uncle exclaimed in disbelief.

“Just lucky, I guess,” Chen Anquan replied with a grin.

The tricycle rumbled away from Aobei Village, heading toward Wangjia Village.

Chen Anquan had never been to Wangjia Village before; he only knew it was a big village with two or three hundred households, or so they said.