It was obvious that Munni and Yuan Chengmo had no familiar friends or relatives in the village and had nowhere to go.
Yuan Chengmo stopped the angry and hopping uncle, smiling: "Uncle, it’s alright."
Saying this, he took out his wallet from his pocket and handed a card to the landlady.
The landlady glanced at the card he handed over, "No cards, cash only."
Yuan Chengmo pulled out three hundred yuan in bills and handed it to the landlady, who finally smiled at him contentedly, "Come, follow me."
The driver saw the two settled and didn’t stay long. For his enthusiastic help, both Yuan Chengmo and Munni thanked him repeatedly. The driver, smiling brightly, waved his hand and said it was not a problem before leaving.
Their rooms were on the second floor of the house, adjacent to each other. The interior furnishings were exceptionally simple, with only a bed, a table, a chair, and a wardrobe.
When the door opened, the cold air that hit Yuan Chengmo made him frown slightly, "Auntie, is there heating in the room?"
"In this godforsaken poor village, how many families can afford heating? If you two can’t stand the cold, you can buy a small heater at the supermarket nearby, but you’ll have to pay an extra fifty yuan for electricity."
Seeing that the landlady’s attitude didn’t seem very friendly, Yuan Chengmo nodded and didn’t speak further.
He took the key, thanked her, then led Munni past her into the room, quickly shutting the door.
Due to the room’s constantly damp and cold state, even the quilt on the bed was a bit damp.
After setting down their luggage, Yuan Chengmo touched the quilt, then helplessly said, "Looks place is even worse than we imagined. Let’s go to the supermarket later to buy two heaters and quilts."
Munni looked around the cramped room and nodded heavily, "Yeah."
Because the room was too cold to be comfortable, after setting down Munni’s luggage, they hurried to Cheng Mo’s adjoining room, finding it was no better, if not worse.
They didn’t dare waste time in the icy room, immediately exiting and leaving the inn. They caught a tricycle to the village’s only large supermarket to buy two heaters, two sets of thick quilts, as well as pillows, sheets, and the like.
When they returned to the inn on the tricycle, they got the tricycle driver to help carry the things upstairs. As soon as they stepped into the store, the landlady sitting behind the glass counter stared at them, and the meaning in her eyes went without saying.
Yuan Chengmo walked over, took out a hundred-yuan bill from his wallet, and placed it on the glass counter, "The extra electricity fee."
With that, he carried the things in one hand and held Munni’s hand with the other, heading upstairs.
The tricycle driver, walking ahead of them, seemingly noticed they weren’t too fond of the landlady, and laughed: "She’s known as the shrewdest person in our village, just ignore her."
"Yeah, thank you, Uncle, for helping us carry the stuff upstairs."
"You’re welcome. The countryside here is not like your city; it’s colder at night than during the day, so keep yourself warm and don’t catch a cold."
After putting the things in Munni’s room, the driver bid farewell to the two.
Yuan Chengmo unpacked the heater, plugged it in, and immediately turned it to the highest temperature, trying to warm the room. Then he and Munni together replaced all the quilts, sheets, and pillows in her room.
"Must be freezing, right? You stay here and warm up by the heater. I’ll go to my room, plug in the heater, change the quilt, and then we’ll go eat."
"No need, just sit." Yuan Chengmo shook his head, carried the things to the next room, took out his key, opened the door, quickly went inside, plugged in the heater, and changed the quilt.