"What are you doing? Give me back the notebook!" I reached out to snatch the notebook from the woman's hand, but she dodged, twisting my arm behind my back with a joint lock.
My arm instantly throbbed with pain.
This woman was truly ruthless and incredibly strong.
"Trying to fight me? You're still too green," the woman said with a hint of smugness in her voice.
"Look, sister, I wasn't trying to fight you. You grabbed my stuff first..."
"Grabbed?" She chuckled. "This room is mine. Since the item is in my room, it naturally belongs to me. Do I need to grab my own things?"
"Can you let me go first?" My arm felt like it was about to dislocate.
She snorted coldly and shoved me towards the bed.
I turned around, stretching my arm, and saw her flipping through my notebook.
After a few pages, she seemed completely uninterested and tossed it back, saying, "What is this? I can't understand any of it."
That was my father's notebook. I had been reading it for years without understanding it, so it was no surprise she couldn't.
I caught the notebook and quickly stuffed it under the pillow.
Just then, Xiao Shan and Fatty returned.
Seeing me sitting on the ground in a disheveled state, and noticing the woman standing in the room, Fatty was stunned for a moment before giving me a suggestive wink.
I glared back at him. Fatty grinned and said, "Brother Xiang, we were only out for a moment, and you've already hooked up with a..."
He paused there, deliberately sizing up the woman, clearly searching for the right word.
Before he could finish, the woman spoke, "Hooked up with a what?"
"Oh, you speak Chinese too," Fatty chuckled, flashing a wide grin. "May I ask your name, beautiful lady?"
Hearing Fatty call her beautiful, the woman smiled wryly, "You don't look like much, but you have a way with words that's quite pleasing."
"Is that so? You have a discerning eye, beautiful lady. I may not have many skills, but I'm quite good at judging people. I can tell you're no ordinary person. Let me guess your name..."
Fatty feigned deep thought for a moment. "Is your surname Mei? And your given name, Ruo Tian Xian?"
What kind of surname is Mei and given name Ruo Tian Xian?
This fatty really knew how to talk nonsense, but the woman seemed to be enjoying it immensely, laughing coyly.
At this point, I noticed Xiao Shan standing nearby, his expression a bit off, as if he were intimidated by the woman. He was just standing there, offering a forced smile.
"Beautiful lady, please tell me, what is your name?" Fatty asked with a smile.
"Didn't you just say my surname is Mei and my given name is Ruo Tian Xian? So, isn't my name Mei Ruo Tian Xian?"
"I was just guessing, you know."
"You want to know my name?"
Fatty nodded.
The woman glanced at Xiao Shan and said, "Xiao Shan, tell him, what do you call me?"
Xiao Shan sheepishly smiled and said, "Sister-in-law Gu..."
Hearing this name, Fatty and I were both stunned.
This woman was the legendary Sister-in-law Gu?
"Little fatty, did you hear that? Now you know my name, right?" Sister-in-law Gu said with a smile, looking at Fatty.
Fatty snapped back to reality, "You're Sister-in-law Gu?"
"What? You know me?"
"It's an honor, truly an honor. I just arrived and Xiao Shan was telling me about you. He said you're not only beautiful but also the most beautiful woman in Hekou. I was wondering when I'd have the chance to meet you, Sister-in-law Gu. I never expected my luck to be this good; thinking of it, and here you are..."
As Fatty spoke, he couldn't help but glance at me, giving me a knowing look, as if asking what was going on.
I stood up, brushed the dust off my pants, and walked over. Xiao Shan, sensing the tension between me and Sister-in-law Gu, quickly interjected, "Sister-in-law Gu, let me introduce you. This is Brother Xiang Fei, Nephew Li's nephew, and this is Brother Fatty, a good friend of Xiang Fei."
"Uncle Li? Zhu Li's nephew?" Sister-in-law Gu asked, a hint of surprise in her voice.
Xiao Shan smiled and replied, "Yes."
"That old bastard has a nephew?" Sister-in-law Gu said without any reservation.
Xiao Shan chuckled awkwardly, clearly unsure of what to say at that moment.
Having interacted with Zhu Li for the past couple of days, I knew he wasn't an ordinary person. It was just that this Sister-in-law Gu didn't seem to fear him at all, even daring to call him an old bastard.
What was this Sister-in-law Gu's background?
"Sister-in-law Gu, why are you here?" Xiao Shan asked with a smile.
"What else? You're living in my place, so you should do some work for me, right? See that sand on the table? Wash the gold for me," Sister-in-law Gu said.
"So that's all. You could have just sent someone to tell me. Why come in person?"
Xiao Shan walked to the table and looked at the sand in the basin. "This river sand is coarse. The amount of gold dust here won't be small..."
"Stop with the nonsense, hurry up," Sister-in-law Gu said impatiently.
Xiao Shan nodded with a smile, picked up a bowl from the table, and scooped a bowl of sand from the basin. Then, he began to gently shake it.
His shaking motion was peculiar; his wrist moved, but his arm remained still. The angle of the bowl's sway in his hand was not large, yet the water and sand inside began to spin rapidly, as if a mixer was at work.
The sand in the bowl slowly began to separate, revealing specks of golden sand.
All the gold dust gathered on one side of the bowl. Xiao Shan used his hand to pick out the gold dust and place it on the table, then poured the remaining sand onto the ground.
The floor of the shack was all packed dirt, and the water quickly dissipated into the mud.
In less than ten minutes, Xiao Shan had washed all the gold dust from the sand in the basin.
Fatty and I watched, dumbfounded. It was like watching a magic trick.
Although he made it look effortless, I knew it required immense skill. The speed of the shaking and the control of force had to be perfectly managed to separate the gold from the sand.
"It seems your gold washing skill is quite impressive. Truly worthy of being called Hekou's number one gold washer," Sister-in-law Gu said with a smile as she walked over. She took out a handkerchief and wrapped all the gold dust on the table with it.
After finishing, Sister-in-law Gu glanced at Fatty and me and said to Xiao Shan, "I'm leaving now. If you need anything else, just let me know."
"Alright, Sister-in-law Gu, please take care," Xiao Shan said, walking her to the door.
After the door was closed, Xiao Shan let out a sigh of relief.
Fatty sidled up to him and asked, "How did you learn that gold washing technique?"
Xiao Shan replied with a wry smile, "I've been panning for gold in the mines since I was ten. I've handled countless amounts of gold-bearing sand. The more you do it, the more accurate your sense of weight becomes."
"Ten years old? That means you've been practicing that skill for at least a decade?"
"Yes."