The north wind howled outside the window, while the heated kang inside filled the room with dry, stifling warmth.
“Wife, does it hurt?”
The man’s hoarse voice sounded beside her ear. He was tall and powerfully built, his muscles hard and solid, his thick arm wrapped around her.
She felt searing heat radiating from his arm.
In her hazy state, Qiao Lanshu looked at the man above her, her nose stinging. “Brother Zheng…”
Qiao Lanshu hugged the man’s broad shoulders, feeling the warmth radiating from his body and his hurried breathing. Tears streamed down her face once more.
The man lifted her into his arms and slowly carried her from the sitting room to the bedroom. In a low voice, he soothed her:
“Don’t be afraid… I’ll be gentle. Otherwise, your body won’t be able to take it…”
His voice was deep and low, yet filled with tenderness. Qiao Lanshu was immersed in his gentle advances.
She thought that if she could have a child with Brother Zheng, that would be wonderful.
……
“Clatter, clatter, clatter!”
The train pulled into the station.
Qiao Lanshu jerked awake, suddenly realizing that she was already on the train heading north!
Her face was streaked with tears, and the front of her clothes was soaked through.
Once again, she had dreamed of Qin Yuanzheng.
She wiped away her tears and got off the train. Her head felt swollen and muddled, and her mind was still immersed in that intimate dream of Qin Yuanzheng.
His touch had felt so real. It was as though his broad, rough palms still lingered on her body, and as though his scorching breath still brushed past her ear.
He was a true-born northern man, tall and sturdy, strong enough to lift her with one hand.
Whenever the two of them were intimate, he always liked to pick her up, as if she were a child.
She loved his gentleness and thoughtfulness, but sometimes she was also afraid of his sturdy, fierce body, which held nothing back.
She wondered which unit her Brother Zheng was with now.
Qiao Lanshu walked out of the train station. Then she remembered something and spread open her right palm. A line of tiny writing in fountain pen was visible on it:
“Longcheng Production and Construction Corps, Independent Second Battalion, Battalion Commander Sun Mingyong.”
Oh, right. He was her former fiancé.
This time, she had actually come north in search of her husband.
Her father had supported Sun Mingyong for ten years, and the two of them had become engaged three years ago.
This year, Sun Mingyong had written to say that he had been promoted to Battalion Commander.
The family members of a Battalion Commander could accompany him with the army. Qiao Lanshu had just graduated and was facing assignment to the countryside, so she had taken the train from Yangcheng. After three days and three nights, she had finally arrived in Longcheng, more than two thousand kilometers away, to find her husband.
But Qiao Lanshu, who had lived through her previous life, knew that Sun Mingyong was not with the army at all.
Using the money provided by the Qiao family, he had found work at a food factory in the north. He had even taken a wife and had children.
Meanwhile, Qiao Lanshu had waited for him alone at the train station for four whole hours.
Finally, hungry and freezing, she left the train station late at night, only to collapse unconscious by the roadside. A street delinquent picked her up and took her back, locking her inside a cave dwelling in the mountains.
By the time she had finally managed to escape from the mountains, two years had already passed. Her body had been damaged, and she could no longer bear children.
With the help of the Women’s Federation, she entered a food factory and worked there for several years.
Later, she met Qin Yuanzheng.
At the time, Qin Yuanzheng, a Brigade Commander nearing forty, also suffered from infertility. He had fallen in love with Qiao Lanshu at first sight and had taken the initiative to pursue her.
He was eleven years older than her—mature, steady, gentle, and considerate.
He cherished her like a precious treasure, soothing her pain bit by bit.
Yet in the fifth year of their marriage, old wounds on his body flared up and became infected. He died despite medical treatment.
The blow left Qiao Lanshu bedridden with illness. During the final period of her life, she was conscious only rarely, and she was always dreaming of Qin Yuanzheng.
Dreaming of what they had been like together.
At that thought, Qiao Lanshu’s expression instantly darkened.
Having been given another chance, she had to go find Qin Yuanzheng sooner!
This time, she would marry him early. Even if he was infertile, she would not mind.
This time, she had a healthy body, and he had not yet gone to carry out that mission.
They could have a future that lasted much longer.