Jiang Sirui had just returned from the front lines.
After the initial rest period, the military held a “merit recognition” ceremony to boost morale.
Jiang Sirui had distinguished himself on the battlefield. Not only had he joined the Party in the heat of combat, but he had also been promoted ahead of schedule to platoon leader.
In the final battle, he led his platoon from the front, earning multiple significant merits and saving valuable time for the larger unit.
As a result, he received both a collective second-class merit and an individual third-class merit, and he was promoted once again ahead of schedule, becoming the youngest full-company officer in the entire regiment.
At just twenty-two years old, with only two years of service, such rapid advancement would have been impossible in peacetime. Even during wartime, his extraordinary performance drew wide admiration.
After the promotion ceremony, the regiment leadership spoke with him about his next steps.
He was given two options:
One, transfer back to the capital and join a government ministry. With his age and experience, even starting at the bottom, he would receive attention and have a bright future.
Two, study at the Yun Province Military Academy in the Command Department, then return to the military after graduation for a new assignment.
Hearing these options, Jiang Sirui’s eyes flickered, and a trace of irony passed through his gaze.
So… they finally realized his value and wanted to keep him close for training?
Without hesitation, he chose the second option: to study command at the Yun Province Military Academy.
The regiment commander remained silent for a long moment. In the end, he said nothing, simply patted Jiang Sirui on the shoulder with a complicated expression and told him to prepare his things and depart immediately.
While organizing his gear, Jiang Sirui happened to see the marriage certificate among the belongings he had brought when he enlisted, and suddenly remembered the important matter he had yet to deal with.
His newlywed wife was still in the countryside. How was she doing now?
He dropped everything and rushed to the regiment headquarters. After getting a phone, he requested an outside line.
It took him over an hour of transfers and effort before he finally connected to the village committee in that small mountain village.
Then he learned that his young wife, Wei Nan, had just received a telegram from home saying that her father had passed away and that she needed to return to the city immediately.
She had only boarded the ox cart heading to the county an hour before his call reached her.
After hanging up the phone, Jiang Sirui was overwhelmed with deep guilt.
Although he had not actively sought to marry this wife and there was no real affection between them, he had married her nonetheless.
He had promised to treat her well and take care of her for life.
Yet he had broken that promise.
In fact, this was not entirely Jiang Sirui’s fault.
The military had suddenly issued an urgent combat readiness order.
Within four hours of the order, the entire battalion had been deployed on a special train…
There had been no time at all for anyone to handle personal matters.
Moreover, going to the battlefield was a confidential matter. He and his comrades only understood the situation fully once they set foot on the war-torn land.
So Jiang Sirui had no chance to inform Wei Nan in advance, nor could he provide any security for her life afterward.
Still, the fact remained that he had been gone for nearly two years without leaving a single word behind.
She had been left alone in that remote, impoverished village, bearing the title of a married woman, yet without anyone to support her.
Life must have been very hard.
Looking at the words “Yun Province” on the enrollment notice in his hand, Jiang Sirui instinctively clenched his fist and hurried to finish packing.
ᘻᘿᓍᘺ
After seeing Xu Qiaoqiao off, Wei Nan and Wei Pei went to the cotton-fluffing shop to collect the newly processed bedding.
The cotton, freshly fluffed, was soft and warm; holding it in their arms felt cozy and comforting.
There was no doubt that sleeping under it that night would bring sweet dreams.
With Wei Qiuxia’s help, by no later than eight o’clock, all of their quilts and bedding were remade.
The two girls went to bed early.
Lying in their own blankets, smelling the lingering scent of soap on the bedding, both of them felt completely content.
Even though the bed beneath them was still unbearably hard, it seemed to make no difference at all.
Both of them were completely content.
Before long, they had both sunk into a deep, dreamless sleep.
In her dream, Wei Nan found herself once again in that small room, and the first thing she saw was still the perpetual calendar digital clock.
Only this time, the number on the clock, indicating how many days until a certain event, had changed to twelve.
By now, this no longer drew any attention from Wei Nan.
She hurried toward the white wall directly in front of her, hoping to catch another glimpse of her modern home.
She wondered how her mother was doing, had her mood improved at all?
Her mother had always been in poor health; she silently wished that her sadness hadn’t worsened her condition.
As these thoughts ran through her mind, tears welled up in her eyes.
This time, the room seemed more cooperative. As she leaned toward the wall, it instantly transformed into a transparent screen.
But the scene on the other side had shifted from her bedroom to the living room at home.
“Xiao Ning!” Wei Nan instinctively waved her hand at the glass, exclaiming in surprise.
Through the glass screen, she saw her younger brother, Wei Ning, whom she hadn’t seen in a long time.
Wei Ning was now in his third year of high school, the busiest time of his life.
He normally lived at school and returned home rarely.
And on top of that, he was exceptionally talented.
Recently, he had been recruited to the national team for intensive training and would soon represent the country in an international mathematics competition.
At a time like this, by all logic, he should not have been home at all.
Which meant that even her little brother knew about her disappearance.
Thinking of this, Wei Nan’s heart ached in ways words could not describe.
It felt as if a thick lump of cotton were lodged in her chest, pressing down so heavily that she could barely breathe.
She didn’t want, she absolutely didn’t want, to hold her brother back from his future.
She remembered clearly back when he was still in middle school, how his little face would light up whenever he talked about his dream school.
All these years, he had worked so hard, getting closer and closer to that dream.
After this upcoming competition, no matter what rank he achieved, the acceptance letter from his dream university was surely within reach.
But now, just as his intensive training was about to finish, he had suddenly appeared at home.
What did that mean?
Wei Nan didn’t dare think too deeply.
All she could feel was an overwhelming ache in her heart, a pain so sharp it almost felt unbearable.
“You little rascal, you’re so foolish! I’m here, I’m still here! Go back and study properly,” she murmured repeatedly, but the more she said it, the more desperate she felt.
At this moment, right in front of her, on the other side of the screen, her parents and younger brother sat at the dining table. Several dishes were placed before them.
Just a glance told Wei Nan that all the food was takeout. Even with her brother home, her mother clearly didn’t have the energy to cook.
The three of them sat around the table, face to face, yet no one spoke or moved their chopsticks, each lost in their own thoughts.
Just when Wei Nan began to wonder if the screen had frozen, her mother finally picked up a rice ladle and served half a bowl of rice onto the empty spot at the table.
That’s when Wei Nan noticed that besides her parents and brother, the empty spot also had a pair of chopsticks placed in front of it.
That was her place, her mother had served her a bowl of rice first.
“Mom! Mom!”
Wei Nan collapsed in tears, crouching on the floor.
She pressed her tear-streaked face tightly against the glass screen, her hands clutching it desperately.
Over and over in her mind, she cried out, “I want to go home! Mom, I want to go home!”
But the people on the other side couldn’t hear her at all…
And then Wei Nan woke up crying again.
After waking up, she finally calmed down. She stopped crying and just sat on the bed for a long while.
Wei Nan suddenly felt that her dream was trying to tell her something. Otherwise, why would she be able to see her modern-day family’s life in it?
And deep down, she knew clearly that it wasn’t her imagination, it had to be really happening.
Her mind went back to the electronic clock hanging in that little room, and she remembered the time it displayed.
Today was November 18, and the clock showed twelve days remaining until a certain day.
Adding the days together, it was obvious, the day it pointed to must be November 30.
Was November 30 some special solar term?
Wei Nan got out of bed and ran to the living room to check the wall calendar.
Monday, November 30, 1981, lunar calendar: the fifth day of the eleventh month.
She studied that day’s calendar carefully but found nothing unusual.
So the “twelve days remaining” on the perpetual calendar wasn’t counting down to a solar term.
If not a solar term, then what could it be?
The more Wei Nan thought, the more confused she became. Her head felt like it was going to explode.
Her subconscious told her this question was important, but she just couldn’t figure it out.
This made her both frustrated and a little aggrieved.
Especially since her mind kept returning to the images of her parents and brother back in her modern home.
Why? Why would something like this happen to her and her family?
What had they done wrong?
As these thoughts swirled, her eyes reddened again.
“Big sister, are you going to find Sister Qiaoqiao? If you don’t feel like it, maybe you shouldn’t go today?”
While Wei Nan was still lost in that anxiety, Wei Pei gently touched her fingers and asked softly.
Sister had cried again this morning and had been in a bad mood all morning, Wei Pei had noticed this.
She was very afraid that she had done something wrong to upset her sister, so she had been extra careful all morning, not daring to say more than a word.
But now, with it almost noon, she had no choice but to speak up.
Only then did Wei Nan come back to her senses.
Seeing Wei Pei’s anxious expression, she finally realized that she had frightened her little sister.
Quickly, she forced a smile and reached out to ruffle the little girl’s hair.
“Of course we’re going! We have to go. Once we bring the bed back, we can sleep so much more comfortably.”
Seeing that her sister’s mood seemed to lighten a bit, Wei Pei’s expression relaxed.
She looked up at Wei Nan and asked earnestly, “Sister, can I come with you too?”
Wei Nan thought for a moment and then refused, “You stay home. We don’t even have a bicycle, and we’ll need one to move the furniture. You’re too little to follow the cart.
Just stay here and be good. If there’s nothing else to do, start getting the bedding ready so that when I come back, we can set up the bed right away.”
Wei Pei nodded obediently.
Wei Nan said goodbye and left the house with her sister.
At that moment, she had no idea what misfortune might be waiting for her little sister.
If she could turn back time, Wei Nan would have held her sister’s hand tightly and would never, ever have left her home alone.