At the mention of getting married, Xie Zhongming recalled that terrible night five years ago, and a tightness formed in his chest.
He had been on a mission in Chadian Village, staying at the home of a local.
But he had been slept with by a village girl weighing over two hundred jin.
A packet of beast medicine had made him lose his senses. When he woke up, it was already the middle of the night.
The two of them were lying there, stark naked.
Pang Ya’s Mother had cried and wailed, saying her daughter’s innocence was gone.
Although he had been set up, Pang Ya was, after all, an unmarried maiden. He had no choice but to take responsibility. He returned to his unit, filed a report, and married her.
After the wedding, he felt only a sense of duty toward Pang Ya, with no affection whatsoever. That was why, even though he was now a regiment-level officer with the right to have his family join him, he still hadn’t brought Pang Ya to the military’s Family Compound.
Even now, five years after the incident, the memory still filled him with a sense of humiliation.
A 200-plus-jin Pang Ya riding on top of him.
Who wouldn’t feel humiliated in that situation?
His superiors and parents all felt the matter was disgraceful and told him not to publicize the marriage.
Aside from a few leaders, his father who was a division commander, his family, and a few close buddies, no one in the entire military camp knew he was married.
He was unwilling to bring up Pang Ya more than necessary.
When he responded to Qiao Xingyue, his voice naturally carried a hint of coldness. “Comrade Qiao is interested in my personal marital status?”
Qiao Xingyue didn’t answer, retorting instead, “Comrade Xie doesn’t think I’m trying to make a move on you, does he?”
That wasn’t what Xie Zhongming meant.
He just didn’t want to talk about his marriage. “Comrade Qiao has misunderstood.”
Qiao Xingyue added:
“I just wanted to remind you that it’s still uncertain whether your injury will allow you to recover your previous sexual function.
If you have a wife, you should weigh whether or not to tell her about this.
After all, if you have a wife, a couple will eventually have to share a bed. Your wife should have the right to know.”
Xie Zhongming recalled that in all these years, he had never once returned to Chadian Village, not even when he had leave.
The thought of Pang Ya’s 200-plus-jin weight and Pang Ya’s Mother’s face as she cried and demanded money filled him with resistance.
When he was a Platoon Leader, he kept only ten yuan of his forty-eight-yuan allowance, sending the rest back to Chadian Village.
Now that he was a regimental commander, he sent a full one hundred yuan of his one-hundred-and-forty-eight-yuan allowance back.
He considered it compensation for Pang Ya.
Over the years, the village chief of Chadian Village and Pang Ya’s mother often sent letters saying that Pang Ya was causing a lot of trouble, getting caught for everything from stealing other people’s chickens, ducks, and livestock to stealing their money.
In addition to his monthly allowance, he often had to send a lot of extra money back to help Pang Ya pay for damages and clean up her messes.
This fat wife was a real headache for him.
“No need for Comrade Qiao to worry!”
In these five years, he had never written a single letter to Pang Ya.
Although he was dedicated to his military career and hadn’t thought much about matters between men and women, it had been said since ancient times that a fair and graceful lady is a gentleman’s good match.
He didn’t expect his partner to be as beautiful and capable as Comrade Qiao, but at the very least, she shouldn’t be lazy, gluttonous, deceitful, a troublemaker, and over two hundred jin.
He decided not to tell Pang Ya about this matter either.
He had no intention of having any sort of substantive marital relationship with Pang Ya anyway.
All he had to do was send her money on time every month.
Even if it meant he would have no descendants, it didn’t matter anymore.
Qiao Xingyue, by the hospital bed, was probably truly exhausted.
Seeing a chair nearby, she moved it over and sat down. “I’m going to rest for a bit.”
After three days and two nights of continuous rescue work, Qiao Xingyue hadn’t closed her eyes once.
The moment she sat down, she unknowingly slumped over Xie Zhongming’s bedside and fell asleep.
A young nurse lifted the curtain and came looking for her. “Doctor Qiao…”
“Shh!” Xie Zhongming made a hushing gesture at the young nurse. “Has Comrade Qiao been up all night?”
The young nurse told the truth. “More than one night. So many injured people have been sent from the mine over the past two days, Doctor Qiao hasn’t closed her eyes once.” Xie Zhongming looked at Qiao Xingyue.
Did this woman really think she was made of iron?
She was so thin it looked like a gust of wind could blow her over, yet she could endure for three days and two nights?
He said to the young nurse, “Let her rest here for a while.”
The young nurse thought about how Doctor Qiao truly hadn’t slept for two days and nights, so she carefully lowered the curtain and backed out.
Xie Zhongming, who had never given any woman a second glance, took another look at Qiao Xingyue under the light of the kerosene lamp.
When she operated on him, her technique was decisive and neat.
Now, asleep, she was as tranquil as a lily.
The night wind lifted the tent’s curtain, blowing in a cold draft.
Xie Zhongming looked around.
He only had one blanket on him, but he wasn’t wearing any pants, so he couldn’t give it to Doctor Qiao.
He could only take off his own army-green jacket. Unsure if Comrade Qiao would mind when she woke up, he draped it directly over her slender, thin back.
A mine disaster had occurred in Shantang Village.
The unit he belonged to was very close to the disaster area.
As the saying goes, when one place is in trouble, help comes from all directions. His unit had dispatched five hundred officers and soldiers to participate in the disaster relief operation.
Although his heart was with the disaster situation outside, in his current state, he could only lie here obediently.
The pain from his injury made it difficult to sleep, and his eyes remained open until dawn.
The kerosene lamp had also just burned out.
“Mama! Mama!”
Qiao Xingyue was startled awake from a hazy sleep by a cry as crisp as a wind chime.
She had been working tirelessly for two days and two nights straight, under high-intensity rescue conditions.
Even though she was startled awake, her mind was still in a daze, and she couldn’t immediately open her eyes and get up.
Consciously, she wanted to wake up.
But her exhausted body wouldn’t allow it.
The ones who had lifted the curtain and called for Qiao Xingyue were two little girls.
They were Qiao Xingyue’s twin daughters.
When the two children saw their mother slumped over an uncle’s sickbed, looking very tired, they stopped making noise.
It was called a sickbed, but it was really just two long benches with a plank laid across them, a simple, temporary bed.
Having lain here for two days, Xie Zhongming now knew that the village had no clinic.
Comrade Qiao’s home was the temporary clinic.
It was just a three-room thatched hut with yellow mud walls. The walls were covered with tattered old newspapers, and everything was dilapidated.
The two little girls standing before him, one holding a bowl of porridge and the other a corn cob, were also dressed in rags.
Their clothes were covered in patches.
These two girls called Comrade Qiao… Mama?
Xie Zhongming couldn’t help but study Qiao Xingyue again. She was now groggily sitting up, seemingly not fully awake yet.
So young, how did she already have two children?
Seeing Qiao Xingyue was awake, one of the girls brought a bowl of sweet potato porridge to her mother. “Mama, the porridge is ready. You didn’t eat dinner last night, hurry and have some.”
The little girl’s nose and face were smudged with soot, making her look dirty.
But her eyes were large and exceptionally bright, and her voice was as crisp as a bell in the wind.
The other girl next to her didn’t look as energetic. Her face was clean, but it had a sickly pallor, like a sick little chick.
She held out a corn cob to Qiao Xingyue. “Mama, have a corn cob too.”
This girl’s voice was noticeably softer, with a breathless, sickly quality.
Xie Zhongming asked, “Comrade Qiao, are these two girls both your daughters?”
Qiao Xingyue, who had already taken the bowl of porridge and the corn cob, answered with a “Mm.”
“Twins?”
“Mm.”
Qiao Xingyue put the porridge aside and stroked her two children’s heads. “An An, did you get up before dawn to light the fire and cook again today?”
“Yes,” An An said, her heart aching for her mother. “I was afraid Mama would be hungry.”
Xie Zhongming was somewhat shocked.
A child this young already knew how to light a fire and cook.
Were there no other adults in the house?
But he didn’t ask.
Qiao Xingyue was very pleased. “Mama will eat in a bit. You go wash your face first, wash that little sooty face clean.”
On the wooden plank bed, Xie Zhongming’s gaze fell on the two little girls.
“Comrade Qiao, are these two little girls your biological children?”
He meant no harm, he just felt that Comrade Qiao didn’t look like a woman who had given birth.
Of the two girls, the pale-faced younger sister, Ningning, had a quieter personality.
Hearing his question, Ningning remained standing obediently in front of her mother without any reaction.
But the older sister, An An, who was closer to Xie Zhongming, was not happy.
Her pink little lips jutted out as she glared at Xie Zhongming and huffed.
“Of course my sister and I are Mama’s biological children, hmph!”
This uncle was so annoying.
He was quite handsome, though.
But the first thing he did was ask if she and her sister were their mama’s biological children.
Little An An was angry.
Her pink, soot-smudged nose twitched as she huffed again, saying unhappily:
“Can’t you see, Uncle?”
“Don’t you see that my sister and I look exactly like our mama?”
That was true.
The two girls were perfect miniature versions of Comrade Qiao.
They had large phoenix eyes, as bright as black grapes, soft little faces, and their hair was in the same braids as their mother’s. Even the orange polka-dotted silk ribbons tying their braids were identical.
Anyone who didn’t know better would have thought these two little girls were Comrade Qiao’s younger sisters.
Although the twin sisters looked alike, they were easy to tell apart. The older sister was more lively and active, full of vitality, looking like a little sun.
The younger sister was quieter, with a pale, sickly look on her face, probably from being ill.
An An was no longer angry. She took a small handful of yellow soybeans from her pocket. “Uncle, want some? My mama roasted them. They’re delicious!”
Her voice was soft and sweet.
Like freshly steamed glutinous rice cakes.
Something stirred inexplicably in Xie Zhongming’s chest.
“Uncle doesn’t want any, thank you!” Even his cold, hard voice softened by half.
It was clearly his first time meeting these two girls, but their unfamiliar little faces, so soft and tender, created an inexplicable softness in his chest.
It was like a stone thrown into water, sending out ripples, yet he couldn’t grasp the source.
Seeing the many patches on their clothes and that they lived in such a dilapidated house, Xie Zhongming began to understand why Comrade Qiao had seemed to be price-gouging when she performed his surgery. It must not be easy to raise two children.
Qiao Xingyue brought the sweet potato porridge to Xie Zhongming. “Comrade Xie, would you like a bowl of porridge? The porridge my daughter made is very sweet. We have more on the stove.”
“No, thank you. The village chief will bring me food later.”
“Then rest well.”
With that, Qiao Xingyue carried the porridge, led her two children, lifted the curtain, and walked out.
Xie Zhongming’s gaze remained on the small figures of the two children.
Suddenly, with a loud crash!
Perhaps because the thatched hut was too old, a roof beam had loosened and was about to collapse.
A cloud of dust filled the air.
Qiao Xingyue realized something was wrong. She quickly dropped the bowl of porridge in her hands and shielded her two children.
The wooden beam came straight down toward Qiao Xingyue’s head, giving her no time to react.
Suddenly!
A solid wall of flesh blocked Qiao Xingyue’s path.
Then the wooden beam crashed to the ground.
It wasn’t until a few seconds later that Qiao Xingyue realized the man standing in front of her was Xie Zhongming, who had just had surgery.
Dust covered her face and Xie Zhongming’s, leaving only his resolute and bright eyes visible.
His sturdy body made Qiao Xingyue’s slender figure seem incredibly petite.
The moment the beam fell, Xie Zhongming had subconsciously shielded her and the two children completely.
Qiao Xingyue was encircled in the man’s embrace.
The man’s potent masculine energy washed over her.
The next second.
Qiao Xingyue’s brow tightened. She pushed away the solid wall of flesh and roared at him, “Are you trying to get yourself killed?”
This man had just had surgery. Instead of lying down obediently to recover, was he really determined to be left without descendants?
But he had just rushed over to save her and her two children.
Qiao Xingyue was both angry and anxious.
Comrade Xie had over thirty stitches in that area.
With all this commotion, they must have torn open again.
“Go to the next room, lie down, let me see the wound.” She stared at his crotch, terrified it had split open again.
Xie Zhongming didn’t move.
His shoulder and back burned with pain, but his expression didn’t change.
“Comrade Qiao, are you alright?”
“I’m fine. The beam hit you. What about you?”
“I’m fine.” Xie Zhongming looked at the two frightened children. “What about the kids, are they okay?”
The two children, their faces covered in dust, shook their heads.
Only then did Xie Zhongming let out a sigh of relief.
If that large wooden beam had hit Comrade Qiao and the children, with their small frames, there was no way they could have withstood it.
Qiao Xingyue looked at his arm; it was only reddened from the impact.
Fortunately, no bones were injured.
“Go lie down in the next room. I need to see if the wound in that place has torn open.”
Qiao Xingyue told the two children to play by themselves outside, quickly moved Xie Zhongming to the adjacent room, had him lie down on the temporary wooden plank bed, and decisively pulled down his pants.