Sang Luo slept extremely restlessly that night and woke just as dawn was beginning to break.
The moment she opened the door, the aroma of butter tea wafted out from the kitchen.
Ciren was already sitting at the dining table. An unopened letter lay in front of him, and his expression was unusually grim.
“Ciren A-Bu? Why are you here so early?”
Sang Luo sat down opposite him. Noticing the dark circles beneath his eyes, she asked with concern, “Didn’t you sleep at all last night?”
Ciren pushed the envelope in front of him toward her.
“We caught the man. This was found on him.”
Sang Luo unfolded the letter and read it word by word.
When she reached the line, “The damn capitalist himself admitted that his eldest daughter, Sang Luo, possesses eighty percent of the Sang family’s assets. If you can’t capture her, kill her,” her fingertips went cold.
Sang Chen had even listed in detail the valuables Sang Luo had supposedly “hidden away,” promising that as long as they gave him a house and food, he would hand over both the assets and his daughter.
And the bald man had been willing to travel thousands of miles because his “boss” had promised to hand Sang Luo over to him as a reward!
“He really hasn’t changed at all.”
Sang Luo sneered.
“We sent him to the commune’s armed forces department overnight. The comrades there are taking this very seriously. They’ve already sent people to the Northwest to investigate.”
Sang Luo nodded.
“Then I’ll help the comrades at the armed forces department as well.”
She went inside, took out a stack of paper and a fountain pen, and began writing.
Only after filling three entire pages did she carefully fold the pages and seal them inside an envelope.
“Ciren A-Bu, could you take me to town on horseback later? I have some things I want to give to the comrades at the armed forces department.”
Ciren naturally had no reason to refuse.
“Of course. I’ll go with you.”
After eating a simple breakfast, the two prepared to leave for town.
But before they even reached the courtyard, heavy footsteps suddenly sounded outside.
Yangjin’s father, Old Tashi, stood hunched over at the doorway, holding dried yak meat, butter, and a khata.
The vigorous old man who was usually full of energy seemed to have aged ten years overnight.
“Mamba Sang Luo…”
Old Tashi’s voice choked with emotion.
“I failed to teach my daughter properly and allowed her to do something so wicked. It’s all my fault. Please forgive me.”
He was about to kneel when Sang Luo quickly helped him up.
“Uncle Tashi, this isn’t your fault.”
Sang Luo spoke gently.
“Yangjin is already an adult. She should be responsible for her own actions.”
Old Tashi’s tears flowed freely.
“But she nearly harmed you… You had only just saved her sister and her nephew. Our entire family owes you a debt of gratitude…”
Looking at the remorseful old man, Sang Luo felt a mixture of emotions.
The good and evil in this world had never been simply black and white.
A kind father did not necessarily pass those beautiful qualities on to his daughter.
Likewise, a daughter’s evil actions should not implicate her innocent father.
“Uncle Tashi, please don’t blame yourself.”
Sang Luo helped Old Tashi stand firmly.
“You don’t need to feel so guilty. What Yangjin did was her own choice, and she will receive the punishment she deserves. But none of this has anything to do with you. You will always be an elder worthy of our respect.”
Old Tashi wept uncontrollably as he solemnly presented the khata and food to Sang Luo.
“From now on, our entire family will pray for you every day, to atone for our sins.”
Sang Luo initially refused the food, but Old Tashi was stubborn. He placed everything in the courtyard and turned around to leave.
“Let’s go to town first.”
Ciren saddled the horse, then turned and extended his hand toward Sang Luo.
“When we come back, I’ll take these things to Duojie’s house and have him return them to Uncle Tashi.”
Sang Luo nodded and used Ciren’s hand to leap onto the horse.
As she rode beneath the snow mountains, she had no idea that somewhere else, another man was desperately longing to find her.
—At the Military Hospital—
Dündup woke amid a wave of intense pain.
Sunlight streamed through the window and fell across the hospital bed, making him squint.
“Regiment Commander, you’re awake!”
The guard standing beside him, Xiao Chen, cried out in delight.
With Xiao Chen’s help, Dündup slowly sat up.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a piece of cloth beside his pillow.
Sang Luo’s face appeared before him once again.
She had saved him yet again.
Dündup picked up the piece of cloth, gently rubbing it between his fingertips.
The fabric was soft, carrying the faintest trace of herbal fragrance.
“Where is she?”
Xiao Chen did not understand who Dündup was asking about, but he told him everything they had seen when they found him.
“When we found you, we also found a young woman. But she left on horseback with a young man.”
Dündup’s heart sank.
She had left with another man?
Who was he to her?
Her husband?
Or the man she loved?
Dündup suddenly felt inexplicably irritated.
Could it be that she had come all the way from Rong City to the Tibetan region for that man?
But soon, he took a deep breath, and his eyes became resolute once again.
Even if she already had someone by her side, he still wanted to thank her in person and find out how she truly felt.
“Xiao Chen, bring me some paper and a pen.”
Dündup forced himself to sit upright.
“I need to write a letter home.”
In the letter, he first reported that he was safe. Then he wrote honestly about his thoughts regarding marriage.
After finishing, he carefully sealed the letter and handed it to Xiao Chen.
“Send it home immediately.”
Several days later, in Motuo Village.
Zhandui held the letter from his eldest son, his expression becoming darker and darker as he read.
When he reached the part where Dündup stated that he would never marry the same wife as his brothers, he finally slammed his hand against the table.
“That damn fool! He’s the head of our family! If he does this, isn’t he basically condemning his younger brothers to remain bachelors for the rest of their lives?”
Lhazhen quickly tried to calm him.
“It’s a good thing for a child to have his own ideas…”
“A good thing?”
Zhandui was so angry that even his beard trembled.
“He’s going against our ancestors!”
Ciren stood nearby. When he heard that his elder brother’s letter said the younger brothers could choose the girls they liked, he could not help feeling secretly delighted.
He stole a glance at Sang Luo, only to find her completely absorbed in reading a medical book, utterly oblivious to their argument.
“A-Luo,” Ciren could not help asking softly, “what do you think about what Big Brother wrote in his letter?”
“It’s a good thing if Dündup A-Gu can find someone he truly loves.”
Her tone was as calm as if she were discussing the weather.
“Everyone has the right to pursue happiness. Besides, I…”
Sang Luo quietly leaned toward Ciren’s ear.
“I also think our marriage customs here could be changed a little. One husband and one wife is perfectly good.”
Ciren’s eyes grew brighter and brighter as he listened to Sang Luo.
“Yes! One husband and one wife is the best!”
While Ciren was fantasizing about having a one-wife-one-husband marriage with Sang Luo, Dündup, far away in the hospital, was also staring at the piece of Tibetan-blue cloth in his hand.
She had saved him from danger twice, yet each time, she left in such a hurry.
This time, he would never let her disappear from his life again.
“No matter where you are, no matter how long I have to wait…”
He murmured softly to himself.
“I will find you.”