Qin Shuyao entered the room and collapsed onto the first bed she found, immediately falling into a deep sleep.
She was exhausted, too tired to care about people or matters that had nothing to do with her.
In her dream, she returned to her previous life.
Her leg was broken, and she had been thrown into the woodshed behind the Zhang family home. Zhang Baogen came to take advantage of her again. She fought desperately, picking up a stick and hitting the old brute on the back.
Zhang Baogen howled in pain. He Cuilian, hearing the noise, rushed over, swinging a spade at her.
The spade hit hard. The pain was unbearable.
She could not help but cry out, shouting, “Chen Qilan, save me!”
In the next instant, Chen Qilan appeared as if from the sky.
But he was not alone. He was holding Geng Sa’s hand and stood over her, looking down at her barely conscious form.
“Qilan, this woman is so pitiful. Let’s save her!”
Geng Sa leaned against Chen Qilan, her eyes full of pity as she looked at Qin Shuyao.
“All right, we’ll do as my wife says,” Chen Qilan said, obediently following Geng Sa’s lead. He tossed her some money.
“I’ve already called the police. They’ll come to rescue you!”
Then he wrapped his arm around Geng Sa’s waist and walked away. Their closeness had nothing to do with her.
In that moment, Qin Shuyao could not control herself and cried bitterly.
“Shuyao! Shuyao!”
A man’s anxious voice suddenly came from nearby, shaking her shoulders. The dream fractured and disappeared, replaced by the sight of a worried Chen Qilan.
“Shuyao, did you have a nightmare? Why are you crying?”
Seeing her open her eyes, Chen Qilan breathed a sigh of relief. He sat on the bed, pulled her into his arms, and wiped the cold sweat from her forehead.
Qin Shuyao was still trapped in the despair of the dream, her tears flowing freely.
Her eyes were unfocused, her expression distant, and her lips moved, murmuring incomprehensible words.
“Old Seven, is my sister-in-law okay? Should I call the military doctor?”
A man’s voice came from outside, slightly southern in accent and slurred.
Chen Qilan did not respond. He bent down, kissed her cheek, and gently said, “Shuyao, wake up. We have guests at home.”
Finally, Qin Shuyao’s scattered consciousness began to gather, though she still could not tell if she was dreaming or awake.
She reached for her thigh, trying to pinch herself to discern reality.
No matter how hard she pressed, she felt no pain. She felt utterly hopeless.
“Ouch, wife, stop pinching!”
Chen Qilan’s pained cry came from beside her, followed by a large hand holding hers.
“If you pinch any harder, my leg will be ruined!”
Hearing this, Qin Shuyao froze.
Chen Qilan lightly tapped her face, not in pain but with tenderness and affection.
“Get up, you little lazybones!”
Qin Shuyao finally became fully awake. She sat up quickly, but in her haste, she bumped straight into Meng Zhanjing’s chest.
Her nose hurt terribly.
Holding her sore nose, Qin Shuyao’s eyes watered. This man seemed made of iron. How was every part of him so solid?
The pain helped her regain her senses. Memories of the dream flashed vividly, making her heart ache.
“I’m sorry!”
She looked at Chen Qilan. “Earlier, I shouldn’t have lost my temper. I shouldn’t have said you were disgusting, fake, and good at pretending. I… I was wrong.”
She had no right to lose her temper with Chen Qilan. Without him, her grandmother would not have survived, her grandfather’s days would have been few, and she would have remained a crippled servant in the Zhang family’s backyard.
Even if Chen Qilan and Geng Sa had lingering feelings in the past or tangled lives later, she had no right to say a word.
She was nothing. She did not deserve it.
Qin Shuyao’s extreme change in demeanor made Chen Qilan anxious. He almost knelt before her.
“Wife, how did you wake up like this? Don’t apologize. I’m a little scared right now.”
Just as he was about to speak, another man’s northeastern accent called from outside.
“What are you doing, Old Seven?”
Chen Qilan adjusted her hair and said gently, “I should be the one apologizing. I should have explained about the child in advance.”
He got out of bed, squatted, and personally helped her put on her shoes and socks.
“Come on, the child is already here.”
Hearing that Chen Qilan had brought him and Geng Sa’s child, Qin Shuyao suppressed the bitterness in her heart and nodded obediently.
“All right. I will treat him as my own!”
Chen Qilan paused, realizing she had misunderstood something again.
The living room had little furniture. Seven or eight burly men sat on small stools, looking embarrassed.
Seeing Chen Qilan with his wife, they all stood.
“Sister-in-law, hello!”
“Hello, Sister!”
…
Qin Shuyao nodded in greeting, introducing herself. “Hello, I… I’m Chen Qilan’s wife. You can call me Xiao Qin.”
The man with a full beard at the front said cheerfully, “All right, we won’t be formal. We’ll call you Xiao Qin from now on.”
Chen Qilan introduced the rest of the men.
They were the company and deputy company commanders, and the company political instructor of Reconnaissance Third Battalion.
Each battalion had three companies, each company with a commander, deputy commander, and instructor. Including Chen Qilan as the Seventh Company commander, there were nine men present.
“You don’t need to remember all their names yet. Once you interact with them more, you’ll know them naturally,” Chen Qilan said, holding Qin Shuyao’s waist possessively.
“All right, stop holding your wife. Don’t bully us, your brothers without wives!”
The bearded man, Hu Jiangnan, laughed.
“I’m from the south bank of the Songhua River, so I was named Hu Jiangnan. Not the Jiangnan in Suzhou or Yangzhou!”
“All right. Today, we’re not here to study your name. We have important matters to clarify.”
A bespectacled, scholarly-looking man stood up.
He was Liu Liancheng, the political instructor of the Seventh Company.
He adjusted his glasses and looked at Qin Shuyao.
“The matter of the child must be explained to Xiao Qin properly. We cannot damage the feelings of a married couple.”
Qin Shuyao was confused. She knew their camaraderie ran deep, but she had not expected them to care so much about Chen Qilan’s household affairs.
“Shuyao, while you were asleep, I went out and questioned those women from earlier today,” Chen Qilan explained seriously. “So it’s understandable that you were angry, shouting, even calling me disgusting. If it were me, I might have reacted even more extremely.”
Qin Shuyao turned her face away, avoiding his eyes.
“I already said I don’t mind…”
“But I do!”
Chen Qilan interrupted loudly. “You are my wife. No one can bully you. Not even I will let you suffer!”
“The matter between me and Geng Sa will be explained later. First, let’s talk about the so-called child those women mentioned…”
The political instructor went to the small house on the north side and returned a moment later with two children.
A boy of seven or eight and a girl of four or five, both holding Liu Liancheng’s hand and hiding behind him timidly.
“Xiao Jiao, what do you call him?”
Hu Jiangnan picked up the little girl and pointed to Chen Qilan.
The girl, called Xiao Jiao, spoke softly.
“Daddy!”