Southwestern border, military field hospital.
Outside the ward, the night rain poured continuously, raindrops pounding on the corrugated iron roof.
Zhao Guodong pulled over a folding steel chair and sat down by the bed. His back was straight, hands resting on his knees as he looked at He Lin lying on the hospital bed.
“Personal matters?” Zhao Guodong’s tone was stern. “Your life was just snatched back from the jaws of death. No matter how important your personal affairs are, they’ll have to wait until your bones have fully healed.”
He Lin leaned against the headboard. His chest was wrapped in thick bandages, with a faint red stain seeping through on the left side. He didn’t respond, instead struggling to open his right hand.
Palm facing upward.
A worn white plastic button lay quietly in his bronze-colored palm. A broken piece of red thread still clung to the buttonhole.
“I need to find someone,” He Lin said hoarsely, his throat sounding as if it were filled with sand.
Zhao Guodong glanced down at the button. A woman’s item.
“Who?”
He Lin closed his eyes, his Adam’s apple bobbing. The images from that night in the cave churned in his mind—the heavy panting, the woman’s sobs, and the cold touch of the stone floor.
He opened his eyes, his gaze fixed on Zhao Guodong.
“A few months ago, I led a team on a capture mission in the foothills of the Greater Khingan Mountains in the north. In the back mountains, I inhaled a new-type aphrodisiac gas released by enemy agents. To avoid affecting the assault team, I hid alone in a cave to endure the effects.”
Zhao Guodong’s expression changed at this. The new-type gas had been mentioned in the combat report. It was an extremely potent neurotoxin, capable of completely stripping a person of their sanity.
He Lin continued, speaking slowly and clearly, word by word: “A girl accidentally entered the cave. I had lost my senses and… violated her.”
Only the beeping of the monitor filled the room.
Zhao Guodong stood up and paced back and forth in front of the bed. Under normal circumstances, this would be a matter for a court-martial. But He Lin had been on a top-secret mission, poisoned by enemy gas—an act of force majeure.
“Where is she now?” Zhao Guodong asked.
“At dawn, the frontline called for reinforcements. She was still unconscious. I left behind the Dragon-patterned Jade Pendant I was wearing and tore a button from her clothes. Then I returned to my unit.” He Lin clenched his fist, gripping the button tightly in his palm.
Zhao Guodong stopped pacing.
“Political Commissar,” He Lin looked up. “I, He Lin, am no deserter. I made a mistake, and I must take responsibility. I need to find her and marry her. If she refuses, I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to her.”
Zhao Guodong looked at him. He Lin was the sharpest blade in the military district. At twenty-six, he was the captain of the special forces, decorated with numerous military honors. He had never brought personal matters into his work, yet today, for a girl whose face he hadn’t even clearly seen, he was laying his private affairs bare.
“Which commune does that mountain belong to?” Zhao Guodong asked.
“It falls under the jurisdiction of Qingshuiwan Commune,” He Lin replied.
Zhao Guodong nodded and turned toward the door. “Focus on recovering. As for finding her, I’ll have the logistics department send someone north to investigate. They’ll take the description of this button. We’ll search every brigade under Qingshuiwan Commune for you. Don’t worry—we’ll dig three feet into the ground if we have to, but we’ll find her.”
“Thank you, Political Commissar,” He Lin said.
Zhao Guodong pushed the door open and left.
He Lin leaned back against the headboard. He looked down at the button in his hand. He remembered the sound of the girl’s crying—soft. She must have been terrified.
He counted the days in his mind. Over two months had passed. She had the jade pendant, and he wondered how she was facing her family.
I need to get better as soon as possible.
Early the next morning, the military doctor Old Chen made his rounds.
He Lin had already forced himself to sit up in bed, his feet planted on the floor. The wound pulled, and a layer of cold sweat broke out on his forehead.
“Ridiculous!” Old Chen rushed over and pressed down on his shoulders. “That bullet passed right by your heart! Do you want to tear open the wound and get it stitched up again?”
He Lin brushed Old Chen’s hand away.
“Doctor Chen, I need the fastest recovery plan,” He Lin said, standing upright. The gunshot wound in his right leg made him unsteady, so he reached out to hold onto the iron bed frame. “I need to return to the north.”
Old Chen looked at his stubborn face and gritted his teeth. “Fine. You’re a tough one. Come to the rehabilitation room every afternoon, and I’ll personally supervise you. Don’t complain if it hurts like hell.”
In the north, at the Red Flag Brigade.
The autumn wind swept away fallen leaves. The early rice in the village had already been harvested, and the threshing ground was piled high with golden straw.
In the Su family courtyard, Su Nianqiu sat on a small stool, holding a wooden mallet as she pounded clothes in a washbasin.
More than two months had passed since she jumped into the river.
Her belly had begun to swell slightly, and her appetite was growing larger by the day. Every night, she would enter the Spatial Dimension.
The black soil in the Spatial Dimension was a treasure trove. The rice she had planted had already been harvested twice. Using the sickle she found in the bamboo house, she slowly cut the rice ears, hulled them, and packed them into burlap sacks. Now, the first floor of the bamboo house was stacked with ten full sacks of rice.
The ginseng roots had also been sold a second time. It was still the middle-aged man surnamed Zhou from the black market. This time, she exchanged them for five hundred yuan, along with several dozen jin of nationwide grain coupons and a few industrial coupons.
Su Jianguo took the bicycle coupon and went to the commune to bring back a brand-new “Flying Pigeon” bicycle. At the time, the entire Red Flag Brigade was abuzz. Villagers gathered at the Su family’s gate to marvel at the rare sight. Su Jianguo only said that an old comrade-in-arms had helped him secure the quota. The brigade leader’s prestige rose even higher.
After washing the clothes, Su Nianqiu stood up, placing her hands on her waist to stretch.
The weather was turning colder.
Li Xiulan brought out a basket of Chinese cabbage from the kitchen, ready to chop it for pickling.
“Mom, it’s getting cold early this year. Looks like winter will be tough,” Su Nianqiu said, walking over to help.
Li Xiulan nodded. “Exactly. The wind this morning felt like knives on the face. In the next few days, before the snow blocks the mountains, have your dad go up and chop more firewood.”
Su Nianqiu wiped her hands. “We’re running low on cotton at home. I’ll go to town tomorrow to buy some cotton fabric and a few jin of cotton. The baby in my belly will be born in winter, so I need to prepare the little cotton-padded jacket in advance.”
Mentioning her grandchild, the wrinkles on Li Xiulan’s face creased into a smile. “Alright. Have your dad take you on that new bicycle.”
Su Nianqiu shook her head. “Dad has to go to the commune tomorrow for the winter production meeting. I’ll take the ox cart myself.”
Besides buying cotton, she had more important matters to attend to in town.