The crowd dispersed.
At the entrance of the small courtyard, only the Shen family and Gu Yanzhou remained.
Shen Guodong looked at his daughter, then at the imposing young officer beside her. A trace of complexity appeared on his weary face.
He sighed. “Zhiwei… you shouldn’t have come back. They’re determined to bring me down.”
“Dad.” Shen Zhiwei’s tears welled up again. “I’m sorry… I’ve dragged you all into this.”
She thought of her foolishness in her previous life, and it felt like her heart was being cut by knives.
“Silly child, what do you mean dragged us down?” Shen Guodong shook his head, then looked at Gu Yanzhou. “And this comrade is…?”
“Dad, this is Gu Yanzhou… a comrade from the military commission.”
Gu Yanzhou looked slightly nervous as he nodded politely to them. “Un Uncle… Teacher Shen.”
Her older brother, Shen Jianguo, looked at Gu Yanzhou’s upright posture and steady demeanor, then thought of that sanctimonious Chen Weidong.
He sighed inwardly if only his sister had met someone like this earlier.
Inside the house, Shen Zhiwei’s mother, Wang Lan, was lying on the bed. Her health had already been poor, and the commotion outside had agitated her, worsening her condition.
“Mom.”
In her previous life, she only remembered that her mother fell ill shortly after her father was sent away. Back then, she had been immersed in her so-called “love,” and hadn’t even properly cared for her mother during her hospitalization.
She had thought her mother’s illness was just a relapse after her father’s exile but she had never realized that her mother had already been sick this early.
She had truly been blind in her past life! For the sake of Chen Weidong, she had dragged her entire family into the abyss.
She hurried to the bedside and sat down, taking her mother’s thin hand. “Mom, I’ll take you to the clinic.”
Wang Lan struggled to open her eyes. When she saw her daughter, a faint light appeared in her cloudy gaze. “Weiwei… you’re back. Don’t be afraid. Mom’s fine.”
“Mom…” Shen Zhiwei’s tears finally fell, landing on the back of her mother’s hand.
“I’m sorry. It’s all my fault.” She leaned close to her mother’s ear and whispered so only the two of them could hear, “Don’t worry, Mom. I’ll make them pay.”
Wang Lan seemed to understand. Her frail fingers tightened slightly.
Gu Yanzhou walked over to the small table by the window and picked up the documents that Li Jianye had rummaged through. After glancing at them, his expression grew more serious.
They were drafts of technical parameters, torn into pieces, with many parts marked in red ink “questionable stance,” “harboring external crimes.”
“Engineer Shen,” he said, turning to Shen Guodong with a grave tone, “the situation is more serious than I thought. They’ve been determined for years to pin charges on you. I’ll return to the unit immediately to report this and request intervention.”
“No.”
“Even at the fastest, going back and forth will take at least a day. By the time the military district’s procedures are approved, they’ll have already fabricated the evidence and taken my father away. By then, it’ll be too late.”
Shen Guodong looked at his daughter’s resolute expression, then at Gu Yanzhou, his heart filled with mixed emotions.
Having lived most of his life, he had a good eye for people.
The young soldier before him had a righteous gaze, acted with restraint, and could step forward at critical moments to protect their family far better than that scheming, morally corrupt Chen Weidong.
What a pity his daughter had been blind back then.
He sighed and said to Gu Yanzhou, “Comrade Gu, we appreciate your kindness. It would be good for the military to step in, but distant help won’t solve an immediate crisis.”
“What they’re after is the modification blueprint in my hands. It’s my life’s work, and also a project that higher authorities are paying attention to.”
“The fact that they dare to act so brazenly means someone is backing them.”
Shen Guodong looked at Gu Yanzhou more and more favorably, then glanced at his daughter. After hesitating for a moment, he said, “Comrade Gu, I have a student at the provincial research institute, twenty-five years old… perhaps I could introduce you to her?”
Shen Zhiwei heard this and immediately turned her head.
“Dad! At a time like this! When everything’s on fire, you’re still thinking about introducing someone?”
Shen Guodong was stumped by his daughter’s rebuke. His face turned slightly red, realizing that his words had been ill-timed, and he awkwardly fell silent.
She took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down.
Now was not the time to get angry they had to seize every moment.
“Brother, take care of Mom and Dad,” she said, turning her head. “Gu Yanzhou, I need your help. The house isn’t safe right now. Li Jianye and the others will definitely come again tomorrow. I want to pack up the valuable and portable things first.”
“Temporarily put them in your car. If things go wrong tomorrow, we need to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice.”
Shen Jianguo and Shen Guodong both froze for a moment.
They hadn’t expected her to think this far ahead. Previously, Zhiwei had been all about Chen Weidong either asking about him or demanding money.
But they both nodded in agreement. This was indeed the most prudent plan.
Gu Yanzhou helped settle their parents first, while she rummaged through drawers and cupboards, gathering the small stash of cash, ration coupons, foreign currency, and a few rare research books that her father treasured.
She packed everything neatly into a large suitcase.
She remembered the vanity at her mother’s bedside, where a few dowry items were tucked away. In her previous life, she had tried to please Chen Weidong, coaxing her mother to take out the most valuable item a family heirloom jade bracelet saying it was for herself.
But she had turned around and handed it to Chen Weidong, letting him sell it to grease connections in the army.
Chen Weidong had even hypocritically said, “Sorry to trouble you,” then turned around and put the bracelet on Li Man’s wrist.
From that moment on, Li Man’s life seemed to soar. She was transferred from the Cultural Troupe to the City Singing Team, while Chen Weidong’s deputy battalion chief title was stripped, and his position rose steadily.
Later, his ascent became unstoppable, while Shen Zhiwei, with their child, lived a life that grew worse and worse like a ragdoll drained of luck.
A surge of hatred rose in her chest.
Li Man’s luck had been built on the blood and flesh of the Shen family, stealing the Shen family’s fortune.
Her trembling hands carefully lifted the jade bracelet from its velvet resting place.
The cold touch calmed her racing heart. As soon as she wore it on her wrist, her vision blurred for a moment.
Her entire body felt enveloped by a force, and the surroundings changed.
A Spiritual Spring Space?
Shen Zhiwei stood in a misty, ethereal space. Beneath her feet was soft, spiritual soil, and around her grew herbs she had never seen before plump leaves exuding a faint medicinal fragrance.
In the center, by a crystal-clear spring, stood a stone stele.
“Spiritual spring nurtures life, blessings are everlasting.”
She had only seen such springs in ancient books. Shen Zhiwei’s heart raced as she squatted down and carefully cupped some spring water.
It was cool to the bone.
The moment she drank it, the fatigue of the past days vanished, and even the bruises on her body seemed to fade slightly.
“This… is amazing.”
She couldn’t help but think of Li Man’s increasingly youthful face and her body that never seemed to gain weight so it had all been thanks to the spiritual spring.
On a stone table by the spring lay a yellowed ancient book, its cover inscribed with three characters: Bǎi Cǎo Jīng Classic of Hundred Herbs.
Opening it, she saw detailed instructions on cultivating all sorts of rare herbs and their effects, even a few long-lost medicinal formulas.
Shen Zhiwei clenched her fists, feeling the cool aura of the jade bracelet on her wrist.
Li Man, Chen Weidong, Li Jianye you owe me. You owe the Shen family. I will make you repay in full, principal and interest.