To reach Hongqi Commune, one had to walk a long, long mountain road.
Lin Peiru still remembered that when she went there, the brand-new cloth shoes she had just bought were worn through, and her soles were covered in blisters.
She limped as she finally reached the entrance of the village.
And there she saw a teenage boy, brutally beating a group of people in one-sided violence.
He was injured too—blood was running down his temple—but his eyes were shockingly bright and dark, filled with a ruthless, life-or-death ferocity.
He pinned a much stronger man to the ground, his fists raining down like a storm, striking as if he intended to kill.
Around them, several people tried to pull him away, kicking him and striking his back with sticks.
He paid no attention. He neither dodged nor retreated.
Those gangsters who had initially wanted to step in and help, upon seeing his reckless, almost suicidal brutality, were all frightened away instead.
The man pinned beneath him was terrified out of his wits, crying and begging for mercy.
“Brother Huo! Master Huo! I was wrong! I won’t dare again! Please let me go!”
The boy slammed down two more heavy punches. Only when the man went completely silent did he finally stop, breathing heavily as he released his grip.
The group of men hurriedly helped their companion up and fled without looking back.
At the village entrance, only she remained—together with that bloodied, hellish, asura-like boy.
Their eyes met.
That year’s Lin Peiru was frightened away by that single gaze.
And then, she missed half a lifetime.
Now, on the train, Lin Peiru recalled that scene—and all that remained was heartache.
Before their marriage, Huo Yunshen had told her everything about his past.
It started when the son of the village tyrant falsely accused his younger sister, Huo Yunqiao, of stealing food ration coupons from their family.
They also tried to forcibly take his sixteen-year-old sister away to be the wife of a nearly thirty-year-old single man in the village.
Huo Yunshen tried to stop them, and that was why he was beaten by so many people.
He fought back in self-defense, but after the incident, for reasons unknown, one of the men he had beaten died mysteriously afterward—and he was blamed for a death.
It was ruled as manslaughter, and he was sentenced to ten years in prison.
By the time he came out, his leg had been broken, his sister had been assaulted and tormented to death by the same group of people, and his mother had hanged herself.
He worked himself to the bone, taking on any dirty or exhausting job, and entered every possible underworld path just to survive.
In the end, he built a business and became the feared “Boss Huo.”
Only then did he finally take revenge—and meet her.
In the past, Lin Peiru had always thought that he fell in love with her because she cared for him closely day after day, that affection grew over time.
It was only on his deathbed that she realized: this man had already been thinking about her from their very first meeting.
Sitting on the train, she laughed and cried at the same time.
Until the whistle of the arriving train pulled her out of her endless sorrow.
She quickly wiped her face, grabbed her bundles, and jumped off the train.
This time, she would not let him fight alone.
This time, she would stay by his side and protect him.
This time, she would help him keep his home…