Qin Laidi, who had just woken up, almost spat out a mouthful of blood.
Qin Guihua was equally struck as if by a bolt from the blue.
It was true that two PLA soldiers had saved her granddaughter at the time, and one of them really was the third son of the Zhao family. But she hadn’t seen Zhao Qingsong for many years. From afar, she only saw a young man in military uniform standing in the Zhao family’s yard…
Who would have thought that the one she clung to, crying and making a scene, wasn’t even the right person!
With Zhao Qingsong’s excellent conditions, she wouldn’t have dared to hope for him under normal circumstances. But after the incident of falling into the water… his former comrade-in-arms… Qin Guihua suddenly felt her vision go dark. That young man had retired from the army and was now a worker in Haicheng. The key point was those two words, stabbing painfully into her ears.
The widowed Liu next door, as if afraid things weren’t exciting enough, continued to fan the flames. “Oh, you don’t know, I heard that young man’s family is quite well-off. He’s from the capital!”
Qin Guihua felt her vision clear a little.
“But, even if such a good thing exists, it wouldn’t fall to a childless household like ours in Wulitun, right? I heard his parents were both sent down to Beidahuang. I reckon they won’t be coming back…”
Qin Guihua’s vision darkened again. She knew about being sent down—there were still a few living in the cowshed of Wulitun’s production team. But Beidahuang… how many people went there only to be buried in that black soil!
Inside the house, Qin Laidi sensed something off. Among Zhao Qingsong’s comrades, there seemed to be only one whose parents were both sent down to Beidahuang.
Widow Liu narrowed her eyes. “Oh, you still don’t know? That young man surnamed He used to have a bright future. In the army, he was some kind of communications soldier, specializing in communications, even catching spies. Do you know why he retired?”
“Why?”
Even Qin Guihua couldn’t help but sit up straight.
“I heard… his leg is crippled.”
Everyone gasped in shock. Even those who scraped a living from the fields knew that being poor or suffering hardship was manageable, but physical disability meant going hungry.
“Oh dear, Aunt Qin, you really misjudged this time. Your Laidi may be a bit hot-tempered and harder to marry off than ordinary girls, but you can’t just cling to a cripple…”
“Your family marries cripples! Your whole family marries cripples!” Qin Guihua missed the point entirely and immediately started arguing.
For a moment, the small courtyard of the Qin family was filled with noise and gossip. But Qin Laidi’s heart skipped a beat. If the parents being sent down to Beidahuang was just a coincidence, then being a communications soldier, surnamed He, and having a leg injury…
All clues pointed to the same person—Old He next door.
In everyone’s impression in Lenghe Town, Old He was a genius.
Old He’s full name was He Liansheng. Originally a native of the capital, he had been exceptionally recruited into the army with only a junior high school education. Starting as a basic communications soldier, he rose through sheer talent and courage to become the commander of an independent communications company in a confidential unit. If not for being injured during a mission, he wouldn’t have been transferred to work as a technician at Haicheng No. 2 Radio Factory.
For an ordinary person, life might have continued like that, perhaps eventually becoming a workshop director before retirement. But He Liansheng was different. Wherever he was, he never gave up learning. Taking advantage of the radio factory, he taught himself the entire set of radio textbooks and independently studied English and German. He helped the factory’s technical staff translate the latest foreign materials in the radio field, and before long, he had mastered a great deal of specialized knowledge.
Those more professional than him didn’t have his language skills.
Those better at foreign languages didn’t have his technical expertise.
Later, because of his solid technical skills and outstanding translation ability, he was specially transferred to the 412 Radio Factory in Lenghe Town, Shilan Province. Under Zhao Qingsong’s constant envy, he was repeatedly promoted and eventually became a senior engineer.
It should be known that in the more than twenty years since the founding of Xinlong Nation, the radio field had been under technological blockade. The 412 Factory, due to its contributions to military industry, was a prime target. Yet he, a mere soldier with a junior high education, stood out in such an environment, developed multiple patents, and became a renowned expert in the field. What he relied on was not only talent, but effort dozens of times greater than ordinary people.
Qin Laidi remembered that when she woke early in the morning to fetch water, he had already returned from exercising, covered in dew. At night, the light next door was never turned off before two in the morning… Every time they met face to face, he would politely nod, then step aside to let her pass first.
Quiet, courteous, and warm-hearted without showing it—this was Qin Laidi’s impression of Old He next door. During those years, Zhao Qingsong was often away on missions. With young stepchildren at home, whenever they had difficulties, they instinctively turned to Old He (Uncle He) for help.
From small things like a broken light bulb, a shattered thermos, or a clogged toilet—before Qin Laidi learned to fix things herself, all required Old He’s help.
During years of heavy rain, when their roof was damaged, Old He, noticing the bad weather, hurriedly asked someone to cover his shift, rode his bicycle back, and repaired their roof. He used basins and food containers to catch the leaking rainwater, and even gave them his house key so they could stay at his place for a few days, while he ate and slept at his workplace.
Such a good person, such a good neighbor—even Zhao Haiyang once said that Uncle He was more like their father than their own father.
She had thought their contact would end forever after Zhao Qingsong moved away with his family, until the day she was cast out by Zhao Haiyang, left with nowhere to go—he appeared again.
This old neighbor traveled over three thousand kilometers by train, bus, and taxi to find her. He didn’t ask what she had been through. Silently, he helped her rent a place and buy daily necessities.
She didn’t know how he managed to learn of her situation so quickly after so many years without contact.
She also didn’t know how he, dragging his injured leg and with severe myopia, recognized her instantly in a crowd.
Not wanting her to feel pitied, he even found her some simple handwork to make a living—crafting small items in good lighting conditions, earning seven to eight hundred yuan a month. From time to time, he would bring beef, mutton, fish, and shrimp. Though he claimed they were leftovers from his home and not worth much, Qin Laidi, having been a housewife for years, knew the market prices well. Items with such recent production dates could never be leftovers from others.
Old He said she shouldn’t lose heart. Now that the legal system was sound, he would definitely help her reclaim her house. Even if she couldn’t get it back, she should at least receive compensation.
But what he didn’t know was that while Zhao Qingsong was still alive, he had already secretly transferred the property to Zhao Haiyang. Zhao Haiyang had resold it multiple times. Even if she went to court, how much could she really recover?
Old He also said that if she missed the neighbors from the old residential compound, she could return to Lenghe Town with him. His house was empty anyway. To avoid gossip, he would stay with a friend.
But Qin Laidi knew that in an era of high housing prices, no one would let others live in their house for free. He was simply renting a place for himself.
Old He also said he remembered she once mentioned liking pear trees, so he searched throughout the city to find a house with a large pear tree outside the window.
In truth, Qin Laidi herself didn’t even remember saying such a thing. But the lush green pear tree, swaying gently in the breeze like a dancing maiden… she truly liked it.
Qin Laidi was not foolish.
She knew no one in this world would treat another person well without reason, without crossing boundaries, and without expecting anything in return.
From a helpful neighbor in her youth to a benefactor who gave her shelter in her later years, Old He had always played a quiet but reassuring role in her life. When she was young, she had probed him subtly, but his answer was always that he and Zhao Qingsong were friends and neighbors—helping out was only natural.
After all, in the entire residential area, he had helped and cared for every household.
Until the last three years of his life, he spent all his retirement pension taking her to see doctors, checking wherever she felt pain. When TV ads mentioned magnetic therapy or heat treatments being good for hypertension and coronary heart disease, he would buy them. Not knowing how to shop online, he learned; not knowing how to use electronic payments, he would hand money to young people in the community, blushing as he asked them to help pay… Qin Laidi couldn’t help but laugh and cry when she received piles of inexplicable health products.
Where an adult’s love lies, their money follows. She asked him that question again.
That day, Old He did not avoid her gaze. In his hoarse voice, he told her: Yes, I like Comrade Xiao Qin. I’ve liked you since the day I pulled you out of the water. Saying it now is not taking advantage of your situation. I truly hope to spend the last twenty years of my life with you. If not twenty years, then ten or eight years would also be my honor. If you don’t want to think about this now, I can wait.
That was probably the longest thing he had ever said to her in his life.
What shocked Qin Laidi was not only his feelings, but his enduring devotion. At that time, she had no beauty, was plagued by illness, penniless, like a stray dog. Yet he was a shining figure in the domestic radio communications field, widely respected as “Elder He.”
That night, how had she responded? She said she needed to think about it.
So she spent a whole night carefully considering, planning to give him an answer the next day… But fate played tricks on her. When she woke up, she had become eighteen-year-old Qin Laidi.
Thus, as Qin Guihua was beating her chest in regret, she suddenly heard a clear voice say, “Grandma, I’m willing. Let’s go get the certificate today.”
To be honest, in her previous life, she didn’t know at first whether it was Zhao Qingsong or He Liansheng who saved her. She had struggled too long in the water and only remembered a man in military uniform jumping in, holding her, bringing her to shore, after which she fainted.
When she woke again, she was pushed by her grandmother, filled with persuasion, and reluctantly went to register her marriage with Zhao Qingsong.
But on the night Old He confessed, he clearly told her—it was him who saved her.
Because of the Qin family’s forced marriage to Zhao Qingsong, he buried that secret in his heart for a lifetime.
Back then, her grandmother rejoiced at the success of this “forced marriage,” not knowing that Zhao Qingsong had also gone along with it, choosing her as the most suitable second wife.
At this moment, Qin Guihua was no longer as excited as in the previous life. Instead, she cautiously looked at Qin Laidi. “Laidi, you’re not confused from falling into the water, are you? You heard what those aunts just said… Even if our reputation isn’t great, marriage is a lifelong matter. You can’t be careless…”
Laidi’s expression was firm. “I’m not confused.” Marrying Old He was something she should have agreed to before dying in her previous life.
Seeing her determination, Qin Guihua assumed she was trying to save face after losing her reputation and was filled with regret. “It’s all grandma’s fault for being blind. I’ve wronged you!”
Laidi held her grandmother’s thin, frail hand. This regained family affection made her want to hug her and spin around.
“I just think that young man has a cold temperament. I’m afraid you won’t be happy in the future,” Qin Guihua continued to persuade. What girl didn’t want a caring husband? That young man seemed like a block of wood.
Laidi thought of Old He wearing reading glasses, seriously calling TV shopping channels and jotting notes in a notebook after every question. She smiled slightly. “Whether someone is considerate depends on how life is lived.”
No matter what, she would get the marriage certificate first—mark it, and then talk about the rest.