Shen Zhixia had barely sat back down in her seat when she saw the two girls from earlier walking over.
She glanced at them, then turned her head and continued staring out the window. It was pitch-black outside now, yet Shen Zhixia felt unusually peaceful.
Perhaps it was because she was getting closer and closer to Fu Siyu. To her surprise, she actually found herself looking forward to it, wondering what Fu Siyu’s first words to her would be when he saw her.
Would he discover that she wasn’t the real Shen Zhixia? If he found out that someone had replaced his wife, what would he do?
Her mind wandered through all sorts of random thoughts. When she turned back again, she saw that the two girls were still standing beside her seat.
She smiled and asked, “Is something wrong?”
The girl with the ponytail grabbed the round-faced girl and, completely without warning, bowed deeply to Shen Zhixia. Shen Zhixia was so startled that she nearly jumped out of her seat.
In modern times, apart from the Japanese, no one bowed to someone else for no reason. If anyone did bow, it was either newlyweds performing their wedding rites or mourners paying respects to the dead.
“Um, what are you doing?”
Perhaps realizing that her action had frightened Shen Zhixia, the ponytailed girl gave her an apologetic smile.
“We just wanted to thank you. If it weren’t for you, we might have already been sold by now. Thank you for saving our lives.”
Shen Zhixia waved her hand. “It was just a small favor. Don’t take it to heart.”
Besides, she had her own selfish reasons. She was still hoping that when they got off the train, the railway police might give her a commendation letter.
The ponytailed girl, who was rather quick to become familiar with people, pulled the round-faced girl down into the seat opposite Shen Zhixia. Smiling, she said, “My name is Liu Yanmei, and she’s Zhang Caixia. We’re from the same town. I’m going to Xin Province to find my big brother. Her mother is sick, so she wanted to go out and ask my big brother if he could find a suitable job for her. That was how we ended up running into those human traffickers just now.”
As she spoke, she seemed afraid that Shen Zhixia might grow impatient. She scratched her head awkwardly and explained, “I’m a little too quick to become familiar with people. My brother always says I’m scatterbrained and too quick to trust others, so he rarely lets me travel far from home. This time, I ran away secretly because I wanted to go find him. My big brother is a soldier.”
Before long, Liu Yanmei had chattered away about everything concerning herself and Zhang Caixia. She was practically about to introduce the circumstances of her family’s ancestors going back eighteen generations.
Shen Zhixia listened quietly. When she heard Liu Yanmei say that she was scatterbrained, she nodded in agreement.
She really was a little thoughtless. In just this short while, she had already told Shen Zhixia how, over the course of a year, her mother had introduced more than a dozen potential marriage partners to her big brother. She had even told her about one girl who had stripped naked and climbed into her big brother’s bed, frightening him so badly that he had fled back to his unit in the middle of the night.
Only after Liu Yanmei had said everything she wanted did she remember to ask Shen Zhixia, “What about you? Are you going to Xin Province too? Are you going to visit relatives?”
Shen Zhixia nodded. Then she thought about how the other girl had already told her about her family’s ancestors going back eighteen generations. It seemed impolite not to say something about herself.
“My name is Shen Zhixia. I’m going to Xin Province to join my husband at his posting. My husband is a soldier too.”
“You’re married? I always thought you were single. I was even thinking of introducing you to my big brother. I guess there’s no hope now. But what a coincidence—I never expected your husband to be a soldier too. Which unit is he in? My big brother might even know him. If they’re in the same organization, I’ll be able to visit you often in the future, and we can look after each other.”
The moment Liu Yanmei heard that Shen Zhixia was going to join her husband at his posting, she grew even more excited. She had liked Shen Zhixia at first sight, and now that there was a chance they might be going to the same place, she wanted to get even closer to her.
The three of them chatted on the train, and the journey was not boring at all. Time passed quickly.
Along the way, Shen Zhixia watched the scenery outside continually change. The lush, verdant forests gradually gave way to mountains dotted with a few sparse young trees, and finally to a completely barren Gobi desert beneath a sky filled with blowing yellow sand.
When the conductor announced that they would arrive at the final stop, Xin Province, in ten minutes, Shen Zhixia could not help becoming nervous.
She went to the washroom to straighten her clothes and checked that she had no dark circles under her eyes from failing to get enough rest. Only then did she relax.
She wondered whether Fu Siyu had arrived at the station yet, or whether he had not returned to his unit. What would she do if he was not there and no one came to meet her at the train station?
What if he had already returned but had not received the telegram?
In the novel, Fu Siyu had originally had a chance to be promoted to battalion commander after returning from this mission. However, one of his comrades had sacrificed himself while covering for him during the operation. Although the mission had been completed, there had also been many casualties. The subsequent investigation concluded that Fu Siyu had temporarily changed the battle route, nearly causing the mission to fail.
In the end, all the credit went to Shen Wanqing’s husband, Lu Ziming, and the promotion went to Lu Ziming as well.
When she thought of Shen Wanqing, she remembered that Shen Wanqing seemed to have joined her husband at his posting a year ago. Wouldn’t that mean she was about to encounter her?
Things would certainly become lively after that. But this time, she absolutely would not let herself and Fu Siyu become a contrasting example for that couple.
The train had already come to a stop. Shen Zhixia picked up her luggage and walked out of the station, immediately searching around with her eyes.
She was both nervous and expectant, with a touch of unease as well.
She did not know whether Fu Siyu had come. If he had, what expression would be on his face when he saw her? What if he failed to recognize her? Should she hang a sign around her neck so that Fu Siyu could identify her more easily?
After learning that Shen Zhixia’s train would arrive today, Fu Siyu had come to the station early that morning to wait for her. He was afraid of missing her.
To be honest, he no longer had much of an impression of this wife of his. Afraid that he might mistake someone else for her, he had specifically dug out the only photograph they had together the night before and studied it several times, making sure that he would recognize her at a glance today.
Shen Zhixia searched around, but she did not see anyone who matched the image she had imagined. She could not help feeling a little disappointed.
Had he been away on a mission and not returned? Or did he simply not want to come and meet her?
She sighed and picked up her suitcase, preparing to go outside the station to see whether there was a vehicle heading to Fu Siyu’s unit. She would find her own way there. Just as she was about to leave, someone suddenly took the suitcase from her hand.
A robbery!
Shen Zhixia’s heart tightened. She knew that this era was chaotic, but she had not expected it to be this chaotic. In broad daylight, someone was brazenly snatching things at the train station.
She turned around and raised her foot, preparing to kick the person, only to see a pair of warm, smiling eyes before her.
The saying “A man as gentle as jade, a gentleman without equal beneath heaven” became tangible in Shen Zhixia’s eyes at that very moment.
Fu Siyu!
He had really come to meet her.
He wore a military cap and uniform. With his broad shoulders and narrow waist, and his handsome yet resolute face, he looked like a perfect creation painstakingly carved by God. That, in turn, gave him an air of aloof mystery.
“Fu…”
She had just begun to ask when he had arrived when Fu Siyu reached out and smoothed the hair the wind had tousled. Then, in a completely natural motion, he took her hand and led her outside.
“You’ve had a hard journey. Come on, let’s go home.”
It was only a simple sentence, but Shen Zhixia’s eyes reddened and grew moist.
All the grievances she had suffered during this period suddenly became impossible to hold back.
She had come alone to this unfamiliar era. Her original body’s sexist parents had beaten her, and she had nearly been sold. When she had not seen Fu Siyu after leaving the station, she had actually been terrified. She was afraid that in this strange world, she would not even have one last person she could rely on.
Yet when she heard Fu Siyu say that they were going home, she lost all her resentment with truly pathetic ease.
“Why did you suddenly decide to come join me at my posting? Did something happen?”