Jiang Zhen left quietly enough not to wake the children, but the noise next door soon grew even more intense. Something must have been knocked over and broken during the struggle.
Gu Pan rubbed her eyes and ran out.
“Uncle, you’re not fighting with Auntie, are you? Let me go in and see. If Auntie is crying because you hit her, tomorrow I’ll tell Auntie Jiaoxia and have her beat you.”
Gu Liancheng: … If she went inside and discovered someone missing, children couldn’t keep secrets. He absolutely couldn’t let this clever little girl go in.
“Don’t get clever with that talk. You’re not allowed to crawl into my bed. Your aunt has the ability to beat me to death, so you don’t need to worry.”
Gu Hui and Jiang Zhao also came out. Jiang Zhao was still too shy to call him father. Gu Hui asked,
“Uncle, are the neighbors fighting?”
“Yes. It’s cold—if you stay out here you’ll get sick. Don’t meddle in other people’s business. Go back to bed.”
He shooed the children back and tucked them into their quilts. Waiting alone in the room made Gu Liancheng anxious. Even if things were chaotic next door, it had already been an hour. Why hadn’t Jiang Zhen come back yet? He wanted to go outside to look, but he was afraid the children might suddenly get up.
Fortunately, he finally heard a faint sound. He had just opened the door halfway when Jiang Zhen slipped inside, bringing a gust of cold air with her.
…
Jiang Zhen removed her coat and trousers and wrapped herself in the quilt.
“It’s the middle of the night and really cold outside. Warm me up a bit.”
Gu Liancheng sighed helplessly.
“You were the one who stayed outside for an hour. Now you’re complaining about the cold?”
“Gu Pan, that clever girl, poked a hole in the window paper to watch the courtyard. I couldn’t get in,” Jiang Zhen said proudly. “A child trying to compete with me in wits—her endurance isn’t enough. After just an hour she crawled back into bed.”
Gu Liancheng: … “She wasn’t competing with you. She was observing whether I was lying.”
“About what?”
“She was afraid I had beaten you.” Gu Liancheng found the thought amusing, but then realized the children worried because they had seen and heard so many cases of men beating women.
Jiang Zhen laughed.
“Haha, that wouldn’t happen. But since Gu Pan was worried about me, I’m happy.”
This time Gu Liancheng主动 pulled her not-so-cold feet into his arms. Jiang Zhen sighed comfortably.
“You’re so warm.”
Gu Liancheng hid his blush.
“I’ve always had strong body heat since I was young. At least I’m not afraid of the cold in winter. So what did you hear over there?”
“Not just hear—I saw it too. I climbed onto the roof and lifted a tile. Guess what I saw?”
“It definitely wasn’t a pleasant sight,” Gu Liancheng said awkwardly.
But Jiang Zhen had no problem describing it.
“Qi Junshan can’t do it, but he insists on trying. The more he fails, the more he beats An Xiuqing. He was choking her so hard she could barely breathe. In the end Qi Junhai kicked the door open and dragged his older brother away.”
Gu Liancheng: … Now that he knew this information, he would have to report it tomorrow. But how was he supposed to say something like that out loud? Maybe Jiang Zhen should be the one to report it instead!
Of course that wasn’t realistic. Unless Jiang Zhen confessed on her own, asking her directly might make her retreat like a startled turtle, pulling her head and limbs back in and never sticking them out again. That was the conclusion the organization had reached after analysis, and Gu Liancheng could only follow their instructions.
…
“Let’s sleep,” Jiang Zhen said. After warming up for a while, she wasn’t cold anymore.
“You listened for an entire hour. Didn’t you discover anything else?” Gu Liancheng tried to ask for details so he could report properly the next day.
Jiang Zhen waved her hand.
“It was just that kind of ‘can’t do it but still forcing it and abusing her’ situation. You’re a proper person—you wouldn’t want to hear the details.”
For such matters, even if the speaker didn’t mind, the listener’s senses would be stimulated. No matter how strong Gu Liancheng’s self-control was, holding two slender feet in his arms wasn’t the best moment to test it.
“Alright. If it’s irrelevant, there’s no need to describe it.”
“Oh right,” Jiang Zhen added. “After Qi Junshan was dragged away by his brother, Ji Fengmei threatened An Xiuqing. She said Qi Junshan’s eye was gouged out by me and told her to come to our house tomorrow morning to test whether I have a wound on my neck.”
Jiang Zhen thought this was something she should tell Gu Liancheng.
“So Qi Junshan being a bandit—Qi Junhai probably doesn’t know. But Ji Fengmei definitely does.”
This was important information.
Gu Liancheng’s eyes flickered. Jiang Zhen had removed her outer coat, and the shallow neckline of her inner clothing revealed a fair, porcelain-like neck.
Jiang Zhen smiled.
“He obviously didn’t manage to hurt me. Don’t worry.”
She thought for a moment.
“There’s something else. It’s just my own analysis. I didn’t originally want to say it. But since you said earlier that ‘if there’s something, say it in advance,’ then I’ll say it now. It’s just my guess—I might be wrong.”
“Go ahead,” Gu Liancheng said. “I’ll judge for myself. If something like this happens again in the future, tell me. I’ll only be grateful to you.”
“Alright,” Jiang Zhen said. “I had already come back, but Gu Pan was crouched in the room poking holes in the window paper to spy outside. So I went back onto the Qi family’s roof and pried open tiles over another room. I heard Qi Junshan telling his mother that An Xiuqing’s father might not be dead. That’s why he decided to marry An Xiuqing—to use her as a hostage and force her father to show himself.”
“Then Ji Fengmei said that was impossible. She complained to her son that the man was extremely selfish and cowardly, and would never risk himself for anyone. But if he was truly that selfish and cowardly, how could he have risked his life to save your parents? I think if you want to figure it out, you should investigate what your parents were doing back then. When they were alive, did they ever mention it to you?”
Gu Liancheng shook his head. “No, they never said anything. I’ll ask the relevant departments later. Jiang Zhen, this information is extremely useful to me. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Jiang Zhen beamed.
…
Because of Gu Pan’s cleverness the night before, Jiang Zhen had ended up hearing another piece of useful information for Gu Liancheng. At breakfast she rewarded Gu Pan with half an extra salted duck egg.
Gu Liancheng wasn’t biased; he gave his own half to Jiang Tang.
Jiang Tang glanced timidly at him, her voice barely louder than a mosquito’s buzz. “Thank you… Dad.”
Gu Pan said, “Sister, you’re Uncle’s little padded jacket now. My dad says daughters are more caring than smelly sons, so he treats me better than my brother. You don’t need to worry.”
Gu Liancheng said, “You sure know a lot.”
Gu Pan suddenly thought of her father. “Uncle, when will my dad come back? Will he find me a new mom like you did?”
Gu Liancheng didn’t know. He only knew that before long his older brother would cross the Yalu River with the main army. Later he would become blind and lose his memory, living far away from Fan City. Now that he had been reborn, he couldn’t let his brother end up like that again.
“Oh, you’ve already started eating.” Gu Liancheng’s elder sister came over carrying freshly made egg pancakes, conveniently breaking the awkward moment when Gu Liancheng couldn’t answer.
With the fragrant egg pancakes in front of her, Gu Pan immediately forgot about worrying over a new mother.
Jiang Zhen called out, “Big Sister, stay and have breakfast with us?”
“No, I’ve already eaten. Seeing that you’re all doing well puts my mind at ease. I need to go back to the hospital—there’s a shortage of staff. But don’t worry yet. The hospital is still discussing whether to keep you. Wait until a formal decision is made, otherwise you’ll end up working for nothing.”
“Alright, I’ll listen to you.”
Jiang Zhen felt there was something she should mention as well.
“Big Sister, whether the hospital job works out or not, I’ll try to find something to do. So the housework has already been divided among the children. Today’s breakfast was made by Jiang Zhao with Gu Hui helping. Gu Pan swept the floor. The chickens and ducks in the backyard coop were fed by Jiang Tang.”
Gu Jiaoxia laughed heartily. “To tell you the truth, those egg pancakes this morning were made by your brother-in-law. As long as your little family has discussed things among yourselves, why should I meddle? Feel free to run your household however you like.”
…
Jiang Zhen felt a little proud inside. She enthusiastically praised and encouraged the four children and promised that once Gu Liancheng left, she would close the door and take them into her space to play.
After Gu Liancheng’s sister left, Gu Liancheng took the initiative to wash the dishes. The organization was waiting for his report, so he couldn’t delay. He told Jiang Zhen:
“I have to go back to the army.”
“Will you come back at noon? Or tonight? If you won’t come back, have someone send a message.”
Gu Liancheng gave a bitter smile. Jiang Zhen didn’t even ask why he was leaving the house on the second day of their marriage. Instead, she gave him plenty of time. He felt grateful—but also understood that only a competent partner would behave this way. Real married couples inevitably had friction.
“Alright. If I can’t come back, I’ll have someone notify you.”
…
Not long after Gu Liancheng left, An Xiuqing came over. Using some clumsy excuses, she tried to look at Jiang Zhen’s neck. But winter clothes were thick, and she couldn’t see anything.
After returning home, she casually made up an excuse. “I saw it—there’s a thin scar on her neck. It’s already healed.”
Ji Fengmei had promised that if she confirmed this matter, Qi Junshan wouldn’t be allowed into her room.
Ji Fengmei relayed the news to her eldest son. “There’s a wound on the neck. It’s the same person.”
Qi Junshan muttered, “I thought there might be two people.”
Ji Fengmei said, “Even though Jiang Zhen has a twin sister, she’s been missing for years. It can’t be such a coincidence. You’re overthinking.”
Qi Junshan said, “Since it’s the same person, there’s no need to keep digging. I’ll go out for a while and call back the brothers digging up the corpse.”
…
When Gu Liancheng returned to the army, a newly established security department had already gathered everyone. Xiao Jianzhou said,
“Comrade Qingfeng, repeat what you said last night for Liancheng and the experts.”
Xiao Qingfeng carefully recalled everything, afraid of missing any details.
“I can’t be certain whether the sister-in-law now is the same person who bandaged me. But that day I really saw a mirage, and there was also a Jiang Zhen inside it. Then the ground started shaking violently.”
Unconfirmed matters couldn’t be written into official reports. After pacing back and forth in the secret meeting room, Xiao Jianzhou made a decision.
“There are several suspicious individuals digging at the epicenter of the earthquake. They’re even encouraging locals by claiming that the quake unearthed buried treasure. We need to send in engineering troops. Under the pretext of repairing the road, we’ll dig the entire place up before they do.”
Gu Liancheng’s heart trembled. He had to be there. Otherwise, if something was discovered, he wouldn’t know immediately.
He saluted. “Political Commissar, I request temporary assignment to the engineering battalion to participate in the excavation.”
“You’ll definitely be going.”
Gu Liancheng didn’t return home that night. He sent someone to deliver a message instead. They dug for an entire day and night. Before dawn, under the searchlights, someone felt something in the soil—a human corpse.
The hair was long. It was clearly a woman.
His voice trembled as he called out, “Bring more flashlights over here—there’s something here!”