When the shuttle bus pulled over by the roadside, Lin Qingqin immediately reached down to steady the luggage beside her feet.
As soon as the door opened, a wave of hot air mixed with dust rushed inside.
She had spent the entire night on a train and another half a day transferring between buses. Her lower back and shoulders were already so sore that they felt stiff. The hair at her temples was damp with sweat and clung to her skin, while her clothes were noticeably wrinkled.
The driver helped take her luggage down from the roof and pointed toward a fork in the road ahead.
“Red Mountain Military Base is that way. Just follow the road. You should be able to see the guard post.”
“Thank you.”
Lin Qingqin picked up her canvas bag and walked along the sun-bleached dirt road.
It was late July, and the midday sun was scorching.
She hadn’t walked far before the entrance to the military compound came into view.
The soldier stationed at the guard post had already noticed her.
A young woman, traveling alone with luggage, clearly someone who had come from far away.
As soon as Lin Qingqin approached, the soldier called out to her.
“Comrade, who are you looking for?”
She set her luggage down and wiped the sweat from her forehead.
“I’m looking for He Chengling.”
The soldier paused in surprise.
“Deputy Regiment Commander He?”
“That’s right.”
“What’s your relationship with him?”
Lin Qingqin hesitated.
She had already come to terms with this identity some time ago. Yet, standing at the entrance to the military base where He Chengling was stationed and being asked about it face-to-face still felt somewhat unfamiliar.
She replied, “I’m his wife.”
The soldier’s expression visibly changed.
He probably hadn’t expected the wife of Deputy Regiment Commander He the woman who had never once appeared at the military base to show up alone, carrying luggage, in such sweltering heat.
He quickly recovered and asked Lin Qingqin to wait in the shade nearby while he went inside to notify He Chengling.
Lin Qingqin didn’t ask any questions.
She dragged her bag over to the wall, sat down on a bench, unscrewed her water bottle, and took a couple of sips.
The water was no longer cool.
Nevertheless, she drank it slowly until she had finished.
After all the traveling it had taken to get here, it would have been ridiculous to claim she wasn’t tired.
Yet now that she had finally arrived at the entrance to Red Mountain Military Base, she found herself growing strangely calm.
He Chengling.
She had encountered this name countless times in letters, memories, and other people’s conversations.
They had been married for three years, but had spent most of that time living apart.
He sent money every month and took care of family matters whenever something came up. His letters weren’t frequent, but he had never completely stopped writing.
If someone asked whether He Chengling had done anything truly unforgivable, the answer was no.
And yet Lin Qingqin still didn’t want to continue this marriage.
She didn’t need a husband who existed only on a marriage certificate and money transfer receipts.
When she heard footsteps approaching from inside the compound, she raised her head.
The soldier who had gone inside to deliver the message came out first. A man followed behind him.
The first thing Lin Qingqin noticed was his height.
He was very tall.
His military uniform was immaculate, his shoulders and back straight. His pace wasn’t hurried, but every step was steady. He had probably just come from the training grounds, as beads of sweat still lingered on his forehead.
Only when he came closer did she get a proper look at He Chengling.
His complexion was on the darker side, with prominent brow bones, a straight nose, and sharply defined facial features.
At last, the man before her matched the somewhat blurry face in her memories.
He Chengling stopped as well.
His gaze first settled on Lin Qingqin’s face before moving to the luggage at her feet.
He paused for a moment.
“When did you arrive?”
His voice was deep, and his words were brief.
“Not long ago.”
He glanced at the damp hair sticking to her forehead.
“Why didn’t you send word ahead of time?”
“I decided to come at the last minute.”
He Chengling’s brows drew together slightly.
Lin Qingqin noticed, but made no effort to explain further.
There hadn’t been much of a daily life between them worth discussing in the first place.
According to her memories, their letters had always been brief.
She would ask when he was coming home, and he would reply that work was busy or that his leave hadn’t been decided yet.
When she mentioned something happening at home, he would send money or simply reply that he understood.
As time went by, they had less and less to say to each other.
She had arrived at the military base without even sending him a greeting beforehand. It was hardly surprising that He Chengling found her sudden appearance unexpected.
He reached for the luggage beside her feet.
“Let’s go inside first.”
Lin Qingqin didn’t let go of it.
He Chengling’s hand had already touched the strap when he realized she was still holding on. His movement came to a stop.
The two of them looked at each other across the canvas bag for several seconds.
Lin Qingqin spoke first.
“I have something to discuss with you.”
He withdrew his hand.
“Go ahead.”
He was straightforward, to say the least.
Lin Qingqin was happy to dispense with the pleasantries as well.
She hadn’t come all this way to reminisce about the past.
There were still people at the guard post, and soldiers occasionally passed by.
She walked a few steps toward the shade of a nearby tree.
He Chengling followed.
Lin Qingqin stopped.
“I’m not here to visit you.”
He Chengling looked at her.
“Did something happen at home?”
“No.”
“Then why did you suddenly come here?”
At last, he had asked the right question.
Lin Qingqin looked up at the man she had been married to for three years.
Thirty years old. A career military officer.
He looked cold and distant, but judging from what he had done over the years, there was nothing fundamentally wrong with his character.
To an outsider, theirs might even seem like a reasonably decent marriage.
But Lin Qingqin didn’t want to base the decision of whether to spend the rest of her life with someone on the simple fact that he wasn’t a bad person.
She had traveled thousands of miles to get here, and it wasn’t to test whether he would try to persuade her to stay.
“I’m here to divorce you.”
As soon as the words left her mouth, the cicadas chirping in the trees suddenly seemed exceptionally loud.
He Chengling said nothing.
He stood before her, his gaze fixed on her face.
Lin Qingqin didn’t rush him.
After several seconds, he finally spoke.
“What did you say?”
“Divorce.”
Lin Qingqin enunciated the word clearly.
“I came here because I want to settle things between us and end our marriage.”
He Chengling’s lips gradually tightened into a thin line.
“Is this because I couldn’t come home this time?”
Lin Qingqin froze for a moment before quickly understanding what he meant.
According to her memories, the original Lin Qingqin had indeed been upset on several occasions because he couldn’t return home.
She had waited for his letters, waited for his leave, waited for him to tell her when he would be coming back.
After waiting long enough, it was only natural that some resentment had crept into her letters.
He Chengling probably assumed that her sudden arrival this time wasn’t much different from what had happened before.
“No.”
“Then are you angry?”
“No, I’m not.”
Lin Qingqin shook her head.
“He Chengling, I didn’t come here to argue with you.”
After traveling by train and bus for so long, her voice inevitably carried some exhaustion, but there wasn’t the slightest hint of a temper tantrum in it.
“Nor did I intend to use divorce to force you to come home or make you agree to something.”
He Chengling didn’t interrupt her.
“I had already thought this through before coming here.”
Lin Qingqin looked directly at him.
“This isn’t something I decided on a whim today, and it isn’t something I said in anger.”
This time, He Chengling remained silent for even longer.
From somewhere deep inside the compound, the faint sound of training commands could be heard.
The wind blew past, but it did little to dispel the summer heat.
Lin Qingqin’s legs were beginning to ache from standing, so she bent down and placed her water bottle on top of her luggage.
He Chengling suddenly asked, “Is the money I send you not enough?”
“It’s enough.”
“Has something happened at home? Are you having difficulties?”
“No.”
The crease between his brows didn’t disappear.
Looking at him, Lin Qingqin suddenly understood why these were the first questions he had asked.
For the past three years, he had probably believed that as long as he sent money on time and made sure someone took care of any difficulties at home, he was fulfilling his responsibilities as a husband.
At least, judging from the questions he had just asked, that seemed to be his understanding of marriage.
She didn’t rush to argue with him.
These things weren’t something they could properly explain in a few words while standing at the entrance.
He Chengling didn’t continue guessing either.
He bent down and picked up the luggage from the ground.
This time, Lin Qingqin didn’t stop him.
She had already made her intentions clear.
As for why she wanted a divorce, they would have to talk that through properly.
He Chengling lifted her bag but didn’t immediately head inside.
“You came alone?”
“Yes.”
“How long were you traveling?”
“I took the train last night, then transferred to a shuttle bus today.”
He looked at her for a moment.
“You traveled all this way just to tell me you want a divorce?”
Lin Qingqin thought the question was somewhat unnecessary.
“If I didn’t come to see you, who else was I supposed to divorce?”
He Chengling fell silent for a moment.
Lin Qingqin hadn’t meant to mock him.
It was simply a fact.
They were legally married.
If she wanted to end their marriage, she couldn’t just write a letter at home saying that they should each go their separate ways from now on and consider the marriage over.
He Chengling didn’t ask again whether she was merely throwing a tantrum.
Instead, he looked at her once more.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Have you thought it through?”
“I have.”
“Is this because of something that happened recently?”
“No.”
Silence settled beneath the shade of the trees.
They had been married for three years, yet it felt as though this was the first time they had truly stood face-to-face with each other.
There were no family members standing nearby.
No wedding arrangements pushing them forward.
And no longer were they separated by several sheets of letter paper, each talking about their own lives without truly communicating.
He Chengling was still holding her luggage.
Lin Qingqin waited for him to speak.
After a while, he asked:
“Then tell me.”
“We’ve been married for three years. Why are you so determined to divorce me now?”