When she arrived at the hospital, she took the cloth bundle from her mother's hands.
Yu Lian glanced at her younger sister. The wound had been hurting too much earlier, so Wang Meixia had told her to close her eyes and sleep.
"Mom, this is the lunchbox. Go to the cafeteria and have breakfast first, then bring some back for Little Sister. I'll stay with her."
At Yu Lian's insistence, and since the doctor was also worried that such a severe injury might affect Yu Xin's heart, they went ahead and checked her into the hospital for two days of observation.
Once her mother left, she immediately took the money out of the bundle and hid it inside the pillowcase.
She deliberately checked the time on her watch—she still had to take the child back and put on a show later.
Time ticked by, minute by minute.
At eight o'clock, her sister woke up in pain and apologized to her in self-reproach.
"Xinxin, you need to rest and recover properly. This time you have to get your body completely healed, understand?"
"Sister, I know. I won't act on my own again from now on."
Yu Lian nodded. Her sister was a good girl—she just had a temperament too much like their mother's. But there was one difference: her sister would always support her choices unconditionally.
"Alright, I'm heading back now. Mom, come in and watch over Little Sister. It's cold outside."
"Mm, I'm coming."
Wang Meixia had been chatting with a patient's family member sitting outside.
As soon as she stepped out, Wang Meixia was already on her feet.
"Mom, I'm going back now. An'an is still home alone."
"Alright, take your time on the road."
"I've already paid the hospitalization fee for Little Sister. I still have over twenty yuan and twenty jin of food stamps left. Remember, this is your food money for the month. Don't contact Uncle again."
"Mm, don't worry. I'll stay at the hospital. I haven't contacted your uncle."
There was still one hour before the confiscation. If she returned to the villa now and then took An'an to the old residence, the timing would be just right.
"Walking right into the trap" would make it clear that she knew nothing at all.
On the contrary, it would lessen suspicion on her. And with her grandfather's and father's identities, they wouldn't dare do anything to the granddaughter of an old hero.
Before going back, she still needed to make a trip to her maternal home to find a life-saving trump card.
She needed to find her grandfather's and father's medals and certificates—these were things that could save lives at critical moments.
Adding it all up, time was running short. As soon as she stepped out the door, she started sprinting. This was truly a race against time.
Fortunately, she was always someone who liked to keep things tidy and prepared, and she had the key to the small courtyard in her bag.
Her purpose was clear: she organized all these items neatly, then handed them to Granny Wang next door, asking her to keep the boxes safe.
"Xiao Lian, what are all these? You treasure them so much?"
"Granny Wang, they're all my grandfather's things. I was thinking of donating them to the museum. They're medals the army awarded him during the war—they can be displayed for the younger generation to admire and carry on that spirit!"
When she said those last few words, her voice was firm and powerful, and Granny Wang could see in her face the same impassioned vigor that the old man and her father had once possessed.
"Good, good, good! You truly are a child of the Yu family!"
Though the granny lived alone, she had also participated in battles in her youth. She had been both a women's committee director and a street office director. Whenever policies came down, she was always the first to carry them out.
Entrusting the medals and certificates to her was killing two birds with one stone.
When people came to investigate later, she could get away quickly.
After bidding farewell to Granny Wang, Yu Lian had little time left. That her sister could be treated was all thanks to the He family.
Yu Lian had always been strong-willed since childhood. Now that she finally had the chance to repay their kindness, she was determined to show the He family exactly how a woman of iron will like her repaid a debt of gratitude.
After picking up her son, Yu Lian rushed straight to the old residence.
She arrived before nine o'clock, and the entire He family was sitting together having breakfast.
Clearly, everyone's expression soured upon seeing Yu Lian—but when He Ning'an suddenly popped out from behind her, their faces shifted once more.
"An'an's here! Come sit by Grandpa—there's egg dumplings today, your favorite."
He Ning'an, who had been yanked out of bed and dressed by his mother without a moment's notice, was indeed hungry.
He trotted over, settled onto Grandpa's lap, and was promptly fed by the family, digging in with gusto.
The sight of the adorable little one lifted everyone's spirits considerably, and no one paid any mind to Yu Lian seated at the far end of the table.
If not for the child clinging to his mother, the He family would never have allowed her to keep him by her side.
Bearing a deeply negative impression of her, they believed she couldn't possibly raise a child well and feared she would corrupt He Ning'an.
So they often demanded she bring the boy back—but every time she came, she asked for money. Over time, the He family agreed to give her a thousand yuan at the start of each month in exchange for her bringing the child over every day.
But she usually came after lunch. Today, Yu Lian had arrived far too early. He Lin shot a glance at the woman beside him.
He'd already given her an extra thousand privately yesterday—why was she here asking for money again?
"What are you looking at me for?"
Yu Lian was absently watching the clock, but He Lin's gaze was too intense to ignore.
"Wondering what scheme you're cooking up now."
Their exchange was audible to the entire table.
At that, He Jianguo gave a light cough. "Husband and wife should be tolerant of each other. The real priority is for you two to hurry up and give me more grandchildren."
On the matter of the family's thin line of descendants, He Jianguo had tried hard with his wife in his younger years, but it had all been in vain.
The children either came out stillborn, or she miscarried before they could even be carried to term.
After nearly losing his wife to bring one daughter into the world, he never dared let her take such a risk again.
Perhaps that was simply the fate of the He family.
As the family chatted over breakfast, the cleaning woman rushed in from outside in a panic.
They heard her cry out "Something terrible has happened!"—and then a group of men in blue uniforms entered, followed by a squad of armed soldiers.
In an instant, the house was completely surrounded.
He Jianguo, a man who had weathered storms of every kind, never imagined this day would come to the He family.
After all, they had once handed over the greater part of their life's work, and it had taken two generations of relentless effort to rebuild what they had today.
At the sight of the red armbands among the crowd, the He family understood everything.
There was no ransacking, not as they had imagined.
Everyone in the He household—including the hired help working there—was taken away.
One by one, they were interrogated in dim, dark rooms.
Forced confessions under torture, psychological torment, and endless pain mingled with bone-piercing cold winds made life worse than death.
Only Yu Lian fared reasonably well.
She had immediately clutched her son to her chest, and before leaving the house, she'd been clever enough to tuck Grandpa's most prestigious People's Merit Medal against her body beneath her clothes.
When she and her son were locked together and subjected to questioning, Yu Lian calmly recounted her daily life without hesitation.
The other side wanted to slander her, claiming she was feasting on the blood of the people under the wing of a capitalist.
Yu Lian seized on the loophole: "Excuse me, Comrade Leader, I earn my money through my own labor and buy food to support myself—how is that feasting on the blood of the people? My grandfather in heaven would not stand for such words from a junior like you, and my father, who gave his life for our country on the battlefield, would not agree with you either."
"If they knew their own grandson and daughter were being treated like this by you, it wouldn't just be my deceased grandfather and father who would be heartbroken—but countless soldiers who defend our nation as well!"
Yu Lian's forceful words immediately stunned them into silence.