Seeing how earnestly she spoke, the other party still harbored a shred of doubt: "What proof do you have?"
"Just look it up and you'll know—whether Yu Xing is my biological grandfather and Yu Jinbu is my biological father!"
Everyone was well acquainted with those two names. Years ago, when Yu Jinbu made the ultimate sacrifice, he was featured in the newspapers alongside his old father—the whole nation knew about it.
One was an old hero, the other a revered elder who gave his life for the country!
But how could her own daughter have married the son of a capitalist?
Yu Lian, holding her child, pulled a medal from her pocket with tears and snot streaming down her face, placing it on the table.
"I even wanted to donate these things to the Anti-Japanese War Museum, so the children could learn from the spirit of our elders… Who would've thought that before I could even deliver them, I'd be slandered and locked up in here!"
She cried with such grievance that even the little bean in her arms was infected by her emotions.
"Mommy, I miss Grandpa."
Yu Lian nearly laughed at that. The little one had never even laid eyes on his grandfather.
The two Red Armband officers in charge of the interrogation had never encountered such a thorny case. The medal she produced was genuine.
"Take them down for now. We'll release them once this is verified."
That was said at noon, and by the afternoon, Yu Lian and her son were released.
Granny Wang's help had played no small part in this, along with that suitcase full of medals and certificates she'd brought that morning.
She looked back at the building behind her, wondering where the He family was being held. She could faintly hear screams.
Fearing her son might hear them, Yu Lian resolutely led him away. Earlier inside, she hadn't hesitated for a moment in writing the declaration severing ties, and had even admitted in it that her marriage to He Lin had not been voluntary.
These next couple of days, the rest of the He family would be in for a rough time.
"Mommy, where are Daddy and the others?"
"Well, they've gone on a business trip out of town. You'll see them in a couple of days."
"Really?"
Sometimes having a son who was too clever wasn't necessarily a good thing.
"Really. Would I lie to you?"
The two were escorted by designated personnel to the villa where they had been staying. The leadership permitted them to pack some personal belongings, though there were quantity limits and layers of inspection by assigned staff.
Without a second thought, Yu Lian grabbed two sets of cotton-padded jackets and trousers, along with undergarments.
The female comrade, seeing how pitiful she was—having to raise a child alone from now on—turned a blind eye and let her fill an entire leather suitcase.
"Thank you, comrade. I'll take my child back to the hospital now. No need to see us off."
In just two short hours, Yu Lian's background had been investigated down to the last detail. Even the fact that her younger sister had been hospitalized that morning and she'd rushed frantically to the hospital—the investigation team knew all of it.
After verifying everything, the investigation team made an exception and released Yu Lian and her young child.
As for the four members of the He family, they naturally couldn't escape suffering. All four had confessed, and now they could only await the organization's disposition.
After confirming no one was following her, Yu Lian hurried home, put away her luggage, and then went to Granny Wang's place to retrieve the suitcase.
"Girl, I know you've run into trouble. What matters is that you're safe now. With a family background like yours, the He family was never worthy of you!"
Granny Wang had watched Yu Lian grow from a tiny thing into a young woman, and she knew her character well—she was not the money-grubber others made her out to be.
It was all for her gravely ill younger sister.
So when the investigators came around, she said many good things, staked her own reputation on it, and even brought out her grandfather's and father's medals of honor and certificates of merit before those people's doubts finally subsided.
"Granny Wang, thank you. By the way, isn't the country calling for people to go down to the countryside? Each family can only keep one child. Now that I'm divorced, I might as well be the one to go."
Granny Wang was surprised. "But you have a child with you. Your father died in service, so you get subsidies. The government will give you a stable job—if you have work, you don't have to go."
"Granny Wang, I'm not someone who's afraid of hardship. For the sake of national construction, we young people should cast aside all distractions and throw ourselves into it wholeheartedly. Once my sister recovers from her illness, I'll leave the job to her—she's not in good health, so she's better suited for office work!"
Granny Wang was moved to tears by Yu Lian's words. She never imagined there were still young people with such high ideals these days!
"But Granny Wang, I do have one small request: I want to go to the Red Star Farm in the Northwest. I have a good classmate from school there! The Northwest is also short on people…"
"Don't you worry about that! Granny Wang guarantees it'll be fine! A young woman like you going to a place where you don't know anyone—I wouldn't feel at ease either!"
"Thank you, Granny! I'll definitely participate in construction wholeheartedly and live up to your expectations!"
Yu Lian chatted with Granny Wang for a while, then made an excuse about delivering food and hurriedly left.
What worried her most right now was whether the money hidden in the hospital pillow had been discovered.
If it had been found, everything would be too late.
"Mommy, let me put this on you."
He Ning'an, who hadn't spoken in a long time, suddenly put a jade pendant on her.
"An'an, where did you get this?"
"From Grandpa's box."
Yu Lian had no memory of it, but it looked genuine enough. If it could be exchanged for money, that would work too.
Yu Lian picked up the jade pendant and examined it.
The pendant was of a novel design—not a simple Buddha or Guanyin.
It looked somewhat like a pouch, or perhaps a small embroidered purse.
It didn't seem like something her biological father would have bought, and it certainly couldn't have been her mother's. If her mother had known about it, her uncle's family would have taken it long ago.
Just as she was puzzling over it, An'an started crying, and a large teardrop splashed onto the surface of the jade pendant.
Yu Lian watched with her own eyes as the tear was absorbed into it.
The next second, she found herself in a strange place.
An'an hid in his mother's arms and continued crying, completely unaware that everything around them had changed.
"Mommy, I miss Daddy…"
She had no time to comfort her son right now. This place—how could it look so much like the Peach Blossom Spring from the stories her father used to tell her?
Yu Lian suddenly connected all the dots—how her father had survived countless dangers through life-and-death situations. The enemy had called him elusive, like a ghost on the battlefield.
She recalled the story of her father, that soldier of extraordinary skill, and how he had entered the Peach Blossom Spring through the sword at his side.
In the blink of an eye, Yu Lian passed back and forth between reality and the "Peach Blossom Spring" multiple times.
Remembering that her father had also mentioned a pool of water in the Peach Blossom Spring that could cure all illnesses in the world, she eagerly began searching for it.
He Ning'an in her arms had fallen asleep at some point without her noticing.
Following her memory, Yu Lian found the Spirit Spring behind the house. The water was sweet and refreshing—she took a sip and felt all the fatigue in her body wash away. It was exactly as her father had described.
Overwhelmed with excitement, Yu Lian felt that both her sister's and her mother's illnesses could now be cured.
She was heading alone to the northwest to settle the "debt" owed to the He family, and what worried her most was her younger sister and mother. With this Spirit Spring, she could leave with peace of mind.
What intrigued her most was that the Peach Blossom Spring her father had spoken of was not just a Universe Bag—the things inside were inexhaustible, never running out no matter how much she took.
Plant something and it would grow endlessly, which meant she would never go hungry or thirsty again.
Yu Lian was overjoyed. So this was how her father had braved life and death, ultimately sacrificing himself on the battlefield.
The jade pendant had been his making, and his undoing.
If not for the pendant, her father wouldn't have let his guard down and lost his life.
It seemed she would have to handle this thing with extreme caution. Her father had already shown her, with his life, what a bloody lesson meant.