“Comrade Lin, over here!” Knowing that Lin Ruochu was coming to the township, Fu Tingshi had been waiting by the entrance since the early morning.
Lin Ruochu had ridden into town on the village’s ox cart. Seeing Fu Tingshi standing there waiting for her, a complex mix of emotions stirred within her, immediately reminding her of Lu Yichen.
She and Lu Yichen were childhood sweethearts, yet Lu Yichen had always seemed to keep her at arm’s length. Whenever they came into town together in the past, Lu Yichen would practically rush to widen the physical distance between them, acting as if they were total strangers.
Back when they were going to school in the township, Lu Yichen repeatedly drilled into her head that she must never expose their relationship to outsiders, telling her to simply refer to him as a neighbor’s older brother if anyone asked.
Yet here was Fu Tingshi, breaking into a radiant, joyful smile the moment he laid eyes on her, taking the initiative to call out to her as though he desperately wanted the entire world to know they were connected.
Even if, strictly speaking, they didn’t have an official relationship yet.
In the past, Lin Ruochu used to comfort herself by thinking Lu Yichen was just emotionally distant and a bit shy.
Now she knew better: Lu Yichen had never once held her in his heart. It wasn’t that he changed his mind after meeting Xia Lin; he simply had never cared about her at all to begin with.
But Lin Ruochu didn’t feel heartbroken. She had already been granted a brand-new beginning, hadn’t she?
“Comrade Lin.” Lin Ruochu brushed aside her stray thoughts and greeted him with a warm smile.
Along with the hair clip, Fu Tingshi had also bought a bouquet of flowers. “I saw these flowers in town today—they looked so pretty, I thought you’d like them.”
As Fu Tingshi handed over the bouquet, the crimson roses were fresh and dewy, glistening with tiny droplets of water. Against Lin Ruochu’s fair complexion, the vibrant red flowers made her face look even more radiant and stunning.
At that exact moment, Fu Tingshi felt entirely vindicated in his choice of gift.
“Thank you, I love them.” Across two lifetimes, this was the very first time Lin Ruochu had ever received flowers—and the person presenting them was none other than Fu Tingshi.
As their gazes locked for a brief moment, an unspoken, lingering tension filled the air between them. Hearing the frantic thumping of his own heart, Fu Tingshi scrambled in a fluster to retrieve the hair clip he had prepared.
“I bought this at the supply and demand cooperative. They said it’s the most popular style this year. Try it on.”
While the clip couldn’t compare to the delicate, sophisticated accessories of later generations, it was undeniably the trendiest item of the era. Lin Ruochu could easily see the genuine sincerity behind Fu Tingshi’s efforts.
“Thank you.”
“Let me put it on for you so we can see how it looks.” Fu Tingshi gently fastened the clip into Lin Ruochu’s hair. Gazing at her, his eyes overflowed with undisguised delight. “It looks wonderful.”
“Thank you, I really like it. I’ve received your kind intentions.” At the very least, Lu Yichen had never bothered to give her anything like this.
“Comrade Lin, have you eaten yet? What kind of food do you like?”
The two of them were still getting to know each other, and not wanting to miss the mark on her preferences, Fu Tingshi simply asked straight out.
“Let’s go take care of the marriage application first, and we can grab a bite afterward.”
“Alright.”
The two of them walked together to make the phone call, using the number Fu Tingshi had provided.
“Hello, Political Commissar Zhao. I am Lin Ruochu, Lu Yichen’s betrothed. I would like to request that you intercept and mail back our marriage application. I am calling off the marriage and will not be marrying Lu Yichen.”
Political Commissar Zhao promptly tracked down Lu Yichen’s paperwork. The document had already cleared all preliminary reviews and reached his desk for the final procedural steps—a military marriage was not something to be taken lightly.
Refusing to give an immediate yes, Political Commissar Zhao replied, “Comrade Lin, your marriage application with Lu Yichen is about to be officially approved. Did something go wrong between the two of you?” He was well aware that Lu Yichen had taken special marital leave specifically to return home for this reason.
“Lu Yichen is planning to marry someone else. He has already held a wedding banquet in our village with a female educated youth from our brigade, so I will never marry him.”
Since Lu Yichen had brazenly committed such disgraceful acts, Lin Ruochu had zero intention of covering for him. She intended to expose every single detail.
Hearing this, Political Commissar Zhao adjusted his glasses. Lu Yichen usually presented himself as a reliable, upright soldier; he didn’t look like the type capable of pulling such a scoundrel’s stunt.
“Comrade Lin, could there be some kind of misunderstanding here?”
“There is no misunderstanding. I saw it with my own eyes. I already called off the engagement with Lu Yichen yesterday. Please, Political Commissar Zhao, send the marriage application back to me. Thank you.”
With Lin Ruochu putting it so plainly, Political Commissar Zhao naturally could not press her any further. “Alright, Comrade Lin, I understand.”
“Thank you for your trouble, Political Commissar Zhao.”
Believing the matter was fully resolved, Lin Ruochu felt a massive weight lift from her chest. Once the marriage application was safely retrieved, she would never have any entanglement with Lu Yichen again in this lifetime. If Lu Yichen wanted Xia Lin, the two of them could stay locked together forever.
Thinking of this, Lin Ruochu’s mood brightened considerably.
She and Fu Tingshi went to the state-run restaurant for a meal, after which Fu Tingshi walked her back to catch the village ox cart.
Before parting, Fu Tingshi shared a piece of news. “Comrade Lin, my leave is almost up. I’ll be heading back to the military unit tomorrow.”
“I’ll write to you as soon as I get back to the unit. Once your marriage application with Lu Yichen is officially mailed back, I’ll submit my own marriage application for us—how does that sound?”
“No way. Submitting a marriage application right on the heels of canceling another one? What would people think?” Truth be told, Lin Ruochu wasn’t genuinely worried about village gossip.
She simply couldn’t think of a better excuse to deflect Fu Tingshi on the spot—or perhaps, deep down in her heart, she didn’t actually want to push him away too hard.
However, Fu Tingshi interpreted her words entirely differently. “Then I’ll wait a little longer. How about a month?”
“That’s way too soon. We can talk about that later.” Lin Ruochu suddenly felt like she was playing the role of a heartless player.
“Then I’ll keep waiting. I’ll write to you the moment I reach the unit—you have to make sure you read my letters, and you have to write back.” Fu Tingshi added the stipulation out of a lingering fear that, without it, Lin Ruochu really might ignore him.
“Fine, I promise I’ll read them. I won’t come to see you off tomorrow, so I wish you a safe journey back.”
Fu Tingshi smiled, entirely convinced that Lin Ruochu cared deeply about him and was simply struggling to adjust to these sudden changes.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be thinking of you.”
Lin Ruochu didn’t even know where to look anymore. This man was truly something else—saying whatever popped into his head without a filter, talking about thinking of her so openly.
“I’m heading out. Goodbye.”
Riding back on the village ox cart, Lin Ruochu found her mind wandering all the way. Somehow, she kept recalling the sight of Fu Tingshi calling out to her at the entrance of the town, and his earnest plea for her to write back.
The ox cart clattered steadily down the dirt road toward the village. Before they even reached the village entrance, a frantic clamor echoed from ahead.
“Help! Someone help! The village chief’s daughter fell into the river, save her!”
The village chief’s daughter? That would be Lin Xu! A sudden memory flashed through Lin Ruochu’s mind: in her past life, it was precisely on this day that Lin Xu fell into the river, was rescued by a male educated youth, and ended up saddled with a burdensome marriage for the rest of her life.
Since Lin Xu and Lin Ruochu were practically sisters now that the family had reunited, Lin Ruochu couldn’t possibly sit back and watch it happen.
With a sudden burst of speed, Lin Ruochu leaped off the moving cart and sprinted toward the riverbank. “I’m coming to save Xiao Xu, everyone make way!”