Chapter 3: The Phone Call

Gu Wan suffered from insomnia once again, tossing and turning for most of the night before finally falling asleep.

Her planned trip to Mount Daqing with Qin Xiaomei had also been put on hold due to six or seven consecutive days of dreary rain.

When she woke up on this particular morning, the sky had finally cleared. After eating breakfast, Gu Wan slung a woven basket over her back, grabbed a pair of shears, and stepped out the door to meet Qin Xiaomei before heading up the mountain together.

In addition to the large Qinghu Lake, Qinghu Village was bordered by a vast mountain range. While no one dared to venture deep into its interior, the outer areas frequented by the villagers posed little danger—after all, even wild animals knew to keep their distance from humans.

The two girls bypassed the outermost perimeter and ventured slightly further in; the very edge of the mountain was constantly combed by six- and seven-year-old kids, leaving nothing good behind.

After walking and stopping for over an hour, they managed to gather quite a few chanterelle mushrooms. Delicious and flavorful, bringing these home would add a wonderful dish to the dinner table.

Having wandered somewhat deep into the mountain, just as the two were preparing to double back, Gu Wan spotted several wild chestnut trees. August was precisely the season when wild chestnuts ripened, and the two girls rushed toward the trees in excitement.

Looking around, they discovered a total of five wild chestnut trees. Qin Xiaomei excitedly set off to find large tree branches.

Neither of them had gloves, and these chestnut burs were covered in sharp spines—getting pricked by one was no laughing matter. They found two branches about two meters long and stood at a distance, using them like hooks to strike at the chestnuts. The riper ones dropped down after just a few taps.

After busying themselves for over half an hour, they knocked down all the chestnuts that could be dislodged. The ones that refused to fall were likely not ripe enough yet, and knocking them down prematurely would only be a waste.

Finding several large leaves, the two girls carefully wrapped up the chanterelles from their baskets and set them aside on the ground. Then, they gathered more leaves to line the sides and bottoms of their baskets before cautiously picking up the prickly chestnuts one by one.

This trip proved to be a bountiful harvest, though Qin Xiaomei soon frowned in dismay at her completely filled basket.

“Xiao Wan, chestnuts are really heavy, and we’ve walked so far. How are we going to carry these all the way back on our backs?”

Gu Wan also knitted her brows and tried to put her basket on. She squatted down and gritted her teeth, bracing herself to exert every ounce of her strength. To her surprise, she lifted the heavy basket with absolute ease—so much so that the sudden overexertion almost made her pitch forward onto the ground.

Uh…

Without showing any outward reaction, she quietly put her basket down, walked over to Qin Xiaomei’s basket, and tentatively tried to lift it onto her back.

…

She lifted it with ease.

She seemed to have uncovered yet another astounding secret: following her skin and figure, her physical strength had now developed abnormal properties as well.

Lowering her eyes, she put the basket back down while putting on a slightly strained act, saying to Qin Xiaomei, “It seems I can barely manage to carry it.”

Qin Xiaomei: “…”

You don’t look like you’re struggling very much at all.

Not daring to meet Qin Xiaomei’s gaze, Gu Wan suggested, “How about this? I’ll put my chanterelles into your basket, and you transfer some of your wild chestnuts into mine. We can divide them up once we get back.”

Qin Xiaomei’s mouth gaped open. “Are you just forcing yourself to be brave? Carrying it for a moment is one thing, but we have to walk over an hour of mountain trails!”

Gu Wan didn’t dare reveal that she didn’t find it heavy at all, so she could only say, “We can rest whenever we get tired and take slow steps. Otherwise, our only option is to crack the chestnut burs open right here before leaving. But that’s going to be tough—the ground here is covered in loose rocks, and with the several days of continuous rain, the soil is too soft. We really won’t be able to smash them open.”

The two adjusted the contents of their baskets and slung them over their shoulders to begin the journey back. Every now and then, Gu Wan pretended to be overwhelmed by the weight and paused to take a rest.

As the two walked along Mount Daqing, they had no idea that the tranquility of Qinghu Village was about to be shattered—or more precisely, that of the Old Qin family.

Overhead, the production team leader’s voice echoed through the old loudspeaker mounted at the village branch, broadcasting across half the village: Would Qin Dayou please come to the village branch to take a phone call! Would Qin Dayou please come to the village branch to take a phone call…

After repeating the announcement four times, the loudspeaker finally went silent.

Lin Chunhua was squatting by the shore of Qinghu Lake washing clothes at the time. Upon hearing the broadcast, she abandoned her laundry, called out to a neighboring woman to keep an eye on her things, and trotted off toward the village branch.

A group of women washing clothes along the lake immediately began to gossip.

“It’s definitely a call from her eldest son.”

“Chunhua is going to enjoy a good life from here on out. Her eldest is so accomplished.”

…

Meanwhile, just as Lin Chunhua reached the entrance of the village branch, she ran into her husband, who was coming over from the fields with a hoe on his shoulder. The couple entered the village branch together, where the team leader smiled and explained that the call was from the military unit, telling the two of them to sit and wait a few minutes.

It felt as though needles were sticking into the couple’s seats; neither could sit still.

Lin Chunhua’s heart was racing as she wondered if Zhijun was calling to say his marriage request had been approved and that he was coming home. The joy on her face was impossible to conceal. At her age, her greatest wish was for her sons to marry, settle down, and give her grandchildren to hold.

Fortunately, they didn’t have to wait long before the telephone rang. The team leader smiled, picked up his enamel tea mug, and stepped into the adjoining office, leaving the space to Qin Dayou and his wife.

“Hello?”

Lin Chunhua answered the phone.

She had assumed the call was from Zhijun, but to her surprise, the voice on the other end of the line did not belong to her son.

“Is this Comrade Qin Zhijun’s mother?”

Lin Chunhua’s heart skipped a beat, and she responded, “Yes, I am Qin Zhijun’s mother. May I ask who you are?”

The male voice on the other end said, “Hello, Auntie. I am a comrade-in-arms of Comrade Qin Zhijun. I need to inform you of something—please don’t panic when you hear this. Comrade Qin Zhijun was injured during a mission and is currently hospitalized at the military hospital. Could someone from your family come over to take care of him?”

Lin Chunhua felt a loud roar in her brain as her vision went dark. She took a deep breath before managing to compose herself.

The Qin couple, who had walked into the village branch brimming with joy to take the phone call, now had every trace of delight wiped from their faces, replaced by an expression as if the sky were falling. Lin Chunhua in particular couldn’t control herself; regardless of being out in public, tears began streaming down her face.

Qin Dayou quickly got the village party secretary to issue a letter of introduction, then hurried home with Lin Chunhua to pack their bags.

Their second and third sons were currently working in the township as bricklayer apprentices and were not at home, while their youngest daughter, Qin Xiaomei, had gone to Mount Daqing with Gu Wan early in the morning and had yet to return. The couple only had enough time to find their old neighbor, Zhu Fengxian, explain the situation, and ask her to keep an eye on their house. Then, slinging two bags of clothes over their shoulders and taking their money and ration coupons, they boarded a ox-drawn cart driven by the team leader and rushed toward the train station.

By the time Qin Xiaomei and Gu Wan descended the mountain and entered the village, the news that Qin Zhijun had been severely injured on a military mission and was hospitalized was already spreading like wildfire through Qinghu Village.

Qin Xiaomei was terrified out of her wits, chasing down Zhu Fengxian—who had brought her the message—to ask for details.

How could Zhu Fengxian know the specifics? She could only say, “Your parents left in a massive hurry, so I don’t know the details either. Don’t panic, Xiaomei. I believe good people are blessed by Heaven. Your family are all good people, and Heaven won’t let good people suffer, all right?”

When the woman who had been washing clothes by Qinghu Lake earlier delivered the laundry Lin Chunhua had left behind to the Qin household, Qin Xiaomei was still shedding tears. Zhu Fengxian accepted the clothes, helped hang them up to dry, and told Qin Xiaomei and her two older brothers to come over to the Gu house for dinner that day. She then left Gu Wan behind at the Qin house to keep Qin Xiaomei company before returning home herself.

Gu Wan had arrived home just in time for lunch. After half an hour to process everything, Qin Xiaomei was no longer as panicked.

She lit the stove and cooked at home herself rather than actually going to the Gu house to eat. In these times, every family’s grain was precious; even family members only ate until they were half-full, so who had spare grain to entertain outsiders? Auntie Gu was a good person, but she couldn’t be so impolite as to take advantage of her.

There was a stone mill in the Gu family’s courtyard. Taking advantage of a moment when no one was around, Gu Wan slipped into the yard, looked around to ensure the coast was clear, and bent down to lift the millstone.

The stone mill, weighing over two hundred catties, was actually lifted a few inches off the ground by her hands!

Gu Wan shuddered in fright, nearly dropping it on her own foot. Rattled and thoroughly shaken, she stared in panic, wondering if she was undergoing a demonic transformation.

Filled with terror and fear, she wanted to tell her parents about this, but she didn’t dare.

Her childhood memories of seeing Taoist priests and Buddhist monks being publicly denounced when they came down the mountain were too deeply engraved in her mind. That was merely from being branded with the label of “feudal superstition,” and the consequences had been severe. What would happen to someone like her? She didn’t dare to think.

Although such incidents had ceased over the past couple of years, who could say what the future held?

At dinner that night, Gu Chao, who had been out doing masonry work, returned home. Hearing Zhu Fengxian recount Qin Zhijun’s situation at the dinner table, the entire family sighed and lamented once more. Only Gu Wan kept her head bowed, listlessly picking at her sweet potato porridge with little appetite.

She possessed no special affection or deep bond with Qin Zhijun. When he went off to join the military, she was still an eight- or nine-year-old child. If she had to say what impression she had of him now, it was solely the urge to avoid him at all costs due to that strange bodily reaction.

Thus, while her family worried about Qin Zhijun’s condition, the news went in one ear and out the other for her. After all, with such a massive secret weighing on her heart and no telling how the various anomalies in her body would develop in the future, how could she have the leisure to care about the unrelated Qin Zhijun?

The news of Qin Zhijun’s injury served as post-dinner gossip for the villagers of Qinghu Village for the first few days before gradually fading away. That was until half a month later, when a military jeep drove into Qinghu Village and pulled up outside the gate of the Qin family yard.

In this era, people held a natural awe and reverence toward military personnel and government officials. Wary of the soldier who had driven the Qin family back, the villagers only dared to watch from a distance, and for a moment, no one stepped forward.

“It’s the Qin family’s eldest son who’s back.”

“Oh my, Qin Zhijun has been crippled.”

“The eldest of the Qin family… what a shame…”

These hushed discussions were lowered slightly, but in truth, everyone could hear them—and the Qin family was no exception.

Standing at the doorway of her own home, Gu Wan looked from afar at the man being helped out of the vehicle and assisted into a wheelchair. What crossed her mind was that she would need to be even more careful whenever she went out.

However, considering that he now needed a wheelchair to get around, as long as she exercised caution and walked away the moment she saw him from afar, she should be able to avoid him in time.

Gu Wan glanced at the bumpy, stone-strewn dirt road of the countryside. Lowering her head, a sudden thought struck her: If he needs a wheelchair to move around, he probably won’t come outside very often anyway, right? After all, it’s not very convenient.

A tiny, hidden sense of relief welled up in her heart, but feeling that she was being far too uncharitable, she quickly dispelled the thought.

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