Chapter 11

“My husband is the captain of the Ankang Brigade.”

Zhang Aizhen pointed to Tan Sanyong and said, “Comrade, if you need anything, you can speak to him.”

In this era, scams didn’t exist yet. People trusted each other and were genuinely warm-hearted.

In short: if you need something, just say it.

Especially those who held some kind of official post—they were even more willing to help solve the people’s problems.

“Captain Tan, hello. I’m a distant nephew of Gu Yuanbao. I’m a retired soldier. My parents are both deceased, and Uncle Sanbao is my only known relative. I’d like to transfer my household registration to Ankang Brigade and settle down here. Is that possible?”

Gu Beilu took out the introduction letter issued by the military unit, proving that he was indeed a retired soldier.

Tan Sanyong took the letter and skimmed through it. It had the military’s official seal—definitely not fake.

He had also served in the army when he was younger and had a special respect for soldiers.

“Of course! Welcome to Ankang Brigade. I’ll go get paper and pen to write your reference letter right away.” Tan Sanyong said warmly.

“Comrade, I have some in the car. Come with me.”

Song Junjie called Tan Sanyong toward the car and then turned to his sister: “Go down and take care of Luzi.”

Song Qianqian, her eyes red, climbed out of the car and hesitantly walked up behind Gu Beilu, not saying a word, as if waiting for him to comfort her.

“Comrade, the army these days is way better than in our time—just look at this fancy car.”

When Tan Sanyong got in the car, he was careful not to get sweat on the seat and perched on the edge of the front passenger seat.

“Here’s the paper and pen, and here are some meat coupons, industrial vouchers, and sugar coupons.”

This was Song Junjie’s first time giving a bribe, so he wasn’t smooth about it—he just stuffed all the tickets into Tan Sanyong’s hands.

“What’s this about?” Tan Sanyong was completely confused.

He had been brigade captain for years. Sometimes villagers would give small tokens of thanks—like eggs or fish.

Tan Sanyong would accept those, because he was just a brigade leader and villagers usually needed small favors like reference letters.

He’d also have his wife, Zhang Aizhen, return the favor. It created mutual goodwill.

If he acted too strict and upright, it would just distance him from the people and make it harder to work with them.

But a few people had tried to use gifts like chickens to get more grain allocation—and that was a line Tan Sanyong would never cross.

Seeing this many valuable tickets—meat, industry, sugar—he panicked and waved his hands:
“Young comrade, what are you doing?”

“Comrade, my brother has suffered a lot. I just hope you’ll look out for him. His Uncle Yuanbao’s house is completely uninhabitable. Can you maybe arrange another place for him to live?”

Song Junjie and Bailu (Gu Beilu’s former name) had grown up together in the military compound and were closer than real brothers. Naturally, he couldn’t bear to see him suffer and wanted to smooth things out for him.

“Even if you hadn’t said anything, I would’ve made sure Comrade Bailu had a place to stay.”

The reference letter clearly stated that Bailu had been injured in battle and was an honorable retired soldier. Being able to welcome him to Ankang was an honor, and he deserved proper treatment.

“Take these things back. Don’t try this again,” Tan Sanyong said firmly, returning the tickets.

“Then give them to Bailu instead.” Song Junjie pushed the tickets back again.

“If you want to give them, do it yourself.” Tan Sanyong took the pen and paper and got out of the car.

Song Junjie sighed. If Bailu were willing to accept, he would’ve given them long ago.

When Tan Sanyong stepped out of the car, he saw the girl in the red dress approaching Comrade Bailu, who immediately sensed it and rolled his wheelchair away.

The courtyard wasn’t big, so the wheelchair moved past Song Qianqian and toward Leng Xue and Zhang Aizhen.

“Is this one of those stories where the goddess is in love but the king is indifferent?” Zhang Aizhen thought to herself.

But on closer inspection, though the girl in red was indeed beautiful—bright eyes, white teeth, graceful figure—she was far less stunning than Leng Xue.

“Bailu gege, are you still mad at me? I’m sorry, okay? I apologize…”

Seeing Leng Xue, Song Qianqian felt a sudden sense of danger and chased after Bailu.

“I told you. My surname is Gu.”

“Gu?” Tan Sanyong looked surprised. “But your reference letter says Bailu?”

“My parents were both killed in the war. I was adopted by the Bai family. Now that I know my true identity, I must reclaim my roots and change my name accordingly.”

“That makes sense. So, will your new name be Gu Lu?” Tan Sanyong asked, preparing to write the new name on the reference letter.

“What a coincidence,” Zhang Aizhen suddenly chimed in, “Zhaodi just changed her name to Leng Xue today, and this comrade wants a name change too.”

Gu Beilu looked up—and his eyes met the bright, clear gaze of Leng Xue.

That one glance was earth-shattering.

Suddenly, Gu Beilu wanted to spend his life with this girl he had just met.

He wanted to take her to see the most beautiful sights in the world, to walk with her from south to north.

But then he looked at his leg—outside the capital, in this poor rural village, there would be no proper medical treatment. He might never walk normally again.

And his injured eye would never recover. He was now a disabled man—how could he ever deserve such a beautiful girl?

Tan Sanyong, seeing him silent and staring at his legs, thought he was upset and quickly comforted him:

“Comrade Gu, being injured in battle is a badge of honor. Everyone in our brigade respects soldiers. No one will look down on you. I read your letter—you were even a company commander! That’s no small feat.”

Leng Xue… Gu Beilu repeated the name in his heart.

“Xue” (snow) was a gift of winter.
Then he would call himself Beilu—Northern Land.

In ancient times, Beilu was a poetic reference to winter.

“Gu Beilu. Captain, the ‘Bei’ from north, and ‘Lu’ from land.”

As soon as Gu Beilu finished speaking, Leng Xue’s heart warmed.

She knew it. No matter the world, her Beilu would always fall in love with her at first sight.