Chapter 6: Overnight Stay

The distance from Yandu to Lin Qiao’s hometown, Shahe Village, was not short. Even with a 7 a.m. departure, they wouldn’t arrive until three or four in the afternoon. Now, with the poor road conditions, the Jeep couldn’t go fast. Forget three or four o’clock; they might not even make it by nine or ten.

In rural areas, people went to bed early, usually around eight in the evening. Moreover, the rain not only reduced visibility but also made the roads slippery. Even an experienced driver like Xiao Fang couldn’t guarantee safe travel at night.

Ji Duo remained calm and asked Lin Qiao, “Do you have an introduction letter?”

Lin Qiao knew immediately that he was considering an overnight stay and continuing to Shahe Village in the morning.

In the early 1980s, there were no private hotels. Whether staying in a hotel or a guesthouse, an introduction letter was required.

Lin Qiao replied honestly, “The educated youth was introduced by the village party secretary’s wife.”

If someone else had introduced them, a good village party secretary might secretly help Lin Qiao. But since it was the party secretary’s wife, Lin Qiao couldn’t hint at her intention to run away, let alone get an introduction letter.

Ji Duo didn’t ask further, “Then we’ll find a local family to stay with.”

He and Xiao Fang were both soldiers. Even if Lin Qiao didn’t have an introduction letter, offering more money wouldn’t arouse too much suspicion or caution. Moreover, this stretch of road was quite remote, and they hadn’t seen a single house for a long time. Finding a town with a hotel before dark seemed unlikely.

Xiao Fang acknowledged and paid more attention to the road ahead.

However, as the sky darkened, they still hadn’t found a place to stay, and a new problem arose.

Xiao Fang stopped the Jeep by the roadside, took an umbrella, and walked a bit ahead, following the car’s headlights. When he returned, his expression wasn’t good. “It looks like there’s a landslide ahead. The road is blocked for the most part. It’s hard to see clearly from here.”

Lin Qiao thought that if she were Ji Duo, she’d be frustrated by now. Out of nowhere, someone with a marriage agreement appeared, making him waste two days on this trip, and now one problem after another.

Ji Duo indeed frowned. “Let’s go a bit further and see.”

Xiao Fang did as instructed, and even Ji Duo lowered the car window slightly to observe the road conditions through the rain.

The rain had lessened, and under the high beams, they could vaguely see the dirt road mostly covered by sand and stones. Lin Qiao also peeked out and saw that the remaining road was barely half a meter wide, definitely not enough for a Jeep to pass through.

Xiao Fang, with more experience, said, “We can’t get through unless we clear over a meter.”

Clear over a meter? How?

Even if they had tools, which they might not, they’d be soaked in no time in this rain.

Moreover, the rain hadn’t stopped, and there was a risk of a second landslide. It wasn’t worth the risk just to get through.

Ji Duo raised the window. “Let’s head back and stay in the previous town for the night.”

That would be far, at least a two or three hours drive…

Lin Qiao was about to lean back when she suddenly heard something through the rain. “It sounds like there’s a noise…”

Before she finished speaking, Ji Duo had already said, “Stop the car.” He quickly lowered the window again. He listened for a moment, then immediately exited the car, walking briskly towards the sound despite the pouring rain.

Xiao Fang was a step behind, quickly grabbing an umbrella and following. They soon returned, and Ji Duo opened the car door, starting to unbutton his uniform. “Someone’s buried. Xiao Fang and I will go help. You stay in the car.”

He tossed his jacket onto the front passenger seat and went to the trunk to get a shovel. He only wore a crisp shirt, which quickly clung to his firm chest as the rain hit it.

The man didn’t seem to mind. Rolling up his sleeves to reveal muscular arms, he began clearing the road efficiently. Despite his stern appearance, he didn’t hesitate to do the dirty and hard work. But now it was a race against time to save someone, so Lin Qiao didn’t think much and jumped out of the car to open the trunk.

Given the poor road conditions of the era, the Jeep’s trunk was well-stocked with tools. Besides the shovels Ji Duo and Xiao Fang took, there were pickaxes, spades, hammers, and even a large military searchlight.

Lin Qiao thought for a moment, then pulled out a pickaxe and the searchlight, holding them as she ran over. As she got closer, she saw the edge of the dirt road covered in sand and stones, revealing half of a wooden wheelbarrow. The cart was tilted, with a mud-covered man trapped underneath. His face was unclear, but she could hear his weak groans.

Lin Qiao quickly turned on the searchlight, illuminating the area around the wheelbarrow. With the added light, visibility improved significantly. Ji Duo glanced at her but said nothing.

Lin Qiao then had a moment to look at the landslide and saw that the hard rock inside was exposed, indicating a lower risk of a second landslide. She breathed a sigh of relief and helped the two men lift the wheelbarrow.

Together, they managed to free the man trapped underneath.

Ji Duo laid the man flat by the roadside, checking him over. “His leg and arm bones are broken. I don’t know if there’s internal bleeding.”

Such severe injuries definitely required hospital care. They carefully lifted the man into the back seat of the Jeep.

Lin Qiao moved her backpack and food to the side, making as much space as possible for the injured man.

Xiao Fang started the car, ready to turn back, but the man weakly said, “Go… go ahead… it’s close…”

But the road ahead wasn’t clear. Xiao Fang looked at Ji Duo in the front seat.

Ji Duo said nothing, pushing the door open to get more tools from the trunk.

Clearing the road ahead was faster. In about ten minutes, they managed to clear enough space for the Jeep to pass. After driving for another twenty minutes, they saw the lights of a town.

When they brought the man to the town hospital, he was already unconscious from the pain. Unable to contact his family, Ji Duo paid the medical fees and had the on-duty doctor stop the bleeding and bandage him up.

Watching the man being taken away on a stretcher, Lin Qiao couldn’t help but sneeze, realizing she and Ji Duo were still wet – especially Ji Duo, whose damp hair and muddy uniform looked quite rugged compared to his usual neat military appearance. His well-built physique was evident under the wet clothes.

Hearing Lin Qiao sneeze, Ji Duo glanced at her, then politely looked away from her wet hair and face. He asked the nurse, “Do you have any spare hospital gowns?”

Seeing they were soldiers who had just saved someone, the nurse quickly found gowns for them.

“Change into these first,” Ji Duo handed one to Lin Qiao. “The man hasn’t woken up yet. We’ll stay here for the night.”

Feeling sticky and cold, Lin Qiao took the gown and changed in the women’s restroom. When she came out, Ji Duo was standing by the window, still in his wet uniform, with a hint of red on his lips under the dim light.

Maybe it was out of politeness, or maybe the car wasn’t well-ventilated, but this was the first time Lin Qiao saw him smoking.

Hearing footsteps, the man turned slightly, removing the cigarette from his lips and pointing towards a nearby ward door with his long fingers. “The nurse arranged a room with two empty beds. You can sleep there and dry your clothes on the boiler.”

His tone was like an old cadre giving instructions, but the small action of biting the cigarette revealed a hint of rebelliousness that didn’t match his stern exterior.

Lin Qiao felt that his soaked appearance contributed to this impression and smiled, asking, “Am I being a bother?”

Though she wasn’t afraid to talk to anyone and had a bit of a social butterfly personality, she wasn’t the type to make conversation for the sake of it. Ji Duo and Xiao Fang were both quiet, and Xiao Fang needed to focus on driving. She had spent most of the journey sleeping and eating, making this the first time she initiated a conversation.

Ji Duo thought she was about to say some polite words of apology and responded blandly, “Not really.”

“Not really, so it’s a bit of a bother then.”

Unexpectedly, Lin Qiao raised her eyebrows slightly, “Since it’s already a bother, can I trouble you with one more thing?”

She had a pair of excessively bright eyes, especially when she looked at someone with a slight tilt, the red mole at the corner of her eye adding a touch of mischief and liveliness. That kind of beauty was full of presence and aggression.

Ji Duo didn’t know what she was about to ask, so he lowered his gaze and simply said, “Speak.”

“Tomorrow, when we get to my house, no matter what conditions my uncle and aunt propose, don’t agree to them. You probably don’t know, but besides my cousin’s job, they’ve also taken a lot of things from the other party. If this doesn’t work out, they won’t be able to repay it and definitely won’t let it go.”

“Are you afraid of owing a favor?” Ji Duo asked, his deep voice slightly muffled by the cigarette.

Lin Qiao shook her head frankly, “I don’t want them to take advantage, not even a little. I don’t owe them anything. I’ve done a lot of work since I was young, and they’ve taken a lot of my dad’s allowance. Now they want to sell me. If we agree to their conditions to quickly resolve this, believe me, they’ll latch onto the Ji family like leeches, never letting go.”

Her words were blunt, but this bluntness made them sound more like facts rather than malicious speculation.

Ji Duo raised his eyes slightly, “You seem to know them well.”

“If you’re about to be sold and don’t understand them, wouldn’t you be a fool?”

Not only her, but even the original character never intended to marry that male educated youth. Lin Qiao blinked, “Do you believe that even if I ran away, they wouldn’t cancel the engagement? They’d just delay as much as possible and find a way to catch me back.”

Lin Qiao wasn’t wrong. Lin Shouyi and his wife indeed thought that way.

Yesterday morning, when they didn’t see Lin Qiao, Sun Xiuzhi thought she was lying in bed pretending to be unwell, happy to save a meal, and didn’t bother to check. While washing dishes and feeding the chickens and ducks after breakfast, she cursed Lin Qiao for being lazy and only knowing how to eat for free at home.

By lunchtime, when Lin Qiao still hadn’t come out, the couple finally realized something was wrong.

Sun Xiuzhi went to check herself and came back pale, “She’s gone, and she took her backpack.”

It was like cold water splashing into hot oil. For the next day and a half, the Lin family was searching for her. Lin Shouyi and his son Lin Wei even stopped working in the fields. Despite the heavy rain today, the family didn’t rest, and Lin Shouyi was still outside.

“The village and the school have been searched, and even the teachers and classmates have been asked. Where could that wretched girl have run off to?” Sun Xiuzhi was so anxious that she had a cold sore at the corner of her mouth, and speaking made her wince in pain. She stared at the rain pouring down outside and asked her son, Lin Wei, “Did you ask Yanzi from the Guo family? She’s the closest to that girl. She might know something.”

Dizzy from his mother’s pacing, Lin Wei replied, “I asked. Guo Yan went to her grandmother’s house the day before yesterday, she’s not home.”

“Then where could she have gone? She couldn’t have hanged herself, could she?” Sun Xiuzhi’s anxiety made her words harsh. Lin Wei frowned, about to say something when Lin Shouyi returned.

The rain was so heavy that even the oilcloth raincoat couldn’t keep him dry. As soon as Lin Shouyi entered, he left a small puddle on the floor.

Sun Xiuzhi quickly grabbed a towel, “What time is it? Why are you back so late?”

Lin Shouyi took the towel and wiped his face, “The water was too high, it flooded the small stone bridge at the village entrance. I had to wade through it to get back.”

“So, did you manage to go?”

“I did.” Lin Shouyi wrung out the soaked towel and continued drying himself, but his expression didn’t relax despite the affirmative answer. “My sister-in-law said she hadn’t seen Lin Qiao. When she saw me looking for someone, she kept asking what had happened.”

“She’s fooling you, right?” Sun Xiuzhi didn’t believe it. “Besides her own mother, who else could that girl go to?”

Lin Shouyi shook his head, frowning deeply, “It’s hard to say. Even if she wanted to keep her, her new husband might not agree.”

When Lin Qiao’s mother remarried, it was agreed that she wouldn’t bring the child. Over the years, she had little contact with the Lin family.

Sun Xiuzhi plopped down on the kang bed, “What are we going to do? I’ve been hiding this from the Ma family. They’re coming to pick her up tomorrow morning. Where am I supposed to produce a Lin Qiao for them?” She suddenly stood up as if struck by an idea. “Do you think that girl went to find the Ji family?”