Chapter 9

“Yes, go straight ahead and turn right—you’ll see it,” said Tan Sanyong.

The village road was narrow. After giving directions, Tan Sanyong moved the cart to the roadside grass to let the vehicle pass.

“Comrade, just to confirm—it’s east from here, right?” The driver spoke with a Beijing accent, as most northerners do, using compass directions.

“Yes,” Tan Sanyong replied, pointing in the correct direction after securing the cart.

“Alright, thank you, Comrade.” The driver expressed his thanks and carefully drove past.

The road was narrow, so he drove slowly to avoid scraping the cart.

As he passed Zhang Aizhen, she murmured, “That soldier’s really handsome. Thick eyebrows, sharp eyes, high nose bridge—very upright-looking.”

The driver was dressed in a green military uniform, sleeves rolled up to the elbows, revealing muscular arms.

“Oh my, the one next to him is even more dashing.” Zhang Aizhen let out a gasp of amazement.

Leng Xue looked up and caught a perfect side profile of the young man in the front passenger seat—his image etched into her heart.

Thump-thump-thump…

Leng Xue clenched her fists, forcing herself to calm down. In this world, Gu Beilu didn’t know her—she had to be patient.

“You old woman, you’re not even embarrassed at your age?” Tan Sanyong said, a bit sour.

Leng Xue snapped back to her senses and chuckled.

To meet Gu Beilu on her first day in this world was certainly something to be happy about.

“I’m just admiring their looks—what’s wrong with that?”

Zhang Aizhen was a married woman, and those two young men were young enough to be her sons—what was there to be shy about?

“The girl in the back is very pretty too. That red dress is so stylish and elegant.”

However, for some reason, she looked very unhappy. After glancing coldly out the window, she stared blankly at the back of the front passenger’s head.

“What are they doing looking for Gu Yuanbao? He’s been dead for years.”

Tan Sanyong, dragging the cart and sweating heavily, wiped his brow and asked in confusion.

Leng Xue heard the surname “Gu” and immediately felt it had to do with Gu Beilu—after all, the surname wasn’t common.

She activated the red Light Ball in her mind and mentally triggered the search: “Search: Gu Yuanbao’s background.”

[Underworld Search Engine — Answers Instantly]

The Light Ball didn’t give a direct answer immediately, instead showing a flashing 8-character red advertisement.

Thankfully, the ad was short. Five seconds later, Gu Yuanbao’s brief biography appeared on-screen.

Leng Xue watched it at 2x speed and quickly got the gist: Gu Yuanbao was Gu Beilu’s father’s cousin, which meant Gu Beilu would call him tang-shu (paternal cousin uncle).

He had a tragic life. Orphaned young and too poor to marry even in his 30s or 40s, he died saving a drowning girl—he ran out of strength and drowned himself.

Just as Leng Xue finished reading, they arrived at the educated youth housing. Coincidentally, Gu Yuanbao’s house was right next to it.

Calling it a “house” was generous—it was really just a barely livable mud-walled thatch hut. Inside, it was empty. There wasn’t even a proper bed.

When Gu Yuanbao was alive, he simply laid straw on the ground with a tattered quilt and a discarded sheet from another family. That was his “bed.”

“Beilu-gege, how can anyone live here?!”

The girl in the red dress hadn’t even gotten out of the car before her eyes were brimming with tears. Her lips pouted, and she looked terribly wronged.

“This place is worlds apart from your home in Beijing. Beilu-gege, go back and apologize to Aunt Yan. I’ll get my parents to help plead your case. You can still go home.”

And still be the son of a military commander.

That last sentence, Song Qianqian didn’t say aloud.

“Second Brother, say something to persuade Beilu-gege, will you?” Song Qianqian grew anxious when Gu Beilu didn’t respond and turned to her brother Song Junjie for support.

But before Song Junjie could speak, the young man in the front passenger seat spoke coldly: “My surname isn’t Bai. It’s Gu.”

“But Aunt Yan said… if you realized your mistake on the way, you could still return.”

Song Qianqian liked “Bai Lu” very much. Even after learning he was only the adopted son of Commander Bai, she was unwilling to let go. After all, he was the object of her long-time crush.

He was her first love—the most beautiful encounter of her youth. Her eternal white moonlight.

But asking her to live with him in the countryside, where there was no toilet—only an outhouse—and no water heater? Song Qianqian couldn’t do it. She was still trying to persuade “Bai Lu” to return.

“I did nothing wrong,” Gu Beilu responded, clearly unmoved.

Song Junjie disagreed with his sister and reprimanded her seriously: “Song Qianqian, Luzi didn’t do anything wrong. He risked his life to save Bai Yan and now he’s in a wheelchair and blind in one eye. What mistake did he make?”

“Bai Yan really is a traitor. Luzi saved him, and not only did he not thank him, he even stole the military merit that should’ve belonged to Luzi.”

Song Junjie was furious for his good friend. The veins on his neck bulged with anger.

“But that battle—only Bai Yan and Beilu-gege came back alive. No third person can prove who’s telling the truth. Besides, only back in Beijing can he get the best treatment for his eye and leg,” Song Qianqian murmured.

After all, Bai Yan came back uninjured, and Beilu had already fainted during the battle. She was more inclined to believe it was Bai Yan who had retrieved the critical intel behind enemy lines.

“Don’t you know what kind of person Luzi is?” Song Junjie turned to her with a cold look.

The Song family had three boys and only one girl. Song Qianqian was pampered from a young age, but now she couldn’t even tell right from wrong.

At the military district, between Bai Lu and Bai Yan, whether in sparring, training, or real combat drills, Bai Lu’s skills and physical fitness far outmatched Bai Yan’s. How could he suddenly underperform on the battlefield?

While Bai Lu was still unconscious in the hospital, Bai Yan had already claimed the military credit. By the time Bai Lu woke up, Bai Yan had attended the celebration ceremony and given multiple speeches in the district.

Bai Lu was no saint. He was furious and immediately reported the truth to the organization.

Given how serious it was, the matter eventually landed on the desk of Commander Bai for final judgment.

Since only the two involved survived, and each gave a different version, there was no conclusive evidence. From a neutral perspective, neither could be fully believed.

To be fair, Commander Bai decided to attribute the military honor to the entire unit that had carried out the mission. The unit was recognized as a “Heroic Company,” and Bai Yan’s personal merit was revoked.

Bai Lu had no objections to this ruling—but Bai Yan felt it was a huge injustice.

If he hadn’t received the honor to begin with, it would’ve been fine. But now that everyone in the military district knew he had received it and then lost it, it became a humiliating disgrace.

Knowing his father wouldn’t defend him, Bai Yan cried to his mother, Yan Hongmei. Yan, unable to bear her son’s grievance, angrily lashed out at Bai Lu, calling him an ungrateful traitor.

To this day, the image of Yan Hongmei’s furious face was still fresh in Bai Lu’s mind.