Chapter 7

Fan Hua stared at the stack of “Big Unity” notes left in her hand by Zhao Yilu—twenty bills in total, two hundred yuan! An ordinary person might not even be able to save this much in a year. This was equivalent to tens of thousands of yuan forty years later.

How did Zhao Yilu recognize her? And why would he give her so much money?

Fan Hua seriously speculated. She guessed that this was probably… when He Siyang was serving as a “zhiqing” (educated youth sent to the countryside), his younger brother, Zhao Yilu, had visited him and met the original Fan Lihua. But since she had no memory of Fan Lihua’s past, and the novel didn’t mention this part, she had no way of knowing for sure.

Judging by Zhao Yilu’s attitude toward her today, He Siyang most likely told him about their night together after returning to the capital. So Zhao Yilu misunderstood and now sees her as his future sister-in-law—giving her money out of pity and to help her out!

This He Siyang really was too loose-lipped—why did he have to share everything?!

Fan Hua’s impression of He Siyang worsened even further!

If her speculation was correct, then she must never let Zhao Yilu find out that she’s pregnant—and absolutely must not let him tell He Siyang that he saw her. Otherwise, her life might never be peaceful again!

As for the money… she’d better accept it for now, treat it as a loan, and think about how to repay it later. After all, she truly was short on money at the moment!

Fan Hua tucked the money away and happily returned to her seat. When she looked again at Zhao Yilu, who was still standing nearby, she found him particularly pleasing to the eye and couldn’t help flashing him a sweet smile.

The original Fan Lihua had already been sweet and delicate in appearance. Now with that smile, her refined eyebrows curved adorably, and two little dimples appeared on her fair cheeks—true to her name, she looked just like a blooming pear blossom in spring: beautiful and sweet.

Zhao Yilu’s heart skipped a beat…

Back when he was a zhiqing in Fanjia Village, he had heard people say that although Fan Lihua was pretty, she was lazy and dim-witted, and her family was completely unreasonable—one should stay far away from people like her, or life would be a mess after marriage.

And Zhao Yilu was only in the village pretending to be his frail elder brother, He Siyang. He always used He Siyang’s name and kept as low a profile as possible, fearing that being found out would ruin not only himself but the entire He family. Impersonating someone to avoid conscription was no small matter! So he had never paid attention to Fan Lihua before, and the two had never spoken a word.

Even that night—they were done and he had only taken one hurried glance at her in the moonlight before jumping out the window. If Fan Daqiang had caught him, he definitely would’ve been forced to marry her on the spot. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to take responsibility—it was that he couldn’t… not yet.

So he left a letter, promising her to wait for him for three years. After three years, he would come back to marry her!

Only now did Zhao Yilu realize just how sweet and beautiful her smile could be. She was the most stunningly smiling girl he had ever seen—he couldn’t take his eyes off her…

And since boarding the train, he had been observing Fan Hua closely. After several hours of watching and interacting with her, he realized that she might not be as stupid and lazy as the rumors said.

On the contrary, her eyes were clear and bright—she looked intelligent and thoughtful.

“Fan Hua’er, where’ve you been for so long?” Geng Ailing asked with concern when she saw Fan Hua return.

“Nothing much, just my back felt sore from sitting too long, so I stood outside for a while while getting water,” Fan Hua replied with a smile.

“We’re about to arrive at Xing City. This stop will be a longer one. If you’re feeling stuffy, you can get off for a bit of fresh air when the train stops.”

“Sure, I’ll take a walk when we stop. Sister-in-law Geng, do you want to come too?”

“You go ahead. I’ll stay here and watch your things.”

“What is there to watch? It’s just this little bundle with nothing but a change of clothes—nothing a thief would bother with. Plus, there are so many soldiers in our car, any thief would avoid it altogether.”

Geng Ailing thought for a moment and agreed, but when they got off the train, she left the bedding behind and carried her small bundle with money on her.

Fan Hua was excited. She hadn’t had money before, but now she had 200 yuan! She wanted to see if there were any vendors near the station selling things like cups, toothbrushes, towels, and soap—she couldn’t stand not brushing her teeth for two or three days; she’d probably lose her appetite!

Once the train stopped, Fan Hua happily jumped off with Geng Ailing…

Unfortunately, due to tight material control in this era—and it being nighttime—they didn’t find any vendors selling daily necessities. There was finally a stall selling soap, but it required a soap ration ticket! That’s when she remembered: in this era, money alone wasn’t enough—you also needed ration tickets!

“Lihua’er, you want to buy soap?” Geng Ailing asked.

“Yeah, but I don’t have a ticket,” Fan Hua replied glumly.

As soon as she spoke, Geng Ailing handed her one. “Here, take this—I’ve got some!”

Fan Hua’s eyes lit up instantly. She accepted the ticket and gratefully said, “Sister-in-law Geng, you’re so kind!”

Geng Ailing scratched her head and chuckled a bit sheepishly. “Actually, I figured that once we leave Hebei Province, this ticket won’t be valid anymore—so I was willing to give it up. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be so generous.”

Fan Hua: …

This Sister Geng was a little too honest.

After buying the soap, the two of them returned to the carriage. As they passed a group of men smoking outside, Fan Hua covered her nose and mouth tightly, afraid of stirring her nausea again.

Back at her seat, Fan Hua was surprised to find several new items there—

An old-style thermos, a towel, a toothbrush and toothpaste set, and two oil-paper-wrapped pastries!

She instinctively looked over at Zhao Yilu, who had returned to his seat—he gave her a slight nod.

Fan Hua couldn’t help screaming inwardly: Oh my god, this man is amazing! How did he even get these things?! Her impression of this “cannon-fodder little brother” improved dramatically again.

Geng Ailing was also very curious. “Lihua’er, why are there all these things on your seat? Did someone leave them there by mistake?”

Fan Hua packed them into her little bundle while saying, “Who knows? Let’s keep them for now. If someone comes looking for them, we’ll return them. If no one does, then they’re ours.”

In this era, everything was precious. Geng Ailing agreed with her reasoning and didn’t ask further.

As the train started moving again, the noise in the car gradually subsided. A squad of new recruits was stationed in this carriage, so everyone felt safe knowing that thieves wouldn’t dare make trouble here. They all settled in and tried to sleep in the most comfortable positions they could find.

Some crawled under the seats, some slept on small fold-out tables, some leaned against acquaintances, and some even climbed up onto the luggage racks…

Taking the train during this time was a luxury. Sleeping berths were extremely rare—not just expensive but also restricted—so even on long-distance trips, most people bought hard seats.

Fan Hua glanced around, observing the strange sleeping postures and listening to the rhythmic snoring, her mood complex.

She had napped earlier in the afternoon and wasn’t tired at all. Noticing that Zhao Yilu across from her was still awake, Fan Hua began planning: once everyone was asleep, she needed to find a chance to thank him—and also warn him not to tell He Siyang he’d seen her.

Geng Ailing noticed Fan Hua sitting upright and lost in thought, so she nudged her and said, “Lihua’er, I’ll sleep under the seat—you lie down and get some rest.”

“Sister-in-law Geng, it’s too cold under there. Let’s just lean on each other and sleep,” Fan Hua suggested.

“No need. I’ve heard that sleeping under the seat is more comfortable. I even brought a little mat this time—it won’t be cold.”

Since Geng Ailing insisted, Fan Hua didn’t argue further. Her fondness for this sister-in-law grew even more.

“Alright then, thank you for tonight. Tomorrow night we’ll switch—I’ll sleep down there, and you can sleep up here.”

“Oh come on, it’s not a big deal. We should take care of each other when traveling. Now go on, get some sleep. Traveling by train is exhausting.”

With that, Geng Ailing crawled under the seat and started snoring peacefully.

A while later, when everyone was asleep and only she and Zhao Yilu were still sitting, Fan Hua gave him a signal and headed toward the water boiler with her thermos.

Zhao Yilu got up and followed her…

The floor was cluttered with sleeping passengers. Fan Hua walked very carefully, afraid of tripping.

Just as she neared the junction between cars, someone sleeping under a seat suddenly rolled over and stuck out a leg—Fan Hua, caught off guard, stumbled and fell forward. Instinctively, she reached out her hands to break the fall and protect her belly—then shut her eyes tightly…