The Stunningly Beautiful and Delicate Darling in the 1980s Military Compound - Chapter 9

After that brief exchange, Chen Che had no interest in humoring Song Mingyue further.

Mingyue gave a small “huff” of indifference and sat quietly on the back of the bicycle, letting the wind brush against her. As they rounded a corner, she spotted someone selling popsicles—specifically the green bean starch variety, something she couldn’t find back on Songzhuang Street. She called out for him to stop immediately. “I want a popsicle!”

Chen Che pulled the bicycle over to the side of the road. It was only after Mingyue grabbed the treat that she realized she hadn’t brought any money. Standing a good distance away, she stood on her tiptoes and waved him over.

Her long, elegant hair danced in the breeze. Her almond-shaped eyes were crinkled with laughter, and the deep dimples in her cheeks seemed to be smiling along with her. “Chen Che, hurry up and come here!”

Chen Che was actually quite curious. How could she remain so constantly happy? From the moment they met until now, he always saw her smiling, her eyes curving into crescents as if the world was full of nothing but joy.

He, on the other hand, was someone who rarely smiled. The consistent feedback from everyone around him was always the same: You should smile more.

Nibbling on her popsicle, Mingyue asked, “You brought money, right? I didn’t bring any. Help me pay for this.”

Chen Che pulled out the money and settled the tab. He watched as Mingyue earnestly licked the green bean ice, critiquing it as she went. “The green bean flavor is quite strong, not bad at all. Do you want to buy one and try it?”

“I don’t eat popsicles.” Chen Che’s pace was brisk, and he quickly walked ahead of her.

Not far ahead, a crowd had gathered on a stone slab bridge.

Mingyue looked on with curiosity. “Did something happen over there?”

No sooner had the words left her mouth than a woman’s voice shrieked, “Help! Someone jumped into the river!”

Hearing this, Chen Che didn’t hesitate for a second. He charged toward the scene. Mingyue followed close behind, swallowing her popsicle in a few quick bites and running with the speed of an athlete to see what was going on.

Pushing through the crowd of onlookers, Mingyue saw a girl in the middle of the river. She wasn’t thrashing or calling for help; instead, she floated with her head tilted back, looking as if she had finally found relief, though the water pressure was forcing her to choke.

She’s just a young girl.

Chen Che dove in immediately. The river was deep and the current fierce, but thanks to his experience, he reached the center and managed to lift the girl up. However, the girl struggled desperately to break free from his grasp.

Seeing this, Mingyue also dove off the bank. She was an avid swimmer with excellent technique; back in primary school, she had even won awards in city-wide competitions.

The two of them flanked the girl, forcibly bracing her between them, and slowly swam back to the shore.

Once they were back on land, Chen Che realized the girl had fainted and lost consciousness. Just as he was about to hoist her onto his back to run for the hospital, Mingyue stopped him. “It’ll be too late by the time we get to the hospital. Lay her down, let me try.”

He saw an unprecedented look of seriousness in her eyes. Unconsciously, Chen Che placed the girl down on the stone slabs.

Mingyue quickly cleared the girl’s mouth and nose of obstructions and began performing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

The onlookers gasped. They had never seen such a procedure before and had no idea what she was doing.

After the rescue breaths, Mingyue began chest compressions—roughly thirty times—before returning to the rescue breaths. After two cycles of this, the girl suddenly coughed up a mouthful of water, her breathing finally returning.

Only then did Mingyue collapse exhaustedly beside her to catch her breath. She was a mess—soaking wet just like the girl, her hair disheveled and tangled with a few strands of river weed.

The bright sun pricked at her eyes. The stone slabs had been heated by the sun to a high temperature, scorching her skin like it was being grilled, but Mingyue didn’t even have the strength to sit up.

“Are you okay?” Chen Che asked from beside her.

“Pull me up,” Mingyue reached out a hand, muttering under her breath. “You don’t have a shred of gentlemanly grace.”

She tilted her head and saw the girl who had jumped. The girl’s eyes were vacant. Mingyue panted out, “Little sister… no matter how bad things seem, you shouldn’t jump into a river.”

An onlooker recognized her. “Isn’t that Fangfang, the shoemaker’s daughter?”

“Fangfang, why was it you? Why would you jump? Don’t you want your parents and your brother anymore?”

Hearing this, the girl’s emotions became volatile again. “Why did you save me?! Why did you save me?! Let me go, I beg you, let me go!”

She sobbed as she spoke, trying to scramble up to throw herself back into the river. The people around her surrounded her, but the girl’s strength was immense; it took three or four strong men to hold her back.

Realizing she couldn’t get back to the water, the girl slumped onto the ground and began to wail. Mingyue observed her closely: she wore a faded, coarse linen shirt covered in patches. On her feet were cloth shoes with buckles. In this weather, most people wore sandals; the fact that she was wearing stifling cloth shoes suggested her family’s financial situation was quite poor.

Her face looked very young, with flushed cheeks. Though her skin was tanned and rough, her features were beautiful—a round, oval face and dark eyes that had lost their luster. Even after being submerged, her two thick, dark braids remained tightly bound, making her look even more helpless and pitiful.

Judging by her appearance, she couldn’t be more than twenty years old.

Mingyue felt a pang of sympathy. She thought of the original host of her body—it felt like fate. Someone had saved the original host, allowing her to cross over into this world. Now, she was helping a girl who shared a similar experience.

She comforted her: “You only have one life. No matter what happens, you still have your family. Think of your parents.”

The girl’s sobbing only grew louder.

Someone nearby who knew the inside story shouted, “I know what’s going on! Her mother wants her to do a ‘sister-for-sister’ exchange marriage for her brother. The other party is an old, ugly cripple. She probably refused, which is why she jumped.”

The crowd erupted in disapproval. “Oh my, that won’t do! How can you marry a young maiden off to a cripple?”

“But her brother is thirty and still can’t find a wife. It’s just the two of them in the family.”

The crowd went silent again. In this era, if a man wasn’t married by thirty, he was a laughingstock. If it were their own family, they would likely make the same choice.

“She really is a girl with a bitter fate.” An older woman surrounded her and said, “Listen to my advice: just endure it for your brother’s sake. Marrying a man isn’t about looks. If the cripple knows how to care for someone, you can still live a harmonious life.”

Exchange marriage. This was the first time Mingyue had heard of such a thing, unaware that in this era, many such backward customs still existed in rural areas. If a woman was lucky, she married a man of equal status; but in an exchange marriage, the family was usually struggling, and the one sacrificed was always the girl.

Mingyue nudged Chen Che. “What do you think?”

Chen Che remained silent. His expression didn’t betray his thoughts, but a trace of sorrow surfaced in the depths of his eyes. In this society, there were still thousands upon thousands of such miseries. This was exactly why they needed to put in the work—they couldn’t stop for even a moment.

His steps felt heavy, and his voice sounded weary. “Let’s go. We still have luggage to pick up.”

“You don’t want to save this girl?”

Chen Che thought she was being naive. When they were stationed in the Great Northwest, they encountered many such situations. At first, the villagers would listen to them because they were soldiers, but in reality, they would still treat the girls as commodities to be traded. When the military tried to interfere later, the villagers became hostile. “Unless you give my whole family a meal, don’t ask me for anything. If we can’t survive, why should we care about anything else?”

They could provide for one household, but not for millions.

Back then, his superior had told him: “To change this situation, we can’t rely on the success of one or two families. We need the motherland to be strong. Only when the country is well and people are fed—when the lives of farmers improve—will these things naturally disappear. So, what we must do is make the country strong. It might take ten years, twenty years, and the sacrifice of many people, but for the sake of the many, this is our responsibility.”

Chen Che remembered those words deeply to this day. It was why he had gotten into the Missile Control System Research Institute and why he worked silently at his post.

But regarding the individual, he seemed somewhat numb. He asked Mingyue, “How do you plan to save her?”

“I have an idea. Can you get a fake hospital certificate?”

“I can try. What kind of certificate do you need?”

“Good. When the time comes, follow my lead, okay?” Her tone was full of authority. For the first time, Chen Che realized she was somewhat different from what he had imagined.