After becoming a widow, I became the apple of a rough man's eye.

The next morning, the sound of the jeep's engine startled several roosting birds in the woods.

The car had been parked for two days and smelled a bit musty. Mu Dongye found a clean towel somewhere and started wiping the steering wheel.

Song Weihe had already gotten into the passenger seat, the window rolled all the way down, and she leaned out halfway, still holding onto Lin Qingqing's hand tightly.

"Take it."

Song Weihe placed a heavy little box into Lin Qingqing's hand. It was a Parker fountain pen that she always carried with her. "Don't always stay by the stove. This pen is for writing, not for keeping accounts and calculating daily expenses."

Lin Qingqing felt her palms burning and wanted to push it back: "This is too precious, I can't accept it."

"Take it if I give it to you."

Song Weihe's eyebrows furrowed, and that spoiled and willful streak returned:

"I didn't give this to you for nothing. There's a note inside with my phone number and address in Beijing. If these men ever bully you, or if you get tired of staying in this remote mountain village, write to me or call me from the county town."

She glanced at Qin Lie and Li Dongye standing not far away, and deliberately raised her voice: "Did you hear that? Qingqing has family backing her. Don't think you can bully her just because the mountains are high and the emperor is far away."

Qin Lie didn't say anything, but silently stuffed two jars of homemade pickled vegetables and a bag of dried game into the trunk of the jeep.

Lin Qingqing gripped the small box tightly, her eyes slightly red.

She had no friends in this village except for these few men.

Women treated her like a thief, but Song Weihe was the first woman to treat her as an equal.

"Alright, stop crying, it doesn't look good." Song Weihe reached out and pinched Lin Qingqing's face, then patted her head. "Let's go, Qingqing."

On the other side, Mu Wenbin finished cleaning the dust off his hands and turned to look at Li Dongye.

Li Dongye, with an unlit cigarette dangling from his mouth, leaned against the old locust tree at the gate of the courtyard, looking rather unseemly.

"Stand up straight." Mu Wenbin walked over, took the cigarette from his mouth, rubbed it between two fingers, and the cigarette turned into dust. "What kind of behavior is this?"

Li Dongye clicked his tongue, but still stood up straight obediently, though his eyes were still wandering elsewhere. "He's about to leave, why is he still so nosy?"

"You think you can just fly to the moon if I don't care about you?" Mu Wenbin patted the tobacco dust off his hands and looked at his younger brother with a deep gaze.

The two stared at each other for a few seconds.

Mu Wenbin suddenly spoke up: "Aren't you going to call me?"

Li Dongye was stunned for a moment, then realized what Mu Wenbin was referring to.

He opened his mouth, the word rolled twice in his throat, and then he swallowed it back. He subconsciously looked at Qin Lie standing on the other side.

Qin Lie was checking the jeep's tires when he sensed someone looking at him, but he didn't look up.

Li Dongye pouted, his stubbornness returning, "What's with the fuss? Let's hurry up and go, or we'll miss lunch."

Mu Wenbin stared at him for a while, but instead of getting angry, he twitched the corner of his mouth and said, "Fine, whatever you want."

He stopped looking at Li Dongye and turned to walk towards Qin Lie.

Two equally tall men stood facing each other. Mu Wenbin looked at Qin Lie and said, "I've given you the things. Come find me whenever you've figured things out. I'll reserve that position for you for a year."

Qin Lie threw the wrench back into the toolbox with a loud clang.

He stretched out his hand, which was covered in calluses and traces of engine oil.

Mu Wenbin didn't mind and reached out to shake his hand firmly.

"Drive carefully," Qin Lie said.

Mu Wenbin nodded, turned around and got into the car.

The moment the car door closed, it shut out the world inside and out. The engine roared, kicking up the yellow dust on the ground.

Song Weihe leaned out of the car window and waved frantically, "Qingqing! Remember to write to me! You must write!"

The red sedan followed behind the jeep, driven by Song Weihe's driver. The two vehicles, one after the other, bumped along the newly repaired dirt road towards the outside of the mountains.

Dust billowed up and quickly obscured the taillights.

Jiang He stood in the far corner, holding a handful of pig feed in his hand.

He stared at the direction the two cars had gone, and didn't look away until even the last bit of smoke had dissipated.

"What are you looking at? Your eyes are about to pop out."

Li Dongye slapped Jiang He on the back of the head, not hard, but with a hint of relief after venting his anger. "Hurry up and feed the pigs, they're starving and rooting around in their pens."

Jiang He snapped out of his daze, clutching the hay in his hand tightly, the juice staining his palm green. Instead of his usual playful banter with Li Dongye, he gave a sullen reply and turned to walk towards the pigpen.

The Qin family returned to its usual tranquility, or rather, it became even quieter than before.

The desolation that follows the excitement is the most unbearable.

Gu Qiangying pushed up her glasses, turned around and went back into the house to take care of Xiao Yong. Xiao Yong's loud voice broke the silence in the courtyard as he shouted for water.

"Here it comes, here it comes, it's killing me." Gu Qiangying complained, but her steps didn't stop.

Li Dongye sighed, took out a match from his pocket, and lit another cigarette. He looked at the empty village entrance and took a deep drag.

"Fourth Brother, smoke less." Lin Qingqing walked over and gently patted his back.

Li Dongye stiffened, then leaned closer to Lin Qingqing, "Let me lean on you for a bit."

Lin Qingqing didn't push him away, but just smiled helplessly, "Brother Mu is leaving, you must be sad to see him go, right?"

"Who wouldn't want to part with it?" Li Dongye retorted stubbornly, but he nuzzled his head against Lin Qingqing's neck. "I'm just worried about my money. That guy took all our dried meat as soon as he came."

Lin Qingqing felt itchy from his hair brushing against her neck and couldn't help but shrink back.

Qin Lie sat alone at the octagonal table in the main room, taking out the envelope given to him by Mu Wenbin from his pocket. The envelope wasn't thick, but it wasn't thin either; it certainly contained more than just Mu Wenbin's will.

He could feel something hard inside, and he originally didn't want to open it for Li Dongye.

But Li Dongye was easygoing, and Mu Wenbin was impulsive. Qin Lie was worried that if there was a family photo inside, the fourth brother would feel upset if he saw it, so he decided to check it first.

When the envelope was opened, two letters and a photograph were found inside.

One was ordinary paper, which Qin Lie set aside without looking at. The other was military stationery, with only a few lines of text on it. The handwriting was strong and powerful, exuding a sharp and decisive spirit.

That was Mu Wenbin's handwritten letter of recommendation. As long as Qin Lie took this letter to that address, he could return to the army, and even get a higher rank than before.

That was an opportunity that so many people dreamed of.

That is the shortcut to glory.

Qin Lie glanced at it, then folded the letter and set it aside.

His gaze fell on the photograph.

The photo has yellowed a bit and the edges are badly worn, clearly indicating that it has been frequently handled and caressed.

The background is a dense rainforest, where several young men in combat uniforms, their faces smudged with grime, laugh wildly, revealing their bright white teeth.

Standing in the very center was a young Qin Lie. Back then, his brows and eyes didn't yet hold the somber look they do now; instead, they were full of sharp, untamed energy. His arm was draped over the shoulder of a young man beside him.

The boy was very thin, his eyes narrowed into slits when he smiled, and he was holding half a compressed biscuit in his hand.

Qin Lie's fingers trembled slightly as his fingertips gently touched the face of the boy in the photo.

Memories flooded back like a tide.

Heavy rain. Muddy.

A distance of two kilometers.

The crosshairs in the scope.

And then there was the mouth shape Xiaodong made when he turned around at the end.

"Brother Lie, fire!"

Qin Lie closed his eyes and slowly exhaled.

That bastard Mu Wenbin, he's always doing whatever he wants.