Chapter 139 Holding her tightly, wanting to meld her into his very bones

"You're not?" Jiang Wanqiu sneered. "If you're not a coward, then tell me, why did you come to this remote mountain forest? If you're not a coward, why are we trapped here now?"

Ping An was speechless at her question. His face turned bright red, and tears streamed down his face. He choked back sobs and finally shouted, "My father is dead! My mother is dead too! What's the use of me living? I'm heartbroken... I'd rather be dead!"

"Why not just die?" Jiang Wanqiu's lips twitched. "Back when we were fighting the Japanese, there were plenty of soldiers whose parents died under the Japanese devils' swords! If everyone thought like you, wanting to die, what would be the point of fighting? What would be the point of building a new China? We might as well all just slit our throats and die!"

The mountain wind blew, stirring up the snowflakes on the ground.

Hearing this, Ping An gradually stopped crying and making a fuss, and just sat there blankly.

Jiang Wanqiu looked at him, knowing that he had taken her words to heart, and her voice softened, no longer as harsh as before.

"Have you thought about what you'll do in the future?" she asked.

It took Ping An a long time to finally squeeze out a few words: "...I've thought about it."

He whispered, "I want to be a soldier like my dad."

"Do you think you can join the army?"

Ping An's chest, which had just straightened slightly, instantly collapsed again. He lowered his head in shame, staring at the tips of his dirty shoes, and said in a very soft voice, "...No."

No, you can.

Hearing this, he abruptly looked up, his eyes filled with disbelief. He thought Jiang Wanqiu would mock him, or perhaps berate him for being a good-for-nothing and unfit to be a soldier: "Why, why?"

"Why not?" Jiang Wanqiu retorted. "As long as you want to, you can! As long as you start today to learn to stand tall like your parents, not back down when faced with problems, and not run away from difficulties, you can do it!"

"Your parents are watching from heaven! What they want to see is a man who can take up arms and defend his country in the future, not a coward who cries and threatens suicide at the slightest setback!"

The word "softie" sent a chill down Ping An's spine.

He fell silent, and this time, he remained silent for a very long time.

It was so long that Jiang Wanqiu thought he had fallen asleep when he finally raised his head. His eyes were still red, but his gaze had completely changed.

“I understand.” He looked at Jiang Wanqiu and said solemnly, “Thank you.”

Finally, he lowered his head again and added, "I'm sorry."

“No one has ever said these things to me before.” Ping An’s voice was thick with nasal tone. “Before, when something happened, they would just tell me not to think about it, not to be sad, but I was still sad. There were so many things I thought about alone, but I couldn’t understand them no matter how hard I tried… Now, I understand.”

Jiang Wanqiu's heart softened, and she asked, "Zhao Wenchang... doesn't he also reason with you about these things?"

Upon hearing this name, Ping An's expression turned somewhat strange. He pursed his lips and said, "Him? All he does is slap me."

Jiang Wanqiu's lips twitched violently.

Ping An seemed to think this was quite normal, and added, "He also wants me to write a self-criticism. But I can't write one, so I'd rather he slap me. I'm not afraid of pain, a few slaps would be easier."

Jiang Wanqiu was completely speechless, not knowing how to evaluate the two men, one big and one small.

"Then... you rest." Ping An suddenly stood up, patted the snow off his backside, and said, "I know this place well. I'll find a place to climb up and go get help!"

"Don't do anything reckless!" Jiang Wanqiu was startled. There were cliffs all around, how could they climb? She grabbed him and said, "It's too dangerous! Zhao Wenchang will definitely come looking for us. Let's just wait."

No sooner had he finished speaking than a loud crashing sound came from the steep slope above!

A large expanse of snow poured down without warning, like a small white waterfall!

"Watch out!" Ping An reacted quickly, pulling Jiang Wanqiu deeper into the rocky hollow.

Snow chunks and pebbles pelted down where they had just been, and a dark, indistinct object, engulfed in the snow, crashed heavily onto the snow-covered ground not far away with a "thud."

"Don't come out!" Ping An shouted, picked up a half-burnt wooden stick still glowing from the ashes, and cautiously walked towards the thing.

The dark figure stood up unsteadily, his movements somewhat slow. He raised his hand and patted the snowflakes off his body.

The other person stopped, and both of them saw who it was at the same time.

It's Zhao Wenchang!

He first saw Ping An carrying a wooden stick and looking wary, and a hint of wild joy flashed in his eyes. Then, his gaze went past Ping An and landed on Jiang Wanqiu in the rocky hollow.

That pale yet still radiant face made his heart sink heavily.

"Wenchang!" Jiang Wanqiu could no longer hold back. The fear and grievances that had been weighing on her heart finally burst forth in that instant. She ran out and buried her head in the man's strong embrace.

Zhao Wenchang was knocked off balance by her impact, but he immediately stretched out his iron arm and held the woman's slender body tightly in his arms.

In an instant, this man, who stood tall and upright in the outside world, had tears welling up in his eyes.

He buried his face in the woman's shoulder and neck, feeling the real warmth in his arms: "I'm here... I'm not afraid anymore, I'm not afraid anymore."

Only he knew that when he saw those two messy, eventually disappearing footprints on the edge of the cliff, his blood almost froze.

For a moment he didn't even dare to come down; he was afraid, afraid of seeing a cold corpse that had been eaten by wild beasts.

Thank goodness, it's not.

Ping An stood awkwardly to the side, the wooden stick in his hand falling into the snow. He didn't dare to go forward, his head down, like a child who had done something wrong.

He knew he had made a huge mistake this time.

Zhao Wenchang held Jiang Wanqiu and comforted her for a while before gently pushing her away. He wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes with his rough fingertips and said softly, "Let's go home."

After saying that, he turned around and strode over to Ping An.

Ping An shuddered in fright and was about to call for help.

"Slap! Slap!"

Two crisp, loud slaps, quick and hard!

The man, fueled by rage, possessed immense strength. Ping An's small, frail body couldn't withstand it at all, and she was knocked to the ground, half of her face quickly swelling up and blood trickling from the corner of her mouth.

"Zhao Wenchang, what are you doing!" Jiang Wanqiu exclaimed, rushing forward and grabbing his arm forcefully. "Calm down!"

"You've really got some nerve! You almost got Wanqiu killed this time. Why didn't you just die out there!" Zhao Wenchang's relief was quickly followed by overwhelming rage.

Ping An's ears were ringing from the beating, and his mouth was full of the taste of blood.

He didn't utter a sound, but simply buried his head even lower, his thin shoulders trembling incessantly in the cold wind, whether from the cold or fear, it was hard to tell.

Jiang Wanqiu was afraid that the man she had worked so hard to save would be injured by the two slaps he gave her, so she hurriedly stopped Zhao Wenchang: "Don't hit him anymore... He's still a child. He's been outside in the cold all day. How can his body withstand such a heavy blow? What if he gets seriously injured?"

She paused, then changed the subject: "The problem now is how to get out? You need to think of a way quickly, let's get out first."

Zhao Wenchang looked down at the face in his arms that he had been so worried about, and his anger instantly vanished.

He composed himself and said to Jiang Wanqiu, "I'll go out and call for help. You all stay here and wait, don't go anywhere."

The waiting time felt exceptionally long.

After an unknown amount of time, about two hours, a cacophony of voices came from the top of the cliff.

Soon, several able-bodied villagers carried a makeshift stretcher down a gentler slope.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing that the two were safe and sound.

"Oh my, Zhao family's daughter-in-law, you are truly blessed with good fortune and a long life!"

"The name Ping An was well chosen; he really did come back safe and sound!"

Jiang Wanqiu was weak and had to be helped onto a stretcher. Ping An was also helped up; his face was swollen so badly it was a shocking sight.

The road back was rugged and difficult to travel, and the group trudged through the mud and shallow water as they made their way back to the village.

Just as they were about to leave the ravine, one of the villagers at the front suddenly cried out, "Ouch!"

"Why is there someone lying here?!"

The crowd gathered around and found a man lying motionless in the snow, his body covered in snow, his condition unknown.

The Zhao family.

Jiang Wanxia turned Zhao Wenchang and Jiang Wanqiu's room upside down, and finally found only a few dollars in small bills in a tattered cloth bag.

She was so angry that she kept cursing, "You poor wretch! You really are a poor wretch! A grown man, and you only have this little bit of money in your pocket!"

Unconvinced, she searched the other end of the path and found the small hut where Ping An and a few old people lived. Inside, besides a broken bed, there was only an old wooden cabinet with a lock. Her eyes lit up, and after searching for a while, she found a wire and fiddled with the keyhole for a long time.

Just as she was getting into the swing of things, a commotion suddenly broke out outside the yard, and the dogs started barking.

Jiang Wanxia was startled. Who came back?

Looking out the window, I saw a group of people carrying something and walking towards me.

They must have found Jiang Wanqiu! Most likely, they found her body!

She quickly straightened her clothes, forced a look of sorrow onto her face, and ran out excitedly.

But when she pushed open the courtyard gate and saw the scene outside, the expression on her face froze on the spot.

Lying on the stretcher were not the mangled corpses she had imagined, but living Jiang Wanqiu and Ping An!

Although Jiang Wanqiu's face was pale, it was still incredibly alluring.

How is this possible?! How is she still alive?!

Jiang Wanxia's mind went completely blank for a moment.

What sent chills down her spine even more was the stretcher following at the very back of the procession. A tattered cotton-padded coat covered it, and the outline of a man could be vaguely discerned on it.

Jiang Wanxia felt dizzy and disoriented.

Jiang Wanqiu returned alive; it was her miscalculation.

But Wang Jianjun... Wang Jianjun could never come back alive!

She pushed him down herself! She threw a stone at him herself!

If Jiang Wanqiu comes back, she will definitely tell everyone what happened that night!

No! She can't just sit here and wait to die!

In a flash, an idea popped into her mind.

She wants to strike first!

Jiang Wanxia staggered into the crowd, threw herself onto Wang Jianjun's stretcher, and knelt down with a thud.

"Old Wang—!"

Her scream was deafening, tears streaming down her face. She gripped the edge of the stretcher, sobbing uncontrollably.

"You died such a terrible death! How could you just leave like that! How am I supposed to live now that you've left me here?!"

As she wailed, she glanced at Jiang Wanqiu out of the corner of her eye, thinking to herself that as long as she was a pitiful widow, no matter what Jiang Wanqiu said, she could just keep crying and playing the victim, and no one could do anything to her.

A kind-hearted older woman nearby couldn't bear to see her crying so pitifully, so she quickly stepped forward to help her up: "Sister, don't cry, get up quickly, the ground is cold."

Seeing that Jiang Wanxia was still wailing, the old lady kindly offered a word of comfort.

"He's not dead yet! Your man's lucky to still be alive!"

The wailing stopped abruptly.

Jiang Wanxia abruptly raised her head, tears still clinging to her face, but her expression was as if she had seen a ghost. Her voice trembled:

"What?!"