Chapter 1 Reborn
When Qin Lai Di woke up, she found herself lying on a brick bed with a faded paint cabinet leaning against the window. A rusty tiger-head lock was hanging on the cabinet... Isn't this her hometown?
To be precise, it was her mother's home deep in the mountains.
After joining the army, she seldom went back to her parents' home. The last time she went back was thirty years ago. She hurried home, only to see her grandmother, Qin Guihua, who had been strong all her life, lying lifeless on the earthen kang.
My grandmother, Qin Guihua, was originally an outsider. She fled from Jiaodong Province to Shilan Province during the Republic of China. When she left, there were more than 20 people, big and small. By the time she arrived at the remote mountain village of Wulitun, only a little girl was left - Qin Guihua.
At that time, little Guihua was so hungry that she was barely alive. By chance, she was adopted by a kind-hearted family named Qin. In those days, few families could eat enough, but she was able to eat until her face turned red and her skin white. The Qin family really treated her as a daughter.
Within a few years, she and the only son of the Qin family became childhood sweethearts. To save one from having to remarry, and the other from having to marry outside the family, the Qin family suggested that they just get married.
Unfortunately, the good times didn't last long. In the second year after the couple gave birth to a big fat boy, the husband and his parents-in-law died of illness one after another. So, the 17-year-old Qin Guihua became a famous pretty widow in Wuli Village with her son, and she was the kind of woman who could curse the whole village without any rivals.
After her son and daughter-in-law died of illness one after another, Qin Guihua, an "old widow", not only raised her four granddaughters with her own strength, but also found one of the most affluent families in the village for them.
Qin Lai Di remembered that her eldest sister Qin Ailan married a worker in the county steel factory, and her second sister Qin You Di's father-in-law was the team leader of the production team next door. Even she herself had "married" into an extraordinary and good family.
The man she married was named Zhao Qingsong. He was already a company-level cadre before the marriage and was able to take her with him to eat rations in the army. The only flaw was that he had been divorced once before and had a son and a daughter.
She was not happy at first, but as her grandmother said, such a tall and handsome military officer would be coveted by many leaders' daughters. She was a poor country girl whose family could barely make ends meet, and marrying him would be a great honor for her ancestors. Why would she be so picky?
But the truth is, being a stepmother is not easy. The stepson is already five years old and can remember things. In his heart, he only thinks about the good things of his biological mother and his maternal family. If she takes good care of them, it is what she deserves; if she doesn't take good care of them, it means she has ulterior motives... Later, even the two-year-old stepdaughter thought that her biological mother was the best. Not only did she not beat or scold her, but she was also kind and cheerful, and she would make her new clothes and buy her half a pound of milk candy from time to time.
People often say that if a child is not her own, it is impossible for him or her to be on the same page with her. Qin Lai Di also wanted to have a child and raise him or her, but Zhao Qingsong said at the beginning that Haiyang and Haiyan were still young and he couldn't let them think that having a stepmother means having a stepfather. He asked them to wait for two years until they accepted it.
Two years later, Haiyang Haiyan went to primary school and became sensible. Zhao Qingsong said that he was busy with work and could not go home for half a year, so he would wait until he promoted her.
This wait lasted for many more years. The two tried very hard, but in the end, they gained nothing... This wait lasted until Zhao Qingsong retired and her stepson and daughter graduated from college. She was an old lady already, what else did she want!
It's better to support your stepsons and stepdaughters, help them get married, and take care of their grandchildren. Isn't this how most women live their lives?
Ironically, just after she had brought up her grandchildren, her husband Zhao Qingsong suffered a stroke. She took care of him for five years, but he eventually passed away. When his biological father died, his stepson immediately turned against him, took their biological mother home to raise her, and kicked her out of the house.
What's even more ironic is that such a "good marriage" was actually "cheated" by the Qin family.
Because of her grandmother's hot temper and her own "little hot pepper" personality, families with unmarried young men in the surrounding villages did not dare to propose marriage to her. No matter how beautiful she was, few "fearless" men dared to pick thorny roses. Rural girls in her hometown usually start to propose marriage at the age of 16 or 17. She was still unpopular at the age of 18, which meant she was already an older young woman. People in the village often laughed at her for not being able to get married.
The turning point came in the summer when she was eighteen years old. She was washing clothes by the dam and fell into the pond. Fortunately, she was rescued by a comrade from the People's Liberation Army who was passing by.
This rescue was not a big deal. Grandma heard from others that the one who rescued her was the most promising son of the old Zhao family in the village, the third son who was a cadre in the army... She immediately went to the old Zhao family to make a scene, saying that her granddaughter's reputation was ruined by him and she had to get an explanation whether she lived or died. If he did not marry her, she would risk her life to go to his unit and make a scene, blah blah blah.
For the sake of their son's future, the Zhao family had no choice but to agree. Zhao Qingsong had just been divorced for two years, and this time he came back to visit his family in order to remarry.
In order to preserve the hard-earned "results", grandma chased her and Zhao Qingsong to the commune to get a marriage certificate that afternoon, and rushed her to join the army the next day. Her speed was so fast that the whole village was shocked.
Yes, everyone thought that with this lie, Qin Lai Di finally turned from a wild chicken into a phoenix and reached the pinnacle of life, but only she knew what life was like in the mainland. Not to mention the stepchildren, the attitude of the Zhao family alone was enough to make her drink a pot of wine. Old Mrs. Zhao always mentioned "a slut" and "a sweeping star", saying that so many people in her Qin family died of illness because of her grandmother, and she always said that her son's inability to get promoted was because of her, not to mention that all kinds of difficulties were commonplace.
The sisters-in-law were also waiting to see the joke, wanting to see how this pheasant would be beaten back to her original form.
And what about Zhao Qingsong?
Thinking of this, Qin Laidie sneered twice and wiped the moisture from the corners of her eyes...wait, something is wrong!
She looked at the two slender, white arms in front of her. They had a tightness and smoothness that was unique to a young girl. They were so delicate that it seemed as if there was not a single pore on them, and they were not the result of being worn out by years of housework.
I touched her face again. Although she didn't have much flesh on her face, she had natural baby fat. It felt full of collagen and was as smooth as a freshly peeled egg, without any spots or wrinkles.
Even the presbyopia that had troubled me for years was gone. I could actually see the tiny insects on the leaves outside the window!
Wait, why do I still feel wet? She quickly turned over and sat up. Suddenly, the world was spinning around her. She saw a dripping floral dress. Suddenly, a terrible thought came to her mind.
Could it be that I was...reborn?
I was reborn to the day when I fell into the water at the age of eighteen!
She remembered that she had been nagging for this floral dress for a long time before her grandmother agreed to alter it for her using her eldest sister's old clothes. She treasured it so much that she usually didn't want to wear it. The only time she wore it was the day she fell into the water at the age of eighteen.
If she was really reborn on that day, would she not have to marry Zhao Qingsong, and would she not have to be a widowed stepmother for so many years, would she not have to be kicked out of the house, would she not have to... On the young face, a pair of eyes sparkled.
However, before I could be happy for long, I heard someone talking at the door.
"Hey, Third Sister-in-law, did you really see Widow Qin go out to cheat people?"
"Oh, I saw it with my own eyes. Widow Qin sat down in front of the crowd, hugged the young man's legs, and said that her daughter Lai Di was too embarrassed to face people. If he didn't marry Lai Di, she would hang herself in front of people with a hemp rope today."
"But I heard from my sixth uncle that she threatened to cause trouble at someone's workplace and cause them to lose their jobs..."
"No matter what the threat is, it's not something a human would do. This poor widow Qin must be so poor that she's crazy. She can do such a shameless thing. Pah!"
"It's not that she's crazy because she's poor, it's that her little Lajiao is crazy because she wants to get married?" An old woman laughed maliciously, and the other women also laughed. Who doesn't know that little Lajiao has been talking about marriage for two years but still hasn't gotten married?
They knew several of them. The second son of the Li family in Qilitun was her classmate and liked her very much when they were in school. But later he told his family that she was the granddaughter of the Qin family in Wulitun. When the old woman found out that her grandmother was a widow and her last name was Qin, she must be the famous old woman. At that time, she did not allow them to have any contact with her. The son tried to commit suicide for half a month, but finally happily married another girl.
Later, it was Xiao Zhang from the neighboring commune. Unfortunately, she lived so far away that the matchmaker did not dare to say that she was the granddaughter of Widow Qin. Originally, the whole family was quite satisfied with her and were ready to look at her horoscope. But who knows who added fuel to the fire and let people know about Widow Qin's reputation. Immediately, she ran away faster than a rabbit!
Later, he talked about a little Liu. Although his parents died early and the family was a bit bad, he didn't care about the reputation of the Qin family ... However, half a month before the marriage was preparing to get married, the two of them went to the next door to watch the open -air movie back.
That was really cruel. They beat the strong man directly into the county hospital, where he stayed for half a month. Naturally, the marriage was ruined again.
After several incidents, her inability to get married became a joke in the whole village.
"No wonder Widow Qin wants to deceive people. With Little Lajiao's temper, she really won't be able to get married unless she uses some tricks."
Everyone was sighing and laughing. Qin Laidie wanted to go out and take a look, but maybe because she was too frightened after falling into the water or because of long-term malnutrition, she didn't even have the strength to get off the bed. She saw stars and felt dizzy after moving a few times.
But you must not get involved with Zhao Qingsong, this bastard, again!
Lai Di bit her tongue until it bled, and finally managed to move herself behind the door. When she was about to open the door, her vision went dark...
When she woke up again, it seemed as if a meeting was being held in her own courtyard. Amid the chattering noise, she could hear a sentence with difficulty: "Auntie, you are mistaken. The one who agreed to marry your daughter Laidi was not Qingsong, but his comrade-in-arms!"
"Qingsong will be the head of the regiment in the future. I heard that your future grandson-in-law has been discharged from the army for half a year."
"She is so white and clean, and you don't think she can work. How are you going to support your daughter in the future? You are so pitiful..."
"Auntie, you may not know this yet, but your future grandson-in-law is a cripple!"
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