Chapter 1

Rebirth

"Thank you for always being with me all these years. Before I met you, my life was gray and full of losses. It was not until I met you that my life became colorful."

The man was about to die, but he was still reluctant to let go of his wife's hand. He stared at her with his eyes wide open. "Meeting you is the best thing that has ever happened to me in my life."

"You can't make peace when I'm not around. You must eat on time every day."

"I know!" The woman covered her mouth sadly, not knowing what to say.

The man was already on the verge of death, still mumbling, "If only I had met you earlier, how nice it would have been to have met you earlier."

Time brought her age, but never diminished her beauty. Every detail, every frown and smile, she was still as beautiful as when he first saw her, so beautiful that the man couldn't bear to take his eyes off her.

His mind was filled with the comfort she had given him when he was at the darkest and most desolate time in his life, but what he had promised her could never be fulfilled.

Life is too short, and they met too late. Seeing each other separated by life and death is really a countless regret.

"Laonian, Lao Nie!" Seeing the man closing his eyes and stopping breathing, the woman pulled his hand hard.

She had a rough life and was lonely and helpless. She finally met this man at the age of 35. From then on, he held her in his heart, pampered her, loved her, and cherished her. They had not yet had enough of the good days and their wish to travel around the famous mountains and rivers together had not yet been fulfilled. How could he die now?

"I really want you to see what I looked like when I was young." The man suddenly opened his eyes and shook the woman's hand with his thick hand. "But there is a river between us. How come we have never met before?"

This time, he is really going to die.

The woman couldn't help but fall on the man and burst into tears.

"Ms. Chen, Mr. Nie has left all the shares of Zhao's Real Estate to you. From now on, you will have a life without worries about food and clothing. Of course, your stepson also guarantees that he will always be filial to you." The lawyer was quite hesitant when he said this.

The man spent the first half of his life contributing to the country and personally built the country's largest oil field. In the second half of his life, he started his own business and built a fortune worth more than 1 billion yuan. His life can be called legendary.

Ms. Chen Lina is the man's continuation. The man's three children had no one to take care of them or teach them when they were young. Two of them went astray and died young. Now the only one who is still alive is in hospital for treatment all year round due to poor health.

Talking about filial piety is just lip service.

"He is the hope of this whole family, and also my hope. How could he just leave like this?"

Thinking about her wandering life for half her life, and the warmth that Nie Bozhao gave her after she met him, Chen Lina felt as if her world had fallen.

He was more than just a husband, he was the only warmth and meaning in the rest of her life. Now that he was gone, how could she live alone in this world?

Watching her husband take his last breath, Chen Lina covered her mouth and burst into tears.

"Lina, stop crying. Get up. If you keep crying, your eyes will get damaged."

Chen Lina suddenly turned over and looked at the yellowed wooden beams, then turned her head to see the colorful candy wrappers stuck on the wall, which were clearly showing signs of age.

She climbed up, groped about the wall for a long time, and pulled open a half-new, half-old velvet curtain. She saw her young mother, He Laner, sitting in the yard, boiling half a pig's head in a large basin filled with mist.

"Mom, what's wrong with you?"

"Why can't it be me, child? You've cried yourself silly. Stop crying. Look at this half-baked pig's head that I've boiled today. Isn't it delicious? Your uncle loves to eat pig's heads. As for your marriage, I'll help you find a solution."

Chen Lina turned over and sat up, took the calendar from the table, and opened it. It was October 16, 1970.

She actually went back to the past?

"Your cousin wants to cancel the engagement, but that's impossible. It was arranged when we were kids, so he can't cancel it just because he wants to. Mom, take this pig head with you, and let's go together. Mom will help you keep this marriage."

"What's there to protect? Nie Guozhu just had an affair with the daughter of a commander in the army and wanted to cancel the engagement. Just let him cancel it. What's the big deal? Our Lina is a college student after all, and they are cousins. It's not good to get married with close blood ties. Isn't it better to cancel it now?" Chen Lina's father, Chen Bingcang, came out of another room and started arguing with her mother.

"Then what do you say we should do? She's already 20 years old, and she can't go to school. When she returns home, the only way out for her is farming. And, given our background, how can we find a partner for her now?"

"I said I'd call off the engagement and find another one. At worst, I can just stay at home and be an old maid."

"Back off, back off, back off, all of you. The previous one was returned to her and she is still at home unable to get married. Now this one is returned again. You have the nerve to face people, but I don't have the nerve to face people."

The parents started arguing while talking outside.

Chen Lina sat in the house, recalling the past in detail.

She was born in 1950 and was admitted to Hongyan Women's Normal University in 1969. Unfortunately, she only studied for one year because she was persuaded to drop out by the school because it was discovered that her great-grandfather was a scholar in the Qing Dynasty and was classified as a "stinking ninth" in the classification of social status.

After being persuaded to quit, she had no diploma and there were no part-time jobs in the city, so she had no choice but to return to the countryside.

After returning to the village, Chen Lina, like all the other members, devoted herself to the production and construction of the vast rural areas.

The status of her family's stinky old ninth can be said to be related to her fate for the rest of her life.

First of all, because of family background issues, the eldest sister Chen Lili's marriage broke up. Now she has returned home and is looking for a matchmaker to find a partner and is preparing to get married.

As for Chen Lina, she is the whole Qisixiang

Reading has enhanced her refined temperament and her conversation is naturally impeccable. When she was in the first year of high school, China and the Soviet Union had not yet officially become hostile, and Chen Lina learned fluent Russian through the radio. When a group of experts came to the school, it was Chen Lina who presented flowers.

In order to learn Russian well, she even made a Russian-speaking pen pal who lived far away in the border area. However, that was a long time ago.

But such a good girl should have had a bright future, but because of her background, she couldn't go to school, and now she can't get married. It's really raining on top of leaking roof.

Her cousin Nie Guozhu could be said to be her last hope after enduring a year in the countryside.

However, when Nie Guozhu was in the army, he was attracted by the daughter of a commander's family. The commander talked to him many times, hoping that he would cancel the engagement in his hometown and marry his daughter.

After much ideological struggle, Nie Guozhu sent a breakup letter to Chen Lina a few days ago, intending to call off the marriage. This was also the reason why Chen Lina woke up crying early in the morning.

In her memory, her mother He Lan'er came to her house carrying half a pig's head. The pig's head was given away, and her marriage was secured. In the end, she and Nie Guozhu got married.

After getting married, Nie Guozhu was demobilized and returned to his hometown. She tried her best to please Nie Guozhu, but Nie Guozhu only knew how to drink and beat people.

Either he would seize on the fact that she didn't bleed during her virginity and accuse her of having a loose boyfriend and being corrupt, or he would tell her how great the daughter of the chieftain was and how much he regretted marrying her.

Later, when the reform and opening up began, Nie Guozhu went into business.

Then he indulged in eating, drinking, whoring and gambling, but his business did not grow big. In the end, he had a car accident and died on the way to a prostitute.

How can such a person compare with a man who will be able to dominate the business world in the future and remain clean even when he has billions of assets?

Can he compare?

Chen Lina pushed the door open and said as she walked out, "Mom, I've made up my mind. I want to cancel the engagement."

…

It was early in the morning, the Qisi River was flooded, tractors were busy harvesting in the fields, the members of Niejiazhuang were busy, and the scene was prosperous. While working, they sang "The Golden Mountain in Beijing shines in all directions, and the leader is the golden sun..."

Chen Lina took a deep breath of the crisp early autumn air in the countryside before she was sure that she had really returned, to 1970.

That was Nie Bozhao, the man she met when she was 35 years old, who held her in his hands and cared for her all her life.

We trotted across the rippling Qisi River. On the opposite side were rows of white birch trees with golden leaves. Tractors were running on the land. The green-tiled roofs of the houses were dyed golden by the morning sun.

This is Niejiazhuang. Could it be that the man really lived here when he was young, separated from her by only a river?

"Stop right there, you little bastard! Stop right there." Suddenly, a child about five or six years old ran over the field, rushed past Chen Lina, and threw himself on the ground to separate the two children who were fighting each other. "Nie Xiaoqiang, who told you to hit my Sandan?"

Chen Lina's eyes suddenly lit up, and she walked over. "Wei... Nie Weimin?"

The angry little boy was protecting a kid who was about two or three years old, and behind him was a kid who was about four years old. Although he was only five or six years old, he had a prickly and rebellious face, and looked at Chen Lina with caution.

Chen Lina laughed immediately. Isn’t this Nie Weimin, Nie Bozhao’s eldest son?

However, by the time she married Nie Bozhao, he had already died, and she had only seen a few photos of the child.

Yes, her man was ten years older than her. He had been married once before he met her, but unfortunately his wife died, leaving behind three sons.

Originally, these three sons should have been more successful than the other. Unfortunately, due to the ten-year catastrophe and improper education, they all became pests to society.

And she came back, she actually came back.

Then this time, could she have met Nie Bozhao earlier, married him, lived happily with him, and made up for the lost fifteen years?