Gu Jianing: “I just think you’re such a good husband, Brother Xi, and I’m sure you’ll be a wonderful father in the future too.”
She meant it. Ever since confirming her pregnancy, Sheng Zexi had asked Dr. Hao about what precautions to take and how to care for a pregnant woman—and he had been diligently following through.
However, the news of Gu Jianing’s pregnancy hadn’t yet been shared with the Gu family or Grandpa and Grandma Sang. They planned to wait until after the first three months, when things were more stable, before sharing the good news.
Now, hearing his wife’s praise, Sheng Zexi couldn’t help but beam, the corners of his lips curling into a wide grin. “Of course. I, Sheng Zexi, can guarantee that I’m absolutely the best husband in the world.”
As for being a father—he hadn’t experienced that yet and didn’t quite know how to do it.
The concept was still vague in his mind, but he thought that if it were his and Ningning’s child, he would strive to be a good dad.
Gu Jianing roughly grasped the unspoken meaning in Sheng Zexi’s words and gave him a light, chiding glance, but didn’t say anything more.
Meanwhile, sitting in the backseat and witnessing the entire exchange, Qin Tian thought: *Sister Gu and Brother-in-law really have a great relationship.*
The jeep slowly drove out of the military district. Kaoshan Village wasn’t far, and with Qin Tian giving directions, they arrived in less than ten minutes.
After getting out of the car, Gu Jianing stood in front of the Qin family’s house.
Surprisingly, she had assumed the Qin family was very poor and likely lived in a thatched hut or a rammed-earth house. Instead, it was a modest but decent blue-brick tiled house—not large, but not small either.
Seeing Gu Jianing’s gaze fixed on the house, Qin Tian also looked at it, as if seeing something beyond its walls. Softly, he said, “Grandma said this house was built with money my Mom and Dad earned…”
It had been so long since Qin Tian had uttered the words “Mom and Dad” that even he found them unfamiliar now.
They had been gone for eight years.
They had left suddenly, taken away by a car. At the time, Qin Tian and his twin sister Qin Qing were only two years old.
Qin Qing’s memory wasn’t as sharp as Qin Tian’s—she could barely even remember what their parents looked like.
But Qin Tian had been precocious, and even after all these years, he still retained memories from when he was two.
He remembered that day—Mom was teaching him and his sister how to build powerful weapons, while Dad was carving a small wooden pistol for them with a knife.
It had been an ordinary, warm day.
Then that car arrived, shattering the peace and making the day anything but ordinary.
The car had hurriedly taken Mom and Dad away—so fast they didn’t even have time to pack their clothes.
They only had a moment to tell Grandma and to hug him and his sister.
He remembered Mom holding him and saying he should listen to Grandma and wait for them to come back.
Perhaps it was a child’s intuition—two-year-old Qin Tian had cried and begged his parents not to go.
A terrible feeling gnawed at him, as if telling him that if they left now, he might never see them again.
So he had to stop them.
But in the end, no matter how much little Qin Tian cried, his parents still left.
Through tear-blurred vision, little Qin Tian and his sister chased after the car, only to trip and fall, watching helplessly as the car carrying their parents disappeared into the distance.
And after that…
For a long time after their parents left, he and his sister would cry whenever they thought of them.
Little Qin Tian had tearfully asked Grandma where Mom and Dad had gone.
Back then, Grandma had hugged him and his sister tightly and said, “Your mom and dad have gone to do something very, very important for our country and our people.”
“Xiao Tian, Xiao Qing, don’t blame your parents. They are heroes.”
At two years old, little Qin Tian couldn’t understand what “heroes” meant. All he knew was that he and his sister missed their parents, but Mom and Dad weren’t there.
But children, it seemed, always forgot things quickly.
One day, when little Qin Tian thought of his parents, he suddenly realized that his sister hadn’t cried or mentioned them in a long time.
Later, even with Qin Tian’s sharp memory, he had only been two at the time. As he grew older, the memories of that day—his parents’ faces, their figures—slowly began to fade.
*Mom, Dad, if you don’t come back soon, my sister and I might forget what you look like.*
Far away, in a weapons research institute in the southeastern region, a young woman assembling a weapon suddenly felt a sharp pain in her chest, and tears streamed down her face.
“What’s wrong?” Her husband, noticing her distress, asked anxiously.
The woman shook her head lightly. “It’s nothing. I just suddenly thought of the children.”
Her husband embraced her. “Soon. We’ll be able to go back soon. Even though we can’t send letters, we’ve been sending our wages home every month. Mom and the kids should be doing alright.”
“Yes… I hope so.”
The moment of sadness passed quickly. With time pressing, the couple steadied themselves and returned to their work.
Back in Kaoshan Village, Gu Jianing had already entered the Qin household and stood by Grandma Qin’s bedside.
Grandma Qin was awake, and when she saw the striking couple—Gu Jianing and Sheng Zexi—her eyes filled with warmth.
Coughing, she said, “You must be the kind Sister Gu that Xiao Tian speaks of. Comrade Gu, thank you for coming all this way in such cold weather. Xiao Tian shouldn’t have troubled you.”
“They say life and death are fated. At my age, I’ve lived long enough. It’s just… I can’t stop worrying about these two children. *Cough, cough…*”
“Grandma…” Qin Tian and Qin Qing’s eyes reddened in unison.
“Grandma, if you’re worried about them, then you must take good care of yourself. You know how things are in the Qin family—if you’re gone, who knows how these two will be treated.”
As Gu Jianing comforted her, she had her system bind Grandma Qin as a patient while scanning her condition.
The diagnosis came quickly: tuberculosis, just as suspected.
She took Grandma Qin’s pulse and confirmed, “…It’s tuberculosis.”
At the word “tuberculosis,” Grandma Qin’s already pale, thin face darkened further with despair.
At her age, she had seen this illness before.
Very few ever recovered from it.
Grandma Qin could already foresee her death.
She had lived a long life—dying didn’t scare her. But what would happen to the children?
She knew how many villagers were eyeing the Qin family’s brick house greedily.
Her son and daughter-in-law had been gone for eight years now—not a single letter, let alone money sent back. If not for that, this household of the elderly and the young wouldn’t be struggling so much.
She didn’t know if she’d live long enough to see them return.
As she thought this, murky tears rolled down Grandma Qin’s wrinkled cheeks.
“Grandma…” Seeing her cry, Qin Tian and his sister were stunned.
“Ah, Grandma, don’t cry! Just because it’s tuberculosis doesn’t mean it can’t be treated!”
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