A County was a small county near Yongang City.
Natural disasters and human tragedies always struck unexpectedly, and no one could predict them in advance.
Just a moment ago, Xufang was having breakfast with his comrades, and the next moment, the higher-ups came with orders. Because their base was the closest to A County, they were dispatched to provide support at the scene.
This was Xufang’s first mission.
Everyone immediately stopped laughing and joking, and the atmosphere became incredibly tense as they followed orders.
The earthquake occurred during the night.
The sky was still dark, and a group of well-dressed soldiers moved quickly and efficiently. They loaded relief supplies onto vehicles and set off towards the disaster area.
Inside the vehicles, it was very quiet.
Xufang took out his phone, licked his lips, and sent messages to his parents and Lin Xiche.
After composing the message to Lin Xiche, Xufang clicked “send.” He was about to turn off his phone when he paused for a moment, his eyelashes trembling slightly. He entered three more words and sent them as well.
The scene at the disaster site was worse than they had imagined.
The entire county had almost turned into ruins, with hysterical cries, wailing, and desperate calls for help filling the air. The sky was overcast, as if it wanted to press down on the earth.
It felt like the end of the world.
The group of soldiers was dispersed to different areas for relief efforts.
Xufang didn’t have the time to think about anything else. He used tools to dig through collapsed rubble, helping those who were buried shallowly to their feet. He listened to their cries of relief as they saw the light of day again.
Then he did the same thing over and over, without end.
He didn’t know how much time had passed.
The road leading to the heavily affected area was blocked, but the soldiers used their tools to clear a path.
The ground beneath them started shaking again.
In the distance, someone shouted with a hoarse and panicked voice, “Aftershock! Come quickly!”
Xufang wiped the sweat from his face and looked up.
In the landslide area, rocks of various sizes were tumbling down, making a crashing sound. Not far away, a child was struck by a falling rock and fell to the ground, crying loudly. There were screams all around, and people were rushing forward, trying to escape the falling rocks.
The cleared passage was not very wide, allowing only three or four people to pass at a time.
Due to the urgency of the situation, the scene was chaotic, with the crowd pushing and shoving, and even blocking the exit.
Xufang ran over and picked up the child, placing his helmet on the child’s head, and shouted, “Quick, go!”
Next to him were his comrades, who faced the falling rocks without batting an eye, evacuating the crowd and shouting, “Let the civilians go first! Hurry! Don’t push others!”
Xufang calmly directed the panicked people to move forward and helped those who had fallen. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in the back of his head. He instinctively reached out to touch it and felt something wet.
His vision gradually blurred.
The dense crowd gradually dispersed under the command and escaped from the falling rocks zone.
Xufang’s brows slightly furrowed, and, urged by his comrades, he ran forward, following the crowd.
“Hey!”
“Are you okay?”
Lin Xiche waited for a whole day but didn’t receive another message from Xufang.
Today was the second day of the Lunar New Year.
Lin’s parents had come over again, and they were currently chatting and laughing with Grandfather in the living room, creating a vivid contrast with the quiet and stillness in her room.
Lin Xigeng sat beside her, not knowing what to say, and could only awkwardly console her, “Don’t worry, everything will be fine.”
Lin Xiche’s eyelids drooped, and she didn’t speak. She lowered her head, bit her lip, and stared at her phone, which was filled with various prayers on social media and some news websites reporting the casualties caused by the aftershocks.
The numbers on the screen felt like daggers piercing Lin Xiche’s heart.
The unease in her heart grew stronger.
Lin Xiche tossed her phone aside and suddenly got up. She rummaged through her wardrobe and put on some clothes, asking, “How can I get to A County now?”
Her movements were forceful, and they startled Lin Xigeng, who hurriedly grabbed her, saying, “Are you crazy? How can you go there now? The aftershocks haven’t stopped, and it’s blocked. You can’t go—”
Her outburst left Lin Xiche in a daze for a moment. After a long silence, her eyes filled with tears as she asked softly, “Why hasn’t he called me?”
Lin Xigeng’s eyes welled up too, and he tried to console her in a trembling voice, “There might be no signal there, and Xufang ge must be really busy… It’s chaotic over there right now.”
“Oh,” Lin Xiche seemed to accept the explanation, nodding and wiping her tears away with the back of her hand. She muttered softly, “There must be no signal…”
Hearing the commotion, Grandfather walked into the room.
He knocked on the door three times, and Lin Xiche opened it.
Noticing the red eyes of the two, Grandfather paused and then walked over, saying, “Still worrying? Don’t worry, that boy Xufang is quite capable; he won’t get into trouble.”
Lin Xiche nodded and replied softly, “I know,” before getting up to wash her face in the bathroom. Afterward, she returned to her room and started changing clothes.
Lin Xigeng was cautious, coming over to block her way again, “Are you still thinking of going there?”
Lin Xiche shook her head, “No, I’m going to see Uncle and Aunt Xufang. They must be worried too.”
This time, Lin Xigeng didn’t stop her.
As she left the living room, all three of them, except for Lin Deng, who was sitting in a corner, engrossed in his phone, turned their attention to her.
Seeing her dressed neatly, Lin’s mother hesitated for a moment and asked, “Where are you going?”
“To Xufang’s house.”
Then, Lin’s father asked, “Has Xufang called you?”
Lin Xiche didn’t answer that question. She went to the hallway to put on her shoes.
Behind her, Lin’s father’s voice came, “I told you being a soldier is not a good profession…”
Lin Xiche’s movements paused, and she turned to look back. Due to her bad mood, her tone was somewhat confrontational, “I think it’s a good profession. I forgot to tell you, but I’ve already talked to Grandfather about it. When Xufang comes back, we’ll get married.”
There was a moment of silence.
Lin’s father seemed unable to accept her almost dismissive attitude and said angrily, “Xiche, have you really thought it through? His response to your anxiety over his disaster relief mission was so intense. If something happens to him, if he loses an arm or a leg—”
This topic set Lin Xiche off, and she suddenly raised her head, her expression turned cold as she interrupted, “Losing an arm or a leg?”
Because of her attitude, Lin’s father became even more furious, “I’m telling the truth! Unless you make him retire soon, I won’t agree to your marriage! That scoundrel from the Xu family is too selfish. Does he want my daughter’s life to be ruined by him?”
Hearing these words, Lin Xiche’s expression froze. She looked at Lin Deng and recalled the conversation she had with him at that time.
—”Dad called Xufang and I felt he said some really harsh things.”
And that night, what Xufang had said to her.
—”Your dad asked me to wait until after I retire before marrying you.”
She took a deep breath and incredulously asked, “Did you say these kinds of things to Xufang too?”
Lin’s father was taken aback, “What things?”
Because of the escalating tension, Lin’s mother tried to calm things down, “You both, let’s stop arguing. Xiche, you’re going to Xufang’s house, right? Go quickly—”
Lin Xiche’s eyes were red, and she interrupted her, her voice rising, “I’m asking, did you say to Xufang that he might lose an arm or a leg in the future due to his missions?”
Lin’s father’s lips moved, but he didn’t say anything, likely because of her current emotional state.
This silence was essentially an admission.
Lin Xiche closed her eyes and stood in place with one hand covering her eyes. She found this whole situation terrifying and absurd. “How could you say such things to him…”
Lin’s mother’s eyes welled up with tears, and she approached Lin Xiche, trying to console her, “Your father was just worried at that time. He didn’t mean it that way. You were upset with us then, and we—”
“Don’t assume things,” she turned her head away, wiping her tears with her sleeve. “I’m 25 years old now, and I needed your concern when I was 15, not now.”
“I’ve always respected you, and I’ve never said anything disrespectful to you.” Lin Xiche’s eyes were dark and heavy, and there was a bit of resentment in her voice that had never been there before. “This is the first time I’ve said something like this, and it’s also the last time.”
“Don’t interfere in my life anymore.”
“I find it annoying, really annoying.”
Lin’s mother stood still.
Suddenly, she remembered the incident many years ago when she had lost Lin Deng. She had been emotionally unstable for a long time afterward. To take care of her emotions, her husband had adopted Lin Xiche, who was only one year old at the time.
But how could a mother not recognize her own child?
Where could she find another child to replace her own?
Lin’s mother became even more agitated and screamed for her husband to take the child away.
At that time, Lin Xiche had just learned to walk, and she wasn’t frightened by her mother’s hysterics. With wide-open eyes, she laughed and made baby noises, reaching out with her soft little hand to grab her mother’s fingers, as if trying to comfort her.
Like a little angel sent from heaven.
Over the years, much of her happiness had come from Lin Xiche.
It was more accurate to say that it was Lin Xiche who had rescued them from a difficult situation, rather than them adopting her.
But at some point, Lin Xiche seemed to have changed.
She no longer smiled as much, and there were fewer happy things she wanted to share. The distance between them grew.
It was as if they had done something terribly wrong.
Like the time many years ago when they had carelessly lost Lin Deng, and she had been emotionally unstable for a long time afterward.
Her husband had adopted Lin Xiche at that time, when she was only a year old.
But how could a mother not recognize her own child?
And how could another child replace her own?
Lin Xiche left with her things and walked out of the door, quickly running down the stairs. She held her phone, wiping away her tears little by little with her sleeve as she walked, trying to stifle her sobs.
In the next moment, her phone rang.
It was an unfamiliar number.
Lin Xiche’s breath caught, and she answered the phone with a trembling and pleading voice, as if afraid to disturb the other person, “Is this Xufang?”
The breathing on the other end paused, and then a voice came, “Crying?”
The path in the residential area was quiet, and she couldn’t see anyone else around.
Hearing that voice, Lin Xiche could no longer restrain her tears, and they fell one by one. She bent over, crouching on the ground, crying loudly like a child.
She had never cried like this before in front of him.
Normally, she would cry softly, suppressing her tears.
Even when she was drunk, she never cried so recklessly.
Xufang didn’t know how to comfort her and said, “Damn, are you mourning? I got hit by a rock on the head yesterday and bled a bit, but I’m fine. Why are you crying… My damn phone is missing, and the signal here is terrible…”
After a while, Lin Xiche finally spoke.
“Ap… Ap, I told you before, if you didn’t marry me soon, I had many other choices…” She sobbed, her tears falling onto the concrete ground, leaving dark marks. “I lied to you. I don’t have any other choices.”
She wiped her tears with her palm. “I don’t have any…”
“You need to take care of yourself. Don’t get hurt. Don’t lose an arm or a leg. Don’t let yourself suffer.” She said one thing after another, expressing what was deep in her heart. “Even if something unavoidable happens, it doesn’t matter. I will take care of you for the rest of my life. I will always be good to you…”
It wasn’t because she wanted to endure this kind of separation and waiting without complaint.
It was because…
You are also my only choice.
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