Zhou Xinyi stopped outside a dim roadside kiosk.
Since divorcing Han Yuzhe, she'd taken every coin of savings with her. For the first time in years, her pulse felt heavy, and the weight fed her confidence.
The shelves inside the shop were stacked with cheap city snacks; bubble gum, peanut candy, red-oil spicy sticks.
She handed over a crumpled bill. "Half a kilo of bubble gum, and give me some sorghum candy too."
As the shopkeeper scooped the treats, Xinyi asked casually, "Sister, where can I find a man named Yun Hao? He's from this village, right?"
The woman pointed towards two ragged children playing not too far from the shop. "That's his boy and girl. Ask them, they'll tell you where to find him."
Zhou Xinyi looked at the dusty pair and almost grimaced.
The boy's nose was sun-burnt, his sister's braids uneven. Still, she forced a smile holding onto the treats.
She walked towards them.
"Come, sweets for you."
The boy glared. "You're not from here. My dad said not to talk to strangers."
Then he yanked his sister's hand. "Run! She must be a Kidnapper!"
The girl spat at Xinyi's shoe for good measure before dashing off.
For a moment, Zhou Xinyi's composure cracked. Wild brats...she thought, teeth clenched.
But the future she'd glimpsed in her strange dreams steadied her.
Those brats would grow up to become stars of the business and entertainment world, children of the Richest Man in the province. And that man, Yun Hao, was right now nothing but a struggling builder.
Her lips curved.
She could endure anything if it meant rewriting her fate. In her dream she had also left for a rich man, only for the man to be caught for corruption later on and sentenced for life living her poor and in debts.
If the whispers were true, Yun Hao was already on his way to Linyang village that afternoon, to visit Lin Qingya, the pretty divorcée who'd just returned home.
Again tha woman..
A flicker of jealousy sparked in her chest. She tightened her grip on the paper bag of candy. "Not this time," she muttered. "You won't take him from me, not again."
....
Back in Linyang village, dawn came hazy and heavy with heat. The cicadas were already shrill in the trees.
Lin Qingya had just tied her son's shoe when her elder sister-in-law burst through the gate, flushed and grinning.
"Qingya! You're not going to the fields today. The magpies were crying all morning, a good omen! Han Yuzhe's coming to meet you."
Qingya froze. "Now?"
Her sister-in-law nodded so hard her hair burn wobbled. "He sent word at sunrise. He's on his way."
A small breath caught in Qingya's throat. She'd expected a few more days to settle her nerves, atleast.
Still, she washed her hands, smoothed her blouse, and turned to her chest of clothes.
The lid creaked open...and her expression darkened.
Half her garments and several of Lin Chen's shirts were gone.
A faint noise came from the next courtyard. Following the sound, Qingya found her younger sister-in-law bent over a basin, hair dripping soap suds.
Inside the bedroom behind her, the wardrobe stood open, it's key lying carelessly at the sill.
Curiosity sharpened into certainty.
Qingya stepped in and opened the wardrobe.
There they were: her missing blouses neatly folded on top of other clothes, her son's tiny T-shirts beneath them. And below the clothes sat bundles of crisp banknotes, thick with rubber bands.
Two thousand, maybe more.
Her brows knitted.
So her "sickly" younger brother wasn't bedridden after all; the smell of chicken soup wafting from their kitchen proved it.
She closed the wardrobe quietly and walked out. Her sister-in-law looked up, startled.
"Oh! You scared me. What are you doing snooping around?"
"Nothing," Qingya said evenly. "Just checking if the pole for the clothesline was free."
The woman narrowed her eyes but said nothing.
When Qingya returned to her yard, she boiled a kettle of water.
"Come Xiao Chen. Let's wash your hair."
He squirmed. "But the water is hot!"
" Just a little," she said, combing carefully.
"We must look neat today."
By the time she finished cleaning his hair and washed him thoroughly, the child gleamed. She dressed him in a clean cotton shirt, it was faded but tidy and polished his small sandals.
Her younger sister-in-law peeked in. "You're wasting time dressing the boy. Focus on yourself! If the man sees you dragging a child, he'll for sure run for the hills."
Qingya smiled faintly. "Then let him run. Any man scared of a child isn't worth a step."
That silenced her for a heartbeat.
Still muttering, the sister-in-law returned to her Courtyard.
From next door came her voice again. Smug as ever. "They say this one used to be an officer, he is like an iron wall, very cold-faced and black-hearted."
Her words carried easily over the low wall. But Qingya merely tied her hair into a simple knot, the way she used to before marriage, and looked at herself in the cracked mirror.
The woman staring back at her was leaner, and sharper than before.
She didn't need gold or powder to look dignified.
.....
By late morning, thunderclouds loomed, the air thick with heat.
A millitary green jeep rumbled down the village road, kicking up dust.
Children ran behind it, laughing. Farmers straightened from their work, wiping sweat from their brows to watch.
Inside, a man sat rigid in his seat. Tall and broad-shouldered, his uniform collar open but posture still exact. His eyes were deep set, unreadable.
Han Yuzhe, recently transferred to the Xicheng Public Security Bureau.
He was a man who had faced gunfire and riots, yet his palms were slightly damp. Meeting a woman just right after his divorce felt harder than war.
When he reached the Lin courtyard, he stopped the engine.
Lin Qingya stepped out just as the first drop of rain fell.
Their gazes met across the small yard. She was calm and steady, while his gaze was briefly startled by the confidence in her eyes.
For a moment, the world held its breath.
Then Qingya smiled politely. "Officer Han, welcome."
He inclined his head. "Just Han Yuzhe will do."
Rain began to fall in silver lines between them, soft and relentless.
....
The rumour spread faster than wildfire.
"Lin Qingya's having a blind date!"
By mid-morning, the rain had stopped and half the village had gathered near her brother's courtyard. Even the old men chewing sunflower seeds by the well came to watch, pretending they just happened to pass by.
At the centre of it all stood Qingya, dressed in a freshly washed cotton blouse and an old skirt she had mended herself. Her hair was pulled into a neat bun. She looked neither rich nor poor.
Her son Lin Chen sat on the steps, licking the last grain of sugar from his palm, blissfully unaware of what was happening.
Someone at the village gate shouted, "He's there! A man in a green shirt is inside!"
Instantly, everyone craned their necks.
The second sister-in-law, who had spent days calling him "the grim-faced devil," blinked in disbelief upon seeing him.
That devil was young. Younger than the elder sister-in-law had told them. He did not look like a man his thirties at all. She was sure the elder sister-in-law had lied!
Inside the yard, the man sat on an old stool.
For a second, the past and the present blurred.
In her previous life, she had heard of Han Yuzhe only through others. The incorruptible officer who never took bribes, the investigator who dismantled all the corrupt businessmen empires piece by piece.
Now standing before him, she understood why men feared and women stared.
"Officer Han," her brother greeted, wiping his hands. "Welcome again!"
Han shook his hand politely. "Just Han Yuzhe will do. I'm not here on duty."
His eyes drifted to the child that was now hidden behind his mother's skirt stealing peeks.
Lin Chen noticing the eyes on him tilted his chin up, curiosity winning over fear. "Are you the man my uncle said has a gun?"
Everyone gasped.
Qingya quickly hushed him, mortified. "Chen!"
But Han Yuzhe crouched slightly, expression unreadable. "Yes," he said, "but I only use it to protect people."
The boy blinked unsure whether he understood what was said to him but could get the word protect. "Do you protect mom's too?"
Something flickered in Han's eyes. "If they need it."
Satisfied, Lin Chen nodded solemnly and stepped aside.
Behind the wall of onlookers, a woman hid beneath a faded scarf, half her face veiled. Zhou Xinyi.
He smiled. He actually smiled.
Han Yuzhe, who hadn't smiled once during their marriage, had just smiled at another woman's child.
Xinyi's heart twisted. She had come only to confirm that Lin Qinya ends up with Han Yuzhe and doesnt get between her and Yun Han, but now jealousy burned her like fever.
She'd traded her marriage for the incoming luxury she thought she would have. Convinced that wealth was the true future she wanted. Yet seeing him now, tall, centered and respected, she suddenly felt the emptiness of her choice.
And worse, she knew what was coming: this woman, Lin Qingya, would one day hold everything Xinyi wanted. The house, the children's affection. But she would not get the riches.
Yes, the riches!
Not again.
She turned on her heel, heading straight for Yun Hao's construction site on the outskirts of the next town. She could not find him there meaning he had not arrived yet so there was only one place he could be. This time she would make sure that future of glamour was hers.
....
Back in the courtyard, after the greetings, Han Yuzhe straightened.
"Comrade Lin Qingya," he said formally, "may I speak with you?"
Qingya hesitated, glancing at her elder brother, who nodded and motioned the others inside.
The yard emptied, leaving only the two of them under the late-morning sun. The smell of drying wheat hung in the air, golden and warm.
"I won't waste words," Han Yuzhe began. "I've recently divorced. I have two sons. People suggested we might...suit each other."
Qingya smiled faintly. "That's one way to put it."
He didn't smile back. "I know your situation too. You have a child and need city registration. I won't insult your intelligence by pretending not to know that."
Her breath caught. He was blunt, brutally so.
But then he added, softly, "I also need stability. Someone who would take care of my child."
For a moment, the air stiffled.
Qingya met his gaze squarely. "If you marry me, you marry my child too. I won't leave him behind."
His expression didn't change, but the faintest curve touched his lips.
"Then it's decided," he said simply. "I'll protect both of you from now on."
...
From the lane outside, the ones who were closer and had heard some of the conversation passed it to the others.
"You see? He talked to her alone!"
"They're really going to marry?"
"The man looks younger than her right? Oh! he is so handsome!"
But Lin Qingya didn't hear them.
For the first time since her rebirth, she felt something unfamiliar flutter in her chest. Not love, not yet but somewhat like certainty that this time she had made the right choice.
Han Yuzhe the man who was said to never smile, had just promised her a future in a single sentence.
And as clouds parted overhead, sunlight spilled across the courtyard, as if even the heavens acknowledged their strange, practical beginning.