Reborn in 1970: I Work a Treadle Sewing Machine, Raise a Child, and Move into the Military Compound

No sooner has she delivered her late husband's ashes than his family tries to take his military medals and pension, and sell their three-year-old son for a good price. Su Qing takes her husband's portrait, kicks over the funeral altar, and moves into the military compound with her son that very night. People call her a husband-killing jinx, a beautiful widow with thorns like a rose, and no one dares get close.

Yet Lu Feng, a famously decorated and cold-faced regiment commander who has no interest in women, keeps showing up at her home every few days.

“Comrade Su Qing, I'll fix your pipes.”

“Comrade Su Qing, I'll replace the tiles on your roof.”

“Comrade Su Qing, I'll look after the child. You get some rest.”

The gossip around the military compound is so loud it could lift the roof, accusing her, a war hero's widow, of behaving improperly and seducing her late husband's direct superior.

Then one night, Lu Feng corners her in the kitchen, his tall frame completely enveloping her. His hands, callused from years of holding a gun, brush her flushed cheek. His voice is hoarse with restraint. “They're right. I do have improper intentions toward you. I have ever since the first time I saw you.”

Before Su Qing can even react, her three-year-old son runs over with his bottle and hugs Lu Feng's leg. “Uncle Lu, Mommy said you can stay tonight and read me a bedtime story!”