In 1983, beside a red-brick wall in Hongxing Brigade.
Lin Wanxia cornered He Tieshan, the village’s famous former soldier and mechanic, in an alley.
“You’re on your own, and things aren’t going well for me either. Why don’t we join forces and make a life together? Do you dare?”
He Tieshan looked at the stubborn young woman before him and answered in a steady, powerful voice, “Lin Wanxia, as long as I’m here, no one will ever make you suffer again.”
Back then, to support her family, she had married into the Zhao family. For five years, she worked herself to the bone and did everything she could to help her husband become a commune official. But he repaid her kindness with ingratitude, eager to curry favor with the powerful and tossing her aside like trash. Everyone in the village was waiting to laugh at her downfall.
Lin Wanxia was never one to back down. She walked away decisively. With her extraordinary memory and accounting skills, she made sure her heartless ex-husband and his family got what they deserved. She also bravely seized the chance to be with this upright, dependable man, a tough guy with remarkable skills.
From reselling old radios to taking over the township machinery factory, the couple rode the wave of the times and built their business together, making their lives better and better. Lin Wanxia teased him with a smile: “They say ex-soldiers only know how to fix machines. I never expected you to be so good at taking care of everything at home and outside. It really makes me feel safe.”
