In the twelfth lunar month of 1985, Yang Zhaodi was "married" by her father to Gu Huaizhi, the regimental leader whom she had never met, for 800 yuan. Before the red candle was burned out, the man answered the phone and rushed to the front line. Before leaving, he said: "Wait for me when I come back." He waited for three years without any news.
She chased him all the way to the army with the divorce application in hand, but she saw him holding a three- or four-year-old boy on his knees, coaxing in a low voice: "Call daddy." The child's features were a perfect replica of hers.
Yang Zhaodi crumpled the application form into a ball and said with a trembling voice: "Captain Gu, where did this child... Come from?"
The man raised his eyes to look at her, with a faint smile in his eyes: "You gave birth to her, you don't recognize it?"
She thought she would be kicked out, but the next day the news spread throughout the military region - Commander Gu's daughter-in-law from the countryside, who came from the ravine, took the military wives from the family home to the logistics department on the first day to pound tables and ask for land to grow vegetables.
Later, she led a group of military wives to open up 200 acres of wasteland, set up a sewing factory, and expanded their side business to the provincial military region. All military region leaders would praise "Gu Huai's wife" by name during meetings. The man who used to say "wait for me when I come back" now runs home every day to catch up on lunch, carrying pastries in various ways, and stands at the door of the kitchen watching her busy with his eyes drawn.
Someone joked: "Captain Gu, what if my sister-in-law runs away again?"
Gu Huaizhi looked at Yang Zhaodi who was sharing money with the military wives in the courtyard, her cheerful face illuminated by the firelight. He put out the cigarette and said in a low voice with a smile, "Run? No one can touch the wife I have been chasing for three years."
