Lu Changqing

Biodata

Background / History

The 1975 Floods and the Secret Mission

During relief work following the 1975 Henan floods, Lu Changqing discovered a severely injured man in a cliff crevice on Crouching Tiger Mountain. He brought Song Huaide, a doctor volunteering in the disaster area, to help. Their refusal to abandon the man earned his trust 36 37.

The dying man said that military personnel had deliberately breached a reservoir, killing more than thirty of his colleagues and destroying years of work. He entrusted Lu Changqing and Song Huaide with a secret mission, forbidding them from reporting it or revealing it to others. Learning that enemy agents had infiltrated the military shook Lu Changqing’s faith in the army; Song Huaide helped him distinguish those infiltrators from the organization he believed in 37 38.

Lu Changqing and Song Huaide subsequently became trapped in a mountain crevice after a landslide. Song Huaide gave Lu Changqing his food and medicine so that at least one of them might survive. Lu Changqing promised to care for his granddaughter, Song Ning, and marry her when she turned eighteen. They were rescued on the sixth day, but Song Huaide developed encephalitis and pneumonia and never fully recovered 42.

Military Career

Song Huaide advised Lu Changqing to pursue technical training because his height and build offered little advantage on a conventional military career path. Lu Changqing followed that advice and used his communications work to seek information about the Blue Tears 42.

Lu Changqing maintained correspondence with Song Huaide and sent him money. Song Huaide’s letters repeatedly encouraged the mission while insisting that Song Ning must not be told about it. When the letters stopped arriving in early 1977, Lu Changqing believed Song Huaide had died and continued the search alone 34 42.

Appearance

• Clean-cut and handsome: After returning from disaster relief, he cuts his hair, shaves, and changes into clean clothes 26.
• Scholarly bearing: Song Ning notices an intellectual air unusual among soldiers 26.
• Combat and relief injuries: He suffered a gunshot wound to the right abdomen during the border conflict and later fractured his leg during disaster relief 43.

Personality

Lu Changqing is hardworking, willing to learn, and prepared to risk himself. Han Xiao credits him with ambition and courage but also describes him as calculating and overly eager for quick success. His refusal to abandon the injured man during the floods and his later combat achievements support the more favorable assessment 25 37 38 43.

His determination becomes manipulative when his career is threatened. He admits that his efforts to present a harmonious engagement are intended to prevent a disciplinary mark from delaying promotion. He explains that his current rank gives him insufficient access to investigate the mission, making advancement urgent to him. Song Ning respects his sacrifices but strongly dislikes his attempts to pressure her through appearances, obligations, and repeated delays 41 43 47.

Abilities & Skills

Military Communications

• Trained as a communications soldier and selected for advanced instruction at the General Military District 42.
• Uses communications resources to search for the Blue Tears, though he reports little progress after years of effort 42 43.

Reconnaissance and Combat Leadership

• Discovered an Annamese communications outpost during a routine patrol and led a team along the clues to its central station 43.
• Destroyed the station’s equipment, disabling more than one hundred kilometers of communications lines that would take a month to rebuild 43.
• Received a second-class merit citation and accelerated promotion, despite sustaining an abdominal gunshot wound 43.

Secret Investigation

• Continues the mission entrusted to him and Song Huaide, including the search for the Blue Tears and investigation of infiltrators behind the disaster 38 42.
• Keeps the mission concealed because the identities and military affiliation of the perpetrators are unknown 37 38.
• Believes his company-level rank limits the information he can obtain 43.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Song Huaide’s letters — Kept in the bottom drawer of his desk in regimental dormitory room 216. They substantiate the secret mission, their continued contact, and Song Huaide’s instructions to protect Song Ning from involvement 31 34.
• Dormitory key — Given to Song Ning so she can inspect the drawer privately; he explicitly warns her not to disclose what she finds 31.
• Visiting-family quarters keys — Obtained through his housing application. Song Ning refuses to use them while seeking to end their engagement 47.

Relationships

• Song Ning — His arranged fiancée, whom he first meets during disaster relief. She insists on ending the engagement; he repeatedly asks her to postpone doing so 18 26 43 47.
• Song Huaide — His lifesaver, adviser, and sole partner in the secret mission. Lu Changqing mourns both the man who saved him and the loss of his only mission comrade 38 42.
• Chen Yuting — Pursues him and claims they are in love. He denies agreeing to date her, but acknowledges that concern for her pride and her father’s opinion made his rejection insufficiently firm 19 23 26.
• Gu Zheng — Commander of his regiment. When leadership discusses preserving the engagement, Gu Zheng insists that Song Ning’s wishes be considered 25 33.
• Han Xiao — Fellow company commander who gives Song Ning a candid assessment of Lu Changqing’s strengths and faults 38.
• Zhang Qianjin — Soldier assigned to assist him during hospitalization. Lu Changqing sends him away and later has him deliver his monthly allowance to Song Ning 38 44 47.
• Old Zhang — Engineering-company soldier and hospital roommate. Lu Changqing introduces Song Ning to him as his fiancée, contributing to assumptions that their marriage is imminent 27 30.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Disaster-Relief Medical Dispute

• Lu Changqing is injured while saving equipment. Chen Yuting challenges the relief team’s treatment of his leg, prompting Song Ning to remove his stitches and offer her the chance to treat it again 18 19 22.
• Chen Yuting’s subsequent treatment causes renewed bleeding and severe pain. His fever reaches 39.8°C, and he goes into shock 21.
• Song Ning stabilizes him with silver-needle acupuncture and orders saline and penicillin; Doctor Feng confirms he is out of danger 21.
• After awakening, he offers his military merit to plead for leniency for Chen Yuting 22.
• The public revelation that Song Ning is his fiancée turns the dispute into a conduct issue. Chief of Staff Xu orders that Lu Changqing and Chen Yuting be suspended pending discipline 23.

The Blue Tears Disclosure

• At the Military District Hospital, Lu Changqing announces that he has applied for marriage and family housing. Song Ning instead demands an explanation for his two-year delay and his behavior toward Chen Yuting 26.
• Song Huaide’s final question—whether he has found the Blue Tears—moves him deeply, but he initially refuses to explain because of his secrecy promise 26.
• He gives Song Ning access to the letters, then recounts the flood rescue, sabotage allegations, and promise to her grandfather 31 34 36 37 38 42.

Attempts to Preserve the Engagement

• Confronted by Song Ning, he admits that avoiding discipline is central to his actions. Even a formal warning would block promotion for a year 41.
• He asks her to remain engaged and speak favorably to his superiors. She refuses, separating his disciplinary situation from her right to end the relationship 43.
• He delays another discussion by saying he has fallen from bed and reopened his wound 44.
• He sends his monthly allowance and offers approved visiting-family accommodation. Song Ning returns the money and rejects the quarters 47.
• Before leaving for Shanghai, Song Ning warns that she will approach Chief of Staff Xu if he keeps delaying after her return. Lu Changqing agrees to wait, asks whether she will come back, and wishes her a safe journey; neither the breakup nor the final disciplinary decision is shown 49.

Notable Quotes

“The army became my whole world! My faith!” 38

“At my rank, I can't find out anything! Years have passed, and my ‘mission’ has barely made any progress!” 43

“In any case, I won't allow any stain on my record! Not even a warning!” 43