Zhou Cheng felt very uneasy.
This feeling of heart palpitations reminded him of his time on the frontlines. Several times, thanks to an indescribable subtle intuition, he had dodged artillery shells that landed nearby, evading death’s scythe.
Something must have happened.
Calculating the time, Xiaolan had been gone for over forty minutes – she should have reached somewhere populated by now.
Although this temporary station area seemed deserted, it was watched by sentries and was very safe, with no danger possible. It took more than half an hour’s walk to reach the nearest fishing village.
Beyond the fishing village was a small town.
Xiaolan said Kang Wei had driven her here, so in forty-plus minutes, they should have just reached that small town.
Zhou Cheng closed his eyes, and the topographical map of the surroundings appeared clearly in his mind.
The heart palpitations were uncomfortable, but what was worse was that Zhou Cheng didn’t know what had happened. After a sleepless night of tossing and turning, just as the first light of dawn appeared, he got up and went to find the instructor:
“Report, I’d like to request leave!”
“Zhou Cheng, don’t joke around early in the morning, this is against discipline! You’re on a confidential mission!”
What secrecy? The first raid might have needed secrecy, but they’d been stationed along the coast for so long now that the scattered escaped smugglers had already spread the word of their presence. If they wanted to catch big fish like the Cheng Rong Group’s smuggling ships again, it wouldn’t depend on secrecy but on accurate intelligence—though intelligence was quite sensitive. Zhou Cheng had been isolated for investigation last time for allegedly exchanging intelligence with Pan San.
For someone of Zhou Cheng’s rank, this was a violation of discipline. Lower-ranking personnel had no right to question the sources of intelligence from above.
Zhou Cheng didn’t argue with the instructor; he looked serious:
“Report, my girlfriend Comrade Xia Xiaolan might have encountered some trouble on her way back. I need to confirm her safety.”
The instructor tensed up briefly, asking Zhou Cheng how he knew. Zhou Cheng said it was intuition.
Isn’t this just speaking nonsense with a straight face?
The instructor wanted to make Zhou Cheng run 10 kilometers to clear his head, but there was a rare pleading tone in Zhou Cheng’s voice: “Please just help me confirm, then I won’t worry.”
Having stayed up all night without sleep, Zhou Cheng looked quite pitiful.
His eyes were bloodshot, and stubble had grown on his face. At this moment, Zhou Cheng was like a caged beast.
The instructor was also somewhat suspicious.
His leniency towards Zhou Cheng wasn’t because of Zhou Cheng’s family connections, but because of the connections Xia Xiaolan had found.
“Just this once, don’t let it happen again!”
The instructor left Zhou Cheng standing there and returned half an hour later, looking at Zhou Cheng with amazement:
“How did you know?”
Through intuition?
Might as well say through qigong!
“I swear, it was just intuition. What happened to Xiaolan?”
The instructor made a downward gesture with his hand, “Zhou Cheng, calm down first and listen to me. Your girlfriend had a car accident when she left yesterday, but she’s not seriously injured, just some scratches… I’ve confirmed this 100%! I don’t approve your leave request, it would look too bad!”
A car accident!
A car accident could happen in a remote fishing village in Shenzhen.
Kang Wei had bought a Jeep 212, which wasn’t expensive, but the model wasn’t suitable for women to drive. Otherwise, Zhou Cheng would have considered buying one for Xia Xiaolan – she would probably accept an inexpensive car.
The Jeep 212 had high ground clearance – what kind of vehicle would have to hit it to cause an accident?
A bicycle couldn’t do it, and even a motorcycle collision probably wouldn’t cause major damage.
“Xiaolan has scratches, but what about the driver?”
“The driver hit his head and has already had surgery. Your girlfriend is fine…”
“The driver is my childhood friend who grew up with me. My parents only had me, so he’s practically my brother.”
Kang Wei had hit his head.
Zhou Cheng was relieved that Xiaolan only had scratches, but he was worried about Kang Wei’s injuries!
The instructor was speechless.
The unit valued brotherly relationships, and after bringing this batch of students from the Land Forces Academy to the south for two months, the confidentiality requirements had indeed loosened somewhat.
If Zhou Cheng had said he wanted to return to Beijing, that would have been forbidden, but since the other party was also in Shenzhen, the instructor pondered for a moment without immediately refusing.
…
The day after the accident.
Kang Wei had woken up twice more but spent most of the time sleeping.
Sleep was good; when he was awake, he was in severe pain.
Xie Yun had finally managed to stop crying. Crying didn’t solve anything; it was better to properly ask the doctor about Kang Wei’s follow-up treatment plan.
Xia Xiaolan had also spent the night at the hospital.
The nurse changed her bandages, seeing her arm was raw and bloody.
It had been quite painful when picking out the glass earlier, but Xia Xiaolan hadn’t had time to worry about herself, managing to tough it out. Now she could feel the pain. Her arm seemed prone to misfortune – last time it was a bone fracture, this time it had protected her face.
“Fortunately, you blocked with your arm,” the nurse remarked while changing the bandages.
Not much glass had hit her face, and her eyes were fine. Since they were going to the seaside, Xia Xiaolan had worn a high-necked sweater, which had protected her neck well.
Thinking about it now, she had been really lucky.
Disfigurement would be a minor issue, but if her eyes had been injured, Xia Xiaolan would probably have broken down too.
She didn’t care about being beautiful or ugly – in her previous life, she hadn’t been good-looking but still got what she wanted, and she could do the same in this life. She just wondered if Zhou Cheng would mind if she were disfigured… If Zhou Cheng couldn’t accept it, Xia Xiaolan wouldn’t blame him. After all, she liked that Zhou Cheng was handsome – one shouldn’t have double standards!
But if she lost her eyesight, that would be truly hopeless. Her current field of study, and her life plans, would all have to be scrapped and started over.
“The swelling on your face has gone down today, and the facial injuries aren’t severe. You don’t seem prone to scarring, so it probably won’t leave scars.”
When she was first brought to the hospital yesterday, though disheveled, she had still been beautiful. Now her original appearance was unrecognizable, but Xia Xiaolan wasn’t arrogant, so the nurse was patient in comforting her.
“Thank you, your bandaging technique is great, I hardly felt any pain.”
Not scarring would be best. Xia Xiaolan looked in the mirror and could see the swelling had indeed gone down somewhat.
Kang Wei had woken up once this morning and was still concerned about not being able to accompany Xia Xiaolan to see the new store. At the time, Xia Xiaolan thought Kang Lianming’s expression was odd – Kang Wei must have been in too much pain from his injuries to think clearly, bringing this up in front of the Kang family.
Sure enough, just after the nurse finished changing the bandages, Kang Lianming came to talk to Xia Xiaolan.
“You two are business partners, and it seems to be going quite well?”
“Yes, Uncle Kang, the business is developing well, and Kang Wei enjoys it too.”
Xia Xiaolan didn’t know what Kang Lianming had discussed with Du Zhaohui yesterday, but now Du Zhaohui was still complaining of headaches, showing signs of wanting to compete with Kang Wei for longest hospital stay.
Xia Xiaolan couldn’t be sure what Kang Lianming was thinking.
Suddenly coming to ask about the business – did he not want Kang Wei to come to Shenzhen in the future?
“Uncle Kang, doing business itself isn’t dangerous. We’re running a legitimate business, and this car accident was unexpected – neither of us anticipated being hit. It has nothing to do with Kang Wei doing business, it’s related to imperfect traffic regulations… If you don’t agree with Kang Wei coming to Shenzhen in the future, could we discuss this after Kang Wei recovers?”