Feng Yanzhi was always known for her swift and decisive actions.
The very next day, she took the license plate number to Neighbor Wang for help. Wang’s son was a local police officer, so he could provide some assistance. However, since this matter was somewhat “borderline,” Wang’s son, who had always been an honest person since childhood, naturally didn’t dare to cross that line. After a few days, he sent back a message through Wang.
“This person is not ordinary and doesn’t do what ordinary people do. Beyond that, he doesn’t dare reveal more.” After saying this, Wang added a question, “Why are you investigating this person?”
Feng Yanzhi pinched the small note with the license plate number, feeling confused inside. She wondered what exactly made him “not ordinary.” Half-believing and half-doubting, she glanced sideways at Wang and asked, “You can’t even find out what kind of job he has?”
Wang shook his head and shrugged, “My son said that even ordinary people’s information is confidential and cannot be casually disclosed, let alone this person, who has a non-ordinary identity, and there’s almost no information to be found.”
Feng Yanzhi’s heart instantly jumped to her throat, thinking that her daughter must have gotten involved with some unsavory character.
She gave Wang an awkward smile, “Wang, we’ve been friends for so many years, so I won’t hide it from you. It’s about Yu Hao. Last night she came home saying she wanted to marry this man, but she wouldn’t say anything else. You know how worried I am as a mother. This girl has always been headstrong since she was little. I’m afraid she’s being deceived, so I wanted to check this person’s background.”
When Wang heard this, his brow relaxed, and he let out an “oh,” nodding in agreement.
“Little Yu’s matter does need to be investigated properly. Look, Old Feng, don’t worry. I’ll go back and ask my son again. I’ll let you know as soon as there’s any news.”
Only then did Feng Yanzhi smile, nodding repeatedly, “Then I’ll leave this matter to you.”
Just as she finished speaking, the elevator door opened with a ding. Comrade Old Yu came out carrying his briefcase, looked up saw the two of them whispering mysteriously, and frowned, “What are you two doing?”
Wang smiled at him, “Discussing your daughter’s business.”
Yu Guoyang handed his briefcase to Feng Yanzhi, rolled up his sleeves, and looked at Wang, “What business do you have meddling in my daughter’s affairs? Go, go, go, you’re at my place every day, you have become the nosy neighbor.”
After driving Wang away, Yu Guoyang turned around to find Feng Yanzhi had already taken his bag inside. He followed her in, changing his shoes, one hand against the wall as he bent down to speak to her: “You did it. You had Wang’s son investigate?”
Feng Yanzhi hung up his bag, turned around, and picked up a spray bottle to water the plants on the balcony. Without looking back, she said with a cold laugh: “You think I wanted to? If your daughter would tell me anything, would I have gone to such lengths to ask Wang? She’s been tight-lipped since she was little. I must have forgotten to cut open her spout when I gave birth to her.”
Yu Guoyang shook his head and smiled.
“Don’t you think there was a problem with your education from the start? Why doesn’t she like to talk to you? Since she started school, all you cared about was her grades and her piano. When she wanted to have a heart-to-heart conversation with you, you barely listened to a few words before steering the topic back to grades.”
As he said this, Yu Guoyang sat down on the couch, picked up a newspaper, put on his glasses, looked at Feng Yanzhi on the balcony, and said, “Don’t you remember? The first time she got her period, it was me who bought her sanitary pads. Of course, she’s not close to you. As a father, some things are not convenient for me to ask about. You, as her mother, care about nothing but studies, and now you’re pressuring her to get married. You’re something.”
“Bang!”
Feng Yanzhi slammed the spray bottle onto the sink on the balcony. “Back then, I was busy dealing with your mother’s schemes. How could I have spare time to take care of her? Is that my fault?”
The story of Feng Yanzhi and Yu Guoyang’s marriage could be spun into an eight-episode TV series.
When they got married, both sets of parents were against it. The reasons were numerous and complex. Old Mrs. Yu looked down on Feng Yanzhi’s family background, and Old Mrs. Feng was also a proud and arrogant person who feared her daughter would suffer grievances after marriage. In the end, they didn’t even have a wedding ceremony, stole the household register, and hastily got their marriage certificate.
After Yu Hao was born, the old lady disliked her even more.
Yu Guoyang was a blockhead who didn’t know how to mediate between them. His emotional intelligence was not even as high as Feng Yanzhi’s, but Feng Yanzhi was someone who would not bow her head, so the mother-in-law relationship had inexplicably remained tense for all these years.
Speaking of this, Yu Guoyang was also at a loss for words. He shook his head, fearing that continuing would lead to another fierce argument.
…
Yu Hao felt like she was back in her school days.
On the day of her middle school entrance exam, she got her period and was in excruciating pain, missing the second half of the exam. As a result, she was assigned to No. 18 Middle School. Feng Yanzhi was so anxious that she had Comrade Old Yu look for connections everywhere to see if they could pay to get her into No. 3 Middle School. Yu Guoyang, being thin-skinned, couldn’t bring himself to ask for favors. Every time Feng Yanzhi encountered a difficulty, she would threaten him with divorce. Old Yu had no choice but to shamelessly beg people.
Yu Hao couldn’t bear to see this and decided to attend No. 18 Middle School.
On her first day at school, she knew she wouldn’t like it. It was a mixed bag, with all kinds of people, and the learning atmosphere was very lax. The teachers’ teaching levels were not even as good as her middle school teachers, and there were even some fools who wrote down every word the teachers said.
The only positive aspect was that the students were very united, unlike her previous school where everyone compared their scores and which questions they got wrong, secretly studying until late at night.
In general, she found her school life quite desperate. After mid-term exams, when she brought back her report card, Feng Yanzhi compared it with Wang’s son who attended No. 3 Middle School and was so angry that she made a data analysis chart overnight.
“You two used to have similar Chinese and math scores, and his math score in the entrance exam was not as good as yours. Look, after half a semester, what exactly have you been doing at No. 18 Middle School?”
She didn’t know what she had been doing.
Feng Yanzhi felt this wouldn’t do. She had thought Yu Hao was self-disciplined, but she hadn’t expected such mid-term results. That night, she had Old Yu call the director of the hospital to ask him to contact his acquaintances at No. 3 Middle School to see if Yu Hao could transfer there.
Three days later, the director replied.
When Old Yu was on the phone with the director, Yu Hao was eavesdropping behind the door. The tone on the other end seemed quite difficult, and after hanging up, Old Yu sighed repeatedly, explaining to Feng Yanzhi that this matter was currently hard to arrange, as the Education Department was conducting strict inspections.
In an instant, Yu Hao’s suspended heart returned to her belly. When she tiptoed back to her room and gently closed the door, she lay on her back on the bed, staring at the glaring incandescent light above her head for a moment before suddenly springing up like a carp, having an epiphany—
Hmm, why did she suddenly feel reluctant to leave this school?
It seemed… she had suddenly become reluctant to part with that boy.
She wanted to see him sleeping on his desk or leaning back in his chair chatting idly with others, and his spirited appearance when playing ball on the court. She wanted to see him always wearing a smile, whether being scolded by teachers, teased by classmates, or when he saw her, his sharp mouth corners would curl up when he smiled, revealing his white teeth, his hair flying up, standing fluffy in the air, his eyes curved like the moon, but especially bright, especially healing.
After that, going to school seemed to become something to look forward to. She would deliberately dress up, and she couldn’t help but ask Feng Yanzhi to buy nice clothes she saw. If she was going to pass by Class 8 to go to the teacher’s office the next day, she would wear that new outfit. The boy was oblivious and never noticed she was wearing new clothes.
Or she would deliberately pretend to run into him in various ways, deliberately ignore him, waiting for him to catch up and call out to her…
Yu Hao felt she wouldn’t have these awkward adolescent girl thoughts anymore, but after showering, she found herself picking through her wardrobe, and that familiar feeling returned.
She told herself, after so many years, since he was back, she should give it a try.
Even if it meant hitting a brick wall, even if it ended in complete defeat, even if it concluded tragically.
…
Lu Huaizheng was absent all morning. When Yu Hao was helping Wu Heping with his evaluation, she casually asked about him. Wu Heping looked at her suspiciously, “Hmm, Dr. Yu, don’t you dislike our Captain Lu?”
Yu Hao kept her head down, taking notes, startled but not looking up.
“Just asking.”
Wu Heping made an “oh” sound and told her the truth: “The captain took a recruit out on patrol.” After saying this, he leaned forward and lowered his voice: “A troublemaker, very difficult to manage.”
Only then did Yu Hao look up, “How troublesome? More troublesome than your captain?”
Wu Heping: “Even if I explained, you wouldn’t understand. His qualifications are quite good, but he’s been emotional lately. He doesn’t train properly and wants to be discharged just after arriving. Who knows what provoked him.”
Yu Hao laughed, “Weren’t you also making a fuss about wanting to leave the army a few days ago?”
“It’s different. My issue is that my qualifications aren’t up to par. His problem is that while his body is here, his heart is elsewhere—he wants to go home and start a business.” Wu Heping said, “Dr. Yu, you should smile more. You look nice when you smile.”
This reminder made Yu Hao immediately stop smiling. She cleared her throat, lowered her head, and scolded him: “What gossip are you talking about? You haven’t even resolved your issues yet. Look at your evaluation form—”
Wu Heping was baffled, feeling extremely wronged. Hey, wasn’t she the one who started asking?!
Lu Huaizheng didn’t return at noon either. He had spent a full two hours at the training ground with that troublemaker.
The sun was scorching, and the wind at the station was strong. Planes occasionally flew overhead. From a distance, Yu Hao could see him in his training uniform, standing outside the firing range. The fierce wind pressed his uniform tightly against his body, making him look quite thin. Yu Hao felt like she was about to be blown over by the gale, but his feet seemed to be rooted to the ground, standing firmly and steadily.
“Have you thought it through?” he asked the recruit in front of him, hands behind his back, raising his chin.
The person opposite didn’t speak.
He suddenly raised his voice, shouting: “Speak!”
The recruit was probably stunned by the shout. Previously, his eyes had been quite defiant when looking at Lu Huaizheng, but now he lowered his head, muttering three words: “I’ve decided.”
“If you were afraid of dying, you shouldn’t have joined the army in the first place! Do you think this is a place you can come and go as you please?!”
The howling wind filled her ears, his voice like thunder. Yu Hao clutched her white lab coat, hugging her arms and shrinking into herself. She had never seen Lu Huaizheng so angry. Most of the time, he wore a casual smile. Even when serious and rigid on the training ground, he was just cold. He had never been angry like this before, yet even in anger, his face was handsome.
The recruit gritted his teeth: “Captain Lu, do you have a girlfriend?”
Still angry, he paused, then reacted, saying coldly, “No.”
“Then you can’t understand how I feel.”
Lu Huaizheng laughed in anger, hands on his hips, “Do I need a girlfriend to understand how you feel?”
“You don’t have someone you care about, so you don’t know the feeling of fear every time you go on a mission.”
“Who says I don’t?” Lu Huaizheng stopped smiling, his voice growing colder, “Precisely because I do, I try my best to stay alive and return from every mission. This world is more dangerous than you imagine, but also more peaceful than you think.”
The recruit said again: “When I told my girlfriend, she was very worried. I don’t want to make her worry.”
Lu Huaizheng smiled sarcastically: “Do you tell your girlfriend how many times you go to the bathroom each day too? Why can’t you treat it as a normal job when telling your girlfriend? Why do you have to give yourself a special label? Is being a soldier so special? Do you always use the special passage when buying tickets too?”
The recruit nodded in confusion, “Yes, isn’t the special passage meant for us?”
Lu Huaizheng pushed his palm against the recruit’s forehead, raising his voice again: “Is that why you joined the army, for these benefits?! You might as well go register with the Disabled Persons’ Federation! No matter what you’ve experienced on the battlefield, whether you were on the brink of death or returned safely, as long as you’re not dead, those things are not worth mentioning. If you’re afraid of dying, just tell me straightforwardly, ‘I’m afraid of dying,’ and I’ll make a special application to the organization to transfer you to the art troupe, without treating you as a deserter.”
As he said this, his gaze casually glanced to the side, his eyes narrowing as he froze. Unconsciously, his volume lowered a bit: “From now on, just sing and dance for us.”
“What if I don’t want to be in the art troupe?” asked the recruit.
He turned his gaze back, saying coldly: “You’ll be treated as a deserter, discharged from the military, barred from future service, and you’ll go to jail. Go back and think about it.”
The recruit left.
Yu Hao shrank into a small ball in the gale. The man turned and strode toward her. Halfway there, Lu Huaizheng took off his training uniform jacket and, in a few long strides, reached her front, directly wrapping the jacket around her.
Warmth with a familiar scent instantly engulfed her from all directions.
In the fierce wind, two people stood still under the tree, their hair dancing wildly in the air.
Yu Hao looked up at him.
Lu Huaizheng used both hands to tighten the collar around her, almost wrapping her entire face under his jacket, leaving only a pair of bright eyes staring straight at him.
He asked with a casual smile: “Have you eaten yet?”
This person always knew how to calmly dissolve scenes he didn’t want her to see.