“Sister-in-law, you’re really alright?” Kang Wei couldn’t help asking. Xia Xiaolan shook her head, “I wasn’t hurt, but Jiang Yan got injured protecting me. Let’s all help carry her down the mountain – she needs to go to the hospital.”

The women wouldn’t be needed to carry the stretcher. Zhou Cheng, Kang Wei, and Shao Guangrong could take turns carrying her back.

When they got down, the resort owner was terrified, fearing trouble from Xia Xiaolan and the others. Zhou Cheng indeed wanted to get angry – though the back mountain was open to guests, they hadn’t even cleared out the wild boars. They were lucky it was their group that encountered them; it would have been unthinkable if it had been others.

“The boars we killed are still up there. Deal with them however you want. Right now we need to get to the hospital. We’ll settle accounts later!”

“That’s impossible, we’ve combed through the back mountain, how could wild boars have made it their home…”

The resort owner was nearly in tears. Regular people couldn’t even get near the reservoir – who would come to eat in such a remote place?

Half the people who came had cars, and those with cars weren’t ordinary people. The resort dared to provide hunting rifles to guests because they had connections up and down, but this made the owner even more careful about guest safety. The guests weren’t ordinary people – he couldn’t afford compensation if anything happened to any of them.

Kang Wei grabbed him, “So you lied about wild boars in the back mountain? Were the pheasants and rabbits fake too?”

“The pheasants and rabbits are real. Wild boars are too fierce – every year I have to ask the militia to hunt them down several times. They kill the big ones and leave the piglets—”

The owner was quite cunning, deliberately mentioning wild boars to interest hunting guests. In reality, you couldn’t find a single boar over 100 jin on the mountain.

Zhou Cheng and Shao Guangrong placed Jiang Yan in the car, and Xia Xiaolan interrupted the owner: “There’s no wall around the back mountain, they might have come from somewhere else. Regardless, it’s too dangerous. Send people to collect the boar carcasses and you’ll see we’re not lying. This activity is too risky – you should reconsider it for the future.”

If some pot-bellied officials had gone hunting and encountered today’s situation, could they have run?

“Let’s go to the hospital first.”

Zhou Cheng didn’t say much more to the resort owner. The huge resort couldn’t move – the owner couldn’t escape his responsibilities.

At least not from Zhou Cheng.

Xia Xiaolan had no choice. Jiang Yan had broken her leg saving her – everyone else could go along with the owner’s words, but she alone couldn’t agree.

Who knew where the boars came from? If she hadn’t interrupted the owner, should she have suggested the boars were part of Jiang Yan’s act? Even if Jiang Yan was a military goddess who could command soldiers, she couldn’t control boars.

This hunting trip was indeed unforgettable. They rushed Jiang Yan to the hospital – it was indeed a fracture.

“Young people heal well. After setting the bone and applying a cast, it will heal in time. No surgery needed.”

The doctor’s words made Xia Xiaolan sigh in relief.

If Jiang Yan had ended up lame like Jiang Wu, Xia Xiaolan wouldn’t have known what to do.

Though Zhou Cheng wasn’t an object to be given away, even if they stayed together, how comfortable would life be with a disabled Jiang Yan watching from the sidelines?

“Jiang Yan, I owe you one.”

Fractures were very painful – Xia Xiaolan had experienced a wrist fracture before, and the feeling was indescribable. Yet Jiang Yan lay in the hospital bed looking spirited. When Xia Xiaolan thanked her, Jiang Yan wasn’t very receptive:

“I suggested hunting the boars – I misjudged the situation. I didn’t want to save you, but you’re a Chinese civilian and Zhou Cheng’s girlfriend. I didn’t want to see Zhou Cheng upset.”

Xia Xiaolan looked at Jiang Yan for a moment, “Fine, whatever you say.”

Xia Xiaolan still had some doubts, but without evidence to suspect someone, even if her heart was black, she couldn’t be ungrateful after receiving help.

So was Jiang Yan truly just principled?

Xia Xiaolan felt that if it had been Yuan Yujun or Little You falling instead of her, Jiang Yan would have saved them too.

Because Jiang Yan saw herself as strong, and though she looked down on ordinary women as weak, she believed in protecting the weak… People were indeed complex, with many facets.

Xia Xiaolan left the room and saw Zhou Cheng in the hallway, holding an unlit cigarette.

She couldn’t help leaning on his shoulder: “What’s been happening lately? Whenever we’re together, something goes wrong.”

The whole year of ’85 had been eventful – from Kang Wei’s car accident before Spring Festival, to Shi Kai’s sacrifice during the festival, to Jiang Wu’s lingering ghost, and Zhou Yi’s love-struck willfulness – something always interrupted Xia Xiaolan and Zhou Cheng’s time together.

Everyone had been through a lot today – even the most beautiful fairy would sweat.

But his woman’s sweat carried its fragrance. Zhou Cheng couldn’t help kissing her temple:

“We can solve anything together. As long as I still like you and you still like me, nothing can affect our relationship. Feel it – it beats only for you, and always will.”

Zhou Cheng took her hand and placed it on his chest. His jacket had been torn into strips for the stretcher, leaving him in just a white sleeveless undershirt.

The thin fabric clung close, revealing Zhou Cheng’s lean, strong arms with defined but not exaggerated muscles.

Without clothes in the way, the boundary between bone and flesh seemed blurred. His heart beat under her palm, and Xia Xiaolan felt weak-kneed from this young man’s powerful hormones, inexplicably blushing crimson.

“Stop it, this is a hospital—”

She hurriedly withdrew her hand.

Feelings between people were strange. When others sent flowers pursuing her, Xia Xiaolan suspected schemes.

When Zhou Cheng pursued her initially, she didn’t resist long before surrendering.

The attraction between men and women was truly hard to explain – invisible and intangible, yet undeniably there.

Xia Xiaolan wasn’t shy – Comrade Jiang Yan had just broken her leg saving her. Though Xia Xiaolan would never give Zhou Cheng to her in gratitude, she could restrain their displays of affection out of consideration for Jiang Yan’s feelings.

“Still no trace of Jiang Wu?”

Zhou Cheng nodded, “No, he probably went to find Brother Pan San. I’ve been thinking about Jiang Wu – his strange appearance last time might have been to divert our attention.”

Zhou Cheng had suspected Jiang Yan and Jiang Wu were working together – otherwise, many things couldn’t be explained.

Even now, his doubts weren’t completely dispelled, but there was no need to frighten his woman by saying so.

Before Kang Wei and the others arrived, Xia Xiaolan brought up Zhou Yi’s situation:

“We found her, but Uncle and Aunt disagree on what to do. I think their arguing is wasting Zhou Yi’s time. What do you think?”

What could Zhou Cheng think?

His cousin was so foolish, her mind completely clouded by infatuation, trying to escape even when confined.

Zhou Cheng was very disappointed in Zhou Yi. Though he didn’t like Aunt Jiang Hong, he still considered others’ feelings for the sake of family. Zhou Yi, raised with such pampering, had run off with a man while her mother lay sick in the hospital—

“Let her go. Give it a couple of years, and test whether this love is worth it or not.”