You couldn’t blame Xia Xiao Lan for being careless.
She simply hadn’t considered this possibility at all!
When people thought of Zhou Cheng’s profession, most immediately pictured a hardened military man.
While there were women in service, female frontline soldiers were rare, and Xiao Lan hadn’t imagined that a woman might have fought alongside Zhou Cheng.
But how else could they have become such close friends?
Zhou Cheng said the Jiang family was from Jinling, so Jiang Yan must have lived there too. Xiao Lan had already ruled out them being childhood friends – casual acquaintances couldn’t have developed such a deep friendship. She poked Zhou Cheng’s chest with her finger, feeling as if electricity coursed through the touch. Zhou Cheng caught her mischievous hand:
“What nonsense are you talking about – sharing life and death, being close confidantes?”
The ones who had shared life and death with him were his frontline comrades, Third Brother Pan, and Shi Kai – how could Jiang Yan be among them?
But Xiao Lan clearly wouldn’t be satisfied with such a brief explanation, so Zhou Cheng had to elaborate:
“When we had sufficient personnel, women weren’t assigned to the frontlines. Jiang Yan started as a medic, participating in rescue operations. Later, she handed her medical kit to someone else and picked up a gun from the ground… This happened several times. Everyone knew Jiang Yan was capable, and though she was from the Jiang family, nobody cared about her family background then. We gradually became familiar. She didn’t want to remain a medic and wanted to handle weapons, asking Third Brother Pan many times. Pan couldn’t make the decision, so he told Jiang Yan to request permission from the leadership. Of course, they refused. Jiang Yan continued as a medic but occasionally rushed to the frontlines, and everyone just turned a blind eye.”
Zhou Cheng’s tone was flat, but Xiao Lan detected something different.
While there might not have been romantic feelings, Jiang Yan hadn’t lied – they truly had been friends before.
But friendships don’t necessarily last forever. Though Jiang Yan was determined to restore her friendship with Zhou Cheng, even without considering other possibilities, Xiao Lan knew it couldn’t be forced… Different views and perspectives could drive even childhood friends apart. While Jiang Yan had once been part of Zhou Cheng and Third Brother Pan’s circle, they no longer included her, yet she couldn’t let go.
Xiao Lan let out a soft snort, holding Zhou Cheng’s arm:
“I’ll let this explanation slide for now.”
They couldn’t stay cooped up in the room forever, and Zhou Cheng wanted to show Xiao Lan around Shijiazhuang. He had come to the academy last year but was immediately sent to coastal practical training, only returning after the New Year, so he hadn’t explored Shijiazhuang himself.
As they left the guesthouse, Jiang Yan was standing there.
Xiao Lan pinched Zhou Cheng’s waist behind her back, and Zhou Cheng thought this was truly an unexpected disaster. Naturally, they couldn’t acknowledge Jiang Yan. Zhou Cheng walked past without a glance, while Xiao Lan smiled at Jiang Yan.
That day, wherever they went, Jiang Yan followed. Zhou Cheng finally couldn’t stand it anymore and wanted to drive her away, but Xiao Lan held him back:
“The more attention you give her, the more encouraged she’ll be. Come on, take me to the station.”
Even when they ate lunch at the state-run restaurant, Jiang Yan sat at the next table. She was quite brazen, though, in terms of thick skin, she probably couldn’t match Xiao Lan.
Thanks to Jiang Yan’s presence, Xiao Lan and Zhou Cheng displayed their affection for half a day. It wasn’t intentionally showing off – young couples naturally want to embrace and hold hands. Though they were more restrained in public, Xiao Lan still dared to hold Zhou Cheng’s hand.
She wasn’t a passive person by nature, always taking initiative.
If she wanted to hold hands, she would. This wasn’t Zhou Cheng’s workplace, and nobody knew him there, so there was no worry about making a bad impression.
The severe crackdown of ’83 had passed, and with the Reform and Opening Up, social attitudes had begun to relax. While hooliganism was still a crime, that only applied when women were harassed or forced. Nobody would bother a willing young couple like Xiao Lan and Zhou Cheng.
But in Jiang Yan’s eyes, it was a deliberate provocation.
Because of Xiao Lan’s ‘initiative,’ it seemed to Jiang Yan that Zhou Cheng was being led by the nose. Whether Xiao Lan said she was thirsty, hungry, or wanted to browse the department store, Zhou Cheng never refused any request.
Unconditional accommodation?
When had Zhou Cheng become such a person?
Jiang Yan felt uncomfortable. She wasn’t jealous of Zhou Cheng and Xiao Lan’s affection; rather, this romantic version of Zhou Cheng seemed utterly foreign to her.
Zhou Cheng should be bold and assertive.
Being bold didn’t mean being thoughtless – he could fight hard but also knew how to use his mind. Zhou Cheng’s rapid rise wasn’t simply due to his family background giving him a golden opportunity at the frontlines; he had earned real merit.
Jiang Yan liked associating with people like Zhou Cheng. Both he and Pan Baohua had once been her friends, but now she could barely recognize the Zhou Cheng before her – had he changed so drastically since leaving the frontlines?
No, she had seen Zhou Cheng once after he left the frontlines, during the major system-wide exercises two years ago. The Zhou Cheng then wasn’t like this.
Jiang Yan was more familiar with the previous Zhou Cheng.
She slowly followed them to the station, watching their reluctant parting on the platform. Xiao Lan was truly bold – as the train was about to depart, she stood on tiptoes and kissed Zhou Cheng in front of everyone.
Zhou Cheng’s eyes curved with his smile.
Xiao Lan waved to Zhou Cheng and winked at Jiang Yan. The train whistled and departed, with Zhou Cheng running alongside for a while until the train picked up speed and he could no longer keep up.
Jiang Yan stepped forward:
“Zhou Cheng, I want to meet with Third Brother Pan.”
Zhou Cheng looked at her expressionlessly: “I can’t contact Third Brother, and your Jiang family drove him into a corner. Even if I could contact him, I wouldn’t let him meet you. After all, the Jiang family is known for their scheming – I fear if Third Brother met you, he’d be surrounded by people waiting to ambush him.”
Jiang Yan’s expression showed a hint of discomfort.
The Jiang family had indeed done such things before, which was why she had no credibility in Zhou Cheng’s eyes.
As Jiang Yan tried to say more, Zhou Cheng brushed past her:
“Jiang Yan, I warn you again – if you go looking for Xiao Lan and try to drag her into this matter, even the Jiang family won’t be able to protect you!”
On the train, Xiao Lan kept thinking about Jiang Yan.
Zhou Cheng still had a year and a half of advanced studies at the academy, and she didn’t know how long Jiang Yan’s ‘communications class’ would last. With male and female students confined in the same academy, while Xiao Lan wasn’t prone to unsavory thoughts, she could tell from Jiang Yan’s personality that she wasn’t someone who gave up easily.
This girl would continue to harass Zhou Cheng.
Jiang Yan was valiant and beautiful, tall and striking. If this involved others, Xiao Lan would have seen it as a story of bickering lovers… But when it involved her, she just felt inexplicably irritated.
If Jiang Yan and Zhou Cheng were bickering lovers, wouldn’t that make Xiao Lan the cannon fodder character? While the male and female leads fought and made up, once their misunderstandings were resolved, Xiao Lan the cannon fodder would exit the stage – but that was wishful thinking. Xiao Lan didn’t hope to become the female lead; she would immediately find herself a new male lead!
It was only 5 PM when she returned to Beijing. Xiao Lan planned to go home before heading to school.
The house was cold and empty, with a note on the table saying her mother had gone to the Xidan Police Station with Grandmother Yu.
The note was written by Grandmother Yu, and the character “Zhang Cui” made Xiao Lan smile coldly. Just as Ms. Xia was irritated by her imagined script of her boyfriend’s tumultuous relationship with Jiang Yan, someone had voluntarily appeared asking for trouble.
As for Xia Ziyu’s family, if they had just quietly kept their heads down, Xiao Lan wouldn’t have bothered with them.
But now that they had actively jumped out, she remembered them.