In the past, military units didn’t allow smartphones. It was only last year that they issued a notification—”Internet Access in Camp”—stating that internet and smart devices were permitted but with time restrictions.

Lu Huaizheng had always been too lazy to change his phone. Every time he went on leave with his teammates, while smart touchscreens filled the streets, he was the only one with a brick-like keypad phone. Chen Rui and others would laugh at him, but he didn’t mind. He rather enjoyed it.

Because whenever girls approached him asking, “Handsome, can I add your WeChat?” he would calmly pull out his brick phone and say, “I don’t have one.” The girls would be left speechless and walk away, assuming he was some country bumpkin from the middle of nowhere.

He had only recently switched phones. Lu Huaizheng was a loyal person—his previous brick phone had been with him from high school until now when it finally broke down completely. He had only registered for WeChat not long ago and had few friends, so when he opened his Moments feed, almost everything was from Li Yaoxin.

The most recent post was one she had just made, with a comment below from herself replying to herself.

“Miss Yu Hao, you love liking my Moments posts, don’t you?”

Lu Huaizheng felt his heart skip a beat but summoned the courage to scroll down further.

Li Yaoxin’s Moments feed was as long and meandering as an old woman’s foot-binding cloth. Lu Huaizheng lost patience halfway through and stopped scrolling. He put his phone back in his pocket and leaned against the door of Li Hongwen’s office, deep in thought, wondering when those two had connected—

A flash of lightning and thunder in his mind, he had a sudden jolt as an extremely terrifying thought crossed his mind.

He took out his phone from his pocket again, opened WeChat, and with his head lowered, his slender fingers rapidly scrolled through Li Yaoxin’s Moments feed, flying back a month.

Then the timeline stopped on a Saturday.

She had indeed posted that day, with six photos. The last one showed someone grinning like an idiot—who else could it be but him?

Li Yaoxin loved replying to herself; almost every status had a self-reply below it.

This one was no exception.

“Too many people are asking! Here’s a unified response: it was a blind date, hehe.”

Lu Huaizheng felt his mind explode into a blank void. It was as if dozens of wheels were turning relentlessly in his heart, chaotic and anxious. He hadn’t been this nervous even during his first parachute jump.

Combined with her reactions these past few days, he suspected Yu Hao had seen it, and might even have liked it.

A pressure built in his chest, swelling with nowhere to go, unable to rise or fall, with no outlet for release.

Lu Huaizheng’s heart pounded. He felt he was truly worthless. He couldn’t be called a perfect gentleman, but he wasn’t a bad person either—at most, he had a sharp tongue. When he did something wrong, he never feared facing it. A real man owned up to his actions. In his younger years, he even carried a certain chivalrous spirit, daring to express his anger and speak his mind.

He had never deceived anyone, always straightforward and honest.

Except for attempting to deceive one girl, he hadn’t even succeeded.

On one hand, he felt the embarrassment of his lie being discovered; on the other, he thought that if Yu Hao was angry, it meant she still had feelings for him.

That was a good sign.

Lu Huaizheng eventually saw that “like” in Sun Kai’s WeChat. Sun Kai had created a group for his wedding, and to his surprise, both Li Yaoxin and Yu Hao were in it. Sun Kai and Li Yaoxin had known each other since childhood and were childhood sweethearts. As for Yu Hao—

At first, he didn’t know it was Yu Hao. On the second day of his leave, he accompanied Sun Kai to choose wedding rings at a mall. When the sales associate heard they were shopping for a wedding, she enthusiastically displayed this year’s bestselling ring designs on the counter for them to choose from.

The two tough men, normally decisive on the battlefield, were completely clueless in this situation. Lu Huaizheng had even less experience. With one long leg propped on the ground, he sat on a high stool, his waist slouched, with only one thought in his mind: these shimmering, dazzling things would be a nuisance to wear on your hand—imagine trying to shoot a gun with that.

Sun Kai carefully picked up a ring and turned to ask him, “How about this one?”

He glanced over, “What’s the difference from the previous one?”

Sun Kai held the ring and turned to the sales associate.

The associate smiled warmly and explained, “Sir, it’s like this: this one is thirty points, while the previous one was only ten points. For weddings, thirty to fifty points are the most popular.”

Both men were confused, not understanding what unit “fifty points” or “thirty points” referred to.

Sun Kai asked, “How big is fifty points?”

The associate replied, “To put it simply, fifty points is 0.5 carats, with a cross-section diameter of 5.1 millimeters.”

Sun Kai nodded thoughtfully. Lu Huaizheng understood now and put his hand on Sun Kai’s shoulder to remind him: “It’s about the same caliber as the gun you normally use, just 0.7 millimeters smaller, negligible difference.”

“…”

The sales associate was terrified by the men’s train of thought. Her hand holding the ring began to tremble. “Would you… would you gentlemen like to see… see anything else?”

Sun Kai didn’t notice and waved his hand, saying he wanted to look around more.

Just then, both of their phones vibrated. Chen Rui asked in the group chat who the person without a profile picture was.

Sun Kai replied: Dr. Yu from the Psychology Department.

Lu Huaizheng suddenly looked up and asked Sun Kai, “Is that Yu Hao?”

Sun Kai nodded, “Yes.”

“When did you add her on WeChat?” Lu Huaizheng sat on the high stool, side-eyeing him with a penetrating gaze.

Sun Kai was fully focused on the diamond rings, sorting through them while answering, “I added her right after the training exercise. The guys in our team are friendly. The men in your team are all like you—detached from worldly matters.” After saying this, Sun Kai asked the sales associate to show him another pair.

Lu Huaizheng lowered his head and opened Yu Hao’s WeChat. It was clean and simple, just like her—not even a profile picture.

“Let me see your phone,” he suddenly said, looking up.

Sun Kai casually handed his phone over. Lu Huaizheng opened Li Yaoxin’s Moments feed. Although he was mentally prepared, seeing Yu Hao’s unmistakable “like” still felt like being struck by lightning, like the sky was falling—he was done for.

Someone in the group asked: “Dr. Yu, what kind of men do you like?”

There was no response.

Others teased: “Whatever kind she likes, it’s not your type.”

“How about someone like Captain Lu? Do you like that type?” This was from Chen Rui.

“Captain Lu has never had a girlfriend, a pure virgin in the 21st century!”

This was a joke they often made in private.

“Don’t take advantage of Captain Lu not checking WeChat!”

“But seriously, Dr. Yu, would you consider our Captain Lu?”

Yu Hao hadn’t spoken up at all.

Just as everyone was about to put away their phones, a WeChat notification popped up.

It was from Li Yaoxin: “Hasn’t your Captain Lu had a girlfriend before? He said he had one in high school.”

The group exploded with surprise.

“High school? Damn, puppy love?”

“Didn’t see that coming.”

“I knew Captain Lu wasn’t that pure.”

“Captain Lu must have a game when pursuing women.”

“…”

Lu Huaizheng: “Are you all too free today? Isn’t it time? Don’t you need to train?”

“…”

“…”

“…”

An awkward silence fell.

Then, another message popped up.

Yu Hao: “Hmm, I’ll say this seriously and for the last time, I have no other thoughts about your Captain Lu.”

“…”

“…”

“…”

Another silence fell, and then everyone sent an awkward laugh emoji in the group.

“Turning in phones now, no more jokes.”

“Just kidding around, Dr. Yu, please don’t mind.”

“Since Dr. Yu has spoken, let’s not joke about this anymore.”

“…”

Lu Huaizheng closed WeChat with a cold expression.

After Sun Kai finished selecting the rings, while waiting to pay, he scrolled through the WeChat messages and noticed someone’s dark face. He brought up exactly what he shouldn’t have: “What’s wrong? Are you interested in Dr. Yu?”

Lu Huaizheng crossed his arms, leaning against the counter, turning his face away without speaking.

Boucheron was located on the outermost first floor of the mall, just outside was a busy intersection. The narrow road was packed with cars, like a winding dragon, yet moving as slowly as a snail.

Sun Kai took back his card from the sales associate, sighed, and said, “I think Dr. Yu is not bad, just feels like she lacks a sense of fun. If you like her—bro, I know some passionate girls… very forward—”

Before he could finish, Lu Huaizheng had already pushed through the door and left.

Sun Kai called out from behind, “Where are you going?”

He tossed back, “I’ll wait for you outside.”

Lu Huaizheng was dressed casually that day. His black jacket accentuated his sharp jawline. When not in uniform, his features were softer, less severe—his nose ridge was straight and prominent, his eyebrows slightly arched, his lips thin with clear contours, the corners of his mouth fine and sharp, his teeth white and even. He was such a pleasing sight on the main street that passing women couldn’t help but turn their heads to look at him.

But his gaze was firmly fixed on the slowly moving traffic.

Yu Hao was leaning against Shen Xiyuan’s car, the two chatting casually.

“Want me to pick you up after the lecture?” Shen Xiyuan asked.

“No need, I’ll take a taxi.”

“It’s dangerous for a girl to take taxis alone. Let me pick you up.”

“There’s no need.”

Shen Xiyuan rubbed Yu Hao’s head, “Alright, then be careful.”

…

Sun Kai came out with his purchases and received a text from Lu Huaizheng.

“Something came up, I left first. You head back to the unit.”

Sun Kai cursed under his breath, “Damn you.”

“Where’s the car?”

The reply came: “Took it.”

“Fuck, so I’m supposed to walk back?”

“Take a taxi, I’ll cover it.”

…

Shen Xiyuan parked his car at the entrance of the Air Force Sanatorium. The guard carefully checked Yu Hao’s credentials before raising the barrier to let them through.

Shortly after, another car turned in from outside and was stopped.

Lu Huaizheng lowered his window. The guard immediately recognized him as one of their own. “Day off today?”

He was in no hurry to enter. Leaning back in his seat with a playful smile, he chatted with the guard. “Yeah, what’s going on in there? Seems lively.”

The guard said, “A psychological lecture by a veteran.”

“Which floor?”

The guard thought for a moment and said, “Building 5, second floor, at the Veterans’ Activity Center. If you’re free, you could go listen too—consider it early preparation.”

“Sure thing.”

They chatted casually. Lu Huaizheng leaned back in his seat and lit a cigarette, then offered one to the guard. The guard didn’t dare smoke but smiled as he accepted it, carefully tucking it into his trouser pocket.

After handing it over, Lu Huaizheng casually hung his arm out the window and turned his head with a slight smile.

At this moment, Shen Xiyuan’s car was driving out along another lane, and his window was also lowered.

The guard went to raise the barrier.

Lu Huaizheng didn’t move, still boldly blocking the entrance with his car. The early spring sun warmed the roof of his car, casting a slanted beam of light on his arm exposed outside the vehicle.

Shen Xiyuan drove extremely slowly. For a moment, the guard felt as if the scene had frozen in time. When Shen Xiyuan’s car passed halfway along Lu Huaizheng’s vehicle, both men turned their heads simultaneously to look at each other.

Shen Xiyuan stared at him with interest for a long while.

Lu Huaizheng merely gave him an indifferent glance, quickly averting his gaze. He withdrew his arm from the window, slightly raised his chin, and impassively brought the cigarette to his lips, taking a slow, deliberate drag.

His demeanor was cold, showing minimal interest, his eyebrows conveying a hint of impatience.