No matter how the others looked at him, Lu Huaizheng sat as still as a meditating monk, hugging a pillow, not moving an inch.

The remaining few glanced at each other in confusion, looking back and forth at one another with bewildered expressions. The atmosphere grew increasingly awkward.

Jia Mian was completely perplexed, staring at the man dimly lit across from him. What’s this, trying to act like a principled gentleman? Thinking this, he blurted out without thinking, “Is that Mr. Liu over there…?”

Lu Huaizheng raised his head to look at him.

Jia Mian was startled, spat, and showed an expression of bitter disappointment: “Look, Huaizheng, you’re not chickening out, are you? The woman you love is right next door, and now you’re telling me you want to squeeze onto a couch with us? Is something wrong with your brain?”

Lu Huaizheng pressed his fingertips together in a steeple, and turned his face away, not wanting to discuss further.

Jia Mian got excited, letting out a “hey” sound. “I understand you less and less. You weren’t so indecisive before. What’s wrong with you now?”

“Do you think I was better before?” He suddenly turned to look at Jia Mian, his eyes indescribably cold. “Acting without considering consequences, willful and impulsive, doing everything according to my whims, those young master temperaments—you think that was good?” He pressed his lips together, paused, and then continued: “When Fat Hui was threatened that time, you thought fighting was impressive? How old are we now? Still, enjoy bringing up those old stories? Why don’t you talk about your college entrance exam scores instead?”

Lu Huaizheng hadn’t drunk much tonight, but his alcohol tolerance had never been good. Now he felt hot all over, his mind like a tangled mess. The temper he’d been suppressing all evening erupted at this moment.

“Besides, who gave you permission to take it upon yourself to tell her those things?”

Lu Huaizheng rarely lost his temper. Earlier downstairs, the whole group had been restraining him alone. If Yu Hao hadn’t been there, he might have flipped the table on the spot, but he didn’t want to frighten her by losing his temper.

Yu Hao had stated she wanted to hear it, and if he didn’t tell her then, she would find out eventually. It was better to have it happen under his supervision, so if she became sad, upset, or felt guilty, he would have ways to comfort her.

He had been holding back all this time.

Until they goaded him to go to her room, which truly ignited his inner fire.

Jia Mian had no idea about the situation, much less what had happened to Lu Huaizheng recently. He just thought this person was being so difficult, not showing any of his former decisiveness. With alcohol fueling his emotions, he also got angry: “What’s wrong with telling her? We all know how she treated you back then. Only we know how you’ve lived these years. Is it wrong for us to worry about you getting hurt?”

Lu Huaizheng gave a cold laugh.

He hadn’t told Jia Mian and the others about recent events. Since what happened had already happened, telling them would only add to their worries for him. And with Jia Mian’s noisy personality, there’s no telling what kind of fuss he would make.

Seeing him like this made Jia Mian even angrier. He threw down his pillow and proceeded to pour out all his discontent about Yu Hao over the years, like beans spilling from a bamboo tube: “You’ve been offering your warmth to her cold shoulder for a year. Has she given you any response at all? I’ve never seen a woman with such a strange temper, always with a sullen face, as if everyone owes her millions. Every time you asked me to deliver something to her, she always had such a stern face. Do I owe her something? She can play a broken tune! She thinks she’s a princess from Siberia! Do you think I want you two together?! In my opinion, Hu Siqi is a hundred times better than her!”

Alcohol emboldens the timid—this saying is correct. Under normal circumstances, Jia Mian would never dare say these words.

Seeing Lu Huaizheng’s face growing darker, Lin Yihui tugged at Jia Mian, making eye signals to suggest he stopped going too far and shut up quickly, genuinely afraid Lu Huaizheng would hit him.

“Finished speaking?”

His voice was so cold, almost without warmth, a chill seeming to emanate from his entire body.

Jia Mian was also stubborn and refused to concede, stiffening his neck. “I have a pile of complaints. If you want to hear them, I could talk for three days and three nights. I just don’t understand, Hu Siqi has liked you for so many years. How is she not as good as Yu Hao?!”

After Jia Mian finished speaking, he felt a pain at the back of his head as Lin Yihui hit him hard. “What nonsense are you babbling!”

Confused, he turned to look at Lin Yihui, who was scanning behind them. Jia Mian instinctively looked back—

Holy mother!

Song Ziqi, that jerk, went out without closing the door, just leaving it slightly ajar. Through that half-open gap, Lin Yihui could see half of a young woman’s body standing at the doorway. Though he couldn’t see her face, it was not Kong Shadi, as Song Ziqi wasn’t there.

The room instantly fell silent. Noticing something amiss, Lu Huaizheng also looked in the direction of their gaze.

The sofa was on the side of the door. He was sitting sideways, and with a slight turn of his head, he could see Yu Hao’s face, standing bewildered at the doorway, her back stiff, unsure whether to leave or stay.

A few seconds later, Yu Hao turned to leave, and everyone’s eyes uniformly shifted to the man on the sofa.

It was already empty.

What followed was a “bang!” as the door closed.

Jia Mian, still in shock, put his hand to his chest and looked at Lin Yihui: “Am I dead tomorrow?”

Lin Yihui pursed his lips, with a pitying expression, and nodded.

“Damn it!”

Jia Mian cursed, lay back on the bed covering his face, and let out a long wail.

Zhou Di patted his shoulder as if in consolation, mischievously teasing him: “I heard that when Brother Huaizheng was training in Venezuela, he received a medal… They say only the top trainee of that period gets one… Should I describe that medal to you…?”

Jia Mian slowly lowered his hands, looking at him tremblingly: “Describe what?”

Zhou Di smiled: “It’s not the kind that’s pinned on clothes. The back of that medal has a nail, which the Commander-in-Chief directly pins into the medal owner’s chest.”

Jia Mian thought for a moment and asked: “Should I kneel now or tomorrow morning?”

…

Before Yu Hao closed the door, a “clack” sound indicated it was blocked.

Lu Huaizheng had his foot in the door jamb, hands in his pockets, leaning against the door frame, looking down at her with a smile.

Yu Hao secretly gritted her teeth and pushed hard, but the door panel seemed nailed in place with a wooden stake, not budging an inch.

Lu Huaizheng changed his posture, folding his arms across his chest, still looking down at her without saying a word. Almost without effort, half his body had already squeezed inside.

The door panel was made of wood; all the doors on the second floor of the base were wooden.

Yu Hao slid her hands along the door panel, pushing with force, and a splinter went into her hand. She let out a low groan of pain.

Lu Huaizheng quickly grabbed her hand. A thin sliver of wood was stuck diagonally in her scallion-like finger. Fortunately, her skin was fair, and when Lu Huaizheng held it up to the light, he could see it.

He stopped playing around and pushed the door open with ease, making Yu Hao stare in astonishment. Had all that effort before just been to tease her?

Lu Huaizheng led her in by the hand, sat her down on the bed, and then half-squatted in front of her. He turned on the bedside lamp, pulled it closer, and then took her hand. Under the dim light, he bent his head to help her remove the splinter.

The splinter had gone in deep.

“Wait, we need a needle.”

Soon, he returned with a needle, sterilized it with a lighter, and then squatted in front of her again, taking her hand. The needle tip gradually penetrated her skin. Yu Hao didn’t feel much pain. Lu Huaizheng was very careful, observing her expression after each advance, discovering she was quite stoic.

“Doesn’t it hurt?”

Yu Hao shook her head. “No, it doesn’t.”

He laughed softly: “Almost done. The last bit will hurt a little.”

After saying that, he applied force, and Yu Hao hissed. Lu Huaizheng immediately put her finger in his mouth, sucking gently. Suddenly, it didn’t hurt anymore, though the scene was somewhat…

He remained half-squatting, holding her finger in his mouth while looking up at her. His eyes were brighter than the moon outside, carrying a mysterious allure.

Yu Hao teased him: “I just went to the bathroom and hadn’t washed my hands yet…”

Lu Huaizheng ignored her, sucked her finger a couple more times, then took it out. Seeing there was no more bleeding, he put everything away and went out to return the items.

When he came back.

Yu Hao was sitting on the bed. He smiled down at her, sat next to her, tucked all her hair behind her ears, and sighed: “Did you hear everything just now?”

Yu Hao nodded, answering honestly: “I did. Jia Mian said Hu Siqi is better than me.”

“Would you like to hear my thoughts?”

Yu Hao nodded.

“The first time I saw you wasn’t during military training when Shang Qing was bullied. It was during your third year of junior high when you joined the summer camp. I went to deliver something to a friend and saw you at the entrance smearing cake on someone’s face. Later, that boy left in the same car as me, looking quite pitiful, his face covered in cake with no tissue to wipe it.”

“That was because that boy made a bet about me, saying he would ‘have’ me before the high school entrance exam ended,” Yu Hao said softly.

Lu Huaizheng’s eyes flickered, his heart twitching again.

“So evil? Did he bully you afterward?”

“No, I got to know you after that, didn’t I? He went to the Teachers’ College Affiliated School, and I never saw him again.” Yu Hao looked up, her gaze distant, seemingly recalling something from long ago. “He came looking for me at No. 18 High School in his first year. That day you were training and weren’t around. He cornered me at the school gate. Fu Donghui helped me drive him away.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

She lowered her head. “We were fighting and giving each other the cold shoulder at that time.”

“Did Fu Donghui like you?”

Yu Hao nodded honestly. “He told me so. At that time, I was struggling between choosing arts or sciences. Fu Donghui wanted me to choose sciences with him, and then go to university in Nanjing. I knew you were good at humanities and wanted to study arts.”

Lu Huaizheng clenched his jaw, his cheek involuntarily twitching. That Fu Donghui had hidden his intentions well, daring to try to steal from under his nose.

Yu Hao realized something. “How did this turn into you questioning me? Weren’t we talking about you and Hu Siqi?”

Lu Huaizheng smiled: “Me and Hu Siqi? She never asked me to choose sciences and go to Nanjing with her.”

“I didn’t agree,” Yu Hao said.

“You dare to agree?” Lu Huaizheng gave her an ambiguous look, with a composed expression.

“What about you!”

He either deliberately or genuinely didn’t understand. “Me what?” The room’s bed was wedged between two walls, like a space capsule setting. Lu Huaizheng leaned against the other wall, looking at her with a relaxed expression. “Hu Siqi?”

Yu Hao remained silent.

He smiled, took a pillow from the side, put it on his lap, and asked, “What do you want to know?”

Then he pulled Yu Hao over, had her lie down flat with her head on the pillow in his lap, and looked down at her, his gaze softening: “I’ll tell you everything.”

Yu Hao suddenly felt it was meaningless. If he truly thought Hu Siqi was better, she wouldn’t have the chance to be lying here now. His feelings for her were undeniable, so why did she need to dig deeper? Conversely, Jia Mian’s words downstairs made her heartache. She had thought this boy in high school was casual and unreliable, fond of verbal flattery, but now she realized those words of flattery weren’t even a tenth of what he had done.

She felt this current moment was as good as it was and shook her head.

Though she didn’t press further, Lu Huaizheng began speaking on his own: “Hu Siqi pursued me for three years until I joined the army. Then she gave up. Later, Jia Mian organized a few gatherings where I saw her. I heard she’s now married to a rich husband and living quite comfortably. You know, Jia Mian has liked Hu Siqi for over a decade. This is what I admire most about him—he can love someone and tolerate that person loving someone else. In Jia Mian’s eyes, it’s quite normal for Hu Siqi to be a hundred times better than you.”

Thinking about it, Yu Hao felt some sympathy for Jia Mian.

Lu Huaizheng looked down at her, his eyes hiding a smile: “Still angry?”

Then he continued:

“Jia Mian is my brother. We grew up together. He has no bad intentions, just tends to be single-minded when doing things. In all these years, we’ve hardly ever quarreled. Tonight counts as the first time. What he said tonight was excessive, and I apologize to you on his behalf. If you’re angry or resentful, take it out on me. You can hit me or scold me, but don’t be angry with Jia Mian. He’s probably regretting it deeply now.”

Yu Hao looked up at him. “Do you think I’m that petty? I was just about to take a shower but couldn’t get the hot water working, so I thought of asking you to check it. When I reached the door and heard you two arguing, with content seemingly related to me, I didn’t know what to do. I quite understand what Jia Mian said. I wasn’t very good to you before. He’s just being a true brother to you.”

…

When Yu Hao came out after her shower, Lu Huaizheng was no longer in the room.

When he returned, Yu Hao was blow-drying her hair, and he appeared mysteriously, leaning against her bathroom door.

The hair dryer was roaring.

Yu Hao turned to ask him: “Where did you go?”

“Outside, smoking.”

After saying that, he took the hair dryer from her hand, stood in front of the mirror, and helped her dry her hair. The bathroom was narrow, and once he entered, it became cramped. In the mirror, Yu Hao saw his tall figure, almost reaching the top of the mirror, his handsome features reflected in the misty surface.

She was encircled by him at the sink.

Once her hair was dry and the dryer switched off, strange sounds suddenly came from the bathroom next door. It was a kind of discordant, rhythmic noise.

Lu Huaizheng instinctively looked down at her, and Yu Hao naturally looked up. As their gazes met, sparks flew, as if one could hear the crackling sound of burning in the air. Yu Hao felt a bit uncomfortable and tried to move sideways, attempting to escape from his embrace.

The man’s body was as rigid as an iron plate, not moving an inch.

The tide of sounds from next door rose. “Why is it so tight, hmm?”

More explicit words too indecent to repeat came through from next door, intermittently not very clear because it was too quiet on their side.

Yu Hao’s entire body flushed red, her face burning. She pushed against Lu Huaizheng’s chest, only to find he was still looking at her meaningfully, his eyes red as if about to drip blood.

Yu Hao’s body trembled slightly, her voice shaking as she pushed him hard.

“Lu Huaizheng, Lu Huaizheng…”

The man suddenly lowered his head, encompassing her with a kiss.

He kissed her gradually from the top, starting with her hair, then her forehead, the space between her brows, the tip of her nose… but deliberately avoiding her lips. His warm lips gently brushed along the line of her ear.

Yu Hao shuddered, her entire body feeling as if electrified, stiffly leaning against the sink, going weak.

Lu Huaizheng’s voice was deep and suppressed, almost about to explode. He held her earlobe gently between his lips, softly whispering to her:

“After arguing with Jia Mian, I can’t go back there now. Can you take me in?”

She said very softly: “Okay.”

Post-Marriage Extra: The Aftermath of “Tight”

Yu Hao didn’t understand the meaning of “tight” until much, much later.

That day, Lu Huaizheng had returned from a mission. They hadn’t seen each other for a while. As soon as he entered, he saw Yu Hao busy in the kitchen. He took off his shoes, threw the keys in the basket at the entrance, casually put on a pair of slippers, and directly embraced her from behind, pressing her against the counter. While lowering his head to kiss her, he was unbuttoning his shirt—unbuttoning one, kissing once, unbuttoning another, kissing again.

The two returned to the bedroom, and Yu Hao heard him repeatedly saying this word in her ear.

When they finished, Yu Hao asked him, “The clothes I’m wearing today aren’t tight, are they? They’re pajamas.”

“…”

Lu Huaizheng’s hand, holding a post-coital cigarette, trembled, and half the ashes fell onto the bed.