Before Zhao Dailin could finish speaking, Yu Hao had already risen and rushed out.

Left behind, Zhao Dailin and Professor Han on the phone looked at each other in bewilderment. Professor Han’s expression was suspicious as he asked Zhao Dailin: “What’s wrong with this girl?”

Zhao Dailin continued organizing materials without looking up.

“They fought.”

Professor Han was speechless, though he seemed to take it in stride. “They’re both young, it’s normal.”

Zhao Dailin suddenly looked up at him: “What exactly did you send Shen Xiyuan here for?”

Professor Han: “To deliver materials.”

Zhao Dailin raised her eyebrows: “Deliver materials? Then why is he hanging around Yu Hao every day? How could Lu Huaizheng not be angry? Look, he hasn’t come to see Yu Hao for several days now.”

Professor Han sighed: “He was going to Yunnan for research, and just when I was on the phone with you that day, I handed over all the materials I had on hand to him, asking him to bring them to you all, to save time.”

Zhao Dailin put down the items in her hand, still somewhat disbelieving: “Why do I feel like there’s something strange about this arrangement of yours?”

Professor Han finally stopped concealing the truth and smiled: “You’re as keen as a bloodhound.”

Zhao Dailin became vigilant, frowning, “Something is going on?”

Professor Han’s smile faded, his expression becoming melancholic as he gave a slight nod: “Don’t worry about it. I heard that little Shen had a tough time on this trip. When he returns, I’ll treat you all to a meal. Invite Lu Huaizheng too.”

Zhao Dailin snorted: “He probably won’t have time.”

…

On her way to find Lu Huaizheng, Yu Hao ran into Shen Xiyuan coming towards her.

The two collided head-on, and Shen Xiyuan stopped her: “Where are you going?”

Yu Hao went past him and saw Sun Kai leading a group of people gathering at the entrance. Some people at the front of the line had already started to leave, but she didn’t see Lu Huaizheng. Feeling anxious, she shouted to them: “Sun Kai!”

Sun Kai heard her call and looked over, stopping his foot that was about to move forward.

She hurriedly said to Shen Xiyuan, “Senior, I have something to do,” and then ran towards Sun Kai.

Sun Kai stood in place waiting for a while until she ran over, showing great patience.

“Looking for me?”

Yu Hao nodded, her eyes scanning the area without seeing the person she was looking for. She blurted out: “Where is Lu Huaizheng?”

Sun Kai looked at her with a smile and said: “He’s taking his medicine at Shao Feng’s place.”

“Is he going with you as well?”

“Of course.” Sun Kai continued smiling, jutting his chin backward, pointing to Shen Xiyuan in the distance, and said: “Now you remember our Huaizheng, but your Senior is still waiting for you back there.”

The words were too sarcastic. Yu Hao looked at him strangely, “What?”

As soon as Sun Kai finished speaking, he saw Lu Huaizheng coming from behind. He very tactfully closed his mouth, saying nothing more. His eyes pointed behind her, “He’s back.”

Yu Hao turned around.

She saw Lu Huaizheng coming out of the administrative office, wearing ordinary camouflage, with a helmet cap, wrapped up tightly. He walked slowly along the shaded path from the opposite side, the sunlight making him squint, walking extremely fast. His gaze remained nonchalant, not even glancing at Shen Xiyuan standing to the side. When coming down the steps, he habitually bounced his feet a few times.

When he arrived in front of the two, he handed the approval form in his hand to Sun Kai.

Sun Kai held up the approval form, waving it slightly at Yu Hao, clicking his tongue twice, implying: Look at how busy he’s been these past few days. Yu Hao glanced at it briefly and saw clearly that it was the approval for Shen Xiyuan to stay in the military zone.

In front of Lu Huaizheng, Sun Kai didn’t waste any more words and left with the document.

Only the two of them remained.

Yu Hao stood frozen in place, not knowing whether to go or stay. The words at the edge of her lips were stiff, the sun beating down fiercely on the back of her neck as if scalded by boiling water.

She clenched her teeth and finally squeezed out a sentence: “What exactly do you mean?”

Lu Huaizheng didn’t turn around, standing sideways to her, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly in a self-mocking smile: “I don’t mean anything.”

“Are we still talking then?” she asked, looking up.

Lu Huaizheng felt he had never been so stifled in his life. He now had anger with nowhere to release it. He licked the corner of his mouth, putting his hands in his pockets, restraining himself as his jaw muscles twitched, saying nothing.

Yu Hao murmured, lowering her head, “So it’s over just like that?”

He responded coldly: “Mm, it’s over.”

Yu Hao stood stunned in place, her limbs stiff and numb. The words sounded jarring to her ears, and her knuckles turned white as she clenched her fists at her sides.

At this moment.

Shen Xiyuan had walked over some time.

“It seems I’ve caused you trouble.” Shen Xiyuan turned to look at Yu Hao, “I was just about to tell you, the academy called, and I have to leave this afternoon.” Then he looked toward Lu Huaizheng and said: “I might have to trouble Captain Lu to arrange a car to take me down the mountain.”

Lu Huaizheng dropped a sentence: “Ask Instructor Tang; when I’m not here, he’ll arrange things for the team.” With that, he left.

Shen Xiyuan had already packed his luggage. Instructor Tang assigned him a car, which he went upstairs to get and then came down.

Seeing Yu Hao waiting downstairs, he said to her: “Don’t see me off.”

Yu Hao hadn’t planned to see him off in the first place, and hearing him say this made her feel a bit awkward. She vaguely nodded.

Shen Xiyuan put his luggage aside, looking at her for quite a while, then sighed: “Do you need me to go explain to Lu Huaizheng?”

Yu Hao shook her head, “No need.”

She hadn’t figured out how to explain.

She didn’t know how to begin piecing all these things together to tell him.

Shen Xiyuan nodded.

“Then take care of yourself. After I get back, I’ll discuss with Professor Han to find a solution.”

“Thank you.”

After saying this, he instinctively reached out to touch Yu Hao’s head. Both were startled. Shen Xiyuan’s hand paused in mid-air; his fingers retracted and finally withdrew. Smiling bitterly, he asked: “Are all soldiers this fierce?”

That day in the canteen, Lu Huaizheng had given Yu Hao a face by not kicking the chair in front of them, but being in a bad mood, he hadn’t controlled his strength well. The thunderous sound was so loud that not only did they hear it, but even Instructor Tang in the politics and education building heard it.

Yu Hao shook her head: “He’s usually very gentle, only like this when he’s angry.”

When angry, he was truly fierce.

Shen Xiyuan sighed: “Still too fierce. I’m afraid that in the future, he might hit you.”

“…”

Lu Huaizheng and Sun Kai had just settled the troops. Lu Huaizheng ordered everyone to rest in place for ten minutes.

The verdant grassland was like a dark green carpet, lush and green. Behind was a flourishing forest, shrouded in light mist, as if covered by a glass dome, particularly serene and refreshing. Beyond the borderline in front, the other side was Gou Xi Te (a politically sensitive, fictional country).

Sun Kai brought over a bottle of water and handed it to him, then parted the grass and sat down beside him.

Lu Huaizheng took it but didn’t open it, holding it in his hand. With his knee bent and legs spread, he lowered his head to play with a rabbit that had appeared from somewhere in front of him.

“Where did it come from?”

In front of Lu Huaizheng was a pair of scallion-shaped grasses. He pushed them one by one towards the rabbit, shaking his head in response: “Don’t know, it was already here when we arrived.”

Sun Kai opened his water bottle, gulping down a mouthful, and also leaned over to play with the rabbit, half-jokingly saying: “Maybe it’s a rabbit from Gou Xi Te.”

Just as his hand rested on Lu Huaizheng’s shoulder, Chen Rui ran over with a gun across his chest: “Something’s happening up ahead!”

The two sitting on the ground exchanged glances. Lu Huaizheng tossed the grass, picked up his hat, put it on, and got up to leave.

Gou Xi Te was plagued by continuous warfare. Even across the border, one could hear the thunderous sounds from the other side. On the horizon were rows of incendiary bombs, rolling black smoke, a hail of bullets, and people struggling to survive. Many refugees from Gou Xi Te had poured into Chinese territory across the border.

With the influx of refugees, the South Bank entrance had been blocked by Old Tang a few days ago, but still, many refugees were gradually making their way over.

Chen Rui had just intercepted a family of five or six during his patrol and now didn’t know what to do. He reported to Lu Huaizheng: “If we let them in, we’re afraid of causing trouble; if we drive them back, they will die. It’s like sending them to their deaths. Captain, what should we do…”

Lu Huaizheng stood at the back, looking at the family in front of him: a couple with an elderly mother and two little girls, all with worried expressions, pleading with the Chinese soldiers to let them in.

The man wore a Pakistani-style robe, and the woman wore a black headscarf, quietly conversing with Wu Heping.

Wu Heping scratched his head, looking troubled.

Chen Rui continued: “I heard that the government forces have been pushed back to the mountains by Gou Xi Te’s allied forces. If this war continues, the Allied forces might win. What if they send fighter jets to our border?”

Lu Huaizheng suddenly said: “Let them in.”

Chen Rui brightened up and responded affirmatively.

He knew the captain might appear cold and hard, but he had the softest heart.

Sun Kai said: “Having them come over like this gradually isn’t a solution…”

Lu Huaizheng nodded, “Let’s open a refugee point, so they don’t have to scatter and flee everywhere.”

When Chen Rui conveyed the message, the man was as if reborn, excited with his eyes shining. He led his wife and children happily towards Lu Huaizheng, pressing his palms together, bowing deeply, overcome with gratitude.

He murmured repeatedly: “Just Chinese soldiers… just Chinese soldiers…”

Lu Huaizheng crouched down slightly, rubbing the heads of the two little girls. Sun Kai passed down two compressed biscuits, which he took and gave one to each girl. The little girls seemed as if they hadn’t eaten for days, grabbing them eagerly and devouring them ravenously.

The sight moved the soldiers watching nearby, probably reminded of their daughters.

On the day of the training, they set up a refugee camp, gathering all the refugees who had crossed the South Bank entrance in one place. They distributed compressed biscuits from their military supplies, which weren’t many to begin with. In just one day, they had almost depleted all their rations.

Instructor Tang had someone deliver a few more boxes, and Zhao Dailin also came along.

At that time, Lu Huaizheng and Sun Kai had gone to patrol the border. Zhao Dailin looked around but couldn’t find them. She nearly went into the refugee camp to search and was getting increasingly anxious when she saw the two of them walking out of the forest in their training uniforms.

Sun Kai was the first to see her. Stunned, he nudged Lu Huaizheng beside him, “Am I seeing things? What is this big sister doing up here?”

Lu Huaizheng glanced over casually, instinctively scanning around her, and finding that she was alone, quickly withdrew his gaze. Lazily, he said: “Probably looking for you.”

Sun Kai looked bewildered, “Why would she look for me?”

Lu Huaizheng smiled without speaking. By that moment, Zhao Dailin had already rushed in front of him.

He was stunned.

Instinctively wanting to ask, “Where’s Yu Hao?”

He held back and didn’t speak.

However, he saw her serious expression and solemn face, with none of her usual joking manner, which made his heart inexplicably tense, and his expression slightly tightened.

Zhao Dailin, not bothering with anything else, said, “Yu Hao is sick.”

Lu Huaizheng’s expression gradually tightened, “Is it serious?”

If it wasn’t serious, she wouldn’t have come up here to find him. This immediately put his heart on edge.

Zhao Dailin nodded heavily.

“This is my fault. I’ve been so busy these past few days that I haven’t been paying attention to her. Ever since that encounter with the pervert, Yu Hao has been vomiting every other day. She said she had eaten something bad, so I didn’t think much of it. It wasn’t until this morning when I was checking the medical records from the past few days that I discovered she had been prescribing herself sedatives and sleeping pills. I took the prescription to ask her what had been going on lately, but then I heard her vomiting in the bathroom again. I asked her, but she wouldn’t tell me anything. Just now she even vomited bile. I told Professor Han, and he asked me to take Yu Hao back to Beijing first. But in this area…” She paused, “Professor Han seems to know something, but he won’t say either. He just told me to quickly take her back, but the division here…”

“You take her back first. It’s only about a day; we’ll be back then.”

Zhao Dailin nodded and then asked: “Do you want to come back with me to see her?”

“No,” Lu Huaizheng said, “I can’t get away.”

Zhao Dailin shook her head in frustration but didn’t linger any longer, turning to leave.

After she had gone far, Lu Huaizheng stood alone by the roadside for a long time, seemingly lost in thought. Sun Kai came over, casually breaking off an unknown plant, holding it in his hand, and swinging it back and forth. “If you’re so worried, go back and check on her. Why stand here alone like this?”

Lu Huaizheng didn’t speak, lowered his head, and smiled self-mockingly.

He rolled up his sleeve, revealing muscular arms. On his wheat-colored skin, red spots had appeared at some point, similar to a rash. Sun Kai tossed the grass away and took his hand to look at it carefully, his face shocked: “What is this?!”

“Shao Feng said it might be symptoms of acute infection.”

“When did it appear?”

“A few days ago.”

“Are you sure?! Could it be an allergy?”

Lu Huaizheng shook his head: “I’ve had very few health problems since childhood, rarely even getting fevers or colds. I’ve never had a rash like this before. Do you think it’s just a coincidence?”

“So that’s why you’ve been avoiding her these past few days?”

“She tends to overthink. If she saw this, who knows how much she’d cry.”

Lu Huaizheng lowered his head, his hands tightly clenched in his pockets.

Sun Kai was so shocked that he couldn’t speak for a long time.

His eyes reddened, and he put his hand on Lu Huaizheng’s shoulder, wanting to comfort him but unable to find the words.

Lu Huaizheng smiled faintly, placing his hand on Sun Kai’s shoulder in return, still having the mood to joke: “How many bad things do you think I must have done in my previous life to experience all this in this one?”

Sun Kai couldn’t help but cry, covering his eyes and wiping away tears.

But Lu Huaizheng smiled: “However, it’s worth it.”

Sun Kai didn’t understand and stared at him: “What’s wrong with you?! What’s worth it?!”

Lu Huaizheng looked at him, his eyes filled with complex emotions. Finally, he smiled and lowered his head, as if not needing Sun Kai to understand, and patted his shoulder.

“You should just enjoy the scenery.”

Sun Kai had always felt that his brother was not one to show emotions, doing everything with a seemingly detached attitude, extraordinarily calm.

That was the first time.

He seemed to understand the emotions in his eyes.

Tender, affectionate, reluctant to part, deeply in love.

…

As soon as the plane landed.

Yu Hao was arranged to enter the Second Hospital. She claimed she was fine, that it was just ordinary vomiting, and wanted to be discharged. But Professor Han stopped her. The elderly man sat at her bedside with earnest words: “Do you know what habitual vomiting can lead to? When you called me, I suggested you come back immediately, but you refused. Now lying on this bed, it’s your own doing.”

Professor Han continued: “Now you have a conditioned reflexive nausea when eating. What did I tell you? Pay attention, observe, and if something doesn’t seem right, come back immediately. But you insisted on staying there.”

Yu Hao had her legs bent, arms wrapped around them, her head resting on her knees, looking somewhat dazed as if she hadn’t heard Professor Han’s words.

“Has Lu Huaizheng returned?”

Professor Han shook his head and sighed: “Girls grow up and can’t be kept. He returned yesterday and came to see you as soon as he got off the plane. He was still in his military uniform, standing tall and straight. He didn’t have time to change. When he walked over, the group of little nurses next door got quite an eyeful.”

Since when had Professor Han become so teasing?

Yu Hao smiled, her lips pale.

“When I left, he had just come over. You were asleep at the time. It seems he didn’t wake you?”

She shook her head, “No.”

Due to the drowsiness caused by the sedatives, she had been in a deep sleep but vaguely felt someone sitting by her bed. She felt as if someone was stroking her hair, wiping the sweat from her forehead. She woke up once in the middle of the night, but there was no one by the bed, only the curtains fluttering emptily in the air.

Professor Han’s eyes suddenly became melancholic: “I used to look down on him, thinking that with old Chestnut’s character, he couldn’t train good soldiers. But after these encounters, my opinion of him has changed. He’s quite a responsible young man. I heard he distinguished himself again in Yunnan and got promoted. He’s already a Major now.”

After that, Yu Hao never mentioned Lu Huaizheng again, and Lu Huaizheng never came again, at least not during the day. Perhaps he came at night, always when she was asleep. Yu Hao always felt someone sitting by her bed, but whenever she woke up, the bedside was always empty.

The little girl who had initially insisted on being discharged now stubbornly wanted to stay for a few more days, making the attending physician anxious enough to call Professor Han: “Little Yu is occupying our bed.”

Professor Han evaded on the phone: “That’s a harsh way to put it. What do you mean by ‘occupying’? If she’s not feeling well, let her stay a few more days.”

“I see she’s been eating well and sleeping well these past few days.”

Professor Han was protective: “Mental issues don’t heal that quickly. Besides, your beds aren’t as in demand as those in obstetrics. Let her stay a few more days.”

And so Yu Hao stayed successful.

…

That night.

Yu Hao sat on the bed all night. At two in the morning, there was the sound of the door lock turning from outside.

She turned her head and indeed saw Lu Huaizheng.

The man was also startled, instinctively wanting to retreat, but seeing her looking directly at him with her eyes open, he smiled at her.

“Did I just hallucinate?”

The next second.

Lu Huaizheng still had his hand on the door lock. He lowered his head and smiled, then walked in with his hands in his pockets. He closed the door, casually pulling a chair from the side to her bedside, and sat down.

Yu Hao sat on the bed, her arms wrapped around her legs, her head resting on her knees, blinking as she looked at him.

The room had no lights on. The window was open, with the wind blowing in, making the curtains flutter in the air. In the clear moonlight, the hospital room was dimly lit, and the two of them looked at each other silently for nearly ten minutes.

Their eyes connected, with gentle ripples, coloring the room with a subtle romantic atmosphere.

“Congratulations,” Yu Hao suddenly spoke.

Lu Huaizheng was startled, “What for?”

“I heard you’re a Major now.”

He reacted, lowering his head and smiling.

“Does a Major get paid more?” she asked curiously.

“A bit more,” he answered honestly.

“Do you have more time as well? You seem very free now.”

“I’m on leave.”

“Is it because of that illness?”

He nodded, “They gave me a month’s leave. I’ll go back after my initial screening is complete.”

She made an “oh” sound, not knowing what else to say.

“Lu Huaizheng, hug me, please.”

He leaned back in his chair, looking at her for a while. The moonlight from the window made her face look almost bloodless, appearing pitiful.

He stood up, moved to the bedside, and turned sideways to embrace her, just like that day in the dormitory, tenderly holding her in his arms. “Like this?”

Yu Hao pressed her head against his chest.

Tears suddenly rolled down. Lu Huaizheng wore a white short-sleeved shirt; the fabric on his chest was thin and quickly became soaked. Those tears seemed to flow into his heart, filling it, making it suddenly feel heavy. He couldn’t help but tighten his arms around her, gradually as if wanting to knead Yu Hao into his very bones.

He closed his eyes.

Gently stroking her shoulder.

The hot tears on his chest seemed to get hotter.

“Come again tomorrow,” she said.

“Okay.”

“Come every day until I’m discharged.”

“Okay.”

Curled up in his arms, she half-smiled and said: “Then I won’t be discharged.”

Lu Huaizheng rested his chin on her head, his smooth jawline lifting slightly as he smiled, “Okay.”

Lu Huaizheng kept his word. Every night after that, he came to see her. Sometimes they would silently lean against the headboard, sometimes he would just hold her quietly, saying nothing, as if waiting for time to pass.

Sometimes Lu Huaizheng would stare at Yu Hao, noticing her vacant eyes, flitting about, not knowing what she was thinking.

Yu Hao’s mental state was very poor. When talking to her, she would momentarily seem absent-minded, which made Lu Huaizheng very uneasy.

He found Professor Han. Seeing him carrying two jugs of liquor, the old man pursed his lips, knowing what this young man had come for. He put the items away, raising his eyebrows as he asked Lu Huaizheng to sit down.

“Want to ask about Yu Hao’s situation?”

Lu Huaizheng smiled, “I really can’t hide anything from you.”

Han Zhichen snorted: “What do you want to know?”

Lu Huaizheng thought for a moment. Even if he asked about everything from the beginning, Professor Han probably wouldn’t have answered him. He was very clever and chose a direct point: “Her mental state hasn’t been good these past few days.”

“She’s been frightened, it’s normal.”

Lu Huaizheng nodded, then suddenly took out an envelope and handed it over.

“I found this in her drawer.”

Han Zhichen looked at him suspiciously, put on his reading glasses, and opened it. Unexpectedly, a pile of colorful photos scattered out. He picked them up, looked through them one by one, his expression becoming more grave with each photo.

These photos were taken by a private detective, and the protagonist was an old man. How old? So old that even Lu Huaizheng thought he could be Yu Hao’s father.

Lu Huaizheng asked: “Who is this man? Why did Yu Hao have someone follow him?”

What was horrifying was that all these photos had blood-red crosses on them!

After much hesitation, Han Zhichen decided to tell him everything. Given the current situation, perhaps only Lu Huaizheng could hold her back.

“In her first year of high school, she was detained for thirty days for intentional assault. When she was six years old, her parents were sent abroad on official business for two years. During those two years, she was fostered by her younger aunt’s family. The man in the photo is her aunt’s husband, a pedophile. When she was eight years old, that beast did some inhuman things to her. To an eight-year-old child, he showed her pornographic books and videos, teaching her about things between men and women. Finally, during the few days when her aunt was away on a business trip, he sneaked into her room at night, attempting to do bad things. Yu Hao resisted, so he beat her, beating the little girl until her body was covered in bruises. When her aunt returned and found out, she immediately divorced that beast.”

“But she didn’t allow Yu Hao to tell the reason for the divorce. In her first year of high school, her aunt remarried that beast, and the young girl went crazy. She took a knife to stab him but was stopped by her aunt. As a result, that beast reported her to the police, and Yu Hao was locked up for thirty days. Her aunt had to use all her connections to keep this matter hidden. The Yu family’s relationships are complicated. Since childhood, several aunts have been hostile to her mother. Only the younger aunt was kind to her mother. Yu Hao always remembered this. Her aunt repeatedly begged her not to reveal this matter. The girl, being soft-hearted, agreed.”

“To this day, her parents don’t know about this. Yu Hao knows that if she tells her mother, the only aunt who is kind to her mother might turn against them. Plus, the girl has her pride and can’t bring herself to speak about it. Old Yu still thinks it was due to academic pressure that led to this. After that, Yu Hao became very resistant to men. After her release, she has been with me all along. You know Shen Xiyuan, right? With his help, Yu Hao gradually began to accept. I remember when I first met her, she would tremble and vomit whenever a man touched her. She had a deep social phobia. Little Shen taught her step-by-step how to interact with people, telling her step by step that they were not dangerous. I remember that time when Little Shen tried to grab her shoulder, she directly used an anti-wolf electric baton to shock him. Little Shen was unconscious for half a night. She was very afraid of skin contact. Later, gradually starting from touching her head, step by step, we took several years to pull her out of the shadows of the past and cure her social phobia.”

“Until that day in Yunnan, after you were bitten, she called me a day later, saying she had started vomiting again. I immediately told her to come back, but she refused, saying she would hold on for a few more days. I was quite puzzled at the time, wondering how it could suddenly start again. Later, after hearing from Little Zhao, I learned that there was a pervert there. I knew something was wrong, so I made several calls urging her to come back, but she still wouldn’t. She prescribed herself some sedatives, which can’t be taken too much. So I had Little Shen bring the medicine she had taken before and the materials, to check on her on his way.”

By the end, Han Zhichen seemed to have finished a long story. When he reached moving parts, his eyes had reddened, and he had choked up, almost unable to continue.

Yet he only sighed, looking at the man opposite him with a sense of bewilderment:

“I’m afraid she’ll do something foolish again. She just doesn’t understand the ways of the world, but she’s not a bad girl.”