Meanwhile, Lu Huaizheng, having had the bullet removed, lay shirtless on his back in bed, his muscular contours full and fluid. One arm cushioned the back of his head as he stared at the ceiling, debating whether to call Yu Hao. If she saw him lying like this, she would surely cry and insist on coming over, but if he didn’t let her come, she might overthink things again.

Before he could decide, the door to the hospital room was suddenly pushed open with a bang. Sun Kai rushed in, breathless, and leaned against the wall, panting as he said: “They’re here!”

Lu Huaizheng bolted upright in bed. “Yu Hao?”

Sun Kai waved his hand, his throat dry: “And Zhao Dailin! She called Chen Rui, and that loose-lipped guy told her everything! They’re on their way here now. What do we do?”

While Sun Kai panicked, Lu Huaizheng remained calm. On second thought, if she was coming anyway, so be it. It would save him the trouble of deciding whether to tell her about his injury. What he never expected, however, was that Yu Hao’s mother would come too, catching him completely off guard.

Of course, that was a matter for later. At this moment, Lu Huaizheng was blissfully unaware that he was quietly being surrounded by his potential mother-in-law’s forces. Like an idiot, he mocked Sun Kai: “What are you so nervous about? It’s not like Zhao Dailin is going to eat you. Besides, when did you two get so close?”

Sun Kai’s face inexplicably reddened: “I… I… I… I won’t tell you.”

Lu Huaizheng sat on the bed with one leg bent, his hand lazily resting on it, and snickered: “Idiot, it’s just that thing between men and women, I don’t even care to hear about it.”

Sun Kai suddenly sighed, “You’re so good at reading people. Do you think Zhao Dailin is reliable?”

Lu Huaizheng grabbed his phone from the bedside, pressed a few keys to make a call, and said: “More reliable than Fang Yan.”

Sun Kai suddenly became agitated, “If you mention Fang Yan again, I’ll get angry with you! You believe me?”

Lu Huaizheng maintained his carefree posture, glancing sideways at him with a disdainful smile. Then the call connected, and he said a soft “Hello.”

When Yu Hao received the call, Zhao Dailin was driving, with mother and daughter in the back seat. To prevent her from leaking information, Yu Hao’s phone was placed on her lap, screen up, clearly visible to both of them. The moment the phone rang, Feng Yanzhi’s gaze immediately shot over. Like a prisoner, Yu Hao didn’t dare move, allowing the phone to vibrate on her leg. Finally, Ms. Feng glanced at her and ordered: “Answer it.”

Yu Hao carefully picked up the phone. “Hello.”

“I’m back,” Lu Huaizheng said with a soft laugh, his voice exceptionally gentle.

“I know.” With the phone to her ear, Yu Hao turned to look out the window. Feng Yanzhi leaned in close, pressing her ear against the back of the phone to hear their conversation. She could faintly make out his deep, magnetic voice. She had to admit, his voice was indeed pleasing. When she first heard it that night, she thought he was a radio host, never imagining he was a soldier.

“Hmm, drive carefully. I’m fine, don’t worry, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Good girl.”

After hanging up, Sun Kai was covered in goosebumps, his entire body chilled, his features contorted with disgust, and the hair on his back standing on end. “Your soldiers should see you like this. Disgusting. The way you act in a relationship, Captain Lu, is truly one of a kind.”

Lu Huaizheng ignored him, tucking his phone into his pocket. He got out of bed and casually grabbed a T-shirt from the bedside, putting it on. As he pulled his head through the collar, he said to Sun Kai without much emotion: “Yu Hao is different from Zhao Dailin. She lacks security, has poor self-awareness, and is naive. She needs coddling.”

Lu Huaizheng, as a person, had different approaches to different people—something he had learned from Huo Ting. If he sincerely wanted to pursue a girl, he had his methods. Yu Hao’s personality required pampering, and as long as it didn’t cross any bottom lines, Lu Huaizheng indulged her whims. Sun Kai asked curiously: “What about Zhao Dailin?”

Zhao Dailin’s personality was opposite to Yu Hao’s. Blindly indulging her would easily turn her off; she needed to have her appetite teased appropriately.

Lu Huaizheng looked back at him, patting him on the shoulder: “Just do the opposite of what I do with Yu Hao.”

He didn’t say much more, leaving the rest for Sun Kai to figure out. After all, Sun Kai’s emotional intelligence was one thing in theory but another in practice. Lu Huaizheng adjusted his clothes and said, “I’m going to take care of some paperwork. If you go out, don’t close the door.”

Then he left with his arm in a sling, leaving Sun Kai alone, puzzled.

The opposite? How opposite?

Not long after.

Sun Kai seemed to have grasped the truth. His eyes lit up with insight as he nodded thoughtfully, “Of course, it’s the opposite. Who would have thought—this guy can be useful at critical moments.”

Then this fool happily took out his phone and unhesitatingly made a call.

Zhao Dailin was driving and couldn’t answer. She tossed the phone to Yu Hao, “Help me put it on speaker.”

Yu Hao did as told, holding it to Zhao Dailin’s mouth. They heard Sun Kai on the other end saying miserably: “Where are you?”

Zhao Dailin: “On my way to see you.”

“Oh, you’re with Yu Hao?”

Zhao Dailin instinctively glanced at Yu Hao in the back seat, suspicious: “Yes.”

Then they heard Sun Kai draw a sharp breath.

Zhao Dailin’s nerves tensed, and she quickly asked: “What’s wrong?”

“I’m hurt. It hurts.” That coquettish tone, tinged with a hint of grievance and a nasal whine, made the two women in the back stare with eyes as large as copper bells, incredulous.

Is this the current trend among special forces soldiers? Ms. Feng covered her eyes, unable to bear listening.

Zhao Dailin gave a light cough to disguise her embarrassment. “I didn’t hear Chen Rui say you were injured?”

Sun Kai: “I was grazed by a bullet… It hurts so much…”

Grazed… grazed… grazed.

Ms. Feng thought: What a delicate young man.

Zhao Dailin didn’t want to continue the conversation, fearing what other nonsense might spout from his mouth. She hurriedly ended the call, “Well, you lie down and rest. I’ll be there soon. I have to hang up now—I’m driving.”

“Hurry up!!!”

Oh, your mother.

Zhao Dailin couldn’t bear to listen any longer and hung up. The atmosphere in the car became awkward. She occasionally tucked loose strands of hair behind her ear and looked up at the mother and daughter in the rearview mirror, their expressions identical. She gave a dry laugh.

However, when they reached the hospital entrance and found it difficult to park, Feng Yanzhi suddenly needed to use the restroom, Zhao Dailin let the two of them get out while she went to find a parking spot.

Feng Yanzhi went to the restroom in the first-floor lobby.

Yu Hao leaned against a wall, waiting.

The corridor was bustling with people coming and going, voices clamoring, footsteps hurrying, and the air filled with the pungent smell of disinfectant.

Lu Huaizheng, having completed the paperwork, came out from the nurses’ station. He wanted to call Yu Hao to ask where she was so he could meet her at the entrance.

Just as he took out his phone, he looked up and saw the familiar figure leaning against the wall corner—a small form. Though it had only been two or three days since he’d seen her, she seemed to have lost weight. She was looking down, her foot lightly scuffing the ground, her expression perplexed.

In the corridor, shadows crossed and voices jumbled, making her look all the more alone, like an abandoned little thing.

Lu Huaizheng couldn’t resist teasing her.

He tucked his phone back into his pocket, touched his nose, and walked toward her, slipping sideways through the crossing crowds with long strides.

Yu Hao had her head down, leaning against the wall. Instinctively sensing a shadow passing over her, she looked up and heard a familiar, flippant tone, words full of teasing: “Waiting for someone? Help me out?”

Yu Hao thought, what game are you playing now?

Lu Huaizheng had his arm in a sling, one hand in his pocket, his eyes full of mischief. “Hey, got a lighter?”

This was something the younger soldiers in the unit had recently picked up online, always asking around, “Do you have a lighter? Do you have a lighter?”

Yu Hao asked him: “You want to smoke?”

“No, I want to light up your heart.”

“…”

Lu Huaizheng couldn’t help laughing. Even as he said it, he felt goosebumps all over, but her dumbfounded expression was simply too funny. His whole body shook with laughter, his shoulders trembling.

But he soon couldn’t laugh anymore.

Feng Yanzhi came out of the restroom and saw a man with a bandaged shoulder saying he wanted to “light up” her daughter. Startled, she grabbed her bag and swung it hard at the back of the man’s head, all while cursing: “A grown man up to no good, prowling around young girls! What nonsense are you talking about? Who do you want to light up? I’ll light you up first, believe it or not?!”

Lu Huaizheng’s head took a heavy blow. Before he could react, several more hits came in rapid succession, all landing on the back of his head. Feng Yanzhi was strong, and who knew what she had in her bag? The sudden strike made Lu Huaizheng gasp in pain. His shoulder was already injured, and as he twisted to shield himself, he inadvertently aggravated the wound, causing him to grimace in even more pain. Worried that this crazed woman might hurt Yu Hao, he tried to simultaneously block Feng Yanzhi while protecting Yu Hao behind him.

Until Yu Hao called out, “Mom.”

Lu Huaizheng’s eyebrows shot up. With his hands raised high, blocking Feng Yanzhi’s bag, he turned to look at Yu Hao in disbelief. That look on his face—he had never been more terrified in his life.

“Mom?”

Feng Yanzhi stopped, trying to pull Yu Hao from behind Lu Huaizheng: “Why are you hiding behind him?!”

The corridor was chaotic, with scattered gazes occasionally cast their way. Yu Hao lowered her head and said in a voice as faint as a mosquito’s buzz: “Mom, this is my boyfriend, Lu Huaizheng.”

At that moment, Lu Huaizheng seemed to hear autumn leaves falling outside the window. He felt a chill.

In the hospital room.

Yu Hao, Zhao Dailin, Sun Kai, and the others had been shut out.

Yu Hao sat obediently on the bench outside the door.

Zhao Dailin and Sun Kai seemed as if someone had pressed their laughter points; they couldn’t stop chuckling, still relishing in mimicking the scene.

“Hey, do you have a lighter?”

“What, you want to smoke?” Sun Kai played along.

Zhao Dailin, with an exaggeratedly gruff voice, made a lighting gesture: “No, I want to light up your heart.”

They burst into laughter again. Zhao Dailin collapsed onto Sun Kai’s shoulder, soft and fragrant as she nestled against him. Sun Kai’s back stiffened, and he stopped laughing. The instigator, unaware, continued to joke with Yu Hao: “Lu Huaizheng is something. I’m impressed. I’m completely impressed.”

Yu Hao turned her face away, refusing to engage, quietly warning her: “Are you done laughing?”

Zhao Dailin sheepishly stopped laughing. “Fine, I’ll stop. But this is truly the funniest joke I’ve heard all year.” Tears of laughter came to her eyes. She opened her mouth, squinted, and wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, breathless: “I haven’t laughed like this in so long.”

Sun Kai couldn’t help picking up the thread: “I remember when the guys in the unit were playing with this joke, he would rather die than join in, calling us idiots. But today he sneakily used it on Yu Hao. How can he be so funny?”

Zhao Dailin suddenly caught on and stared at him sinisterly: “Don’t be so smug. You’re no different from Lu Huaizheng today.”

“…Why?” Sun Kai was taken aback.

“Because when you called me, I had Yu Hao answer it on speaker.”

Sun Kai exploded: “What’s wrong with you?!”

“What’s wrong with you? You weren’t injured but pretended to be? Is that funny?”

Sun Kai put his hands on his hips, paced around the corridor, then pointed at Zhao Dailin and said, “Come, follow me for a moment.”

The two left.

Who knows where they went to ‘duel at Mount Hua.’

Yu Hao couldn’t contain her impatience. She stood up and peered through the window of the hospital room. Lu Huaizheng was leaning back in a chair, facing away from the door. Her mother sat across from him, listening intently to what he was saying, expressionless—impossible to tell if she was satisfied or not.

Perhaps her gaze was too intense; Feng Yanzhi noticed and looked in her direction without emotion, as if glaring at her.

The man speaking also glanced casually behind him, following her mother’s line of sight. That casual yet reassuring glance made her heart leap suddenly, like a fawn bumping around inside, or as if it had been filled with a handful of soft willow catkins.

Her heart fluttered, love blossoming.

She adored his occasional youthful spirit, and even more, his open and gentle heart, his dream of mountains and rivers.

Neither humble nor arrogant, neither showy nor flamboyant.