First Night with the Army: The Stoic Big Shot Is Done Pretending

"And what does my getting a divorce have to do with you?"

The moment she spoke, Su Wanqing seemed to realize something. Her gaze grew somber as she looked at Wen Ci, carefully studying her face. ’She’s so fair-skinned and beautiful.’

But as far as she knew, Huo Jingyuan’s wife was from Beijing.

At the hospital, she’d never heard Wen Ci speak with a Beijing accent, and Wen Ci didn’t look like someone who had grown up in a military family compound.

She looked more like a country girl from some rural village.

"You’re lying to me?"

Wen Ci chuckled. "What’s in it for me if I lie to you?"

Su Wanqing released Xue Li’s hand. A ripple of emotion stirred in her eyes as she dropped her pitiful act and stared directly at Wen Ci.

"Then I really must advise you to divorce Brother Huo."

Wen Ci laughed. "You really have no shame."

Su Wanqing retorted righteously, "Because you and Brother Huo don’t have any feelings for each other! Yours is an arranged marriage, and the state now advocates for marital freedom."

Wen Ci’s eyes curved, her smile unrestrained.

’This Doctor Su, back from her studies abroad, is so hopelessly naive. And so what if it’s an arranged marriage? I’m the one Huo Jingyuan was willing to marry.’

’Besides, who’s to say there aren’t any feelings between us?’

Wen Ci slowly asked, "You say you two are childhood sweethearts, but how is it I’ve never heard Jingyuan mention having a sweetheart like you?"

’During those few days on the train, Huo Jingyuan had told me practically his entire life story, but he never once mentioned Su Wanqing.’

’He grew up in the Beijing Military Region and came to the Northwest as soon as he was an adult. In all his stories about the family compound in Beijing, he never mentioned anyone named Su Wanqing.’

"I... I..."

Wen Ci glanced at the clock on the wall. It was time for her shift change. She looked over at Xue Li, a faint smile playing on her lips, her tone deceptively casual. "When he’s out of his meeting, do me a favor and ask him just who this ’childhood sweetheart’ of his is."

With that, Wen Ci coolly walked away.

Xue Li shuddered. For a moment, it was like he was looking at an angry Brother Huo. Her eyes, her tone—they were cut from the exact same cloth.

Except she smiled a little more than Brother Huo did.

It was just a rather unsettling smile.

Xue Li swallowed unconsciously. His eyes flicked to the pale-faced Su Wanqing. "Doctor Su, I should get going."

’He recalled getting the order last week to pick up Su Wanqing.’

’At the time, he’d wondered why a promising doctor like Doctor Su, having just returned from overseas, would choose to come to the dirt-poor Northwest Military Region. Now he understood.’

’She came for Brother Huo!’

Back at the base, Xue Li only found the Youth League Secretary in the office. He asked anxiously, "Where’s Brother Huo?"

"What happened?"

"Something big! It’s about Brother Huo’s happiness for the rest of his life!"

The Youth League Secretary frowned. "What is it?"

Xue Li recounted everything that had happened at the hospital, down to the last detail. The Youth League Secretary, Zhang Jia, was the Northwest Military Region’s renowned relationship expert.

If any of the men had a fight with their wife, he could help them patch things up in half a day, as if nothing had ever happened.

As the Youth League Secretary listened to Xue Li’s detailed account, his brow furrowed. He rubbed his eyebrow back and forth with his index finger before speaking enigmatically:

"It’s a tricky situation, but at the same time, it’s not."

"Will Brother Huo be able to make things right with his wife?"

"With my help, he definitely will."

-

Wen Ci had just stepped into the hospital locker room when she saw Yu Qing was also there. Yu Qing said in a relaxed tone, "Wen Ci, I’m so glad the head nurse assigned you to work with me."

Nurses and doctors have to trust each other like comrades. If they really can’t get along, it’s always the nurse who has to leave.

Wen Ci’s eyes crinkled. "Mhm."

Then Yu Qing seemed to remember something. "So, was Doctor Su crying the other night because she found out the Living Yama was married?"

"That’s probably it."