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

Huo Jingyuan lowered his gaze, the dappled shadows of the trees outside casting themselves into the pavilion. He reached out and stroked her head, his eyes filled with a tender, lingering smile:

"Not enough."

The master tailor he knew came from a family that had been in the trade for generations. Anything he made by hand cost at least a hundred yuan.

Wen Ci pouted.

’If it’s that expensive, I’d better just forget it.’

’The stipend from the military hospital is so small, and I still need to get two sleeveless dresses made. It’s just not worth it to hire a master tailor. Money has to be spent where it matters most.’

"In that case, forget it. I’ll just go shopping in Sea City with Doctor Yu."

"When? I’ll take you."

Wen Ci waved him off. "Doctor Yu and I haven’t decided when we’re going to Sea City yet, so you don’t have to take me. We’ll just take the bus when the time comes."

-

The two of them sat in the courtyard until six o’clock. Huo Jingyuan stood up from his seat, ready to start dinner. The stir-frying wouldn’t take more than a few minutes.

After he finished cooking, Wen Ci got bowls from the kitchen and filled them with rice.

She sat across from Huo Jingyuan, a pair of wooden chopsticks in hand. Her voice was full of anticipation as she said, "Let me see what Chef Huo made today."

Three dishes and a soup.

Huo Jingyuan slowly sat down, glancing at Wen Ci’s expression from the corner of his eye. He had to confess to her calmly and take the initiative to admit he was wrong.

The reason was simple: he had lied.

The lie was about the scar she’d seen when they were intimate. Wen Ci ran a hand over the corresponding spot on her own chest. To the naked eye, the wound on his chest was barely visible.

But the two of them had been completely open with each other, skin to skin.

At the time, he hadn’t thought much of it. Immersed in the tender moment with Wen Ci, he had casually said, "It’s not important. I got it on the battlefield."

"What’s wrong?"

Wen Ci’s woman’s intuition was particularly sharp. She noticed Huo Jingyuan secretly observing her and asked bluntly, "If you have something to say, just say it. Don’t beat around the bush."

"Just stay home after work for a while."

"Hmm?"

Wen Ci’s brow furrowed slightly. She detected something amiss in his somewhat flat tone. Putting down her chopsticks, she fixed her gaze on Huo Jingyuan’s face:

"Can you tell me why?"

Huo Jingyuan considered for a moment, then began to recount the past incident to Wen Ci, trying to keep it brief. Halfway through, he noticed she hadn’t touched her chopsticks at all.

He fell silent, looking at Wen Ci.

"Why did you stop?"

A faint smile appeared on Huo Jingyuan’s face. "If you don’t eat soon, the food will get cold."

Wen Ci: "..."

’I was so engrossed in the story, I almost forgot about that.’

When he got to the part about the knife, Wen Ci’s eyes narrowed slightly, a chilling, murderous intent flashing in their depths for just a moment before she quickly reined in her emotions.

"Huo Jingyuan, are you an idiot? Why didn’t you dodge? That’s your chest! A stab there has the highest mortality rate."

Wen Ci’s tone was a mixture of anger, confusion, and resentment. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Huo Jingyuan gave a faint smile.

"Don’t smile," Wen Ci said seriously.

Huo Jingyuan explained, "My sister-in-law just couldn’t handle the shock of Brother Qin’s death. She needed to vent that pent-up anger. She wouldn’t have actually taken my life."

In the early years, when the situation wasn’t so peaceful.

Back then, there were no hospitals in the Northwest, only simple tents. Forget doctors—even nurses were pitifully scarce. The family members who accompanied the troops voluntarily acted as nurses.

They helped bandage wounds, treat the sick, and save lives.

Although they had no formal medical training, their hands-on experience made them intimately familiar with battlefield injuries. Even a stab wound to the chest...

...as long as it didn’t hit the heart or a major blood vessel, you could survive.

And just as he had thought, he survived.