Chapter 25: Scrutinizing

A big man was crammed onto the bed, making the 4-foot bed instantly feel smaller.

Lying on the bed, Li Xinyue didn’t dare move an inch.

This man seemed reluctant to let her get close… she had to be more self-aware.

But lying still was uncomfortable.

Just as she was getting annoyed, the doctor arrived and asked the old woman to go for a check-up.

The elderly woman also had lung problems, possibly lung cancer.

This disease, even decades later, couldn’t be cured. The medicine their team was developing was still in the trial phase.

The old woman, however, was unaware of her condition and happily followed the doctor.

With no one else in the room, Li Xinyue immediately sat up on the bed and quietly surveyed the ward.

Green walls, red paint, and cement floors, while dull, were relatively clean.

Outside the window, a magnolia tree stretched its leaves towards the window.

The sun was shining today, and the light was good.

A small bird perched on the tree, chirping incessantly, as if telling people it was in a good mood.

Cicadas were making their final calls, annoyingly loud.

There were three beds in the room. She had come in early and was sleeping on the bed closest to the window.

The old woman was sleeping on the middle bed, only five feet away from her. Each bed had a bedside table.

There was no air conditioning in this era, only mosquito nets.

The Ghost Festival had passed, and the weather had cooled down considerably.

Here, winters and summers were short, and springs and autumns were long, making it a place with a pleasant climate.

Sitting still, she wasn’t hot.

After taking in her surroundings, Li Xinyue’s gaze fell on Chen Mingchuan’s large face…

This was the first time she had looked at Chen Mingchuan closely, and she realized that this man was indeed handsome.

His features were excellent: high brow bones, thick eyebrows.

A straight nose, slightly thick lips.

According to physiognomy, people with thin lips are heartless.

Li Xinyue muttered to herself: “But this person’s lips aren’t thin either, and he doesn’t seem particularly affectionate.”

He wasn’t particularly nice to the original owner’s granddaughter, her benefactor.

His skin was wheat-colored, but it didn’t detract from his appearance!

It was still hot, and he was wearing a white short-sleeved shirt, revealing strong arms with bulging muscles and defined lines!

He was a tough guy!

Chen Mingchuan was the second male lead in the book, while the male lead was his colleague, Luo Sibei.

The book described Luo Sibei as a son of a high-ranking official who had studied in Moscow.

He was the head of the new artillery development team after Chen Mingchuan was transferred to the research institute.

Although Luo Sibei had low emotional intelligence, he was talented and had good morals.

Chen Mingchuan had exceptional talent and extensive practical experience, making him the deputy head of the team.

The two worked together seamlessly, overcoming one challenge after another.

However, they later developed a rift because of Luo Sibei’s wife, Jiang Yi.

After the dog went missing, Chen Mingchuan immersed himself in his work, single-mindedly, making outstanding contributions.

But he didn’t know that his excellence had caught Jiang Yi’s attention.

Luo Sibei was the son of a high-ranking official, and although he was handsome, he was cold and a strong-willed man.

Every woman who didn’t marry him wanted to marry him.

But as his wife, Jiang Yi hated Luo Sibei’s coldness.

To get back at him, she deliberately seduced the single Chen Mingchuan.

But what she didn’t expect was that Chen Mingchuan wasn’t easily seduced.

He even sternly criticized and warned her.

As a high-ranking official’s daughter herself, Jiang Yi was arrogant and considered Chen Mingchuan to be a fool.

So she became enraged, stole Luo Sibei’s research report and gave it to foreign spies, and then deliberately framed Chen Mingchuan, sending him to prison.

Although he eventually cleared his name, he lost the best time of his life.

It was true that Chen Mingchuan was excellent.

But it was also true that he ignored the original owner and indirectly caused his death.

Li Xinyue was not the original owner. She wouldn’t love what the original owner loved, nor would she hate what the original owner hated.

They had no connection.

For the sake of his son, she would remind him to pay more attention to Jiang Yi in the future.

She couldn’t let her son have a father who went to jail.

When the doctor came to hang the IV in the afternoon, the old lady came back to sleep. Li Xinyue didn’t wake Chen Mingchuan up.

After the IV finished, she had regained some strength and went to the bathroom herself.

At six o’clock, the hospital cafeteria was about to open for dinner, so she woke Chen Mingchuan up.

Looking at the sky, Chen Mingchuan was speechless:

I actually slept so soundly?

This seems impossible!

In recent years, whenever Chen Mingchuan fell asleep, he would have the same dream.

In the dream, he had a longevity lock around his neck, and it always choked him.

But when he woke up, he didn’t remember having any longevity lock.

Later, he suspected that he might have had such a lock when he was a child.

And this lock was very important to him.

This time he came back and asked, and sure enough, he did have a longevity lock when he was a child.

But where did this lock come from? Where is it now? What does it represent?

There was no hint in the dream.

Chen Mingchuan grew up with his grandparents when he was a child, but he didn’t have a deep impression of them.

Three years ago, he started having this dream every day.

Every time he fell asleep, he would dream about this lock. Chen Mingchuan really suspected that this lock held some secret.

But now his father said the lock was gone.

He didn’t know if he could find out this secret again!

But just now, he slept soundly, and he didn’t dream about the longevity lock choking him…

The food in the cafeteria was not good, it was bland.

Chen Mingchuan ordered another dish of green pepper stir-fried pork for Li Xinyue, fearing that she wouldn’t be able to eat enough.

The old lady in the next bed was drooling.

There weren’t even a few slices of meat, so Li Xinyue naturally wouldn’t give it away.

While the chopsticks were still unused, Li Xinyue slid a small portion into Chen Mingchuan’s bowl…

Chen Mingchuan was stunned for a moment before speaking: “I don’t want it, you eat it.”

“Young man, you guys must eat meat every day in the army, right? If you eat meat every day, even meat won’t taste good.”

Li Xinyue: “…”

Chen Mingchuan’s face twitched, and finally he picked a few pieces of meat and put them in the old lady’s bowl…

The old lady’s face immediately bloomed with a smile.

“Oh my, soldiers are different, polite and kind. Girl, you’re so lucky!”

“To be honest, it’s rare for girls from our countryside to be this lucky!”

Li Xinyue: “…”

Old lady, it’s not me who’s lucky, it’s you who’s lucky!

The old lady’s words implied that she was lucky, and she even said she was a country girl.

Wasn’t that saying that she wasn’t good enough for Chen Mingchuan?

Li Xinyue chuckled in her heart: One day, I will make everyone in the world blind with envy!

She, a scholar, a genius, wouldn’t be a good match for a rough man?

But there was no point in arguing with this old woman!

After eating, they sat for a while. Not wanting to talk to the old lady any more, Li Xinyue went for a walk in the corridor.

Chen Mingchuan came back with a wooden bucket of water, then took out a wooden basin from under the bed.

“This basin can be used to wipe your body. You can’t shower today.”