Chapter 67: A Tough Life — Even the Heavens Can’t Take Him

As soon as Chu Yue turned around, Lu Zhanlin, who was beside her, reached out and handed her a flashlight he had somehow already prepared without her noticing.

He placed the flashlight in her hand and reminded her,

“The temperature drops quickly after dark. It’s windy out. Just walk him a few steps, no need to go too far.”

“Mm, I’ll be quick,” Chu Yue replied.

She held the flashlight tightly; the silver metal still carried the warmth of Lu Zhanlin’s palm.

As Chu Yue and Xu Feng stepped out of the warm house, a gust of cold wind immediately hit them, blowing away all the body heat they had built up during dinner in an instant.

The flashlight beam wasn’t strong—only illuminating a short two to three meters ahead.

Xu Feng, tall and long-legged, was a rough, rugged man who didn’t understand things like tender care or considering women’s comfort. But tonight, he walked unusually slowly, his steps heavy, as if weighed down by something on his mind.

He had a belly full of words but didn’t know how to begin saying them to Chu Yue.

Chu Yue knew the type of man Xu Feng was—the kind raised in the army—reserved and not good with words. So she didn’t rush him. She simply walked quietly beside him, flashlight in hand, waiting for him to collect his thoughts.

They were nearly at the guard post when Xu Feng finally took a deep breath of icy air and spoke:

“Sister-in-law, have you noticed the scar on the Captain’s head?”

He gestured, pointing to the area just behind the right temple, slightly above the ear.

“Here—this spot. From here… to about here, roughly five centimeters. His hair’s grown out now, so it’s covered. But before, the scar was clearly visible.”

Gone was Xu Feng’s usual cheerful, carefree demeanor. His brow was furrowed deeply, and a heavy solemnity clung to his tall frame.

He looked out into the night, eyes dark, as if he had been pulled back into painful memories from the past.

Even for someone like Xu Feng, who had braved countless bullets and battlefield horrors, this memory was a hard one.

Chu Yue understood and didn’t interrupt—she simply listened quietly.

Xu Feng began to recount slowly:

“Back then, he and I were in the same trench. He was our company commander. I manned the machine gun. At first, I didn’t realize anything was wrong. When I ran out of bullets, I turned to ask for more and saw him slumped over the sandbags, completely still. I gave him a shove.”

And just from that shove—Lu Zhanlin collapsed, falling sideways into the narrow trench.

Xu Feng saw his face covered in blood, and a helmet pierced through by a bullet.

“At that moment, I really thought he was going to die. His helmet had been shot through, and his head was gushing blood. I thought maybe his skull had already been blown open. I’ve never known fear in my life—but in that moment, I was really, truly scared. Scared he’d just die right there beside me.”

For the first time, Xu Feng panicked. He forgot he was on a battlefield, forgot about the machine gun in his hands. He wanted to rush to grab Lu Zhanlin, or turn back and drag a medic over.

“I thought he was dying. He thought so too. But with his last breath, he ordered me not to help him. Said I couldn’t save him. Said I was a soldier—and a soldier’s duty is to win battles!”

That moment, with blood covering his entire face, Lu Zhanlin had shouted at Xu Feng:

“Fire! Keep firing!”

And between choosing Lu Zhanlin and the machine gun—Xu Feng chose to fight.

He reloaded his gun, eyes bloodshot, and kept firing relentlessly.

In the final moments of the battle, while Xu Feng wasn’t paying attention, Lu Zhanlin stuffed the will he had written into Xu Feng’s uniform pocket. Then, with his bloodied, “broken” head and a body that could barely stand, he continued commanding the entire company in battle.

When the fighting was finally over, Lu Zhanlin had long since passed out, collapsed on the ground motionless.

Half of his face, half of his body—it was all blood. Just blood everywhere…

The other soldiers, seeing him like that, didn’t even dare to touch him, terrified of feeling a cold, stiff body.

In the end, it was Xu Feng who pushed everyone aside and, with fingers red and swollen from machine gun burns, tremblingly removed Lu Zhanlin’s military cap.

“…That brat is just too tough! Even Heaven didn’t want to take him! His helmet was shot through, and somehow, he didn’t get his brain blown out—just a graze. After they sent him to the rear hospital, the doctor said he lost so much blood he nearly died. I was so mad…” Xu Feng clenched his teeth as he spoke of the past, “If he hadn’t been an injured man, I would’ve hauled him up and chewed him out good.”

Chu Yue hadn’t expected that Lu Zhanlin’s injury had been so terrifying. Her thoughts drifted to that heavy First-Class Merit medal.

She asked, “Was it during that battle that Zhanlin earned the First-Class Merit?”

“He showed you his First-Class Merit medal?” Xu Feng looked surprised for a moment as he stared at Chu Yue.

Chu Yue didn’t mention that she hadn’t just seen it—it was currently in her possession.

Xu Feng nodded. “That’s right. The only individual First-Class Merit in the entire army—it was something Lu Zhanlin earned with his life. Little sister-in-law, do you want to know what he wrote in his will?”

“I do.”

“His will was very simple. Just a few lines.” Since it was so short, Xu Feng remembered it word for word:

“I still have eight yuan on me, and the two months of unpaid stipend from the unit. Plus the death gratuity if I die—divide it into three parts: one for my parents, one for my sister, and one for my fiancée. That’s all.”

That was a will—the last words a person would leave in the world. And yet, not a single word of emotion.

Lu Zhanlin had just calmly arranged what little he had left. Beyond that, he hadn’t written a single extra line.

But he had clearly mentioned his parents, his sister, and his fiancée… They were all his loved ones. And yet he had written of them like they were strangers, with not a hint of feeling between the lines.

Did Lu Zhanlin really not care about familial bonds?
Or was there some other reason?

Xu Feng didn’t know. But the Lu Zhanlin he knew wasn’t like that.

A man willing to take a bullet for a comrade he’d only known for three months couldn’t possibly be some cold, emotionless person.

“Little sister-in-law, tonight, when I saw you all sitting around the dinner table… it was so real. Truly, deeply moving,” Xu Feng said with emotion, “I can see it—you’re a family now. A real family. You’ll grow old together, and love each other for a lifetime.”

Lu Zhanlin was finally no longer alone. And next time he wrote a will, he wouldn’t have nothing to say—not even a word to remember him by.

Xu Feng could clearly feel that ever since Chu Yue appeared, something fresh and alive had entered Lu Zhanlin’s life—a human warmth.

He looked at Chu Yue. The heaviness in his expression faded, and he quickly returned to his usual self, grinning wide and showing a mouthful of white teeth.

“Little sister-in-law, I’m off now. You better head back, too—or else I’m afraid he’ll think I ran off with you, and chase me down to murder me, hahaha…”