Li Kanshan scratched his head awkwardly and explained, “Dr. Lin, the army only notified the families of the wounded three days ago!”  

“The earliest train from Maolin to Shengyang was yesterday morning, arriving today. So, I believe Sister-in-law isn’t lying, much less a spy. Besides, Deputy Battalion Commander Shen’s parents are elderly, and arranging for their daughter-in-law to come take care of him isn’t suspicious in the slightest.”  

Li Kanshan pressed his lips together, hesitated for a moment, then lowered his gaze and said haltingly, “If… if Comrade Ruan had said she was Deputy Battalion Commander Shen’s sister instead of his wife, would you still have labeled her a spy, Dr. Lin?”  

“You—!”  

Lin Ruzhen glared at him. “Kanshan, we’ve known each other for three years…”  

Li Kanshan raised his eyes, meeting the woman’s furious gaze, and said firmly, “This has nothing to do with how long we’ve known each other!”  

“Although our country is now peaceful and prosperous, hidden wars still exist. We must remain vigilant at all times. I’m a soldier—I won’t let a single bad person slip by, but I also won’t wrong an innocent one!”  

“Dr. Lin, I hope you can set aside your personal feelings and analyze the situation fairly and objectively, as a soldier should!”  

Lin Ruzhen laughed in disbelief, pointing at her chest and retorting, “My personal feelings?”  

Li Kanshan nodded emphatically. “Exactly.”  

Lin Ruzhen’s face darkened completely. “…”  

Li Kanshan pretended not to notice, turning to Ruan Qingzhi with an apologetic smile and answering her earlier question. “Sister-in-law, Deputy Battalion Commander Shen’s condition isn’t optimistic. The doctor said if he doesn’t wake up tonight, he might… never wake up again.”  

Ruan Qingzhi listened, then raised an eyebrow in slight confusion. “Wasn’t it an amputation surgery? Why hasn’t he woken up two days after the operation? Was it due to excessive blood loss?”  

Li Kanshan froze. “Amputation surgery…?”  

Seeing this, Lin Ruzhen sneered. “See? How can you still claim there’s nothing suspicious about her? If she were really his wife, how could she not know whether her own man had an amputation?”  

Ruan Qingzhi pursed her lips. He didn’t have one?

She instinctively glanced back at the hospital bed. Her gaze traced the outline of Shen Zhanwu’s body beneath the blanket—tall and straight.  

A soft chuckle escaped Ruan Qingzhi’s lips.  

So…  

Shen Zhanwu wasn’t disabled after all.  

Her thick lashes lowered silently, concealing the flicker of amusement in her eyes.  

But that amusement was like sugar, slowly dissolving at the corners of her slightly pursed lips.  

She licked her lips.  

A predatory excitement thrummed through her bones.  

Not disabled…

Even better!

The next second, the girl abruptly wiped the smile from her face and turned a cold stare toward Lin Ruzhen. “I’ll address you as Dr. Lin, if that’s alright?”  

Without waiting for a response, she continued, “I don’t know what misunderstanding there is here. All I know is that the news we received was that Shen Zhanwu was wounded in battle and lost a leg. But now, it turns out that’s not the case. So, was it a mistake in your communication, or did we mishear the message?”  

“If we really dig into it, Dr. Lin… would you dare?”  

She spoke these last words slowly.  

Yet each syllable struck like a hammer.

Each word pressed down on Lin Ruzhen’s shoulders like an invisible mountain.  

Her dark eyes were deep and calm as she quietly waited for the woman’s response.  

A family member mishearing the news was inconsequential.  

But if the mistake had come from within the battalion—such a basic error—the consequences could range from a formal demerit to, at the very least, a written self-criticism.  

Was Dr. Lin really willing to stand up for the person responsible?  

Of course, Lin Ruzhen understood the stakes. She bit her lip and said, “I wasn’t the one who delivered the news, Comrade Ruan. Why keep targeting me?”  

Ruan Qingzhi crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes slightly. “Then why are you still standing here, Dr. Lin?”  

Lin Ruzhen lifted her chin. “Zhanwu and I are comrades. Can’t I visit a fellow soldier?”  

Ruan Qingzhi pointed at the door and said coldly, “The patient needs rest. No visitors. Dr. Lin, you may leave.”  

Lin Ruzhen growled, “Ruan Qingzhi!”  

Ruan Qingzhi pressed a finger to her lips, shushing her impatiently before warning in a low voice:  

“Quiet.”  

Lin Ruzhen was seething.  

She gritted her teeth. “You have no right to kick me out!”  

“I’m his wife. Tell me, do I have the right or not?” Ruan Qingzhi tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and murmured, “So it’s true—some people really do have a direct line from their rectum to their brain.”  

Li Kanshan, who had been standing awkwardly to the side, quickly stepped between them.  

“Sister-in-law, Sister-in-law…”  

“That day, a lot of wounded were brought in from the frontlines. It was chaotic, and there might have been a mix-up when notifying the families. As for the comrade you mentioned who lost a leg—I know him…”  

His voice grew heavy with grief. “Sister-in-law, Deputy Battalion Commander Shen saved more than a dozen of us. But he… he got hit by an artillery shell. Now he might never wake up again. Sister-in-law, I’m sorry. It’s our fault he’s like this.”  

The young man hung his head, his eyes red as he choked back a sob. “I’m really sorry…”  

Ruan Qingzhi remained calm. She patted his shoulder and comforted him softly, “There’s no need to apologize. He’s your deputy battalion commander. The moment he fell, seeing all of you still alive—he must have smiled.”  

“Don’t worry. Your deputy battalion commander has luck on his side. With me here, he’ll pull through.”  

She sat by the bed, placing three jade-like fingers against the inside of Shen Zhanwu’s wrist. Applying pressure with her fingertips, she carefully assessed the man’s pulse.  

Lin Ruzhen, who had taken a seat nearby, scoffed at the sight.  

“Tch. Putting on an act!”  

She then looked up at Li Kanshan and said, “Kanshan, don’t be upset. I’ve already asked my uncle to come to Shengyang. He’s a neurology professor—he’ll definitely cure your deputy battalion commander.”  

At that moment, Ruan Qingzhi lifted her head and said solemnly:  

“I can save him.”