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The hand was small and delicate, as if even the slightest bit of force could break it.
“I came to get a pen. I asked Sister-in-law Tao to help me check what else needed to be added to the list. There’s quite a lot to buy.” Li Xia hadn’t expected a simple movement to make Gu Weicheng so tense that he would grab her hand.
Had he not reacted quickly and restrained his strength in time, her hand might have been injured.
Fortunately, he didn’t grip too hard—he had only held her hand.
“It was an instinctive reaction. Did I hurt you?” Gu Weicheng asked apologetically.
Over the years, he had always been alone. His wife was thousands of miles away, and he still wasn’t used to physical contact with others.
When a hand suddenly reached out toward him, his reflex was to subdue it.
“It’s fine. You controlled your strength in time, so it didn’t hurt,” Li Xia said, shaking her head.
Come to think of it, this was their first time holding hands.
Well… if this even counted as holding hands?
“Here’s the pen.” Gu Weicheng took the pen down and handed it to Li Xia. Noticing that the back of her hand was slightly red, he frowned.
He must have hurt her after all, he thought regretfully.
Li Xia took the pen and walked over to Sister-in-law Tao, writing down each item as she listed them.
“You two have been married for so many years, and your relationship is still so good. Even taking a pen takes this long—how sweet,” Sister-in-law Tao couldn’t help but remark with emotion.
Li Xia and Gu Weicheng had their backs to her just now, so she mistook their movements as an affectionate moment.
Li Xia: “…”
If she told Sister-in-law Tao that Gu Weicheng had actually treated her like an enemy and subdued her just now, would she believe it?
Sister-in-law Tao listed everything in detail, mentioning even needles and thread, chamber pots, and other essentials, fearing they might forget something while shopping.
The list was long, filling an entire page.
Li Xia checked it once more and added the items she wanted to buy before finally considering it complete.
Everything was ready—they just had to wait for tomorrow’s big shopping trip in town.
After Sister-in-law Tao left, they finished tidying up. Gu Weicheng then took Li Xia and An An to the cafeteria for dinner before sending them back to the guesthouse.
Realizing that this would be their last night at the guesthouse, Li Xia found herself looking at the thermos on the table with unexpected fondness.
They were finally leaving. If they had to stay any longer, she felt like she’d go numb.
An An was exhausted from weeding all day and fell asleep right after dinner. Gu Weicheng carried him all the way back.
A bath was out of the question, so Li Xia removed his dirty clothes, asked Gu Weicheng to bring a basin of water, wiped him down, changed him into clean clothes, and put him to bed.
“What time are we heading to town tomorrow?” Li Xia asked.
“Seven in the morning,” Gu Weicheng replied. “It takes three to four hours by car, and if we arrive too late, we might not be able to buy everything we need. I’ll request a vehicle from the army base; otherwise, we won’t be able to bring everything back.”
“Alright, An An and I will wait for you downstairs. You should get some rest too,” Li Xia said.
“Wait for me a moment. I need to grab something from the dormitory. I’ll be quick,” Gu Weicheng said.
Li Xia didn’t know what was so urgent that he had to go back this late, but she nodded and waited for his return.
Gu Weicheng moved quickly, running there and back. A trip that normally took half an hour, he completed in twenty minutes. More impressively, he wasn’t even out of breath.
Li Xia thought that if it were her, she’d be gasping for air.
“What did you get?” she asked curiously when she saw that his hands were empty.
Gu Weicheng said, “Hold out your hand.”
Li Xia extended her hand. Gu Weicheng retrieved a small tube of ointment from his pocket, squeezed out a bit, and gently applied it to the back of her hand. “I got this medicine from the military hospital when I was injured before—it works really well.”
Back during a training exercise, he had scraped a large patch of skin on his back while saving one of his soldiers. This was the same ointment he had used for his recovery.
His hands were strong, but he was careful not to hurt Li Xia, applying the medicine with the lightest touch.
Li Xia wanted to tell him that her hand really didn’t hurt anymore—it had only stung for a moment when he first grabbed it. The pain had long since faded.
Did soldiers really consider such a minor scrape an injury?
But upon seeing the beads of sweat on Gu Weicheng’s forehead, she swallowed her words.
He had run all the way back to the dormitory just to get this ointment for her. He hadn’t cared about his own sweat-drenched state and even took the time to apply the medicine for her. How could she refuse his kindness?
With one hand still held in Gu Weicheng’s palm, Li Xia used her other hand to take out a handkerchief from her pocket. Standing on tiptoe, she reached up and gently wiped the sweat from his forehead.
Gu Weicheng froze for a moment, looking at her.
Their eyes met, and Li Xia suddenly felt like a student caught daydreaming in class. Embarrassed, she muttered, “I saw you were sweating, so I just helped wipe it off.”
“Thank you,” Gu Weicheng said.
For some reason, Li Xia thought his voice sounded a little husky, deeper than usual…
She quickly added, “No need to say thank you. We’re family—we should always support and help each other. If we keep saying ‘thank you’ all the time, doesn’t that make us seem distant? Don’t you think so?”
Li Xia had grown up in a household where everyone was overly polite.
Her parents were always thanking each other, acting more like outsiders than a real family.
In the end, they divorced. They each built new families, and neither of them ever came back to see Li Xia again.
From being one family, they became three separate ones.
“You’re right,” Gu Weicheng acknowledged. “Actually, my neck is sweaty too. How about you help me wipe it off as well?”
Well, he was certainly getting comfortable with this.
Li Xia glanced at him, then chuckled and told him to lift his head. She carefully wiped the sweat from his neck.
He wasn’t out of breath, but he was sweating quite a bit.
As Gu Weicheng felt Li Xia’s slender fingers brushing against his skin, a strange sensation coursed through him. Her movements were light, yet they stirred something deep within him.
Around the corner, a female soldier from the front desk had just stepped onto the stairs. Catching sight of the scene in the hallway, she immediately turned and hurried back downstairs, startled.
She waited until her night shift replacement arrived, then quickly pulled her aside and whispered excitedly, “Guess what I just saw?”
“What did you see?”
“I saw Commander Gu and his wife in the hallway—he was applying medicine for her, and she was wiping sweat off of him. Tsk tsk, I never would’ve guessed… Commander Gu and his wife have such a good relationship!”
“You have no idea! That so-called ‘injury’ on Commander Gu’s wife’s hand? There wasn’t even a cut! Just a little redness. My hand turns red too if I hold a pen for too long.”
“No way! Are you sure you didn’t see it wrong? I remember back when a performer from the cultural troupe got a tiny cut on her hand and started crying, Commander Gu scolded her for being too delicate.”
“That’s exactly why I was so shocked—I didn’t see it wrong at all!”
“Wow, who would’ve thought Commander Gu spoils his wife like that?”
“Everyone used to think their relationship wasn’t great, that’s why his wife never agreed to a Military Family Relocation. But it looks like we were all wrong.”
“Ugh, his wife is so lucky! She married someone like Commander Gu—handsome, devoted, and completely doting on her. Why can’t I find a man like that?”