Chapter 21.2

Li Qiuyan, who ran slowly, was caught by a weasel and vaguely saw three streaks of blood on her skin. Although it wasn’t too serious, she still felt quite scared.

For some reason, after visiting the infirmary, Li Qiuyan thought of Gu Qinghan.

In the past, when she was in the army in G Province, those soldiers often went up the mountain for a few days of field training, and they would usually have a few injuries.

She knew that Gu Qinghan had some anti-inflammatory medicine issued by the army, which was much more effective than the disinfectant used in the infirmary.

In the past, when her son He Dazhuang was scratched by a wild cat, Gu Qinghan had given her husband a tube of that anti-inflammatory medicine, and within a few days, the wound had healed.

Moreover, the infirmary had just prescribed her several vials of medication, and with the need for several rabies vaccine shots, it surprisingly cost five yuan—too expensive!

So, Li Qiuyan decided to go directly to the 76th Regiment to find Gu Qinghan’s office. Ever since the last time she was turned down by Wen Nuan at their house, she realized that some matters were better not handled by Wen Nuan.

Previously, Gu Qinghan was not the kind of person to stand by idly; whenever there was something going on in their family, he was always the first to lend a hand.

However, ever since he brought Wen Nuan to Beicheng to become a military wife, he had changed.

Still, Li Qiuyan didn’t blame him; after all, having a woman at home did make things more manageable. So this time, she wouldn’t be as foolish as before and go directly to find Gu Qinghan.

To her surprise, he was not there and was said to be in a meeting.

After waiting for quite a while, Li Qiuyan finally saw Gu Qinghan come out from the conference room.

His tall and upright figure and his stern, handsome face made him stand out prominently among the crowd.

She had always thought Gu Qinghan was handsome; it was just unfortunate that he was forced to marry Wen Nuan be

Otherwise, he could surely have found a more outstanding revolutionary partner.

Before she could think much more, Gu Qinghan was already heading toward the administrative building, his strides quick and seemingly anxious about something.

Li Qiuyan, enduring the pain in her feet, hurried to catch up with him, calling out, “Vice Captain Gu!”

She didn’t know if her voice was too soft or if the crowd was too noisy, but it seemed Gu Qinghan didn’t hear her and continued to stride forward at a pace far too quick for her, a wounded woman, to keep up with.

Fortunately, Li Qiuyan gritted her teeth and chased after him, raising her voice to call out, “Vice Captain Gu, I need to talk to you!”

Gu Qinghan heard someone calling his name and paused in his steps. However, upon seeing it was Li Qiuyan, his brows instinctively furrowed.

Before he could speak, Li Qiuyan stood there with a delicate posture and said, with a hint of grievance in her voice, “Vice Captain Gu, I’m sorry for bothering you for a moment, but I have something urgent to discuss. I was scratched by a weasel while going up the mountain today, and… my injuries are a bit serious. I have a request and wonder if you could help me.”

Gu Qinghan glanced at her with his cold eyes, his tone icy as he replied, “I’m busy. Find someone else.”

With that, he turned around and ran away.

Li Qiuyan wanted to follow him, but she was stopped by Li Daxiang, who had been trailing Gu Qinghan: “Sister-in-law Li, our Vice Captain really has something urgent to attend to. If you need something, you can tell me; I’ll see if I can help you.”

Li Daxiang had heard that Li Qiuyan had directly taken two planks to Gu Qinghan and Wen Nuan’s house, wanting the Vice Captain to help her make a cart, but she had been refused by his Sister-in-law Wen Nuan.

Thinking of how friendly Wen Nuan had been to him, a mere soldier, Li Daxiang held her in great respect. Now that someone was coming to “disturb” the Vice Captain, he felt he had to intervene immediately.

Otherwise, how could he repay Wen Nuan’s kindness towards him?

Li Qiuyan glanced at Li Daxiang, annoyed, and frowned, “Who are you? I’m looking for Vice Captain Gu, not you!”

Li Daxiang smiled and patiently explained, “I’m Li Daxiang, Vice Captain Gu’ Assistant. If you need something from him, you can tell me.”

“Oh, right! I heard what you said, Sister-in-law! You were scratched by a weasel, right? Is it a serious injury?”

Li Qiuyan didn’t know how to respond; she neither agreed nor disagreed. Gu Qinghan had already vanished into thin air, and she had no idea where he was rushing off to.

Seeing that she was silent, Li Daxiang waved over a few comrades from the regiment: “Erhu, Maodou, come here! This military sister-in-law is injured and needs our help. Bring the stretcher over so we can take her to the infirmary. Hurry up! This sister-in-law says her injuries are pretty serious…”

The soldiers moved quickly. In just a few seconds, two comrades arrived carrying a stretcher, which they set down beside Li Qiuyan.

Li Daxiang, noticing her still dazed expression, urged her again, “Sister-in-law, hurry up! We’re taking you to the infirmary now!”

Li Qiuyan felt as if she was being pushed onto a stage without understanding what was happening. Before she could react, she was practically forced onto the stretcher by Li Daxiang’s rapid-fire words, and then she was lifted and taken to the military hospital’s infirmary…

The entire incident unfolded in just three minutes.

When the doctor saw Li Qiuyan returning for treatment, he frowned. “Didn’t you just come in? I told you it’s not serious. Just apply a little disinfectant. If you’re worried, you can get a few vaccine shots. Just avoid water for a while, and you’ll be fine.”

Villagers here encountered weasels a few times a year and were already quite experienced with it.

Li Daxiang looked innocently at the doctor and said, “I don’t really know. Just now, this sister-in-law said her injuries were pretty serious, so we brought her to the hospital.”

The doctor had seen patients with much more serious injuries than Li Qiuyan’s, so her injury was truly not that severe. Seeing two soldiers still carrying the stretcher outside, his expression darkened. “This is ridiculous! I’ve seen many injuries; do you think I wouldn’t know? You were just scratched by a weasel. There’s hardly any bleeding. Just apply some disinfectant, put on some medicine, and get a few vaccine shots, and in a few days, you’ll be fine.”

“Comrade Li Qiuyan, wasting the army’s resources like this is too much!”

Li Qiuyan immediately fell silent, feeling a wave of grievance wash over her. She covered her face and started crying.

The doctor was not swayed by her tears. He sternly scolded her, “If it were truly serious, I would definitely take care of your wound personally. But right now, you’re just wasting military resources. Our soldiers protect the country, and if civilians are in trouble, they are always the first to help us. But you… you’re just…”

“Hey…”

Li Daxiang blinked innocently. “It’s fine; I just saw this sister-in-law looking anxious and saying her injuries were serious. I thought she was uncomfortable. Now that it’s nothing serious, I’m relieved.”

“Erhu, Maodou, let’s head back.”

Li Daxiang saluted the doctor and then left the infirmary, leaving Li Qiuyan still sobbing while covering her face.

—o—o—o—

Meanwhile, Gu Qinghan was rushing home. Earlier that afternoon, someone had informed him that Wen Nuan had taken the children up the mountain.

Having just come out of a meeting, he heard discussions about some wolf cubs coming down the mountain, causing families in the compound to panic and flee. Several people fell while rushing down.

Gu Qinghan couldn’t even spare a thought for the unfinished trivial tasks after the meeting; he directly headed back to the family compound.

On the way home, Gu Qinghan thought of many possibilities: what if Wen Nuan was carrying the children and hurt herself while walking? What if the kids got scratched by branches? A woman carrying such small children—if she encountered wolf cubs, would she be able to escape?

After a flurry of anxious thoughts, Gu Qinghan finally arrived home and pushed the door open.

However, the living room was empty. He glanced around the house and headed straight for the bedroom.

As he pushed open the blue wooden door, he saw a delicate, snow-white back, and he quickly shut the door again.

Wen Nuan heard the sound of the door opening and exclaimed, “Ah—!” as she hurriedly pulled her clothes back on. But soon, realizing it was Gu Qinghan, she called out, “Why are you back so early today?”

The military horn had only just sounded a little while ago; training should have just ended for the day.

Gu Qinghan’s muffled voice came from behind the door. “I heard that wolf cubs have appeared on the mountain. Did you take Lele up there?”

Wen Nuan smiled, realizing he had also heard the news, which was why he was in such a hurry. She decided not to rush to put on her clothes and planned to clean herself up properly before going out.

Since the weather was nice, Wen Nuan boiled some water to wash up the little one. At that moment, Lele was playing on the bed. Hearing Gu Qinghan’s voice, he crawled forward, trying to get down, but was stopped by the neatly folded blanket.

Wen Nuan raised her voice to answer, “Yes, I went with Sister Guihua and Sister-in-law Juxiang to collect mountain goods, but we didn’t go up the mountain; we just wandered around at the foot of it. Sister Guihua and the others helped me dig up a lot of shepherd’s purses and mushrooms, and they even found some bird eggs…”

The little one, hearing about mushrooms and bird eggs, seemed to recall the outing and began to laugh excitedly on the bed, kicking his little feet energetically behind him.

Gu Qinghan’s voice was deep and serious. “Are you all okay?”

Wen Nuan paused for a moment, then wrung out the towel beside the enamel basin and began to wipe herself down, smiling as she replied, “We’re fine. We walked a lot and broke a bit of a sweat, so I thought I’d take advantage of the nice weather to wash my hair and clean up a bit. I even gave Lele a bath right next to the stove; it wasn’t too cold.”

They talked for a while through the door. When Wen Nuan finally picked up the little one from the bed and opened the door to go into the living room, she found Gu Qinghan standing at the entrance. His tall figure instantly overshadowed both her and the child.

Wen Nuan had washed her hair, and it was still damp, making her large eyes shine brightly.

As soon as Lele saw Gu Qinghan, he stretched out his little arms and called out “Ya ya,” then made a sound like “Daddy.” However, no one knows if she was trying to call for his Father or wanted to be held.

Having just bathed, Lele looked much brighter; his hair flowed freely, and the particularly long tuft on Her head bounced with her movements. Her chubby, rosy face and plump little mouth made Gu Qinghan unable to resist picking him up into his embrace.

With the little one gone from her arms, Wen Nuan immediately felt much lighter. She looked at the man’s familiar yet stern face and asked with a smile, “Can you guess what I found on this trip to the mountain?”

After saying that, Wen Nuan turned and went back into the room. When she reached the wooden box they had bought in the capital, she turned back to look at him. “You definitely can’t guess!”

Wen Nuan opened the small box and revealed the wild ginseng to their gaze. “You probably won’t believe it, but this is what Lele found! The little guy insisted on going over to that patch of grass to take a look. I thought she just wanted to play, so I cleared it up a bit. Who knew we’d actually find a wild ginseng? Don’t you think Lele is really lucky?”

With just a casual gesture, they had struck gold, and Wen Nuan found it hard to believe.

Gu Qinghan gazed at the wild ginseng, and a glimmer of excitement lit up his eyes. He looked down at Lele in his arms and, mimicking the way Wen Nuan often affectionately kissed their child—he clumsily pecked the little one on the cheek. “Good girl.”

Lele seemed to sense Gu Qinghan’s affection. She stretched her chubby little arms around Gu Qinghan’s neck and slowly pressed her face closer, twisting it a bit and beaming at Wen Nuan with a bright smile.

Watching the two of them together, Wen Nuan suddenly felt that she was being abandoned!

She pouted, then, pretended to be annoyed, flicked her still-damp hair, and declared, “I’m exhausted today. You’re cooking dinner tonight!”

With that, she flopped onto the bed, not caring that her hair was still wet.