Chapter 64.1

After Gu Qinghan left the family compound, Gu Qinglan went to Wen Nuan’s house every day to accompany her and Lele.

One evening, Gu Qinglan returned from the hospital, and it was already past eight o’clock.

As she entered the door, she exclaimed, “Sister-in-law, I ran into a lunatic! He followed me all the way back from the hospital to the family compound and nearly scared me to death. Luckily, I was fast!”

Wen Nuan had just finished changing Lele’s diaper. Hearing Gu Qinglan’s words, she came out holding the child, looking surprised. “A lunatic?”

Gu Qinglan nodded, then sat down in a chair and poured herself a glass of water to calm her nerves. “Remember when I rode your bike to town? That time, I was scared by this same lunatic and fell off the bike right at the entrance of the compound. And now, I ran into him again! I thought he was from one of the nearby villages, but it turns out he’s from our family compound. What bad luck!”

Wen Nuan recalled that the last time she had taken the compound’s vehicle back with Lele while Gu Qinglan rode her bike, she had ended up covered in mud after falling off. It was surprising to hear that the man had appeared again.

Seeing Gu Qinglan’s terrified expression, Wen Nuan asked, “So he followed you for two days in a row? Did he say anything to you?”

Gu Qinglan shook her head. “No, he just followed me from a distance. But that felt even scarier. If it weren’t for the soldiers around our family compound, I would have been terrified to death.”

In truth, she was not a coward; she had seen countless injuries and deaths in the hospital.

However, the act of being stealthily followed was truly spine-chilling. The man hadn’t come all the way to their compound; instead, he stopped at a nearby alley.

Gu Qinglan had already gotten to know the neighbors from the three alleys nearby, and she was certain that she had never seen that man before. He definitely didn’t live in their area.

After hearing Gu Qinglan’s account, Wen Nuan felt it would be best to have someone check it out.

She placed Lele on the floor, then took a small piece of apple from the table and handed it to her before saying, “I’ll have someone from your brother’s regiment come by the hospital tomorrow to see what kind of person this is, and whether he means any harm.”

However, Gu Qinglan replied, “Sure, I’ll ask Daxiang to take a look and see which family he belongs to. It’s so strange.”

Wen Nuan nodded at her words. “That works. But if you end up working late, just go straight back to the dormitory. It’s safer to walk back with others rather than risk it.”

Although this was a family compound, Gu Qinglan’s words made Wen Nuan feel that some people were indeed quite strange and it was unnecessary to come over so late.

Gu Qinglan smiled. “No way! I want to come over and sleep with Lele. I can even sleep on the warm kang!”

Hearing Gu Qinglan say this, Lele quickly stretched out her hand, reached for an apple slice from the table, and offered it to Gu Qinglan. “Auntie, eat!”

“Thank you, Lele, but Auntie hasn’t washed her hands yet. Wait until I wash them before I eat,” Gu Qinglan replied, then dashed to the kitchen. She scooped a spoonful of water from the water jug and quickly rinsed her hands, the cold water making her wince and bite her teeth.

Once she had washed her hands, Lele ran into the kitchen, holding a piece of apple high in the air, eager to feed it to her.

“Auntie, eat fruit.”

“Alright!” Gu Qinglan took the apple and took a satisfying bite. “Wow, the fruit that Lele gives is the sweetest!”

Lele burst into laughter, delighted by the compliment, and echoed, “Sweet, sweet!”

Wen Nuan watched the two lively ones munching on the apples and walked over to the stove. She lifted the lid of the pot and checked the stewed papaya and snow frog, saying, “The sweet soup is ready. I’ll take it out first.”

Gu Qinglan finished off the apple slices in two bites, then grabbed a cloth from the side. “Sister-in-law, let me do it. My skin is thick; I’m not afraid of getting burned.”

Gu Qinglan first lifted the lid off the papaya and saw the white, creamy snow frog stew with a hint of milk fragrance. The smell reminded her of the milk powder that little ones often drank.

Gu Qinglan smiled and said, “Look! I can still drink the sweet soup that my sister-in-law stewed. I am so lucky.”

After speaking, she carried two papaya bowls on a plate into the living room.

Wen Nuan followed her outside. Looking at the papaya stewed with snow frog, she felt it looked quite good and said, “This snow frog is from your elder brother’s last test flight in Shenyang. Comrade Shen Bairong had him bring it back. Drinking this at this time of year is just about right.”

Gu Qinghan mentioned that Liu Minghua and Shen Bairong were both very busy, with endless meetings and experiments every day. It was truly thoughtful of Shen Bairong to remember to prepare these things for her.

Thus, Wen Nuan asked Gu Qinghan to bring some food over this time. She had heard that the meals there were not so good, and they often had to attend meetings late into the night.

Wen Nuan had used two papayas for stewing, just enough for both her and Qinglan.

Lele saw that there was more food and quickly popped the last small piece of apple into her mouth. Then she pointed at the papaya stewed with snow frog on the table and said, “Mommy, I want to eat that too.”

“Of course, we’ll give some to our Lele,” Wen Nuan immediately replied, picking Lele up. She then took the spoon that Qinglan handed her and said, “Here, let’s let Lele have a taste first.”

Wen Nuan scooped a spoonful and fed it to Lele, who swallowed it eagerly and smiled, saying, “Sweet and delicious.”

Lele wanted to grab the spoon from Wen Nuan’s hand and said, “Mommy, you eat too.”

“Okay, Mommy will eat too,” Wen Nuan replied. She did not dare to give the spoon to Lele since she was still a bit clumsy with her eating. This was all liquid, and it would probably spill everywhere soon.

Lele saw Wen Nuan take a bite and shouted, “Mommy, it’s my turn now. I want to eat that bite!”

Gu Qinglan looked at Lele and said, “Auntie has some here too. If Lele wants to eat, she can come over to Auntie’s side.”

Lele flashed a toothy smile and said, “I want to eat with Mommy.”

“Auntie will eat by herself.”

Wen Nuan found it both amusing and frustrating. However, she still fed Lele another spoonful. Since Lele was still young, Wen Nuan did not dare to let her eat too much. After all, Lele had already eaten some apples and didn’t make any fuss about wanting more. Eventually, she wandered off on her own.

—o—o—o—

The next morning, Gu Qinglan went out to work again.

To her surprise, not long after she left the courtyard, she encountered the man she had run into a couple of days ago. This time, however, he was not sneaking around but walking straight toward her, holding several steamed buns in his hand.

The man stood in front of Gu Qinglan and said with a cheerful smile, “Comrade Gu, I’m sorry to disturb you. However, I’ve been paying attention to you for a long time and was wondering if you could give me a chance for us to get to know each other.”

Gu Qinglan frowned, instinctively rejecting this man in her heart. Unable to hold back, she replied, “I’m sorry, but I don’t want to get to know you.”

After saying that, Gu Qinglan walked straight ahead, not wanting to continue the conversation. She hoped she would never have to see him again.

However, it seemed that the man was not willing to give up easily. He followed closely behind Gu Qinglan and began introducing himself, saying, “Comrade Gu, please don’t walk so fast. I genuinely want to get to know you.”

“Comrade Gu, my name is Ding Guoli. I’m also a military family member. My brother is the captain of the 25th Regiment, and he works in the machinery repair department. He’s quite familiar with your elder brother.”

As soon as Gu Qinglan heard the name Ding Guoli, she immediately stopped in her tracks and turned around to look at him. “You said your name is what?”

Ding Guoli thought he had captured her interest and quickly introduced himself again, saying, “Comrade Gu, my name is Ding Guoli. Do you know me?”

Gu Qinglan certainly did!

A couple of days ago, when she had gone to the cafeteria for a meal, she happened to see Wen Nuan comforting Yang Xiaomei, who had been crying. Later, she learned that Yang Xiaomei had fallen out with her partner. However, she listened for quite a while and still couldn’t figure out if they had broken up or not.

Moreover, from what Wen Nuan had said, Yang Xiaomei’s relationship with her partner was not public yet. For a while, the man had been ignoring Yang Xiaomei, seemingly trying to avoid her.

Gu Qinglan had found it puzzling—Yang Xiaomei was not that young, so why was she hiding her relationship?

Now, looking at Ding Guoli before her, she realizes that this is indeed Yang Xiaomei’s partner. His current remarks were quite clear, wasn’t he? It feels like he’s trying to flirt with her.

Gu Qinglan discreetly assessed Ding Guoli. He was fairly tall, with a square face, but he could not be considered handsome. He was not as good-looking as her elder brother, and he didn’t even compare to Li Daxiang, who had a more pleasing appearance.

Moreover, Yang Xiaomei was not lacking either. She had a brother who was a regimental leader, and she had managed to get into the cooking class, securing a decent job. She was more than a match for this man. Yet here he was, being so indecisive; it was truly disgusting.

Gu Qinglan looked at him and smiled, saying, “Of course, I know you; you’re Yang Xiaomei’s partner, aren’t you?”

“What’s wrong? Do you have something for me to pass on to Sister Xiaomei?” she added, glancing at the buns in his hand.

Ding Guoli’s expression visibly drooped. He seemed taken aback that Gu Qinglan knew about the situation and hurriedly explained, “Comrade Gu, you’ve misunderstood. Comrade Yang and I don’t have the kind of relationship you think we do.”

“And these meat buns are what I prepared for you,” he said, extending the food toward Gu Qinglan.

Hearing his words made Gu Qinglan feel like punching him, but she maintained her smile and replied, “No need; I’ve already eaten at my sister-in-law’s house.”

Then she added, “So, you don’t want others to know about your relationship with Sister Xiaomei, right? Fine, I won’t say anything.”

Ding Guoli felt as though he had just punched a cotton ball—there was no resistance at all.

He licked his lips and, with a serious expression, explained, “Comrade Gu, I’m serious. I really have a clear relationship with Comrade Yang. I came to find you to get to know you…”

Gu Qinglan had no interest in listening to his nonsense. She interrupted him directly, saying, “Comrade Ding, I need to get back to work, so I won’t chat with you.”

After saying that, she turned around and walked away quickly—she was really anxious. She didn’t want him to chase her.

Ding Guoli watched as Gu Qinglan hurried away, her figure disappearing rapidly. He clenched his fists slightly and frowned.

A few days ago, he had heard his elder brother mention that the Flight Crew would soon be recruiting pilots.

He was very eager to join the Flight Crew—not only would the salary be higher, but all the women in the unit also liked the handsome pilots in their stylish leather jackets.

Although the captain of the Flight Crew was Liang Guoan, it was obvious who held the most power within the team.

Originally, he had intended to get close to Gu Qinglan, considering she was quite attractive and had an older brother who was the Vice-Captain of the Flight Crew. She was undoubtedly a better match than Yang Xiaomei.

However, he hadn’t expected Gu Qinglan to know about his relationship with Yang Xiaomei. Now that he had quarreled with her, how could he talk to Gu Qinglan properly?

This was truly troubling him.

—o—o—o—

During lunch that day, Gu Qinglan made a special trip to the Flight Crew Kitchen Team to find Wen Nuan and told her about the encounter with Ding Guoli that morning.

Wen Nuan listened with a furrowed brow as Gu Qinglan recounted the situation. It was clear that Gu Qinglan hadn’t misunderstood. Ding Guoli had indeed shifted his affections and was now targeting Qinglan.

No wonder Ding Guoli had been cold to Yang Xiaomei—he must have had this planned for a while.

Gu Qinglan’s misfortune of encountering such a fickle and untrustworthy man was truly unfortunate.

After finishing her account of the morning’s events, Gu Qinglan asked, “Sister-in-law, should we tell Comrade Yang about this?”

Wen Nuan thought for a moment and shook her head. “Sister Xiaomei is a bit impulsive. If she finds out that Ding Guoli came to look for you, she might rush over to confront that scumbag. If Ding Guoli denies it, he might even turn around and bite back at you.”

At that point, not only would Qinglan’s reputation be dragged down by such a man, but Yang Xiaomei would likely harbor resentment toward her as well.

Wen Nuan then suggested, “How about we write Sister Xiaomei a note, saying that we saw Ding Guoli harassing other female comrades outside, so she should be on guard?”

Ding Guoli had long stopped paying attention to Yang Xiaomei, so it was possible that he had already harassed other female comrades before.

Once Yang Xiaomei saw the note, they could assess her reaction before deciding whether to tell her about Qinglan’s situation.

Gu Qinglan nodded, “I think that works too. Sister-in-law asked me to write it, as my handwriting is rather messy, and others won’t recognize it.”

Wen Nuan, remembering the doctor’s scrawling handwriting on medical prescriptions, couldn’t help but laugh and ask, “Do you nurses and doctors have a special font of your own?”

Gu Qinglan chuckled, “Not really. It’s just that we’re so busy, so we write faster to save time.”

After Gu Qinglan finished writing the note, she sealed it in an envelope and wrote “For Yang Xiaomei” on the front.

Once Qinglan left, Wen Nuan waited until everyone went back for their lunch break at noon. She then slipped the letter into a storage locker in the cafeteria’s back area, thinking that Yang Xiaomei would see it once she returned to work.