Chapter 13

Su Wan’s tears fell instantly.

Her voice trembled as she asked, “W-What happened to him?”

The political commissar, his expression solemn, said, “There was an accident during the mission. Comrade Su Wan, don’t worry. Chen Yuan will be alright.”

Su Wan’s hands were shaking badly as she looked through the glass at Chen Yuan lying inside. Her tears streamed down uncontrollably.

“Which one of you is the family member of Chen Yuan?”

A doctor approached, and Su Wan wiped her tears and said, “I’m his wife.”

“I’ll update you on his condition. We just finished operating on him. He has two gunshot wounds—one on his back and another on his leg. Two of his ribs are broken, his right arm is fractured, and he also suffered a severe head trauma. We’ve performed a craniotomy and cleared the blood clots in his head. As long as there are no complications in the next 24 hours, he’ll just need rest to recover.”

“Thank you, doctor!”

“He’s in good physical condition—he’ll be fine,” the doctor reassured her, then left.

Su Wan was still standing there when a man in his fifties suddenly approached her, with the tearful Sister Zhou trailing behind him.

The man introduced himself, “You’re Comrade Chen Yuan’s wife, right? I’m Qin Mingsheng, Zhou Guoqiang’s father-in-law.”

“Hello, I’m Su Wan, Chen Yuan’s wife.”

“I want to express my sincere apologies for what happened. Chen Yuan was seriously injured because of a misjudgment on Zhou Guoqiang’s part. If there’s anything we can do to help, we absolutely will.”

Su Wan quickly caught the implication. “Comrade Qin Mingsheng, are you saying that Chen Yuan was injured because of Captain Zhou’s misjudgment?”

“It’s not really Old Zhou’s fault. The enemy was cunning—he just made the wrong call…” Sister Zhou began to defend her husband, but Qin Mingsheng cut her off sharply.

“Enough. A mistake is a mistake. If it hadn’t been for Comrade Chen Yuan’s quick reaction, both squads would’ve been wiped out.”

Su Wan glanced at Sister Zhou’s annoyed expression and felt quite displeased herself.

She said, “Chen Yuan is a soldier. Protecting his comrades is his duty.”

That sentence was like an invisible slap across both Qin Mingsheng and Sister Zhou’s faces.

Qin Mingsheng said nothing more. After exchanging a few polite words with the political commissar, he pulled Sister Zhou away.

The commissar wasn’t particularly fond of Sister Zhou either. This mission could’ve ended smoothly. The plan Chen Yuan had drawn up was flawless. But Zhou Guoqiang, wanting to claim more credit, had acted without orders. Not only had he nearly let an entire ship of smugglers escape, but one cadet had died, Chen Yuan was severely injured, and the rest had suffered varying degrees of wounds.

It was Zhou Guoqiang’s fault. But just because his father-in-law was powerful, did that mean he could act recklessly?

The commissar looked at Su Wan and said, “There are nurses looking after Comrade Chen Yuan. Comrade Su Wan, let me take you to the guesthouse nearby for the night. We can return tomorrow.”

“Alright.”

He had expected Su Wan to break down, but instead, she remained surprisingly calm.

Aside from crying when she first saw Chen Yuan, she had now wiped her tears away and no longer looked fragile.

She followed the officer to a military guesthouse next to the hospital, where she was able to check in without even needing an introduction letter.

The officer also treated them to a late-night snack before letting her go rest.

Sister Zhou didn’t stay there. Apparently, her father held a position in Ming Province—Su Wan didn’t know what rank, but she assumed she was staying at his place.

She didn’t dwell on it. After showering, she also washed her clothes.

Winter in Ming Province was far colder than in Guangdong. Since she hadn’t brought any warm clothes, she would have to buy some for herself and also get two sets for Chen Yuan to change into.

She took out her money to count it. She hadn’t spent much on food or other things recently, and with her braised meat income added to her previous savings, she now had 3,293.27 yuan in total.

She packed it all carefully into her backpack—after all, this was all she owned. Her passbook with 30,000 yuan in savings was in there too!

Lying in bed, she soon drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, just after 8:00 AM, she woke up.

After washing up, she slung the backpack over her shoulder. Her clothes hadn’t dried yet, so she left them out to air while she stepped out wearing a light jacket.

It was freezing!

Su Wan hugged her jacket tightly. It was drizzling in Ming Province, and the temperature was just one or two degrees Celsius—she was shivering nonstop.

Little Wang, the driver from yesterday, came walking toward her carrying a military overcoat. “Sister-in-law, you didn’t bring warm clothes, right? I forgot to tell you Ming Province is colder than Guangdong. Here, put this on.”

“Thank you!”

Su Wan put on the overcoat, and warmth quickly spread through her. The long coat reached below her knees—perfect for blocking the cold wind.

“There’s breakfast at the guesthouse,” said Little Wang. “Just eat whatever you like—no need to worry about the cost. The unit will cover it.”

He had heard from the commissar that Captain Chen hadn’t collected his salary in over half a year, so he added, “Don’t worry—Captain Chen’s medical expenses are fully covered by the military.”

Su Wan thanked him and followed him to breakfast.

After eating, they returned to the hospital. Chen Yuan was still in the ICU, and Su Wan sat outside, gazing into the ward with teary eyes.

“Sister-in-law, the captain won’t be transferred to a regular room until after 24 hours. Why don’t you go back to the guesthouse for now?”

Su Wan turned to him and asked, “Once he’s transferred to a regular room, will the follow-up treatment be done here in Ming Province, or will he be moved to a hospital in Guangdong?”

“I’m not entirely sure,” Little Wang said. “But for the short term, he’ll definitely stay here. He just had brain surgery, so unless there are complications, he’ll be treated here first. Once he’s doing better, they might transfer him to Guangdong.”

“Then I’ll go buy two sets of clothes and some daily necessities. Comrade Wang, do you know where I can buy clothes nearby?”

Little Wang shook his head. “Sorry, sister-in-law, I don’t know Ming Province very well. I can ask around if you want.”

“No need, I’ll go myself.”

She needed to take advantage of the time before Chen Yuan woke up to get supplies. It would be inconvenient later.

After speaking with Little Wang, she saw that the rain had picked up downstairs.

There were people walking around, and one man approached her quickly, asking, “Miss, want to buy an umbrella?”

“How much?”

“A big one is 1.3 yuan, small ones are 1 yuan.”

The man opened his coat slightly, revealing black umbrellas inside.

“I’ll take a big one.”

Su Wan counted out 1.3 yuan from her pocket and asked, “Big brother, do you know where I can buy clothes around here?”

The man glanced at her military overcoat and pointed. “Go straight about 500 meters to the left, then turn right. Walk straight ahead, and you’ll see a market. It’s the New Year season—plenty of vendors inside selling all kinds of things.”

Su Wan thanked him, took the umbrella, and the man quickly went off in search of his next customer.