Ruan Qingzhi held him tightly.  

Shen Zhanwu staggered slightly from the force, feeling a sudden dampness spread against his neck. His body stiffened in shock…  

Lowering his gaze, he slowly raised a hand and gently, so gently, rested it on the young girl’s back.  

Through the rough fabric, his calloused fingertips traced the sharp, protruding ridges of her spine, like the jagged edges of a mountain range.  

His hand trembled slightly, as though her bony spine had pricked him.  

Shen Zhanwu’s throat tightened.  

For a moment, he couldn’t find his voice.  

He didn’t dare imagine how this soft-hearted, kind girl had endured all these years…  

“Don’t cry.”  

He stroked her back soothingly, murmuring, “I didn’t say those things to make you cry. I just want you to smile freely from now on.”  

“You came all this way to find me, a young girl like you. I owe it to you to let you know what kind of man I am—whether I’m worth marrying.”  

“You’re still young, and there’s much you don’t understand yet. You might not realize that a nation’s strength, its prosperity, the glow of countless homes—all of it depends on someone standing tall, bearing the weight.”  

“If my insignificant body can bring peace to our country and earn merits to protect you for half a lifetime, then my death would be meaningful. I’d have no regrets…”  

“To me, that is the highest honor.”  

“I can face my country and our people with a clear conscience…” Shen Zhanwu repeated the same words as before.  

But this time, he added one more line: “The only one I’d wrong is you.”  

Softly spoken.  

Yet heavy with apology.  

Shen Zhanwu lowered his dark lashes and asked the girl in his arms, “Marrying me comes with so many burdens. Do you still want to?”  

A faint, self-deprecating chuckle tinged his words.  

Ruan Qingzhi pulled away and grabbed his hand, pressing it to her slender shoulder. Her eyes, red and swollen from crying, stared at him with unwavering resolve. “Can you feel it? My shoulders are broad too.”  

Shen Zhanwu gazed back at her silently.  

“You’re a soldier. Marrying you makes me a military wife. My shoulders can stand beside yours, and they can also be your refuge. You protect our country and its people—let me be your safe harbor.”  

“Even if you die, the one holding your ashes will be me.”  

Her words were bold.  

But her voice was impossibly soft.  

The ice in Shen Zhanwu’s eyes melted, replaced by a tender, damp warmth.  

He reached up slowly, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. But as he met her gaze, the words on his tongue suddenly felt too heavy to speak.  

After a long pause, he licked his lower lip and said in a low voice, “I also have a son.”  

Ruan Qingzhi blinked, processing this for several seconds. “…Huh?”  

She scooted away slightly, putting distance between them, and frowned. “You have an ex-wife too?”  

Instantly, the man lost some of his appeal.  

Shen Zhanwu straightened, clarifying, “The child is one I brought back from the war zone. His family is gone, so I decided to adopt him.”  

Ruan Qingzhi pressed her lips together and scooted right back.  

Heh. Still appealing.  

She asked, “How old is he?”  

“Just over five.”  

The man hesitated before adding, “He’s… not like other children…”