Ruan Qingzhi nodded: “Scrub.”  

The middle-aged woman placed another bath token on the counter, then turned her palm upward and hooked her fingers, signaling for payment.  

Ruan Qingzhi took out twenty-five cents and placed it in her hand. Her gaze swept over the shelves behind the counter as she casually asked, “Do you have bath towels and shampoo?”  

“Yes.”  

The middle-aged woman answered, stood up, and fetched those two items from the shelf. “Anything else?”  

“What about a towel?”  

“Yes.”  

She handed over a white towel.  

“Soap?”  

The woman frowned, not understanding. “What?”  

Ruan Qingzhi thought for a moment, recalling the northern dialect for soap in the 1980s, then hesitantly said, “Yi zi? Do you have that?”  

The shopkeeper finally understood, bent down, and pulled out a bar of soap from under the counter.  

“Do you have toothbrushes and toothpaste too?”  

As soon as she finished speaking, a brand-new toothbrush and toothpaste were placed on the counter. The shopkeeper turned to look at her and asked again, “Anything else?”  

Ruan Qingzhi shook her head.  

Nothing else.  

She asked, “How much for all this?”  

The shopkeeper tapped the counter with a finger. “The towel and bath towel are eighty cents, the toothbrush, toothpaste, and soap are thirty cents. This shampoo is the Seagull brand, a bit pricier—thirty cents. Total of one forty.”  

The toothpaste and soap were the disposable kind found in hotels.  

The shampoo came in a small sachet—just enough for one wash.  

Given the current prices, it was indeed a bit expensive.  

But there was no other choice.  

These were all necessities.  

Ruan Qingzhi took out a few more coins and handed them over.  

Carrying her purchases, she walked to the shoe rack, swapped into a pair of pink slippers, and entered the women’s bathing area.  

The entrance area was the changing room.  

To the left was a wall of lockers. Ruan Qingzhi found the one matching her numbered key, unlocked it, and placed her clothes—along with Shen Zhanwu’s set—inside.  

Then, holding her toiletries, she stepped into the shower area.  

Summer was the off-season for bathhouses, and at midday, no one else was around. The space wasn’t as steamy as she’d imagined—just damp floors and a row of metal faucets along the walls.  

Ruan Qingzhi picked a spot at random.  

In this era, showerheads weren’t yet common. There were only faucets here—turning the knob sent water cascading down like a waterfall.  

Ruan Qingzhi tilted her head slightly, feeling the water rush over her body.  

She closed her eyes.  

After a long moment, she exhaled slowly, releasing all the exhaustion and pretense she’d carried.  

But the next second, the corners of her lips curled into a faint smile.  

The 1980s—everywhere you looked, there was hardship and simplicity. None of the convenience or refinement of modern life.  

Yet Ruan Qingzhi loved this era.  

Loved it deeply…  

In her past life, she’d been born into a war-torn apocalyptic world.  

A world where all rules, laws, and technology had collapsed—where humans turned on each other.

But no matter if the outside world was in ruins or littered with corpses, the land beneath her feet had always remained an oasis.  

All because the nation was strong.  

All because countless warriors like Shen Zhanwu had used their own bodies to forge an unbreakable wall, shielding them from the raging fires of war.  

Her father had been one of them.  

Her comrades had fallen, one after another, only to rise again.  

All for the sake of home and country—so that both would endure.  

Ruan Qingzhi turned off the faucet, scrubbed her face with both hands, and swept the wet strands of hair clinging to her forehead back.  

She took a deep breath, savoring the peace of this era.  

…

In the hospital room…  

Shen Zhanwu ordered coldly, “Go call the doctor.”  

Li Kanshan froze. “Huh?”  

Shen Zhanwu slowly pulled back the blanket, revealing a spreading stain of fresh blood on the inner thigh of his pants.  

His brows furrowed, his gaze icy as he stared at it—as if he couldn’t feel the pain at all.  

Li Kanshan paled and immediately bolted out the door.  

Moments later, he dragged back an elderly physician. “Doc, take a look, quick!”  

Ye Huairen set down his tray and pulled on gloves. “Deputy Battalion Commander Shen, remove your pants. If the wound has reopened, it’ll need to be stitched again.”  

Shen Zhanwu wordlessly complied.  

A gash about seven or eight centimeters long ran along the inside of his muscular thigh.  

Several of the sutures had torn.  

With even the slightest movement, fresh blood welled up.  

Just looking at it was enough to make one wince.  

This would require restitching.  

Ye Huairen administered a local anesthetic near the wound and bent down to begin suturing.  

Li Kanshan suddenly remembered something and asked curiously, “Deputy Battalion Commander, you waited until you sent Sister-in-law away before telling me to call the doctor… Were you worried she’d be scared if she saw this?”  

Shen Zhanwu shot him a glance.  

Li Kanshan rubbed his nose and muttered to himself, “Honestly, Deputy Battalion Commander, I don’t think you needed to worry. Sister-in-law stuck a needle as long as my finger into your head—scared the hell out of me and Dr. Lin—but she didn’t even blink. She’s tougher than the heroines in those martial arts comics!”  

Shen Zhanwu finally reacted. “Really?”  

“Absolutely!”  

Li Kanshan’s eyes sparkled as he recounted the entire scene of Ruan Qingzhi performing the acupuncture.  

When he reached the most intense part, he got so excited he started gesturing wildly.  

To prove his point, he even grabbed the tray and held up the needle for Shen Zhanwu to see.  

Even though he’d witnessed it himself, seeing the needle again still shocked him. “If a nail went into someone’s head, they’d die. But a needle this thick goes in, no bleeding, and the person wakes up? That’s just… unbelievable.”  

Ye Huairen snipped the suture thread and took the needle from Li Kanshan. “This is acupuncture from traditional Chinese medicine. Inserted into the correct meridian point, it can heal illnesses.”  

Li Kanshan gasped. “So Sister-in-law really knows medicine?”  

Ye Huairen nodded. “Based on your description, for her to perform such a bold yet precise procedure, she must have considerable expertise in this field…”  

Then, hesitating slightly, he turned to Shen Zhanwu.  

“Deputy Battalion Commander Shen, if I may ask… is she your wife?”