Qin Yao sat in the corner, still regretting her decision. Although she acted decisively, her heart felt heavy. It was fine to reject the canned food, but why return the box of love poems? She could have kept it as a souvenir.

Two voices argued in her head. One said, “It’s over, just let it go. Who needs a love poem?” The other said, “At least it’s a memory, a fleeting romance.”

Compared to missing Gu Cheng, she realized she was more reluctant to part with that box of love poems.

Thinking about it, Qin Yao didn’t even have an appetite for her meal. Today’s big pot meal was indeed sea cucumbers—a large pot full, quite extravagant. But this was something that couldn’t be eaten in excess. If a young man ate too much, he’d end up with a nosebleed.

Sea cucumbers and abalones were precious, but they didn’t really have much flavor. If you compared them to fish, shrimp, or crabs, those tasted much fresher. Shrimp had a natural sweetness to it.

Sea cucumbers mainly tasted of seasoning. If they weren’t well-seasoned, they were like eating glue or plastic.

The large pot of sea cucumbers on the ship had a special taste, and the other sea fish didn’t need much discussion. As for that, Qin Yao could only say that no matter how delicious seafood was, eating it every day would eventually wear anyone down.

Once back on land, she was determined to eat pork. She craved the fatty pork belly!

After being cooped up in the medical room for an entire day, the ship’s rocking was even worse than before. Through the window, the view outside was gray and dull, despite it being daytime. It almost felt like night.

The wind was strong, howling like the cries of ghosts and wolves.

Waves kept crashing one after another. Qin Yao held onto a handrail to steady herself. The ship continued to sway, and as it grew worse, the faces of those around her began to turn pale.

They were facing a violent storm.

The howling wind drowned out all other sounds, but there were also various horns blaring in the background. Qin Yao’s heart raced as the ship lurched again. The girls around her were too thin to hold onto anything, and Zhang Yufei was thrown out of her seat, hitting her shoulder and chin.

Qin Yao rushed to grab her, and together they crawled to a bed, tying themselves with a rope to keep safe. With such strong shaking, if they didn’t secure themselves, one could easily be thrown off the ship.

“Water’s flooding the cabin!” someone shouted.

….  

The sounds outside were terrifying, and two girls started crying. Zhang Yufei couldn’t help but ask, “Could the ship capsize?”

“Stop being so pessimistic. It will be fine,” Qin Yao said, gripping the rope. She thought, “It can’t be that unlucky, can it? Do we really have to jump into the sea? I need to remember how to turn my pants into a lifebuoy.”

“Ah!” someone suddenly screamed. Seasickness was taking its toll, and one by one, others began to throw up. The air, already full of the howling wind, now carried an unpleasant smell.

The smell of vomit filled the air, and Qin Yao, too, couldn’t hold it in anymore.

At that moment, she thought to herself, “I’ll never complain about a calm journey again.”

The ship’s motion tossed them around, the feeling of weightlessness like a pirate ship ride at an amusement park. Screams echoed as everyone threw up, only to dry heave in the end.

She never wanted to set foot on a ship again.

The amusement park’s pirate ship ride lasted just a few minutes, but this torment seemed endless. By the time Qin Yao reached this point, she wasn’t worried about the ship capsizing anymore. She just wanted it to end. It was so painful, she felt miserable.

She remembered a joke she had heard from a military doctor earlier: “Seasickness is so bad that even rats jump into the sea.”

She wondered if there were any rats jumping into the sea outside right now.

The repeated sensation of weightlessness made Qin Yao’s head spin, and her body felt unbearably heavy. She almost thought she was getting a fever.

In her haze, she heard a familiar voice from the loudspeaker: it was Gu Cheng.

His voice was calm, despite the violent shaking of the ship. It was as though he wasn’t in the same space as her.

His steady voice filled the air, giving clear instructions to the crew. The world seemed to quiet down, with only his voice echoing in everyone’s ears.

Listening to his voice, Qin Yao couldn’t picture his face. Instead, she imagined the man she had seen in the office that day—dressed in a white military uniform, his features blurry as he sat and signed his name.

Commander Gu was a very charismatic man.

Or perhaps, he was someone who made others feel secure.

Listening to his voice felt like taking a calming pill. No wonder so many people admired him.

She didn’t know how much time passed, but Qin Yao eventually drifted into a groggy sleep. When she woke up, her body ached all over, and her head felt light, as if she had died once.

The storm seemed to have subsided. The ship had reached an unknown destination. She washed her face, changed clothes, and joined Zhang Yufei and the others to clean the cabin.

“Qin Yao, your forehead?”

“I bumped it,” Qin Yao pressed her forehead. No wonder she felt dizzy—she had hit her head.

“Put some medicine on it.”

“It’s nothing,” Qin Yao hissed as she touched the bump.

The medical room was bustling with activity as many people had sustained various injuries.

At sea, the real danger wasn’t enemy fire, but the ocean itself.

Qin Yao skillfully treated injuries, hearing the cries of people calling for help. The military doctor’s voice was cold as he said, “You need to press on the bruises to help them disperse.”

One person had scraped their knee, bleeding badly. It looked like a minor injury, but it was swollen severely. Qin Yao disinfected and applied medicine to the wound, then put ointment on the side to reduce the swelling.

“Nurse Xiao Qin is very gentle.” one person commented.

The military doctor noticed Qin Yao’s technique and observed that she was gentle but precise, handling the wounds with care. She was young but seemed as experienced as a senior nurse.

Unlike some male nurses, who were rough and careless.

When you go to the military hospital in the future, make sure you look for Nurse Xiao Qin.” one person said.

“Thank goodness we have female nurses this time,” someone else remarked.

The military doctor chuckled and scolded, “Otherwise, would you have come in for such a minor injury?”

…..

“Commander Gu, what happened to your hand?”

“I scraped it,” he replied.

The military doctor pointed to Qin Yao. “Go and treat Commander Gu’s wound.”

Gu Cheng was about to refuse, but when he saw the man turning around, he swallowed back the words he was about to say. It worked out in the end.

When Qin Yao saw him again, it felt like a lifetime had passed. He was still wearing a blue work uniform, sleeves rolled up. The dried blood on his arm showed how busy he had been. He had waited this long to tend to his injury.

Gu Cheng lowered his eyes and said calmly, “It’s not a big problem. Go to the lounge over there. It’s quieter.”

Qin Yao nodded and took the medical kit to the narrow public lounge. Gu Cheng didn’t care about the setting and sat down on the floor, his body close to hers. His scent, a mix of sweat, blood, and something else, wasn’t pleasant.

He sat against the wall, his face sharp and defined. The light from the window above him cast a soft glow on Qin Yao, making her feel a strange warmth.

Qin Yao squatted down to treat his wound. Gu Cheng’s injury was on his arm, and though it had bled quite a bit, it didn’t look as severe as the earlier one, as there was no swelling or bruising.

Of course, this wound aside, there were plenty of bruises on his body. Even Qin Yao had a few unavoidable bruises from the bumps and collisions.

Gu Cheng had a thin face, but his body was the type where he looked slim in clothes but had more muscle underneath. His long legs made him appear thin at first glance, but up close, it was clear that his arms were strong, with well-defined, smooth, and elastic muscles.

Qin Yao activated her x-ray vision and carefully examined his wound. As her gaze drifted to his body, she unintentionally glanced at something, and her face turned bright red.

Heavens, that’s… big.

She wasn’t doing this on purpose!

Gu Cheng noticed her reaction from the corner of his eye. Seeing her lower her head, trying to hide like an ostrich, he pursed his lips, and his earlier good mood shifted into displeasure.

She didn’t look as good as she did on the deck. Her braids were messy, and there was a red swollen spot on her forehead. Despite her attempts to shrink away, her behavior oddly reminded him of the time during the storm.

Under the eaves, she had been acting spoiled, clinging to him and asking him to move her luggage to the guesthouse.

The not-so-serious wound didn’t stop Qin Yao from carefully bandaging it, showing off her newly learned skills.

She tried to forget the shape she had seen and focused on what was in front of her. Not lifting her head, she avoided looking at his face, only looking at his body. It was a pity that the white bandage didn’t have any bloodstains on it, or it would have perfectly matched the look of battle wounds.

She remembered his side profile from when he sat by the window during the rain. There was no trace of youth on his face, only a wild, sharp beauty.

Neither of them spoke as they listened to the sound of the sea outside, holding a quiet standoff for a moment.

Suddenly, a small candy box appeared in her hand, as if by magic. It was cool to the touch, and Qin Yao felt her heartbeat quicken.

Instinctively, she looked up to meet Gu Cheng’s eyes. He said calmly, “The trial period continues.”

With that, he turned his head and leaned against the wall, pretending to nap, leaving her with just the back of his head.

Qin Yao glanced at his head, then at the candy box in her hand, feeling both amused and exasperated.

She opened the box and counted. There was nothing missing, but there was a new piece of white paper inside.

It said:

Year of the Rat.

Year of the Ox.

Year of the Tiger.

Qin Yao’s heart skipped a beat: “…”

This guy’s love poems were getting more abstract, shifting from straightforward to riddles. It was too much of a leap.

Qin Yao stared at the man in front of her who she didn’t know whether he was really sleeping or pretending to sleep, and was secretly annoyed. She lowered her head to look at the medicine box, took out a pair of scissors, cut a piece of white gauze, folded it, wrapped it around the man’s eyes, and tied it behind his head.

Gu Cheng remained motionless and let her do what she wanted.

Pleased with the result, Qin Yao looked at the gauze around his eyes and thought, “You closed your eyes, didn’t you? So now I will make you really can’t see.”

Gu Cheng, blindfolded with the gauze, lowered his head under the window. The shape of his nose was especially striking, and his lips were enticing. In the dim light, she could faintly see the Adam’s apple at his throat.

Qin Yao swallowed. The man before her had shifted from the cold, attractive Commander Gu to a younger, almost boyish version of Gu Cheng.

She reached out and gently touched his cheek, and this time, she chose “Yes.”

[His favorability for you is 85 (He has feelings for you.)]

Only 85? That wasn’t as high as her best friend, Chen Baozhen, but still, with that level of faborability, no wonder she felt so comfortable around him, nourished by his feelings.

Qin Yao leaned forward and kissed the corner of his mouth.

[His favorability for you is 89 (He loves you.)]

Whether it was joy or annoyance, Qin Yao didn’t show it on her face.

He was pretending, for sure.

Such a flirt.