Qin Yao was deeply impressed by her own imagination. How could she possibly imagine Gu Cheng as a bottle Huoxiang Zhengqi Water? Just thinking about it, the refreshing menthol scent immediately filled the air around her. Few people knew that Huoxiang Zhengqi Water contained a significant amount of alcohol, and with just one sip, it would ignite a burning sensation in the body—not the kind of refreshing, stimulating energy one might expect.

Gu Cheng walked back to the office with Miao Cuiye. Qin Yao, trying to avoid awkwardness, waited outside.

She stood beneath the greenery at the door, with the lawn beside her lush and green. A few soldiers were trimming the grass.

Many eyes were on her, so Qin Yao tugged at her sleeve, thinking it might have been better to just enter the office with them. Standing outside and being watched by so many people felt uncomfortable.

“Comrade Qin!”

While waiting outside, she ran into Jiang Chao, someone she had met before. Six months ago, when she had come to get Gu Cheng’s signature, they had exchanged a few words. Jiang Chao had politely let her go first.

“Comrade Qin! It’s really you,” Jiang Chao said.

The annoying little Comrade Qin, who had said Commander Gu was in a good mood, but she screwed him over.

As a result, half a year later, times have changed and Jiang Chao is still wearing his sailor uniform, but he is going to be promoted because of his excellent performance in recent assessments.

Today, he had come to get Commander Gu’s signature again and unexpectedly ran into Qin Yao again. Comrade Qin Yao left a deep impression on him.

Compared to six months ago, Qin Yao was very different now. The only thing that hadn’t changed was her skin, still as fair and rosy as ever. Such skin was rare on the island.

On the island, the sun was intense, and people’s skin either became very dark or stayed extremely fair. Jiang Chao had met several people who couldn’t tan at all, and Qin Yao was one of them.

It was a good thing for a girl to not tan, but for men—especially soldiers—it wasn’t always a good thing. They had to tan evenly. Otherwise, when they took off their pants, the “white pants” mark on their legs would be embarrassing. Uneven skin color was a big disgrace.

“You’re… Comrade Jiang?” Qin Yao didn’t expect to run into Jiang Chao again. When she found out he was about to be promoted, she congratulated him.

Jiang Chao smiled humbly, revealing a row of white teeth. “Congratulations to you too.”

Qin Yao: “…”

“Comrade Qin, I knew you you and Commander Gu are getting married, I knew it! I knew it from the moment I saw you six months ago. You left a deep impression on me.”

Qin Yao sighed, “I don’t know why things turned out like this.”

The one she liked at first was little brother Gu, but the one she got along with more was Commander Gu, who was as proud as a white peacock. Today, he has become a bottle of Huoxiang Zhengqi water that makes people feel refreshed.

Jiang Chao laughed, “It’s fate, fate, a thousand-mile marriage tied by a single thread.”

“How did you know that Commander Gu and I are getting married?”

“I heard about it. Commander Gu even filed the marriage report.”

When Qin Yao heard about the marriage application, she felt a little overwhelmed. As the three-month deadline approached, she felt like she was being pushed into marriage. It felt unreal. Was it really happening? There didn’t seem to be any major hurdles.

She kept expecting something to happen.

After finishing his work, Gu Cheng, thinking about Qin Yao waiting outside, hurriedly walked out. When he saw the familiar figure under the tree, he stopped and quietly admired her graceful figure.

A few lines of words, which he had memorized, involuntarily flashed through his mind. His head went blank, his blood rushed, and his nose felt hot and dry. He couldn’t help but touch his nose.

On this cloudless sunny day, Gu Cheng thought to himself that the autumn and winter seasons really made one more prone to dryness and irritation.

Gu Cheng has been getting impatient very easily lately, and the closer it gets to that day, the more impatient he gets. Especially since he has submitted the marriage report but has not actually gotten the person yet, the days of waiting in between are the most difficult.

He had been having restless dreams, feeling suffocated. It was like the onset of a poison. Each time it struck, it was stronger than before. Only when he was immersed in work could he forget his physical frustrations. But when he finally had some free time, the restless feelings surfaced, and no matter how much he tried to suppress them, they wouldn’t go away.

Gu Cheng refused to admit how desperate he had become.

He was clearly a respectable man, but it seemed he had lost his rationality. No matter how much he studied the Confucian classics, Buddhist scriptures, or even “Das Kapital” at night, it never helped. He just wanted the body of a woman.

Day and night, his thoughts revolved around it. He couldn’t think of anything else, wishing they were already married, living together, enjoying their loving married life, and most of all, not having to wash his own pants in the morning.

Now, the person Gu Cheng envied the most was Gao Jianguo.

“Gu Cheng?” Qin Yao noticed his gaze and turned to look at him, confused as to why he was standing there motionless.

Gu Cheng snapped back to reality. He rubbed his forehead and said, “It’s already this late in the season, but it’s still so hot. I’m feeling a little dizzy.”

Qin Yao immediately asked, “Do you need some Huoxiang Zhengqi Water?”

“What Huoxiang Zhengqi Water?” Gu Cheng raised an eyebrow. His imposing aura spread out like a drawn sword. He crossed his arms and said, “I haven’t settled the score with you yet. What do you mean, Commander Huo? Where did Commander Huo come from?”

Qin Yao coolly replied, “I was feeling dizzy earlier too, and thought of Huoxiang Zhengqi Water, so I said it out loud.”

“You’re dizzy too?” Gu Cheng seemed almost possessed. Even outside the office, he couldn’t control the expression on his face, and his mind was filled with unbelievable thoughts.

It’s said that lovers share a deep connection. When a man desires a woman’s body, would this guy in front of him also want his body?

Once this question appeared, it was harder to solve than any math or physics problem. Gu Cheng couldn’t find any formula or logical reasoning in his mind. He was as ignorant about this as a beggar in the desert.

He was the beggar in the desert, and Qin Yao in front of him was like a hallucinatory mushroom or a mirage in the desert.

No, she herself was the desert. The moment she appeared, it made him feel dry and thirsty, enduring the scorching sun and burning sands. He didn’t know when he would finally reach the oasis in the desert and get what he wanted.

“Just a little? It’s not serious.” Qin Yao pressed her head. She was dizzy, but it was not because of the weather, but because of pre-marital phobia?

She always felt that their marriage was too hasty. There were no grand declarations of love, no long courtships, no extraordinary parents-in-law or little sisters-in-law, no dowries, no meeting the parents, and no pressure to get things right.

It wasn’t that these things didn’t matter, but perhaps they would come up in the future. However, on this island, so far from the city, none of those things were important.

In fact, on this island, it was like the countryside where young couples married without asking for the parents consent. Even after they had children, both sets of parents had never met each other, and they did not even get a marriage certificate…If one of them returned to the city first, he would either abandon his wife and children, or abandon his husband and children.

This was the situation in this era. Looking at it from a later perspective, it could even be hard to understand. When ordinary men and women got close, it was considered a crime, but when a couple openly declared they were in a relationship, held a public banquet, and even had children without getting a marriage certificate or meeting the parents, it wasn’t considered a crime.

Nowadays, people didn’t take marriage certificates seriously. They still followed the old tradition, where the wedding banquet was the real social contract marking a marriage.

Gu Cheng asked with concern, “Are you suffering from heatstroke?”

Qin Yao twitched her lips. “Heatstroke at this time of year? What do you think I am?”

“Then do you miss me?” Gu Cheng looked at her expectantly. He was more interested in another answer—whether she missed his body.

The force of attraction is mutual, and so is the effect between people. Men and women are both human, and in the end, they likely share the same desires.

He was curious about what it would feel like for Qin Yao to miss his body.

“Commander Gu,” Qin Yao called out, reminding him, “You’re not behaving properly right now.”

Gu Cheng’s ability to control his expressions was weakening. In that brief moment, Qin Yao could almost see the boyish side of him.

Commander Gu, you’re being so serious!

Just moments ago, he was as cold and proud as a bottle of Huoxiang Zhengqi Water, but now he had turned into a playful, lively version of himself, like a refreshing northern ice soda.

Gu Cheng quickly calmed down. “No need for you to remind me, answer my question first.”

Qin Yao stared at his face-changing expression. Even though they had known each other for over six months, she still admired how miraculous and wonderful the Creator’s work was. How could someone have such a versatile face? When serious, his eyes were cold and sharp, but when relaxed, his features softened.

Gu Cheng’s face was full of contradictions, even polar opposites.

Qin Yao had figured out the reason for this—it all came down to his eyes.

Whether it was his lips, jawline, or high nose, all of them were strikingly handsome features. Especially his nose—straight, sharp, and high, almost arrogant.

However, when the Creator made his face, they mischievously added a pair of “gentle and loving peach blossom eyes” as the final touch.

These eyes made all the difference.

When he didn’t smile, his eyes looked down with a hint of challenge, as if looking down on others. But when he smiled, his eyes became soft and glistening, like crescent moons, filled with innocence and a youthful, charming appeal, despite being almost thirty.

It was the kind of look that made people’s hearts flutter.

Thinking of this, Qin Yao couldn’t help but reveal a playful expression, like a mischievous parrot—three parts smiling and seven parts comical.

“I did.”   .

Gu Cheng grinned with delight. “Really? We must be in sync.”

Qin Yao: “…”

She couldn’t help but feel they were thinking of completely different things.

“Little Mushroom,” Gu Cheng softly called her.

Qin Yao was puzzled. “What are you calling me?”

“I’m calling you Little Mushroom,” Gu Cheng, the poet, added in his mind—I’m strolling through the woods, and you’re the enchanting mushroom I came across, beautifully growing in the dark, damp forest. You aren’t deadly, but you create illusions, filling my dreams with mushrooms.

These words naturally came to him, without any need for contemplation, instantly turning into a poem.

He leaned down, whispering the “improvised modern poem” in Qin Yao’s ear in a low, husky voice.

Qin Yao covered her face, feeling her cheeks flush. She was so embarrassed that her head spun. She widened her eyes. How could he say something so shameful out loud in public?!

Gu Cheng saw her blushing and was incredibly pleased with himself. He copied her earlier expression, revealing a “three parts smiling, seven parts comical” look.

Qin Yao tugged at his clothes. “Aren’t you supposed to have some dignity? How could you say something like that?”

Gu Cheng scoffed. “What man has dignity? If dignity could win, would anyone bother?”

Qin Yao was both amused and frustrated. Wasn’t he the one who cared about dignity at the beginning? She couldn’t help but reach out and rub his handsome face, warning him softly, “Don’t act crazy suddenly, wait until it’s just the two of us—”

“Cough.”

A rather abrupt cough interrupted them.

It seemed that the person, worried they hadn’t noticed, coughed a few more times, as if suffering from a rough throat.

Political Commissar Zhou had never expected to witness such a scene. He had heard that Qin Yao had come to see Gu Cheng and thought she was concerned about their marriage registration. Gu Cheng had already submitted the marriage report and filled out the marriage registration form.

Since they were getting married under his watch, there were practically no issues. The registration form had been stamped with all the necessary seals, and Political Commissar Zhou planned to send the form over to them as a formality.

Once Qin Yao took the marriage registration form back, it would be just in time for the work unit to issue a marriage certificate.

With the marriage introduction letter in hand, they could go to collect their marriage certificate.

“Cough, cough, cough—” Political Commissar Zhou cleared his throat, straightened his back, and began to have doubts as he held the marriage registration form.

Ever since Qin Yao raised her hand earlier, something had felt off.

Was the man with his back to him really Gu Cheng?

Was this the person he was dating right under his nose?

°.✩┈┈∘*┈˃̶୨୧˂̶┈*∘┈┈✩.°

Ayalee: Happy Lunar New Year 🧧🏮🎊🧨🍊🐉