Chapter 5: The Wound Improved

As soon as she finished speaking, cheerful laughter burst out from the living room.

Lu Hanchuan couldn’t help but be amused by the little girl in front of him.

She looked at him—Lu Hanchuani—whose lips carried a faint, barely noticeable smile.

Su Zhiyi couldn’t help but be momentarily dazed. Her Brother Hanchuan really had a beautiful smile, even if it was only a shallow one that others might not easily detect.

After dinner, Su Junyi went into Lu Hanchuan’s room. The two of them talked for a long time.

⋆⁺₊⋆ ━━━━⊱༒︎ • ༒︎⊰━━━━ ⋆⁺₊⋆

The next morning, Su Junyi left the Lu residence and returned to the East City Military District.

Su Zhiyi returned to her room looking downcast.

Lu Hanchuan, who had been sitting on the sofa reading, noticed her expression and couldn’t bear to see her like that. He spoke up to comfort her: “Don’t be sad. If you miss him, I’ll ask my dad to take you to the base to see him.”

Su Zhiyi could hear the tenderness in his voice—and also a hint of sadness, one not easily noticed.

It seemed that Lu Hanchuan no longer held any hope of returning to the military unit he loved.

Su Zhiyi looked at him and nodded her little head with a smile.

“Mm, thank you, Brother Hanchuan, but…”

Hearing that soft “Brother Hanchuan” from her lips, Lu Hanchuan’s ears flushed a little red with embarrassment.

It wasn’t as if no one had ever called him that before—but this time, it felt different. For the first time, he thought it sounded especially pleasant.

Su Zhiyi stared at his slightly reddened ears, her expression serious. “But I hope it’ll be you who takes me to see him.”

Lu Hanchuan was momentarily stunned by her words, then a bitter smile crept onto his lips.

Just as he was about to respond, a sharp pain suddenly came from his injured leg. His face turned pale from the sting.

Su Zhiyi, who had been watching him closely, quickly noticed something was wrong.

She immediately stood up and walked to his side, hurriedly grabbing his arm in panic.

Her voice was full of worry as she asked: “Brother Hanchuan, what’s wrong?! Is your leg hurting again?!”

Seeing the red-rimmed urgency in her eyes made Lu Hanchuan’s heart tremble.

He tried to comfort her, his voice soft with concern. “Don’t worry, I’m fine. It’ll stop hurting in a bit.”

Su Zhiyi’s voice was already trembling with tears. “Then let me help you back to your room. I’ll get a hot towel to warm-compress it and ease the pain.”

Lu Hanchuan looked at the girl whose eyes were filled with nothing but him and gently shook his head. “No need. It’ll pass soon. Don’t trouble yourself.”

“It’s no trouble at all!” she insisted, and without giving him the chance to protest, carefully supported him and helped him back to his room.

Because of his injury, Lu Hanchuan was currently staying in a guest room on the first floor.

His original room on the second floor was now being occupied by Su Zhiyi.

Just the thought that the girl he loved was sleeping in his bedroom, on his bed, made his heart feel both full and unbearably sour.

After helping him sit down on the bed, Su Zhiyi immediately crouched down and reached out, trying to roll up his pant leg.

Lu Hanchuan, flustered, quickly moved to press down the hem of his pants before she could touch it.

His voice was filled with worry. “Zhizhi, you’d better not…”

Su Zhiyi shook her head firmly. “I want to see it!” At that moment, she hadn’t even noticed how Lu Hanchuan addressed her—her entire heart was focused on his leg.

Faced with Su Zhiyi’s determined little gaze, Lu Hanchuan finally gave in.

He nodded helplessly. “Alright, but if you start to feel scared, don’t look anymore.”

When Su Zhiyi heard that, her nose tingled, and her beautiful starry eyes immediately filled with tears.

“No, I won’t be scared.”

After saying that, she lowered her head and gently rolled up Lu Hanchuan’s pant leg.

The moment she saw the hideous scar at his ankle—surrounded by a large area of bruising, some parts even dark purple verging on black—her heart ached sharply.

When he saw the pain on the little girl’s face, Lu Hanchuan instantly regretted letting her see the scar.

Then, tears began to fall one by one from her eyes, making his heart ache even more.

He quickly spoke softly to comfort her. “It’s okay. It just looks serious.”

At that moment, Su Zhiyi lifted her little face, cheeks puffed up with a childlike fierceness. “How is this not serious?! Just wait!”

After that, she turned and walked out of the room, heading to the bathroom to fetch a basin of hot water for Lu Hanchuan.

While the housekeeper wasn’t looking, she quietly let a single drop of the spatial spring water fall from her fingertip into the water.

She didn’t dare use more—only one drop to test it first.

She was afraid that if she used too much at once and the injury healed too quickly, it would attract unwanted attention.

When she returned to the room with the water basin, she gently lifted Lu Hanchuan’s feet and placed them into the warm water.

Then, Su Zhiyi reached out and softly splashed the water onto the bruised and scarred area, gently massaging it.

With each light touch of her fingers, Lu Hanchuan felt his heart tremble with her movements.

The tips of his ears quietly turned red once more.

Su Zhiyi, however, wasn’t thinking about anything else. She only wanted to help him absorb the medicine faster through massage, so it could ease his pain sooner.

The room fell into quiet, with only the soft sound of splashing water and the faint breathing of the two.

As the water gradually cooled, Su Zhiyi’s gentle voice broke the silence. “Brother Lu, does it still hurt?”

Only then did Lu Hanchuan return to his senses. He concentrated on the feeling, then showed a hint of surprise on his face. “It actually doesn’t hurt anymore. Usually it would ache for a long time.”

Su Zhiyi smiled happily at his words, then carefully lifted his injured foot out of the basin.

Lu Hanchuan was once again surprised to find that the part which had been nearly black and purple had now faded to a bluish-purple.

And the bluish-purple areas had turned into mere bruising.

Just as Su Zhiyi was about to pick up a towel to dry his foot—

Lu Hanchuan quickly suppressed the doubt rising in his heart and immediately grabbed the towel from her hand.

With an awkward cough and a slightly unnatural expression, he said: “I’ll do it myself.”

Su Zhiyi gently nodded when she saw his reaction. “Alright, then you dry it yourself. I’ll go pour out the water.”

With that, she turned around and walked out, her face glowing with a warm smile.

After drying off his feet, Lu Hanchuan lowered his head again to closely examine the injury.

When Su Zhiyi had lifted his foot from the basin earlier, she had also noticed the change in the scarred area.

It was wonderful—just one drop had already shown results.

Next time, she would try using two drops.

⋆⁺₊⋆ ━━━━⊱༒︎ • ༒︎⊰━━━━ ⋆⁺₊⋆

Meanwhile, back in the room, Lu Hanchuan couldn’t help but feel a wave of confusion in his heart.

Not only had the pain quickly disappeared, but even the purplish bruising around the scar had faded significantly.

But since it had something to do with Su Zhiyi, he didn’t bother thinking too much about the cause.

As long as it wouldn’t hurt her, that was all that mattered. After all, Su Zhiyi would never harm him.

On the contrary, his injury was gradually improving.

That thought alone filled Lu Hanchuan’s heart with a strong sense of joy.

But only for a moment.

His eyes quickly dimmed again, and the joy in his heart faded just as fast.

It was because he knew Su Zhiyi had only agreed to marry him to repay Su Junyi for saving his life.

But what he wanted wasn’t just her body—he wanted her heart, too.

He wanted all of her, completely.

He didn’t want to force her.

And he knew that someone else already held a place in Su Zhiyi’s heart.

The moment that thought crossed his mind, he grew extremely frustrated and yanked the nearby blanket over his head, burying himself in it.

⋆⁺₊⋆ ━━━━⊱༒︎ • ༒︎⊰━━━━ ⋆⁺₊⋆

Later, when it came time to prepare dinner, Su Zhiyi used the excuse of helping out to enter the kitchen. While the housekeeper wasn’t looking, she quietly added a drop of space water into the freshly made rice porridge.

That way, everyone could drink the water—it would help improve their health.

Especially Grandfather Lu and Father Lu, whose old internal injuries built up over the years would slowly begin to heal.

At the dinner table, seeing the little girl’s cheeks puffed up like a chubby hamster while she ate—so adorably—filled the Lu family’s faces with affection and tenderness.

Mother Lu in particular kept placing more food onto Su Zhiyi’s plate.

Su Zhiyi felt too embarrassed to refuse. Only when she truly couldn’t eat another bite did she finally speak up with a pitiful expression. “Aunt Lu, please stop giving me more food. I really can’t eat anymore—I’m already stuffed up to here.”

As she spoke, she playfully pointed at her throat, the gesture soft and utterly endearing.

Looking at the sweet girl before him, Lu Hanchuan felt a tingling in his fingertips. He had an overwhelming urge to pinch her soft little cheeks.

He quickly lowered his head to hide the heat that surged up in his eyes.

Mother Lu, seeing this, gently tapped the girl’s nose with a pampering touch. “Alright then, no more food. Go take a little walk later and you won’t feel so bloated.”

Su Zhiyi nodded with a bright smile.

Then, a little embarrassed, she pointed at the leftover food in her bowl.

Her beautiful watery eyes stared at her bowl, filled with a helpless expression. “But what should I do with this?”

Mother Lu chuckled and said: “Oh, that’s easy—just give it to Xiao Chuan to eat.”

“Huh?” Su Zhiyi let out a surprised little squeak, both shocked and a bit shy.

Grandpa Lu, Grandma Lu, and Father Lu all turned to look at Mother Lu, equally surprised.