Afraid of what?
Of course Su Yemang was afraid. She feared that if she worked with him as colleagues, she wouldn’t be able to control herself…
Her heart would be stirred.
She hurriedly composed herself. “I would be honored. The border post is the first line of physical defense for Huaguo’s security. The border is a high risk area for nuclear threats. Establishing a border post indeed requires the assistance of scientific personnel.”
Xiao Ye looked at her. “Is that so?”
Every time he saw her face, he couldn’t help imagining her lying in bed with another man for a whole month.
He ground his teeth so hard that blood seeped from his gums.
Su Yemang was startled. “Then… for assistance at the border post, I hope you will cooperate with me… and settle it promptly.”
“Settle it…”
Xiao Ye turned, pressed his military knife to his waist, and used the back of the blade to cut himself.
Only the pain could give him breath.
Su Yemang watched his back, took a deep breath, and went to her workstation to take out a folder.
“Since this is a cooperative relationship, let’s get to work. Using the recent moisture incident with the sensors on the mountain as a warning, we need to immediately inspect the military district’s current ‘Three Defense’ equipment.”
“Gas masks. Protective suits. Detection instruments. Captain Xiao, please take me to verify them.”
“No problem.” Xiao Ye turned, using his sleeve to cover the scratches on his hand.
“Please.”
10:00 a.m.
Sunlight reflected warmly off the snow on the training ground.
Su Yemang, Xiao Ye, and two border battalions stood on the field.
A strikingly beautiful female “Three Defense” officer was like a stunning sight in the camp, boosting the morale of soldiers enduring harsh training.
Xiao Ye’s voice was low and commanding: “Comrades! You all look full of energy today.”
The soldiers’ spirits rose instantly, their eyes shining.
Some bolder ones glanced at Su Yemang from time to time.
She didn’t notice. Turning to Xiao Ye, she said, “Captain Xiao, please have the soldiers place all the military district’s Three Defense equipment on the field.”
Xiao Ye saluted firmly. “Understood.”
He scanned the field, thinking carefully.
After a moment, he gave the order:
“Border Battalion Company One Commander. Company Two Commander!”
The two commanders saluted and stepped forward. “Present!”
Xiao Ye’s jawline was taut as stone. “Now, bring up the moisture prevention tools, lay them on the field, and place the Three Defense equipment on them.”
The two commanders responded in unison, “Yes, sir!”
At his command, Xiao Ye led the way in moving the equipment.
His movements were fast and precise five or six times more efficient than the soldiers. He carried hundreds of pounds alone.
The north wind blew, lifting Su Yemang’s hair.
She watched Xiao Ye’s straight back in the wind and felt the image of him in the village so distant, so unfamiliar.
The days he had bent his back for autumn harvests, cutting wheat, pushing carts, driving tractors all seemed like a dream she had imagined.
The arrogant, mischievous village bully Xiao Ye…
Now a decisive, efficient battalion commander.
Su Yemang looked up at the sky.
The wild geese flew in a V formation.
The world’s natural order remained unchanged.
Yet this moment felt like another lifetime.
Ten minutes later.
Xiao Ye approached Su Yemang. “Professor Su, the equipment is in place. Please verify.”
His lips pressed together slightly. His eyes were dark and bottomless, yet his expression was calm and serious.
Su Yemang avoided his gaze and looked elsewhere.
“All right.”
She then took her data sheets and began the verification process.
Suddenly, snow began falling, swirling gently and landing on Su Yemang’s shoulders.
Her expression was solemn. “Equipment functionality is below 30%. Gas masks are severely overdue. 75% of protective suits show aging. All portable detectors are obsolete.”
Xiao Ye followed behind, asking seriously, “And the core sensors? Are they still usable?”
Su Yemang crouched, pointing at the sensors. “Look at the dust and moisture. Sensitivity has dropped more than 50%. The storage methods are completely wrong.”
Xiao Ye took them. “My oversight. I did not conduct regular inspections.”
The Company One Commander suddenly shouted, “It’s my fault! Commander, you gave me the storage responsibility don’t… don’t take it on yourself.”
Xiao Ye waved his hand. “Quiet!” Then he looked at Su Yemang. “Please continue.”
Su Yemang’s hands were exposed to the wind and snow, turning bright red from the cold.
She sniffed and addressed the soldiers, “If this equipment is damaged, then when you establish a border post and face nuclear threats from abroad, you will lose most of your combat effectiveness.”
“I recommend an immediate emergency improvement: first, requisition a new batch of equipment; second, establish a new Three Defense equipment storage room; third, conduct a thorough health check for all soldiers in your border battalion, because…”
As Su Yemang spoke, she suddenly remembered the 909 hydrogen bomb research base the senior personnel who had suffered radiation injuries and death.
Her nose tingled; she coughed lightly and turned away.
Xiao Ye noticed her choked up moment, his gaze immediately falling on her sorrowful eyes and brows.
His body instinctively leaned forward, his arm lifting slightly toward her, then quickly withdrawn.
The soldiers noticed her reddened eyes and whispered in confusion.
Xiao Ye gave them a look, and the squad immediately fell silent.
After a moment, Su Yemang, her expression serious, said, “Captain Xiao, you request the logistics channel to replenish your equipment. I’ll go back and finish my work, then write a report…”
At the Military Science Academy.
She finished writing the “Three Defense Equipment Verification” report and submitted it to Director Lin.
Afterward, she held a work meeting with several female colleagues at the academy.
One of them, Lin Miaomiao, was striking, naturally talented, and worked in the radiation injured personnel center.
Su Yemang paid close attention to her.
Lin Miaomiao accompanied her to the Radiation Injured Personnel Center. On the way, she was polite but carried a subtle sense of pride in her tone.
Su Yemang used a blood glucose meter to calculate radiation doses and specific protein markers.
She asked Lin Miaomiao to provide the patients’ lymphatic data, planning to take notes when she returned in the afternoon.
Returning from the Radiation Injured Personnel Center, it was already past 2 p.m.
Su Yemang wearily returned to her office.
On her desk was a lunch in an aluminum box.
Outside the window, a tall figure quickly disappeared from view when she looked over.
Su Yemang noticed the peach blossom shaped eyes peeking through the hair and assumed it was a colleague’s gesture of care. Calmly, she opened the lunch box.
“Clang” the lid opened.
Inside: stir fried broccoli, steamed bass, and stir fried carrot with wood ear and meat.
All dishes she disliked…
Dating Xiao Ye for four years, he had long known she hated broccoli and carrots.
He had spent such expensive money and effort to buy these rare dishes just to tease her like this?
Su Yemang held her breath.
Suddenly, Lin Miaomiao’s voice came from outside.
“Captain Xiao, thank you for getting me lunch. I’m sorry to trouble you; Professor Su and I were at the injured personnel center and didn’t have time to get food.”
Su Yemang couldn’t help but get up and peek at the door.
Lin Miaomiao smiled shyly, thanking Xiao Ye: “Captain Xiao, you have such a good memory, remembering my favorite foods.”
Her lunch box contained: spicy potato, sweet and sour pork, and stir fried cabbage.
All the dishes girls liked.
Su Yemang glanced at her own lunch bland dishes she didn’t enjoy.
Ah, whatever. Might as well eat it.
She closed the door with a “bang” and returned to her desk, obediently eating the lunch Xiao Ye had “specially” prepared for her.
Afternoon.
Su Yemang stayed in the lab, buried in chromosome research…
6:00 p.m.
Her mini experiment was complete. Integrating medical findings, she developed a single person emergency kit.
She would report it to Director Lin the next day.
Over the next week, it would be replicated and distributed to individual soldiers in each company.
As dusk fell, Su Yemang finished work.
She hurried to the government run kindergarten to pick up her son, only to find he had already been taken by a neighbor.
Su Yemang rushed home in a hurry.
At the junction of the residential compound, she saw two figures a man and a woman.
It was Xiao Ye and Lin Miaomiao.
“Captain Xiao, you’ve gotten me lunch so many times already. Give me a straight answer.”
“Are we… together or not?”