Su Yemang knew this was a military district compound, so she didn’t let her voice fully escape.
Her eyes were filled with a pair of long, straight legs, the skin still as clean and smooth as ever.
After five years of drought, now it came completely exposed.
Xiao Ye, 189 cm tall, with long legs and broad shoulders, stood like a door guardian outside the master bedroom.
The sunset outside the window slowly sank.
From the bungalow across the way came the “crackle crackle” of firecrackers, along with the sound of beams falling.
She was a little puzzled.
Hearing the noise outside, Su Yemang snapped back to reality.
Her face instantly flushed red, and then… she suddenly felt uneasy…
Because she saw… Xiao Ye’s body bore scratches on his shoulders, on his abdomen.
The three scratches near his wrist looked very much like… self inflicted wounds…
But she couldn’t be sure, because Xiao Ye had always been emotionally unstable and sometimes got into fights with people from neighboring villages, but he had never self harmed before.
As her gaze widened, she saw on his wheat colored back two deep brown bullet wounds.
About the size of a walnut.
Surrounding them were shocking, glaring scars; the spinal surgery scar was a thin, raised pale line.
Shot by bullets, and wounded countless times by knives?
Su Yemang was about to step out, but suddenly froze.
A part of her heart felt like someone had grabbed it with a large hand.
It was hard to breathe.
Xiao Ye had his back to her; his ears twitched slightly.
“Still looking?” he suddenly spoke.
“Ah…” Su Yemang hurriedly averted her gaze.
Xiao Ye grabbed a towel to cover himself. As he turned, his lower abs remained uncovered, exposed under the living room light.
Some part of Su Yemang’s body almost went numb.
She took deep, heavy breaths, struggling to calm herself and compose a look of indifference.
She whispered, “You… why didn’t you close the door while showering?”
Xiao Ye peeked through his bangs.
“Do you think I did it on purpose, Professor Su?”
After saying this, he quickly dried off and, within five seconds, put on a grass green shirt and military trousers.
Su Yemang turned her face away. “Of course you didn’t do it on purpose, but I think as a soldier, being this careless is reckless.”
She placed the money and tickets on his coffee table and left…
Xiao Ye furrowed his brows.
Suddenly, he moved with a flash, his arm thudding against the wall behind her.
Blocking her way.
The military compound in the dusk was lighting up for evening; children ran and played in the yard.
Su Yemang shrank her shoulders. “You… what are you doing?”
Xiao Ye approached her, his gaze filled with disdain.
“What am I doing? I was careless, that’s why you saw me naked.”
“So when you tell me to be cautious, it’s to guard against women like me, huh?”
“Huh?” Su Yemang looked utterly incredulous.
“Captain Xiao, you don’t close the shower door, and now you’re turning it around on me?”
Xiao Ye’s broad shoulders trembled with anger.
“Your son told me not to close it, said he’d come by later.”
“Thud thud…”
Su Yixin, rolling an iron hoop, ran past the doorway, laughing.
Su Yemang watched her son for a while before turning her face.
“Okay… okay, I get it. Then… it really is a misunderstanding.”
“I’ve put the money and tickets on your coffee table. The daily supplies you gave me are considered returned.”
Xiao Ye glanced at the coffee table, moving closer to her face.
Su Yemang bit her naturally red lips, nervous like a frizzed up little kitten.
Xiao Ye suddenly felt an itch in his heart.
Five years had passed, and he had become almost monk like in restraint.
Her red lips, so tempting.
Xiao Ye suddenly extended his tongue, craving to explore the secret inside those red lips.
His body warmed; an impulse concentrated on Su Yemang’s mouth.
Other men had kissed this mouth before, right?
Somewhere in his heart, a sharp pain surged. He arched his back.
The Su Yemang he had once treasured so dearly…
Had left him.
And bore another man’s child.
His breathing grew heavy; that sensation twisted his heart.
Hatred spread, suppressing her, scrutinizing her.
His gaze instantly sharpened.
“You left me for no reason back then it was because you looked down on me.”
Su Yemang’s face turned fiery red. “I didn’t look down on you. I had my reasons.”
Here’s the English translation of the passage you provided:
Xiao Ye leaned close to her ear. “Put away that excuse about the bed. Just now, weren’t you staring at me pretty intently?”
Su Yemang’s face flushed even more.
Seeing this, Xiao Ye let out a soft “hm,” pulled her closer, and kissed her…
“Mm…”
His lips pressed against hers intensely for five seconds…
Just as she began to respond,
Xiao Ye suddenly pushed her away.
Su Yemang nearly lost her balance. “Ah…” Her heart thumped wildly.
Xiao Ye clenched his fist. “Take the money and tickets and go.”
Su Yemang indignantly shot back, “You still don’t want it? Over two hundred yuan and that’s too little for you?”
Xiao Ye, standing two meters away, shoved the money and tickets toward her. “Did I ever say it was too little?”
Su Yemang caught the money, slightly stunned. “Xinxin… did you just… make that up?”
“Think for yourself,” Xiao Ye said, his half wet bangs framing his sparkling peach blossom eyes.
The sunset’s glow streamed in, falling on his sharp, handsome face it looked like carved jade.
Her heart was a mess, and she looked out the window.
Outside… Su Yixin was surrounded by a few children, seemingly discussing something.
Xiao Ye put on a sweater. “Let’s go. You don’t need to return the money.”
Su Yemang raised her voice. “Then why did you give me so much stuff? Being nice to me?”
Xiao Ye’s voice was cold. “You’re overthinking. The organization instructed me to look after you, your neighbor.”
“Your… scientist neighbor,” she repeated incredulously.
As he spoke the last few words, his molars clenched so tightly that only a hiss escaped.
After that, he walked toward the bedroom, then paused.
“Su Yemang, when you were a sent down youth, I didn’t know you were a researcher.”
Then, with a loud “thud!” he shut the bedroom door.
After closing it, he went behind the bedroom curtains, secretly watching Su Yemang.
She stood there, dazed, and eventually left his home.
He felt conflicted inside; he already… dared not declare his love. What if she rejected him again?
The sunset faded beyond the hills, and the outside crackling noises gradually quieted.
Outside Su Yemang’s home, Shen Yuetao hid behind a two meter tall water tank.
Earlier, on the train, she had failed to drug Su Yemang and was detained. Her father had rescued her but scolded her thoroughly.
He said he was only the deputy commander of the Liaoning General Military District, not some almighty king. If she kept trying to leverage connections, it would implicate him.
She had been scolded mercilessly.
And her pocket money was confiscated.
After whining for a long time, her father reluctantly agreed to secretly send her back to the Liaodong Military District.
Having suffered so much, this time she was determined to get back at Su Yemang.
“Creak ”
Su Yemang opened the door. Shen Yuetao, hiding by the water tank, immediately slipped away.
The family across the street had moved out. The new tenants converted the place into a shop, with a sign that read: Fu’s Letter Writing Agency.
Su Yemang carried a lunchbox and left. Passing male soldiers glanced at her.
Their eyes lingered for a few seconds, then rolled away, sharing secretive looks.
Su Yemang immediately spotted the mysterious Su Yixin ahead.
“Xinxin…” she huffed angrily and walked toward him.
After a while,
A baby like pleading voice rang out.
“Mom, Xinxin was wrong. I shouldn’t have tricked you for money.”
Su Yemang, fuming, took deep breaths. “Let’s go, we’ll settle this while eating…”
In the mess hall,
Su Yemang piled plate after plate of green peppers onto Su Yixin’s tray.
“Mom, I hate green peppers the most! Why so many?”
“You didn’t say what the money was for, so I’m punishing you with green peppers,” Su Yemang said sternly.
Su Yixin handed back eighty yuan. “Returning it to you, Mom. Sorry.”
His voice got quieter with each word.
He pinched his nose and swallowed the peppers, his big eyes darting to a row of old houses in the far southwest corner. There, a mute grandfather’s monthly pension was taken by his daughter in law and son. He wanted the money to buy winter clothes for him.
There were also the watchmen at the posts, shivering without gloves, and over twenty stray cats near the north gate…
The aroma of food filled the mess hall. Su Yemang and her son ate heartily at a stone table.
Night fell.
In the compound,
Shen Yuetao appeared.
She glanced left and right, waiting for a moment when no one passed.
She grabbed a thin metal sheet and slid it into the gap of Su Yemang’s door.
Pried open the wooden latch… then sneaked into Su Yemang’s home.
She unscrewed the hot water bottle,
And poured in half a bottle of love potion.
Shook it to mix evenly…