Huo Wei felt suffocated on her behalf, but he still didn’t dare drink the cup of malted milk for the commander.
“Just leave it here. I’ll drink it later.”
Su Wanyin’s gaze fell on the pastries and steamed buns that had been pushed to the side of the table. Then she looked meaningfully at “Fu Shimo” and said:
“No. I have to watch you finish it myself. Otherwise, what if the malted milk I personally made gets drunk by someone else?”
Instantly, the atmosphere froze.
At the same time Huo Wei’s body stiffened, he also felt the air pressure around him plummet.
Then Fu Shimo’s cold, low, tightly restrained voice rang out beside him.
“Hurry up and drink it so Comrade Su can leave reassured.”
His voice sounded as though every word had been squeezed out through clenched teeth.
Huo Wei immediately grabbed the cup and downed it in one gulp, not even daring to savor the taste.
Su Wanyin stared speechlessly at the exact same “buffalo drinking water” style as before. After taking back the enamel mug, her gaze swept over the dark-faced man nearby. The corners of her lips lifted slightly, and she walked away in a noticeably lighter mood.
Even after she left, over half the men in the carriage were still sitting upright, craning their necks to watch her departing figure.
Huo Wei withdrew his gaze and nervously spoke up.
“Commander, you were the one who told me to drink it.”
“Yes,” Fu Shimo replied with a smile. “Was it good?”
Feeling the lingering sweetness in his mouth, the straightforward Huo Wei scratched his head awkwardly and grinned.
“It was good.”
Fu Shimo smiled as well.
“Since you enjoyed it so much, I suppose you won’t need dinner tonight.”
As soon as he finished speaking, he mercilessly confiscated all the pastries and steamed buns Su Wanyin had brought, along with the hard biscuits they themselves had packed.
The smile on Huo Wei’s face instantly disappeared.
“…Huh?”
…
After returning, Su Wanyin shared some food with the grandmother. She casually chatted for a while with both the old lady and the kind-hearted fashionable woman before gradually drifting off to sleep.
The green train clattered steadily forward.
Outside the grimy train windows, scattered lights flickered by, casting mottled shadows across the girl’s face.
Her cheeks were slightly flushed, and her thick curled eyelashes cast soft shadows beneath her eyes. Her lips were parted just slightly, like flower petals blooming under the blazing sun.
When Fu Shimo walked through the aisle carrying an enamel mug, this was the scene he saw.
His footsteps paused subtly. His gaze unconsciously lingered on the girl’s tender lips, his eyes darkening slightly before he strode forward again.
At that moment, however, the arm she had been hugging protectively against her chest suddenly dropped outward, stretching boldly across the middle of the aisle.
Forced to stop, Fu Shimo frowned and looked down. Then he deliberately shifted to the side, keeping his body stiff as he carefully stepped around her slender fair hand.
Just as he was about to pass her and quietly exhale in relief, his expression suddenly changed drastically.
Looking down, he saw that her soft hand had landed on a very indescribable area of his body.
And under his stunned gaze, her fingers even lightly squeezed.
Instantly, his entire body froze like stone. His face turned horribly dark, and the veins at his temples throbbed violently.
Smack!
Fu Shimo swiftly slapped away the sinful hand.
“Hiss—”
The girl woke from the pain with a startled sound. Her fox-like eyes blinked open groggily. The moment she recognized him, she quickly retracted her hand. Seeing the reddened mark on the back of it, she immediately widened her eyes in anger.
“Why did you hit me?!”
Looking at the girl who had clearly struck first yet was accusing him instead, Fu Shimo was almost angered into laughter.
“You—”
He opened his mouth, but the words stuck in his throat no matter what. His face alternated between red and green. Under the girl’s innocent, puzzled gaze, even his ears reddened as he stiffly scolded:
“If you’re sleeping, then sleep properly! Behave yourself!”
Su Wanyin glared at him in confusion. Her irritation from being woken combined with the resentment she already harbored toward him and burst forth all at once.
“You complain when I talk, and now you complain when I sleep too? Did you eat too much salt or something?”
The moment the words left her mouth, she regretted them.
After all, this was “Fu Shimo’s” superior.
It was the first time Fu Shimo had ever been scolded like this. He was stunned for a second before his face darkened instantly. His brows lowered, and the imposing, battle-hardened aura he carried on the battlefield unconsciously surfaced.
Looking at the girl who had scolded him and then shrunk back into her seat, now blinking up at him timidly with watery fox eyes, he felt a suffocating tightness in his chest. Yet somehow, his expression softened slightly on its own.
He had just opened his mouth when she suddenly raised a finger and pointed around them at the sleeping passengers nearby. Then she blinked innocently at him while leisurely delivering a threat:
“If you keep talking, you’ll disturb everyone else’s rest.”
The words he had been about to say instantly died in his throat.
He had truly underestimated her.
Sharp-tongued, sly-minded, and absolutely incapable of suffering even the slightest loss—how could she possibly be timid?
“In public places, pay attention to your sleeping posture. Even if I don’t care, someone else will.”
In the end, suppressing his anger, he coldly left behind those words before turning to leave.
Su Wanyin narrowed her fox eyes as she stared suspiciously at his tall figure walking away, especially his strangely stiff and awkward steps. The whole thing felt utterly baffling.
Then she recalled the delicious roasted ham from her dream. Looking down at her pale fingers, she suddenly felt that the smooth, springy sensation in the dream had been unnervingly real.
…
Half asleep, Huo Wei sensed someone passing by and instinctively opened his eyes alertly. Relaxing when he saw it was his superior, his gaze landed on the empty enamel mug in Fu Shimo’s hand.
“Commander, weren’t you going to get hot water? Why’s the cup empty?”
“There wasn’t any left.”
“How could there be none? Before bed I saw there was still plenty in the boiler—”
Halfway through speaking, Huo Wei met Fu Shimo’s “why are you talking so much” stare and belatedly shut his mouth. Only then did he notice how dark his commander’s expression was.
Not daring to ask further, Huo Wei remained silent. But after hearing the constant sounds of shifting seats and rustling clothes beside him, he turned over groggily and suddenly jolted awake.
“Commander, why does your complexion look so awful? Are you sick?”
Half of Fu Shimo’s face was hidden in shadow, making his expression appear even darker. His brows were tense with irritation, and his lips were pressed into a cold straight line, impossible to read.
When no answer came for a long while, Huo Wei’s heart tightened. His eyes darted around before he cautiously suggested:
“If you’re not feeling well… should we ask Comrade Su to take a look?”
The moment those words fell, it was like lighting the fuse on a barrel of explosives.
“Take a look at what?”
Fu Shimo shot him a freezing glance and gritted out:
“Didn’t I warn you to stay away from that scheming, morally questionable woman?!”
Huo Wei stiffened all over. He wanted to argue, but under his commander’s dark stare, he didn’t dare utter a word.
Turning his gaze away awkwardly, he suddenly widened his eyes toward the junction between the train cars.
“Comrade Su… why are you here?”
Fu Shimo’s body froze. Following Huo Wei’s line of sight, he met a pair of extremely cold eyes.
Those eyes, usually shimmering with moisture and softness, were now filled with frost.
Yet the next moment, when they shifted toward the man beside him, all the coldness vanished. Her fox eyes curved slightly upward, and she approached with a gentle smile.
“My hands suddenly felt dirty, so I came to wash them.”
Stopping in front of Huo Wei, she ignored everyone else entirely. Her soft voice brushed against the ears like delicate silk.
“Huh?” Huo Wei looked at her pale, delicate hands in confusion. “You can actually feel your hands getting dirty?”
“I had an uncomfortable dream. Maybe my palms got sweaty, so they felt sticky.”
Su Wanyin casually made up an excuse. She couldn’t exactly admit that a dream had somehow left her hand feeling strange.
Yet the moment she finished speaking, she distinctly sensed the temperature around them drop sharply. A gloomy gaze swept toward her from the side.
Su Wanyin frowned and looked over at the man glaring at her with a dark, strange expression. Rolling her eyes speechlessly, she felt annoyed.
She was the one who had overheard him insulting her behind her back. She hadn’t even gotten angry yet, so why was he the one wearing a sour face?
Snorting inwardly, Su Wanyin turned back to Huo Wei and softly said:
“Then I’ll go wash my hands first. ‘Comrade Fu,’ you should rest early too.”
After speaking, she acted as though she hadn’t seen the other man at all and turned away.
Huo Wei was momentarily dazed by her soft, delicate voice. Only after her figure disappeared did he awkwardly rub his nose and mutter:
“Comrade Su thinks I’m you now. Maybe I should explain the misunderstanding.”
“No need.”
Fu Shimo gritted out each word through clenched teeth, his voice as cold as ice.
Seeing his commander’s expression, Huo Wei couldn’t help asking:
“Then when are you planning to tell Comrade Su the truth?”
Fu Shimo pondered for a moment before pursing his lips.
“After we finish investigating her identity.”
“Then if there’s nothing wrong with her identity… wouldn’t that make her our commander’s wife?”