Zhou Yishen did not want this matter to branch out into complications, so he instructed Zhou Yinian not to talk nonsense.
Zhou Yinian hesitated, looking as if he had more to say.
“If you have something to say, just say it.”
Zhou Yinian glanced outside, leaned in a bit closer, and lowered his voice, “Eldest Brother, Mom and Dad’s letter also mentioned Ruan Qiu’s character. Her reputation back in her village is not very good.”
Zhou Yishen frowned and asked, “Since that is the case, why did Mom and Dad set up this match for me?”
Zhou Yinian choked for a moment, then stammered out after a long pause, “That is because the Ruan family could not find anyone else to take her off their hands, so they just latched onto our family. Eldest Brother, I really feel sorry for you. If it were not for the fact that I like Ruanruan, I would have taken this marriage on for you.”
Zhou Yishen furrowed his brows slightly, feeling somewhat skeptical about Zhou Yinian’s words, but he did not want to pursue the matter too deeply either.
“Focus on your studies. You do not need to worry about the affairs between Ruan Qiu and me.”
Zhou Yinian nodded with a fake, joyless smile.
He couldn’t care less anyway. The reason he brought up Ruan Qiu’s bad reputation in the village was simply to make Zhou Yishen feel disgusted.
He never expected Zhou Yishen to be able to stomach it and endure. Well, then he couldn’t be blamed for what happened next; in any case, that woman Ruan Qiu was bound to stir up trouble.
Ruan Qiu finished completing her discharge procedures and ran into Zhou Yinian on her way back as he was preparing to leave.
Zhou Yinian didn’t greet her, and Ruan Qiu didn’t stoop to acknowledging him either.
Ruan Qiu walked past Zhou Yinian and headed straight into the ward.
“Everything is settled. Are we leaving now, or waiting a bit?”
“We are leaving now.”
The procedures were all done, what was there to wait for?
Ruan Qiu wrapped all the packed belongings in a thin sheet, slung it over her shoulder, and reached out to support Zhou Yishen.
“No need to support me.”
It was Zhou Yishen’s arm that was injured, not his legs, so he didn’t need assistance at all.
Ruan Qiu withdrew her hand, wondering inwardly if that scoundrel Zhou Yinian had been bad-mouthing her to Zhou Yishen.
Judging by Zhou Yishen’s attitude, he wasn’t as warm and mild toward her as he used to be.
Whatever. It was just a three-year contract anyway; once the time was up, they would go their separate ways, so whatever his attitude was didn’t matter anymore.
Stepping out of the ward, they ran straight into Xiang Zhuzhu coming toward them. She was still holding the food box she had brought last time, which still contained chicken soup stewed with Chinese herbs, smelling wonderfully fragrant.
Free-range hens back in those days really made soup that smelled exceptionally aromatic.
“Brother Yishen, you are…” Seeing that Zhou Yishen was all set to be discharged from the hospital, Xiang Zhuzhu grew anxious.
While Zhou Yishen was staying in the hospital, she could still find excuses to show her diligence and fawn over him. Once he returned to the family quarters, it wouldn’t be proper or justified for her to keep visiting.
“I am going home to recuperate.”
Zhou Yishen wanted to go back to nurse his injuries precisely because he hated being disturbed by these irrelevant people.
Since Xiang Zhuzhu had shown up, she needed to be direct so that Xiang Zhuzhu would give up all hope.
“How can you be discharged? You still need to have your arm dressed and your bandages changed. What are you going to do once you get home?” Xiang Zhuzhu asked anxiously.
“I can help him change them.” Ruan Qiu couldn’t hold back, raised her hand, and chimed in.
Xiang Zhuzhu glanced at Ruan Qiu, glared fiercely with her small eyes, and still refused to give up.
“Brother Yishen, you were injured because you were saving people. You can’t just leave the hospital like this. Did you ask the hospital director? Did you ask your political commissar?”
“I still have the freedom to go back and recuperate. Besides, my injuries are mostly healed.” Zhou Yishen motioned for Ruan Qiu to get moving. Were they really going to stand here wasting words with her?
Ruan Qiu hurriedly stepped forward to support Zhou Yishen and said to Xiang Zhuzhu, “Little Sister, is this chicken soup you stewed for your Brother Yishen?”
Xiang Zhuzhu gripped the handle of the food box, a surge of resentment pent up inside her that she couldn’t release and couldn’t suppress.
“Yes, it is chicken soup stewed for Brother Yishen. What can you possibly do? Aside from changing bandages, you probably don’t even know how to cook a meal!”
“Little Sister, you guessed right. Then why don’t you hand the chicken soup over to me? I will make sure he drinks every last drop.” Ruan Qiu reached out to take the food box from Xiang Zhuzhu’s hands.
Xiang Zhuzhu hesitated for a full second before reluctantly shoving the food box into Ruan Qiu’s grasp.
“You are not allowed to drink it yourself!”
“Rest assured, of all things, chicken meat is what I love least.”
Ruan Qiu took the food box, smiled, and then supported Zhou Yishen as they walked away.
Xiang Zhuzhu stamped her feet in frustration and angrily ran off to find Director Tian.
Director Tian couldn’t control whether people wanted to leave the hospital or not, so she could only comfort her daughter and tell her not to panic.
“I told you not to rush. As long as Zhou Yishen’s marriage application doesn’t get approved, you still have a chance.”
Director Tian’s words finally brought a smile back to Xiang Zhuzhu’s face.
As soon as Ruan Qiu got home, she poured the chicken soup into a basin. She would give the chicken soup to Zhou Yishen to drink and keep the chicken meat for herself.
Having been here for so long, it had genuinely been a while since she last ate chicken meat.
The hospital food was already considered quite good, but the peak luxury per meal was pork belly. It was certainly fragrant, but eating too much of it became greasy.
Switching up the flavors occasionally was still a nice treat.
“Once you finish eating, write up a report. If you don’t know how to write it, I can help you.”
Zhou Yishen suddenly spoke up.
Write a report?
“Has the marriage application not been approved yet?”
The only thing that would require her to write a report was this matter.
“No.”
Ruan Qiu put down her chicken leg and looked at Zhou Yishen, “Where did the problem arise?”
“I didn’t understand you well enough before and just wrote things down casually. However, during the background check by superiors, some discrepancies came up, and the review hit a snag.”
Ruan Qiu understood now. Zhou Yishen was in a military marriage, and because he was a battalion commander, getting married required a background check on the female party.
In the eyes of others, the original body was just a lazy girl from the countryside who didn’t know how to do anything.
Now that she suddenly possessed medical skills and was remarkably competent, she naturally looked different from the Ruan Qiu described by the villagers.
It was all her fault for not being low-profile enough; she had pulled out all her core skills right away and forgotten about the marriage review stage.
“Alright, I’ll write it as soon as I finish eating.”
Zhou Yishen stared at Ruan Qiu for a long time, always feeling that something was a bit off about her, quite different from how Zhou Yinian had described her.
What made Zhou Yishen feel even more unbelievable was that Zhou Yinian seemed to know an extraordinary amount about Ruan Qiu.
“How well did you know Zhou Yinian back when you were in the countryside?”
Ruan Qiu froze for a split second.
Could it be that Zhou Yinian mentioned something that made Zhou Yishen suspicious?
If she were to admit that her original intended marriage match was Zhou Yinian, this marriage definitely wouldn’t go through.
Forget it. One lie requires countless more to cover it up; it would be better to just come clean.
“Yishen, are you home?”
An inquiring voice came from outside the door.
Ruan Qiu hurried over to open the door. Standing at the threshold were Political Commissar Lu and Sister Lian.
“Hello, Political Commissar! Hello, Sister!”
“Xiao Qiu, look at what this is!” Sister Lian happily handed the approval document over to Ruan Qiu.
The official seal of the Military Political Department was stamped right on it. That meant her marriage application with Zhou Yishen had been approved!
Then why on earth was she stressing about confessing anything?
Zhou Yishen was baffled. Didn’t they say it wasn’t approved?
“I told the division commander and the others about your performance at the hospital, coupled with the recommendation letter from Director Tan at the hospital, so your marriage application was unanimously approved.”
Political Commissar Lu was very happy and joked, “Now that this report has come through, when are you holding the wedding banquet?”
“That’s right, when are you holding the banquet? Sister will come help out.” Sister Lian looked even happier than if she were getting married herself.
Ruan Qiu looked over at Zhou Yishen. Since this was a contract marriage between the two of them, Zhou Yishen probably wouldn’t want to hold a banquet.