“Second Brother, that hurt!”
The moment they stepped out of the supply store, Song Chutong finally couldn’t hold it in anymore. She pouted, rubbing her aching shoulder where she’d just been knocked into.
Wei Lin glanced at her tightly furrowed brows. For a split second, something like concern flickered in his eyes—
But his words remained merciless. “Serves you right.”
Still, he reached out his hand. “Give me the bags.”
Song Chutong hadn’t expected to fool him anyway. With zero hesitation, she dumped everything she was carrying onto his already overloaded arms. “You don’t have a single romantic bone in your body.”
Wei Lin shot her a lazy glance. “As long as you do, that’s enough. I have no interest in that kind of thing.”
She knew exactly what he meant.
A jab—subtle but sharp—at how she’d been publicly dumped by Jiang Zhixing.
Her second brother might look gentle, refined… even elegant—
But his tongue?
Sharper than anyone’s.
Song Chutong had no intention of walking straight into that trap again. She held her tongue.
But when Wei Lin walked ahead to open the car door, she couldn’t resist. Behind his back, she clenched her fists and threw a few exaggerated punches into the air.
Inside the car window’s reflection, Wei Lin caught sight of her puffed-up, bun-like cheeks.
He didn’t call her out.
Instead, he sighed inwardly.
Such a pretty face… and yet, barely any brains to go with it.
That person from earlier—
He’d need to keep an eye on them.
Once everything was loaded, Wei Lin turned back as if nothing had happened.
Song Chutong instantly dropped her act, straightened up, blinked innocently, and flashed him a sweet smile. “Thanks for your hard work, Second Brother!”
Unlike her other cousins—who would spoil her endlessly the moment she asked—Wei Lin had principles.
Shopping meant shopping.
And once they were done, he drove her straight back.
Song Chutong gave up resisting altogether.
Fine. Whatever.
The day after tomorrow was their break anyway, and her little uncle had promised to take her out for crab. She could endure one more day.
By the time they returned, training at the arts troupe had long since ended.
She’d bought quite a lot, and just as she was about to help carry some of it—
Wei Lin cut her off, opening the car door for her. “Does your shoulder still hurt? Go inside first. I’ll bring everything up later.”
Song Chutong beamed. “Thank you, Second Brother!”
Her room was a single dorm, so she didn’t have to worry about anyone else being inside.
Earlier that day, Wei Heng and Wei Zhi’s visit had already drawn plenty of attention.
Now, at dinnertime, the dormitory hall was even more crowded.
The moment Wei Lin stepped in behind Song Chutong—
Every pair of eyes turned toward him.
He stood out.
Unlike most soldiers in the camp, he didn’t carry that wild, rugged edge.
Instead, there was something calm, composed… almost scholarly about him.
His skin wasn’t sun-darkened like the others who trained daily outdoors—if anything, from a distance, he looked nearly as fair as Song Chutong.
Rugged men had their appeal—
But in a place like this, elegance and refinement were far more captivating.
And though he looked gentle, even slightly slender at first glance—
Up close, his tall, straight posture and broad frame revealed a strength no less formidable than any other officer.
Bai Jieyi hadn’t taken Song Chutong’s earlier warning to heart at all.
From the moment Wei Lin walked in, her gaze had been glued to him.
Only after he followed Song Chutong into the dorm room did she finally lean toward Song Weiran and whisper, “Ranran… who is that regiment commander to Song Chutong?”
Song Weiran didn’t answer immediately.
Just moments ago, when Wei Lin entered, she had actually wanted to step forward and greet him.
But that single, fleeting glance from him—
Cold, distant—
Had stopped her in her tracks.
Among the Wei family, there were two people she knew better than to provoke.
Wei Lin—
And Song Chutong’s little uncle, Wei Ying.
Wei Ying, being in the navy, was often too far away to interfere much, even if he favored Song Chutong.
But Wei Lin was different.
He held real power.
Even Jiang Zhixing couldn’t do anything to him.
And more importantly—
Wei Lin was nothing like the other cousins.
He wasn’t bound by rules or righteousness. He knew exactly how to use his resources, his connections… to his advantage.
He looked like a gentleman—
But in truth?
He barely regarded others as worth his attention.
When they were children, he had already treated Song Weiran with cold indifference.
Now that they were older—
It was as if she didn’t exist at all.
No matter how patient she was, she couldn’t keep chasing someone who wouldn’t even look her way.
Whenever Wei Lin looked at her, it felt as though he stood high above—
Looking down from a great height.
To him, she was nothing more than a speck of dust beneath his feet.
And Song Chutong?
She was the jewel in his palm.
And he would never allow Song Weiran—
To take even the smallest thing away from her.
Song Weiran still remembered the fight from years ago—back when she and Song Chutong were barely thirteen or fourteen. It had been over nothing more than a dress. Their father, of course, had given it to her without hesitation.
But Wei Lin had found out.
He had shown up at their door with an armful of fashionable bulaji dresses, pretending they were for Song Chutong. In truth, it had been nothing but a threat. Under his cold, unyielding gaze, Song Weiran had been forced to hand over the dress she’d fought so hard to claim.
And then—right in front of her—he had cut it to shreds.
She could still remember herself crying, threatening to tell their father, to tell their grandfather… yet Wei Lin hadn’t been the least bit afraid. If anything, he had looked almost eager for her to complain.
And in the end, it turned out he truly had nothing to fear.
He didn’t care about punishment. But that incident had caught the old master’s attention. From then on, the petty rivalry between the sisters disappeared overnight. Their father, after being sternly warned, never again openly favored her.
From that moment on, Wei Lin became a shadow in Song Weiran’s heart.
Especially when those eyes of his fell on her—sharp, penetrating—she felt as though she were stripped bare, every secret laid out for him to see.
It would’ve been one thing if he’d grown into some useless drifter.
But no.
That same man had joined the military, earned countless merits, and risen to the rank of regimental commander.
She and Jiang Zhixing couldn’t remain secret lovers forever. And she knew all too well—she would never find a better man than him. Sooner or later, their relationship would come into the light.
But everyone knew that Jiang Zhixing had once been very close to Song Chutong.
If it were anyone else, she might have managed it.
But this was Wei Lin.
Song Weiran didn’t even dare imagine what kind of storm he would unleash for Song Chutong if he discovered the truth.
Worse still, Wei Lin was known for his strict self-discipline. He appeared gentle on the surface, but in reality, he kept everyone at arm’s length. Flattery meant nothing to him. Gifts were useless. And reason? There was no reasoning with him at all.
“Ranran? Ranran?”
Bai Jieyi waved a hand in front of her face, snapping her out of her thoughts.
Song Weiran blinked, her gaze landing on Bai Jieyi’s lovestruck expression. A flicker of something unreadable flashed through her eyes.
She suddenly recalled Li Weiwei pestering her to introduce her to a suitable military officer.
Under normal circumstances, if they approached Wei Lin directly, he wouldn’t even spare them a glance.
But what if…
What if the famously self-restrained Wei Lin… lost that restraint?
A faint smile curved her lips, dimples blooming softly on her cheeks. “Yes… that’s Tongtong’s second brother. Commander Wei Lin of the Fifth Regiment, Sixth Division.”
Now that Bai Jieyi had his name, she was about to ask more—but just then, the dormitory door swung open. Song Chutong and another girl stepped out one after the other.
Bai Jieyi instantly lost all interest in questions, her attention snapping straight back to Wei Lin.
“Second Brother, be careful on your way back! Are you really not coming to Grandpa’s tomorrow night?”
Wei Lin gave a light reprimand, his tone indifferent. “If I have time, I’ll come.”
A room full of girls watched him, yet he remained completely unmoved—calm, distant, not sparing a single unnecessary glance. “No need to see me off.”
And somehow, that aloofness only made their hearts flutter even more.
Song Chutong nodded, watching him leave before turning back inside.
Song Weiran sat there, a faint smile playing on her lips. “Sister, has Second Brother been well lately?”
Song Chutong’s long, curled lashes trembled.
If Song Weiran hadn’t asked, she might never have recalled that small, unsettling detail from her dream the night before.
In the first half of that dream, her second brother had simply… vanished. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have failed to step in and protect her.
Everything in the dream had unfolded too quickly, too chaotically. And before waking, her mind had felt sluggish, as though submerged in water—so much so that she hadn’t even thought of Wei Lin at all while dreaming.
But now that she thought about it…
That fleeting glimpse of him later on had appeared in the home of one of Song Weiran’s friends.
The realization sent a chill through her.
Just that very afternoon, Wei Lin had been avoiding women like the plague. Yet in that absurd, twisted turn of events within the dream, he had not only married—
—but had married one of Song Weiran’s friends.
Even if he had truly fallen for someone close to Song Weiran, it made no sense… no sense at all… that he would completely abandon Song Chutong.
Something about this was deeply, disturbingly wrong.