When Chen Xi brought up the blind date, Ji Wanning rubbed the tip of her nose, looking a little embarrassed.
Biting her lip, she said, “Xixi, I… mistook someone else for my blind date.”
“What? How did that happen?” Chen Xi exclaimed, completely forgetting about taking pictures.
Ji Wanning didn’t hide anything and told her everything that had happened during the blind date in the auditorium.
“…Wait, are you sure the officer you went on the blind date with was named Lu Changzheng?” Chen Xi stared at her in disbelief, as though three enormous exclamation marks had appeared above her head.
Ji Wanning nodded, her clear eyes filled with confusion.
“Yes.”
“Is there… something wrong with Comrade Lu?”
She couldn’t help wondering if Lu Changzheng had hidden something from her.
Yet deep down, she instinctively felt that he wasn’t that kind of person.
“Wrong? Very wrong. Extremely wrong!”
“Do you know who Lu Changzheng, Commander Lu, is? He’s the famous living King of Hell in our military district…” Even Chen Xi couldn’t help shuddering whenever she mentioned Lu Changzheng. She had once happened to pass by while he was training his soldiers. He had been ruthless, iron blooded, utterly merciless, and unbelievably strict. Just watching him had frightened her.
“You have no idea. Because he always keeps people at arm’s length, even though he’s the youngest regimental commander and incredibly handsome in a cold, rugged way, not a single girl dares approach him. I heard that when he first arrived, a few girls refused to believe the rumors and tried to get close to him. Every single one of them came back in tears.”
“Later, rumors spread throughout the military district that Lu Changzheng probably didn’t like women at all.”
“And yet he actually went on a blind date with you, submitted a marriage application immediately afterward, and is even planning to register your marriage this afternoon!” Chen Xi felt as though she were hearing the most unbelievable story imaginable.
This simply wasn’t something Lu Changzheng would ever do.
“Xixi, could you have mistaken him for someone else?” Thinking back to the tall, somewhat awkward man who had barely dared look at her during their blind date, Ji Wanning couldn’t reconcile him with Chen Xi’s description.
“There isn’t another Lu Changzheng anywhere in the military district.” Chen Xi spread her hands helplessly.
“But I never imagined my relative would leave out something so important before introducing him to you. Don’t worry. When I get home, I’ll definitely give her a piece of my mind.”
Chen Xi was so angry that her teeth practically itched.
“It’s fine. I already gave him a proper tongue lashing anyway.” Ji Wanning didn’t blame Chen Xi in the slightest.
With her camera hanging around her neck, Chen Xi clenched her fist indignantly.
“If it had been me, I would’ve punched him right there on the spot until even his own parents couldn’t recognize him.”
Ji Wanning burst into laughter.
Her radiant smile lit up her delicate features, and beneath the morning sunlight, the fine hairs on her fair skin shimmered as though she herself were glowing.
Chen Xi stared at her in a daze.
“Ningning, how can you be this beautiful?”
Part of the reason Chen Xi and Ji Wanning had become such good friends in only a few months was that they were both hopeless admirers of beautiful people.
Her Ningning was an absolutely breathtaking beauty.
Just looking at Ningning made her feel like she could eat two extra bowls of rice.
Chen Xi was convinced that Lu Changzheng had fallen for Ningning’s beauty too.
“But Ningning, marriage is a lifelong matter. Are you really sure you want to marry Lu Changzheng?”
Chen Xi knew how difficult life had been for Ningning in the Lin family, and she understood why Ningning had been so eager to go on blind dates and get married.
Even so, she wanted her friend to think it through carefully.
After all, women in this era were always judged much more harshly.
Ji Wanning’s smile faded slightly.
Her beautiful eyes rested on the warm morning sunlight as she spoke softly.
“Xixi, I don’t know whether I’ll regret it in the future, but at least right now, I do have feelings for Comrade Lu. As things stand, he’s also the best choice for me.”
She thought that even if they never fell deeply in love after marriage, living together with mutual respect would still be enough.
Chen Xi looked at Ji Wanning quietly for a long moment.
Finally, she took a deep breath before breaking into a smile.
“All right. Since you’ve made up your mind, then as your best friend, I’ll support your decision and wish you both happiness.”
“Chen Xi, thank you.”
“Come on, let’s keep walking. Stay with me while I take a few more pictures.”
“Okay.”
“Oh, and the photo I just took of you and Commander Lu. Once it’s developed, I’ll bring you a copy.”
“Sounds good.”
Watching Ji Wanning happily chatting with her friend, Lu Changzheng quickly headed toward his commander’s office.
After knocking on the door, he entered when a voice from inside called, “Come in.”
The first thing he saw was his superior bent over his desk.
Recognizing the familiar footsteps, Division Commander Zhou looked up.
Lu Changzheng? What’s this brat here for now?
Don’t tell me he’s asking to go on another mission.
Before he could finish wondering, Lu Changzheng handed him a document.
Division Commander Zhou accepted it casually.
The moment he saw the words written across it, his eyes widened instantly.
Inside the office, Division Commander Zhou looked from the upright, broad shouldered man standing before him to the marriage application lying on his desk.
He took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes, then put them back on.
This was already the third time he had done so.
“Little Lu… this is a marriage application? Yours? Did you write the wrong name?”
“Reporting to the Division Commander, there is no mistake. Please approve it!”
Lu Changzheng saluted smartly, his posture perfectly straight and his expression resolute.
Division Commander Zhou still found it impossible to believe.
“Then tell me exactly what happened.”
Without hiding anything, Lu Changzheng recounted how he had gone to the auditorium for a blind date, met Ji Wanning by chance, confirmed their relationship, and decided to marry her as soon as possible.
As he spoke, memories of the blind date surfaced in his mind.
Her radiant smile. Her graceful figure.
The faint fragrance that had lingered in the air when she walked past him.
Without realizing it, Lu Changzheng became lost in thought.
He felt as though he and Comrade Ji had only just parted.
Yet for some reason…
He already wanted to see her again.
He wondered what she was doing now.
Was she thinking about him too?
She probably was. After all, they had just gotten married.
Division Commander Zhou stared at him in complete astonishment.
Was this really something he would live long enough to witness?
Lu Changzheng had actually listened to him, gone to the auditorium for a blind date, successfully met a woman, immediately confirmed the relationship, and then rushed over to submit a marriage application.
Division Commander Zhou had always worried about Lu Changzheng’s marriage.
Unfortunately, the man acted as though missions were the only thing in the world that mattered, while women didn’t even exist. He had refused every blind date, driving his commander nearly mad.
Even though Lu Changzheng had agreed to attend today, Division Commander Zhou had assumed he was only going through the motions and that the blind date would certainly fail.
Who would have thought the outcome would be completely different?
“Little Lu… are you absolutely sure Miss Ji really agreed to marry you? You didn’t force her, did you?”
Despite everything, Division Commander Zhou still had to ask one more time.
To his surprise, no answer came.
When he looked up, he found Lu Changzheng standing there with a lovestruck grin spread across his face, looking exactly like the foolish son of a wealthy landlord.
Division Commander Zhou was horrified.
What the hell am I looking at?
Did one blind date actually make Little Lu stupid?
Still, unbelievable as it all seemed, he signed and approved Lu Changzheng’s marriage application.
The moment he finished signing, Lu Changzheng saluted before hurrying away so eagerly that he almost seemed afraid someone might stop him.
Division Commander Zhou shook his head.
Children really did grow up and leave their elders behind.
Lu Changzheng ran all the way toward the place where he had arranged to meet Ji Wanning.
The soldiers he passed caught only a fleeting glimpse of his rapidly disappearing figure.
“Hey, was that Commander Lu just now?”
“I think so.”
“What do you think he’s in such a hurry for?”
“Hard to say. Probably some urgent mission. It definitely can’t be because he’s getting married.”
“That’s true. I bet Commander Lu will stay a bachelor his whole life.”
“I think so too.”
Lu Changzheng sprinted all the way to the marriage registration office in the commune where the regiment headquarters was stationed.
As he ran, he could hear his own heartbeat pounding wildly inside his chest, beat after beat, as though trying to tell him something.
For the first time in twenty five years, his eyes shone with a brilliance they had never held before.
Not long after parting with Chen Xi, Ji Wanning arrived at the marriage registration office.
Almost immediately, she spotted the familiar tall figure running toward her from a distance.
The brilliant sunlight stretched out behind him.
At that moment, she felt as though the man before her were a ray of light, enveloping her and shining into the gray, damp corners of her life.
From that moment onward, she finally began looking forward to the rest of her life.
“Comrade Ji, I’m here.”
The man’s deep, resonant voice quickly pulled Ji Wanning back to reality.
“The marriage application has been approved. Let’s go inside and register.”
The warmth and excitement shining in his eyes instantly made her heart burn.
A smile spread across her lips as she blinked her beautiful eyes.
“All right. Then let’s go in.”
A few minutes later, the two emerged from the office.
In their hands was a bright red marriage certificate that resembled an award certificate.
Ji Wanning felt dazed.
She had really gotten married after knowing someone for just one day.