Tushan Yao was awakened by scalding heat.
More precisely, it was a searing hot source of heat pressed against her palm that dragged her back from her semi-conscious state.
That domineering pure-yang energy surged straight into her meridians through her palm.
Her shriveled, depleted dantian trembled violently, then began devouring the wave of heat like mad.
The dull pain in all her limbs and bones quickly receded, and the deadly buzzing in her head weakened as well.
Tushan Yao did not open her eyes.
Her fingertips moved ever so slightly.
The sensation beneath her palm was rough and hard.
The knuckles were sharply defined, and thick calluses covered the web between the thumb and forefinger.
The temperature beneath the skin was extraordinarily high, and the pulse beat with vigorous strength.
A man’s hand.
Premium quality.
Without making it obvious, her fingers drifted upward, crossing the back of his hand before pressing down on his wrist pulse.
The pure-yang energy was most concentrated here.
Scalding vitality poured through her fingertips and into her internal organs.
Tushan Yao nearly moaned.
She could not help herself.
Her fingertips followed the protruding wrist bone and slid upward another two inches.
The muscles in the man’s forearm bulged, and the heat was even more abundant.
What a tonic.
“She’s awake.”
A low, hoarse male voice crashed down from above, its syllables laced with unmistakable irritation.
Tushan Yao’s eyelids fluttered lightly before she slowly opened them.
Huo Yunzheng was sitting on a wooden chair beside the field bed, its green paint worn away in places.
His military cap lay to one side, revealing a neat crew cut, while his jaw was clenched tight.
And his left hand was currently enclosed between both of hers.
Tushan Yao lowered her eyes to glance at her hands, then looked back up at him.
“Oh.”
It was an utterly perfunctory syllable.
Not only did she fail to let go, she even brazenly pinched the soft flesh on the inside of his wrist with her fingertips.
Huo Yunzheng abruptly yanked his hand back.
The movement was so forceful that the wooden chair slid backward with him, its legs scraping across the rough concrete floor with an extremely shrill squeal.
He straightened.
The back of the hand she had touched hung unnaturally at his side. His fingers curled twice, then rubbed hard against the seam of his military trousers.
Tushan Yao leaned against the pillow at the head of the field bed.
Her face was still pale, but at least it had finally regained the color of a living person.
She raised a hand and drew the heavy military-green quilt more tightly around herself, looking perfectly at ease.
“Regimental Commander Huo, don’t overreact.” Her voice was dry and hoarse from having just recovered from a serious illness, yet the ends of her words carried an innate allure. “It’s not as if I can eat you.”
Huo Yunzheng clenched his back teeth.
The elite soldier who had crawled out of piles of corpses now had his heart pounding wildly against his ribs.
The woman merely leaned there, so thin she seemed to have nothing but skin and bones, yet when those foxlike eyes swept toward him, they seemed to bore straight into the gaps between his bones.
“Comrade Tushan Yao.” He deliberately used the formal, businesslike form of address, using it to steady himself.
“During that mission on Kunlun Mountain five years ago, I was seriously wounded. After I awoke, an entire period of my memory was blank. Now, give me a complete and detailed explanation.”
Tushan Yao was somewhat sleepy.
She had just absorbed a little yang energy, and her body was currently in the fatigue stage of self-repair.
She turned her head, her gaze falling on the corner of the bed.
Xiaobao was curled up into a small ball, sleeping soundly, his chubby fingers still clutching the corner of her coarse cloth clothing.
“Explain what?” Tushan Yao withdrew her gaze. “Five years ago, I was injured in the woods one night, and coincidentally, you were also injured badly enough to be on the verge of death. Two half-dead people spent the night together. Then I left. It was that simple.”
Those few offhand sentences landed in Huo Yunzheng’s ears no less forcefully than several grenades.
“That simple?” Huo Yunzheng took a step forward. “Then what about this child?”
“He’s yours.” Tushan Yao answered with righteous certainty, without even a half-second’s pause.
“The timing matches, and the location matches. Just look at his face. What is there to question?”
Huo Yunzheng was rendered speechless.
Of course he knew the boy was his.
The child’s brows and eyes, the bridge of his nose, even the habit of frowning in his sleep—all of it was exactly the same as when Huo Yunzheng had been young.
“So you came all the way to the military region this time just to find me?”
“To deliver the child.”
Tushan Yao tugged at her crooked wooden hairpin and let her long hair spill over her shoulders.
“Regimental Commander Huo, you don’t need to feel burdened. I don’t want your allowance, I don’t want you, and I don’t want a military-family quota in your military region. My health isn’t very good, and I may not last much longer. Xiaobao takes after you half the time; he won’t grow up well by my side. He should follow his father, properly register his household, attend school, and grow up to be an upright person.”
She lowered her head and looked at Xiaobao, her tone even.
There was no grievance in it, nor any unwillingness.
She was merely stating an inevitable outcome and, incidentally, informing the other party that he was to accept this trouble.
Huo Yunzheng stood frozen in place.
He had prepared a stomachful of questions and accusations, yet the first thing the other party had said was, “I came to deliver the child.”
She would leave after delivering him?
“You’re treating this matter far too casually!” Huo Yunzheng’s chest rose and fell heavily, every vein in his neck standing out clearly.
“A child—just like that, you give birth to one! He’s four years old. You randomly gave him his name. Where was I when he fell ill and ran a fever? Where was I when he learned to walk? And now you come here, say one sentence about giving the child to me, then pat yourself on the backside and wait to die?”
Tushan Yao looked up, instead finding his outburst somewhat inexplicable.
The yao race had always found reproduction difficult. There were plenty who went their separate ways after giving birth.
Why was this man so stubborn?
“Everything I, Huo Yunzheng, have done in this life has been aboveboard.”
Huo Yunzheng braced both hands against the edge of the bed, his tall body completely blocking the light from outside.
“We soldiers conduct ourselves strictly. We absolutely cannot allow a relationship like this, with everything unclear and improper, to exist.”
“Since the child is mine, I’ll file the marriage report first thing tomorrow morning. As for the household registration, letter of introduction, and political background investigation documents, I’ll have my orderly make a trip to your hometown and get everything arranged. Once all the procedures are complete, you’ll be a legitimate military family member.”
He stared at her.
“As long as I’m here, no one can take your life.”
Those forceful, emphatic words made Tushan Yao tilt her head slightly in shock.
Human rules were truly unbearably complicated.
Even getting married required filing a report and undergoing document reviews.
“Regimental Commander Huo, you’re quite interesting.”
“I’m speaking seriously.”
“I know.” Tushan Yao lowered her eyes, her fingers unconsciously rubbing the edge of the quilt.
“But you don’t even know what kind of person I am, yet you dare to file a marriage report? Aren’t you afraid the organization will punish you?”
“That’s not something you need to worry about. If I say I’ll take responsibility, I’ll take responsibility to the very end.”
The two of them remained at an impasse.
The atmosphere in the room tightened to the breaking point.
“Hic—”
A crisp, milky voice broke the stillness from the foot of the bed.
Tushan Xiaobao turned over beneath the covers, then sat upright, his messy hair sticking out like a bird’s nest from sleep.
His two black-grape-like eyes darted left and right, swiftly taking in the entire situation before him.
Then Xiaobao threw off the quilt and scrambled hand over foot to the edge of the bed. Without the slightest hesitation, he launched himself into Huo Yunzheng’s arms, wrapping both little hands tightly around the man’s waist.
“Daddy!”
The impact made Huo Yunzheng take half a step backward, every muscle in his body tensing instantly.
“Daddy, I’m hungry.” Xiaobao tipped up his head and rubbed his chubby cheek against Huo Yunzheng’s military uniform.
“My tummy’s been rumbling the whole time. Is there anything to eat?”
Huo Yunzheng lowered his head and looked at the little bundle clinging to him.
It was a face that had been completely copied from his own.
At that moment, the child was pressed against him with utter dependence, his soft voice filled with unguarded intimacy.
The iron mask Huo Yunzheng had maintained for so long cracked open.
“There’s food in the mess hall.”
Huo Yunzheng paused. His large hand hesitated for a moment before finally landing awkwardly on Xiaobao’s head and rubbing it twice.
He misjudged his strength and made Xiaobao’s already disheveled hair look even more like a bird’s nest.
Xiaobao not only failed to dodge; he actively pushed the top of his head against Huo Yunzheng’s palm, letting out a giggle.
“Daddy’s hand is so big and so warm!”
Huo Yunzheng’s throat bobbed heavily.
He withdrew his hand, immediately straightened, and turned to stride toward the door.
“I’m going to get food.”
His movements were so quick that he nearly seemed to be fleeing.
The wooden door opened and closed, cutting off their view.
The heavy thud of military boots echoed through the corridor.
Xiaobao sprawled over the edge of the bed, tilting his head as he listened to the sounds outside until the footsteps faded into the distance.
Tushan Yao extended a pale finger and flicked him on the forehead in exasperation.
This little brat’s taste for theatrics was getting stronger and stronger.
Meanwhile, outside the infirmary—
Huo Yunzheng had just reached the bend in the corridor when he ran straight into the sanitation orderly Little Li, who was carrying an empty enamel basin. Several young soldiers were following behind him, poking their heads out curiously.
“Regimental Commander!” The men stood ramrod straight, their saluting hands trembling.
“What are you doing?” Huo Yunzheng’s expression was stern.
Little Li stammered, “The po—political commissar gave instructions. He told the logistics department to approve some nutritional supplements for Sister-in-law. And, um… congratulations, Regimental Commander! You have a four-year-old son! The whole regiment knows!”
A young soldier beside him summoned his courage and chimed in, “Exactly, exactly! Regimental Commander, when can Sister-in-law leave the hospital? Our company is still waiting for wedding sweets!”
Huo Yunzheng’s gaze sharpened, and the pressure in the surrounding air plummeted.
“Where’s the First Battalion Commander? Have him take the entire regiment out for a ten-kilometer loaded cross-country run. No one gets dinner until they finish.”
The soldiers let out a collective wail and took off running.
Huo Yunzheng remained where he was, his gaze turning toward the dim yellow twilight beyond the corridor.
Wife. Son.
Those two words revolved through his mind several times.
He reached up and touched his chest, the place Xiaobao had just rubbed against.
It was still somewhat hot.