The violent episode subsided, leaving behind only overwhelming exhaustion.
He lowered his head weakly, resting his chin atop Su Jiuyue’s head. All he could smell was her familiar scent.
“Su Jiuyue… are you an idiot…?”
“Mhm. That’s why I found myself another idiot.”
Tilting her head up, Su Jiuyue gently patted his sweat-soaked back as though soothing a frightened child.
“Don’t be afraid. I’m confident I can cure your illness. I promised I’d treat you, and I will.”
Huo Zhixing’s eyes burned with emotion.
The feeling of being chosen without hesitation was more intoxicating than any medicine.
His arms tightened around her in an instant, holding the tiny woman against him with all his strength, as if he wanted to fuse her into his very bones.
“Since you’re not leaving…”
He murmured beside her ear, his voice low, dark, and obsessively possessive, carrying the desperation of someone who had crawled back from the brink.
“Then don’t even think about escaping for the rest of your life. Even if I have to descend into hell, you’re coming with me.”
His embrace squeezed her hard enough to make her ribs ache, but she only smiled, leaned forward, and softly kissed his blood-stained lips.
“Deal. Just remember to save me a VIP seat in hell.”
That night, rain poured relentlessly outside.
Inside, two hearts collided wildly on the razor’s edge between life and death until they became one.
Their marriage had begun as a contract.
But tonight was the pledge of their souls.
The next morning.
The storm had passed, and sunlight streamed through the gap in the curtains, illuminating the rumpled bed.
Su Jiuyue slept soundly. The ring of bruises around her slender neck stood out starkly against her fair skin.
Huo Zhixing had been awake for a long time.
Lying on his side, he stared at the woman in his arms without blinking. His fingers hovered over her bruised neck, but he didn’t dare touch it. His eyes were filled with guilt and lingering fear.
Just then, the shrill ring of the red bedside telephone shattered the silence.
Frowning, Huo Zhixing quickly picked up the receiver before it could wake Su Jiuyue. He slipped out of bed, walked onto the balcony, and quietly closed the door behind him.
“This is Huo Zhixing.”
From the other end came the anxious voice of his orderly, Xiao Zhang, laced with disbelief and indignation.
“Chief, something’s happened! We just received word from the Municipal Public Security Bureau. Li Guilan and Liu Laizi… have been released!”
Huo Zhixing’s expression instantly turned icy, the air around him dropping to freezing.
“What did you say? Human trafficking and sabotaging a military marriage—there’s solid evidence against them. Who dared release them?”
“They said it was… release on bail pending trial.”
Lowering his voice, Xiao Zhang continued gravely,
“An urgent telegram came from the capital to the city bureau. They claimed they’d retrieved medical records from when Li Guilan visited relatives in Beijing six months ago. According to the telegram, she’s suffering from a highly contagious case of acute liver fluke disease complicated by cirrhosis, making her unfit for detention. They demanded she be released for medical treatment.”
The knuckles gripping Huo Zhixing’s receiver turned white.
An urgent telegram. Cross-provincial record retrieval. Even the excuse of a contagious disease had been fabricated flawlessly.
All this… just to rescue a village woman?
The official medical report shouldn’t even have arrived yet.
But this urgent telegram from the capital carried more weight than any written diagnosis.
“And there’s more…”
Xiao Zhang hesitated before continuing.
“One of the comrades at the bureau quietly told me that the case has been reclassified as a ‘family dispute.’ Someone’s been suggesting that since no actual money changed hands, it doesn’t qualify as human trafficking. Chief… someone’s protecting her.”
The veins on Huo Zhixing’s hand bulged as he gripped the receiver. A murderous glint flashed through his eyes.
How could an ordinary village woman possibly obtain a medical certificate from Beijing Union Medical College Hospital?
And who in the capital would have enough influence to intervene on her behalf?
Behind all this…
There was likely a far bigger player with their sights set on Su Jiuyue.
He turned to glance back at the sleeping woman on the bed, his gaze dark and unreadable.
It seemed…
The monsters hiding in the shadows could no longer sit still.
Bonus Mini Scene
After hanging up the phone, Commander Huo quietly returned to the room, intending to tuck the blanket around his wife.
Still half asleep, Jiuyue rolled over and mumbled,
“You shameless rogue…”
Huo Zhixing froze.
His eyes reddened again.
In this lifetime… you’re the only woman I’ll ever be a rogue for.