After hanging up the phone, the murderous aura surrounding Huo Zhixing still hadn’t faded. The temperature inside the room seemed to plummet to freezing in an instant.
“Li Guilan isn’t sick.”
Wrapped tightly in the blanket, Su Jiuyue ignored the lingering soreness around her neck. A sharp glint flashed across her moist, doe-like eyes.
“It looks like someone is after what my mother left behind.”
“They didn’t dare make a move against me before because they weren’t sure whether I had it. But after what happened at the compound gate with Liu Laizi…”
“And after I treated Elder Qin’s back—or maybe because we got married—they’ve started to suspect that I really do have what my mother left me.”
“Either way, I can’t let it fall into their hands. I have to go back and retrieve it first.”
It was something Su’s mother had protected with her life before she died. Su Jiuyue had no idea what was inside, but one thing was certain—it absolutely could not end up in the hands of someone as vicious as Li Guilan.
Huo Zhixing looked at her deeply.
He didn’t ask what the item was.
Instead, he quietly took two military raincoats from the wardrobe. After carefully helping Su Jiuyue into one, he wrapped her up from head to toe until only her face remained visible, then scooped her into his arms.
“Let’s go. I’ll go with you.”
Moments later, the black military jeep roared down the rain-soaked road like an enraged beast charging through the wilderness.
Two hours later, the jeep arrived at Sujia Village.
The village had just been ravaged by the tail end of the typhoon and was in complete disarray. As the jeep rolled over the flooded dirt road, muddy water splashed in every direction.
The moment it stopped beneath the giant banyan tree at the village entrance, everyone clearing fallen branches and mud stopped working to stare.
Li Guilan had long won over the village’s gossips with petty favors. Seeing the military jeep return so soon, whispers mixed with malicious delight drifted through the half-open window.
“Oh? She’s only been married for two days and she’s already back? Don’t tell me she got sent home.”
“I knew it. She demanded three hundred yuan in bride price even though she was already damaged goods. Why would a big city officer want someone like her?”
“Maybe that commander has… problems in that department. Or maybe he’s sick himself, otherwise why would he marry her?”
“Heh, I bet they’ve come back to demand an explanation. Looks like Li Guilan’s going to be crying her eyes out again.”
Huo Zhixing’s face turned icy.
The veins on the back of the hand gripping the steering wheel bulged.
Su Jiuyue gently covered his hand and shook her head.
“Ignore them. We’ve got more important things to do.”
The jeep drove as far as the road leading into the back mountain before it could go no farther.
Last night’s torrential rain had turned the path to the Sujia’s ancestral graves into a sea of yellow mud. Parts of the hillside had even collapsed, making it impossible for the vehicle to continue.
When she got out, Su Jiuyue looked helplessly at the muddy trail before her.
Although medicine had been applied to her injured right ankle, bruises still remained. Walking on level ground was difficult enough.
Now the mud reached above her ankles. One wrong step and she’d probably lose a shoe—or sink in altogether.
Villagers working nearby all stopped to watch, several already wearing expressions of eager anticipation.
“See? She’s always been delicate. Couldn’t do any farm work even when she lived here.”
“Wouldn’t it be funny if that commander carried her up the mountain?”
“Those shiny military boots? You think a high-ranking officer would ruin them for some country girl? She’ll have to crawl up herself.”
“The poor girl lost her mother and suffered under that stepmother. It’s a miracle she didn’t starve these past two years. Give her a break.”
“Enough talking. That commander doesn’t look like someone you can bully the way you used to bully that little girl.”
The crowd buzzed with conflicting opinions.
Some had old grudges against Su Jiuyue’s mother and naturally treated her daughter with the same coldness.
Others had once benefited from Su’s mother’s medical care and still remembered her kindness. They looked at Su Jiuyue with sympathy. Some had even secretly slipped her food whenever she’d gone hungry.
Before the chatter had even died down, everyone’s expression froze.
The infamous “King Yama Huo”—the intimidating commander who always radiated deadly hostility—stepped out of the driver’s seat.
He walked around to the passenger side and opened the door.
Without sparing a glance for the thick mud beneath his feet, he turned his back toward Su Jiuyue and lowered himself onto one knee in the filthy water.
“Get on.”
Just two simple words.
There wasn’t the slightest trace of impatience in them.
Only a quiet command wrapped in unmistakable tenderness.
Su Jiuyue blinked in surprise.
“But… the road’s so dirty. Your boots…”
“What nonsense.”
Huo Zhixing reached back, hooked an arm beneath her legs, and effortlessly lifted her onto his back.
The oversized military raincoat completely enveloped her, making her look like a little silkworm cocoon, with only her fair face peeking out as it rested against the back of his neck.
He stood.
Without the slightest hesitation, his polished military boots stepped straight into the ankle-deep mud.
Squelch.
Mud splattered across the legs of his crisp military trousers.
He didn’t even frown.
His hands firmly supported her legs while his broad back remained straight as a pine tree.
Step by steady step, he climbed the mountain with unwavering stability.
The villagers who had been mocking them only moments before suddenly fell silent, as though invisible hands had seized them by the throat.
Not a single word came out.
They stared in disbelief.
The stern commander whom even the county magistrate treated with the utmost respect was carrying that so-called “country girl” as though she were the most precious treasure in the world.
To keep her comfortable, he deliberately slowed his pace.
Using his own body as a shield, he blocked the damp mountain wind from reaching her.
Was this what they called looking down on her?
Returning damaged goods?
This was someone cherishing his wife so dearly that he seemed afraid she’d melt if he held her too tightly.
“They’re heading up the mountain?” someone asked curiously.
“I guess so. They’re married now—it makes sense they’d go pay respects to her parents.”
The original Su Jiuyue had rarely spoken to anyone in the village.
She had almost no close friends.
Only a few elderly villagers, grateful for the kindness of her late mother, would occasionally give her something to eat when they noticed she’d gone hungry.
So now that she had returned, no one came forward to greet them.
Lying against the broad, warm back of the man carrying her, Su Jiuyue listened to the steady, reassuring beat of his heart.
His familiar scent—a mixture of tobacco and soapberry—filled her senses, driving away every trace of darkness and fear.
On the journey back, she’d still been haunted by the original owner’s lingering fear of this village.
But resting on this solid back, all that uneasiness quietly melted away.
“Zhixing…”
She softly called his name beside his ear, her voice as gentle as melting butter.
“Hold on tight.”
He tilted his head slightly.
His tone remained gruff as ever, but the violence that had filled his eyes had long since softened into warm spring water.
“If you fall off…”
“I’ll toss you into the mud and turn you into a little mud doll.”
Su Jiuyue couldn’t hold back her laughter.
She chuckled softly and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck.
Bonus Scene
After washing the mud off his military boots, Commander Huo thought to himself:
My wife is far too light. I need to fatten her up so she’ll be easier to carry.
Jiuyue blinked expectantly.
“I want to eat meat.”
A dangerous gleam flashed through Huo Zhixing’s eyes.
“All right. Tonight, I’ll make sure you get plenty of ‘meat.'”
Jiuyue immediately protested, blushing furiously.
“That’s not the kind of meat I meant!”