Xiao Zhang carried Bai Luoluo on his back, feeling as if he wasn’t carrying a person at all, but a dying ember—light, yet radiating a terrifying lifelessness.
His heart pounded wildly in his chest, and his legs ran as if they were on fire.
The mountain path was rugged, and several times he almost tripped over the stones beneath his feet. Each time, he gritted his teeth, steadying himself, not daring to stop for even a second.
The person in his arms was unnervingly still.
Apart from faint, barely audible breathing, there was no sound.
This deathly silence was far scarier than any crying or screaming.
“Hold on, Sister‑in‑law! You can make it!”
Xiao Zhang ran, shouting with tears in his voice.
He couldn’t bear to imagine what would happen if Bai Luoluo collapsed on him—Commander Lei would be furious.
That living tyrant… when he lost his temper, he could really kill someone!
The group of military wives following behind had long lost interest in watching the show. One by one, they ran after him, pale with fear.
Wang Cuihua ran in front, her heart filled with panic and guilt.
If she had noticed earlier… if she hadn’t made those snide remarks… maybe this wouldn’t have happened.
If a life was lost, she, as the one who led the mockery, would be directly responsible.
Finally, a two-story building with a red cross sign came into view.
The Military District Medical Post.
“Doctor! Doctor! Hurry and save her!”
Xiao Zhang hadn’t even entered the door before his voice went hoarse from shouting.
Inside, an old doctor in a white coat, wearing bifocals with graying hair, was slowly wiping his stethoscope.
His name was Sun Fu, a veteran military doctor who had spent his life treating soldiers. He had little patience for pampered young people who didn’t follow rules.
Hearing the shouting, he frowned in annoyance.
“What’s all the noise about? This isn’t a marketplace; it’s a place to save lives!”
Before he could finish speaking, Xiao Zhang dashed in like the wind, carefully laying Bai Luoluo on the only hospital bed.
“Doctor Sun! Quick, check her! Our sister‑in‑law has fainted!”
Sun Fu finally lifted his eyes and glanced at the bed.
Just one look, and a spark of irritation flared in his chest.
The woman lying there, though pale, was dressed in obviously expensive clothes—not the usual military spouse garb. Her skirt was dirty, her hair messy, and she looked pathetic—but there was a delicate, pampered air that seemed to radiate from her bones.
This must be Bai Luoluo, Commander Lei’s newlywed capitalist daughter.
The whole compound had already spread the rumors: she was lazy, spoiled, and today, forced to work by Commander Lei, had fainted after just a few swings of the hoe.
“Faking it, right?”
Sun Fu snorted coldly. He never looked kindly on such people.
“What happened?” he asked slowly, a hint of impatience in his voice.
“Out back on the mountain, opening up the fields… Sister‑in‑law… she only dug a few times, and then… she collapsed,” Xiao Zhang stammered.
“Just a few swings of the hoe and she collapsed?” Sun Fu’s tone rose sharply, his disdain deepening. “Our women here can handle half the sky! Some even work in the fields while eight months pregnant!”
“And she? Collapsed after a few swings? Her body’s made of paper?”
The women who had followed, including Wang Cuihua, lowered their heads, embarrassed, saying nothing.
“Doctor Sun, please check! Her lips are already turning purple!” Xiao Zhang cried, almost in tears.
Sun Fu snorted, then reluctantly stretched three thin, bony fingers to Bai Luoluo’s pale wrist.
He closed his eyes and began taking her pulse.
The moment he touched it, his brows furrowed.
Strange.
This pulse… was all over the place.
Like ten people drumming at once, erratic and chaotic—fast enough to be alarming, yet weak as silk thread, as if it could snap any moment.
In decades of practice, he had never seen such a bizarre pulse.
He switched hands and tried again.
Same result.
Chaotic. Disorderly.
He muttered to himself, wondering what on earth this could be.
Possessed? No, we’re talking science here.
Sun Fu opened his eyes, looking at Bai Luoluo’s overly delicate face, suddenly thinking of a “reasonable” explanation.
A pampered daughter of wealth, used to the finest food, never exercising, her qi and blood surely stagnated.
Add to that the sudden physical labor and the sun beating down, and it was no wonder her system went haywire.
Yes, it must be that!
A textbook case of “Rich Girl Illness”!
Understanding this, Sun Fu’s expression settled.
He withdrew his hand, cleared his throat, and pronounced his diagnosis in an authoritative tone:
“Nothing serious.”
“Just a typical rich girl illness.”
“Used to fine foods, never moving, eating without regard for grains, her body full of stagnant qi and blocked blood.”
“Today, with sudden labor, heat, and emotional stress, she fainted.”
“In short, her body is too delicate and untrained.”
“Rich Girl Illness?”
Those words caused the military wives around to nod, murmuring to themselves, “So that’s why…”
Wang Cuihua muttered quietly, “I knew it… she’s not that precious after all.”
Xiao Zhang, however, didn’t believe it and spoke anxiously, “But Doctor Sun, Sister‑in‑law has been unconscious for nearly half an hour… this…”
“Unconscious?” Sun Fu glared, “There’s nothing to worry about. This kind of illness just needs rest. Sleep it off, dissipate that excess internal heat, and she’ll be fine.”
“I’ll prescribe some heat-clearing medicine. Drink it, sweat it out, skip a few meals, and she’ll be full of life in no time!”
He strode to the medicine cabinet, flourished his brush, and quickly wrote a prescription.
“Angelica, Coptis, Musk… all excellent for clearing heat and detoxifying.”
He handed the prescription to a nurse nearby. “Go! Prepare the medicine according to this prescription, make it strong!”
At that moment, a loud roar came from outside the door.
“Everyone, get out of my way!”
The crowd was violently shoved aside.
Lei Li stormed in, radiating deadly intent, like an enraged lion.
He had just returned from the training field and immediately heard that Bai Luoluo had fainted. Without even changing out of his uniform, he rushed in.
“Where is she?”
Lei Li’s eyes immediately landed on Bai Luoluo lying on the hospital bed.
She looked even more miserable than the last time he saw her in the office—her small face pale and translucent, lips completely colorless, like a fragile flower crushed and withered.
Lei Li’s chest tightened for no reason.
He took a long stride forward, about to reach out and check her breathing.
Sun Fu blocked him, wearing a self-satisfied expression. “Commander, you’re here. Nothing serious, just an attack of Rich Girl Illness. I’ve already prescribed medicine.”
Rich Girl Illness?
Lei Li froze mid-motion.
He spun his head around and stared at Sun Fu, his gaze so cold it could freeze a person into an ice sculpture.
“Say that again. What illness?”
Sun Fu shuddered under that gaze but forced himself to repeat, “Rich Girl Illness… she’s… too delicate. Eats too well, moves too little…”
“Hahaha… hahahahaha!”
Suddenly, Lei Li laughed.
Low, hoarse, and full of endless mockery and rage, his shoulders shaking with each breath.
Rich Girl Illness?
His wife, Bai Luoluo, fainted simply because she did some farm work—and the diagnosis was that she was “too delicate”?
This was the funniest joke he’d ever heard in his life.
And the loudest slap to his face!
He thought forcing her to labor would grind away her pampered habits.
And what happened?
She, Bai Luoluo, in this one act, had shown everyone that she was nothing but a spoiled, useless rich girl—a vase that could never stand upright!
Lei Li had become a laughingstock.
“Fine… fine, Rich Girl Illness, indeed!”
Lei Li ground out the words through his teeth.
He glanced at the nurse boiling the dark, bitter-smelling medicine.
His eyes grew icy and resolute.
“When it’s ready, take the medicine with you.”
He ordered Xiao Zhang, then bent down and scooped Bai Luoluo up horizontally from the bed.
Roughly, without an ounce of gentleness.
“Commander… this—” Xiao Zhang tried to suggest letting her stay under observation at the medical post.
“Home.”
Lei Li spat the word coldly. Holding the impossibly light woman, he walked out of the medical post without looking back.
If it’s an illness, it needs to be treated.
He wanted to see whether it was her bones that were hard… or if this medicine was bitter enough to break her.