Looking at Qin Ruofeng, Qin Ruan said softly, “But… I’m still a little scared.”
(Don’t complain that just because she’s a transmigrator with a system marketplace, she can’t be timid. This isn’t cowardice—it’s hesitation. She had fantasized about him coming to find her, but she never imagined it would happen like this.)
Qin Ruofeng gently patted her shoulder.
“Don’t be afraid. Your uncle will always be here for you. If you’re willing, try getting to know him. You might discover that he’s the person you’ve been waiting for all along.”
“All right, Uncle. I’ll listen to you. I’ll give it a try and get to know him.”
Qin Ruan nodded lightly in agreement.
A relieved smile spread across Qin Ruofeng’s face.
“That’s my good niece. I’ll go tell Commander Huo the good news right away.”
As Huo Tingchen was about to leave, he looked at Qin Ruan.
“Would you walk me out?”
Qin Ruan glanced at her uncle. Seeing him nod in approval, she followed Huo Tingchen outside.
She escorted him to the entrance of the military family compound. The warm glow of the streetlights stretched their shadows across the ground.
With both hands tucked into the pockets of her olive-green work pants, she deliberately kept half a step of distance between them. Her face remained expressionless, but her mind raced.
If he brings up what happened that night… how am I supposed to respond?
Huo Tingchen stopped walking and turned to face her.
Gone was the composed confidence he’d displayed at the dinner table. A trace of nervousness flickered in his eyes.
“Qin Ruan… I owe you an apology for what happened on the tea mountain.”
Qin Ruan raised an eyebrow but said nothing, simply looking at him and waiting for him to continue.
“At the time, I was on a mission when someone drugged me with an extremely powerful aphrodisiac. I completely lost control of my senses.”
His voice was quiet, but steady.
“Afterward, when I regained consciousness, I had to rush off to complete my mission, so I never had the chance to explain everything to you.”
He paused before continuing.
“Once the mission was over, I went back to find you so I could explain. But when I returned to the tea mountain, the villagers told me the owner of the tea plantation had already left. I searched several nearby villages, but no one knew where you had gone. In the end, I had no choice but to return to my unit.”
As he spoke, he reached into his pocket and took out a hair clip.
“I found this when I went back to the tea mountain.”
“Is this yours?”
Qin Ruan’s eyes widened.
“How did it end up with you?”
She had searched everywhere for that hair clip. It had been a gift from Chen Pengfei, and the original owner of this body had treasured it dearly.
“I found it while looking for you on the tea mountain,” Huo Tingchen replied. “Now I’m returning it to its rightful owner.”
Qin Ruan accepted the hair clip.
“Thank you.”
Huo Tingchen looked at her earnestly.
“Will you give me a chance? I want to take responsibility… and I like you too.”
Qin Ruan looked at him carefully.
“So which came first? Did you want to take responsibility first and then decide you liked me? Or did you like me first and then want to take responsibility?”
Her question caught Huo Tingchen off guard.
After a brief pause, he answered honestly.
“At first, I wanted to take responsibility. What happened that day was completely unexpected. But afterward, I found myself thinking about you every single day. It was because the person was you that I wanted to take responsibility.”
Hearing his answer, Qin Ruan felt satisfied.
“All right then.”
“Let’s leave what happened before in the past.”
But Huo Tingchen had no intention of letting the matter end there.
He stepped closer, instantly closing the distance between them.
Qin Ruan could clearly catch the faint scent of cedarwood mixed with tobacco lingering on him.
“I’m not trying to reopen old wounds,” he said, his eyes filled with the unwavering determination unique to a soldier.
“I’m trying to tell you this…”
“After that day, I kept wanting to find you.”
“It wasn’t just because I felt responsible.”
“…I wanted to see you again.”
Qin Ruan’s heart skipped a beat, though her expression remained composed.
“You mean that?”
“I know it sounds unbelievable,” Huo Tingchen said with a faint, self-deprecating smile.
“But that day on the tea mountain, even through the haze of my fading consciousness, I remember your eyes. They were so bright.”
“After I returned to my unit, I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”
“When I came to the Qin family today and realized it was you…”
“…that was when I knew my feelings weren’t just a momentary impulse.”
Qin Ruan fell silent. She had to admit that the honesty of the man standing before her had eased much of the resentment she had harbored over what had happened by accident.
“All right. I understand,” she said, taking half a step back to put a little distance between them. “It’s getting late. You should head back. As for everything else… we’ll take it one step at a time.”
Huo Tingchen looked at her and smiled. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a small notebook, wrote down a string of numbers, tore off the page, and handed it to her.
“This is my office phone number. If you ever need anything, call me anytime. I’ll come pick you up tomorrow. Shall we take a walk by the river?”
Qin Ruan accepted the slip of paper, holding it between her fingers. She neither nodded nor refused.
“We’ll see.”
Huo Tingchen didn’t press the matter. He gave her a crisp military salute.
“Then I’ll wait for your answer.”
With that, he turned and strode away.
Qin Ruan watched his tall figure disappear into the night. Lowering her gaze to the note in her hand, she gently traced the string of numbers with her fingertips, unable to stop the slight smile that curved her lips.
It seemed he truly had feelings for her.
She hadn’t been the only one thinking about him.
Although she and Huo Tingchen were not from the same era, the one who had been with him that night was her—not the original owner of this body.
Now, there was no trace of the original owner’s consciousness left within her, only the occasional emotional residue.
Watching him disappear into the distance, Qin Ruan turned and walked back toward the military family compound.
As soon as she entered the courtyard, Qin Ruofeng and Shen Jianing looked at her with unmistakable curiosity written all over their faces.
“Uncle, Auntie, it’s late. You should both go to bed.”
“Ruanruan, do you really think he’s the right one?” Qin Ruofeng asked curiously.
Qin Ruan smiled faintly.
“Uncle, weren’t the two of you convinced he was a good match? Now that I’ve agreed to give it a try, why do you suddenly seem hesitant?”
“Nothing like that,” Qin Ruofeng quickly replied. “We were just worried you wouldn’t be willing.”
“Since I’ve already agreed to give it a chance, then I’ll do exactly that.”
“Good, good, good. Ruanruan, go get some rest.”
Qin Ruofeng nodded happily before taking Shen Jianing’s hand and returning to their room.
After watching them go inside, Qin Ruan remained alone in the courtyard for a moment. She looked up at the moon hanging in the night sky, while the only sounds around her were the chirping of insects.
Then, smiling quietly to herself, she walked back into her own room.
Here, Qin Ruan had a room of her own. Her grandmother had one room, Qin Ruan had another, Qin Ruofeng and Shen Jianing shared one as husband and wife, and there was one extra room currently used to store miscellaneous belongings.
Lying on her bed, Qin Ruan thought back over everything that had happened during the past few days.
Suddenly, a thought struck her.
After they had slept together, she had never once thought about contraception.
Could she actually become pregnant from that one encounter?
The possibility instantly sent a cold sweat down her back.
“No,” she murmured softly. “I have to ask him about it tomorrow.”
Even so, she clung to a small hope.
It was only once… surely I couldn’t get pregnant from just one time?
Then another thought occurred to her.
Was it really only once?
She had passed out and remembered very little afterward.
Lost in one anxious thought after another, time slowly slipped away until Qin Ruan finally drifted off to sleep.
Back at his dormitory, Huo Tingchen found himself completely unable to sleep.
His mind was filled with thoughts of Qin Ruan and everything that had happened between them.
Whenever he pictured her face, he was overwhelmed with guilt, and his body responded in ways he couldn’t control.
He kept thinking about her, over and over again.
Eventually, without even realizing it, Huo Tingchen finally fell asleep.