The hospital director looked at Wen Zhiyu gravely before finally nodding.
“I’ll make some calls and verify your credentials.”
Wen Zhiyu nodded politely and left.
At the same time, Doctor Jiang arrived at the entrance of the military hospital carrying her luggage.
“Hello, I’m the newly transferred Doctor Jiang. Could you tell me where the director’s office is?”
Covered in dust and dirt, Doctor Jiang looked exhausted. It was her first time coming to this place, and she had never imagined the conditions would be so harsh. After walking for most of the day, she sounded understandably weak.
The female doctor she stopped looked at her in surprise.
“Y-you… you’re Doctor Jiang?”
Then who was the person she’d dragged away earlier to treat emergency patients?
A sense of panic immediately rose inside her.
Had she brought the wrong person?
“Oh no! I need to go check on those patients right away!”
Without another word, she grabbed Doctor Jiang’s hand and dragged her toward the inpatient ward.
“Doctor Song, the patients Doctor Jiang treated are recovering extremely well.”
“That’s right! Several of the seriously injured patients even woke up already.”
The nurses who had been assisting Wen Zhiyu hurried over to report as soon as they saw Doctor Song arrive.
The nurses were delighted.
After all, it seemed their hospital had just acquired a priceless treasure.
Doctor Song stood there dumbfounded.
Only then did Doctor Jiang seem to realize what had happened.
She looked at Doctor Song.
“Doctor Song… is the ‘Doctor Jiang’ they’re talking about supposed to be me?”
After returning to Shen Lifeng’s room, Wen Zhiyu found Mother Shen holding out a set of keys.
“Zhizhi, I’ve been staying at the hospital to take care of Afeng. If you’d like to stay nearby, there’s a guesthouse close to the hospital. Give me your identification papers and I’ll get you a room.”
She paused.
“Or, if you’d prefer, Afeng has his own quarters at the military base. You can stay there instead. What do you think?”
Wen Zhiyu considered it for a moment.
“I’ll stay in the quarters.”
She had seen the guesthouse on the way here.
The outer walls were peeling, which didn’t inspire confidence.
The military base still suffered from blowing sand, but at least it was better than the hospital area.
Mother Shen immediately handed over the keys.
“All right. Then I’ll take you there in a little while.”
Wen Zhiyu shook her head.
The hospital and the military base were far apart.
Going back and forth would waste too much time.
She could find her way herself.
As for locating Shen Lifeng’s quarters once she got there, that was simple enough.
There were plenty of people she could ask.
Besides, it was already getting late.
After checking Shen Lifeng’s condition one more time, she determined that surgery definitely wouldn’t happen today.
So she decided to head back first.
What she didn’t know was that shortly after she left, the director arrived at Shen Lifeng’s room with Doctor Song and Doctor Jiang in tow.
Seeing so many people suddenly rushing in, Mother Shen immediately stood up in alarm.
“Has something happened to Afeng again?”
The director looked around the room.
“Where’s the young woman who came to my office today? Shen Lifeng’s fiancée!”
Mother Shen blinked in confusion.
“Zhizhi? She went back.”
After returning to the military base, Wen Zhiyu asked the guards where the residential quarters were and made her way there.
When she reached the building, she asked again for Shen Lifeng’s exact room number.
News of Shen Lifeng’s fiancée arriving at the base had already spread through the military wives thanks to the women she’d met earlier.
The moment she asked for directions, she attracted countless curious looks.
Wen Zhiyu greeted everyone politely before heading upstairs.
As she climbed, she could still hear whispers behind her.
“That girl’s really pretty!”
“What good is being pretty? She looks like someone who’s never done a day’s housework in her life. How’s she supposed to survive out here?”
Wen Zhiyu simply smiled and continued upward.
Shen Lifeng’s quarters were on the second floor.
As she counted the room numbers and approached his door, she noticed two young girls squatting nearby, chatting.
“Jiajia, I heard Brother Shen is still in the hospital. He probably won’t survive. Are you still planning to be with him?”
Wen Zhiyu paused.
Was this one of Shen Lifeng’s admirers?
The girl looked only fourteen or fifteen years old—not even an adult.
Wen Zhiyu had no interest in eavesdropping on other people’s secrets.
Then Chen Jia and her friend Luo Xiaohua suddenly saw an extraordinarily beautiful woman standing in front of them.
With a pleasant smile, she said,
“Excuse me, could you move aside? I need to go in.”
“This is Brother Shen’s room…”
Chen Jia blurted out instinctively.
Wen Zhiyu nodded.
“I know. I’m his fiancée.”
Chen Jia’s face instantly turned bright red.
Then she looked down at her own flat figure and ordinary appearance.
How could she possibly compare?
The beautiful woman had definitely heard their conversation.
For all she knew, they must have sounded ridiculous.
Mortified, Chen Jia grabbed Luo Xiaohua’s hand and fled.
Watching them run off, Wen Zhiyu shook her head.
They were still children.
What did they really know about love?
Entering the room, she set down her bag.
The quarters consisted of a bedroom and a living room.
It seemed she would have no choice but to stay in Shen Lifeng’s bedroom.
Everything in both rooms was arranged with military precision.
The windows and doors had been kept tightly shut, preventing sand from blowing inside.
Wen Zhiyu was reasonably satisfied.
After spending an entire day fighting the desert, even her cleanliness obsession had been worn down.
Having a relatively clean environment already felt luxurious.
A short while later, someone knocked on the door.
When she opened it, she found a steaming bowl of food waiting outside.
“You must be Comrade Shen’s fiancée.”
The woman smiled warmly.
“Your mother-in-law specifically called and asked me to bring you a meal. Conditions out here aren’t great, and neither is the food. I hope you won’t mind.”
Seeing the woman’s genuine friendliness, Wen Zhiyu accepted the meal.
“Please wait a moment.”
She went back inside.
In reality, she was retrieving something from her space.
Soon she returned holding a bag of White Rabbit milk candies.
Her mentor had given them to her previously, but she’d never gotten around to eating them.
Out here in the Gobi Desert, such treats were genuine luxuries.
The moment she offered them over, Sister-in-law Lu immediately pushed them back.
“N-no, no! How can I take something this valuable? You keep it!”
Wen Zhiyu firmly placed the bag into her hands.
“It’s fine. Take them home for your children. Otherwise, I won’t feel comfortable accepting your meal.”
Seeing how serious she was, Sister-in-law Lu finally nodded.
“All right. Then I’ll hold onto them for now.”
Privately, she planned to return the candies later.
After all, it was only one meal.
Even though she’d intentionally added an egg and some meat, she couldn’t possibly accept such an expensive gift from a young woman who wasn’t even married into the family yet.
For Sister-in-law Lu—and indeed for most people living in this sea of yellow sand—the meal she had brought was already exceptionally good.
Yet Wen Zhiyu found it difficult to swallow.
Still, she finished every bite.
Food shouldn’t be wasted.
Later, Sister-in-law Lu came back to collect the bowl.
When she noticed Wen Zhiyu looking as though she might go fetch another gift, she panicked.
“Sis, I’ll be going now!”
Then she disappeared down the hallway before Wen Zhiyu could say anything.
The next morning, just after Wen Zhiyu woke up, Sister-in-law Lu returned.
This time she handed over a key.
“This is the key to Comrade Shen’s bicycle. Traveling between the military base and the hospital by bus every day is inconvenient. Use the bicycle instead.”
Holding the key, Wen Zhiyu let out a sigh.
She had a terrible sense of direction.
Being able to recognize landmarks well enough to ride a bus was already an achievement.
If she tried cycling all the way to the military hospital by herself, she had no idea where she might end up getting lost.