On the way down the mountain, the young woman clung to his chest, her slender arms wound around his lean waist. Her little head bobbed restlessly up and down.
“Commander! Finally found you.”
Little Guo gasped for breath as he called out a greeting. Seeing his commander carrying a young girl, he quickly extended his hand: “Commander, let me carry her. The medics are all prepared below.”
Gu Wenshan gave him a faint sidelong glance: “Take the pack, nothing else is needed.”
He passed by Little Guo and headed toward the temporary command tent. Occasionally soldiers and villagers walked by, Gu Wenshan noticed they kept glancing over, and he saw that the woman’s frail ankles and jade-like toes were exposed outside his military overcoat.
Where were her shoes?
He supported her with one hand, pulled down his coat hem to make sure it covered her, and continued forward.
Little Guo, behind him, clicked his tongue in amazement. Yesterday his commander had rescued people by carrying one on each shoulder. After coming down from the mountain, both had squatted on the ground retching for a long time.
When did he learn to go soft for a pretty face [1]learn to go soft for a pretty face (lian xiang xi yu, 憐香惜玉) Idiom, to be gently protective/chivalrous toward a beautiful or delicate woman jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3398889_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3398889_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });?
“Little Guo, bring the stove over.”
“Yes, sir!”
Little Guo rushed off to find the stove and tend the fire.
Gu Wenshan’s tent, being the command post, was the largest. The campaign bed was positioned opposite the desk, when tired, one would lie down on it without concern for privacy.
Today was different, after Little Guo had set up the warm stove, before he could even get close, Gu Wenshan sent him to call Mu Ying to come help the female comrade change clothes.
Mu Ying, hearing that a female comrade in distress had been rescued from the mountain, was heading over when she saw Xiangzhi on the campaign bed wrapped in Gu Wenshan’s military overcoat. She turned and told Gu Wenshan and the others: “Pull the curtain, no one is permitted to look inside.”
Gu Wenshan said nothing and immediately got up to pull the curtain closed, standing with his back turned beside the curtain, his tall shadow made Mu Ying look twice.
Xiangzhi was still sleeping deeply, every year at this season, she would sleep through the entire winter.
She sensed someone moving her and clung on, sniffing around.
“Ah… it is not fragrant anymore,” she murmured. Her flower dew should have been extremely fragrant, but it was gone, consumed by the scoundrel and already assimilated.
Mu Ying, her face reddening, helped her put on an undershirt, the full, round chest pressed against her body, making Mu Ying jealous beyond measure.
Mu Ying, faced with such perfect beauty, felt inferior, the skin she touched was more delicate and luminous than a peeled egg, and it kept clinging to her. Who could bear this?
She forcefully removed the clinging small arm and, hearing the strange woman say she was “not fragrant,” took a deep breath and discovered with surprise that the fragrance surrounding the other woman resembled Gu Wenshan’s scent.
Mu Ying thought: Gu Wenshan carried her down, so he would naturally transfer his scent to her. The woman was merely prettier than the other disaster victims, she should not overthink it. If Gu Wenshan found out she had such thoughts, he would surely turn his face cold again.
“It hurts.”
Mu Ying jerked away from Xiangzhi’s small arm and, at Xiangzhi’s light cry, discovered faint red marks left on her arm.
“Sorry,” Mu Ying quickly dressed her, then covered her with the quilted jacket from the bundle and laid it over the blankets.
Behind the curtain, Gu Wenshan suddenly asked: “What is wrong?”
Mu Ying quickly pulled down Xiangzhi’s sleeve: “Nothing. I am coming out.”
Gu Wenshan then pushed the curtain aside, picked up the stove and placed it beside Xiangzhi to check on her, then turned to thank Mu Ying: “Thank you.”
That is all?
“You do not need to thank me,” Mu Ying said hesitantly: “You two are alone together, how about I stay—”
Stone Zhibing, standing at the tent entrance, interrupted: “Not necessary, I and Little Guo are still here. Do you not have work to attend to? Go ahead.”
“Fine, then!” Mu Ying huffed indignantly and left, nearly colliding with Little Guo coming in.
Xiangzhi, drowsy in her dreams, caught the scent of flower dew again and raised her arm, waving it back and forth, shaking slightly. Every time she did this, flower dew would appear on her leaves.
Gu Wenshan thought she was waking up and approached, she suddenly grabbed him around the neck.
He hurried to pull her down, and heard Xiangzhi say with a whimpering voice: “My flower dew, you ate my flower dew.”
“Flower dew? I do not know you and have certainly not taken anything of yours.” The back-and-forth was unbecoming, Gu Wenshan, afraid of hurting her, could not exert full force to break free. Instead, he reached over and pulled the curtain closed.
He had no choice but to lower his gaze and regard her neck, moving his throat as he spoke softly: “Are you awake?”
Xiangzhi let out a sound like a wronged little animal and tried to nestle into Gu Wenshan’s embrace again.
“Seems to be fine,” Gu Wenshan said, stepping back, trying to press the woman back onto the campaign bed. But she whimpered and kept bumping against him.
Stone Zhibing outside coughed twice, then other officers came to report on their work.
Gu Wenshan pressed her restless little hand against his abdomen, controlling it with a single hand. He did not wish to be too intimate with a female comrade, releasing Xiangzhi and seeing she had lapsed back into exhausted sleep, he left the compartment.
“Once she wakes up, bring her to my jeep, I have something to ask her.”
“Understood.”
***
Xiangzhi’s entire body was burning hot, she did not know how long she had slept. By the time she woke, the outside was already beginning to move the disaster victims.
It seemed no one had died, there was no sound of crying.
She looked around the unfamiliar tent, threw back the blankets and discovered the hot water bottle at her feet still warm. By the bed, the stove had an aluminum mess tin beside it, steaming with the fragrance of food.
“Flower dew…” There was still a sweet taste in her mouth, was it an illusion?
Outside, Stone Zhibing’s voice came: “Awake? Hurry and eat, and once you are done, we need to head back to the regiment.”
Xiangzhi sat up and braided her hair, her handiwork was mediocre, but her small voice spoke softly and carefully: “Comrade, may I ask, are you all from 114 Regiment?”
The clear, pleasant voice made Stone Zhibing unconsciously gentler: “Yes, we are from 114.”
Xiangzhi was delighted to think that she could find Gu Wenshan by riding along in their vehicle!
“Do you have any discomfort in your body?”
“No.”
“Then that is good, you are lucky. Eat while it is hot.”
“All right.”
“Oh, by the way, how did you end up on the mountain?”
Xiangzhi’s black eyes rolled toward the enamel cup and she said casually: “Thirsty.”
Stone Zhibing was silent for several seconds, was the snow covering the mountainside not enough to drink?
The aluminum mess tin was neither new nor old, its interior scoured shiny by its owner. It contained oil cracklings fried with potato shreds and vinegar-glazed Chinese cabbage.
Her chopstick skills were poor, by the time she finished eating, the trucks had already taken away two batches of people outside.
After obediently finishing her meal and taking a sip of water, she waited happily to go to 114 and find Gu Wenshan, calculating that she must first castrate him and then nibble him to death.
Stone Zhibing came and went twice, finally, after the female comrade finished eating, he stepped forward, took the aluminum mess tin and said: “Let us go, the vehicle is waiting outside. The new quilted shoes are for you.”
Xiangzhi lowered her head and saw the women’s quilted military shoes, speaking softly and carefully: “Thank you for the food tin and the shoes you gave me. Should I not rinse the tin and return it to you?”
“No need, no need, every disaster victim receives food—it is all the same,” Stone Zhibing did not dare take credit. Although the female comrade before him was as beautiful as a fairy, the more so the more she needed to maintain distance: “Besides, the shoes are not from me, we simply care for all disaster victims, so you need not thank any particular person.”
Mainly he feared she would cling to whoever gave them, it had happened before.
Xiangzhi nodded with a slight smile, tucked the fallen wisps of hair behind her ear, then bent down to put on the quilted shoes. Her jade-white toes playfully arched inside them—oh, so warm!
Gu Wenshan, looking out the driver’s window, saw Xiangzhi emerge and glanced at her feet, then slightly frowned before expressionlessly taking the aluminum mess tin from Stone Zhibing.
Stone Zhibing opened the jeep door and called Xiangzhi to board, by a strange coincidence, he blocked Gu Wenshan’s face, preventing the excited little flower spirit from noticing that the person she sought was right before her eyes.
And Xiangzhi’s new shoes had shoelaces tied in a tangled mess. Her earlier shoes had no laces, when she first got them, they were a bit large, so she had just worn them without fastening, and You Xiu had made a fabric strap across the top of her foot. Later, the quilted shoes Qin Zhixin gave her were slip-on boots, she just pushed her feet in and stomped down, without all these complicated threads and strings. Unfortunately, she had lost them in the fight, and did not know where the snow had buried them.
She was thinking about not tripping on the laces, her eyes did not look up as she simply followed Stone Zhibing onto the jeep.
Needless to say, this vehicle was definitely headed to 114 Regiment.
Heheheh.
She secretly smacked her lips with this tiny movement, a detail not lost on the narrow eyes observing through the rearview mirror.
Gu Wenshan thought to himself: could the girl be savoring the artificial respiration?
Although his face was expressionless, he instinctively moved his gaze away from where it had fallen on her red lips and touched his wind collar.
The jeep slowly drove out of the camp and proceeded slowly along the mountain road.
On both sides of the snow-covered road, soldiers were still constantly clearing it. To evacuate the disaster victims quickly, they had been working day and night without rest, the accumulated snow on their own shoulders barely had time to be cleared.
Xiangzhi gazed out the window, marveling at humans’ cohesion and dedication—completely different from the selfish little spirits.
Gu Wenshan must have been injured while rescuing people, right? Thinking that way, his blood-soaked form was not so terrifying after all.
Xiangzhi steeled herself, she must return to the flower valley with flying colors, not lose her nerve again when the moment came.
But…
He was so capable, he had actually consumed flower dew. Could he turn around and consume her instead?
Xiangzhi pulled her head and shoulders back toward the door edge, clutching her small heart to comfort herself: impossible, how could there be humans who consumed little flower spirits?
Heh heh… heheheh. Xiangzhi let out a dry laugh.
Gu Wenshan, while driving, could see through the rearview mirror that her small face kept changing, her little head seemingly lost in thought about “good things.”
Just then, Stone Zhibing, in the front passenger seat, turned to ask Xiangzhi: “Comrade, which village are you from?”
Each village had a different settlement location, he needed to clarify so he could drop her off correctly.
Xiangzhi honestly clutched her bundle and said: “I am from Yanxia Village.”
Gu Wenshan’s hometown? He was the only one who had enlisted from there, was he not?
Stone Zhibing paused, turned to glance at Gu Wenshan, saw him also noticing as he looked back with a glance.
It should not be, right?
Had not Qin Zhixin said she would personally bring her?
Stone Zhibing felt his reasoning was sound and asked again: “So where are you headed?”
Xiangzhi said matter-of-factly: “I am going to 114 Regiment, oh, it is good that we are headed the same way.”
Stone Zhibing looked at Gu Wenshan again, his lip corners twitching as he said: “Are you visiting family or looking for work?”
114 had publicly recruited a batch of civilian workers before the year-end, it was possible to have heard the news and come.
Xiangzhi shattered his illusion again, saying happily: “I am visiting family.”
This time Stone Zhibing was the one who stammered: “Y-y-you are visiting which family member?”
Xiangzhi looked at this officer who had given her both food and shoes, and knowing she attracted men easily, suddenly became sensitive. Pinching her small voice, she spoke in an odd, theatrical tone: “Who else, visiting my man, of course. You all saved me, next time let him treat you all to meat—he is quite generous.”
Stone Zhibing swung toward Gu Wenshan, then swung toward Xiangzhi. Before he could open his mouth, Xiangzhi grabbed her braided pigtail and looked shyly at him.
Stone Zhibing remained rigid and silent, afraid she would say something else startling.
Instead, Gu Wenshan, driving, suddenly asked: “What is your man’s name?”
Xiangzhi, hearing his voice somewhat familiar, spoke without thinking: “My man? He is called Gu Wenshan. Do you know him?”
Gu Wenshan gripped the steering wheel tightly, still thinking about how to expose this woman whose mouth spewed nonsense. When he heard her say in a twisted, coy manner: “But no matter how high-ranking you officials are, our feelings are very good, nobody is permitted to interfere!”
“Old Gu, watch the road, watch the road!” Stone Zhibing roared, nearly grabbing the steering wheel!
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