1973, Autumn
At a state-owned hotel restaurant.
“Hey, hey, hey—you two kissing is one thing, but fooling around is absolutely not okay!”
Inside a guest room, Lin Wanshu sat stiffly on the sofa with a cold expression.
By now, scenes like this were nothing new to her.
The couple squeezed into the corner of the room were tangled together so passionately they looked completely lost in each other. After quite a while, Liu Fan finally managed to answer between breaths.
“Relax, we know our limits.”
That might’ve been what she said, but her hand was already reaching for the man’s waistband.
“Hey—hey—HEY! That’s crossing the line! Things are about to get out of control!” Lin Wanshu shouted, stretching one arm toward them from a safe distance.
If Liu Fan kept going, she was seriously prepared to rush over and pull them apart by force.
Because if her best friend accidentally went too far, the one who’d suffer alongside her would definitely be Lin Wanshu.
“We just can’t help ourselves. You’ll understand someday,” Liu Fan teased with a grin as she finally withdrew her hand.
“Why don’t you two just tell your families already? If you’re gonna get married, then get married. Once it’s official, you can do whatever you want openly.”
“Sneaking around like this all the time isn’t exactly ideal,” Lin Wanshu lectured with a click of her tongue.
“Be honest now. During these past three years while I was away… you two already got naked together, didn’t you?!”
Liu Fan and Zhang Rong had secretly started dating back in high school.
Six whole years together, and they were still hiding it from their families. It was honestly baffling.
The three of them had grown up close. Zhang Rong was even Lin Wanshu’s childhood neighbor.
“I’m talking to you, Zhang Rong! Are you even a man? Hurry up and have your family propose already!”
“If Grandpa Liu finds out about this, he’ll break both our legs!”
Lin Wanshu kept rambling from the side while the two in the corner acted like she didn’t exist.
“Seriously, are you done yet? I finally come home on vacation and you drag me around as a third wheel every single day. Have either of you considered my feelings?”
No one answered her.
“I’m seriously leaving now! I’m not in the mood to watch your live romance movie today.”
Lin Wanshu stood up as she spoke.
“Wait, wait!” Liu Fan finally let go of Zhang Rong and hurried over, wiping at her lips as she grabbed Lin Wanshu’s arm.
“I already talked to my grandpa about us. But he’s dead set on me marrying a military officer.”
“He even picked out an entire platoon’s worth of candidates for me to choose from. Yesterday alone, I met eight men!”
“There are another eight downstairs right now waiting for me to go meet them.”
Liu Fan looked miserable.
Zhang Rong had already gotten jealous and sulky over the whole thing.
“A whole platoon…” Lin Wanshu blinked.
Grandpa Liu was clearly determined to break them apart.
Then again, Zhang Rong really didn’t have much ambition. He coasted through life at the factory doing the bare minimum.
Lin Wanshu suddenly felt nervous on Liu Fan’s behalf.
Eight military men were downstairs waiting for Liu Fan to choose a husband… while she was up here making out with her boyfriend.
“Well… soldiers value discipline and punctuality most. Shouldn’t you hurry downstairs? If your grandpa finds out, he’ll skin you alive!”
She immediately started pushing Liu Fan toward the door.
“Not liking them is one thing, but standing them up is definitely wrong.”
“You go in my place. They don’t know me anyway, and I don’t know them either,” Liu Fan said, glancing toward the pitiful-looking Zhang Rong.
“What? You can substitute someone for blind dates now?! And you’re seriously sure none of those eight men have seen you before?” Lin Wanshu was stunned.
“Wanshu, please go for Xiao Fan. Seeing eight men a day is exhausting—even I feel bad for her,” Zhang Rong chimed in with a deliberately pitiful tone.
“Oh, shut up.” Lin Wanshu rolled her eyes. “If you’d joined the army years ago, maybe you’d actually amount to something by now!”
Worthless.
Standing there acting all pathetic.
What a joke.
“Did you cast some kind of spell on her or something?”
How had her best friend fallen for someone like him?
“Wanshu, Shu-shu, please go for me! Back then, Zhang Rong wanted to quit school and join the army, but I was the one who stopped him!” Liu Fan pleaded, shaking Lin Wanshu’s arm.
“You just go downstairs and reject them one by one. Help me get through today, okay?”
Before Lin Wanshu could react, she was already being shoved out the guest room door.
“Go, go! Zhang Rong and I are going to eat and catch a movie.”
“But what if there’s actually a good one among them?” she protested.
An entire platoon—surely there had to be at least one outstanding man in the bunch.
“Doesn’t matter. Reject every single one of them. Please! I’ll treat you to dinner later and buy you a present.”
“Just remember: go to the front desk, get a magazine and a rose, then place them on the table. They’ll come talk to you themselves.”
Lin Wanshu nervously made her way downstairs to the main dining hall.
It was lunchtime, and the place was packed.
Still, anyone who could afford to eat at a state-owned hotel in those days was either wealthy or influential, so despite the crowd, the atmosphere remained refined and orderly.
“H-hello… could I get a magazine and a rose?” she asked awkwardly, feeling guilty like a thief.
After getting the items, she scanned the room and finally chose an empty corner table.
Very quickly, a tall man with a crew cut sat down across from her.
His posture was ramrod straight. His eyes were sharp, bright, and full of discipline.
“You’re Comrade Liu Fan, right? The chief asked me to come meet you.”
He spoke first.
The smile on his face looked slightly stiff, and the tips of his ears were red.
“Ah… yes, I’m Liu Fan.” Lin Wanshu’s ears grew warm too.
The man across from her seemed shy.
And somehow… she was getting shy too.
“Let me order you something to drink,” he offered.
He didn’t dare suggest lunch together outright—it felt too forward.
“Ah, I already ordered something. We can just chat a little.”
Lin Wanshu figured they at least needed to talk before she rejected him. Otherwise it would feel too rude.
Besides…
Wasn’t this guy way better than Zhang Rong?
Tall—at least six feet.
Strong brows and bright eyes.
Completely upright and righteous-looking.
Everything about him screamed “good man.”
“A-alright.” Once she gave him permission to talk, he actually blushed.
Good heavens.
This shy military guy was exactly Lin Wanshu’s type.
She cleared her throat.
“So… what do you soldiers usually do for fun? Is there entertainment in the army? I heard military life can get pretty boring…”
And just like that, she launched into nonstop chatter.
As the conversation continued, the man gradually relaxed and started talking naturally too.
The more they chatted, the more they clicked.
Lin Wanshu almost completely forgot the mission Liu Fan had assigned her.
Until he finally asked the question.
“Comrade Liu Fan… what do you think of me?”
“Uh…”
Lin Wanshu froze.
After talking so much, she now had to tell him she wasn’t interested?
Wasn’t that a little too cruel?
Especially since he actually seemed genuinely great…
“Um… sorry, Comrade. I’m just… a bit slow to warm up to people.”
The hopeful light in his eyes dimmed almost instantly.
“I understand. Then maybe we can get to know each other more in the future.”
He stood up neatly and extended a hand toward her.
“I’m very glad to have met you. Can we be friends?”
“Ah—yes, yes, of course!” Lin Wanshu hurriedly reached out to shake his hand.
But inside, she was silently lamenting:
Liu Fan, Liu Fan… if you don’t want him, can’t you just give him to me instead?