“Fine, I sprained my ankle,” Cheng Mengzhi replied, her expression unchanged.
Seeing this, the nurse asked with concern, “Is it serious?”
“Not really. I got some medicine, and it’ll be fine once I apply it later,” Cheng Mengzhi added.
Xu Jingyun’s expression was a bit unnatural as well, though he forced himself to maintain a calm demeanor.
“As long as it’s not serious. I’ll get back to work then.” The nurse greeted the two of them, quickly closed the door, and left.
Halfway down the hall, it suddenly clicked.
“Wait a minute!” the nurse murmured, frowning. “Dr. Xu is a neurosurgeon. Just how bad does an ankle sprain have to be to go see Dr. Xu? Her nervous system isn’t broken, is it?!”
Putting the pieces together, she rubbed her chin. “Could it be… Comrade Cheng is pursuing Staff Officer Xu!” Once she thought of that, things suddenly seemed clear, though the next second brought confusion: “Then why go see Dr. Xu?!”
“What are you daydreaming about? Back to work!”
“Coming!”
With no time to dwell on it, the nurse rushed off to handle her duties.
Soon, Xu Fengsheng returned wearing a pair of gloves and instructed, “You wait outside. I’ll help her apply the ointment.”
“I… I can do it myself back at the dorm,” Cheng Mengzhi awkwardly refused the offer.
“Can you see back there? Who else is going to help you?”
Left utterly speechless by the retort, Cheng Mengzhi turned a brilliant shade of red. She couldn’t let anyone else find out, but she wouldn’t be able to see or reach it herself either. True to her reputation as a doctor, Xu Fengsheng struck right where it hurt, leaving her with no comeback.
Hearing his sister’s rather direct words from outside, Xu Jingyun felt a bit awkward. “Sis…” he started, hoping to ask her to be a bit gentler, only to be told, “Get out!” and promptly locked out.
Not daring to argue, Xu Jingyun turned back around to stand guard.
“Up on the table,” Xu Fengsheng commanded professionally.
Cheng Mengzhi felt thoroughly aggrieved, but since she was in the wrong, she had no choice. She pulled down her trousers and lay down. It felt precisely like being subjected to a public execution; her head buzzed, and her heartbeat pounded loudly in her ears.
Once the ointment was applied, Cheng Mengzhi pulled her pants back up. The oppressive, awkward atmosphere was almost too much to bear.
Taking off her gloves, washing her hands, and sterilizing them, Xu Fengsheng pulled a small packet of medicine from her pocket, set it on the desk, and poured a cup of water. Stepping over, she handed it to Cheng Mengzhi and said, “Take this medicine. Try not to throw it up.”
Cheng Mengzhi instantly realized those were the contraceptive pills. Without hesitation, she took the medicine, popped it into her mouth, and downed a large mouthful of water to swallow it.
“You took so much water right after swallowing it—don’t drink too much more before the medicine takes full effect, or you’ll easily throw it up.” Xu Fengsheng felt like she was committing some kind of cosmic sin.
Nodding obediently, Cheng Mengzhi stopped drinking.
The heavy, awkward silence returned. Wanting to make her escape, Cheng Mengzhi opened her mouth to say she should be heading back.
“Are the two of you doing this willingly, or did he force you?” Xu Fengsheng asked point-blank.
Startled with a small “Ah,” Cheng Mengzhi looked up to meet Xu Fengsheng’s piercing gaze.
“Willing… willingly!” Well, not entirely willing—it had been forced by circumstances, and Xu Jingyun was technically the one who had been coerced into it. At least that was how she saw it, though trying to explain the nuance would be an impossible mess. The original host certainly would have been willing, but as someone who had transmigrated in, she and Xu Jingyun had had zero choice under the influence of that drug. If she admitted to that, wouldn’t his sister think she was a completely shameless woman?
“Don’t you have someone you liked? How did he manage to seduce… attract you in such a short period of time?” Xu Fengsheng’s tongue slipped faster than her brain, unable to hold back the thought.
Meeting Cheng Mengzhi’s bright, watery eyes and her innocent, obedient expression, she decided it must have been pure mischief caused by her good-for-nothing younger brother.
Outside the door, Xu Jingyun heard every single word loud and clear. Did his sister harbor some deep misunderstanding about him?
The more Xu Fengsheng thought about it, the more unacceptable it felt. The matter was simply too big; she had to inform their father. The two siblings had never seen eye to eye since they were kids—whenever her brother messed up, she always made sure their father gave the brat a thorough dressing-down.
Of course, Cheng Mengzhi remained entirely oblivious to all of this. The original host had simply set her sights on Xu Jingyun’s status, power, and his strikingly handsome face. Recalling the man’s features, he actually fit Cheng Mengzhi’s aesthetic standards for a partner quite well.
“Can I not answer that?” Cheng Mengzhi asked, completely out of options and desperate to make her exit.
Puzzled for a second, Xu Fengsheng shoved her hands into her pockets and nodded. “You still need someone to help apply the medicine. Come back early tomorrow morning, and I’ll do it for you.”
“No… no need, I can manage on my own,” Cheng Mengzhi rejected with a blushing face.
Handing her the medicine packet, Xu Fengsheng added one final warning: “No intimacy for half a month.”
Her hand pausing as she took the medicine, Cheng Mengzhi bit her lip and muttered, “Thank you, Dr. Xu.”
Stepping out of Xu Fengsheng’s office, she shot a glare at Xu Jingyun. She wanted to stride away quickly, but her aching lower back forced her to resort to taking tiny, cautious little steps.
With practiced familiarity, Xu Jingyun stepped up to support her arm, keeping a very proper and respectful distance.
On the walk back, the more Cheng Mengzhi thought about it, the angrier she got. She turned to Xu Jingyun and demanded, “Was the medicine your sister gave me just now a contraceptive?”
“Yes.” He was a man of very few words.
Good. That saved her the trouble of having to figure out how to buy contraceptives herself. There were no pharmacies around the military base, and she had been racking her brain trying to think of an excuse to buy some at the clinic when Xu Jingyun had dragged her straight here.
Noticing that Cheng Mengzhi seemed displeased about the contraceptive issue, Xu Jingyun explained, “I figured that since we took those drugs, we don’t know what kind of long-term effects those chemical components might have on the body. If you really did conceive, getting an abortion would deal a severe blow to your health. And if you carried it to term, there’s no telling if the baby would be affected by the medication—we simply can’t afford to take that kind of risk.”
Raising a disabled child required far too much time and energy.
To her surprise, Cheng Mengzhi was genuinely shocked that Xu Jingyun had actually considered those factors.
In the original novel, Cheng Mengzhi really had gotten pregnant. The book briefly mentioned that after their marriage, Xu Jingyun’s attitude toward her was strictly polite and distant; he would constantly advise her to settle down and live a proper life instead of stirring up trouble. Refusing to listen, the original host remained obsessed with Lin Shuyan in her heart. Upon learning that Lin Shuyan and Qin Junyao had gotten married, she grieved deeply for a long time. Watching Lin Shuyan and Qin Junyao show off their affection while the entire residential compound gossiped about their romance drove her crazy with jealousy, prompting her to taunt Qin Junyao for hunting for a long-term meal ticket. Overhearing this, an enraged Lin Shuyan had slapped her right across the face. Back home, a heartbroken and furious original host couldn’t catch her breath before suddenly suffering a massive hemorrhage, collapsing in agony. When she woke up in the hospital, Xu Jingyun told her it was just her period acting up due to catching a chill, and the original host hadn’t thought much of it at the time. So she had gotten pregnant back then, only to unknowingly suffer a miscarriage.
By taking the medication this time, she likely wouldn’t conceive at all. The novel mentioned that Xu Jingyun had originally intended for Cheng Mengzhi to take the preventative medicine, but Cheng Mengzhi had refused out of fear that he wouldn’t want to marry her otherwise.
“Let go of me, I can walk back by myself. Everything’s resolved now, and there’s nothing between us anymore,” Cheng Mengzhi snapped, shaking off Xu Jingyun’s hand. “I did not drug or frame Political Commissar Bai, please believe me. Once the leadership clears my name, I’m applying to leave the military and transfer back to work in Beijing.”
“I already told you no, we have to get married,” Xu Jingyun insisted.
“Stop being so rigidly traditional! Just because we had a brief intimate encounter doesn’t mean you’re obligated to take responsibility for me out of some misplaced sense of guilt. Don’t worry, I won’t ever show up in your life again. Let’s both go our separate ways and marry whoever we please, completely unconnected,” Cheng Mengzhi declared, just as she noticed two figures looming up ahead.
Oh no, I jinxed it!
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught the gleam of a military uniform on a man, accompanied by a woman walking right beside him.
Xu Jingyun’s expression shifted as well.
Both of them looked over, and the atmosphere instantly turned exquisitely awkward.
It was the Military District Commander and his wife, who happened to be the hospital director.
Commander He Shubai wore a grave expression.
Before they knew it, they found themselves invited back to the leadership’s quarters for tea.
Feeling deeply nervous, it was Cheng Mengzhi’s first time encountering such a high-ranking official, and she kept her head lowered, not daring to make a sound.
Noticing her tension, the commander’s wife, Zhou Zhaoning, walked over and placed a cup of water right in front of Cheng Mengzhi.
“Thank you,” Cheng Mengzhi whispered timidly.
Stepping out from the study, He Shubai cast a glance at his wife.
“Chief, it’s my fault,” Xu Jingyun apologized once more.
Cheng Mengzhi wanted to stand up and say it was her fault instead, but the words caught in her throat.
He Shubai let out a quiet sigh. Xu Jingyun was slated for a major promotion; serving as a staff officer was meant to be a temporary training stint, and with Political Commissar Bai’s tragic passing, Xu Jingyun was meant to step up and fill that vacant position. If any major scandal broke out right at this critical juncture, his promotion would go completely up in smoke.
“Ch… Chief, it was… my fault, please don’t blame Comrade Xu. I’ll apply to leave the military,” Cheng Mengzhi stammered, scrambling to stand up and take the blame. The mess had been caused by the original host’s loose lips, and since she occupied this body now, she had to own it.
On the walk over, the surrounding paths had been completely deserted without a soul in sight for minutes—who could have guessed that the moment they started discussing unspeakable matters, two high-ranking leaders would magically materialize out of thin air?
He Shubai stared hard at Cheng Mengzhi.
“Mengzhi, don’t talk nonsense!” Zhou Zhaoning gently steadied Cheng Mengzhi’s arm, turning to look at her husband. “At this point, since they’ve already gotten married, what’s done is done. They can talk things through and figure out the arrangements, but don’t go talking about leaving the military over a momentary impulse. Securing a stable job isn’t easy—Xiao Cheng, you need to think this through carefully. Leaving the military is definitely not a wise choice.”