“Everyone’s alive? They’re really all alive?”
Captain Liu clutched the empty medicine boxes in his hands and wandered between the rows of soldiers lying on the ground like a puppet on strings. He checked one man’s pulse, then another’s breathing. The expression on his face gradually shifted from terror to overwhelming, almost unbelievable joy.
The training ground, which had been filled with the stench of death just moments ago, still reeked of sour vomit, but the suffocating sense of despair had finally lifted. In its place were the intermittent sounds of coughing and weak groans.
Alive.
If they could still groan, they were alive.
Jiang Ning was still sitting on the ground. The arm she had used to perform CPR on the third platoon leader was now spasming uncontrollably. She wanted to reach for the canteen in her pocket, but her hand was shaking so badly that she couldn’t even unscrew the cap.
A large hand reached over, took the canteen, twisted the cap open with a click, and held it to her lips.
“Drink.”
Gu Ci crouched in front of her. His eyes, usually filled with bloodshot veins, now held an extraordinarily complicated emotion. It was part scrutiny, part something resembling recognition that had not yet fully taken shape.
Jiang Ning didn’t bother being coy. She drank a large mouthful directly from his hand.
The cold water slid down her throat, making her shiver. The fogginess in her mind receded a little.
“One hundred and twenty-three people.”
Jiang Ning wiped the water from her lips and spoke in a hoarse voice. “Twelve critical cases, one cardiac arrest. All vital signs are stable now. Commander Gu, is a zero-fatality record enough to compensate for the uniform I ruined?”
Gu Ci looked at her.
There were still traces of someone else’s vomit on her face. Her hair was as messy as a bird’s nest, and her complexion was so pale she looked like a ghost.
Yet there she sat, her back perfectly straight and her eyes frighteningly bright.
“Enough.”
Gu Ci stood up, took off his military jacket, and draped it over her head and shoulders.
“It’s enough to cover the cost of your clothes. It’s even enough to let you walk all over this entire regiment without anyone daring to stop you.”
That was an astonishing promise.
Several medical orderlies who were still working nearby paused at his words. The way they looked at Jiang Ning was now filled with reverence.
In a military camp where strength commanded respect, ability was the greatest passport of all.
“Commander… um…”
Captain Liu approached, his face filled with embarrassment and ingratiation.
“Thanks to Comrade Jiang, we managed to get through this crisis. Without her unconventional method, the little medicine our medical team had would never have been enough. We would certainly have lost several men tonight. About what happened earlier… I was blind to your abilities and treated you poorly. I hope you won’t take it to heart, Comrade Jiang.”
He was an old hand at navigating social situations and knew how to adapt quickly when the tide turned. Although this new sister-in-law came from the countryside, her medical skills were undeniably real. Even the notoriously fearsome Commander Gu was protecting her. How could he possibly afford to put on airs around her now?
Jiang Ning lifted her eyelids and gave him a cool glance.
“Captain Liu, you’re too kind. I’m hardly a towering mountain. I’m just a barefoot doctor who butchers pigs on the side.”
She pointed toward the enormous bucket of food waste nearby.
“Don’t throw away the remaining soapy water. Keep it for anyone who hasn’t finished vomiting. Also, seal that bag of sodium nitrite and keep it safe. It’s evidence.”
“Yes, yes! We’ll seal it immediately!” Captain Liu nodded repeatedly, practically bowing and scraping.
In the corner, Shen Xue bit her lip, her face alternating between green and white.
She looked at Jiang Ning, who was now surrounded by people treating her like royalty, then at Gu Ci, who hadn’t even spared her a proper glance. Jealousy gnawed at her insides like a venomous snake.
Why?
Why should a country girl without even a medical license be allowed to command trained military doctors?
“Commander Gu.”
Shen Xue took a deep breath and walked over, her voice tinged with resentment.
“Although the men have been saved, the treatment still violated medical regulations. Using soapy water for gastric lavage has absolutely no basis in any medical manual! What if these soldiers develop complications later? Who will take responsibility?”
“Complications?”
Jiang Ning interrupted her and struggled to her feet, bracing herself against her knees as she swayed unsteadily.
Gu Ci instinctively reached out to steady her arm.
“Dr. Shen,” Jiang Ning said sarcastically, leaning against Gu Ci for support, “are you saying that if we’d let them die tonight, at least they wouldn’t have had any complications?”
“That’s not what I meant!”
“Then what exactly do you mean?” Jiang Ning took a step closer. “Are you disappointed that a few men didn’t die, so everyone could see just how incompetent a supposedly qualified military doctor like you really is? Or are you upset because a country girl like me stole your spotlight?”
“You’re talking nonsense!” Shen Xue trembled with anger.
“Enough.”
Gu Ci uttered the two words coldly.
He didn’t even look at Shen Xue. Instead, he bent down, slipped one arm beneath Jiang Ning’s knees and the other around her back, and lifted her into his arms.
“Ah!”
A wave of suppressed gasps rose from the people around them.
Jiang Ning froze as well, instinctively grabbing Gu Ci’s shoulders.
“Gu Ci, what are you doing?”
“Can you even walk?”
Gu Ci looked down at her, his brows knitted tightly together.
“Your legs are shaking. Why are you still pretending to be tough?”
He was right. Jiang Ning’s legs had turned to jelly, and she could barely keep herself upright, let alone walk without staggering.
“I can’t walk,” Jiang Ning admitted frankly. “But that doesn’t mean you can just carry me whenever you want. Extra charge.”
Gu Ci was so exasperated that he almost laughed.
“Fine. Put it on my tab.”
Carrying Jiang Ning in his arms, he turned and strode toward the jeep. When he passed Shen Xue, he didn’t even slow down. The gust of wind from his movement lifted the hem of her white coat.
“Captain Liu.”
Gu Ci’s voice carried from a distance.
“Shen Xue was deliberately uncooperative during the rescue operation and disrupted morale. Have her write a five-thousand-word self-criticism. If it isn’t sufficiently sincere, she can get the hell out of the medical team.”
Shen Xue swayed, nearly collapsing to the ground.
The jeep’s engine roared to life.
The heating inside the vehicle was turned up high.
Jiang Ning curled up in the passenger seat, wrapped in Gu Ci’s overcoat, which smelled strongly of gunpowder and sweat. Her eyelids began to droop.
The exhaustion that came after the adrenaline wore off swept over her like a rising tide.
“If you’re sleepy, go to sleep.”
Gu Ci drove with his eyes fixed on the road. For once, his voice wasn’t as harsh as usual.
“I’ll wake you when we arrive.”
“I can’t sleep.”
Forcing her eyes open, Jiang Ning pulled a silver needle from her pocket and pricked the fleshy part between her thumb and index finger. The sharp pain cleared her head a little.
“We haven’t settled the bill yet.”
Gu Ci glanced sideways at her.
“Are you so obsessed with money that you’ve fallen into a money pit?”
“Life is more important than money.” Jiang Ning pulled out the silver needle.
“Commander Gu, I just saved more than a hundred of your soldiers. In doing so, I also protected your position as commander. You can’t settle this account with money alone.”
“What do you want?”
“Access.”
Jiang Ning turned to look at him, her eyes blazing with determination.
“I want permission to enter and leave the medical team’s pharmacy. And I want to use your regiment’s laboratory.”
That was her real objective.
To cure Gu Ci’s brain disorder, acupuncture alone wouldn’t be enough. She needed to formulate special medication. Some medicinal ingredients required purification, while certain toxins needed to be neutralized. All of that required professional equipment and a suitable working environment.
In this era, only the military medical unit had the necessary facilities.
Gu Ci’s grip on the steering wheel tightened.
The pharmacy and laboratory were restricted military facilities. Granting access to a dependent whose background was uncertain and who was even suspected of being a spy would be a serious violation of regulations.
“Give me a reason,” Gu Ci said.
“To cure your insanity.”
Jiang Ning answered bluntly.
“Your brain and nervous system have sustained severe damage. Ordinary medication won’t work. I need to extract and purify several alkaloids to formulate a specialized treatment. If you don’t trust me, you can assign someone to keep an eye on me. Besides, once the medicine is ready, you’ll be the first person to take it.”
Gu Ci fell silent.
The jeep raced along the dark dirt road, its headlights illuminating the dust swirling ahead.
He was a suspicious man by nature.
But tonight, when he had watched Jiang Ning exhaust the very last of her strength to save a group of soldiers she had never even met, the hard wall around his heart had developed a crack.
If she really were a spy sent to infiltrate and sabotage the military, would she risk her own life to save people?
“Fine.”
Gu Ci finally spoke.
“Tomorrow, I’ll have Captain Liu issue you a certificate. You’ll be appointed as a specially hired expert.”
“A specially hired expert?” Jiang Ning raised an eyebrow. “Does the position come with a salary?”
“Yes.” The corners of Gu Ci’s mouth curled upward.
“You’ll be paid according to the standard for company-level officers. It’ll be enough for you to buy braised pork.”
“Deal.”
Jiang Ning finally breathed a sigh of relief.
With this official status, she would no longer be merely a dependent who had to rely on Gu Ci. She would become a technical specialist with independent value. In this era, that was the greatest protection she could have.
Once the tension in her body eased, sleep became impossible to resist.
Jiang Ning leaned against the seat, her head bobbing up and down. Eventually, she fell completely asleep against the car window.
Gu Ci slowed down.
He glanced at the sleeping woman beside him. Even in sleep, her brows remained slightly furrowed, as though she were calculating something in her dreams. Her face was so thin it could fit in the palm of his hand, yet she possessed a power that even he couldn’t fully comprehend.
“Jiang Ning…”
He murmured her name softly, repeating it once.
Perhaps this absurd marriage swap really was the only lifeline Heaven had sent him.
…
It was already the middle of the night when they returned to the military residential compound.
Gu Ci parked the jeep securely and turned to look at Jiang Ning, who was still fast asleep.
He couldn’t bring himself to wake her.
After hesitating for two seconds, he unfastened his seat belt, got out, walked around to the passenger side, and opened the door.
With extraordinary care, he lifted Jiang Ning out of the vehicle.
Jiang Ning let out a sleepy little hum and rubbed her head against his chest, finding a comfortable position without waking up.
Gu Ci’s body stiffened for a moment.
Such complete trust and dependence were unfamiliar to him.
And far too… dangerous.
He carried her inside.
The house was freezing. The briquette stove had gone out long ago.
Gu Ci laid Jiang Ning on the bed in the inner room. Just as he was about to cover her with a blanket, Jiang Ning suddenly grabbed his sleeve.
“Don’t go…”
She was talking in her sleep.
“You haven’t paid me yet…”
Gu Ci: “…”
The tenderness that had only just begun to rise within him shattered instantly.
This woman was collecting debts even in her dreams.
He firmly pulled his sleeve free and threw the blanket over her, covering her completely except for her nose.
“Money-grubber.”
Gu Ci muttered a curse before turning and walking into the outer room.
He sat down on the simple wooden plank bed Jiang Ning had put together and lit a cigarette.
Black Panther came over and rested its head on his knee.
“You think she’s a good person too?”
Gu Ci stroked the dog’s head.
Black Panther whimpered twice, as though agreeing with him.
Gu Ci exhaled a ring of smoke and stared out at the pitch-black night beyond the window.
“A good person?” He sneered. “Good people don’t survive long in this world. She’d better be a bad person. The worse, the better.”
Because only a bad person could keep walking beside a madman like him, all the way to the very end.