The next three days passed in a strangely peaceful atmosphere.
Jiang Ning had kept herself busy the entire time. Armed with the “special pass” issued by division headquarters, she turned the medical team’s pharmacy upside down. All the valuable medicinal herbs Shen Xue had been hoarding and keeping under lock and key were now officially requisitioned by Jiang Ning.
Not only did Captain Liu dare not complain, but he even assigned two orderlies to help her carry things, afraid that if this young lady became unhappy, she would march straight to the division commander and file another complaint.
As for Gu Ci, he was so busy that he was rarely seen.
Although the poisoning incident had been brought under control, the mastermind behind it remained at large. The regiment headquarters appeared relaxed on the surface but was on high alert behind the scenes. Every night, the synchronized footsteps of the patrol teams echoed through the compound, creating an atmosphere of deadly tension that had never existed before.
One evening, Jiang Ning was busy grinding herbs in the house. The pestle struck the stone mortar with a dull, rhythmic sound. Black Panther lay beside her feet, lazily swishing its tail out of boredom.
Ring, ring, ring—
The red telephone on the table suddenly rang.
It had only been installed the day before. According to military regulations, only officers of deputy regimental commander rank or above were permitted to have telephones installed in their homes. Gu Ci had always hated the noise and had never bothered getting one.
This time, however, the division commander had personally approved it, citing the need to “allow Consultant Jiang to report on the senior officer’s medical condition at any time.”
Jiang Ning didn’t move.
She was a consultant, not a telephone operator.
The phone continued ringing stubbornly, each ring more urgent than the last, conveying the caller’s impatience and arrogance.
Bang!
The door to the inner room swung open.
Gu Ci walked out. He had just finished showering, and his hair was still wet. He wore only a military-green shirt, its buttons undone enough to reveal his collarbones and a glimpse of his hard, muscular chest.
He glanced at the red monstrosity still shrieking on the table, his brows drawing into a deep frown.
“Hello.”
He picked up the receiver, his voice laced with irritation at being disturbed.
A stern, aged male voice came from the other end, carrying an unmistakable air of superiority. It was so loud that even Jiang Ning could hear every word clearly in the otherwise quiet room.
“Gu Ci? What took you so long to answer the phone? Have you forgotten every rule you’ve ever been taught?”
Gu Ci’s grip on the receiver tightened abruptly, his knuckles turning white.
He said nothing, but his breathing grew heavier.
The man on the other end was obviously accustomed to his silence. His tone grew even harsher.
“I hear you’ve been causing quite a stir over there! Division headquarters has already suppressed the poisoning incident. Why are you still investigating it? Haven’t you embarrassed yourself enough? And another thing…”
The man paused, his voice dripping with undisguised contempt.
“I hear you’ve married some country woman and even brought her into the military compound to show her off! Gu Ci, have you gone so mad that you’ve lost even the last shred of your dignity? You’ve disgraced the entire Gu family! Send that woman away immediately! Your stepmother has already found a suitable match for you—the daughter of Deputy Commander Wang. You’ll return to the capital in a few days for a blind date…”
“Are you finished?”
Gu Ci suddenly spoke.
His voice was soft, but it sounded like a taut string stretched to its breaking point, ready to snap and wound anyone nearby.
“If you dare mention that woman one more time, I’ll go back and burn the Gu family’s old mansion to the ground.”
“How dare you!”
The man on the other end exploded with rage.
“I’m your father! You unfilial son! If I’d known you were a lunatic, I never should have—”
Gu Ci’s pupils contracted violently.
That familiar, destructive rage surged through him like a black tide, threatening to consume everything in its path. His hand began to tremble, an uncontrollable physical reaction he could no longer suppress.
He wanted to smash the telephone.
No. He wanted to rip the cord out of the wall, crawl through the line, and sink his teeth into the man’s throat.
Just as he was about to lose control and hurl the receiver against the wall—
A hand suddenly reached out.
The hand was pale, its fingertips carrying a faint herbal scent. It settled firmly over the back of his trembling hand.
“Give it to me.”
Jiang Ning’s voice sounded beside him.
Calm. Flat. Completely devoid of emotion.
Gu Ci froze for a moment.
In that brief instant, she had already taken the receiver from his hand.
Holding it, Jiang Ning didn’t speak immediately. Instead, she moved the receiver a little farther from her ear, as though she found the shouting coming through it unbearably irritating.
“Hello?”
Her voice was cool and clear, like icicles in the dead of winter.
“This is the Chengnan Crematorium. Who would you like us to cremate?”
The shouting on the other end stopped abruptly.
Dead silence filled the room.
A full five seconds passed before Commander Gu’s furious voice finally came through again.
“You… Who are you? What nonsense are you talking about? Put Gu Ci on the phone!”
“Gu Ci isn’t here.”
Jiang Ning leaned against the table, casually winding the telephone cord around her finger.
“He’s standing in line. There are two people ahead of him waiting to go into the furnace. If you’re in a hurry, I can squeeze you in, but it’ll cost extra.”
“You… You…”
Commander Gu had probably never been cursed at like this in his entire life. He was so furious that he could barely form a coherent sentence.
“You insolent brat! I’m Gu Ci’s father! Are you that wild country girl? How dare you! Do you think I can’t have you arrested?”
“Have me arrested?”
Jiang Ning chuckled softly.
“Commander Gu, your blood pressure must be pretty high lately, right? Judging by how loudly you’re shouting, you’ve still got plenty of strength in your voice, but your breath sounds weak. Your liver fire is excessive. If I were you, I’d hang up right now and take a couple of blood pressure pills. Otherwise, if a blood vessel in your brain bursts, you’ll really have to get in line at my crematorium.”
“Outrageous… Absolutely outrageous…”
A fit of violent coughing came from the other end, suggesting that he really might have been worked into a state.
“Gu Ci! Where the hell have you gone? Are you just going to let your wife curse her own father-in-law like this?”
Jiang Ning glanced at Gu Ci, who was standing beside her.
He was staring at her.
His eyes, which had been filled with murderous rage and agitation moments earlier, now held a trace of something unexpected…
A strange kind of delight.
It was as though he were witnessing something utterly absurd yet immensely satisfying.
The corners of Jiang Ning’s lips curled upward.
“Commander Gu, Gu Ci isn’t in the right state of mind to listen to dogs barking right now. If you keep shouting, he might go berserk and bite even me. And if he returns to the capital in that condition, his first priority probably won’t be going on a blind date. It’ll be arranging your funeral.”
With that—
Click!
She hung up without the slightest hesitation and even unplugged the telephone cord for good measure.
Peace at last.
Jiang Ning tossed the receiver back onto the telephone and dusted off her hands, as though she’d just thrown away a bag of garbage.
“Problem solved.”
She turned to Gu Ci, her expression perfectly normal.
“Don’t answer calls from trash like that again. They’re a waste of time and interfere with the medicine’s effectiveness.”
Gu Ci didn’t move.
He remained in the same position, staring fixedly at her.
The light in the room was dim and yellow.
Jiang Ning wore an ill-fitting white lab coat she’d taken from the medical team. Her hair was casually pinned up, with a few loose strands falling beside her ears. She looked so thin and unremarkable.
Yet, in that moment, the way she’d cursed at someone had been more brazen than anything he’d ever witnessed from people in positions of power.
“Do you even know who he is?” Gu Ci asked, his voice slightly hoarse. “He’s the head of the Gu family in the capital. With a single word, he could make it impossible for you to take a single step in this country.”
“I know.”
Jiang Ning returned to the mortar and picked up the pestle, continuing to grind the herbs.
“So what? This is the Northwest. You’re on your own turf. Even a powerful dragon has trouble overpowering a local snake. Besides…”
She lifted her head, her eyes gleaming with an almost ruthless rationality.
“If he can make life impossible for you, I can make him bedridden. Medicine can save lives, but it can also kill without leaving a trace. Gu Ci, do you believe that, if I wanted to, I could cause him to suffer a stroke with nothing more than my knowledge of pulse diagnosis?”
Gu Ci stared at her.
After a long moment, he suddenly burst out laughing.
The sound rumbled from deep in his chest—low, delighted, and tinged with a hint of madness.
“I believe you.”
He walked to the table and took a cigarette from the pack, but instead of lighting it, he held it beneath his nose and inhaled its scent.
“Jiang Ning, you’re a lunatic.”
“Likewise.”
Jiang Ning paid no attention to his teasing.
“Come here. Your emotions fluctuated too violently just now, disrupting the flow of your qi and blood. I’ll need to add two more needles to today’s treatment.”
This time, Gu Ci didn’t hesitate.
He immediately took off his shirt and sat bare-chested on a chair, turning his back toward her.
“Do it.”
He spoke quietly.
“Make it hurt. Better yet, stab all those damned voices out of my head.”
Jiang Ning picked up a silver needle and sterilized it over the alcohol lamp.
“Don’t worry.”
She drove a needle into his Dazhui acupoint.
“With me here, even the King of Hell will have to take a number before he can claim you.”