The dining hall fell completely silent.
The soldiers who had been eating quietly buried their heads in their bowls, not even daring to chew too loudly.
Gu Ci stood in front of the serving counter. Beads of sweat still clung to his well-defined muscles, gleaming with a cold, hard sheen under the lights. He tossed his military jacket onto the counter and rapped his knuckles twice against the metal surface.
“Can’t you hear me?”
The head of the kitchen staff was a chubby man. He was so frightened that he dropped the ladle in his hand and hurried out of the kitchen, plastering an ingratiating smile across his face.
“Commander! I heard you, I heard you! I’ll get it right away! Right away!”
He swiftly filled two large lunchboxes with braised pork, then grabbed four white steamed buns, piling everything so high that it nearly overflowed. Trembling slightly, he held the food out.
Gu Ci didn’t take it.
Instead, he turned sideways and nodded toward the entrance.
“Give it to her.”
Once again, everyone’s attention focused on Jiang Ning.
Standing in the doorway with dog blood and filth smeared across her clothes, Jiang Ning calmly walked over under Doctor Shen’s venomous stare.
She accepted the lunchboxes. They were heavy and hot.
The aroma of meat wafted straight into her nose, making her stomach clench.
“Thanks.”
Jiang Ning didn’t waste any more words. She turned around, found the nearest empty table, and sat down. Ignoring the strange looks around her, she picked up a steamed bun and began eating.
Her movements were still quick, but she chewed every bite thoroughly.
Wang Dayong stood nearby, unsure whether he should leave or stay. He rubbed his hands together awkwardly.
Gu Ci walked over as well.
He hadn’t gotten any food for himself. Instead, he sat directly across from Jiang Ning, pulled a cigarette from his pocket, and was just about to light it when he glanced at her devouring her meal. He then slipped the cigarette back into his pocket.
“What kind of poison did Black Panther ingest?”
He spoke in a deep voice, scrutinizing her.
Jiang Ning swallowed the meat in her mouth without even raising her head.
“Rat poison. Or a specially formulated neurotoxin. It was extremely potent. If we’d been two minutes later, even the gods couldn’t have saved it.”
Gu Ci’s eyes narrowed.
Black Panther was a decorated military dog. It had cleared mines along the border and killed enemy combatants. Within the regiment, its status was even higher than that of an ordinary soldier.
Someone had dared to poison Black Panther right under his nose.
It was a provocation.
“Can you neutralize it?” Gu Ci asked.
“It’s already been dealt with.” Jiang Ning pointed to the stains on her clothes. “The dog vomited it out. But it still needs to be monitored. For the next few days, it should only drink rice water and mustn’t eat anything hard.”
Gu Ci stared at her for several seconds.
“You know medicine?”
“A barefoot doctor in the countryside taught me a few tricks.” Jiang Ning stuck to her original excuse without batting an eye. “I’ve slaughtered so many pigs that I’ve gotten familiar with this sort of thing.”
Slaughtering pigs.
Gu Ci let out a cold snort.
This woman lied without even bothering to prepare an excuse in advance. Could slaughtering pigs really teach someone how to perform gastric lavage on a dog?
When Wang Dayong had reported what happened earlier, he’d described her skills as practically miraculous.
“Doctor Shen.”
Gu Ci suddenly turned his head toward Shen Xue, who was still standing by the entrance with an aggrieved expression, refusing to leave.
Shen Xue shuddered. She quickly adjusted her expression and approached with an innocent, pitiful look.
“Commander Gu, don’t listen to her nonsense. I really was only trying to help…”
“Why are your hands shaking?”
Gu Ci interrupted her. His gaze fell like a hook on her right hand, which she had hidden behind her back.
Shen Xue’s face turned pale. She instinctively pulled her hand farther behind her.
“N-No, they’re not shaking. I was just frightened earlier.”
“Really?”
Jiang Ning suddenly interjected.
She put down her steamed bun and picked up the chopsticks on the table, pointing them casually into the air.
“When we were at the entrance, I noticed that your index and middle fingers twitched slightly when you picked up the lunchbox. That wasn’t from fright. It’s a side effect of long-term use of certain medications. Something like… diazepam?”
Jiang Ning raised her head and looked at Shen Xue with a half-smile.
“Doctor Shen, as a military doctor, you’re secretly taking a controlled psychotropic medication. If the higher-ups find out, do you think you’ll still be allowed to wear that white coat?”
Shen Xue’s pupils contracted violently.
She really was taking diazepam. The pressure of her recent professional evaluation, combined with her long-standing unrequited love for Gu Ci, had left her suffering from severe insomnia.
She had kept this matter extremely secret.
How could this country girl possibly know?
“You’re making malicious accusations!”
Shen Xue shrieked.
“I graduated from a legitimate military medical university! What does a barefoot doctor like you know? I’m going to report you to the political commissar for slander!”
“Go ahead.”
Jiang Ning stuffed the last piece of braised pork into her mouth and spoke indistinctly as she chewed.
“While you’re at it, why don’t you ask the political commissar to investigate whether Black Panther ate anything given to it by someone before it was poisoned? If I remember correctly, the medical unit keeps neurotoxins in stock, doesn’t it?”
Her words struck like a thunderclap.
Shen Xue instantly lost all color in her face. Her body swayed, and she nearly collapsed.
“You… You…”
She pointed at Jiang Ning, unable to utter another word.
Gu Ci hadn’t said anything throughout their exchange.
Leaning back in his chair, he had coldly observed the confrontation between the two women.
Only now did he slowly rise to his feet.
His shadow fell over them.
Shen Xue took a frightened step backward, tears welling up in her eyes again.
“Commander Gu, please believe me! How could I possibly hurt Black Panther…?”
“Investigate.”
Gu Ci uttered just one word.
He beckoned to his guard behind him.
“Seal off the medical unit’s pharmacy. Take inventory of the toxins. If even one vial is missing, everyone involved will be confined to quarters.”
The guard immediately acknowledged the order and left.
Shen Xue collapsed to the floor.
It was over.
Even if she hadn’t poisoned the dog herself—or perhaps she had—the pharmacy’s poor management was an established fact. Once an investigation began, her career would be finished.
Gu Ci didn’t spare her another glance. He picked up his military jacket and draped it over his shoulder again.
“Are you finished eating?” he asked Jiang Ning.
Jiang Ning put the lid on the lunchbox and let out a satisfied burp.
“I’m full.”
“Then let’s go.”
Gu Ci turned and headed outside.
“If Black Panther hasn’t fully recovered, you’ll be sleeping in the doghouse tonight.”
Jiang Ning curled her lip and followed him, carrying the empty lunchbox.
“Sleeping in the doghouse would still be better than sleeping with you,” she muttered under her breath.
Gu Ci’s footsteps paused.
He didn’t turn around, but his back seemed to stiffen for a brief moment.
…
Back at the military family compound, the smell inside the house still hadn’t dissipated.
Black Panther, the large dog, was lying on the threadbare cotton quilt Jiang Ning had spread out earlier. When it saw her enter, it weakly wagged its tail.
Jiang Ning walked over and crouched down to pat its head.
“You certainly know how to pick a spot.”
She nudged Black Panther aside and sat down herself.
Gu Ci stood in the doorway, watching the woman and the dog occupy his territory—even if it was only the outer room.
“That’s my dog,” Gu Ci emphasized.
“It’s my patient now.” Jiang Ning didn’t even turn her head. “If you don’t want it to die, keep quiet.”
Gu Ci took a deep breath, feeling as though this woman would eventually drive him to his grave.
Yet he didn’t lose his temper.
Because he had noticed something.
Black Panther, which usually barked furiously at everyone and refused to acknowledge anyone but him, was allowing this woman to press and massage its abdomen. It was even making comfortable little grunting sounds.
Even the dog had defected.
Gu Ci irritably raked a hand through his hair, then turned and entered the inner room, slamming the door shut behind him.
Out of sight, out of mind.
Night fell.
Jiang Ning gave Black Panther some warm water to drink, and by then, she was exhausted herself.
This body was in terrible condition. After spending the day saving a dog and arguing with people, she had completely depleted her strength.
She leaned against the corner, wrapped her coat tightly around herself, and drifted toward sleep.
Suddenly, the door to the inner room opened.
Gu Ci walked out.
He had changed into a clean training uniform and was carrying a thick, military-green quilt.
Jiang Ning opened her eyes warily, her hand moving toward the razor blade in her pocket.
“What are you doing?”
Gu Ci ignored her and walked straight over to Black Panther. He spread the thick quilt over the dog.
“Don’t get the wrong idea.”
His voice was cold.
“It’s for the dog. It’s afraid of the cold.”
After saying that, he glanced at Jiang Ning, who was shivering beneath her thin, tattered coat. A complicated emotion flickered in his eyes, so fleeting that it was almost impossible to notice.
Then he turned and went back into the inner room.
Jiang Ning stared at the thick quilt, then looked down at the shabby clothes she was wearing.
“…”
She was worth less than a dog.
This grudge had officially become personal.
She reached out and pulled one corner of the quilt over her legs.
“Black Panther, scoot over. Let’s share.”
Black Panther whimpered softly and moved closer to her. Beneath the quilt still carrying Gu Ci’s warmth, the woman and the dog huddled together, keeping each other warm.
Inside the inner room, Gu Ci lay on the bed, listening to the breathing sounds gradually becoming steady in the outer room.
His insomnia had returned.
Without the unusual pressure-point massage from the previous night, his headache came rushing back.
He stared at the pitch-black ceiling, his mind filled with images of the woman in the mess hall, holding a steamed bun while dissecting Shen Xue with a gaze as sharp as a knife.
At that moment, she had been sharp, dangerous, and yet… damnably captivating.
“Barefoot doctor…”
Gu Ci repeated the words softly.
As if anyone would believe that.
He rolled over and pulled a slip of paper from beneath his pillow. It was the background investigation report on Jiang Ning that Xiao Zhang had just retrieved from the regimental headquarters that day.
It read:
Jiang Ning, female, twenty years old, from Jiangjia Village in the Northwest. Primary school education. Introverted and timid by nature…
Gu Ci studied the words in the moonlight, the corners of his mouth curling into a cold smile.
Timid?
A woman who could perform gastric lavage on a dog without changing her expression, diagnose another person’s illness at a glance, and openly challenge him was supposed to be timid?
This report was fake.
Or rather, the person inside that body had been replaced.
Gu Ci crumpled the paper into a ball and clenched it tightly in his fist.
Whoever you are, now that you’ve entered my territory, don’t expect to leave so easily.
Just then, a faint groan came from the outer room.
Gu Ci’s ears twitched.
It was Jiang Ning’s voice.
“Hurts…”
Was she dreaming?
Gu Ci hesitated for a moment before finally getting out of bed and quietly walking to the doorway.
In the moonlight, he saw Jiang Ning curled up beneath the quilt, her entire body drawn into a tight ball. Her brows were knitted together, and cold sweat covered her forehead.
Black Panther was anxiously licking her hand.
Gu Ci frowned and crouched beside her.
“Hey.”
He nudged her.
Jiang Ning didn’t wake up. Instead, she instinctively grabbed his hand.
Her hand was icy cold, like a block of ice.
“Cold… So cold…”
She murmured in her sleep, her body trembling violently.
The chill had penetrated deep into her body. Combined with malnutrition, it had triggered hypoglycemia and severe physical weakness.
Gu Ci looked at the hand she was gripping tightly. He tried to pull it away, but after two attempts, he still couldn’t free himself.
“Troublesome woman.”
He cursed under his breath.
Then he did something so unexpected that even he found it unbelievable.
He bent down and lifted Jiang Ning, quilt and all, into his arms.
She was so light.
Like a bundle of dry firewood.
Gu Ci carried her into the inner room and placed her on the only wooden bed.
The moment Jiang Ning came into contact with the warm bedding, she instinctively moved toward the source of heat—the spot where Gu Ci had been sleeping.
Gu Ci stood beside the bed, staring at the woman who had claimed half of his mattress. His face darkened like the bottom of a cooking pot.
But he didn’t throw her off.
Instead, he lay down on the outer edge of the bed, turning his back to her and keeping as much distance as possible.
However, less than two minutes later…
A cold foot slipped out from beneath the quilt like a snake and pressed against his lower leg.
Gu Ci’s entire body stiffened.
“Jiang Ning!” he gritted out through clenched teeth.
The woman behind him didn’t respond. She let out a contented sigh, then pressed her other foot against him as well.
Gu Ci: “…”
He closed his eyes and silently repeated three times in his mind, I don’t kill prisoners of war.
This was destined to be another sleepless night.
But strangely enough, that overwhelming, destructive irritability he usually felt never appeared.
Instead, it was replaced by a subtle, unfamiliar feeling of helpless resignation.