The fragrance of flowers wafted in from outside the window. After a moment of silence, just as Yu Hao was waiting for Professor Han to ask why she wasn't going, Han Zhichen grabbed a stack of folders from the desk, tucked them under his arm, and strode briskly to the door. Without turning back, he waved his hand and said, "If you're not going, then don't go. It's a good chance for you to prepare the materials for tomorrow's business trip."

...

Military Sub-district.

Han Zhichen was led into a conference room where Li Hongwen and a few other leaders were already waiting. He smiled sincerely and apologized, "I'm terribly sorry. I have a business trip tomorrow and have been busy all afternoon. I rushed over as soon as I received the notification."

Li Hongwen stood up, shook his hand across the table, and asked with a smile, "Yu Hao didn't come?"

Han Zhichen nodded. "She's organizing the materials for tomorrow's business trip, so I didn't have her come."

Li Hongwen nodded thoughtfully. After introducing the leaders present one by one and a brief exchange of pleasantries, just as Han Zhichen was about to pull out his chair to sit down, Lu Huaizheng approached from behind in his service uniform. A "Professor Han" made him stand up from his chair again.

Han Zhichen nodded.

Lu Huaizheng then gave a proper military salute to Li Hongwen and the other leaders. After receiving their approval, he removed his cap and took a seat.

Li Hongwen asked him, "Is the counter-terrorism drill over?"

Lu Huaizheng pulled out his chair and hummed in acknowledgment.

"Did you root them out?"

"Not a single hair was left." He sat down.

Li Hongwen chuckled. "You could've at least saved some face for Instructor Li."

Lu Huaizheng shot him a sideways glance. "With live ammunition, no one will save face for you."

On second thought, Li Hongwen agreed. "That's true. After the meeting, have Old Li come to my office."

"Mm."

Lu Huaizheng leaned back in his chair, his gaze unfocused, answering distractedly.

Li Hongwen nudged his arm with his elbow and abruptly exposed him, "Stop looking, she didn't come."

Lu Huaizheng scratched the tip of his nose, gave a dry cough, and lowered his head, pretending not to say anything.

Li Hongwen teased him, "What a character."

Lu Huaizheng actually hadn't thought much of it. Maybe Yu Hao had other things to do. She had always been aloof; apart from her studies, she never really cared about other matters. It wasn't the first or second time she had stood him up.

They hadn't seen each other for so many years. Aside from that one year in high school, they knew very little about each other's past. To describe it in one phrase, they were the most familiar of strangers.

He lowered his head and smiled helplessly.

"Huaizheng."

A leader beside him called his name. Lu Huaizheng looked up. "Here."

"For the three months that Xiao Liu is on maternity leave, the organization has discussed with Professor Han. They are willing to send a researcher over to follow up. Additionally, they'll hold regular psychological counseling lectures, annual psychological assessments, and post-combat psychological monitoring." The leader paused here, tapping the table with his pen. "It just so happens that your annual psychological assessment is due. We'll set it for the end of this month. We'll have to trouble Professor Han to coordinate with your schedule as much as possible."

Han Zhichen indicated it wasn't a problem. "I can have my student follow up on this matter."

The leader nodded, then looked at Han Zhichen and said with a smile, "Don't be fooled by their serious demeanor on a daily basis; they're all still just a bunch of big kids, not very old. They can be quite mischievous in private, but they are all elite soldiers of the unit. We'll have to trouble you to look after them."

Han Zhichen nodded in understanding. "Of course. As soon as I return from my field research, I will immediately implement this matter."

Li Hongwen glanced at Han Zhichen, adding fuel to the fire, "Then let's have Yu Hao come. She's been here before and is familiar with the soldiers."

Han Zhichen said with a gentle smile, "That's not for me to decide."

Li Hongwen let out a "heh". "She's your student, and you can't decide?"

Han Zhichen: "Yu Hao has a lot on her plate. She has several research projects and students to mentor. I can't just send her over to be your specialist counselor for three months. She can be in charge of this area, and you can go to her if you have any particularly difficult problems. For ordinary counseling, my other students will do just fine."

Just as Li Hongwen was about to speak, a leader beside him raised a hand to interrupt. "Is that the student you mentioned? The one who's very good at lie detection?"

Han Zhichen nodded. "Yes. She's a rather special kid and not very sociable. A specialist counselor has to stay in the military unit for too long, I'm afraid she won't adapt. Besides, it wouldn't be good if she ended up offending your Captain Lu." The latter half of his sentence carried a hint of tattling.

Han Zhichen was very protective of his own. He still remembered the few times Lu Huaizheng had been sharp with Yu Hao.

Lu Huaizheng scratched his eyebrow, saying nothing.

Li Hongwen was also protective of his own cub. "Old Han, you don't know this, but Huaizheng has an excellent reputation. If you don't believe me, ask the leaders. He's always been kind to people and has never gotten angry with anyone. His temper is top-notch. You could offend anyone, but you couldn't possibly offend him. Are you perhaps mistaken about something?"

The leader, seeing things clearly, naturally understood the meaning behind Han Zhichen's words. He took off his hat, smoothed down the few sparse hairs on his head, and asked Lu Huaizheng, "What, did you scold the girl?"

Lu Huaizheng lowered his head and smiled. "How would I dare?"

The leader knew his temper. With a hmph, he said to Han Zhichen, "Soldiers are straightforward and not very good with words. Don't take it to heart. Otherwise, how could he still be single? We'll leave this matter to you. It doesn't matter who you send; we have one hundred percent trust in you."

Han Zhichen smiled and nodded.

Despite what he had said, he still assigned the matter to Yu Hao when he got back.

"I'm leaving this matter to you and Zhao Dailin. I've already spoken with the leadership. If that brat Lu Huaizheng dares to bully you, just write a complaint letter, and I'll forward it to the highest leader of their Military Sub-district for you."

Yu Hao chewed on her pen cap, staring at him blankly.

Han Zhichen gave her no chance to object, pulling Zhao Dailin, who was standing nearby, over for an emergency meeting.

"This is a serious matter, so we can't be careless. You two are my most trusted students, so I feel at ease leaving it to you. There are many taboos in the military unit, Dailin, you'll need to help Yu Hao out. Old Li originally wanted you to live in the military unit, but I firmly disagreed. Neither of you is married; how inappropriate would it be to live with a bunch of grown men?"

Zhao Dailin, on the other hand, felt it was quite a pity. "Living together would be pretty nice."

Han Zhichen glared at her. "How about I call Staff Officer Li right now and have him save a room for you?"

Zhao Dailin quickly waved her hands. "No, no, no."

Han Zhichen then turned to Yu Hao, who was staring blankly at the peach tree outside the window. Sometime in March, a few bright red peach blossoms had bloomed on its branches. He followed her gaze but didn't see anything special, so he tapped the table with the tip of his pen.

"Girl, stop spacing out."

Yu Hao calmly turned back. "Oh."

...Han Zhichen continued, "Coordinate your schedules with Zhao Dailin. You can go on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, or Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. The rest of the time, come back to the institute. I have other tasks for you. Also, don't forget to attend the weekly seminars, and don't forget to write your thesis. Don't slack off on your professional title review this year either."

"Okay."

In reality, this was her life: endless theses to write, endless professional titles to pursue.

...

Yu Hao was out of the province for a week for field research. On the last day, she received a text message from Lu Huaizheng.

She was in a meeting at the time. She glanced down at it and locked her phone.

That night, after racking her brain to finish her thesis, she got up to pour a glass of water. Her phone lay quietly on the desk. She looked at the text message again. The content was very concise.

When are you coming back?

Lying in bed, Yu Hao stared at the ceiling and thought, 'Do I still like him?'

Yes.

But it wasn't that intense anymore; the feeling was very faint. The name Lu Huaizheng was like something firmly carved deep into her heart with a pen. Afraid of it being mentioned, afraid of getting hurt, she had covered it with a thin layer of fine sand, smoothing it over. When there was no wind or sun, it remained peaceful.

But when there was an occasional stir, a few ripples, the fine sand would be gently blown away, unable to conceal it. All her thoughts would be exposed, and she would frantically try to cover them up again, only to find it was futile.

Even when angry at him, she still wanted to see him.

Seeing the text, she still couldn't help but want to reply.

It had been twelve years, and she realized this man still held a strong attraction for her.

Yu Hao scrolled through her phone out of boredom. She had about fifty friends in total, and her WeChat Moments was almost entirely spammed by Li Yaoxin, that WeChat Moments fanatic. Li Yaoxin really loved posting on WeChat Moments; she'd even post about eating a sausage.

However, Yu Hao quite liked it. It made her WeChat Moments feel more alive, not just a series of cold experiment reports. She was also quite keen on liking Li Yaoxin's posts; she had liked almost every single one of them.

After finishing her field research, the first thing Yu Hao did upon returning to the city was to report to the Military Sub-district.

The psychology office at the Military Sub-district was on the third floor. It was quite quiet, usually empty. Later, Yu Hao found out that Lu Huaizheng's office was right next door. However, he was rarely there; he was mostly in the field for practical training. Sometimes, he'd run upstairs from downstairs, drenched in sweat, still in his combat uniform and holding his cap, just as Yu Hao was heading down and would run into him.

However, Yu Hao never paid him any mind, simply walking downstairs calmly with her hands in the pockets of her white lab coat.

This particular noon.

Lu Huaizheng's combat training had just ended. The day's training was on emergency bandaging. To make it more realistic, he had specially asked a few cooks from the Air Force Canteen to get some pig's blood to smear on his body and face. As a result, a nervous rookie spilled the entire bag of pig's blood on him, making him look especially "bloody" and "realistic."

On his way back to change clothes, he scared a few old-timers who thought he had been ambushed.

"That 'injury' of yours looks pretty serious."

Lu Huaizheng lowered his head and smiled, about to say he was just messing around. But then he caught sight of someone approaching from the corner of his eye. He changed his tune and feigned pain, "It's really not light. My arm was almost crippled."

Hearing this, Yu Hao stopped in her tracks.

This time, she didn't ignore him. She ran up to him in a few steps, lifted his arm, and examined it from left to right. "How did this happen?"

Lu Huaizheng looked down at her, pretending to wince in pain. He furrowed his brows, his face a mask of pained forbearance, and spouted nonsense, "Got ambushed during the drill."

Yu Hao was a little skeptical. "You're kidding, right?"

She shook off his arm.

Smack. Lu Huaizheng's arm bent backward.

The man hissed in response, bending over as he grimaced in pain. With his head lowered, he grunted in agony, "You touched my wound."

Yu Hao looked down at him. "Where?"

Lu Huaizheng bent over, resting one hand on his knee. He raised his other arm and shook it slightly. "An injury from the training session a while back. It hasn't fully healed yet. You should go eat, don't mind me."

Yu Hao actually listened and walked away.

Lu Huaizheng slowly straightened up, watching her departing back in disbelief. His hands unconsciously went to his hips, and his eyes widened.

But after taking two steps, Yu Hao turned back.

He immediately bent over again, feigning a painful groan.

"Why did you come back?"

Yu Hao turned her face away and said, "I'll take you to the infirmary."

The infirmary was empty, the curtain at the entrance drawn.

Yu Hao waited behind the curtain, while Lu Huaizheng plopped himself down on the edge of the military doctor's desk, arms crossed, leisurely staring at Yu Hao behind the curtain.

Yu Hao got annoyed by his staring.

"Take off your clothes, I'll take a look for you."

Lu Huaizheng glanced around, coughed, and grabbed a book, pretending to flip through it with a serious expression. "That's not appropriate, is it?"

"Take it off!"

It was the first time in Lu Huaizheng's life that a woman had demanded this of him. He tossed the book onto the desk, hunched his back, stuck his hands in his pockets, and said with feigned modesty:

"Don't mess around. Men and women should maintain a proper distance."

"Fine, don't take it off. I'm not wasting my time with you anymore. You can just wait here by yourself." After saying that, Yu Hao was about to leave.

As she passed by him, Lu Huaizheng reached out and grabbed her wrist, stopping her.

Her hand was very thin and slender, and also very cold. Lu Huaizheng's palm could completely envelop it.

The man's palm was broad, dry, and full of strength.

He tilted his head, leaning close to her ear. His hot breath warmed her ear, and even his voice was clean and magnetic.

"Alright, I was lying to you."

As expected.

Yu Hao suddenly turned her head to glare at him. He was too close. The moment she turned, their noses almost touched. Their breaths intertwined, filled with his scent—unfamiliar yet familiar. He lowered his head slightly, his gaze fixed on hers, unwavering for even a second, like a bottomless well that could suck a person in.

Yu Hao felt as if the sand in her heart had been brushed away a little more by him.

Her heart began to pound wildly, thumping so hard it felt like it would burst out of her chest.

The voice by her ear sounded again,

"I lied to you because I wanted to be alone with you for a while."

Lu Huaizheng let go of her. Still in the same posture, half-sitting on the edge of the desk with his arms crossed over his chest, he said this with a frank and direct gaze.