Previously, the Military Unit didn't allow the use of smartphones. Last year, a new notice was issued—'Internet in the Barracks'—stating that the use of the internet and smartphones was now permitted, just with time restrictions.

Lu Huaizheng had always been too lazy to switch. Every time he went out on leave with his team members, the streets were full of touchscreen phones, while he was the only one with a brick phone with a keypad. Chen Rui and the others would laugh at him, but he didn't mind and actually quite enjoyed it.

Because every time a girl came up to hit on him, "Hey handsome, can I add you on WeChat?" he would pull out that brick phone, calmly say, "I really don't have it," and the girl would walk away, dumbfounded, thinking he was some country bumpkin from a backwater corner of the world.

He had only just replaced this phone. He was a sentimental person; he had used his old brick phone from high school until now, when it finally broke down completely. He had also just registered for WeChat not long ago and had few friends, so when he opened his WeChat Moments, it was almost entirely filled with Li Yaoxin's posts.

The topmost post was one she had just published. Underneath was a comment, which was her own reply to herself.

"Miss Yu Hao, you really love to like my WeChat Moments, don't you."

Lu Huaizheng's heart tightened. He nervously mustered up the courage to scroll down further.

Li Yaoxin's WeChat Moments were as long and tedious as an old lady's foot-binding cloth. Lu Huaizheng lost his patience halfway through and stopped scrolling. He shoved the phone back into his pocket, leaned his back against the door of Li Hongwen's office, and fell into deep thought, wondering when those two had gotten in touch—

In a flash of lightning, a shiver ran down his spine as an extremely dreadful thought crossed his mind.

He once again pulled the phone out of his pocket, opened WeChat, and, with his head down, his long fingers quickly swiped through Li Yaoxin's WeChat Moments, flying back to a month ago.

Then, he stopped at that Saturday.

She had indeed posted on her Moments, with six pictures. The last one was of an idiot smiling like a fool—who else could it be but him?

Li Yaoxin really loved replying to her own posts. She replied to herself under almost every status update.

That one was no exception.

"Too many people are asking, so here's a unified reply: blind date, hehe."

Lu Huaizheng felt his mind go blank with a roar. It felt as if dozens of carriage wheels were rumbling inside him, chaotic and unsettling. Hell, even his first parachute jump hadn't been this nerve-wracking.

Considering her reactions over the past few days, he figured Yu Hao must have seen it, and probably even liked it.

A stuffy feeling swelled in his chest. It was stuck, unable to go up or down, with nowhere to be vented, leaving him feeling suffocated.

Lu Huaizheng's heart pounded; he felt like a real piece of trash. He wasn't exactly a perfect gentleman, but he wasn't a bad person either. At most, he was a bit of a smart-mouth. When he did something wrong, he was never afraid to face the consequences—a real man takes responsibility for his actions. In his youth, he even had a heroic spirit that could pierce the clouds, daring to be angry, to speak out, and to argue.

He had never deceived anyone. He called a spade a spade, always frank and straightforward.

The only one he had ever tried to deceive was a girl, and he hadn't even succeeded in winning her over.

On one hand, he was embarrassed that his lie had been exposed; on the other, he felt that Yu Hao's anger meant she still had feelings for him.

A good thing.

Lu Huaizheng finally saw that 'like' on Sun Kai's WeChat. Sun Kai had created a group chat for his wedding, and to his surprise, he found both Li Yaoxin and Yu Hao in it. Sun Kai and Li Yaoxin had known each other since childhood, you could call them childhood sweethearts. As for Yu Hao—

At first, he didn't know it was Yu Hao. It was the second day of his leave, and he was helping Sun Kai pick out a wedding ring at a shopping mall. Upon hearing it was for a wedding, the sales assistant enthusiastically laid out this year's bestselling rings neatly on the counter for them to choose from.

The two big men, usually decisive and formidable on the battlefield, were completely clueless at this moment. Lu Huaizheng was even less experienced. He sat on a high stool with one long leg propping him up, hand on his hip, with only one thought in his mind, 'This sparkly, iridescent thing would be so cumbersome on a finger; it would get in the way of firing a gun.'

Sun Kai carefully held up one and turned to ask him, "How about this one?"

He glanced over. "What's the difference between this one and the last one?"

Sun Kai, pinching the ring, turned to look at the sales assistant.

The sales assistant smiled warmly and explained enthusiastically, "Sir, this one is thirty points, while the previous one was only ten. For weddings, thirty to fifty points are the most popular."

Both of them were stunned, not understanding what 'fifty points' or 'thirty points' meant.

Sun Kai asked, "How big is fifty points?"

Sales assistant: "In layman's terms, fifty points is 0.5 carats, with a cross-section diameter of 5.1 millimeters."

Sun Kai nodded thoughtfully. Lu Huaizheng understood now. He put a hand on Sun Kai's shoulder and reminded him, "It's about the same size as the caliber of the gun you usually use, just 0.7 millimeters smaller. Negligible."

...

The way men's minds work is really...The sales assistant was scared stiff, her hand holding the ring started to tremble. "Gentlemen...is there anything else you...you'd like to see?"

Sun Kai didn't notice and waved his hand. "I'll look a little more."

Just then, both of their phones buzzed. Chen Rui asked in the group chat, "Who's the one with no profile picture?"

Sun Kai replied, "Dr. Yu from the Psychology Department."

Lu Huaizheng abruptly looked up and asked Sun Kai, "Is that Yu Hao?"

Sun Kai nodded, "Yeah."

"When did you add her on WeChat?" Lu Huaizheng asked, sitting on the high stool and eyeing him from the side.

Sun Kai was completely focused on the diamond rings, picking and choosing, and answered distractedly, "I added her after the drill that day. The guys in our squad are enthusiastic. It's just the guys in Team One, the ones you lead, who are all detached from worldly affairs." After speaking, Sun Kai asked the sales assistant to show him another pair.

Lu Huaizheng lowered his head and opened Yu Hao's WeChat profile. It was clean and simple, just like her, without even a profile picture.

"Let me see your phone," he suddenly said, looking up.

Sun Kai casually handed over his phone. Lu Huaizheng opened Li Yaoxin's WeChat Moments. Although he was mentally prepared, when he saw Yu Hao's big, blatant 'like', he still felt as if he'd been struck by lightning and the sky was falling—He. Was. Done. For.

Someone in the group asked: "Dr. Yu, what kind of men do you like?"

No one responded.

Others teased, "Whatever type she likes, it's not your type."

"How about someone like Captain Lu? Do you like him?" This was from Chen Rui.

"Captain Lu has never had a girlfriend, a pure twenty-first-century virgin!"

This was a common joke they made in private.

"Don't bully Captain Lu just because he doesn't check WeChat."

"But seriously, Dr. Yu, how about you consider our Captain Lu?"

Yu Hao never came out to say anything.

Just as everyone was about to turn in their phones, a WeChat notification popped up.

From Li Yaoxin: "Hasn't your Captain Lu had a girlfriend before? He said he dated someone in high school."

The group chat exploded in an uproar.

"High school? Holy crap, puppy love?"

"I couldn't tell."

"I knew Captain Lu wasn't that innocent."

"Captain Lu must have his own special way with the ladies."

...

Lu Huaizheng: "Are you all too idle today? Isn't it time? No training?"

...

...

The chat went cold for a moment.

Immediately after, another message popped up.

Yu Hao: "Mm, I'm saying this very seriously and for the last time, I have no other thoughts about your Captain Lu."

...

...

The chat went cold again, and then everyone sent an awkward smile emoji.

"Time to turn in the phones, turn in the phones. Stop fooling around."

"We were just joking around, Dr. Yu, please don't mind."

"Since Dr. Yu has said so, everyone should stop joking."

...

Lu Huaizheng, his face cold, closed WeChat.

After choosing the ring, Sun Kai took advantage of the spare time while paying to scroll through the WeChat history. Seeing a certain someone's dark face, he decided to poke the sore spot: "What? You're interested in Dr. Yu?"

Lu Huaizheng leaned against the counter with his arms crossed, turning his face away without a word.

The Boucheron store was on the first floor, on the outer edge of the mall. Outside was a bustling intersection, the narrow, crowded road filled with cars, like a coiling dragon moving as slowly as a snail.

Sun Kai took his card back from the sales assistant, sighed, and said, "I think Dr. Yu...it's not that she's bad, but she doesn't seem very fun. If you really like her—bro, I know a few passionate and outgoing girls...really proactive—"

Before he could finish, Lu Huaizheng had already pushed the door open and left.

Sun Kai reached out from behind him, "Hey, where are you going?"

He threw back a sentence, "Waiting for you outside."

Lu Huaizheng was dressed casually that day. A black jacket accentuated his sharp jawline. When not in his Military Uniform, his features were actually softer, less severe. He had a high-bridged nose, slightly raised sword-like eyebrows, thin lips with a clear outline, sharp corners to his mouth, and white, neat teeth. Even as just eye-candy on the street, passing girls couldn't help but turn back to look at him.

But his gaze was fixed tightly on the slowly moving traffic.

Yu Hao was leaning against Shen Xiyuan's car, the two of them chatting idly.

"Should I come pick you up after the lecture is over?" Shen Xiyuan asked.

"No need, I'll take a taxi."

"It's dangerous for a girl to take a taxi alone. I should come get you."

"Really, it's fine."

Shen Xiyuan ruffled Yu Hao's hair. "Alright then, you be careful."

...

Sun Kai came out carrying his purchase and received a text from Lu Huaizheng.

"Something came up, I'm leaving. You head back to the unit first."

Sun Kai gritted his teeth and cursed, "Damn you."

"Where's the car?"

The reply came: "Drove off."

"Holy crap, so I'm supposed to walk back?"

"Take a taxi. I'll cover it."

...

Shen Xiyuan parked his car at the entrance of the Air Force Sanatorium. The guard carefully checked Yu Hao's ID before finally raising the barrier to let them through.

A short while later, another car turned in from outside and was stopped.

Lu Huaizheng rolled down the window. As soon as his face appeared, the guard knew he was one of them. "On leave today?"

He wasn't in a hurry to go in. He leaned back in his seat and bantered cheekily with the guard, "Yeah. What's going on inside? So lively?"

The guard said, "A psychology lecture for veterans."

"Which floor?"

The guard thought for a moment and said, "Building No. 5, I think. Second floor, in the Veterans' Activity Center. If you're free, you can go have a listen, treat it as a preview."

"Alrighty."

The two chatted idly. Lu Huaizheng leaned back in his seat, lit a cigarette, and offered one to the guard. The guard didn't dare to smoke it but accepted with a smile, carefully tucking it into his pocket.

After handing it over, Lu Huaizheng let his hand hang casually on the outside of the window frame and smiled to the side.

Just then, Shen Xiyuan's car drove out from another lane, its window also rolled down.

The guard went to raise the barrier.

Lu Huaizheng didn't move, his car still brazenly blocking the entrance. The warm early spring sun shone on the roof of his car, a slanted beam landing on his arm hanging outside the window.

Shen Xiyuan drove extremely slowly. For a moment, the guard felt as if the scene was frozen. When the front of Shen Xiyuan's car passed the halfway point of the other car, both men turned their heads to look at each other at the same time.

Shen Xiyuan stared at him with great interest for a long while.

Lu Huaizheng merely gave him a placid glance before quickly looking away. He pulled back the hand hanging outside the window, slightly raised his chin, and expressionlessly brought the cigarette to his lips, taking a slow, deliberate drag.

So indifferent, with so little interest, and a hint of impatience at the corner of his brow.