Feng Yanzhi had always been a decisive and resolute person, acting with swift and drastic measures.

The very next day, she took the license plate number and sought help from their neighbor, Old Wang. Old Wang's son was a local beat cop and could offer some assistance. However, this matter was a bit of a "gray area," and Old Wang's son, who had been honest and timid since childhood, naturally didn't dare to cross that line. A few days later, he had Old Wang relay a message.

"This person is definitely no ordinary man, and what he does isn't ordinary either. He didn't dare reveal anything else." After speaking, Old Wang added nosily, "Why are you asking about this person?"

Feng Yanzhi clutched the small slip of paper with the license plate number, feeling puzzled. 'How exactly is he not ordinary?' She gave Old Wang a skeptical sideways glance and retorted, "You can't even find out what specific job he has?"

Old Wang shook his head and shrugged. "My son said that even an ordinary person's information is confidential and can't be disclosed casually, let alone this guy. His status is not ordinary, and there's almost no information on him to be found."

Feng Yanzhi's heart instantly leaped into her throat. 'That girl must have gotten involved with someone shady outside.'

She gave Old Wang a sheepish smile. "Old Wang, with our friendship of so many years, I won't hide it from you. It's about that girl, Yu Hao. She came back last night and said she wants to marry this person, but she refuses to say anything else. You know how anxious a mother can get. You know that little girl has always been very opinionated since she was young. I'm afraid she's being deceived, so I wanted to check this person's background."

Upon hearing this, Old Wang's brows relaxed. He "yo"-ed and nodded in agreement.

"When it comes to Little Yu's matter, it definitely needs a thorough check. How about this, Old Feng, don't you worry. I'll go back and ask my son again. I'll let you know as soon as there's any news."

Only then did Feng Yanzhi smile, nodding repeatedly. "Then I'll have to trouble you with this matter."

As she finished speaking, the elevator door opened with a ding. Old Yu emerged, carrying a briefcase. Looking up, he saw the two of them acting mysteriously and furrowed his brow. "What are you two up to?"

Old Wang smiled at him. "Discussing your daughter's affairs."

Yu Guoyang handed the briefcase to Feng Yanzhi, rolled up his sleeves, and looked at Old Wang. "What's my daughter's business got to do with you? Go on, go on. You're always running to our place, you're really becoming the 'Old Wang next door'."

After shooing Old Wang away, Yu Guoyang turned to find that Feng Yanzhi had already carried his bag inside. He followed her in, changing his shoes while leaning one hand against the wall and saying to her in a low voice, "You're really something. Did you actually ask Old Wang's son to investigate?"

Feng Yanzhi hung up his bag, then turned, picked up a watering can, and went to the balcony to water the flowers. Without turning back, she said with a cold laugh, "You think I wanted to? If it weren't for your daughter refusing to tell me anything, would I have made such a big fuss and gone to Old Wang? ...She's been a sealed-up gourd since she was a child. I must have forgotten to snip open her spout when I gave birth to her."

Yu Guoyang shook his head and chuckled.

"Don't you think your parenting has been problematic from the start? Why doesn't she like talking to you? Ever since she started school, all you've cared about are her grades and her piano. When she wanted to have a heart-to-heart with you, you'd barely listen to a few words before steering the conversation back to her grades."

At this point, Yu Guoyang sat down on the sofa, picked up a newspaper, and put on his glasses. He glanced at Feng Yanzhi on the balcony and said, "Have you forgotten? When she got her first period, I was the one who bought her sanitary napkins. Of course she's not close to you. As her father, some things are inconvenient for me to ask about. But you, as her mother, cared about nothing but her studies. And now you're forcing her to get married. You're really something."

"Smack!"

Feng Yanzhi slammed the watering can onto the sink on the balcony. "Back then, I was too busy fighting a battle of wits with your mother. Where would I find the time to care for her? Is it my fault?"

The story of Feng Yanzhi and Yu Guoyang's marriage, if told from the beginning, could be made into an eighty-episode TV drama series.

When the two got married, both sets of parents disapproved. The reasons were numerous and convoluted. Old Madam Yu looked down on Feng Yanzhi's family background, while Old Madam Feng was a proud and aloof person who feared her daughter would suffer if she married into their family. In the end, they didn't even have a wedding; they stole their household registration books and hastily registered their marriage.

After they were married and Yu Hao was born, the old madam disliked her even more.

Yu Guoyang was also a blockhead who didn't know how to mediate. His emotional intelligence was even lower than Feng Yanzhi's. But Feng Yanzhi was someone who refused to bow her head, so the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationship had been inexplicably strained for all these years.

On this matter, Yu Guoyang was also at a loss for words. He shook his head; continuing this conversation would likely lead to another bloodbath.

...

Yu Hao felt like she had returned to her school days.

On the day of her high school entrance exam, she got her period. The abdominal pain was excruciating, and she missed the second half of the exam. As a result, she was assigned to High School 18. Anxious, Feng Yanzhi asked Old Yu to pull strings everywhere to see if they could pay to get her into Third Middle School. Yu Guoyang was thin-skinned and couldn't bring himself to beg people. Every time Feng Yanzhi encountered a difficult problem, she would threaten him with divorce. Old Yu had no choice but to swallow his pride and beg for help from all sorts of people.

Yu Hao couldn't bear to watch and decided to attend High School 18.

On her first day, she knew she could never like this school. It was a motley crew, with all sorts of people. The learning atmosphere was very lax, and the teachers' skills were not even on par with her junior high teachers. There were even some idiots who would note down every single word the teacher said.

The only thing was, this group of students was very united, unlike her previous school where everyone competed over scores, which questions they got wrong, and how late they secretly studied at night.

But all in all, she felt hopeless about her studies. After midterms, she brought home her report card. Feng Yanzhi compared it with the results of Old Wang's son, who attended Third Middle School, and became furious. She even stayed up all night to create a data analysis chart.

"You two used to be about the same in Chinese and Math. His math score on the entrance exam was even worse than yours. Look, half a semester has passed, what on earth have you been doing at High School 18?"

She didn't know what she had been doing either.

Feng Yanzhi felt this wouldn't do. She had thought Yu Hao was very self-disciplined, but she hadn't expected her to perform so poorly in the midterms. That night, she had Old Yu call the dean and ask him to get in touch with an acquaintance at Third Middle School to see if they could get Yu Hao transferred in.

Three days later, the dean replied.

At that time, when Old Yu was on the phone with the dean, Yu Hao was eavesdropping behind the door. The tone on the other end seemed quite troubled. After hanging up, Old Yu sighed heavily and explained to Feng Yanzhi that the matter was currently very difficult, as the Ministry of Education was conducting strict inspections.

In an instant, Yu Hao's anxious heart settled back into her chest. After she tiptoed back to her room and gently closed the door, she lay on her back on the bed, staring blankly at the glaring incandescent light above for a moment. Then, with a kip-up, she sprang into a sitting position, suddenly realizing—

Huh, why was she suddenly a little reluctant to leave this school?

It seemed...she was suddenly a little reluctant to leave that boy.

She wanted to see him sleeping on his desk or leaning back in his chair chatting with people. She wanted to see his high-spirited appearance when he played basketball on the court. She wanted to see the smile that was always on his face, whether he was being scolded by the teacher, teased by classmates, or when he saw her. When he smiled, the sharp corners of his mouth would curl up, revealing his white teeth. His hair would fly, standing up softly in the air. His eyes would curve like a crescent moon, yet they were exceptionally bright, exceptionally healing.

After that, going to school seemed to become something to look forward to. She would deliberately dress up, and when she saw pretty clothes, she couldn't help but ask Feng Yanzhi to buy them. If she had to go to the teachers' office the next day and pass by Class Eight, she would wear that new outfit. The boy was rather oblivious and never actually noticed she was wearing new clothes.

Or she would deliberately pretend to run into him, then intentionally ignore him, waiting for him to chase after her and call out to her...

Yu Hao thought she wouldn't have such awkward adolescent girlish thoughts anymore, but after taking a shower, she found herself picking and choosing in front of her wardrobe. That familiar feeling was back.

She told herself, it's been so many years. Since she was back, she might as well give it a try.

Even if it meant hitting a brick wall, even if it ended in a complete mess, even if it ended tragically.

...

Lu Huaizheng was gone all morning. While Yu Hao was helping Wu Heping with his assessment, she asked casually. Wu Heping looked at her suspiciously, "Huh, Dr. Yu, don't you really dislike our Captain Lu?"

Yu Hao was looking down and taking notes. She paused for a moment but didn't raise her head.

"Just asking."

Wu Heping said "oh" and told her the truth: "The Captain took a new recruit on a patrol flight." After saying that, he leaned forward and whispered, "A real troublemaker, especially hard to manage."

Only then did Yu Hao look up. "How much of a troublemaker? More than your captain?"

Wu Heping: "You wouldn't understand even if I told you. Actually, he passed all the aptitude tests just fine. It's just that he's been moody lately, not training properly, and wanting to be discharged right after getting here. I don't know what set him off."

Yu Hao smiled. "Weren't you also making a fuss about wanting to be discharged a few days ago?"

"That's different. I can't keep up with the standards. He's a case of 'the body is in Cao's camp, but the heart is with the Han,' wanting to go home and do business," Wu Heping said. "Dr. Yu, you should smile more. You look really pretty when you smile."

At this reminder, Yu Hao immediately stopped smiling, coughed, and lowered her head again to scold him, "What are you gossiping about? You haven't even solved your own personal problems yet. Look at your own assessment form—"

Wu Heping was baffled and felt extremely wronged. 'Hey, weren't you the one who started asking about it?!'

Lu Huaizheng didn't return at noon either. He spent a full two hours on the training ground with that troublemaker.

The sun was scorching, and the wind on the airfield was strong. Airplanes streaked across the sky from time to time. From a distance, Yu Hao could see him in his training uniform, standing outside the shooting range. The fierce wind pressed his uniform tightly against his body. From this angle, his figure looked quite slim. Yu Hao felt as if she was about to be blown over by the gale, but his feet seemed to be rooted to the ground, standing firm and steady.

"Have you thought it through?" he asked the new recruit in front of him, his hands clasped behind his back and his chin lifted.

The person opposite him didn't speak.

He suddenly raised his voice, roaring, "Speak!"

The new recruit opposite him was probably stunned by the shout. His previously defiant gaze at Lu Huaizheng immediately dropped, and he lowered his head, sullenly squeezing out two words: "I have."

"If you're afraid of dying, you shouldn't have become a soldier in the first place! Do you think this is a place you can just come and go as you please?!"

The wind roared in her ears, his voice like thunder. Yu Hao pulled her white lab coat tighter, wrapping her arms around herself and shrinking into a ball. She had never seen Lu Huaizheng so angry. Most of the time, a casual smile hung on his face. Even his serious and stern demeanor on the training ground was just cold, never furious like this. Yet, his face was handsome even when angry.

The soldier gritted his teeth. "Captain Lu, do you have a girlfriend?"

He was still furious. He froze for a second, then reacted with a cold "No."

"Then you can't possibly understand how I feel."

Lu Huaizheng laughed in anger, placing his hands on his hips. "Do I have to have a girlfriend to understand how you feel?"

"If you don't have anyone you care about, you wouldn't know the heart-pounding fear every time you go on a mission."

"Who says I don't?" Lu Huaizheng stopped smiling, his voice turning a little colder. "It's precisely because I do that I try my best to come back alive from every mission. This world is more dangerous than you imagine, but it's also more peaceful than you imagine."

The soldier said again, "When I told my girlfriend, she was very worried. I don't want to make her worry."

Lu Huaizheng sneered, "Do you tell your girlfriend how many times you go to the bathroom each day? Why can't you just tell your girlfriend it's an ordinary job? Why do you have to give yourself a special label? Are soldiers special? When you usually buy tickets, do you always use the special priority lane?"

The new recruit nodded dazedly. "Yeah, isn't the priority lane for us?"

Lu Huaizheng shoved his forehead with one palm, his voice rising again. "Did you become a soldier just for these perks?! You might as well go report to the Disabled Persons' Federation! No matter what you experience on the battlefield, whether it's a near-death experience or a safe return, as long as you're not dead, none of it is worth mentioning. If you're afraid of dying, just tell me straight. 'I'm afraid of dying.' I'll make a special request to the organization to transfer you to the Cultural Troupe, so you won't be treated as a deserter."

At this point, his gaze casually drifted to the side. He squinted, froze, and his voice unconsciously lowered a little. "From now on, just sing and dance for us."

"What if I don't want to be in the Cultural Troupe?"

He withdrew his gaze and said coldly, "You'll be treated as a deserter, expelled from the military, permanently barred from re-enlistment, and you'll have to go to jail. Go back and think it over yourself."

The new recruit left.

Yu Hao huddled into a small ball in the fierce wind. The man over there turned and strode towards her. Halfway there, Lu Huaizheng took off his training uniform jacket, crossed the distance to her in a few long strides, and wrapped the jacket directly around her.

Warmth, carrying a familiar scent, instantly enveloped her from all directions.

In the strong wind, the two stood quietly under a tree, their hair dancing wildly in the air.

Yu Hao looked up at him.

Lu Huaizheng used both hands to pull the collar tight for her, nearly wrapping her entire face in his jacket, leaving only a pair of dark, glossy eyes staring intently at him.

He smiled nonchalantly and asked, "Have you eaten?"

This person could always casually diffuse situations he didn't want her to see.