Pei Jiaojiao covered her swollen, reddened cheek, tears streaming down her face like beads from a broken string. Hearing Shen Linzhou’s words, she showed no sign of backing down and continued to throw a tantrum, chin held high.
“I don’t care! Either you marry me today, or your brother can forget about having an easy life. At worst, we’ll all go down together. No one is getting out of this unscathed.”
Director Sun shielded her daughter, glaring venomously at Shen Linzhou.
“Shen Linzhou, even if Jiaojiao was in the wrong, as a soldier, you shouldn’t have used such underhanded methods to set up a young woman. You’ve ruined her entire life! No matter what she did, it didn’t warrant such a severe punishment, did it? You have to give me an explanation today.”
Since her daughter’s reputation was already ruined, she had to find a way to make Shen Linzhou marry her. Her daughter could not possibly marry Shen Linzhou’s good-for-nothing younger brother.
Director Sun’s blatant attempt to distort right and wrong made Shen Linzhou laugh in anger.
“Director Sun, you need evidence before making accusations. Slandering a soldier comes with consequences. What exactly do you want me to explain? Did I force her to sneak into my hospital room in the middle of the night?”
“My younger brother also said that he began feeling sick not long after eating. The food was brought by one of the cafeteria aunties.”
Shen Linzhou stood up. “Division Commander Pei, I suggest we report this matter to the military district. There are too many suspicious details. I suspect my younger brother was deliberately drugged. The method was so vicious that it was clearly aimed at me. The military district must investigate the source of the drug. They also need to find out whether that cafeteria worker has any connection to enemy agents.”
With that, Shen Linzhou headed for the door. When the hospital room opened, two guards were standing outside. The patients watching the commotion did not dare approach, but many of them stood in the distance, whispering among themselves.
“Shen Linzhou, stop! You can’t report this! Are you trying to force me to my death?”
Pei Jiaojiao’s shrill cries did nothing to slow Shen Linzhou’s steps. If anything, he walked even faster.
“Mom… Mom, hurry and stop Shen Linzhou! You absolutely cannot report this to the military district.”
Pei Jiaojiao clutched Director Sun’s clothes tightly, stomping her feet in panic.
Director Sun was beginning to panic as well. She had known from the beginning that this had been her daughter’s fault. If the investigation revealed that Pei Jiaojiao had drugged a military officer, her daughter’s future in the army would be completely over.
Watching Shen Linzhou get farther and farther away, Director Sun’s fingers trembled with rage. She pointed at Division Commander Pei and began cursing him viciously.
“Pei Tieshan, are you dead? Are you really going to force Jiaojiao to her death? If anything happens to her, if she suffers even the slightest mishap, I’ll fight you to the end!”
Pei Tieshan’s face was livid. He slapped away the finger she was pointing at him and called out to Shen Linzhou’s retreating back in a low voice.
“It’s my failure as a father that she turned out this way. She brought this on herself. I’ll investigate the matter thoroughly and give you an explanation. I’ll make sure she is strictly disciplined from now on. Let’s put an end to this here. What do you say?”
Shen Linzhou stopped and turned back, his expression indifferent.
“Division Commander Pei, my younger brother was in the middle of arranging a marriage. After what happened, we have no way to explain this to the woman’s family. My younger brother is a victim as well. What do you think?”
Division Commander Pei took a deep breath, forcing down the anger in his chest.
“Have your parents come over tomorrow. We’ll discuss everything face-to-face and settle this as soon as possible. We’ll all be relatives in the future. Don’t worry—I guarantee Jiaojiao won’t bother you again.”
After saying that, Division Commander Pei ordered the guards to force Pei Jiaojiao into the car.
“No! I won’t marry him! I can’t marry a man like that! Dad, Mom, help me! I’m supposed to marry Shen Linzhou!”
Only then did Pei Jiaojiao realize how serious the situation was. She had never imagined that her father would actually agree to let her marry that country bumpkin. How could she possibly do that?
There were plenty of men pursuing her. Even if Shen Linzhou refused to marry her, she could marry someone else, and she would not have to settle for a bad match.
“Mom, say something! You can’t abandon me! This is all Xiao Mandong’s fault. If it weren’t for her, how could Shen Linzhou have left the hospital room? If Shen Linzhou had stayed there, the person with me right now would have been him. He has to take responsibility for this! Mom… I’ll only marry Shen Linzhou. Otherwise, I’ll hang myself at the entrance of the military compound!”
Division Commander Pei felt such tightness in his chest that he could barely breathe. He had never imagined that the daughter he had always thought was gentle and sensible could turn out like this. Her entire sense of right and wrong was twisted. She sounded like a vulgar shrew.
“Pei Jiaojiao, say one more word and I’ll break your legs!”
Pei Jiaojiao was frightened by her father and did not dare say anything else. She could only sob miserably.
More and more people gathered in the corridor to watch. Director Sun swallowed the words that had risen to her lips. In the end, she could only leave with Division Commander Pei.
When Shen Linzhou returned to the hospital room, he saw Shen Hai sitting on the floor, still unable to recover from the shock. His voice was cold.
“Call Mom and Dad first thing tomorrow morning and have them go to Division Commander Pei’s house to ask for his daughter’s hand in marriage. I won’t be at the base tomorrow. I have a mission, so you’ll have to handle everything yourselves.”
Shen Hai remained dazed for quite a while. Then he suddenly understood, and his eyes lit up.
“Second Brother, what do you mean? That woman just now… she’s the division commander’s daughter? I’m going to become the division commander’s son-in-law?”
It was the kind of wonderful thing Shen Hai had never even dared to dream about. Yet it had actually fallen into his lap. From now on, the most successful person in the family would no longer be his second brother—it would be him. Once he became the division commander’s son-in-law, what could he possibly want that he could not have?
When Shen Linzhou and Zhou Qichuan left, Shen Hai was still sitting on the floor, rubbing the back of his head and grinning foolishly.
The two of them walked out of the hospital together. Zhou Qichuan could not help giving Shen Linzhou a thumbs-up.
“Kill two birds with one stone. Impressive.”
“I didn’t have a choice. You saw how stubborn Pei Jiaojiao is. If I didn’t get her married off quickly, she would keep causing trouble. But I still have to thank you today. If you hadn’t overheard her scheme with Zhang Shaohong, I might really have fallen into their trap.”
“You don’t have to thank me. You saved my life, after all. Besides, those two were idiots. They were plotting something wicked and didn’t even bother finding a secluded place. I happened to overhear them.”
“But you’re being too modest. Even if I hadn’t told you, with your vigilance, you never would have fallen for it.”
After leaving the hospital, Xiao Ding drove them to Red Flag Brigade, and the two men chatted and laughed along the way.
That night, Shen Linzhou and Xiao Ding stayed at Zhou Qichuan’s house, while Zhou Xiaomei moved into Xiao Mandong’s home for the night.
Early the next morning, Xiao Ding helped load all of Xiao Manxue’s luggage into Shen Linzhou’s jeep. Diandian was sent to Zhou Qichuan’s house to be looked after, along with its dog food.
Armed with the letter of introduction the brigade commander had prepared in advance, the group headed straight for the railway station.
At that time, there was only one green-skinned train to the capital each day. Although passengers needed a letter of introduction to travel, the train was still packed with people. Children even climbed in through the windows.
The army had arranged sleeper berths for them in advance, so the carriage was not quite as crowded.
The four sleeper berths were not in the same compartment. Xiao Mandong and Xiao Manxue were together, while Shen Linzhou and Xiao Ding were in separate compartments. Wanting to take care of Shen Linzhou, Xiao Ding tried to ask the conductor to switch their berths, but Shen Linzhou refused.
