Su Lang lowered his eyes, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "I just can't bear to part with you."
Lin Zhilan probably didn't even remember.
Song Fang and Zhou Jianjun had targeted her before, so Su Lang had sent someone to investigate Zhou Jianjun's past.
Zhou Jianjun and Zhou Chen had enlisted together.
They were in the same unit and the same company.
During the mission where Zhou Chen sacrificed his life, Zhou Jianjun was with him.
It was a massive flood in the Haihe River basin that affected over a hundred counties and cities at the time.
Four cities were submerged, 3.57 million hectares of farmland were flooded, and 12.65 million houses collapsed.
The death toll from this flood disaster exceeded 5,000.
Hundreds of soldiers who went to the rescue perished, and among them, eleven officers and soldiers from Zhou Chen's company lost their lives.
Therefore, while Zhou Chen's death broke his comrades' hearts, it didn't seem particularly unusual.
It was only after Su Lang investigated carefully that he found a slight anomaly.
The biggest point of suspicion was that Zhou Chen's body was never definitively identified from start to finish.
Three days after the flood peak passed, the troops found a battered body in the mudflats outside Sanshilipu.
The life jacket on the body matched the newly issued batch perfectly, and the equipment numbers on it were identical to Zhou Chen's.
The body was severely damaged, so they could only rely on these items for identification.
That flood was ferocious; it swept away people and supplies in the blink of an eye.
Many civilians and soldiers who perished in the flood were washed away without a trace.
This was somewhat normal.
But as it happened, Zhou Jianjun was the last person to see Zhou Chen.
Perhaps Su Lang was biased against the man, but Zhou Jianjun's testimony seemed deliberately contrived to him in every aspect.
Upon returning to the unit after the disaster, Zhou Jianjun had wept bitterly, speaking with earnest emotion.
He claimed that he and Zhou Chen were guarding that section of the dam together, and when the floodwaters broke through, Zhou Chen's foot slipped.
Zhou Jianjun tried to turn back to save him but couldn't even grab the corner of his clothes, forced to watch helplessly as he was washed away.
His account was completely reasonable and perfectly fit the chaotic scene of the raging flood at the time.
After the search for Zhou Chen's "remains" yielded no results, Zhou Chen was naturally added to the list of those who sacrificed their lives fighting the flood, and was posthumously awarded the title of martyr.
Meanwhile, Zhou Jianjun earned merits during the disaster relief and was given the opportunity for further study and promotion.
It was during this training course that Su Lang, acting as an instructor, met him.
Su Lang had investigated the former comrades of Zhou Jianjun and Zhou Chen. Almost everyone spoke of Zhou Chen with regret and sorrow.
They also praised Zhou Chen for his competence, loyalty, and reliability, saying that if he hadn't died, he would have been the one promoted.
As for Zhou Jianjun, the evaluations from both leaders and comrades were quite mediocre.
Although no one said he was terrible, there was a stark contrast compared to the praise for Zhou Chen.
More importantly, everyone knew that although Zhou Jianjun and Zhou Chen were cousins, they were not close.
Similarly, there was another thing everyone knew.
That was that Zhou Jianjun was highly ambitious, yet in every training session and competition, Zhou Chen always outperformed him.
Zhou Jianjun thus became the eternal runner-up of the company.
It was said that Zhou Jianjun even had a massive argument with Zhou Chen over this nickname.
And then, the disaster relief mission happened.
Su Lang was highly suspicious of Zhou Jianjun's claim that he wanted to turn back and save Zhou Chen but it was too late.
More importantly, Su Lang was wondering...
Was that unrecognizable corpse wearing Zhou Chen's clothes actually Zhou Chen himself?
If not, where was Zhou Chen now?
And why hadn't he come back?
Su Lang had already ordered his people to continue the investigation, focusing on the missing persons and survivors from the flood.
Returning to the island this time, there was already a tiny bit of news.
Su Lang wasn't sure if the Dajiang in the files was actually Zhou Chen.
If he was...
How would Zhilan choose?
When investigating Zhou Chen's background, besides his abilities, character, and good reputation, almost everyone who knew him was aware that he had a beautiful wife and daughter back home.
The couple had a very loving relationship, and they were just waiting for Zhou Chen's promotion to bring the mother and daughter to live with him on base.
Su Lang understood this all too well.
In the beginning, his wife hadn't wanted to marry him.
She only chose him because she was forced by circumstances and for the sake of her daughter.
Right, and there was the daughter.
His marriage to his wife was a military marriage, protected by the state.
He would not agree to a divorce.
He also wouldn't agree to give the daughter back to Zhou Chen.
But he didn't know what his wife was thinking.
Living into his thirties, this was the first time Su Lang had ever tasted the anxiety of fearing loss.
He lowered his head, only to find his wife had already fallen asleep leaning against his chest.
Su Lang gazed at the peaceful sleeping face of the woman in his arms.
His palm slowly covered the back of her neck, his thumb gently stroking her fair skin, before he carefully and tightly pulled her into his embrace.
The sea breeze outside the window, carrying a salty and damp scent, rustled the curtains.
Moonlight spilled into the room, falling perfectly onto his wife's slightly furrowed brow.
Su Lang lowered his head, his warm lips pressing a restrained, gentle kiss against her forehead.
"Don't leave me."
He rubbed his chin against the top of her head, his eyes dark and unreadable.
His fingers trailed slowly down her spine, straightening her disheveled clothes, his movements full of tender cherishing.
The person in his arms seemed to sense this secure warmth. She subconsciously shrank deeper into his embrace, finding a more comfortable position, and fell into a deep sleep.
When Lin Zhilan woke up the next day, the bed beside her was already cold.
When she went downstairs, breakfast was already placed on the table.
Xu Yueyun was braiding her daughter's hair.
"You're up? Hurry and wash up to eat. You still have to go to work later, right?" Xu Yueyun said with a smile.
"Good morning, Mom." Lin Zhilan glanced outside. "Where are Dad and Chengzhou?"
Xu Yueyun replied, "Didn't the kids say they wanted seafood yesterday? Chengzhou took your dad to the supply and marketing cooperative."
"Oh, alright."
After quickly finishing her breakfast, Lin Zhilan kissed her daughter and rode her bicycle to work at the hospital.
By the time she returned in the afternoon, Su Lang was already shucking oysters with the children.
Lin Zhilan set down her things and suddenly noticed that the shoes meant for Yan Yuan were still sitting on the shoe rack.
"Chengzhou, did you forget to take the shoes with you?"
Jiang Chengzhou looked up and ran over, holding his hands up. "I went to the cooperative today, but I didn't see Yan Yuan."
"You didn't see him?"
Lin Zhilan frowned. Yan Yuan's family made a living by fishing.
Outside buyers offered low prices for seafood, while the cooperative paid slightly more. Usually, whenever Yan Yuan wasn't at school, he would take his seafood to sell at the cooperative.
"Could he be sick?" Lin Zhilan was a little worried. "It's fine, I'll go check on him at his house after dinner and drop off the shoes while I'm at it."
"I want to go see Brother Xiao Yuan too," Linlin ran over and grabbed her mother's pants.
"It's too late today. Let your brother take you to play with Brother Xiao Yuan tomorrow, okay?" Lin Zhilan crouched down and coaxed her.
