Hello, Comrade. I'm Here to Marry You!

Chapter 26: Chapter 26: Are You Going to Marry Me?

The next moment, he had already lowered his shirt. Su Zhaozhao snapped back to her senses, looked up, and met Xie Huaizheng’s dark, intense eyes.

Su Zhaozhao paused for a moment before saying, "It looked good. I want to see more."

Her eyes curved into crescents as she smiled.

Xie Huaizheng instinctively clutched his shirt tighter. ’So much for that,’ he thought. ’I was planning on teasing this girl, but it looks like I’m the one who’s going to get teased in the end.’

Seeing Xie Huaizheng’s reaction, Su Zhaozhao felt even more inclined to tease him. "What’s wrong? So shy? I’ve already seen *and* touched. It’s a little late for you to be shy now."

Xie Huaizheng: "..."

He clenched his jaw, glaring at Su Zhaozhao as if he wanted to kill her.

’Her skin is even thicker than I imagined.’

Then, he scoffed and forced a smile. "Quite something, aren’t you, Su Zhaozhao? My grandfather told me you were timid and shy. If he saw you now, I’m afraid the old man would have a heart attack."

Hearing this, Su Zhaozhao was suddenly reminded that her current personality was indeed a world away from the original owner’s.

"Well, isn’t it normal for someone’s personality to be different from when they were a child?" Su Zhaozhao said with a smile.

The original owner and the male lead only had an arranged marriage. They hadn’t seen each other in ages.

A person’s personality is bound to change from what it was in childhood.

As Su Zhaozhao was organizing the medicine, Xie Huaizheng asked, "You seem pretty skilled at bandaging. Where did you learn?"

’His grandfather’s comrade-in-arms wasn’t a military doctor, was he?’

"Practice makes perfect," Su Zhaozhao explained. "My stepmother used to beat and curse me all the time. Getting hurt was a common occurrence. You could say a long illness makes a good doctor."

"Little liar," Xie Huaizheng sneered.

"Fine, don’t believe me," Su Zhaozhao sighed.

Of course, she was exaggerating. The original owner’s stepmother was unkind to her, but she didn’t beat her constantly, only occasionally.

She would hit her on the back or buttocks—places no one else would see.

That way, she wouldn’t be seen and gossiped about for being such a wicked stepmother.

’The original owner actually had it pretty rough,’ Su Zhaozhao thought. ’She only made one mistake—trying to break off the engagement with him.’

’Besides, the engagement wasn’t something the original owner initiated in the first place.’

’And yet her end was so tragic.’

’It’s a good thing I transmigrated here. In a way, you could say I saved the original owner’s fate!’

Xie Huaizheng wasn’t convinced by Su Zhaozhao’s story. He looked at her delicate, fair arms, which were completely free of scars.

’If the abuse had really been as horrific as she claimed, after years of beatings and scoldings, how could her skin not bear a single trace?’

He did notice, however, that after not seeing her for a few days, she seemed even more radiant and beautiful.

Her face was even lovelier. Today, she had coiled her hair behind her head into a round bun.

It made her look very sharp and capable.

At that moment, she lowered her gaze, carefully reading the instructions on the medicines before handing them to him.

"This one—after you shower and let the wound air-dry, apply it."

"These are painkillers. You can take one if it hurts."

"And this is a bandage, the convenient kind. You’ll be able to stick it on yourself."

As she spoke, her eyes were slightly downcast. A few stray strands of hair fell beside her cheeks, framing her small, jade-like face and lending her an air of classical, scholarly grace.

’The wind and sun of the Northwest, the dry desert—somehow, none of it had caused this delicate flower to wither.’

’Is this what they mean by true beauty being impossible to hide?’

A moment later, Su Zhaozhao looked up at him, her dark, shining eyes like those of a fawn in the forest.

Xie Huaizheng realized he had been staring dumbfounded at Su Zhaozhao. He immediately averted his gaze, his thin lips pressing into a line.

’How strange. It’s not like I’ve never seen a beautiful woman before, so why was I staring at Su Zhaozhao in a daze?’

"Go on, take it. What are you spacing out for?" Su Zhaozhao urged.

Xie Huaizheng took the items and asked, "You brought this much medicine with you on the road?"

Her luggage was so small—just a backpack and a handbag.

’She packed pastries and all this medicine, so how much room could be left for her own daily necessities?’

"Of course. I came all this way. I wouldn’t feel at ease if I didn’t bring some medicine," Su Zhaozhao said as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

She was getting more and more skilled at lying. Even when Xie Huaizheng fixed his sharp gaze on her, she could lie with a straight face.

What could she do? Her ability to adapt was just that strong. She knew how to say the right thing to the right person, whether they were human or ghost.

"Oh, and these are fruit candies. If the pain gets really bad, you can have a couple. They’re sweet." Su Zhaozhao grabbed a handful of candy and stuffed it into the bag.

Xie Huaizheng found this amusing. "I’m a grown man. Why would I eat candy?"

"Grown men are still human. They feel pain, too." Su Zhaozhao’s voice was soft, but her tone was serious.

The smile on Xie Huaizheng’s lips faded slightly, and his hand tightened around the bag.

No one had ever said anything like that to him before.

Before he could even feel touched, Su Zhaozhao suddenly thought of something and asked him, "By the way, did you come to see me as soon as you got back? Are you here to marry me?"

Xie Huaizheng froze.

The girl was leaning very close to him now, her eyes sparkling, her crimson lips like rose petals.

She was simply too dazzling, her vibrant life force blooming right before him.

It almost took his breath away.

The truth was, while he was on his mission these past few days, Xie Huaizheng found he couldn’t stop himself from thinking about her during his downtime.

As soon as he finished his mission and reported to the commander, he had rushed straight to the guest house to find Su Zhaozhao.

While waiting for her to return, he had heard from the female comrade at the front desk just how frequently Su Zhaozhao had been going out these past few days.

He also learned how well she was doing.

Standing on the balcony smoking, he had wondered what Su Zhaozhao was like now.

’Is she as miserable about being here as I imagined, or is she really as free and happy as the woman at the front desk said?’

The moment he saw Su Zhaozhao, he understood everything.

Although Su Zhaozhao’s behavior here was not what he had expected, he wasn’t displeased.

In fact, deep down, he felt a little happy about it.

’Perhaps it’s because she adds a bit of fun to my otherwise dull life in the Northwest.’

But now, seeing the expectant look on Su Zhaozhao’s face as she awaited a positive answer, Xie Huaizheng said, "You’re overthinking it. I was just passing by."

Disappointment immediately clouded Su Zhaozhao’s face. "You’re lying. That’s not what Brother Xiao just said."

"You know better than anyone that nothing good ever comes out of his mouth."

With that, Xie Huaizheng stood up and said to her, "I’m heading back."

Su Zhaozhao walked Xie Huaizheng to the door and asked, "Can we have dinner together tonight, then?"

"We’ll see," Xie Huaizheng said with a wave of his hand, turning to leave.

Su Zhaozhao called out, "I’ll wait for you to let me know, then!"

Xie Huaizheng didn’t look back, but the girl’s sweet voice drifted to him on the wind, stirring a strange sweetness in his heart.

Xie Huaizheng went downstairs, unwrapped a candy, and popped it into his mouth. The sweet and sour strawberry flavor was unique, and quite tasty.

He ambled back to the main gate of the military district, only to see two people standing there.

Jiang Manzhi, and Jiang Manzhi’s mother.