"Yanchen, so you and Zhao Jun were both sent by the military, which means you're still a soldier. Now that you've found what you're looking for, you should go back to the military, right? ... In that case, you're a soldier with a clean political background, while I'm a black element with a tainted past. Our backgrounds clash, so we're not suitable to be together at all. It's time to separate. Even if we can't be lovers, we can still be ordinary friends, right?"

Xue Yanchen never expected that she would have such thoughts after learning the truth.

"Jingyan, how could you say that? Do you think that everything I did before, except for not revealing my identity to you, was a lie? That I was playing with your feelings?" He sat up abruptly due to his agitation, which aggravated his wounds.

Luo Jingyan quickly reached out to support him: "You're injured, don't get agitated. You can say what you want to say slowly, I'm listening."

"Jingyan." He glanced cautiously at the doorway. "Could you close the door before we talk?"

Luo Jingyan got up and closed the ward door, as well as the window, then walked back and sat down opposite him again.

"Go on, say what you want to say."

Xue Yanchen's voice wasn't loud. He stared intently into the eyes of the woman in front of him: "Jingyan, I know what you're thinking. Do you think that I chose to date you even knowing your family background because I was lying to you, and that once I've completed my mission, I'll abandon you here, go back to my unit, and cut off all contact with you, becoming a heartless man?"

"No, I never thought that way."

Luo Jingyan wasn't lying; she still trusted Xue Yanchen completely. She was just thinking about her own identity and didn't want to implicate him.

“Jingyan, thank you for always trusting me. Actually, when I learned that your parents were people who had been sent to the countryside, I had already made a decision: no matter what happened in the future, I would be with you. At that time, the mission was not completed, and I had to keep my identity and the mission I was carrying out a secret. But even then, I had already thought about our future. At worst, I would take off this uniform, and then there would be no obstacles between us. So, Jingyan, I am very serious about our relationship, and I have absolutely no intention of playing around with it. You have to believe me.”

"You, you've decided not to join the army anymore?" Luo Jingyan simply couldn't believe it.

Xue Yanchen nodded.

Luo Jingyan felt a mix of emotions at that moment.

Generally speaking, if a man is willing to give up his career for her, it proves that he loves her very much and cherishes her very much, but she doesn't feel any happiness at all now.

Because she knew how important career and ideals were to a person, especially when someone was particularly passionate about a career, they could devote their soul to it. Asking them to give it up would be like a heart-wrenching pain. She didn't want Xue Yanchen to give up his ideals and ambitions for her sake.

Like her, in her previous life she always regarded her career as the most important thing in her life. Back then, her happiest thing every day was to cook dishes that customers liked and to break through her own limits step by step. When customers were satisfied with the dishes she made, that was her happiest moment.

Her career and ideals are her second life.

She would be in great pain if she were to give up cooking.

It wasn't until she traveled through time and met Xue Yanchen that she understood what love was.

She thought that before he met her, Xue Yanchen must have been just like her in her previous life, regarding serving the national football team and the people as his most important thing. If he hadn't met her, he would have spent his whole life shining in his beloved job.

Unconsciously, she recalled again the scars, big and small, on his body, how he risked his own life to save innocent people during that terrorist attack, and how he used his body to break up a collapsing roof beam a few days ago so that the old man beneath him could be safe. So, Lai Chunyang must have been captured by him and Zhao Jun before.

His heart was filled with passion and a sense of national duty. Compared to that, she suddenly felt that her petty love and affection were not worth mentioning at all.

Allowing him to retire would be tantamount to cutting off the wings of an eagle, preventing him from soaring freely in the sky forever.

But she couldn't lie to herself; she had a selfish side, and she wanted to keep him by her side so they could get married and have children together.

Because she has always been serious about relationships and never intended to play games with them.

As she pondered, she found herself caught in a internal struggle.

Seeing that she was in a daze, Xue Yanchen did not disturb her and waited quietly to the side.

After a moment, she came to her senses: "Yanchen, I want to know, what is your current position in the military?"

He was promoted to battalion commander at the end of the year before last.

"battalion commander?"

At such a young age, Xue Yanchen has already been promoted to battalion commander. This is likely due not only to his strong patriotism but also to his exceptional abilities.

If she leaves such a talented person in the fields, she will be no different from Daji, who brought chaos to the court.

She tried to calm herself down and attempted to persuade Xue Yanchen.

"Yanchen, I don't blame you at all for hiding those things from me before, and I don't feel wronged. You are a good comrade and a good soldier. The country and the people need talents like you. I still hope you will not retire."

She probably never imagined that she would become so great one day.

“Jingyan, I know there’s a selfish side to my decision. Nobody’s perfect. Since I made up my mind before, I won’t change it. Jingyan, don’t worry too much. I’ve thought about it before. Being discharged from the military is just the worst-case scenario. I know the current policy doesn’t allow us to get married, but policies are rules, but people are flexible. I will try my best to get them to agree.”

"What are you going to do? Do more missions and earn more merits? Exchange them with your own merits?"

"Mm." Xue Yanchen nodded.

That means you will encounter more dangers in the future.

“It’s all worth it. I want to exchange my military medals for our marriage certificate. Even if I’m not made an officer, I’ll just be an ordinary soldier. As long as we can be together, I can still fight as a soldier. I won’t lose my ideals and ambitions. Jingyan, don’t feel guilty.”

"What if even military medals can't buy us a marriage certificate?"