Chapter 9 Pain

After returning home, Shen Zhixia peeled open a Golden Monkey milk candy and started eating it. She wasn't hungry, but she just had a sweet tooth and wanted to eat something sweet.

She glanced at Huo Chenzhou and suddenly asked, "Do you feel sorry for her and feel a lot of pity for her?"

Huo Chenzhou asked, bewildered, "Who?"

Shen Zhixia muttered, "Don't play dumb. Of course it's Li Xiuying. She was washing clothes all by herself and caught a cold. Don't you feel sorry for her?"

Li Xiuying's situation was no secret. Ever since she came to the military camp, Old Mrs. Li had treated her like a maid, and she did all the dirty and tiring work at home by herself.

She was indeed a pitiful girl.

Huo Chenzhou frowned and said, "That family is not easy to deal with. You'd better spend less time with Li Xiuying. That old lady Li is a troublemaker in the family compound. Even Li, the clerk, can't do anything about her."

Shen Zhixia was surprised that he would say such a thing. She asked curiously, "I thought that you big men would feel pity for such a pitiful girl and want to help her."

“She is quite pitiful, but there are many pitiful people, and many others who have been displaced by the war. Some have become disabled because of the war. Compared to these people, Li Xiuying’s experience is nothing. If she is dissatisfied with her family, she can only get rid of it herself. No one else can help her.” Huo Chenzhou said in a very serious tone.

Shen Zhixia glanced at him several times, then said with a smile, "I understand."

Huo Chenzhou didn't know what she was laughing at, but he felt that her laughter was a little dazzling.

When she went to bed that night, Shen Zhixia changed into that bright red nightgown again. She lay on her side, and the silk nightgown outlined her exquisite figure.

Huo Chenzhou went to the yard to take a shower. There is now a shower room in the yard, which makes it very convenient to take a shower. However, you need to heat the water yourself before you can take a shower. Huo Chenzhou didn't heat the water, so he rinsed with cold water.

He finished washing in just three or four minutes.

Shen Zhixia thought that he would be cold after taking a cold shower, but when Huo Chenzhou lay down next to her, she poked his back and found that his body was burning hot.

His skin was bronze, his arms hung at his sides, his biceps were clearly defined, and the veins were wrapped around them like green vines. She touched his arm again; beneath the warm skin lay a hardness like cast iron.

"What are you doing?" the man suddenly asked, his voice hoarse.

Shen Zhixia turned her head and caught a glimpse of the firm muscles in his waist and abdomen, each muscle like a ridge sculpted by a knife, his abdomen rising and falling rhythmically with his breathing.

She recalled the men she had seen before transmigrating into the book; beneath their clothes were thin shoulder blades, while Huo Chenzhou's shoulders were so broad they could almost block half a door.

"Your arms are so big." Shen Zhixia wrapped her arms around his arms.

"Where am I not big?"

Huo Chenzhou turned his body to the side of the bed again, and Shen Zhixia's hands touched his body, which tickled him.

Shen Zhixia poked his broad back again, and soon after, she fell asleep.

She woke up again in the middle of the night, awakened by the pain.

The night air was damp, and Shen Zhixia curled up on the wooden bed, her fingertips gripping the sheets tightly.

A sudden twitch in her calf felt like a thin wire twisting tightly around her muscle. She bit her lower lip and groaned softly, beads of sweat forming on her forehead. Suddenly, she felt extremely wronged.

"What's wrong?"

The man sleeping next to her immediately woke up. He lit the kerosene lamp, and in the dim light, he saw a fine layer of sweat on Shen Zhixia's forehead. He immediately became nervous.

Shen Zhixia stretched out her legs, her nightgown almost lifted above her thighs, revealing her slender calves. At that moment, her left calf was twitching.

Her voice was trembling with tears: "It hurts so much."

"A muscle cramp?"

Huo Chenzhou didn't wait for her reply; his palm was already on her calf, his fingertips pressing on the spasming muscles.

Those hands, which had once gripped the bolt of a gun and held explosive charges, now seemed to be disassembling a delicate part, the force gradually increasing as they slowly loosened the taut muscles.

Shen Zhixia turned her face away to look out the window. The shadows of the trees swayed on the glass. The moonlight was very bright at this time. It was already late at night, but it was still quite bright outside.

“I asked the doctor, and he said pregnant women need to take more calcium, otherwise they will get leg cramps,” Huo Chenzhou suddenly said, his fingertip resting on the Chengshan acupoint below her knee. “I’ll order you some milk tomorrow.”

"Where did the milk come from?"

Even buying beef here is difficult, let alone imported fresh milk. Milk is a scarce nutritional product now, and it is almost non-existent in the daily diet of ordinary soldiers. It only appears occasionally in the care of the wounded and sick, in special positions, or in high-level occasions.

Huo Chenzhou said, "I'll ask about it later."

His knuckles continued to circle her legs, a technique he had learned from somewhere, which was even more effective than the massage therapists in the alleyways he used to work.

Shen Zhixia gradually relaxed, smelling the scent of soap and gunpowder on him. Her calves no longer hurt, and she fell asleep again without realizing it.

The kerosene lamp went out again, plunging the room into darkness.

When the first rooster crowed in the distance, Huo Chenzhou had already gotten up. After covering Shen Zhixia with a blanket, he went outside, his military cap tucked into his arm.

Shen Zhixia opened her eyes groggily, but saw no one.

She opened her eyes and saw Huo Chenzhou getting dressed in the courtyard.

She had just woken up, her voice still soft and sweet: "What were you doing outside?"

Huo Chenzhou had already gotten dressed. He turned around and asked, "Did I disturb you?"

"No."

Shen Zhixia had just woken up and felt like she couldn't close her eyes. She rubbed her face against the pillow and said in a muffled voice, "I'll sleep a little longer."

Huo Chenzhou looked at her for a while and thought she looked cute because she hadn't woken up yet.

Shen Zhixia took another nap. Suddenly, she remembered something. Huo Chenzhou went to the yard to change his clothes early in the morning. Could it be that he was afraid of disturbing her sleep?

This man can seem clueless about romance at times, but he can also be quite thoughtful at others.

Today, Shen Zhixia and Zhang Weihong made an appointment to go to the county town to buy clothes.

Shen Zhixia took some cloth coupons, which Huo Chenzhou had given her. Just as she finished packing, Zhang Weihong came over, carrying a tan military satchel, and said in a loud voice, "I'm planning to take one more person with me. You don't mind, do you?"

"Of course I don't mind, it's more lively with more people," Shen Zhixia said.

After a while, a female soldier appeared behind Zhang Weihong. She had short, neat hair that reached her ears, and her Type 65 military uniform stood out as straight as an ironed canvas.

Zhang Weihong introduced, "This is Lin Xiaowei. She's very capable; she's the deputy director of the medical affairs department."

Just as Lin Xiaowei was about to say something, she suddenly saw something and immediately said, "I suddenly remembered that I have some things to do today. I'll go with you next time."

After saying that, she left in a hurry.

Shen Zhixia thought she saw a man and a woman in the distance. The woman's belly was protruding, and she seemed to be pregnant as well.