Chapter 41 Heart-to-heart talk under the stars

Huo Tingxiao held Su Wanqing's hand and walked silently out of the activity room, through the quiet corridor of the guesthouse, and towards the car parked on the side of the road. His steps were long and fast, with an undeniable force. Su Wanqing almost had to jog to keep up. His palm was burning hot, tightly wrapped around her cold fingers. The scorching heat and irresistible force intertwined with her frantic heartbeat, making her dizzy and almost unable to think.

Only after they were in the car, the door slamming shut, shutting out any possible gazes from outside, did Huo Tingxiao let go of her hand. He gripped the steering wheel tightly, his knuckles turning slightly white from the effort. His jawline was tense, his eyes staring straight ahead, his chest rising and falling slightly, as if he was still suppressing his lingering anger.

The car was dead silent, with only the sound of two people's slightly rapid breathing.

Su Wanqing lowered her head, her fingers unconsciously curled, still tinged with the warmth and calloused touch of his palm. Her heartbeat was still rapid, her cheeks burning, and her mind replayed his earth-shattering defense and declaration over and over again, her eyes still sore.

He believed her. He believed her without reservation in front of everyone.

This sudden, powerful and firm trust, like a ray of burning light, instantly dispelled the haze and coldness that had accumulated in her heart for many days, leaving her almost overwhelmed by the huge shock and warmth.

The car didn't start immediately. Huo Tingxiao sat in silence for a few minutes, seemingly trying to calm himself. Then, he suddenly started the engine, and the car drove smoothly out of the compound, but not towards home, but towards a fork in the road leading to the suburban mountain road.

Su Wanqing was a little surprised, but she didn't ask. She just sat quietly in the passenger seat, watching the scenery rapidly receding outside the window, her mind still in a state of confusion.

The car finally stopped at a secluded viewing platform halfway up the mountain. From this high point, one could overlook most of Beijing's nightscape, far from the hustle and bustle, and the night wind was chilly.

Huo Tingxiao turned off the engine and removed the key. The car instantly fell into silence, with only the whistling wind outside the window and the vague hustle and bustle of the city in the distance.

He remained silent, simply opening the car door, getting out, and walking to the railing at the edge of the platform. With his back to her, he lit a cigarette. The crimson flame flickered in the darkness, and his tall, yet lonely figure blended into the darkness like a silent mountain.

Su Wanqing hesitated for a moment, then pushed the door open and got out. The cold night wind instantly blew into her collar, sending a shiver down her collar, but it also cleared her chaotic thoughts a bit. She slowly walked over to him, a step away, and together they gazed at the bright yet distant lights below the mountain.

The two stood there in silence, neither of them speaking first. The air was filled with the faint scent of tobacco and the cool, hard smell of his body.

After a long moment, Huo Tingxiao put out his cigarette and broke the silence with a low, barely perceptible hoarseness: "Don't take those words to heart."

Su Wanqing's heart trembled slightly. She turned her head and looked at his cold and hard profile. The night blurred his outline, but made his deep eyes appear sharper and more complex.

"I didn't." She answered softly, her voice a little vague in the wind, "Thank you... for believing me." She said the last few words with some difficulty, but they were full of sincerity.

Huo Tingxiao turned his head and looked at her face. In the darkness, his eyes seemed particularly profound: "I married you, and you are my wife. Doubting you is doubting myself." His tone was calm, but it carried an unquestionable certainty and... responsibility.

Su Wanqing's heart skipped a beat. Was it out of responsibility? Was that why he defended her?

A subtle sense of loss crept through her, but she quickly suppressed it. Even so, it was enough. At least, he was willing to take on this responsibility.

"Those rumors..." Su Wanqing took a deep breath, mustered her courage, and decided to be honest for once. "They're about my pre-marriage life. They said I was...immoral in the South. That's slander. I...had no...excessive contact with any man before I met you." She spoke with some difficulty, her cheeks burning, but she insisted. She needed to let him know the truth.

Huo Tingxiao listened silently without interrupting until she finished speaking. Then he said a faint "hmm" to indicate that he understood. His calm reaction surprised her.

After another period of silence, Huo Tingxiao suddenly spoke in a low voice, as if talking to himself, but also as if he was saying to her, "There are always many people in this world who can't stand others being better than they are. They use the dirtiest thoughts to speculate about the purest people."

Su Wanqing was stunned and looked at him in surprise. Was he trying to comfort her?

Huo Tingxiao didn't look at her, his gaze still fixed on the distant night sky. He continued, "I used to... not believe this either." His voice held a faint, almost imperceptible hint of fatigue and mockery. "Later, I realized that the human heart is unpredictable, even harder to guard against than the darts and spears on the battlefield."

Su Wanqing's heart tightened. Was he talking about the things he'd been through? The betrayals and sacrifices?

She suddenly remembered Xia Xiaoran's words, the sunny and cheerful Chen Feng, and the tragic "Thunder" operation.

An impulse surged in her heart, and she almost blurted out: "Is it because of... Chen Feng?"

As soon as she said it, she regretted it. She was too rash! That was the deepest scar and taboo in his heart!

As expected, Huo Tingxiao's body stiffened instantly, the air pressure around him plummeting, as if even the air around him had frozen. He whipped his head around, his gaze piercing her with undisguised shock and sternness. "How did you know that name?! Who told you?!"

His reaction was so intense that Su Wanqing was startled. She subconsciously took half a step back, her heart pounding, and hurriedly explained: "Yes, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to ask! It's... I accidentally heard you talking in your sleep one time... and mentioned this name, and... ambush... retreat quickly..." Her voice became softer and softer, not daring to look him in the eye.

Huo Tingxiao stared at her intently, his chest heaving violently, his eyes shifting unpredictably. Shock, anger, pain, vigilance... all sorts of emotions mingled fiercely in his eyes. The air around them seemed to freeze at the icy fury he emanated.

Su Wanqing was so nervous that her palms were sweating. She almost thought that she had touched an absolute forbidden area and would provoke his thunderous wrath.

However, unexpectedly, the fierceness and anger in Huo Tingxiao's eyes did not explode. Instead, after the extreme tension, they slowly dissipated bit by bit, and finally turned into a bottomless, heavy fatigue and... desolation.

He turned his head away from her, his gaze fixed on the empty distance. His voice was so low that it seemed to come from far away: "...dream talk?"

"Yes..." Su Wanqing answered in a low voice, her heart still beating violently.

There was another long silence. So long that Su Wanqing thought he would not speak again. Just as she was about to apologize and leave, he suddenly spoke. His voice was hoarse and erratic, as if he was not talking to her, but to the night sky:

"Chen Feng... was my best brother. We went to military school together, joined the special forces together... and during Operation Thunderbolt, he sacrificed his life to protect me." He paused, his breathing becoming heavy, each word coming out with difficulty, "That badge... is the only thing he left behind."

Su Wanqing held her breath, her heart aching as if being gripped by an invisible hand. She finally understood! She understood the blood-stained souvenir, the desperate roar in his dream, and all his indifference and pain!

It turns out that beneath that iceberg lies buried such a tragic and heavy past!

"I'm sorry..." She choked and whispered, for his loss and for her own recklessness.

Huo Tingxiao didn't respond to her apology. He continued speaking, as if caught in a vortex of memories: "... Many people say that it was my command error that led to his sacrifice. Maybe... they're right."

There was an almost numb sense of self-blame and pain in his voice, which broke Su Wanqing's heart.

"No!" she retorted impulsively, her voice trembling slightly with excitement. "Things on the battlefield change so quickly, how can you be blamed entirely on me? Mr. Chen Feng chose to protect you because he considers you his most important brother and comrade! He must want you to live well, not live in self-blame!"

These words came out of her mouth with an urgency and heartache that she herself was not aware of.

Huo Tingxiao turned his head abruptly, his deep gaze fixed on her sharply in the darkness, as if he was truly and seriously examining her for the first time.

Su Wanqing was a little flustered by his gaze, but she stubbornly did not dodge. She met his gaze with clear and firm eyes.

The night wind blew her hair, and behind her were the bright city lights. She stood under the starry sky, looking up at him, with a strange light flashing in her eyes, a mixture of sympathy, understanding, and a soft courage that he had never seen before.

Huo Tingxiao's heartstrings seemed to be plucked ever so slightly by this look. He stared at her in silence for a long time, so long that Su Wanqing almost thought time had stopped.

Finally, he let out a barely perceptible, extremely light breath, his tense shoulders relaxing slightly. He neither confirmed nor denied her words, but simply turned back, gazing at the night sky again, and muttered in a low voice, "...maybe."

These three words were light and airy, yet seemed to have exhausted all his strength.

After that, there was a longer silence.

But this time, the silence was no longer filled with estrangement and oppression. Instead, it was filled with an indescribable, subtle resonance that came from sharing some heavy secret and... an extremely subtle sound of ice melting.

They stood side by side under the starry sky, gazing at the same distant lights. Their hearts were surging, yet they strangely felt an unprecedented, silent closeness.

Tonight, there are no answers, no promises, not even clear comfort.

But at least, for the first time, they truly touched upon the cold scars and glimmers of light deep within each other's hearts.

This may be the beginning.