When Ling Huanwu realized this, she subconsciously fastened the two buttons on her collar again.

She stared at Qiao Hui, whose face was also flushed, and moved her hips toward the stern of the boat, getting further away from him.

"Engineer Qiao, let's go back first, I'm not feeling well."

Qiao Hui also realized that something was wrong with his body, and quickly agreed, "Yes, it's too hot. We'll come out earlier another day to test the water temperature."

As he spoke, he turned the boat around, preparing to head back home.

But whether it was because he was too anxious or too flustered, Qiao Hui suddenly exerted force, and the oar that was originally tied to the hull flew off and fell into the sea.

Ling Huanwu was shocked and instinctively tried to pick it up.

"careful!"

Qiao Hui grabbed Ling Huanwu, who was leaning outwards, to prevent the small boat from capsizing.

As the oars drifted further and further away, Ling Huanwu still felt a lingering fear as she stretched out her hand; she had almost fallen into the sea with just one movement.

She felt the scalding heat of his palm on her wrist and quickly shook off his hand in fright.

Turning my head to look again, as luck would have it, a seagull flew over from somewhere and poked the rope tying the oar with its long beak. The other oar that was tied there fell into the sea with a "plop".

Ling Huanwu's eyes widened, feeling as if the sky had fallen.

Qiao Hui wiped the sweat from his forehead and chuckled, "It's alright, it's alright. We'll row back by hand. The boat isn't far from the shore. If all else fails, we can just leave the boat here and not move, and the aunties will notice something's wrong."

"Yeah?"

Ling Huanwu glanced at the distance between the boat and the dock, feeling like crying.

By the time they realized it, both of them were probably on fire.

She finally understood the reason behind Song Yaoyao's ambiguous smile and her obstruction of her and Qiao Hui's trip to sea.

Unexpectedly, this woman, having lived two lives, actually came up with a way to drug her and use her to cuckold Zhou Jiuzhen.

It's likely that Song Yaoyao wanted to catch the two of them in the act in the office.

But things didn't go as planned, and the two of them ended up taking a boat out to sea.

Qiao Hui swallowed hard and handed her the thermos he carried in his bag. "Have some water first. Even if the aunties didn't notice, there are always soldiers patrolling the nearby waters."

Ling Huanwu nodded without ceremony, took the kettle, poured herself a glass of water, and gulped it down.

She needs to stay sober now.

The best way is to drink more water to promote metabolism.

But after she drank several large glasses, she started to feel increasingly unwell.

Ling Huanwu gripped the thermos tightly in her hand, wishing she could crush it.

Unexpectedly, the drug Song Yaoyao gave Qiao Hui was actually in a thermos.

At this moment, the gentle breeze on the sea turned into the whooshing sound of the bellows under the stove, as if trying to make the two dry tinder blaze even brighter.

Ling Huanwu gripped the wooden plank of the boat tightly, her eyes reddening as she looked up, her voice trembling, "Engineer Qiao, could you... could you..."

Qiao Hui wiped his sweat with a towel, feeling almost faint from the heat, but still tried to avoid looking at the naturally alluring woman opposite him.

But when he heard what the woman opposite him said, he was so frightened that he dropped the towel in his hand...

*

"The escort vessel is currently located at 25°14'N. Everything is normal at sea, the signal tower is receiving signals well, and we can prepare to return to port."

After reporting to Zhou Jiuzhen, the engineer in charge of the signal tower test began recording the data.

Zhou Jiuzhen looked in the direction of the signal tower through his binoculars, and a weight was finally lifted from his heart.

The first task upon arriving on the island has finally been successfully completed.

He turned around, preparing to put down the binoculars, but inadvertently caught a glimpse of a familiar figure flashing through the binoculars.

Zhou Jiuzhen raised the binoculars again, adjusted the angle, and looked at the sea surface he had just seen.

Sure enough, Ling Huanwu's figure was spotted on a small boat.

On that dilapidated little boat without oars, there was actually his former comrade-in-arms, Qiao Hui.

"Change direction and head to Stone Village!"

Zhou Jiuzhen stared intently at the small boat through his binoculars and gave orders to the crew beside him.

"But that's shallow water, our boat can't dock there..."

The crew member, not understanding what was going on, told him the truth.

Without saying much, Zhou Jiuzhen put down his binoculars and, to everyone's surprise, took off his military shirt and jumped into the sea under the boat.

Qiao Hui saw the escort boat not far away from a distance, and stood up unsteadily, saying to Ling Huanwu, "Comrade Ling, thank you for trusting me and not drugging you."

“Even if I turn around, the person who drugged you will implicate us. Jiu Zhen and I are comrades-in-arms. I will never let your innocence be tarnished. I… I’ll swim over and call for help to save you…”

After saying that, he plunged into the sea without hesitation and swam toward the escort boat.

Ling Huanwu was stunned.

Watching Qiao Hui swim so fast in the sea, I couldn't help but want to give him a thumbs up.

In his previous life, Zhou Shuyao said he was under the influence of drugs and couldn't control himself, yet he could resist having food right in front of him.

To put it bluntly, Zhou Shuyao lacked self-control.

It's just a small matter like traditional Chinese medicine, why can't he handle it himself?

Ling Huanwu sighed, turned around, and huddled inside the small boat to attend to her own business.

In that short time, little did he know that Zhou Jiuzhen and Qiao Hui were swimming in the sea when the two white streaks in the waves met and shook hands.

Qiao Hui briefly introduced his wife's situation to Zhou Jiuzhen, saying, "Your wife needs you."

"Don't worry, I'll find the person who drugged me when I get back!"

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!