Gao Mingcheng led Xing Zhaozhao back to the breakfast shop and sat down. He opened all the breakfasts he had just bought and laid them out on the table, letting Xing Zhaozhao choose what she liked to eat.
Xing Zhaozhao ate a custard bun and drank soy milk, looking at Gao Mingcheng curiously, and asked, "How did you know I was in the hospital? And you didn't seem surprised at all to see me?"
"Aren't you afraid I'm a ghost?" She moved closer to Gao Mingcheng and deliberately made a face.
Gao Mingcheng chuckled and gently tapped her head: "Where did this ghost come from in broad daylight?"
“And…” he said, pausing for a moment, looking at Xing Zhaozhao with doting eyes, “If it were a ghost, I would accept it.”
Xing Zhaozhao smiled sweetly.
"What about the hospital?" she asked again.
"You're the one I took to the hospital, don't you think?" Gao Mingcheng said with a smile.
Xing Zhaozhao looked at him in surprise: "So the shameless old scoundrel that the nurse told me about, who said I was his lover, was you?"
Gao Mingcheng raised an eyebrow slightly: "Shameless old scoundrel?"
Xing Zhaozhao chuckled sheepishly and stuffed a custard bun into his mouth in a flattering manner: "I didn't know that person was you back then."
Gao Mingcheng finished his meal in a few bites, then looked at her with a smile: "And now?"
"Of course, it's my dearest lover." Xing Zhaozhao didn't hold back her sweet words.
Gao Mingcheng's smile deepened immediately.
The young man at the next table, perhaps having overheard something, cast a strange, searchlight-like glance his way over.
Xing Zhaozhao glared back without hesitation: "What are you looking at? Haven't you ever seen an old married couple showing affection before?"
That gaze immediately withdrew.
Neither of them cared about what others thought, and calmly continued eating their breakfast.
"This millet porridge is good." Gao Mingcheng pushed a bowl over.
"Mmm." Xing Zhaozhao reached out and took it.
"This red bean bun is also good, it's your favorite." Gao Mingcheng handed over another bun.
"Mmm." Xing Zhaozhao opened her mouth and bit down.
Savoring the delicate red bean paste inside the bun, Xing Zhaozhao narrowed her eyes slightly and asked Gao Mingcheng, "Where did you find me?"
“An abandoned cellar,” Gao Mingcheng said.
"How did you know about that abandoned cellar?" Xing Zhaozhao asked.
Gao Mingcheng glanced at her: "Forgot? The night you were blocked by a few young men and couldn't get back, didn't you also knock someone unconscious?"
As her memories returned, Xing Zhaozhao looked at Gao Mingcheng, her eyes slowly widening: "That person wouldn't be you, would it?"
Gao Mingcheng hummed in agreement.
Xing Zhaozhao grinned: "Am I that amazing? I actually managed to knock you out?"
As she spoke, she quickly looked Gao Mingcheng up and down again: "You're too old, you won't make it..."
Before she could finish speaking, Gao Mingcheng quickly stuffed a steamed bun into her mouth, silencing her.
Even at eighty, he wouldn't allow anyone to tell him he couldn't do it.
“The moves you used were all taught to you by me. It’s hard not to recognize them. If it were someone else, do you think they could have escaped?” Gao Mingcheng said.
Xing Zhaozhao recalled the events of that night carefully and said, "I was in a hurry to get away and didn't pay attention to so much."
She looked at Gao Mingcheng in surprise: "You found the cellar with just these?"
"That's not all. I also consulted with the people you've been in contact with since you came here, and slowly deduced it," Gao Mingcheng said.
Xing Zhaozhao looked at him with admiration: "I knew it, my Mingcheng is the best."
Gao Mingcheng couldn't suppress the smile on his lips.
However, thinking of how she lay in his arms last night, covered in blood and barely breathing, Gao Mingcheng's face quickly darkened again.
"What happened last night? Who hurt you?" he asked.
There were no secrets left from him, so Xing Zhaozhao naturally didn't hide anything from him and told him about Professor Zhou, Professor Yang, and their spy student Li Jian.
"Zhou Qingyuan, Yang Xin?" Gao Mingcheng was in the army at that time and was not familiar with the people who were sent down to Xiaogaozhuang.
“They have a son named Zhou Huaixi, who is said to be an internationally renowned physicist. I met him here before, with that Li Jian. He hasn’t been exposed here yet,” Xing Zhaozhao said.
Gao Mingcheng's expression hardened upon hearing this.
He didn't know Zhou Qingyuan and Yang Xin, but he had heard of Zhou Huaixi's name. He was even more uneasy when he heard that there was a spy who had been lurking in the shadows until now and had not been caught.
He suddenly stood up, patted Xing Zhaozhao's head, and said, "Sit here for a while, I'm going out to make a phone call."
Xing Zhaozhao nodded: "Mm."
Gao Mingcheng turned and left, returning after a while: "I have notified the relevant departments, and they will immediately conduct a thorough investigation of that man named Li Jian."
"That's good," Xing Zhaozhao said.
Although we can't bring Professor Zhou and Professor Yang back to life here, it's good that we can clear their names.
Xing Zhaozhao rested her chin on her hand and looked at Gao Mingcheng with a smile: "My Mingcheng is amazing now, isn't he? He can notify the relevant departments with just one phone call."
Looking at Xing Zhaozhao's smile, Gao Mingcheng couldn't help but recall that year when he rushed home only to find her pale face and cold body. His heart clenched.
He risked his life on the front lines to defend the country, all he wanted was to provide for her and their child, but he couldn't even do that.
Gao Mingcheng sat down next to Xing Zhaozhao and held her hand tightly: "I'm sorry, I got home late and didn't protect you and the child."
Xing Zhaozhao was stunned for a moment, then her eyes quickly reddened, and she gently shook her head: "It's my fault. I've wasted my strength and can't even protect my own child."
"But it won't happen again." Xing Zhaozhao's face, still wet with tears, suddenly broke into a proud smile. "Now I'm protecting all three children very well."
As she spoke, Xing Zhaozhao told Gao Mingcheng everything that happened after she died in childbirth while giving birth to Xiao Hongling.
"It's quite amazing, actually. I thought I was about to die, but then I heard you call out in my ear, and I came back to life, even regaining my memories of my past life," Xing Zhaozhao said with a smile. "If I didn't know, I wouldn't have known. But now that I do, how could I just sit here and wait to die?"
“Now, everyone in the Gao family, except for those few children, has been sent to a labor camp. They won’t be back for at least three to five years.” Xing Zhaozhao said, glancing at Gao Mingcheng with some concern. “Don’t you think that’s too harsh?”
Gao Mingcheng was terrified by what Xing Zhaozhao said, and his hand holding hers kept trembling.
“Ruthless?” Hearing Xing Zhaozhao’s question, a cold glint flashed in his eyes. Thinking of the old man who was still being kept in the sanatorium by him, barely clinging to life, he snorted and said, “Too easy on them.”
He calculated the time; it would probably be another three to five years before he returned from that world. Zhao Zhao was still too soft-hearted; he would have to come back on his own eventually.
"When I get back, remember to tell me all of this," Gao Mingcheng said earnestly, looking at Xing Zhaozhao.
Xing Zhaozhao was stunned for a moment before realizing what he meant, and nodded: "Oh."
Just then, a series of noisy sounds suddenly rang out at the entrance of the breakfast shop.
Xing Zhaozhao turned her head to look in surprise.
More guests came in, young and old, big and small, seven or eight people in total, who rushed in and made a lot of noise.
"Why are there so many people? Could you make some room? I have several elderly people and children here."
Some guests couldn't resist leaving before they finished eating.
That's so ill-mannered.
Xing Zhaozhao watched from the side and couldn't help but frown.
There was an old woman inside who seemed to notice her gaze and turned to look at her.
Their eyes met, and both of them were stunned at the same time.
It looks kind of familiar.
Before Xing Zhaozhao could react, the old woman's face showed fear, and she screamed, "A ghost..."
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