Chapter 9 Changfeng crashed into his arms.
Jiang Mingxue paused for two seconds, then said, "I'm fine."
"Is your training location in Mengshan today also?"
“Yes, Rong and I saw someone here and were worried something had happened, so we came to check. We didn’t expect it to be your wife,” Xing Kaiyu said.
He didn't recognize Jiang Mingxue at first; he only realized it when he got closer.
Just as they were about to arrive, they witnessed the terrifying moment when the rope suddenly plummeted. The two rushed over, but it was too late.
Fortunately, my sister-in-law's apprentice arrived quickly, otherwise the consequences would have been unimaginable.
Unfortunately, their captain missed such a great opportunity to be a hero and save the damsel in distress.
Xing Kaiyu clicked his tongue in regret, then cautiously stole a glance, wondering how the usually composed Captain Rong would react when he saw his wife being rescued by another man, who was now tenderly helping his sister-in-law untie her ropes.
Rong Chengzhou stood still, his gaze shifting to Jiang Mingxue's waist, his expression unreadable: "Do you need any help?"
Xing Kaiyu raised his thumb with his hand hanging at his side:
Speaking with high emotional intelligence.
Instead of directly saying "Get out of here, you bastard, don't touch my wife," they use witty and sarcastic language like "Do you need help?"
Tsk, as expected of the cunning and shrewd... no, the all-powerful Captain Rong.
Xing Kaiyu did a reading comprehension exercise of several hundred words, but underestimated Jiang Mingxue's insensitivity.
She glanced down at Yan Ze's progress and replied, "No need, Yan Ze is almost done."
Rong Chengzhou: "Oh."
Xing Kaiyu: "..."
Why are they all so calm?
Then came a long silence, with only the mountain wind brushing past her ears and the rustling sound of Yan Ze untying the ropes.
Half a minute later, Yan Ze untied the rope and threw it to Bai Dong, a hint of anger creeping onto his cool and handsome face.
Knowing he was in the wrong, Bai Dong went to untie the knot at the other end of the kapok tree without saying a word.
Jiang Mingxue immediately checked the herbs in her backpack to make sure they were intact, then rolled up the rope and packed them in. Just as she was about to put them on her shoulder, Rong Chengzhou reached out and lifted the backpack strap: "Let me do it."
"No..." Jiang Mingxue instinctively refused, but then changed her words to, "Okay, thank you."
With so many people around, she couldn't act too distant.
The afternoon sky suddenly turned a sickly yellowish-brown, the clouds churned, and the light began to dim. Jiang Mingxue looked up at the gray sky and said, "A strong wind is coming. Let's go back quickly."
Rong Chengzhou nodded and looked at Xing Kaiyu: "I'll send them back. You take the others to continue training. I'll come back after I'm done."
Xing Kaiyu stood at attention and saluted: "Received!"
They turned and went deeper into the area.
Jiang Mingxue watched his retreating figure and asked in confusion, "The typhoon is coming soon, aren't you leaving?"
“We’re not leaving.” Rong Chengzhou had already taken the lead and walked forward, his tone calm. “You can’t choose the weather when you’re fighting a war. The more extreme the environment, the more you need to learn how to survive.”
Jiang Mingxue opened her mouth, unsure of what to say, and followed with her head down.
"Are your missions always this dangerous?"
Even their training takes place in extreme environments; it's unimaginable how dangerous it would be for them on a real battlefield.
"It's alright," Rong Chengzhou replied with only two words.
Jiang Mingxue felt that she was asking a pointless question.
She had seen Rong Chengzhou's wound, a ten-centimeter-deep cut, and he hadn't even frowned. She couldn't imagine what kind of environment had honed such strong endurance.
She suddenly felt a tightness in her chest, unsure whether it was empathy or sadness at the soldiers' arduous journey.
Seeing that he was carrying the bag with his left hand, I stepped forward and asked, "Is the injury on your arm healed? Or should I carry it?"
I regretted asking the question as soon as I did.
She hasn't thought to say a word about it these past few days; by now, the scars have probably all disappeared.
Rong Chengzhou didn't give it to her: "It's already healed."
"All right."
Just as she was about to withdraw her hand, Rong Chengzhou caught a glimpse of the back of her hand, and his eyes darkened: "Your hand is injured."
Jiang Mingxue looked down and saw that her right hand was indeed bleeding.
She was scratched many times while gathering herbs, possibly by the thorns of some kind of herb or by sharp rocks on the cliff. But because she was wearing gloves the whole time, her senses were dulled, and she didn't notice that her gloves were torn and that there was a cut on the back of her hand. It wasn't long, but it was constantly oozing blood.
Only after Rong Chengzhou reminded me did I feel the burning pain.
But she often gets scrapes while gathering herbs, so this cut is just a minor injury to her.
She put her hand down: "It's alright, let's get going first, we'll deal with it when we get back."
Rong Chengzhou didn't listen. He just bent down and picked a few plantain leaves from the grass beside the path, rubbed them in his hands, and pressed them onto her wound.
This is a method they often use to treat minor wounds in the field.
"Do you have any gauze?" he asked.
Jiang Mingxue shook her head: "No."
"Did you bring any gauze?" she asked, turning her head.
"I brought it."
Yan Ze walked over from behind, cut open a piece of gauze, and bandaged Jiang Mingxue's wound.
Rong Chengzhou glanced at him indifferently, moved his hand away, and let him wrap the gauze around Jiang Mingxue's hand and tie it.
After bandaging the wound, we continued on our way.
Rong Chengzhou remained silent, and Jiang Mingxue felt embarrassed to chatter in his ear any longer.
She slowed her pace and walked alongside Bai Dong.
Yan Ze and Rong Chengzhou walked at the front, ignoring each other. If the mountain path hadn't been so narrow, they would have kept a good distance of at least two meters.
Bai Dong sensed tension and asked her in a low voice, "Sister Ming, is there some kind of conflict between your husband and Brother Yan Ze?"
Jiang Mingxue didn't think so: "Really? I didn't notice."
These two are just quiet people, but they probably don't have any grudges against each other, because they haven't exchanged a single word yet, so there's no chance for them to have any conflict.
If you put the two of them in the same room, even the mosquitoes would suffocate.
Bai Dong scratched his head, realizing that he might have been mistaken.
but......
After being reminded by Bai Dong, Jiang Mingxue suddenly remembered the scene from earlier and began to reflect on it seriously.
"Bai Dong, do you think I did something wrong just now?" she asked in a low voice.
Shouldn't she have let Yan Ze help her untie the ropes, or let him bandage her wounds?
Before meeting Rong Chengzhou, she often forgot that she was already married. She spent every day with her students as a teacher, and needed Yan Ze and Bai Dong's help with many things.
Yan Ze and Bai Dong are about the same age as her younger brother, or even a little younger. In her eyes, they have always been her students and her younger brother. Doctors don't see gender, and she has always put her patients and the clinic first, so she has never deliberately avoided the topic of gender.
So even though Rong Chengzhou was present today, she still habitually accepted Yan Ze's help, only that they accidentally got a little too close.
But she suddenly remembered that her sister-in-law, Yun Shu, had only glanced at another man at the banquet, and her unreasonable brother had been angry for three whole days, threatening to have separate rooms.
Why is it that the weather is three days after birth?
Of course, it was because Yun Shu didn't coax him; he ended up sneaking back to the master bedroom on his own.
Of course, she sided with her sister-in-law in this matter; she rarely took advantage of her foolish and wealthy brother.
But it also indirectly reminded her that it didn't matter what she did before marriage, but after marriage she should take the initiative to avoid suspicion. Just like when dating, she needed to consider her boyfriend's feelings, even if Yan Ze and Bai Dong were just like younger brothers to her, and even if she and Rong Chengzhou were just a newlywed couple.
Her line of thinking was fine; it was just a pity she asked the wrong person.
"No way...?" Bai Dong was a super straight man who had been single for 24 years. He cautiously looked ahead, but only saw the man's broad and slender back.
He earnestly shared his opinion, "Colonel Rong is so imposing and charismatic, he shouldn't get angry over such a trivial matter, right?"
Unexpectedly, the volume was out of control, and Rong Chengzhou's cold voice came from the front immediately afterward:
"Won't."
Bai Dong chuckled: "See, I told you it wouldn't happen."
Jiang Mingxue breathed a sigh of relief: "Then I'm relieved."
She also felt that Rong Chengzhou must be a colonel with an extremely broad mind.
While we were chatting, we hadn't even finished walking the mountain path, and it was getting darker and darker.
The mountain wind changed from whimpering to howling, surging in with dust and sand, bending the branches of the small trees on both sides of the mountain road.
Everyone's hair was blown into a mess, but Rong Chengzhou's military cap remained neatly worn. Apart from his training uniform being slightly bulging, the wind seemed to have no effect on him.
Jiang Mingxue's face stung from the wind, and the temperature in the mountains kept dropping. She hugged her arms as she descended the mountain, reminding everyone, "The wind is getting stronger, let's hurry up."
"Okay, Sister Ming."
A gust of wind blew by, and Bai Dong quickened his pace. When he looked up, he found that Jiang Mingxue had already left him a meter behind.
He stared wide-eyed in surprise and asked, "You don't need to walk this fast, do you?"
Dust filled the air. Jiang Mingxue's eyes were slightly closed, her voice drowned out by the howling wind: "I... I didn't want to walk so fast, but I couldn't control myself..."
Bai Dong suddenly realized and slapped his forehead: "Oh no! Sister Ming is too light!"
The three then realized that Jiang Mingxue only weighed 80 pounds and couldn't withstand a gale of force 8.
The wooden stick she picked up on the mountain had been lost, and Jiang Mingxue, now without support, was pushed and dragged forward several steps by the wind.
The combined force of gravity descending the mountain and the push of the gale-force winds allowed it to pass through the gap between the two in the blink of an eye, overtaking Rong Chengzhou who was in the lead.
Rong Chengzhou reacted quickly, grabbing her wrist and pulling her to his side.
Jiang Mingxue finally stopped and gently patted her chest.
"Hahahaha... Sister Ming, you're hilarious! This is the first time I've ever seen someone being blown away by a typhoon." Bai Dong had never seen his teacher in such a disheveled state before, and he laughed so hard he was bent over.
Jiang Mingxue glanced at him, too tired to lecture him.
"Thank you, thank goodness you reacted quickly." She tidied her messy hair and said to Rong Chengzhou.
The man scrutinized her thin frame: "Eat more."
“…Oh.” Jiang Mingxue couldn’t refute it.
Don't walk alone.
"Okay." Jiang Mingxue nodded, pretending to break free from his arm. "I'll go with Bai Dong."
Bai Dong was also thin, so the two of them could walk safely by holding onto a rope.
However, the palm at the wrist was still burning hot, and he did not let go.
The slightly rough knuckles slowly moved down.
The next second, her hand was enveloped by a warm, large hand. The warmth enveloped her icy hand, and Jiang Mingxue froze on the spot.
The wind around her seemed to stand still, flowing exceptionally slowly. She looked down at his hand, which was tightly gripping hers, and instinctively tried to pull it away, but it was forcibly tightened, and she couldn't break free.
He took her hand naturally, looked down at her, and said, "Let's go."
Thump, thump...
It felt as if an electric current was traveling through his hand, his heartbeat suddenly became disordered, and a subtle feeling welled up from deep within.
He didn't say any sweet words, yet he easily threw her into a panic.
Jiang Mingxue suppressed the strange feeling in her heart and pretended to be calm: "...Okay."
She couldn't keep up with the scene if she had to improvise; her acting skills still need improvement.
She thought.
His touch was a bit strong, but it didn't hurt her; instead, it made her feel safe. His slightly rough calluses brushed against the back of her hand, sending a tingling, numbing sensation through her.
She lowered her eyelids slightly and quietly looked down at their clasped hands.
His hands were large, and his fingers were much longer than others, able to completely envelop her entire hand. He was also carrying her blue-gray backpack in his left hand.
This scene inexplicably reminded her of a familiar one—
Her grandfather took her to school when she was a child.
...No, no, no.
Jiang Mingxue quickly banished those strange thoughts from her mind.
It was clearly just the large height difference between them that caused her to misinterpret the situation. She was Dr. Jiang, a respected doctor by everyone; how could she let herself be taken advantage of?
Jiang Mingxue turned her gaze forward, straightened her back, and adopted the imposing manner of a 21st-century "female Bian Que" (a legendary Chinese physician).
The hand that had been covering her had somehow become clenched, holding her four fingers in its palm.
The two people held hands and walked down the mountain, one on the left and one on the right, walking steadily but not slowly.
Bai Dong looked like he'd been struck by lightning, nodding repeatedly: "So this is what marriage is like. Seeing this makes me want to find a girlfriend too."
"Yan Ze, what about you? Do you have a girlfriend? When are you planning to find one?"
Yan Ze ignored him and walked forward alone.
"Hey, why are you walking so fast?"
Bai Dong jogged a few steps, caught up with Yan Ze, and grabbed his backpack strap.
Yan Ze turned his head and looked at him with displeasure.
Bai Dong ignored him: "I only weigh 110 pounds, and I could easily be blown away by a typhoon, but don't worry, I'm straight, and I definitely won't hold your hand."
Yan Ze, who is always sparing with words: "Get lost."
Rong Chengzhou, with his long legs and long strides, deliberately slowed down to wait for her.
As they approached the foot of the mountain, a branch of a chinaberry tree, its roots broken and swaying precariously in the wind, suddenly fell down, landing directly above Jiang Mingxue.
"Watch out!" Yan Ze and Bai Dong's voices came from behind at the same time.
Jiang Mingxue looked up and saw it, and reacted quickly by taking a step forward. Unfortunately, she noticed it too late, and the branch fell even faster. Just as it was about to hit her head, someone suddenly grabbed her shoulder.
After a dizzying spin, he suddenly crashed into a solid chest.
"Are you alright?" A familiar voice came from above, deep, magnetic, indifferent, and aloof.
Jiang Mingxue still had her head buried in his chest and gently shook her head: "It's nothing."
His voice was muffled, as if it were tinged with a sob.
Rong Chengzhou frowned and lowered his voice: "Why are you crying?"
Jiang Mingxue finally lifted her head, her hand covering her nose, her eyes slightly red: "It hurts..."
It hurts so much.
She couldn't understand how someone could have such hard muscles when they looked so thin.
The fabric of the training uniform was already quite stiff, and his chest wasn't soft either; Jiang Mingxue felt like her nose was about to be knocked off.
If she had known that being hugged by him would hurt so much, she would have preferred to be hit on the head by a tree branch.
Rong Chengzhou was taken aback, then apologized, "I'm sorry."
"It's nothing." Jiang Mingxue rubbed her nose and stood up straight from his embrace. Taking the opportunity, she pulled her hand away, picked up the branch that had just fallen behind her, and walked to the front with her "crutch".
"It's too dangerous here, let's go down quickly."
Rong Chengzhou's gaze followed her hurried retreating figure, not revealing her hidden thoughts: "Hmm."
Jiang Mingxue pretended not to feel the scrutinizing gaze behind her.
She knew her actions were too deliberate, but she still did it.
There were too many intimate scenes today; this isn't right. Holding hands and hugging, especially in front of her two students.
The mature and composed persona she had painstakingly cultivated over the years collapsed twice in one day in front of Rong Chengzhou, making it impossible for her to maintain Teacher Jiang's prestige in their eyes in the future.
Moreover, the wind was much calmer down the mountain, and she had a "crutch" for support, so she didn't need him to hold her hand anymore.
After descending the mountain, the path became much easier. Rong Chengzhou escorted them to the entrance of the clinic and stopped, saying, "I'm going back now."
Jiang Mingxue had composed herself and politely thanked her, "Okay, thank you for your help today."
Rong Chengzhou nodded and turned back the way he came.
Bai Dong and Yan Ze had already delivered the medicine to the pharmacy, and Jiang Mingxue stood at the entrance of the clinic for a moment.
Dust and sand filled the air, the bamboo mats used for drying grain were rolled into the sky, residents kept their doors and windows tightly shut, and the streets were deserted.
Only that upright and tall figure walked against the flow, heading alone towards the eye of the typhoon.
The wind seemed to transform into a giant hand.
It surrounded him, engulfed him, and devoured him.
Knowing full well that there are tigers in the mountains, yet still venturing into the tiger's den.
They are the same kind of people, willing to give everything for their beliefs.
His figure grew smaller and smaller, almost invisible as it was obscured by dust and sand.
For some reason, Jiang Mingxue felt as if he might disappear at any moment.
She suddenly took a few steps forward and called out to him, "Rong Chengzhou—"
He turned around.
Jiang Mingxue smiled gently and said softly, "Be careful."
Rong Chengzhou's eyebrows twitched slightly, and he understood her lip movements.
Despite the howling wind, he slightly raised the corners of his lips and nodded, saying:
"good."
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