Chapter 98 I'll Back You Up
Li Chongshan had already seen through the deputy leader's ambitions and methods.
The Chen Xiangyang incident appears to be targeting young talents, but in reality, it is aimed at him, the team leader.
If Chen Xiangyang gets into trouble, the project will be halted, and the higher-ups will hold him accountable. Li Chongshan will be the first to be held responsible.
This is a cunning scheme that kills two birds with one stone!
Xia Fanxing accidentally stumbled upon and pointed out the problem with the ink today, which indirectly saved him, but also exposed her to danger.
If the deputy team leader finds out that she was the one who ruined things, he will definitely not let it go.
The internal struggles within the joint working group were treacherous and unpredictable; he absolutely could not drag a kind and innocent outsider like Xia Fanxing into it.
Therefore, his sternness and expulsion at this moment were less an expression of anger and more of a anxious protectiveness.
He had to cut off any signs that might give the impression that he was close to Xia Fanxing.
He had to keep her away from the center of this vortex.
Li Chongshan thought that this blunt reprimand would be enough to make anyone with a modicum of sense back down, or even feel wronged or angry, and thus develop a grudge against him.
However, Xia Fanxing's reaction once again surprised him.
She showed no fear, resentment, or anger at being offended.
She listened quietly, her clear, cold eyes seemingly able to pierce through his anger and reach the unspoken considerations deep within his heart.
After he finished speaking and the office fell silent again, Xia Fanxing spoke again.
Her tone remained calm, yet carried a stubborn insistence: "Team Leader Li, I have no ulterior motive. As a nurse, I just wanted to do my part when I saw patients in pain. Please keep this ointment and try it; it will definitely work."
She didn't say another word in defense or flattery, but insisted on leaving the ointment.
She nodded slightly to Li Chongshan, then turned and left the office.
The door closed gently again.
Li Chongshan stared intently at the small ceramic jar of ointment on the table, his chest heaving rapidly from the emotional turmoil he had just experienced.
After a while, his tense body slowly relaxed.
He leaned back in his chair and let out a very soft sigh.
Li Chongshan reached out and took the small pottery jar.
He ran his fingertips along the rough surface of the jar, his eyes shifting uncertainly.
This Xia Fanxing... is smarter and more... stubborn than he imagined.
She seemed to see right through his bravado and his true intentions.
Li Chongshan shook his head, a complex expression in his eyes.
But in the end, her tightly pursed lips curled up slightly, forming an arc that was hardly a smile.
He held the ointment in his hand.
It wasn't thrown away, but it wasn't used immediately either.
He simply held it for a long time, as if weighing something, or as if drawing a moment of tranquility from the cold earthenware pot.
·
Xia Fanxing walked out of Li Chongshan's office.
She saw Chen Xiangyang sitting against the wall at the corner of the corridor. He looked lost and dejected, as if he had lost all his vitality.
Xia Fanxing walked over, squatted down in front of him, and said calmly, "Comrade Chen Xiangyang, could I have that bottle of ink?"
Chen Xiangyang raised his head.
His face was still wet with tears, and his eyes were empty.
He forced a desperate smile that was more like a grimace. "Take it, Nurse Xia. Anyway... it won't be any evidence. It's useless..."
He mechanically pulled the half-empty bottle of ink from his pocket and handed it over.
Xia Fanxing took the ink but didn't leave. Instead, she continued to ask, "When did the deputy team leader give you this bottle of ink?"
Chen Xiangyang was stunned for a moment.
Fang Wei came out of the small office, preparing to go back to report to Li Chongshan, and looked puzzled when he heard the question.
"Nurse Xia, why are you asking this?" he couldn't help but ask, his brows furrowed.
Although Fang Wei didn't hear Li Chongshan's stern "protective" reprimand of Xia Fanxing, based on his understanding of Li Chongshan, he could almost guess Li Chongshan's intentions—
To settle the matter peacefully and protect those involved, especially Xia Fanxing, an outsider.
Xia Fanxing shook the ink bottle in her hand, her tone calm, yet carrying a chilling curiosity.
"The time it takes for the squid ink powder to dissolve in the ink may affect its oxidation rate and the form of the residue. I want to try to see if I can roughly estimate when it was added using some methods. If the timing doesn't match, it might indirectly prove that it wasn't something that was passively manipulated by Comrade Chen Xiangyang and Comrade Zhang Dong."
A glimmer of light instantly appeared in Chen Xiangyang's eyes, as if he had grasped at the last straw.
He hurriedly replied, "It was three days ago, the day before we set off for the regiment! The deputy leader wished us a safe journey and considered it a small farewell gift!"
After he finished speaking, he looked at Fang Wei anxiously, "Secretary Fang, Nurse Xia's suggestion is a good idea, perhaps..."
"No maybes!" Fang Wei interrupted him sharply, his expression becoming even more serious.
Fang Wei turned to Xia Fanxing, his tone unusually serious and admonishing.
“Nurse Xia,” he stepped forward, his voice low and his eyes clearly conveying dissuasion, “some things, once you’re on them, you can’t get rid of them. You should understand what the team leader meant earlier. This bottle of ink is just a bottle of ink; it can’t change anything. Holding it will only burn your hands.”
Fang Wei's words were full of implications.
He tried his best to make Xia Fanxing back down and not get involved in this mess.
Chen Xiangyang seemed to sense a deeper danger in Fang Wei's words. The glimmer in his eyes dimmed, and he opened his mouth but said nothing more.
After listening, Xia Fanxing simply looked at Fang Wei quietly, her clear, cold eyes conveying all the unspoken warnings he had left unsaid.
But she only slightly curved the corners of her lips, a faint smile revealing a resolute and stubborn determination.
"Thank you, Secretary Fang. I'm just used to getting things clear; I didn't mean anything by it. I'll be going now."
After saying that, Xia Fanxing gripped the bottle of ink tightly, turned around, and left.
Fang Wei watched her resolute back, feeling both anxious and angry. He stomped his foot and quickly turned around to rush back to Li Chongshan's office.
"Commander! Something terrible has happened!" Fang Wei burst through the door, panting. "Nurse Xia... she took that bottle of ink! She even asked Chen Xiangyang how long ago he gave her the ink, saying she wanted to try and find out when the squid ink was added! This is too dangerous! What if the deputy team leader finds out..."
"What?!" Li Chongshan suddenly stood up from his chair.
Because of the excessive movement, he aggravated his back injury, and the pain made him gasp for breath, his face instantly turning even more pale.
A surge of anger mixed with anxiety rushed to his head, and he almost roared, "Nonsense! Ungrateful! What on earth does she want?! Fang Wei, go! Go and stop her! Get the ink back, we can't let her touch it!"
Fang Wei responded and was about to rush out.
"Wait!" Li Chongshan suddenly called out to him.
Fang Wei stopped at the door and turned back, puzzled.
The anger on Li Chongshan's face gradually faded, replaced by an extremely complex emotion.
His tightly furrowed brows slowly relaxed, eventually turning into a long sigh filled with helplessness yet also subtly revealing a strange appreciation.
He slowly sat back in his chair, gazing out the window.
It was as if I could see myself from a long time ago through time and space, and a very faint smile appeared on my lips.
That smile held a hint of nostalgia, and even a touch of... indulgence?
"Forget it." Li Chongshan's voice calmed down, with a hint of weariness, but no longer angry. "It's no use you going now. Once she's made up her mind, not even ten oxen could pull her back."
He paused, his fingers tapping unconsciously on the table, his gaze distant.
"Youth is wonderful; you're stubborn and defiant. Even knowing there are tigers in the mountains, you still venture into the tiger's den. For the sake of 'reason,' you dare to touch anything and try anything."
He shook his head, as if talking to himself, or perhaps to Fang Wei: "Back then... wasn't I the same?"
This incident further convinced Li Chongshan that Xia Fanxing really did look remarkably like him when he was young.
That stubbornness hidden beneath a calm exterior;
That almost instinctive pursuit of truth and justice;
That spirit of fearlessness in the face of authority and hardship...
It was almost exactly the same as the version of himself he remembered, before reality had worn away all his edges.
He stopped her out of both protection and practical considerations.
But deep in his heart, isn't there still a spark of passion that had long been dormant?
Fang Wei looked at the complex and indescribable expression on Li Chongshan's face, nodded silently, said nothing more, and quietly left the office.
Li Chongshan sat there alone, his gaze falling once again on the jar of ointment left by Xia Fanxing on the table, his eyes becoming deep and thoughtful.
·
On a winter evening, darkness falls early and the cold wind howls.
The training ground, however, was a scene of bustling activity.
Soldiers are conducting cold-weather training, their slogans are deafening, and their breath condenses into a white cloud.
Xia Fanxing wrapped her cotton coat tighter and came to the edge of the training field, where she immediately spotted the most dazzling figure.
He was wearing only military green trousers, shirtless, standing at the very front of the group, leading the soldiers in combat training.
His bronze skin glowed with heat in the cold air, and his taut muscles rippled with every clean and crisp movement, exuding a primal and powerful aura.
Sweat dripped down his strong back and chest, glistening in the afterglow of the setting sun.
Xia Fanxing's face flushed red instantly, and her heartbeat suddenly became erratic.
She instinctively turned around abruptly, her back to the training field.
But the impactful image was deeply etched in her mind, lingering there, making her ears burn and her breathing unsteady.
She heard Xie Jingchen's steady and powerful commands, the whistle signaling the end of training, and his brief order: "Dismissed! Eat and rest, we'll continue tonight!"
Then came a flurry of footsteps and the soldiers' laughter and chatter fading into the distance.
But she still had her back to that side.
She felt the heat on her cheeks hadn't completely subsided.
Until a military overcoat, still warm from body heat and sweat, was draped over her and wrapped tightly around her.
A familiar masculine scent instantly enveloped her.
"Why are you here at this time?" Xie Jingchen's voice rang out above Xia Fanxing's head.
Slightly out of breath from just finishing training, and with a hint of joyful excitement.
Xia Fanxing took a deep breath and tried to calm her heartbeat before slowly turning around.
Xie Jingchen had already put on his military uniform jacket, but probably because he had rushed over earlier, he had only buttoned the bottom few buttons haphazardly.
At this moment, the collar was open, revealing a well-defined collarbone and a strong chest.
The height difference between the two caused Xia Fanxing to look up and her gaze to fall directly into that area full of power and masculinity.
Her face flushed red again, and she looked around unsure of where to look.
But soon, several pale white old scars on that bronze skin caught her attention.
Those were the marks of military achievements, and also proof of countless dangers.
The feeling of heartache instantly overwhelmed the shyness.
Her gaze softened, filled with the tenderness unique to lovers. She instinctively reached out to touch him, but then suddenly realized it was inappropriate, and her fingers involuntarily curled up.
Xie Jingchen noticed the lingering gaze and the change in her expression. His eyes darkened, and his Adam's apple bobbed slightly, but his tone remained calm and composed: "The ointment has been delivered? Did Team Leader Li accept it?"
When the topic turned to business, Xia Fanxing's expression became serious.
She looked around. Although the soldiers had dispersed, the training ground was not a place to talk.
“It’s not convenient to talk about this here.” She looked up at him. “We need a completely secluded and confidential place.”
Seeing her serious expression, Xie Jingchen immediately realized that something was amiss.
He nodded without hesitation. "Come with me."
He led Xia Fanxing through a maze of turns until they arrived at a small, abandoned mud-brick house in a corner of the camp, which was being used as a temporary weapons depot checkpoint.
No one ever comes here normally; it's certainly secluded enough.
As soon as he entered, Xie Jingchen locked the door.
Only the two of them remained in the cramped space, where the air seemed to still carry a faint smell of gunpowder and engine oil.
“It’s absolutely safe here. Tell me, what happened?” Xie Jingchen looked at her, his gaze steady.
Xia Fanxing then told Xie Jingchen everything she had seen and heard in the work group that afternoon: the deputy leader's conspiracy, the squid ink, Li Chongshan's forbearance and covert protection, and how she had taken the ink to try to verify the time.
The more Xie Jingchen listened, the more his brows furrowed, and his eyes grew increasingly cold and sharp.
He never imagined that such a sinister political struggle was hidden behind the joint working group, and that his star had unwittingly been drawn into the center of the vortex.
"...So, I'd like to try and see if I can find a way to detect when the squid ink was added." Xia Fanxing's eyes were full of frank pleading. "Can you think of any way? Where might there be relevant testing equipment or people who understand this technology?"
Xie Jingchen remained silent for a moment.
He didn't answer her question immediately, but instead asked in return, "Team Leader Li stopped you because he was afraid you'd get into trouble. Aren't you afraid?"
"I'm afraid," Xia Fanxing answered decisively. "But there are some things that, once I've seen them, I can't just ignore them."
Xie Jingchen gave her a deep look. "Okay, I'll figure something out."
Xia Fanxing was slightly taken aback: "You...aren't you going to stop me?"
Xie Jingchen suddenly tapped her forehead lightly with his fingertip. "I knew you would do this. What good would it have done if I had stopped you?"
His actions were intimate and natural, and his tone contained no blame, but rather a kind of helpless indulgence and understanding.
"Can you stop me?" Xie Jingchen chuckled, his smile carrying the sharpness of a soldier and the absolute trust and support for his woman. "I know this is dangerous, but completely isolating you from danger is not protection, it's constraint. If you want to do it, then do it. If you need any help, just tell me, like you are now."
He took a step forward, and the distance between them instantly shortened.
He looked down at her, his gaze intense.
His voice was deep and powerful, making a reassuring promise: "Fanxing, remember, no matter what you want to do, no matter how big a mess you make, I'll be there to support you. Even if the sky falls, I'll hold it up for you. You'll never be left with nowhere to turn. So, just go for it."
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