After being separated from my family, I became a darling of the military region thanks to my medical

The noisy sounds of riding boots and excited growls outside the operating room were finally shut out by the heavy canvas curtain as the leaders left.

Inside the makeshift tent of the field hospital, the kerosene stove was burning brightly, the blue flames leaping and casting long shadows of the makeshift IV stand.

Ye Zhen, with her back to Gu Zheng, rummaged through the stainless steel tray. The hemostats tapped against the edge of the tray, making a crisp "clang" sound, each sound like a blow to Gu Zheng's heart.

"Take it off." Ye Zhen didn't turn her head, her voice as cold as snowmelt from a mountain stream.

Gu Zheng, who had been leaning on the table to straighten up, twitched at the words. His usually intimidatingly cold face instantly crumbled. His eyes darted between the patches on the tent roof and the coal dust on the ground, avoiding Ye Zhen's retreating figure. "Wife," he said, "even though I'm your woman, isn't this a bit inappropriate in broad daylight? There are sentries standing guard outside..."

"Stop talking nonsense."

Ye Zhen suddenly turned around. She had somehow switched to a pair of sharp surgical scissors in her hand, the gleaming tips gleaming coldly under the kerosene lamp. Her eyes swept over him, sharp as if scanning the cross-section of human tissue, as if she could precisely avoid the major arteries and peel his skin off in the next second.

"Are you going to do it yourself, or should I cut this skin off for you, flesh and all?"

Gu Zheng had seen his share of big scenes; he wouldn't even flinch in the face of gunfire. But the moment he saw the scissors pointed at his chest, he immediately backed down.

"No, no, no, fighting with knives and guns will only hurt our harmony." He muttered as he slowly unbuttoned his training uniform.

As he untied her clothes, he kept glancing at Ye Zhen's face out of the corner of his eye, while his mouth didn't stop either. He tried to use his usual soldierly swagger to get away with it: "It really hurts, honey, please go easy on me. I was fighting with that mercenary leader earlier, and my spine hit the wall. I didn't feel it at the time, but it's probably all bruised by now. Just don't feel bad about it."

The training uniform, stained with mud and blood, slid down his shoulders and piled up at his feet. Next was the military green vest, soaked with sweat and then dried, clinging tightly to his body.

When that bronze-sculpted upper body was fully exposed to the air, the temperature inside the tent seemed to drop a few degrees.

Even though Ye Zhen, as a doctor and a wife, had seen this body many times, her pupils still involuntarily contracted when she looked at it this time.

On that broad, thick back, aside from the old bullet holes and knife scars, the new bruises alone were shocking. The area around his left shoulder blade was swollen with a deep, purplish-red bruise, even tinged with a horrifying dark purple. On his side was a gash still oozing blood, the flesh torn open and fused with dried scabs.

This is what he casually referred to as "a bump." It's clearly a life-or-death struggle with the King of Hell.

Ye Zhen's fingers clenched tightly at her sides, her nails digging into her palms. The piercing pain suppressed the soreness welling up in her nose. Her heart skipped a beat, but her words were as hard as a rock pulled from an icy river: "Still able to talk back to me like that? Looks like you're not badly injured enough, your head's still pretty clear. If you say another word, I'll sew a bow on your crotch, so you won't have the face to train shirtless back in the army."

Although Gu Zheng heard her harsh words, her tone softened slightly, and he secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He was about to grin when Ye Zhen glared at him, which made him suppress his smile.

She approached expressionlessly, and with a "snip," the scissors in her hand cut open the rough, filthy bandage wrapped around his left arm.

It was a hastily applied bandage, done in an extremely haphazard way; he probably tied it himself with his teeth. The bandage was stuck to the flesh and blood in the wound, and when it was torn off, the underlying skin was white from being soaked in sweat, with red and swollen edges—it was a sight that made one's teeth ache.

"Oh dear, Dr. Ye, your wound cleaning technique is quite wild. Are you planning to amputate my arm?" Seeing that she was staring at the wound for a long time without saying anything, Gu Zheng was afraid that she would feel uncomfortable, so he deliberately shrank his shoulders exaggeratedly and made a face.

Ye Zhen ignored his theatrical performance. She turned around and picked up a cotton ball soaked in iodine and alcohol from the tray. Without blowing on it or giving any warning, she pressed the pungent cotton ball precisely and ruthlessly onto the most bleeding wound.

"hiss!"

This time, Gu Zheng was genuinely not faking it. The excruciating pain of alcohol burning raw flesh exploded through his nerve endings, causing him to straighten his back abruptly. The veins on his neck bulged instantly, and the muscles in his face twitched uncontrollably a few times.

"That's ruthless...wife..." He gasped, a fine layer of cold sweat beading on his forehead, and gritted his teeth as he said, "You're killing a thousand enemies while losing eight hundred of your own. I'm in pain, and you, my wife, don't even feel a little sorry for me?"

"When I'm treating patients, all I see is rotting flesh, not family members." Ye Zhen's pretty face was cold, and the pressure on her hands not only didn't loosen, but actually increased. She used tweezers to deftly remove the dirt and debris embedded in the wound, each cleansing bringing a tingling pain that made one's scalp tingle.

Just outside the tent, two soldiers carrying basins of hot water were passing by. Normally, they wouldn't dare breathe loudly in front of Gu Zheng. But now, hearing their commander, known as the "Living Yama," let out such an unprecedented "scream," the two were so frightened that they slipped and almost dropped their basins.

"Listen to that? Is that our leader's voice?" The one on the left lowered his voice, looking terrified.

"Shh! You don't know anything!" The one on the right was an old soldier, who winked and gestured toward the tent. "The commander got punished by his wife. Didn't you hear? This time the commander went too far and almost lost his life. His wife is a miracle doctor; treating him is like treating that... that Monkey King. Hurry up, hurry up, this sound is making my whole body ache."

The two of them hunched their necks, as if afraid of catching something, and slipped away as fast as they could.

Inside the tent, Ye Zhen finally finished treating the last scratch. She skillfully rewrapped the clean white gauze around Gu Zheng's wound and tied a neat flat knot.

When her fingertips accidentally brushed against Gu Zheng's burning skin, feeling the astonishing heat and vibrant life force contained within his body, the string that had been taut for so long finally snapped.

She slammed the tweezers into the tray, ignoring the clanging sound, and stared intently into Gu Zheng's eyes, her voice trembling with fear: "This is the 'normal exercise' you told me about before you left? A normal exercise with live ammunition, RPGs, and a bunch of reckless foreign mercenaries risking their lives in the forest?"

Gu Zheng looked at her reddened eyes, and the playful mask on his face finally crumbled.

He sighed silently, not bothering to pick up the clothes from the ground, but instead grabbed Ye Zhen's cold hand.

He pulled her into his arms without waiting for Ye Zhen's consent, his stubble-covered cheek pressed against her sweat-dampened temples, his voice hoarse and deep, carrying a lingering smell of gunpowder and murderous intent.

"Zhenzhen, that's the foreign mercenary organization 'Rattlesnake.' Those bastards were eyeing our military command this time. If it weren't for that kid Stone accidentally risking his life to save Old Li, who knows who would be getting a memorial service today."

Ye Zhen's body stiffened in his arms. She wanted to push him away, but her palms were pressed against his bare chest, and beneath them was the strong, pounding of his heart—thump, thump, thump. The sound was so real, so warm, that she simply couldn't bear to let go.

"Zhenzhen, when I was lying in ambush in Wild Wolf Valley, all I could think about was you sewing clothes under the lamp. I was thinking, if I don't come back, who will warm your feet in the middle of the night? When I thought about that, I felt like I wouldn't die. Even if the King of Hell dared to take me away, I could kick his pot over."

Gu Zheng put Ye Zhen's hand into his arms and warmed it, the heat dispelling the chill that Ye Zhen had felt while standing in front of the operating table all night.

"You smooth talker." Ye Zhen sniffed and poked his pectoral muscle with an alcohol-soaked cotton swab. "Gu Zheng, your life is mine. Without my signature, even the King of Hell can't take you. If you dare to write a will again, I really will remarry."

"You dare." Gu Zheng's eyes flashed with a fierce light as he forcefully pressed her against his chest. "If you dare to remarry, even if I become a ghost, I'll go back to the compound and gnaw through your window to scare that caring male doctor to death."

Gu Zheng lowered his head, looking at the woman in his arms—her face, though haggard, still captivating him—his Adam's apple bobbing. Reeking of blood and gunpowder, he pressed his lips heavily onto her slightly trembling, cool lips.

This kiss was devoid of any lust; it was filled with the relief of escaping death, the fervor of regaining what was lost, and the peace of two hearts that had once teetered on the brink of life and death finally settling back into their bellies.

Just as the two were kissing passionately, wishing they could meld each other into their very bones—

"Report!"

The tent flap, which wasn't very airtight to begin with, was suddenly flung open with great force. A gust of cold wind, carrying snowflakes, rushed in.

The bodyguard, Xiao Wang, rushed in, his face beaming with joy: "Reporting, sir! Great news! Commander Wang just said that he's going to submit Shi Tou's application for the First-Class Merit directly to the military region..."

His voice stopped abruptly, like a duck whose neck had been suddenly grabbed.

Xiao Wang stared dumbfounded at his commander and Dr. Ye, who were huddled together, his right hand, which was about to lower into salute, frozen in mid-air.

Gu Zheng swiftly pulled his coat over Ye Zhen to shield her, then turned to glare at Xiao Wang, his eyes filled with murderous intent: "Get out!"

"Yes, sir! Report! I'm blinded! I didn't see anything! The snow blinded me!" Startled, Xiao Wang rolled backward out of the tent, shouting as he ran, "Um, I'm outta here! Commander, please continue! Continue!"

Ye Zhen buried her face in Gu Zheng's warm coat, her shoulders heaving, and finally couldn't help but laugh and scold. At this moment, the gloom that had been weighing on her heart, the heaviness of life and death, finally dissipated completely in this dilapidated and drafty field hospital with that laugh.