He was a disabled military officer who doted on his research work in the Northwest.

Wang Xiulian looked at Shen Tang with shock and disbelief in her eyes.

Who in the compound didn't know about the engagement between the Shen family and Commander Mu? But since Commander Mu was injured half a month ago, the Shen family hasn't uttered a single word. Everyone is secretly cursing the Shen family's pampered girl as a treacherous ingrate.

Unexpectedly, the Shen family actually sent someone!

Wang Xiulian looked Shen Tang up and down, her eyes filled with gratitude, but also with a complex emotion that was hard to describe.

More than two hours later, the bus finally stopped outside the military base.

At the entrance of the compound, a burly man in military uniform, with dark skin, was anxiously looking around. Upon seeing Wang Xiulian get out of the car with her arm in a sling, he was terrified and rushed over: "Xiulian! What happened to your arm? What happened?!"

"Dahai, thanks to Shen Tang! If it weren't for her, I would have lost my arm and my life!" Wang Xiulian quickly pulled Shen Tang over and vividly recounted the harrowing experience in the car.

Zhao Dahai broke out in a cold sweat upon hearing this, and immediately turned around to give Shen Tang a perfect military salute: "Comrade Shen, your kindness is immense, I, Zhao Dahai, will remember it!"

"Company Commander Zhao, you're too kind. It was nothing." Shen Tang nodded slightly.

"Dahai, don't thank me yet. Sister Shen is here to marry Commander Mu." Wang Xiulian tugged at her husband's sleeve and lowered her voice.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Dahai's face froze instantly, and he managed to stammer out with a complicated expression, "Comrade Shen... Regiment Commander Mu went to the Gobi Desert to inspect the mine-clearing work today and won't be back in the compound until early tomorrow morning."

"Then I'll stay at the guesthouse and see him again tomorrow."

Upon hearing this, Wang Xiulian recalled how Shen Tang had taken meticulous care of her in the car, regularly loosening her tourniquet and changing her dressings. Suppressing her prejudice against Shen Tang, she grabbed her arm: "Sister, you've come all this way without even a place to stay. Come on, stay at my place tonight! You saved my life, and now that you're in our territory, I must treat you well!"

Seeing his wife like this, Zhao Dahai didn't say much and led the way: "Comrade Shen, please make do with staying at our house tonight. I'll take you to see Commander Mu first thing tomorrow morning." The commander knew what was going on and would find out when they met tomorrow.

"Then I'll have to bother Company Commander Zhao and his wife," Shen Tang replied graciously.

……

Evening, military dependents' compound.

The crimson sunset painted half the sky in the northwest. By the water trough in the courtyard, several military wives were washing clothes and gossiping about this and that. Shen Tang came out to wash her face with a basin when she happened to hear her own name called.

"Have you heard? A pretty girl came to Company Commander Zhao's house today. I heard she's looking for Regiment Commander Mu!"

"Oh, it can't be that Shen family from the city, can it? They still have the nerve to show their faces here?"

"That's right! Back when Commander Mu was still around, he was the hottest guy in our military region! Young and promising, even more handsome than a movie star! The political commissar wanted to introduce his daughter to him, and countless nurses at the military hospital were secretly flirting with him, but Commander Mu rejected them all, just because he was keeping his betrothal to that Shen family member!"

"And what happened? Half a month ago, Commander Mu was seriously injured while saving someone. Not only was his leg crippled, but I heard that his... cough cough, he's impotent. And the Shen family, they sent a letter every half month before, but as soon as Commander Mu had his accident, they immediately cut off all contact! What a bunch of ungrateful wretches! Why are they suddenly offering their services now?"

"Who knows what An's up to! She's probably just being forced by her family to come and go through the motions, to shut up the gossip! If I were Commander Mu, I'd kick her out, luggage and all!"

Hearing these veiled criticisms, Shen Tang was not annoyed at all; in fact, she found them somewhat amusing.

It seems that she, as the stand-in, has taken the blame for the real person right from the start.

It doesn't matter, since she's already here, the rumors will naturally fall apart. All she wants to do here is to properly develop her experimental field and see if she can find her mentor from her younger days.

The next morning, bugle calls pierced the sky.

"Girl, quick! Commander Mu's jeep has entered the yard!" Wang Xiulian rushed into the house.

Shen Tang changed into a clean white shirt and followed Zhao Dahai and Wang Xiulian to the detached courtyard where Mu Qinghan lived.

The courtyard gate was wide open.

In the morning light, a man sat in a wheelchair, his back to the courtyard gate. Even though it was just his back, his broad shoulders and straight back still exuded a sharp aura like that of an evergreen pine tree, making him impossible to ignore.

"Commander," Zhao Dahai stepped forward and said, forcing a smile, "The Shen family has arrived."

The wheelchair slowly turned around.

Shen Tang raised her head and her gaze met a pair of deep, cold eyes.

The man had sharp eyebrows and bright eyes, a high nose bridge, and features that were as cold and perfect as if carved by a knife. Although his face was pale from recovering from a serious illness and he had a bit of stubble on his chin, this could not hide the imposing aura of a superior he exuded.

With just one glance, Shen Tang knew that she was definitely not at a loss this time!

She stepped forward, looking at him with neither arrogance nor servility, her clear voice echoing in the courtyard: "Hello, Comrade Mu Qinghan, I am Shen Tang. I brought a letter of introduction to visit you."

The crisp sound echoed in the courtyard.

Mu Qinghan, in his wheelchair, slowly turned around, his dark, sharp eyes coldly sweeping over the bright and elegant girl in front of him, a faint hint of mockery flashing in his eyes.

It's been half a month.

In the two weeks since his injury, the once lively Shen family has been eerily quiet, not even a single letter of condolence. Did they intend to call off the engagement after his accident and inevitable discharge from the military, yet they still sent him here? Are they afraid of being accused of kicking someone when they're down? Or do they have other plans?

"No need." Mu Qinghan didn't even glance at her, his tone cold and distant. "I don't acknowledge this marriage. Go back to where you came from. While you're still young, don't waste your time on a useless person like me."

There was no humiliation as I had imagined; instead, there was a hint of aloofness, as if he didn't want to drag others down.

Shen Tang raised an eyebrow, about to speak, when suddenly a series of hurried footsteps came from outside the courtyard gate.

"Commander! Commander!" Guard Xiao Li rushed in, sweating profusely, clutching a thin piece of paper. "An urgent telegram has arrived from the city's machinery factory... from the Shen family!"

Mu Qinghan glanced at her, "Read it."

Xiao Li swallowed hard and read aloud, "Shen Tang has been found. She is a biological daughter of the Shen family, and the marriage agreement will be fulfilled by her. She has already departed for the military region. Shen Guoping."

The telegram was short, but it was like a thunderclap, exploding directly in the courtyard!

Finding one's biological daughter? Fulfilling a marriage contract?

Zhao Dahai and Wang Xiulian stared wide-eyed at Shen Tang in disbelief.

So this isn't the originally betrothed Shen Yao, but a girl they just found?! The Shen family refused to let their adopted daughter marry a cripple, so they've dragged in their own flesh and blood to take the fall?!

Mu Qinghan's dark eyes narrowed sharply. When she looked up at Shen Tang again, a barely perceptible hint of sympathy appeared in her previously distant gaze.

It turns out she was a victim abandoned by her family.

"You can leave now." Mu Qinghan looked away. "I'll have Xiao Li give you some travel expenses. This engagement is completely null and void."

At that moment, Shen Tang suddenly felt an extremely hot temperature coming from the mutton fat jade bracelet on her wrist.

[Ding—High-purity sandy loam soil from Northwest China detected! 'Starry Sky Agricultural Space' officially activated! The host needs to acquire a legal piece of land for initial binding!]