Sheng Zexi was holding her a little too tightly, making it hard for Gu Jianing to breathe. She instinctively pushed him away, turned her head—and saw his reddened eyes. She froze, her heart softening in that instant.
“Brother Xi, I’m sorry for making you worry,” Gu Jianing said gently. Before she left, she had promised nothing would happen, but in the end, something did.
“But don’t worry, really—I’m fine. You can check if you want. I’m totally unharmed.”
“And I even took down the trafficker myself. He’s at the police station right now.”
Sheng Zexi still didn’t say anything, and Gu Jianing started to panic.
She softened her voice more. “I’m sorry, Brother Xi. I made you worry.” She reached out and hugged him gently, trying to comfort him.
The soft, warm body in his arms and her tender voice finally brought Sheng Zexi back to himself. His cold hands slowly regained warmth.
His heart, which had been pounding in panic ever since he heard Gu Jianing had run into a human trafficker, also began to calm down.
He rested his chin on her head and said, “I’m not blaming you. I was just scared for you, Ningning. You’re pregnant.”
No one could understand how he felt when, during training, a young soldier came running in with the report that Gu Jianing had encountered a human trafficker in the county.
Even though the soldier added that she was amazing and had taken the guy down herself, only Sheng Zexi knew how delicate and soft his little wife was—she didn’t have much strength, and she was pregnant. How could she possibly overpower a human trafficker?
Even if she had taken him down, what if she got hurt?
The more he thought about it, the harder it was to bear.
Any further thoughts and he feared he’d lose it completely.
So he rushed out of the military base and drove straight to the county.
It wasn’t until he had her safe in his arms that he finally felt a bit more at ease.
“I know you were worried, but I’m really fine,” Gu Jianing reassured him, then began to excitedly recount how she had taken the trafficker down.
Sheng Zexi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. In the end, he just held her hand tightly and led her into the police station.
There, Sheng Zexi looked at the trafficker—still unconscious—and his eyes turned cold. He instructed Zhang Weidong to thoroughly interrogate him and report any information to the military right away.
“Don’t worry, brother. I will,” Zhang replied.
After that, Sheng Zexi helped Gu Jianing and Zhang Shuwan load the things they bought into the car and drove them back to the military base.
Back at the base, Zhang Shuwan spotted Lin Xing waiting anxiously.
Lin Xing had only just learned that his wife and Comrade Gu had run into a trafficker. He was frantic—both women were pregnant.
Seeing his wife safe and sound, he finally let out a breath of relief.
Meanwhile, Sheng Zexi, carrying their things, slowed his pace to walk beside Gu Jianing.
When they got home, Sheng Zexi set the bags down. Gu Jianing was about to start unpacking when he suddenly pulled her into his arms and sat on the kang (heated bed-stove) in the living room, holding her across his lap.
He buried his head against her, clinging to her like a dependent child.
“Should we unpack now?” Gu Jianing asked.
“No rush,” he mumbled from her embrace.
“Are you hungry? Want something to eat?” she asked again.
“Not hungry. You?”
“I had dumplings at the state-run restaurant.”
“Okay.”
Sheng Zexi said nothing more. He just kept holding her quietly, not moving at all.
Gu Jianing: Alright then, a man who got scared has now turned into a pitiful, clingy big puppy.
She stroked his head, again and again. No matter how you looked at it, it was like she was petting a giant dog.
And honestly, the man seemed to enjoy it quite a bit.
Gu Jianing couldn’t resist teasing him. With a bit of exaggeration, she said, “Wow, in the military base you’re tall, mighty, and the king of soldiers—Battalion Commander Sheng. But the moment you get home, you’re clinging to your wife and won’t let go. Aren’t you afraid people will laugh if they see this?”
The man in her arms gave a soft hum. “So what if I hold my wife? Most of them don’t even have wives.”
Just like that, Sheng Zexi pulled the classic “I have a wife and I’m proud of it” move.
Gu Jianing was half amused, half exasperated. She didn’t tease him any further.
She just stayed in his arms, leaning on him, quietly enjoying their time together.
Maybe his embrace was too warm, too familiar, too safe—before she knew it, her eyelids grew heavy, and she drifted off to sleep.
When she woke again, it was already dark.
Over the next two days, Sheng Zexi was busy following up on the human trafficking case.
On the third day, he finally came back with updates and shared them with Gu Jianing.
“That trafficker confessed. He was identified by Qin De as the same one who once planned to work with him to kidnap Qin Tian.”
“Thankfully, he hadn’t abducted anyone else yet, and he didn’t seem to have any accomplices.”
“Then why did he target me?” Gu Jianing asked.
Nothing Sheng Zexi had said so far surprised her—she had seen glimpses of it in her flashes of the future, which is why she had warned the police.
“At first, he said it was because you’re pretty.”
“That can’t be the only reason,” she immediately shot down that answer.
“You’re right. It wasn’t. After another round of questioning by the police, he finally admitted someone had hired him to target you specifically. He had been waiting between the county and Kaoshan Village for a while. Then today, he got a tip-off that you had arrived in town, and that’s when he acted.”
“He got a tip? From who?” Gu Jianing’s heart skipped a beat.
Sheng Zexi’s face stayed calm as he shook his head. “Even the trafficker doesn’t know. The person who hired him never showed their face. Whether it was the original job or the updates, everything was done anonymously. He doesn’t even know if it was a man or a woman. All he did was receive one-sided instructions in a specific location. As for how he recognized you—the person gave him a sketch of you.”
Sheng Zexi had seen the sketch. It looked a lot like her. Of course, Gu Jianing’s beauty made it easier to match the image.
“What else did the person who hired him say?” Gu Jianing asked.
“They said—first kidnap you, then…” Sheng Zexi looked directly at her.
Under her puzzled gaze, he said quietly, “Then use a knife to ruin your face.”
“What?!” Gu Jianing gasped, both hands instinctively covering her soft, fair face. “That’s vile! It’s got to be a woman—she’s clearly jealous of how pretty I am!”
Actually, at that moment, Gu Jianing had a strong suspicion.
A woman who had such deep hatred toward her…
There was only one person it could be.
Li Shuyao.
Gu Jianing was 80 to 90 percent sure—it had to be Li Shuyao.
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