Chapter 78

From the start of general anesthesia through two days in the ICU, Wen Ran drifted in and out with a fever, like one long, painful dream. Every time he woke up mid-way, he could see an alpha in isolation gear sitting quietly by the bed, or slumped over the edge sleeping.

Every time his vision cleared, Wen Ran would feel a small rush of joy at being alive and able to see again, then sink back into unconsciousness.

On the third day, he was moved back to his original room.

In a haze, he sensed people coming and going, all of them speaking very quietly. Only one person had a slightly louder voice — Zhou Zhuo. He asked: 'Why is he still in a coma?'

The nurse replied: 'Not a coma. He's sleeping.'

'How many days is he going to keep sleeping!'

Sleeping for a few days, what's the big deal, so annoying. Wen Ran unconsciously frowned, and immediately heard Gu Yunchi say to Zhou Zhuo: 'Get out.'

Plus the loyal BDH-339 backing him up: 'Right now! Immediately! This instant!'

It wasn't until evening that Wen Ran finally came fully awake. He stared at the ceiling for a while, confirmed his vision was completely clear, turned his head, and saw Gu Yunchi sitting on the sofa by the bed, head slightly lowered, looking at something, pen in his right hand.

Wen Ran opened his mouth, let out a meaningless breath. Gu Yunchi immediately turned his head, saw Wen Ran's two eyes wide open looking at him, and quickly stood up, leaning over toward the bed.

'Gu Yunchi...'

His voice was hoarse beyond recognition. Wen Ran spoke slowly. Gu Yunchi didn't rush him, looking down at him, patiently waiting for the next sentence.

'Are you... writing a self-criticism report?'

Gu Yunchi: '...'

No one in the world cares more about Gu Yunchi's self-criticism reports and promotions than Wen Ran.

'Finished long ago.' Gu Yunchi gave the answer that put Wen Ran's mind at ease, brushed his cheek with the back of his finger, then pressed the call button.

The doctor came quickly, did a careful examination and asked some questions, adjusted the negative pressure ball, confirmed nothing major was wrong, and said with a smile: 'Looking good. Keep resting well.'

'Thank you.' Wen Ran smiled.

After chatting a few more words with Gu Yunchi, the doctor was about to leave. The moment the door opened, BDH-339 squeezed in with a clatter: 'Little Tree, you're awake!!'

It rushed over to the bed in a whirlwind, carefully grabbed Wen Ran's hand sticking out from under the blanket, tears streaming down like twin waterfalls: 'These past few days I've been writing blessings for you on so many prayer websites, and I even got scammed out of over eight hundred yuan! You're finally awake!'

'Over eight hundred...?' Wen Ran felt like fainting again at the news. 'Hanging a Prayer Plaque at a temple is only twenty-five.'

'Because I can't go out, so I could only look online.' BDH-339's tears went plip plop.

Gu Yunchi said: 'That's what happens when you go too long without an upgrade — your IQ regresses.'

Wen Ran glanced at him, tugged BDH-339's hand, and said quietly: 'Turn on the camera.'

'Got it.' BDH-339 turned on the camera, thoughtfully switching to mirror mode.

A bare, bald head wearing a mesh head cover appeared on screen, like one of those ugly coconuts wrapped in netting at the fruit shop. Wen Ran closed his eyes: 'Turn it off.'

'Never noticed you cared so much about your image before.' Gu Yunchi propped his elbow on the bed edge, head in hand, looking at him.

'Because I've never had my hair this short before.'

Wen Ran turned his head sideways, feeling like it had been a long time since he'd really looked at this face. His gaze focused on Gu Yunchi's features — the faint shadows under his eyes, the light blue stubble on his chin. He reached out and touched, and Gu Yunchi caught his hand.

'I made it.' Wen Ran's hand slowly curled into a fist inside Gu Yunchi's palm, his voice hoarse: 'I'm pretty impressive, right?'

Gu Yunchi tightened his five fingers around the omega's fist — too weak from illness to clench tight — and hummed 'mm,' his face holding a certain restrained expression, like he knew what he was about to say next.

He said: 'After all, you're a very tall tree.'

Wen Ran stared blankly for a few seconds, then closed his eyes and passed out.

Because of the surgery, Wen Ran had no appetite for the next few days, eating only small wontons and fruit. Every day he listened to storytelling and crosstalk with BDH-339, and Tao Susu and Song Shuangang came by on schedule in pairs — on the days Gu Yunchi went to work, being in the hospital wasn't too boring.

Fang Yisen specifically delayed his trip, only going on his business trip after Wen Ran woke up, and came to see him once more before leaving.

'Get well. Don't overthink anything else.'

'There's nothing I need to think about.' The moment Wen Ran finished saying that, he thought of something. After a moment's thought, he said, 'I've never properly thanked you. Thank you for helping me.'

Whether it was the recording about the illegitimate child, or the text message before leaving, or paying his medical bills — he owed a thank you for all of it.

'You helped me first. When I was getting yelled at by the Wen Family, you stepped in front of me, and you helped me find my mom's will.' Fang Yisen smiled. 'You were pretty small yourself back then.'

He could understand why Wen Rui always called Wen Ran 'little brat.' This omega seemed never to have changed. Through all the hardship, all the suffering, when he stood in front of you again, he was still the same genuine person — like that night years ago when he'd come through the dark to see him off, takeout box in his arms, trying to give away every last crumpled bill he had.

'Just happened to be able to help.' Wen Ran scratched his cheek a little embarrassed, hesitated a few seconds, then asked, 'You were able to leave the Capital City — you didn't actually cooperate with Tang Feiyi or Wei Lingzhou, did you? It was Gu Yunchi who helped you escape, right?'

Fang Yisen nodded.

'He wanted me to get evidence that Chen Shuhui and Gu Chongze deliberately started the fire for the Island land deal, then leak it to the Wei Family.' Fang Yisen said. 'That recording about the illegitimate child — I felt you had the right to know the truth, so I split it off and sent it to you separately. After sending me abroad as agreed, Gu Yunchi cleanly ended the cooperation. His people and I haven't been in touch since.'

'I thought you'd told him about me being an illegitimate child and having had the surgery.'

'At the time I wasn't sure what telling him would do to you. I didn't know how things were between you two, so I didn't say. Thinking about it now, I probably should have told him. He'd have pulled you out of the Wen Family without a second thought.'

'You've had it hard enough yourself. Don't say things like that.' Wen Ran urged him. 'Go handle your work. Don't worry about me.'

Fang Yisen nodded and stood up: 'Take care of yourself. Everything will go smoothly from here on out.'

After saying goodbye to Wen Ran, Fang Yisen went downstairs, planning to head back to the hotel to grab his luggage and go to the high-speed rail station. Walking out of the main building, Wen Rui was just stepping up the last flight of stairs coming toward him. Seeing him heading out, he didn't bother with visiting his former brother-in-law and turned to follow.

'Going on a business trip? Let me drive you.'

Fang Yisen ignored him and kept walking. Wen Rui grabbed his arm: 'Not talking to me again?'

'In a hurry.' Fang Yisen tried to shake his hand off but couldn't. He turned his head with an annoyed look: 'Let go.'

Just that one cold glance, and Wen Rui's heart went flying, dizzy, couldn't tell east from west. His grip tightened: 'Then let me drive you.'

While they were tugging, a military vehicle pulled up by the flower bed. Gu Yunchi got out, walked up the stairs from the other end, glanced at Wen Rui's shameless face, didn't bother looking a second longer, and walked into the building without a care.

Stepping out of the elevator, Gu Yunchi looked toward the end of the corridor. BDH-339 was disguised as a trash can, eavesdropping on a patient's family chatting gossip so it could relay it to Wen Ran later. Gu Yunchi turned back speechlessly, walked to the room, and opened the door.

Wen Ran, propped up on his pillow eating apple chunks, sat up: 'Off work?'

Maybe it was his imagination, but in less than a week, Wen Ran's hair seemed to have visibly grown another batch, sprouting in a neat row through the mesh cap. The genderless hospital gown against that small, still-sickly face gave him a strangely androgynous beauty.

'Mm.' Gu Yunchi walked to the bed and opened his Mobile Phone.

Wen Ran speared an apple chunk with his fork, held it up, that round coconut head lifting too, and asked Gu Yunchi: 'Did you turn in the self-criticism?'

Gu Yunchi leaned down and bit the apple chunk, but didn't put his phone away, expression flat: 'Turned in the self-criticism and went straight into a meeting. Got publicly called out as a bad example.'

Imagining Gu Yunchi sitting there with a stony face listening to his superiors criticize him, Wen Ran quickly lowered his head to pretend to eat his apple, actually hiding the grin he couldn't suppress. Once he'd laughed enough, he looked up at the phone held above his head, assuming Gu Yunchi was handling work — but then thought, work stuff should be handled on the comms device, shouldn't it?

After a while, Gu Yunchi put his phone away and said flatly: 'Your brother's confessing to Fang Yisen at the hospital's front gate.'

'What?!' Wen Ran immediately set down his plate and climbed down the other side of the bed. He'd only started trying to walk yesterday, still unsteady. He shuffled along the wall as fast as he could to the balcony door, opened it, and stepped out with the spirit of a cripple refusing to be one.

He'd just leaned on the railing when a thick blanket was draped over him. Gu Yunchi came up from behind, wrapped him up — blanket and all — chin resting on his shoulder, looking down with him.

Too late, though. They only saw Fang Yisen stepping down the stairs without looking back, and Wen Rui rushing after him.

'How can you confess without roses?' The weather was cold, their breath fogging white. Wen Ran was disappointed. 'You should've filmed a video before coming up. I wanted to see.'

'I'm not a paparazzo.'

“Okay.” Then Wen Ran suddenly remembered something Gu Yunchi had mentioned not long ago — that Xu Ze had proposed to Chi Jiahán. He was instantly pleased that his memory hadn't taken a hit from the surgery, and right away he asked, “Last time you said Dr. Xu proposed to Dr. Chi — what's the story there?”

'What else — helping out,' Gu Yunchi said. 'But it's normal for Heyang and He Wei to feel restless hearing about it.'

'BDH-339 says Officer He waits for Dr. Chi after work every day now, shoves him into the car and drives off, very bold behavior.' Wen Ran analyzed. 'But Dr. Xu is going abroad for his PhD, so what about him and Colonel Lu? You have to help!'

'Heyang will figure it out.' After all, deliberately tanking his flight evaluation scores to fail so he could get memory recovery treatment to stop flying wasn't something just anyone could pull off. Gu Yunchi looked at Wen Ran's face from close up. 'Worry about your own stuff.'

Like a mole hibernating peacefully, Wen Ran curled up in the blanket: 'I'm getting better every day now. What else is there to worry about?'

Gu Yunchi looked at him for a moment, then said: 'Nothing.'

Wen Ran turned his head, their noses almost touching, and asked: 'So when are you getting promoted to colonel? Will they take photos at the ceremony?'

'In about half a month.' Gu Yunchi's gaze dropped from Wen Ran's lashes, so close, down to his lips. He tilted his head and brushed Wen Ran's mouth corner. 'If you want to see, you can come in person.'

His brain, which had been working fine a moment ago, completely short-circuited from that casual kiss. Wen Ran stared at Gu Yunchi blankly for a few seconds, his ears red — whether from the cold or what, who knew. After a long while, he turned his head slightly to look at the distance, his thoughts finally reconnecting. Realizing, he asked excitedly: 'I can go too?'

'Family can. Just apply in advance.' Gu Yunchi said. 'Once you pass the military academy entrance exam, you can go as Military Headquarters engineering staff. Maybe by then you'll be the one standing on the stage getting your rank and medals.'

Family. Military Headquarters engineering staff. Rank and medals. — Wen Ran was, predictably, fired up. Hot all over, heart surging, he broke free of the blanket and Gu Yunchi's embrace and marched back into the room, back straight with determination: 'No, I need to buy books right now and start preparing for the exam.'

Even though Wen Ran's desire to study was intense, the doctor kept him off electronics and books until the tenth day. The mesh cap came off too. Wen Ran looked in the mirror, touched his hair, now over a centimeter long, still bristly.

Zhou Zhuo had been in the Capital City for over ten days. For the sake of the bar's revenue, he finally decided to head back.

'Can't be helped. That's the life of a top earner.' Zhou Zhuo smoothed his hair. 'Ding Mengge says with the boss gone, way fewer customers. Can't keep going like this.'

Wen Ran munched on cut fruit chunks: 'Haha.'

'Laugh at what.' Zhou Zhuo plucked a piece of fruit from his bowl and tossed it in his mouth. 'What's your plan? Going back to City S after this?'

'I've decided to take the military academy exam. Then I can go into the Military Headquarters and fix fighter jets.' But he hadn't taken it yet, didn't know if he could pass. Saying it out loud made him feel a bit insecure. Wen Ran tried to fake confidence: 'You-you-you, do you even know what it means to get into the Military Headquarters?'

'What else could it mean — just changing where you work, right?' Zhou Zhuo scoffed. 'As long as you've decided. I'm heading out then. Don't come to me if anything happens.'

He called out to BDH-339 too: 'That 789 thing, take good care of him, you hear me?'

BDH-339 faced the balcony and pretended to be deaf, refusing to deal with the rude person.

Every day in the hospital room — reading, doing problems, drawing blueprints, plus reasonable rest — the hospital days passed quickly. By the day before the ceremony, Wen Ran couldn't hold back. While Gu Yunchi sat on the sofa drying his hair after a shower, Wen Ran climbed onto his lap, sat facing him, and asked seriously: 'Should I go buy a suit?'

His hair had grown a bit more, vibrant like a patch of eager little grass, standing up energetically toward the sky. Gu Yunchi draped the towel around his neck: 'Doesn't need to be that formal. Just wear normal clothes.'

'Okay then, I'll definitely clean up nice.' Wen Ran hugged Gu Yunchi, leaned his head on his shoulder, excitedly nuzzled twice. 'I finally get to walk outside the Hospital.'

Wen Ran's hair prickled against Gu Yunchi's neck. Gu Yunchi felt like a big hedgehog was perched on his shoulder. He pinched Wen Ran's face, turned it toward him, kissed the hedgehog's mouth, and pulled him down onto the sofa, arm around his waist.

The next evening, Wen Ran went downstairs with BDH-339 and the doctor, got into the military vehicle. An hour later, the omega in a brown sweater and a giant brown bear knit hat sat primly and solemnly in the very last row, very corner seat of the Capital City Military District auditorium.

Wen Ran kept a straight face as he scanned the room, and noticed everyone was wearing military or business attire.

He lowered his head and sent Gu Yunchi a message.

: I hate you [broken]

Ten seconds later, Gu Yunchi replied: Someone said they saw a bear in the auditorium. You?

Wen Ran kept his head down, opened the camera, ignored the angle and lighting, quickly took a selfie and sent it: Won't forgive you [gun]

Gu Yunchi: Alien mutant bear

Not long after, the ceremony began. The music was grand and majestic. Wen Ran unconsciously took off his hat and sat up straight, and suddenly noticed an alpha in the middle-back rows who looked familiar. He studied him carefully and confirmed it was Xu Ze.

He immediately messaged Gu Yunchi: I see Dr. Xu!

Probably busy, Gu Yunchi didn't reply.

The first half of the ceremony was official and unremarkable. Even Wen Ran, as excited as he was, wilted after listening for over half an hour, his gaze going blank.

Until the announcement that the rank and medal conferring ceremony was about to begin, Wen Ran perked up and looked back at the stage.

During the medal ceremony, he saw Lu Heyang, whom he hadn't seen in seven years. Still calm and unhurried, as if not much had changed. Actually, thinking about it, Wen Ran felt like none of them had really changed — they'd just gained new identities and lives, but kept most of who they were as kids.

'League Northern Theater Command Army Combat Command, Army Lieutenant Colonel, Gu Yunchi.'

Wen Ran's eyes went wide. He sat up straight again.

The curtain on one side of the stage shifted slightly. An alpha in deep olive military dress uniform stepped onto the red carpet, the sash pendant hanging heavy in front of him, swaying and glinting with each step.

The brim of Gu Yunchi's military cap cast a shadow across his face, making his features look especially deep. He looked the same as always — calm, expressionless. When he stopped, he naturally raised his hand in a salute. Pure white Gloves and crisp cuffs revealed a stretch of slender wrist. The medal on his chest caught the light.

Several seconds passed before Wen Ran realized everyone was applauding. He clapped along too, heart racing, unable to stop himself from smiling, genuinely happy.

The applause faded. Now officially an Army Colonel, Gu Yunchi stood at the flower-decked podium to give his speech. Wen Ran watched ahead, saw someone taking photos with their phone, so he opened his phone too, zoomed in on the stage.

He stared intently at the screen, and after a moment, noticed Gu Yunchi's gaze had turned toward his camera lens.

Wen Ran froze, looked up. Across the vast, solemn Military Headquarters auditorium, his eyes met Gu Yunchi's.

Gu Yunchi's speech didn't falter. Looking toward the very last row corner, he gave Wen Ran a faint smile.

After Gu Yunchi's promotion, Wen Ran didn't pay much attention to the stage. When the intermission came, he saw Gu Yunchi come in through the auditorium's side door, walk up to the audience area, sit down next to Xu Ze, say something to him, and at some point seem to find the Gloves annoying, take them off and toss them on the table.

This made Wen Ran restless. He really wanted to go over and hear what gossip they were sharing.

A few minutes later, Gu Yunchi picked up the Gloves and stood, came over to Wen Ran, who immediately asked: 'What were you talking about?'

'Didn't you ask me to help them?' Gu Yunchi tapped Wen Ran's ear with the folded Gloves. 'I'm heading back. Let me say something to the commanders. Wait for me outside first.'

'Oh!'

Wen Ran walked out of the auditorium and found the car that had brought him. People came and went on the road. The streetlights were bright, leaving him nowhere to hide, too embarrassed to put the bear hat back on, so he tucked it under his arm and stood by the car with his hands in his pockets, waiting.

Soon, Gu Yunchi came out, on a call, eyes lowered toward Wen Ran. He took off his military cap and casually set it on Wen Ran's head.

The gesture covered most of Wen Ran's face. He stared blankly for a moment, reached up and pushed the hat into place, then turned to study his reflection in the car window, left and right, sighing in a whisper: 'So cool, so handsome...'

On the comms device, Pei Yan's voice, smiling: 'Ceremony over? Congratulations, Colonel Gu. Keep it up. Too much going on this time, couldn't make it back.'

'It's fine, you go ahead and be busy.'

'Mainly I wanted to go see Li Shu too. Hearing from you he's recovering well puts my mind at ease. Oh, about Jinqian... did you tell him?'

Gu Yunchi looked at Wen Ran, still admiring himself in the car window, paused, and said: 'Wait till he's a bit better.'

'Alright. Talk to him properly.'

Just as the call ended, Wen Ran had already shoved the bear hat and phone at him: 'Take a couple of photos for me.' After striking a military pose, he remembered Gu Yunchi's photography skills and reminded him: 'Don't hold it too high. Don't use wide angle.'

Gu Yunchi hummed 'mm,' then first opened 0.5x wide angle and took a few overhead shots. Seeing Wen Ran's face darken, he unhurriedly switched to normal angle.

After taking the photos, the soldier driving ran over from a distance: 'Colonel Gu, sorry I'm late.'

Inspiration struck. Wen Ran snatched the phone from Gu Yunchi's hand and handed it to the soldier: 'Hi, could you take a photo of us?'

'Sure.'

Wen Ran first positioned Gu Yunchi in the designated spot, then whispered with the soldier for a while finding the right angle, only then walked over, straightened his clothes, adjusted the military cap on his head, and finally took Gu Yunchi's hand.

Click—

Capital City winter, beneath a tree with all its leaves fallen in the Military District, in the warm yellow glow of the streetlight, Gu Yunchi in full uniform, bear hat in one hand, holding Wen Ran's hand with the other — their first proper photo together in seven years.

A very satisfying photo. Wen Ran praised it repeatedly, and the soldier shyly mentioned he sometimes got called to take ceremony photos, so his photography skills were decent.

After chatting a bit, the soldier opened the car door. Wen Ran climbed in, still looking at the photos. Gu Yunchi was about to get in when someone called out to him.

“Colonel Gu!” The other man jogged over and saluted. “Hello, I'm Xiao Liu from the Army Affairs Management Department. The information you wanted looked up — we've finished compiling it. Lieutenant Colonel Ning's estate was donated to three Preparatory Schools in total. Here's the breakdown of the donations, plus the current situation at each Preparatory School.”

'Thank you. Good work.'

Gu Yunchi took the documents, opened them, and his gaze suddenly stopped on the second school's information.

Principal: Li Qing, Beta.