Chapter 87: I Don’t Like Her

The practical drill did not end until the afternoon.

Mu Ting was in a rather poor mood.

After that, Lu Yunzhou barely spoke to her at all.

When he returned to the dormitory that afternoon, he did not see her.

His expression darkened at once.

"Where is she?"

Lu Yunzhou asked coldly.

"Captain, this really isn't my fault."

Seeing the captain's long face, Lu Fifteen hurriedly explained, "Miss Shen insisted on going into the training ground for the field exercise today. I was worried it would be dangerous for her, so I..."

He did not even get to finish the words that meant he had stopped her from going in before he already felt the pressure radiating from Lu Yunzhou.

His gaze was icy.

Fixed on him.

"I asked where she is."

When Lu Yunzhou said that, the temperature in the dormitory seemed to drop.

Those deep, dark eyes held a surging undercurrent, darker even than the evening sky outside.

Lu Fifteen was startled by that look and let out a small gasp before saying to Lu Yunzhou, "Oh, Captain, Miss Shen went to the lake in the south. She said she wanted to walk alone for a while."

"I told you to stay with her."

Lu Yunzhou lifted his eyes, and those black, bottomless pupils fell on Lu Fifteen.

Lu Fifteen hurriedly said, "I... I wanted to follow her too, but Miss Shen wouldn't let me. I couldn't do anything about it!"

The captain had indeed told him to keep an eye on Miss Shen.

But he could not very well force himself to follow her.

Hearing that she had gone out alone to clear her head, Lu Yunzhou's gaze sank.

He said nothing, but that look of his was extremely intimidating.

In those deep eyes, the chill could not be concealed.

It made Lu Fifteen feel cold all over.

This was bad.

The captain was angry.

Lu Yunzhou turned and walked out at once.

Lu Fifteen quickly followed.

This military base covered a vast area, and besides the dormitory building, the training ground, and the military office buildings, there were many places Shen Chaoxi had never been.

To the south ran a river.

It was called a river, but in fact it was a lake, on the other side of the women's dormitory field. Willow trees grew by the water, though some of the branches had withered.

Lu Yunzhou chose a path.

Fortunately, he saw a lonely figure by the lake, seated on a bench as ripples stirred across the water.

Lu Yunzhou's eyes darkened. The instant he saw the little girl's figure by the lake, a streak of darkness was clearly visible rising in his gaze.

But it vanished in a flash.

He pressed his thin lips together, his deep eyes cold and aloof.

"Shen Chaoxi."

Rarely, he called her name in a cold voice for the first time.

The little girl ignored him.

She sat there with her eyes lowered.

Small.

Fragile.

Very pitiful.

Seeing this, Lu Yunzhou's expression grew darker.

His black, deep-set eyes were filled with complicated emotions when he saw that she still did not respond to him.

He frowned, then strode forward and stood beside the little girl.

"Why did you come here alone?"

His breathing was heavy, and his eyes churned with unrest, as though he were desperately restraining his temper.

Did she have any idea that someone wanted to hurt her?

And yet she had run here all by herself.

No one was with her.

What would she do if she ran into danger?

But the little girl still paid him no mind.

He frowned, his thin lips tightly pressed together, the dark currents surging in those profound eyes as the man looked down at her without blinking, his expression incomparably complex.

"Shen Chaoxi."

"Speak."

His low voice was rich and magnetic, but now it was steeped in cold hardness.

His conflicted gaze fell on the girl's pale face.

Yet her eyelashes remained lowered.

She still did not look up at him.

Nor did she answer.

The two of them remained like that.

Locked in a stalemate for a long while.

Lu Yunzhou's brows were tightly knit. Then all at once he saw the little girl bow her head, and a single scalding tear fell to the ground.

It turned to mist.

Leaving behind a faint trace.

His eyes darkened. He crouched down stiffly. Her long lashes trembled, and her eyes were red.

Tears had soaked her pale cheeks, and her damp lashes hid the grievance in her eyes.

Lu Fifteen stood not far away, too afraid to move.

Good heavens, no way.

What was going on?

Could Miss Shen be crying?

Just as he frowned, unable to understand why Miss Shen was crying, he saw the man in the immaculate military uniform crouch down before her, slowly raising a hand. His fair, slender fingers gently brushed away the moisture at the corner of her eye.

"Shen Chaoxi."

"Don't cry..."

His voice was hoarse as he spoke.

At that moment, Lu Yunzhou was actually flustered.

It was as if something had tightened painfully around his heart.

Everything he wanted to say—

including his reproaches, his worry for her—

all of it subsided in an instant.

What remained was only that heart, gripped tight.

For reasons he did not understand, his mind had suddenly become a tangle.

And it was also the first time Lu Fifteen had seen such a completely different side of the captain.

The captain had actually crouched down of his own accord for a girl, speaking to her gently and patiently.

In his deep eyes, the little girl's tear-reddened eyes were reflected as he apologized and said, "I was too loud just now."

"I'm sorry."

Lu Yunzhou looked at her earnestly, his deep eyes full of regret.

He lowered his voice, lifted his hand, and the lightly callused pad of his finger brushed her cheek.

He was trying his utmost to soothe her emotions.

Only then did the little girl slowly lift her eyes.

Her reddened eyes.

Fixed on him.

Her voice was choked with sobs.

"Do you like... someone like that?"

She was crying terribly hard.

Lu Yunzhou frowned.

"Just now?"

Tears kept falling from the little girl.

No matter how hard she tried, she could not stop them.

Those scorching drops landed on the man's long, fair knuckles resting beside her face.

For a moment, it felt as though a tear of heat had struck his very heart.

His chest tightened for no reason.

"That is..."

The little girl looked at him, then lowered her head and sniffled softly.

"The one this morning, the one wearing a military uniform like yours."

She was talking about Mu Ting?

Lu Yunzhou's expression turned darker.

His jaw tightened.

He stared at her like this with those black, bottomless eyes.

Watching her pale little face, pitiful from crying, her lashes wet and her eyes blurred.

"No."

Lu Yunzhou answered in a low voice.

"I don't like her."

His hand settled on her warm skin, feeling the heat of her tears.

The slightly rough pad of his finger gently brushed at the corner of her eye for a while.

His low, magnetic voice murmured by her ear.

"So this is why you were upset."

"I have a marriage contract with you."

The little girl was sniffling.

Her eyes were red.

"Did you once tell Grandpa that you wanted to break off the engagement with me?"

"You like someone else now."

Lu Yunzhou frowned.

His gaze fell on her pale face, and a deep, complicated emotion flashed in his eyes.

No one else could see through it... they could only watch her in silence.

His eyes gradually dimmed.

"I don't like anyone else."