Volume 1, Chapter 28: Commander Huo Has Been Rather Hot-Tempered Lately

Huo Hong spoke with pragmatic candor, explaining the severity of the situation. She noted that if Su Wan’s grades had been barely enough to qualify for Lizhi High School, pulling strings to get her in might have gone unnoticed.

"I’ve already told your father: if she is dead set on going to school, she can only transfer to one of the lower-tier high schools. And even for that, I suspect we’d have to use connections."

Huo Xiaohan pursed his lips. He was well aware of those lower-tier schools. They were located on the outskirts of the city, and both their faculty and management were notoriously lax. They were essentially dumping grounds for the children of the wealthy and well-connected. Many students there would drop out to get married after starting relationships; there was even an incident last year where a female student was raped and became pregnant. Sending Su Wan to such a place would only lead her further astray.

"My father must not have agreed to that," Huo Xiaohan stated with certainty. "Aunt, see if there is any other way. As long as the school has high standards and strict discipline, that is all that matters."

"Unless she is the child of a martyr or the dependent of a first-class merit recipient, there is no way to get into a school with even decent standards," Huo Hong replied bluntly. Clearly, Su Wan met neither of those criteria.

"What if Su Wan’s grades could reach the requirements for Lizhi High School?" Huo Xiaohan pondered.

Huo Hong sneered, dismissing the idea as a fantasy. "Improving her grades that much in just two months? I think she should go back to primary school. With scores as low as hers, I suspect she doesn't even recognize half the characters on the test paper."

Huo Xiaohan paused, realizing that was a distinct possibility.

"Xiaohan, this is your father’s concern. Why are you getting involved? She has nothing to do with you," Huo Hong said, her face stern, adopting the authoritative tone of a dean. "Your main task right now is to find time to meet with Teacher Fang Yu, whom I mentioned to you, and resolve your personal matters."

She felt a secret sense of relief that the match between Xiaohan and Su Wan hadn’t worked out. If someone with grades as poor as Su Wan’s were to have children, who knew what they would be like? It would ruin the Huo family’s excellent lineage. While Su Wan was certainly pretty and knew how to cook, Teacher Fang Yu was also beautiful, well-educated, came from a good family, and was sensible, gentle, and virtuous. Once they were married, they could simply hire a nanny who cooked well. Furthermore, Huo Hong didn't even want to start on Su Wan’s character, conduct, or ideological awareness. Just because the girl could cook didn't mean she would change her opinion of someone who had nearly become a murderer.

According to his mother, she should have been sent back to the countryside long ago. A person like that was a ticking time bomb—one never knew when trouble might strike.

"Aunt, I have already told Grandmother that I have received a new mission from my superiors, and I have no time to deal with my personal affairs," Huo Xiaohan said, his tone firm as he walked away.

Huo Hong stood up, frustrated. If this had been her own son, she would have been furious. Knowing that Huo Xiaohan had been headstrong since childhood, she stopped trying to persuade him and turned to find Huo Jianguo instead. If all else failed, she would bring the girl to his unit to meet him before he left for his mission.

After returning to his unit, Huo Xiaohan recalled what Su Wan had said in the kitchen: if she couldn't get into high school, she would marry him. Seeing Meng Xinhao later, she had immediately latched onto him. It was clear she was treating him as a safety net—a fallback plan if the first didn't work out. His expression turned icy; this woman was truly calculating.

He grabbed his laundry, a basin, and a bar of soap, and headed to the washroom to shower. Although he lived in a single room, there was no private bathroom, so he had to use the communal washroom with the other soldiers.

Several soldiers were already washing up. When they saw him enter, they hurried their pace. "Good evening, Commander."

Huo Xiaohan nodded, showing no airs of a superior officer. He stripped off his clothes like the others and stood under the tap to rinse off. The water slid over his rugged, cold features, down his robust, muscular chest, and flowed onto his chiseled, firm abdomen before dripping further down.

He closed his eyes, and the scene he had witnessed outside Principal Song’s window that afternoon suddenly flashed into his mind: her delicate, supple frame; her skin as white and tender as a lychee; her willow-thin waist; and those clear, dewy eyes, still hazy with sleep, looking at him with an innocent and purely naive gaze.

Huo Xiaohan’s eyes snapped open, his expression dark and grim.

He quickly rinsed the soap suds from his body, threw on his clothes, and left. The soldiers who had finished washing began to whisper. Being in the prime of their youth, some already married, they had plenty to say.

"The Commander seems a bit 'fired up' today. He must be missing his girl."

"I heard the same thing. Since the Commander came back from his blind date, he’s been going out every day. He must be spending time with her."

"Haha, whenever he’s with her, he spends exactly three hours. He doesn't waste a single second."

"Why doesn't the Commander just move back to the Huo family residence since she’s staying there?" someone asked mischievously.

"Are you trying to get the Commander in trouble? If she can get him this worked up, she must be gorgeous. If it were me, I wouldn't be able to hold back," a married soldier replied.

"But I heard Political Commissar Liu say the Commander doesn't have a partner. When the Commander left just now, I snuck a peek—his face didn't look too good."

The soldiers looked at one another, confused. They had encountered the Commander in the washroom many times before, but they had never seen him this agitated.

Huo Xiaohan felt that his focus had been slipping lately, and he was constantly distracted—something he absolutely would not allow. After drying his hair, he put on his white undershirt and shorts, sat upright at his desk, and began copying the Party Constitution.

He copied until eleven o'clock, when a dull ache began to throb in his right shoulder. He reached up to touch the spot—the very place where he had been shot while on a mission in the Northwest. Because the medical facilities there were limited, they had only been able to remove part of the bullet casing, leaving the rest embedded inside. He was used to it; only when the pain became truly unbearable did he reach into his drawer for a bottle of painkillers, take one, and continue his work.

The next day, Huo Xiaohan contacted an old classmate who was a vice principal at a regular high school to inquire about a transfer. Transferring between regions was already complicated, and when the classmate heard Su Wan’s grades, he shook his head repeatedly.

"Commander Huo, no high school will take this student. Schools in the city are all competing for enrollment rates and rankings. If this student comes in, imagine how much she’ll drag down our average score."