Volume 1, Chapter 61: Have You and Commander Huo Known Each Other for a Long Time?

Secretary Jiang and Su Wan were both momentarily taken aback. Secretary Jiang then advised, "Commander Huo, you already know that Tingting has someone she likes. It wouldn't be appropriate for her to accept your gifts."

"Secretary Jiang, does Comrade Tingting just like someone, or is she already in a relationship?" Huo Xiaohan asked in a steady voice.

"She has someone she likes," Secretary Jiang replied.

Huo Xiaohan said resolutely, "Then that's fine."

His temperament had always been cold and detached. Previously, he had little interest in dating between men and women, even finding it somewhat troublesome. He had only wanted to devote himself entirely to his work, which was why he had accepted his family's matchmaking arrangement, thinking that as long as the two sides found each other suitable, they would marry as soon as possible, and he would simply fulfill the responsibilities and obligations of a husband.

However, ever since interacting with Comrade Tingting, he had shamefully discovered that his heart strongly yearned for physical contact with her. Even just holding Comrade Tingting's hand could evoke a completely different feeling within him.

Connecting this with Tingting's family background, he guessed whether the significant gap between their families was the reason Tingting used this excuse to reject him. Therefore, he wanted to meet Comrade Tingting in person to see her true inner thoughts.

If there were difficulties, he would overcome them. If Comrade Tingting was truly unwilling, he would not force the matter.

Su Wan’s expression changed drastically. Huo Xiaohan's words clearly meant he would not easily give up. If she had known, she would have directly told Secretary Jiang that she already had a partner.

Secretary Jiang heard it as well. If Commander Huo really went looking for Tingting, the impersonation could definitely no longer be kept hidden.

"Secretary Jiang, please just accept these sandals." Seeing this, Su Wan had no choice but to hand the sandals to Secretary Jiang, signaling her to accept them. If she didn't, Huo Xiaohan would certainly follow through on his words; if she accepted them, it might buy some time to find another excuse later.

Secretary Jiang had not expected a simple matter to become so complicated. Looking at the sandals handed over by Su Wan, and then looking at Su Wan herself, she had no choice but to accept them. "Commander Huo, since you are so persistent, I will mention this to Comrade Tingting later. But if she is truly unwilling to accept them, there is nothing I can do."

"I understand. Sorry to trouble you, Secretary Jiang." Huo Xiaohan nodded.

Secretary Jiang then let out a soft sigh inwardly, and before leaving, she cast a deep, lingering look at Su Wan.

Su Wan understood Secretary Jiang's meaning.

She walked to the bedside, picked up the bowl of lean meat porridge from the table, and continued feeding it to Huo Xiaohan. Pressing her lips together lightly, she wanted to say something, but seeing Huo Xiaohan's sharp, stern, and resolute facial contours, his eyes like deep pools, and his thin lips pressed into a cold, straight line, his entire presence was exceptionally quiet and overpowering.

Moreover, she had no standing to say anything. She could only finish feeding the porridge as quickly as possible and leave.

"What's wrong with your left leg?" Huo Xiaohan asked just as Su Wan stood up, having noticed earlier that she hesitated to put weight on her left foot. When Su Wan had packed up the thermos and walked to the door of the ward just now, he had noticed the same issue, as if her left foot was injured.

And Tingting's left foot was indeed injured.

He furrowed his brows and asked involuntarily.

Su Wan had tried her best to make her walking posture look normal, but she had not expected Huo Xiaohan to notice it anyway. This meticulous power of observation genuinely frightened her.

"It seems a pebble got into my shoe," Su Wan made up an excuse, pretending to kick her foot casually as she brushed it off.

Huo Xiaohan lowered his gaze to look at her worn cloth shoes with holes. It was indeed easy for pebbles to get into shoes while walking, so he said in a deep voice, "Help me get the *Record of Philosophical Thoughts on Life* from the cabinet."

"Alright," Su Wan replied. Enduring the pain radiating from the sole of her foot, she walked naturally to the wardrobe to look for the book.

It wasn't on the top two layers, so she looked at the third layer. The wooden board was covered with several layers of brand-new newspapers, and a military-green shirt was folded neatly on the third layer, looking as if it had been ironed without a single wrinkle.

"Don't touch that shirt; the book is on the fourth layer," Huo Xiaohan reminded her, his gaze following Su Wan's movements.

That military-green shirt was folded so neatly, almost as if it were meant to be framed and preserved.

Su Wan certainly wouldn't touch it. She retrieved the *Record of Philosophical Thoughts on Life* from the fourth layer and handed it to Huo Xiaohan.

Huo Xiaohan flipped through a few pages with his left hand, and nestled between the pages were several denomination-varying "Great Unity" banknotes along with some food ration coupons.

"Take this to buy a pair of shoes." Huo Xiaohan picked out a ten-yuan banknote and handed it to Su Wan.

"No need. Uncle and Auntie will pay my salary today anyway," Su Wan waved her hands hurriedly in refusal.

"Take it," Huo Xiaohan said in a firm, unyielding tone. "You are taking care of me; it's only right."

Su Wan had no choice but to reach out and accept it, politely expressing her gratitude, "Thank you, Commander Huo."

With that, she quickly grabbed the thermos and left the ward.

Secretary Jiang had been waiting in the hallway for a long time. The moment Su Wan stepped out of the ward, she pulled her toward the stairwell and asked, "Student Su Wan, what on earth is going on? You and Commander Huo have known each other for a while, so how come I've never heard you mention it?"

"Secretary Jiang, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to deceive you. Commander Huo and I have only met a few times and aren't close. Originally, when I ran into Commander Huo at the social mixer, I intended to tell him my identity, but I was afraid of causing trouble for you, so I just thought that after dancing this one dance, I would stay away from him," Su Wan explained truthfully. "It's all my fault; I never imagined that dancing two dances with Commander Huo would lead to this."

"It's more than just those two dances! There's also that song *Tian Mi Mi* you sang—the eyes of everyone in the room were drawn to you." Secretary Jiang held the net bag in one hand and the crystal sandals in the other. "I can see that Commander Huo is serious. Once he is discharged from the hospital, he will definitely go looking for Tingting. As long as he casually asks around in the pediatrics department, he will find out that someone impersonated Tingting at the mixer."

"Why couldn't you just be honest with Commander Huo?" Secretary Jiang asked, puzzled.

Of course, Su Wan couldn't tell Secretary Jiang that they had previously been on a blind date, so she said, "Secretary Jiang, I already have someone I like, and I'm not close with Commander Huo. If he found out, wouldn't it make things awkward for both of us? I still have to live at the Huo family home for at least a year."

Secretary Jiang advised, "Since you are living at the Huo family home and going to the hospital to take care of Commander Huo, I suppose Commander Huo will discover the truth sooner or later. Why don't you just tell him?"

Su Wan knitted her pretty brows slightly and said with a hint of distress, "Secretary Jiang, at the mixer, Commander Huo and I didn't exchange many words or interact much; it wasn't even as much time as I've spent interacting with him now. I truly didn't expect things to turn out like this."

"It's precisely because he didn't see your face clearly, and because you performed so well at the mixer that day, leaving a good impression in Commander Huo's mind and making you seem very mysterious, that he is pursuing the matter to the end. If he had seen your face and understood a bit more about you, maybe Commander Huo wouldn't be so persistent." Secretary Jiang hit the nail on the head. She had noticed in the ward that Commander Huo's attitude toward Su Wan—who cooked and fed him—was quite ordinary, clearly lacking the deep attentiveness he showed toward "Tingting."

Su Wan knitted her pretty brows and pondered for a moment.

She truly dared not imagine what would happen if Huo Xiaohan discovered that the person he had taken a fancy to was the very person he once loathed and detested the most.

Moreover, the black marks on her reputation had only just begun to wash clean, Professor Xie had introduced her to a translation job, and everything was moving in a positive direction. She really didn't want all her previous efforts to go to waste.

"Secretary Jiang, please, you must keep this a secret for me. Don't reveal my identity. At the earliest, it will take about a month for Commander Huo to be discharged from the hospital. By then, perhaps Commander Huo's interest in this matter will have faded, or he will have forgotten about it altogether." Su Wan took Secretary Jiang's hand, hoping for the best possible outcome.

"What should I do if Commander Huo is discharged and comes looking for me again?" Secretary Jiang asked, seeing Su Wan's dilemma and reluctance.

"If it really comes to that, I'll figure something out. But please, under no circumstances should you tell Commander Huo my identity."

Su Wan thought about it earnestly; for now, she could only take things one step at a time.

Huo Xiaohan undoubtedly noticed that she and Tingting bore a resemblance, and he had also taken note of her injured left foot. However, because he could not yet connect her with Comrade Tingting, he wouldn't suspect her for the time being.

She could only pray that within this month, Huo Xiaohan would forget about the matter or have his attention diverted.

Seeing that this was the only viable option for now, Secretary Jiang nodded. "Then what about these things..."

"Secretary Jiang, I certainly can't take these things back, or my identity will be exposed. Please help me keep them for now."

Su Wan still had to go to the newspaper office to interview for the translation position today. Seeing that the time was drawing near, she hastily bid farewell to Secretary Jiang after speaking.

Lying in his hospital bed, Huo Xiaohan was reading the military newspaper sent by his guard when a thought suddenly flashed through his mind halfway through.

What if Comrade Tingting really did have someone she liked, and during the period of his hospitalization, she was staying with the person she liked?

His previously dark and deep pupils stirred with restlessness.

At that moment, a nurse walked in to change Huo Xiaohan's IV fluids.

Ever since Huo Xiaohan had moved into the cadre ward, the nurses responsible for this section had been visiting exceptionally frequently. Sometimes, a task that could easily be done in one trip was split into multiple trips by several different people.

This was simply to catch a glimpse of the young and handsome Commander Huo, especially when the chief physician made rounds to change the dressings on his wounds. The exposed upper body—powerful, robust, with a narrow waist and taut, muscular lines like carved stone, and bulging, vigorous veins—was enough to make anyone blush just by looking at it.

Therefore, when this nurse was assigned to change Commander Huo's IV fluids, she had accidentally overheard the conversation between Secretary Jiang and Huo Xiaohan right outside the ward.

As she slowly changed the IV fluids, her eyes drifted toward Huo Xiaohan from time to time. However, because Huo Xiaohan's aura was too chillingly stern, she didn't quite dare to speak up.

Yet, thinking of the Comrade Tingting mentioned by both Commander Huo and Secretary Jiang, she summoned her courage and asked, "Commander Huo, may I ask if the Comrade Tingting you mentioned to Secretary Jiang just now is Ruan Tingting from the pediatrics department?"

Commander Huo raised his gaze, slightly surprised. "You know her?"

"Of course I do! Ruan Tingting and I are good friends who graduated from the same school," the nurse replied excitedly.

If it weren't for the fact that Ruan Tingting had her appendix removed and was currently resting at home, she definitely would have dragged Ruan Tingting over to look at the handsome man together.

She had never expected that this Commander Huo would actually take an interest in Ruan Tingting.

"Commander Huo, I went to visit Tingting yesterday, but she didn't mention this to me at all. Did Secretary Jiang introduce the two of you?" The nurse asked, burning with curiosity.

"No, we met at the social dance mixer held by your unit." Huo Xiaohan paused, sharply catching something. "What happened to Comrade Tingting?"

"Tingting had her appendix removed and is resting at home right now." The nurse thought for a moment before asking, "Was it the social dance mixer on the 26th?"

"Yes." Huo Xiaohan frowned slightly. Why hadn't Secretary Jiang mentioned this to him earlier? "Did Comrade Tingting have her surgery just yesterday?"

"It was on the 26th! She was supposed to attend the social dance mixer, but she came down with acute appendicitis and couldn't go." The nurse also sensed something was amiss.

Huo Xiaohan's stern brows furrowed instantly. "Are you sure you didn't remember the date wrong?"

"No. Because Tingting couldn't go, Secretary Jiang was afraid one person would be missing and the mixer wouldn't work out, so she found someone to take Tingting's place to make up the numbers."

Almost all the nurses in the inpatient department knew about this. Although it was a replacement, the person's qualifications had to meet the requirements. She herself hadn't been able to go because she was on duty and couldn't leave.

So, the person dancing with him at the social dance mixer was not Comrade Tingting at all, but someone else.

No wonder that "Comrade Tingting" had been dodging him and was afraid of seeing him.

"Do you know who took Comrade Tingting's place? Was she also a nurse from the inpatient department?" Huo Xiaohan asked.

The nurse shook her head. "I wouldn't know about that. Secretary Jiang was the one who found the person, so probably only Secretary Jiang knows."

She had never imagined that the person Commander Huo had taken a fancy to was the substitute for Tingting, which made her excitement for nothing.

Huo Xiaohan pressed his thin lips together, his dark eyes profound. The dream he had experienced flashed rapidly through his mind, bringing up Su Wan's face.

However, he quickly dismissed the thought. Su Wan and Secretary Jiang didn't know each other at all; it was impossible for her to have been the substitute.

After returning to the Song family home and changing her clothes, Su Wan tucked the recommendation letter given by Professor Xie into her pocket and took the bus to the newspaper office building.

The publishing house of the Beijing Daily was located on the floor directly beneath the newspaper offices.

After inquiring at the front desk for Director Miao's office, she headed up to the second floor.

Because there were many foreign novels and literary works scheduled for publication recently, the publishing house had contacted several universities in Beijing, hoping to recommend professors, teachers, or students with good foreign language proficiency.

Outside Director Miao's office, there were several other translators who had come with recommendations. In addition to their recommendation letters, they were holding manuscripts of their previous translation works.

Su Wan glanced over and, to her surprise, spotted two very familiar figures right at the front of the line:

Fang Yu and Chief Editor Li of the newspaper office!

She also heard Fang Yu address Chief Editor Li as her aunt.

As expected, they were relatives.