Chapter 21: Make You Beg Me to Stay in Tears

“Oh dear, Old Gu, look, you’ve hurt someone.”
The soldier inside hurried over to check on Qian Lai’s injury.
Tan Yunhai quickly introduced, “Commissar Huo, this is Comrade Qian Lai, Deputy Commander Gu’s fiancée.”
“Comrade Qian, this is Commissar Huo Guanghui from our division headquarters.”
Qian Lai pressed her hand to her head, forcing a smile.
“Oh my, Old Gu, you’re really something. Look at your beautiful wife-to-be—she’s just arrived and you’ve already ruined her face.” Huo Guanghui scolded, “Go take care of it quickly.”
But Qian Lai stood her ground, carefully sizing up Gu Han Chuan on the sickbed.
His hair, neglected for some time, hung loosely, covering half his face.
Once a figure of extraordinary vigor, now he was a shadow of defeat and despondency.
His eyes were dull, yet they held a hint of resentment and exhaustion. His lips were cracked, beard wild.
His lifeless body barely propped itself up on the bed, stripped of any former authority.
He, too, was observing Qian Lai, and after a moment, suddenly burst out in rage toward Commissar Huo at the door: “Isn’t this a sin?! You let such a beautiful woman accompany a living corpse like me—isn’t that a sin?!”
“Get out, all of you. Seven days without water and I’ll die; it’s been three days already. Just let me go, let me die, can’t you?”
He pounded the bed furiously.
“No. You can’t die yet.”
As soon as Qian Lai spoke, the three men were taken aback.
“You’ve ruined my face, don’t think you can get away with it. I came here with beauty, and I won’t leave in ruin. I won’t accept it.” Qian Lai walked right up to his bed and whispered so only the two of them could hear, “Everyone knows I’m your fiancée. I’ve fallen out with my family and came to Xinshi to seek you out.
But on the first day, you drive me away.
If word gets out, how could I ever marry again? Besides, if I leave here, I have nowhere to go.”
Qian Lai bravely met Gu Han Chuan’s gaze, her innocent, vulnerable eyes resisting his anger and despair.
“Chief, yesterday Aunt Cheng had me meet your family. They were all so fierce.
I beg you, let me rely on you for a while. When I find my footing and they stop making things difficult for me, I’ll leave.
Then, you can do whatever you like, all right?”
Gu Han Chuan’s expression was hard to read.
Is she alright!?
He was a paralyzed man, and she wanted to treat him as her protector?!
“Haha, how ridiculous. Someone actually wants a cripple to be her support.”

“Why not?! Chief, it’s just your legs that won’t stand—you’re not brain-dead. One word from you decides whether I stay or go, even my life. Do you believe it?!”
He scoffed.
“I’ll have someone arrange everything for you. You won’t be homeless.” His tone was noticeably softer.
“You see, Chief, how are you not my support? Just one word, and everything is arranged for me. Tell me, aren’t you important?”
“Get out! Cough, cough, I don’t want to hear your, cough, nonsense!”
She just didn’t understand!
It was nothing but the last echoes of his former glory, which would soon fade.
When that happened, he’d go from ‘respected’ to ‘despised’—that was his greatest torment.
Just then, an indescribable odor filled the room.
Gu Han Chuan’s expression turned grave, shame and embarrassment creeping across his brows.
“Out, all of you, get out. Cough, cough, I don’t want to see anyone!”
He angrily beat his numb legs, feeling as if his dignity had been dragged through the mud.
“Where’s the orderly? Quick, call the orderly.” Huo Guanghui barked, causing a commotion in the hallway.
Soon, a man rushed in with supplies.
“Miss, please step outside. I’ll change the Chief’s clothes.”
“Get out. And never come back. This place is hell—no need to seek your own destruction… cough, cough, cough…”
Gu Han Chuan’s roar gradually turned into sobs.
Qian Lai watched him, feeling a pang of sympathy.
Yesterday’s hero, ruined before his time—this was the cruelest reality of life.
She silently resolved to complete her experiment as soon as possible. She believed she could save this eagle with broken wings.
About half an hour later, the orderly emerged from the ward, drenched in sweat.
“The Chief’s clothes and sheets are changed, and I’ve cleaned the floor.”
“Commissar Huo, has the Chief gone without a bath for a long time? Just now, the smell was quite strong. I worry he’ll develop bedsores. Could this gentleman help him bathe?” Qian Lai asked with concern.
“He should have bathed long ago. Even just a wipe-down would do. But he won’t let anyone near him,” the orderly Xiao He replied helplessly.
Commissar Huo thought for a moment. “He’ll be bathed, even if we have to carry him by force. I’ll scrub him myself.”
He spoke with the conviction of an oath, and Qian Lai couldn’t help but smile.
“Commissar, maybe I could try communicating with the Chief? I can’t promise anything, but if it doesn’t work, we can always carry him by force later.”

“All right, we’ll fully support your decision.”
The ward was now quiet.
Qian Lai slipped in through the door crack, finding Gu Han Chuan staring out the window in a daze.
Outside, a squirrel scampered up and down the tree trunk, busily going about its business.
As if sensing it was being watched, it paused occasionally to glance back at Gu Han Chuan.
Qian Lai quietly observed Gu Han Chuan’s expression.
He stared for a long time, and unnoticed, tears began to slip down one cheek.
He suddenly raised his hand, fiercely wiped them away, and blew his nose hard.
He kept gazing out the window, his calm gradually giving way to soft sobs, then to whimpers, and finally to loud, bitter weeping.
He cried out, as if challenging the heavens: “Why are you so unfair to me?!”
Qian Lai dared not move, letting him vent all his grief and rage.
She didn’t know how long it lasted—her legs were numb before Gu Han Chuan finally calmed.
She quietly stepped forward and offered her handkerchief.
The man didn’t even look up, stubbornly turning away and wiping his tears with his hand. “Why haven’t you left?”
“Because I won’t leave!”
Her tone was as resolute as a vow before persecution.
The man was a little provoked by this, straightened himself, and shouted hoarsely at her, “I don’t want to see you—get out… cough, cough!”
After crying and shouting for so long, Gu Han Chuan’s throat was already raw.
“Chief, shouting like that, your throat must hurt. See, it’s gone hoarse.” Qian Lai picked up the tea mug and nonchalantly offered it to him. “Come, have some water, soothe it. Once you’re better, you can yell again.”
He instinctively reached for the mug, then remembered his hunger strike. To drive the girl away, he had to act even more violently and cruelly.
Withdrawing his hand, he swung his arm, aiming to knock over the mug and drench her.
She’d surely flee in embarrassment—this trick never failed.
Yet, as he raised his hand, the girl anticipated it, nimbly sidestepping out of the way.
“Chief, save your strength. No matter what you do, I won’t leave. When it’s time for me to go, I’ll make you beg me to stay. That’s my style, Qian Lai’s style.”