An 80s female translator was spoiled rotten by a rough and jealous man.

Chapter 278 "We all need to be well."

The man stood frozen for a long time, not moving, as if some of his spirit had been drained away out of thin air.

After an unknown amount of time, Huo Qingshan sighed and asked her, "Have you really thought it through?"

He took a step forward, almost touching the bed frame, one hand bracing against the edge, leaning forward, his dark eyes fixed on her, drawing ever closer, the pressure emanating from him almost imperceptible. The man emphasized, "No matter the consequences, you won't regret it?"

Meng Youyou looked at him, her gaze firm and without a trace of fear in her eyes, and nodded solemnly, "I've thought it through."

Seeing this, the man softened his stern expression and nodded, "Okay."

He seemed to be talking to himself, and after only a moment, he repeated it softly: "Okay."

As he slightly raised his eyes, Meng Youyou quickly glanced over and saw that the sharpness and anxiety in his eyes had faded, leaving only a blank, clear color, like dust settling after a heavy rain.

Then, he quickly composed himself, took out a flashlight slightly thicker than a pen from his training pocket, and looked at her again with a long and gentle gaze. He said, "Since you've made up your mind, then face the problem and find a way to solve it. Turn your head a little so I can see your ear."

This gentleness was different from the mildness he had shown when he was trying to persuade her earlier, and Meng Youyou keenly noticed it. On the contrary, Meng Youyou was actually more familiar with Huo Qingshan like this; he was often like this when they were dating.

She hadn't seen him like this in a very, very long time.

Since their reunion, in their brief interactions, Meng Youyou could sense that he seemed to be surrounded by a tangible boundary, with sharp edges and an overtly obvious presence. How could Meng Youyou not see that he wanted to keep his distance from her?

That's why I feel resentful, resentful that he let go so easily, and even more resentful that I can't be as calm and composed as him.

That boundary line was mostly clear-cut; they tacitly understood each other, each dutifully adhering to their own side and not overstepping each other's boundaries.

However, even the clearest lines can sometimes blur into a gradient, allowing her to step over them a little, but this time it was he who took the initiative to step forward.

Seeing that she didn't move, but just kept staring at him with a blank look in her eyes, Huo Qingshan's eyes showed a hint of helplessness. Then he took out a small bottle of clear liquid from the inner pocket of his training uniform, shook it in his hand, and whispered, "I'll wash your ears for you."

Meng Youyou lowered her eyes slightly. "I washed it with salt water a few days ago, but it wasn't very effective."

"Hmm." Huo Qingshan walked over, moved two empty ammunition boxes that were piled up against the wall, stacked them on the floor near the bed, and then naturally found a place to sit down by the bed, answering vaguely, "This one is different from that one."

Meng Youyou pressed further, "How is it different?"

"This one is cleaner."

It was as if he hadn't said anything at all. Seeing that he was deliberately avoiding the question, Meng Youyou didn't insist on probing further. She then cooperated by gently moving her head over, lying on her side, and resting her head on his lap, her profile soft and gentle.

This posture was clearly beyond Huo Qingshan's expectations; it wasn't what he had initially envisioned. The man's eyes flickered, but in the end, he said nothing and tacitly approved of this form of contact.

Huo Qingshan, shining a flashlight, carefully examined Meng Youyou's ear canal. A glass bottle containing saline solution was placed on a wooden crate. After unscrewing the cap, the man pulled out a lighter from somewhere, held the syringe tip to a flame for a few seconds, and then quickly moved it away.

"What's wrong with his hand?" Meng Youyou then noticed a patch of nearly brownish-black skin on the back of his left hand. The surface was bulging, the edges were raised, and in the darkest part of the skin, several areas of skin were chapped.

"I was on a mission yesterday and it happened by accident. It's nothing serious." He said it in a very nonchalant tone.

Huo Qingshan continued what he was doing, leaning slightly forward to insert the syringe into the glass bottle. The person in his arms seemed to stir slightly, and he couldn't help but urge, "Quickly find a comfortable position to lie down in, it'll be fine during the cleaning process..."

Meng Youyou reached out and gently hugged his waist. She felt the man's body stiffen for a moment, but then he didn't react at all.

"...Don't move around." He paused, then finished the sentence as usual, his voice devoid of emotion.

So, she took advantage of the situation and slowly tightened her arms—well, they were a bit too narrow now. Her cheek pressed close to his. In that moment, she abandoned all thought, disregarding everything else, simply following her heart, completely captivated by his presence and embrace. It was this person's scent and embrace that she craved at this very moment.

"Huo Qingshan, we must both be well, and go back alive together." Meng Youyou slowly closed her eyes, hugged him, and whispered.

After a few seconds, a firm male voice sounded from above: "Okay." This was not at all like the casual tone he had used when he mentioned the injury earlier; it sounded more like a promise.

Huo Qingshan's hands never stopped moving from beginning to end. After a series of preparations were completed, he reminded him again: "It's about to start. I don't have a free hand to hold you still, so don't move later."

“Okay,” Meng Youyou replied.

The man slowly pushed the syringe forward with his right hand, and Meng Youyou immediately felt water flowing out, gently entering her inner ear canal.

His movements were slow and meticulous, much more careful than when Meng Youyou had cleaned his ear canals before. Such meticulous care gave one the illusion of being especially cherished and treated with care.

Meng Youyou didn't pay any attention to how long the whole process lasted.

Because her senses were gradually being overwhelmed by his burning body temperature, the intense suffocation in her chest, and the overwhelming dizziness, her body grew hotter and hotter, and her head grew heavier and heavier. She had already exhausted herself trying to stay awake and talk to him, and now, even moving her lips felt like a struggle. Meng Youyou buried her face in his body little by little, his body heat warming her through the fabric. Her forehead pressed against a hard bone—he really had lost a lot of weight.

Meng Youyou suddenly called out to him, "Huo Qingshan."

The voice was muffled, a very soft call, like a murmur in a dream.

"Mmm." He answered quickly and seriously.

Will you fall in love with someone else in the future?

Upon hearing this, Huo Qingshan glanced at the person in his arms out of the corner of his eye. A few seconds later, the man replied, "No."

She was barely lucid anymore, but her stubbornness remained. Meng Youyou immediately questioned, "How do you know you won't do it in the future?" Her voice was nasal and aggrieved.

"I just don't know," Huo Qingshan answered in his heart.

And... there will be no future.

For the next minute or so, Huo Qingshan didn't hear her speak again. Unsure if she was waiting for his reply, the man paused what he was doing, turned his head slightly to look at the person in his arms. She was curled up against his waist, her small profile visible, her eyelashes tightly closed, appearing very quiet.

"I don't know either." Just when he thought she had fallen asleep, he heard her suddenly speak up and say this.

Meng Youyou sniffed and continued, "I can't either, Huo Qingshan, I can't fall in love with anyone else."

After saying that, she rubbed her nose against his clothes again.

Perhaps the high fever numbed Meng Youyou's will, weakened her fragile and sensitive self-esteem, and provided a reasonable outlet for her willfulness. Or perhaps, in this situation, the man in front of her was too deceptive.

She says whatever comes to mind without thinking, filtering, or controlling.

Meng Youyou no longer hid anything. She was completely true to the most honest voice in her heart and laid bare her heart without any defenses: "I didn't want to tell you these things. I felt so embarrassed. You don't want me anymore, but I still... still like you so much."

"I had originally resolved never to say these words aloud for the rest of my life. But then I thought, what if I'm unlucky one day and a bomb falls from the sky and hits me at my feet, or some other accident happens? There are too many variables here, anything can happen. In short, in the moment before I die, if I think about how I couldn't tell you that I still love you very much, I think I would feel regretful, right?" His tone was somewhat uncertain.

"Yes, I will definitely regret it." She quickly answered herself, with great certainty.

"So, I've decided to tell you, Huo Qingshan, I love you, I still love you very, very much."

Each time the girl said "I love you," she emphasized it more than the previous one.

The man's breathing deepened, his eyes darkening and becoming lifeless. After a moment, something seemed to churn wildly within them. He closed his eyes, withdrew the hand holding the syringe, and his shoulders slumped. He decided to rest for a short while. He needed to rest, because he couldn't guarantee he could continue the delicate procedures he was performing.

Unexpectedly, the girl beneath him blurted out again a few seconds later: "Huo Qingshan, I hate you, I really, really hate you."

These words are incoherent and somewhat nonsensical.

However, you can't expect a sick person to be logically sound all the time.

She accused him: "You broke your promise!"

"You went back on your word!"

"You're so heartless!"

"Huo Qingshan, you're a complete bastard!"

Okay, it wasn't nonsensical; everything he said made sense, and he wasn't wronged.

"It hurts," she murmured unconsciously, her small face contorted in pain. Cold sweat had already soaked her back, and her breathing was becoming increasingly difficult. Everything around her was fading; sounds, light, and touches all seemed distant and indistinct.

Huo Qingshan didn't hear her mumbled whisper, so he bent down and leaned closer to ask, "What?"

But there was no response.

A sense of impending doom gripped her chest. After finally recovering, Meng Youyou forced herself to continue, her consciousness fading slightly: "If you meet another girl you like in the future, then you should be with her."

Huo Qingshan frowned, about to speak, when he heard her tone change: "But if you haven't met someone you like, don't get married, okay?" Her words were urgent, as if she were even more anxious than he was. "Don't marry someone you don't like, don't get married just for the sake of getting married, I wouldn't be happy if I saw that from heaven."

Huo Qingshan raised his hand and touched the head of the person in his arms, gently stroking the hair as he reassured him, "Don't say such silly things, everything will be alright, I won't let anything happen to you."