The younger sister mistakenly identified her brother when visiting relatives and was kissed by the c

As the machine whirred and spat out a strip of paper with red checkered markings, the nurse examined it carefully and a relaxed smile spread across her face.

"You're recovering really well. All your indicators are much better than when you brought him in last night. The young man is in great physical condition. Keep resting; he has another IV drip this afternoon. I'll come over then."

"Thank you so much, nurse." Qiao Xinxin quickly thanked her politely and saw the nurse out of the ward.

Once the nurse left, Bai Zhengyuan stretched his left arm, which had just been pricked with an injection, and then looked down at his right leg, which was wrapped tightly in gauze. He tentatively moved his toes slightly. Although he still felt a dull, aching pain from the wound, it was much, much less severe than the excruciating pain he had felt last night, as if a knife was scraping his flesh against his bone.

He couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief, and said to Qiao Xinxin with some emotion:

"Xin Xin, the medical skills these days are really amazing. Before I passed out last night, I clearly felt like I was losing a lot of blood, and my whole body was so cold, like I had fallen into an ice cave. At that time, I even had a thought that I was going to die in that cave. I didn't expect that this big hospital would save me so quickly."

Hearing him say that, Qiao Xinxin couldn't help but roll her eyes.

She tossed the rag into the basin, her tone a mix of reproach and grievance, and said irritably:

"You think that's thanks to the hospital's medical skills? Brother, you're such a fool! It's all thanks to the hemostatic powder I prepared for you last night! Otherwise, with the rate of bleeding you had last night, even if the doctor had a hundred hands, he wouldn't have been able to stop the bleeding, and you would be dead by now!"

Bai Zhengyuan was stunned.

His thick eyebrows furrowed tightly as he looked at his sister in disbelief. He had initially assumed the miraculous powder they used last night was some kind of secret imported drug from the military hospital, or a newly developed classified military supply. Now, hearing his sister's explanation, he was completely stunned.

"Xin Xin, what... what do you mean by that? Did you make that powder? Did you concoct it yourself?"

"What else? You think it fell from the sky?"

Bai Zhengyuan was stunned, sitting blankly on the hospital bed, his mind buzzing.

He swallowed hard, his voice a little dry, and asked:

"So...you mean, you really saved my life with your own hands?"

"Of course!"

Qiao Xinxin crossed her arms and looked at him defiantly: "Who do you think was on the operating table, risking being kicked out by the doctors, personally sprinkling medicine powder on your wound? The attending physician was helpless with your massive bleeding. If I hadn't rushed here last night, would you still be sitting here staring at me like that today?"

Looking at his younger sister's proud and smug little face, all the shock in Bai Zhengyuan's heart eventually turned into a strong sense of pride and emotion.

He grinned, revealing a set of bright white teeth, and chuckled foolishly, "Wow, my sister is amazing! My sister, Bai Zhengyuan's sister, not only healed the battalion commander's leg, but she also saved her own brother's life! If word got out, none of my comrades in the army would believe it! My sister is practically Hua Tuo reincarnated!"

"Stop trying to flatter me, I'm not buying it!"

Qiao Xinxin chuckled at his exaggeratedly adoring tone, and her lingering fear dissipated considerably. However, she wasn't one to mince words; she extended a slender finger and gently poked Bai Zhengyuan's forehead.

"If you cause this much trouble on your next mission and get injured this badly again, even if you break both your legs, I won't care about you anymore. I'll make sure you're bedridden for the rest of your life!"

"No, no, no, my dear sister, I promise I'll be good!"

Bai Zhengyuan quickly raised his hands in a gesture of respect, and solemnly promised:

"My sister is so outstanding and capable. If I, as her older brother, constantly cause her worry and tears, I would be a terrible person. From now on, I will be much more careful and absolutely will not let myself lose a single hair!"

Qiao Xinxin shook her head helplessly, but felt a sweet warmth in her heart and stopped arguing with him.

Around noon, a nurse came and put Bai Zhengyuan on an IV drip of a bright yellow nutrient solution.

Seeing that her brother didn't need anyone to watch over him for the time being, Qiao Xinxin took two clean aluminum enamel lunch boxes and hurried to the hospital cafeteria.

The cafeteria was bustling with people at this time, and cheerful songs were playing from the loudspeakers. Qiao Xinxin waited in a long line and got two steaming hot lunches. One was braised pork with potatoes and white rice, and the other was stir-fried vegetables and two large white steamed buns.

When she returned to the ward with the lunchbox, Bai Zhengyuan was staring longingly at the door.

The brother and sister each held a lunchbox and ate their food on the slightly chipped wooden bedside table in the hospital room.

Perhaps because the toxins in his body had been eliminated, and coupled with his good mood, Bai Zhengyuan's appetite was noticeably better today than in the morning.

Although he was still weak due to excessive blood loss and hadn't recovered to the level where he could eat three large steamed buns in one meal in the army, he still ate the entire meal in his lunchbox clean, leaving not a single grain of rice.

After finishing her meal, Qiao Xinxin quickly packed up her lunchbox and took it to the water room at the end of the corridor.

The tap water was icy cold, making her fingers turn slightly red, but she still used a loofah to wash the two lunchboxes until they shone, then shook the water off her hands and returned to the ward.

She had barely sat down on the wooden chair when she heard steady, powerful footsteps coming from the quiet corridor outside.

The footsteps had a rhythm unique to soldiers, regular and powerful.

Immediately afterwards, the wooden door to the ward was gently pushed open from the outside.

Lu Baizhou and Zhou Liguang walked in one after the other.

Qiao Xinxin subconsciously looked up.

The two men had clearly gone back to their dormitory and thoroughly cleaned themselves up. The dirty military uniforms they had worn the night before, stained with mud, grass clippings, and blood, were gone. Now, both men were wearing crisp, clean green military uniforms, their collars slightly faded from washing, yet perfectly pressed without a single wrinkle.

Their previously messy hair had been neatly combed, revealing clean and sharp foreheads. They looked a hundred times more energetic than they had yesterday, when they appeared travel-worn and exhausted, exuding the heroic spirit unique to young soldiers.

Lu Baizhou walked ahead, carrying a very respectable net bag in this era.