Having finished asking her question, Rusty Sister felt a little nervous and strange. In fact, this odd emotional state had persisted for some time now, having roughly started after the previous battle and worsening after Yaoyao visited the hospital.
With her iron armor muted, she turned her head and glanced once more at her shoulder.
If she was not mistaken, Rusty Sister distinctly remembered that during the last fight against the Red Shoulder, a faint crack had actually appeared on her shoulder the moment it caved in under the blow of the column sword.
It was only that the compression and expansion design Jiang Chou had built into the double armor had caused the inner layer of armor to quickly extend, covering the fissure from within.
During that process, Rusty Sister had not felt that past agony.
That pain and helplessness when the inner dead iron source energy circulation broke and life was instantly devoured—she had not felt it this time.
"Could it be that I'm getting better?" Rusty Sister had been mulling over that question ever since.
She had asked Zhe Qiuhong as well, but neither of them dared make the decision to test it. If they truly were to attempt it, Jiang Chou would have to be present, everything would need to be prepared, and they would have to wait until the situation improved...
"You mean to say you're very pretty? That doesn't seem likely, does it?" Han Qingyu seemed to have given it serious thought this time, which was why he took quite a while to answer.
Rusty Sister snapped her head toward him, flustered. "W-why?!"
"Because of those childhood photos of yours. Back when we saw them at your house that year, the guys all privately agreed you were really good-looking..." Han Qingyu said with a look of reminiscence.
"R-really?" Second Lieutenant Shen instantly grew delighted.
Truth be told, Shen Yixiu knew full well that she had been pretty as a child. Back then, she had been like a little princess. Until later, when she became a monster inside a suit of iron armor.
Now Shen Yixiu was nearly twenty, and hearing someone praise her looks was something from a very long time ago.
"Yeah, but my mom used to say that girls who are too good-looking as kids grow up ugly, because they did all their growing ahead of time," Han Qingyu continued.
"...I-is that so?" Second Lieutenant Shen suddenly grew worried.
"Mm. That's why back then she kept telling me to grow up and marry our township chief's daughter, claiming that since she was so ugly as a kid, she was bound to look stunning when she grew up."
"Uh, wasn't that just because her father was the township chief?" Rusty Sister asked in a small, uneasy voice.
"Yeah, it was. My mom's super practical like that," Han Qingyu confessed with a grin.
"Giggle." Rusty Sister laughed along, her mood instantly lightening. "Then why don't you marry Yaoyao instead? Her family is way more powerful than your township chief's, and she's pretty too, and she treats you so well..."
Ah, I've turned into a bad woman! I sound so fake, so hypocritical! What a phony probing question! How could I have turned out like this?
The instant she asked the question, Rusty Sister finally realized what had felt so strange about herself.
In the past, when she believed she could never leave the iron armor for the rest of her life, she had never felt anything like this. But now, she did.
"How humiliating."
"How could I become like this? I'm clearly a good person. It was clearly Yaoyao first..."
"Are you crazy?" Beside her, Han Qingyu seemed to have pondered it this time, muttering a mild curse under his breath. "I'll wait until after victory to go home for blind dates. What would that have to do with Azure then?"
"...Oh." She had not actually gotten an answer, so there were still many questions she wanted to ask, but Second Lieutenant Shen Yixiu felt too guilty to press further. After a pause, she added, "Anyway, Yaoyao is super wonderful. It'd be great if you could go on a blind date with her."
Ah, there I go again! I'm so fake! I'm a bad woman! What should I do? What should I do?
"None of your business," Han Qingyu grumbled, standing up dejectedly.
These days his mind was occupied from morning to night by the old man and the Daie; he was in no mood to talk about this.
Fine, in that case, I won't test the waters about Milla or Caixin, Second Lieutenant Shen Yixiu thought. And thinking of that—Aiya, I'm so wicked!
Qingzi's little cloth pouch had always kept Yaoyao's hair tie.
But it also has my mirror.
Wait, if I truly can get out all of a sudden, won't there be a chance Qingzi sees all of me right away?
Then would he... not have to take responsibility?!
Aiya, how did I get so brazen and shameless?!
Pat-pat-pat-pat... A sudden burst of rapid, dense footsteps approached from afar and rushed past them.
First came a stretcher carrying an old grandma with graying hair, blood dyeing her hair red, followed by a large crowd of doctors, nurses, and soldiers.
Lastly, Zhe Qiuhong ran past with her assistant.
……
"That grandma—how is she?" When Zhe Qiuhong returned to the ward, Rusty Sister stood up immediately and asked with worry.
Many wounded arrived here every day, but situations requiring Zhe Qiuhong to personally intervene were not frequent. Nor was she close with the hospital staff, always maintaining a stern expression, giving off the impression that she cared about nothing.
From what they had inquired earlier, it seemed that on the old grandma's account, many people had rushed at once to beg Zhe Qiuhong to help.
"She's barely alive. Whether she can pull through in the end is unknown. And her eyes are blinded." Zhe Qiuhong seemed rather exhausted. She gestured with a hand and said, "Gravel fragments sliced horizontally across. There was nothing I could do."
Since she could be cut open by flying gravel, the grandma was clearly not of a source energy constitution. In that case, her injuries... Everyone in the ward fell silent.
"What a shame... No, she'll pull through, as long as she's alive. That grandma must have been incredible back in her day; I saw so many people worried sick about her."
He Tangtang tried his best to find something to say.
Zhe Qiuhong shook her head. "She wasn't incredible. She couldn't even perform surgery, only handle minor wounds at most." Pausing, she added, "Perhaps she simply did that for a very, very long time."
As for the specifics of the matter, Han Qingyu and the others soon heard the details from an elderly doctor at the hospital.
It was a very ordinary story.
In the story was a young village girl named Yuemei, who had come to Azure in her teens.
She lacked a sufficient degree of fusion and couldn't become a soldier. She looked very plain, and wasn't any good at public speaking, singing, or dancing, so she couldn't join the propaganda troupe either. In the end, she went to study medicine, but the instructor said her education was too poor, and that she was a bit clumsy.
After studying with all her might, she was still only qualified to attend to minor wounds...
Just like that, from young Yuemei until she became Grandma Yuemei in the mouths of the soldiers, she remained the same, able only to treat those minor wounds.
Or to fetch meals for the wounded, feed them, wash their clothes, and wipe their faces.
While doing these things, she always tried hard to find words for those wounded whose family and comrades were not by their side—even though she was slow with words, repeating the same few mundane domestic phrases over and over.
In Azure, in Huaxia, many, many people had seen her.
"Oh, right, Grandma Yuemei can make mooncakes too. So many people have eaten the mooncakes she made... Mid-Autumn Festival is coming soon," the doctor said in the end, eyes reddening.
Chapter 642