Chapter 8: 8. Chapter 8: Meng Youyou Wants to Buy Scar Removal Medicine

Chapter 8: Meng Youyou Wants to Buy Scar Removal Medicine

Chu Yaozu was the first to discover the currently stunned Chu Yao through the crack in the door. He cried out in shock, "Sis, what are you doing here?"

His tone was filled with obvious panic.

Shortly after, Chu Daqing and Liu Xiu'e also turned around and saw her. The two exchanged a glance, and simultaneously, malicious intent flashed across their faces.

Coming to her senses, Chu Yao slammed the door shut and bolted toward the stairs.

When she first married Xu Penggang, he had been quite generous, providing the Chu family with an apartment as part of the bride price. Consequently, the entire Chu family rose with him; all three family members moved to the city and began living in an apartment building.

Chu Yao had only just been discharged from the hospital, and her wounds had not yet fully healed. Naturally, she could not outrun the three people pursuing her. Unsurprisingly, she was caught by her family and sent back to the Xu residence.

From then on, tragedies played out daily. She could not escape the nightmare, until finally, her end was identical to that of Xu Penggang's first three wives.

Chu Yao's tragic life came to an end.

*

Finally, some movement came from the corridor outside the duty room. Chu Yao steadied her nerves and walked toward the door, where she indeed saw Huo Qingshan and the others approaching from a distance.

Having witnessed the true faces and methods of the Chu family in her previous life, Chu Yao realized deeply that even if she hadn't succumbed to a moment of soft-heartedness and agreed back then, they would have used countless despicable means to force her to marry Xu Penggang to achieve their goals.

Therefore, while Chu Yaozu's business had not yet completely collapsed, she had to secure a way out for herself in advance.

In her past life, Chu Yao had not had much contact with Huo Qingshan, but having lived a lifetime already, she knew this man would eventually rise through the ranks to hold great power and authority.

Furthermore, according to the information she possessed, while Huo Qingshan appeared unassuming in his daily life, he was actually a man of hidden depths with a prestigious family background.

His family had served in the military for generations; his ancestors had performed meritorious service during the war years, and his father held a significant position in the capital. The family possessed extensive connections and considerable influence.

Looking across the entire military camp, among the people Chu Yao could interact with, Huo Qingshan was the best target. He was loyal, decisive, kept his word, was upright, feared no authority, and most importantly, possessed sufficient capability to protect her.

Thus, if she could successfully enter a relationship with him—and ideally, get him to agree to marry her—she could smoothly evade the poisonous hands of Xu Penggang and the Chu family in this life, avoiding the same tragic fate.

By the time Zhong Heng led Huo Qingshan into the duty room, Chu Yao had already calmly sat back down in her chair.

She looked up at the newcomers with a calm gaze and asked in a soft voice, "Commanders, is there something I can help you with in the infirmary today?"

A warm and sweet smile hung on her lips. She looked like a peach blossom blooming in spring—gentle, elegant, and making one feel as if they were being bathed in a spring breeze.

Zhong Heng took the lead, stating their purpose concisely: "Medic Chu, our battalion commander was injured on a mission a few days ago. We need you to change his dressing."

"No problem. Battalion Commander Huo, please follow me to the treatment room. I will change your dressing now."

After Huo Qingshan took off his jacket, the back of his training uniform revealed faint spots of blood seeping through the fabric.

Seeing this, Zhong Heng realized something: "I was wondering why the Commander was still training in a jacket despite this hot weather. So that's why. It's a good thing Chief of Staff Lu understands the Commander's temperament and issued a strict order; otherwise, no one would be able to rein him in. If it weren't for this today, the Commander would probably have just let the wound fend for itself. Sigh, he really is a tough one!"

Huo Qingshan had his back to Chu Yao. As she looked at the man's broad back, she saw crisscrossing, partially healed wounds on his wheat-colored skin. Where the scabs had broken, thin streaks of blood seeped out, staining the surrounding skin.

The area around the wounds was slightly swollen, clearly indicating inflammation caused by excessive exercise without timely dressing changes.

She could not imagine how this man could persist in high-intensity daily training while enduring such pain.

Chu Yao took a sharp breath, steadied her mind, and carefully dipped a cotton ball in disinfectant to gently wipe around the wounds.

With every touch, she could faintly sense the slight tension in his body, but he remained silent throughout.

After carefully applying ointment to the wounds, Chu Yao began to wrap them with clean gauze.

Just then, a clear female voice came from the adjacent duty room: "Huh? Why is no one in the duty room?"

Hearing the voice, Zhong Heng felt it was somewhat familiar. He immediately poked his head out from the treatment room and happened to run into Meng Youyou, who was walking out after failing to find anyone in the duty room.

He greeted her, waving his hand, "Translator Meng, over here. The medic is in this room."

Meng Youyou naturally saw Zhong Heng poking his head out from the doorway about five or six meters away, so she walked over.

Reaching the door, she looked inside and saw Huo Qingshan standing there, his body turned sideways as he was pulling on a forest-green short-sleeved training shirt.

The shirt was already halfway on. Meng Youyou caught a glimpse of a small section of gauze on his left waist that had not yet been fully covered, but in the next second, the man had already begun putting on his jacket.

The image was fleeting; Meng Youyou wasn't sure if she had misseen it.

*Is he injured? How did he get injured? When did it happen?*

A series of questions flooded Meng Youyou's mind.

She shook her head slightly, trying to dispel these strange thoughts.

Soldiers had high training intensities, and injuries were common; there was no reason for her to worry. Seeing how freely he was moving now, the injury probably wasn't too serious.

Meng Youyou quickly returned to her original motive for coming here: "Medic comrade, does the infirmary pharmacy have any medicines with scar-removal properties?"

"Scar removal?" For a moment, Chu Yao doubted her own hearing.

She looked up and down at the exquisite woman before her. The woman was incredibly beautiful, with skin so fine and white it resembled high-quality mutton-fat jade. Chu Yao asked doubtfully, "Who are you looking for scar-removal medicine for?"

Meng Youyou pointed to herself. "For myself." Having said that, she bent down and rolled up the leg of her linen trousers.

The gazes of the people in the room instinctively followed the movement of the speaker. The three of them saw a slender, long calf gradually revealed.

On the back of the smooth, fair calf, several prominent red marks were clearly visible. Against her snow-white skin, those intersecting red marks were exceptionally jarring, striking the eyes of everyone present.

Realizing the impropriety, Zhong Heng quickly averted his gaze, pretending to look at the scenery outside the window.

Huo Qingshan, however, involuntarily recalled that night—the scene he had witnessed at her dormitory door. He hadn't seemed to notice these red marks on her legs then.

Perhaps it was because that glance had been too fleeting to see clearly, or perhaps because the pants she was wearing then were too short and exposed her entire legs, but since the scars were concentrated on the back of her calf, his attention hadn't been drawn there.

Once the second possibility took root in his mind, Huo Qingshan began to inwardly despise himself for not being a gentleman, but rather a petty man taking advantage of someone's vulnerability.

He was surprised that he remembered the places he shouldn't have looked so clearly, yet had no impression of such obvious features.

"It was that night when I was being held hostage. They dragged me through the woods, and I was scratched by branches and stones on the ground," Meng Youyou began to explain the origin of the scars.

Hearing this, Chu Yao's brows furrowed slightly. She scrutinized the attire of this woman she had never met for a few more seconds. It was exquisite and fashionable, allowing her to form a general judgment.

Most likely, she was another child of a high-ranking official transferred here from the capital—someone who couldn't endure even a bit of hardship and only wanted to come here to pad her resume.

After a moment's thought, she replied with a slightly grim expression, "Medical conditions and pharmaceutical resources in border troops are quite limited. The medicines in the pharmacy are mainly for treatment. We currently do not stock medicines for aesthetic purposes like scar removal or fading marks."

In truth, one could not blame Chu Yao for thinking Meng Youyou was making a mountain out of a molehill.

Though they were both women, given Chu Yao's upbringing, she truly could not understand Meng Youyou's needs in this regard.

When Chu Yao was very young, she had already started working in the fields to help ease her parents' burden.

Consequently, being scratched by crops, branches, or stones was a common occurrence. Even during the autumn harvest, being cut by a sharp sickle due to haste to increase efficiency was nothing unusual to her.

Not to mention that after her marriage, she was frequently beaten by Xu Penggang until her body was covered in bruises. To her, the marks on Meng Youyou's legs were as insignificant as a light drizzle.

Moreover, she had worked in a military infirmary for several years in her previous life. She usually dealt with rough soldiers and had never encountered anyone requesting scar-removal medicine.

"Ah? Is that so?" Upon receiving the medic's negative answer, Meng Youyou immediately became dejected.

She began to mutter to herself in a low voice, "Then what should I do? I don't want to have scars." She then let out a heavy sigh. "Sigh!"