Volume One, Chapter 44: Deliberately Trying to Harm Me

Fang Yu felt a great deal of satisfaction inside.

Imagining how she would soon be discovered leaking blood from her backside in full view of everyone—especially with so many male comrades present—she wondered how Su Wan would ever have the face to remain at the dance.

She had even wanted to dance with Commander Huo; what an absolute pipe dream!

Such a shameful and ugly scandal, once carried back to their workplace, would be enough to make her a laughingstock for three years.

Acting completely nonchalant afterward, she packed away her fountain pen and went to the auditorium’s dressing room to change clothes, preparing for her upcoming piano performance.

Early on, her mother had inquired and found out that Commander Huo favored piano music, and as luck would have it, the military club possessed a piano.

Having studied the piano for two years specifically for this purpose, she had even sought out a piano teacher to drill a single piece.

Furthermore, she had rented a white evening gown specially worn for playing the piano.

All of this was done to catch Commander Huo’s attention at the social dance mixer and make a stunning impression.

She was brimming with confidence about winning first place; having prepared meticulously for so long, she was certain to garner the highest number of votes from the entire audience.

She believed Commander Huo’s impression of her would surely change for the better.

"Su Wan, your time of the month has arrived, didn't you know?" Secretary Jiang, having been approached by Su Wan about her desire to sign up for the performances, caught sight of the red ink stain on her skirt right as Su Wan turned around, and hurriedly pulled her into a corner, lowering her voice.

"No, it hasn't," Su Wan said, looking down in bewilderment to find a striking, vivid crimson patch right on the seat of her skirt.

It looked precisely like freshly oozing blood. She rubbed it with her fingertip, and the pad of her finger came away stained with red ink: "Secretary Jiang, this isn't blood. It's red ink."

Judging by its appearance, it had just been applied moments ago, and the red ink had not yet dried.

"How did this get on you? And right in this spot, of all places?" Secretary Jiang took a closer look and realized it was indeed red ink. Her face clouded with anxiety as she wondered who could be so malicious.

She wanted to take Su Wan outside to wash it with water, but she knew full well that red ink could never be washed clean; washing it would only cause the stain to spread.

Yet if left untreated, Su Wan had no way of remaining at the social dance mixer.

Anyone who saw it would undoubtedly assume that Su Wan had carelessly stained her skirt with her period.

Red ink was generally used by teachers for grading test papers and assignments.

Without needing to think, Su Wan knew instantly that Fang Yu was behind this.

"Forget it, I'll go talk to Political Commissar Liu, borrow a piece of clothing to cover you up, and you should just head back first." Secretary Jiang could easily guess that it must have been a female comrade from another unit, envious of Su Wan's striking appearance and fine figure.

Seeing that Su Wan had been dancing continuously with Commander Huo, she must have harbored resentment and resorted to such a tactic to drive Su Wan away.

With that, she led Su Wan to the auditorium's dressing room and told her to wait there for a moment.

Fang Yu had already changed into her white evening gown with large floral sleeves and was sitting in front of the vanity mirror, tracing her eyebrows and applying lipstick.

Seeing Su Wan enter, her eyes involuntarily drifted to the striking red patch on the back of Su Wan's skirt. It looked so uncannily like a menstrual stain, utterly mortifying.

Curling her lips in triumph, she traced another layer of lipstick across her mouth, dabbed it with her fingertip, and smeared it onto her cheeks as blush.

It was a pity she had been discovered a little too early; how wonderful it would have been if it were found out right out on the dance floor.

"Secretary Jiang, there's no need. I have a way. Could you please borrow a few handkerchiefs from the other female comrades?" Upon seeing Fang Yu’s grandiose attire—which looked as though she were preparing for a grand televised gala—Su Wan realized how much importance Fang Yu attached to this social dance mixer and how meticulously she had prepared.

A sheet of piano music lay upon the table, immediately reminding Su Wan of the piano stationed in the auditorium.

Blinking her gentle, crystal-clear aquatic eyes, she leaned close to Secretary Jiang's ear and whispered a few words.

Secretary Jiang nodded and walked out.

Seeming terribly afraid that Su Wan might ask to borrow the clothes she had just changed out of, Fang Yu put down her lipstick, folded the dress hanging over the chair, and tucked it away into a cloth bag.

"Female comrade, this white evening gown with large floral sleeves you're wearing is truly gorgeous. You look just like a fairy the moment you put it on." Su Wan walked over to the table, pressing one hand over the piano sheet music, and offered a dazzled, superlative compliment.

"No matter how much you flatter me, don't even think about borrowing my clothes to wear." Fang Yu rolled her eyes and said with smug arrogance.

With that, she stood up, picked up her piano scores, and walked out with her head held high.

A slight curve touched Su Wan's crimson lips.

Fang Yu’s appearance in this outfit immediately drew the gaze of everyone present.

Holding her sheet music, she walked toward the piano with a smile on her face, thoroughly basking in the admiring stares cast upon her by the crowd.

Just like a movie star.

It inflated her vanity to the absolute limit, while prompting her to steal a covert glance at Commander Huo amidst the crowd.

Yet to her dismay, Commander Huo was not looking at her at all; instead, his gaze was directed elsewhere, as if searching for something.

This inevitably dealt a blow to her self-confidence.

No matter, she thought. Back when she was attending technical secondary school, she had shone brilliantly precisely by playing the piano at the New Year's Day gala.

She believed that once she fluently played *Für Elise*, Commander Huo would surely take notice of her.

She lifted the piano lid, set the sheet music in place, and then, under the watchful eyes of the crowd, fluttered her ten fingers deftly across the black and white keys.

The melodious, trickling notes of the piano resonated gracefully throughout the auditorium.

She had practiced the prelude countless times and could play it almost without looking at the sheet music. Immersing herself entirely in the performance, she quickly reached the middle section.

She flipped to the next page of the score, but the notes beneath her fingertips altered abruptly—it was as though a book had skipped directly from the first page to the fiftieth, leaving the entire middle section missing.

Worse still, this very section constituted the climax of the piece.

Fang Yu's face paled. She hurriedly stopped playing and flipped through the music, only to discover that the page containing the climax had vanished.

Though this was merely a simple talent show meant to showcase one's merits, Fang Yu had gone so far as to change into an evening gown and dress up like a peacock.

Inevitably, it left a rather unfavorable impression on people.

"If she doesn't even know how to play, why did she dare go up there? How utterly embarrassing."

"Does she think we're all from the countryside and have never heard a piano before? Showing off with this kind of mediocre skill."

Listening to the gibes, the jeers, and the silent, subtle expressions of the officers,

Fang Yu flushed crimson from head to toe, burning with such excruciating awkwardness and humiliation that she wished she could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

Without that middle page of music, she had no way to transition into the subsequent parts; forcing herself to play onward would only make a spectacle of herself.

Yet she had practiced this very score with the music yesterday—how on earth could the middle page be missing now?

In the end, she could only gather her sheet music in dejection, lower her head in distress, and scurry back to the dressing room in absolute wretchedness.

She had made a complete fool of herself.

With Fang Yu's fiasco serving as a foil, the subsequent recitations and singing performances all garnered warm applause from the audience.

Su Wan was the fifth to take the stage. The red stain on the back of her skirt had been bound inward from the inside of the garment using a rubber band, and she had folded a handkerchief into the shape of a flower, tucking it securely into the band.

Not only did it conceal the red ink stain, but the clever, unconventional touch made it look as though a blossoming floral tail were trailing behind her, rendering her charming and delightful.

She walked to the center of the dance floor and sang *Sweet Honey* a cappella.

Her voice naturally carried a honeyed sweetness, and she deliberately imitated the singing style of Teresa Teng.

Her dimpled cheeks were sweet and alluring, and her plump, fresh crimson lips looked as if they might exude flower nectar at any second. Sweet, captivating notes poured forth from her pristine teeth and lips.

It drove people to intoxication, filling the gentle summer breeze and the chirping of cicadas outside with the tender sweetness of first love.

Huo Xiaohan's deep, dark eyes fixed upon Su Wan like a gently flowing pool of water.

Ripples began to stir across the surface of his gaze, which was ordinarily as calm and unfathomable as an ancient abyss.

He thought her voice sounded somewhat like Su Wan's, but he knew for certain that this could not possibly be Su Wan.

Once the mixer drew to a close, he would finally be able to see her face clearly.

The moment Su Wan finished her song, it was greeted with thunderous applause, and the audience eagerly cast their votes for her.

Peering through the crack in the dressing room door, Fang Yu watched this scene unfold and felt herself growing utterly unhinged with rage—especially when she saw Commander Huo, who had abstained from voting the entire evening, drop his ballot into Su Wan's box.

A wave of agonizing jealousy crawled over Fang Yu's entire body, as if millions of ants were gnawing at her flesh, tearing at her heart and making her eyes split with fury.

In order to alter Commander Huo's perception of her and win his affections,

she had poured out so much dedication and prepared so meticulously for so long.

Yet not only had she failed to improve Commander Huo's impression of her, but she had also made a complete laughingstock of herself in front of everyone.

It must have been this little bitch who took away the middle page of her sheet music! No one else had entered the room besides her.
At this thought, Fang Yu ground her teeth in hatred, marched up behind Su Wan, and yanked the handkerchief right off the back of her skirt.

She wanted everyone to see the "fresh blood" on Su Wan's skirt and suffer the exact same humiliation she had endured.

"What are you doing?" Su Wan instantly covered her backside with her hands.

"You're the one who took the climax section of my music!" Fang Yu demanded fiercely, lunging forward with the intent to tear at Su Wan's clothes, wishing she could strip her bare on the spot.

"What sheet music? I don't know what you're talking about." Su Wan blinked her long, dark eyelashes, retreating backward until her back pressed against the wall, looking utterly innocent and frail.

"You still want to deny it? There were only the two of us in the dressing room. My music was still there before you came in, and that page was gone the moment you left. If it wasn't you, who was it?" Fang Yu raged, entirely convinced that the missing sheet music was hidden on Su Wan's person.

The moment she found her sheet music, she could expose Su Wan to everyone as a scheming, malicious woman.

Commander Huo would never look favorably upon her again.

With that, she lunged at Su Wan's clothes once more, nearly flipping up the hem of Su Wan's skirt.

"Female comrade, what are you doing? Do you have any evidence?" The commotion quickly drew Secretary Jiang, who ripped Fang Yu's arm away and stepped forward to shield Su Wan.

Huo Xiaohan and Political Commissar Liu also strode rapidly toward them.

"Female comrade, we don't even know each other. Why on earth would I take your sheet music for no reason?" Su Wan’s clear, limpid eyes misted over with a layer of tears, accentuating her profound innocence.

That single statement instantly rendered Fang Yu speechless.

Her flushed face paused for a fraction of a second before she blurted out a private matter that a maiden would normally be too mortified to utter: "It's because you stained yourself during your period, and when I refused to lend you my clothes, you deliberately wanted to frame me and humiliate me!"

Knowing full well that male comrades were present, she brazenly broadcasted such private feminine matters aloud, especially when Su Wan was still an unmarried maiden who had yet to take a husband.

Wasn't this a blatant attempt to put Su Wan to shame?

"Comrade Fang, when your own belongings go missing, you should first look for the cause within yourself rather than wrongfully accusing others at random," Huo Xiaohan stated coldly, his voice carrying an intense and formidable authority.

"Secretary Jiang, please take a few female comrades to help Comrade Fang search around. See if she accidentally dropped it somewhere."

Hearing Huo Xiaohan speak up so protectively on Su Wan's behalf sent Fang Yu's emotions soaring into a frenzy. Gritting her teeth tightly, she had been thoroughly spoiled since childhood and could never endure such a grievance.

"Commander Huo, she's the one who took it! Otherwise, why would only the middle page of the music be missing? It was right when she was blocking my line of vision in the dressing room that she pulled a sheet out of the score!"

The more she thought about it, the more convinced she became that this was what had happened. The sheet music had originally been placed neatly on the table, but after this little bitch blocked her view, the scores had been skewed when she went back to touch them.

It bore the unmistakable sign of having papers pulled out from the middle.

"That sheet music must be hidden on her person!" With that, Fang Yu lunged at Su Wan yet again, vowing to find that page of music on her.

Huo Xiaohan took a swift stride forward, placing himself squarely in front of Su Wan. His tall, straight posture made it utterly impossible for Fang Yu to get near her.

Clearly, she was the victim here, yet Commander Huo was shielding Su Wan to this extent. Fang Yu felt herself on the verge of madness, though a shred of lingering reason told her she could not afford to act recklessly.

Noticing the crowd watching them growing larger by the second, she let out a tearful wail of grievance, once again sobbing through her accusations about what had transpired in the dressing room.

Seeing this, Political Commissar Liu first set about soothing Fang Yu's emotions, promising a thorough investigation into the matter, before turning to Su Wan and saying, "Comrade Tingting, in order to clear up this misunderstanding, we hope you'll cooperate."

"Alright," Su Wan nodded, raising no objections whatsoever.

Fang Yu glared at her with venomous hostility.

At that precise moment, Secretary Jiang approached with two female comrades, holding Fang Yu's cloth bag: "Comrade Fang, that page of sheet music slipped into the crevice at the corner of the table; we found it in the corner of the room. Furthermore, this fountain pen containing red ink was found inside your cloth bag."

"The red ink stain on Tingting's skirt was secretly dripped by you, wasn't it?" Secretary Jiang retrieved a fountain pen from the innermost pocket of the bag.

The color drained entirely from Fang Yu's face, transforming her from a tearfully aggrieved complainant into someone as pale as a sheet, as if all the blood had been drained from her face in an instant.

She still attempted to deny it.

Without giving her the chance, Secretary Jiang seized her hand, revealing that the index finger of her hand still retained a smudge of red ink.

Evidently, Fang Yu had not even noticed it herself.

"Just because Commander Huo declined your invitation to dance and danced with Tingting instead, you deliberately dripped red ink onto Tingting in an attempt to force her to leave."

Secretary Jiang had also witnessed Fang Yu inviting Commander Huo to dance, though she had kept quiet earlier due to a lack of evidence. Now that proof had been unearthed, she tore away Fang Yu's pretense without the slightest shred of mercy.

Huo Xiaohan's sharp, blade-like gaze swept toward Fang Yu, radiating an intensity that was piercing and intimidating in the extreme.

It made Fang Yu shiver from head to toe, rendering her utterly incapable of uttering a single word.