He had already removed his new military uniform, which he had only worn for a few days, as it had been torn and tattered from the battle, his injuries, and the destruction caused by Lin Yu’s injuries.
Now, dressed in a new formal attire different from his usual uniform, his face clean and pale like a scholar preparing to enter the capital for the imperial examination, rather than a stalwart warrior.
Without his hat, his masculine hairstyle, tied back, looked like he had mistakenly wandered into a costume drama that mixed historical and modern war scenes.
Men with long hair were seen so often that it felt strange, but this lieutenant colonel seemed to have short hair?
Lin Yu had once glimpsed him removing his military cap and using a small comb to style his pompadour in the rearview mirror, a length that definitely contradicted Diacla’s traditional belief of ‘respecting one’s body and hair given by parents.’
‘The hat, the hat, don’t forget it, put the hat on him,’ ordered Liu Kaiqi, directing a few people to return and place a soft military cap on Yang Xi. The clean-faced scholar instantly transformed into a seasoned soldier, the change so drastic it was astonishing.
‘Well… it’s acceptable, it looks good on camera,’ the lieutenant colonel said, framing his face with his hands and nodding in approval of the way the soldiers had groomed the private.
‘Now it’s your turn. Look at your clothes, with bullet holes! Were you shot a few days ago? This small frame of yours can still hold up after taking a bullet!’
Liu Kaiqi was dissatisfied with Lin Yu’s current appearance. ‘And this face, it’s so dirty! Quick, get some water and wash her up. How can she be a role model for all women in the country looking like this?’
The few people who had gathered around Yang Xi quickly rummaged through a nearby pile of miscellaneous items and, using wet, coarse towels, began to scrub Lin Yu’s face.
‘Ouch! Not so hard!’
The accumulated dirt from days of not bathing or washing her face was all wiped away, revealing Lin Yu’s fair, delicate complexion, which made her look more like a city girl who had accidentally wandered onto a battlefield, rather than a medic serving on the front lines.
Afterward, they began preparing another new military uniform for Lin Yu. However, considering the gender differences, they didn’t directly help her change into it but instead handed it to her. The three of them then formed a triangle and used several multi-purpose camouflage sheets to create a small changing area for her.
Reluctantly complying with Liu Kaiqi’s military propaganda work, Lin Yu first unbuttoned her upper uniform, starting with the easier pieces to change.
The camouflage sheet didn’t touch the ground, allowing her calves to be visible. A dirty military uniform, which would make a washerwoman weep, fell to her feet, with half of it lying on the cracked ground outside.
A rifleman’s uniform, stripped from a dead body, wouldn’t be clean or intact.
The original soul ring uniform was left in her small nest at the front line, and the Lanforth military uniform she used as camouflage when retreating couldn’t be worn anymore—she couldn’t run around naked, so the medical corps found her a relatively clean and less damaged military uniform to wear.
The bloodstains from the bullet hole and the stains from the surgery had been carried through to now, and it had been three days since then, so the condition was unimaginable.
She rustled into the new clothes, buttoning them up one by one, and then bent down to take off her shoes, putting on the new pants.
After making sure everything fit, she stepped back and forth a few times to test it, then lifted the fabric and emerged from the makeshift changing room, standing before Liu Kaiqi.
‘Changed, sir.’
‘…’ Looking at her, the lieutenant colonel’s eyes lit up with admiration: ‘So beautiful… like a rose, a rose from beyond the mountains. Honestly, if possible, you’re more suited to acting in movies than crouching in trenches.’
Lin Yu seized the opportunity to bring up her abandoned dream of being an artist: ‘If you have a reasonable reason or a legal procedure to transfer me to the rear, I won’t refuse.’
‘Well, I don’t have that kind of authority. You’re overestimating the rank of ‘lieutenant colonel’…’ The lieutenant colonel shrugged. ‘Anyway, let’s not get sidetracked. Time is of the essence. Let’s start filming now. You two stand together, yes, shoulder to shoulder, move a bit closer.’
Receiving unexpected praise, Lin Yu hoped this admiration… wouldn’t develop into feelings like those of the colonel.
Following the instructions of this lieutenant colonel, Lin Yu stood beside Yang Xi, shoulder to shoulder.
A photographer quickly brought out a device similar to a camera, unlike the cameras of her previous life, this one was surprisingly lightweight, no larger than the single-lens reflex cameras used by photographers.
Magic, isn’t it?
Pursing her lips, she smiled at the front, her gaze falling on the lens in the photographer’s hand, waiting for the flash to go off.
‘Stop, wait a minute, the hat.’
Yang Xi, standing next to Lin Yu, reached up and adjusted his cap’s brim, but the lieutenant colonel seemed to be talking to someone else, stepping into the frame and standing in front of Lin Yu. ‘Where’s your hat?’
‘Um…’
Lin Yu once had a hat, a small white hat belonging to the medics, inherited from Nangong. Since being assigned to the front line, it had been left in the medical tent, only to be blown to pieces by a shell.
After that, a steel helmet made from stamped steel occupied the headgear slot, but she forgot to take it with her when she went to shower at the colonel’s place, and it was buried in the rubble, impossible to find.
Later, Lin Yu confiscated a bowl-shaped helmet from a Lanforthian corpse, but this set of equipment had been stripped off her while she was still unconscious by the medical corps.
Nangong’s borrowed helmet had also been returned a long time ago.
She had permanently lost her hat.
‘None,’ she shook her head.
Then she felt something being placed on her head, ‘Huh?’
Looking up, her vision was blocked by a black object at the top of her field of vision… was it a hat brim?
The lieutenant colonel in front of her revealed his mysterious pompadour, and the hard-top military cap disappeared.
With the change in light and the feeling of her hair being pressed down, it was easy to guess that the military cap had been placed on her head.
‘Hmm, it suits you,’ he stepped back, out of the frame, and gestured for the photographer to continue taking photos.
Wearing someone else’s hat, Lin Yu continued to purse her lips and smile, standing straight and looking in the direction of the camera.
‘Three, two, one…’
Would people in other worlds say ‘Eggplant’ when taking a photo?
Lin Yu, who had lived in poverty all her life, had never taken a photo before and wasn’t very familiar with it, but at this moment, she experienced the habit of people in other worlds elbowing each other when taking a photo.
She rubbed her right arm, looking at Yang Xi beside her, ‘Why are you elbowing me while taking a photo!’
He had already assumed a combat stance, holding a bayonet in his hand, crouching and alert to his surroundings. ‘Someone is shooting!’
Lin Yu realized that elbowing her wasn’t a custom in other worlds, but simply because he had quickly drawn his bayonet and bumped into her.
The photographer put down the magical camera and explained, ‘Don’t worry, it’s just a normal fluctuation of the magical device. No one will be shooting here.’
Looking around and seeing that no one was pointing a rifle, Yang Xi sheathed his bayonet, adjusted his clothes, and straightened himself up, ‘Sorry, sir, I overreacted.’
‘Although you overreacted, your speed in drawing your weapon was impressive,’ the lieutenant colonel gave Yang Xi a fair assessment, then turned to Lin Yu, ‘You also stand back quickly, we still have other things to do after the photo. Yes, just like before.’
The small interruption caused by the magical fluctuation was quickly overlooked, and Lin Yu stood beside Yang Xi again, shoulder to shoulder, facing the camera.
The photographer’s camera flashed with magical runes and that signature blue light for the second time.
A slightly stiff smile was captured in the frame, along with the expressionless face beside her, both of them etched by magic onto the photo.
This was the first photo of the two of them, and it might be the only one. They each presented their best selves to the camera, capturing their most beautiful youth on paper.
‘That’s good, we’re done. Next, we’ll take a couple of photos of the award ceremony. Lieutenant Colonel, please.’
A small award ceremony officially began, with the finely crafted medal being pinned to Yang Xi’s chest, followed by a photo of the lieutenant colonel and him alone.
When it was Lin Yu’s turn, there was a difference. The lieutenant colonel didn’t pin the medal on her but opened the box, letting her hold it in her arms, intentionally turning the open side outward.
The medal rested on the velvet, reflecting the sunlight at an angle. Although she wasn’t personally awarded the medal by the officer, Lin Yu understood.
Certain areas of a woman’s body shouldn’t be casually touched. Even though she was flat-chested, it was still a part of her body.
She pinned the medal on herself, idly rubbing her ribs beneath it, feeling a bit unhappy.