The ’70s: Her Natural Fragrance Captivates the Brooding Commander

Su Jiuyue, the supreme heir to the legendary Ghost Doctor lineage, transmigrates into the body of a tragic cannon-fodder character in a 1976 period novel. Upon awakening, she finds herself in a shabby guesthouse room, drugged by her vicious stepmother, Li Guilan, who intends to sell her to Liu Laizi, a fifty-year-old widower, for three hundred yuan. Recognizing the original plot where the previous owner resisted only to have her reputation ruined and eventually beaten to death by an abusive husband, Su Jiuyue resolves to alter her fate. With the drug accelerating through her system and the door being battered down, she climbs out the second-story window and jumps onto a hay pile, injuring her ankle in the process.

Desperate and fleeing through the midnight streets, Su Jiuyue spots a military jeep and recognizes the driver as Huo Zhixing, the feared Commander of the Southeast Military Region known as the Living King of Hell. In the novel, he is a man plagued by severe insomnia and bipolar episodes for three years. Betting everything on her survival, she runs into the road and throws herself in front of the vehicle. The jeep screeches to a halt, and as her pursuers close in, she leaps into the back seat and clings to Huo Zhixing. The moment she touches him, her natural body fragrance—resembling a forest after rain—immediately soothes his agonizing headaches and calms his violent impulses. Huo Zhixing, realizing she is a living antidote to his chronic condition, claims her as his fiancée to deter the crowd and drives away, leaving Li Guilan and Liu Laizi shouting in the dust.

Inside the military compound, Huo Zhixing carries the feverish Su Jiuyue to his home. The drug’s effects are overwhelming, and despite his initial restraint, the mutual relief provided by her scent and his cool presence leads to an intimate encounter where he helps purge the toxin from her system without taking her virginity. The next morning, Huo Zhixing discovers he has slept soundly for the first time in three years. His grandfather, Marshal Huo Zhenxiao, storms the house, furious at the scandal, but Huo Zhixing reveals that Su Jiuyue has cured his illness. The Marshal’s anger instantly turns to curiosity and then to protective affection when he sees the fragile young woman. He orders her immediate recruitment into the military hospital and insists on expediting their marriage registration to protect her from her stepmother.

While Su Jiuyue recovers, Li Guilan and Liu Laizi gather a mob outside the compound, accusing Huo Zhixing of kidnapping and claiming Su Jiuyue abandoned her family. Su Jiuyue confronts them publicly, exposing Li Guilan’s attempt to sell her and Liu Laizi’s hidden venereal disease, diagnosed through his foul odor and physical symptoms. The crowd turns against the villains, and Huo Zhixing has them arrested for human trafficking and slander. With their marriage certificate secured, Su Jiuyue is officially recognized as Commander Huo’s wife. As she settles into her new life, her unique fragrance evolves, becoming even more potent and addictive to Huo Zhixing, binding them together in a relationship that serves as both his medicine and her shield against a hostile world.