First Night with the Army: The Stoic Big Shot Is Done Pretending

Jiang Ye was rendered speechless, but she wasn’t the least bit flustered. She lied without batting an eye, "This afternoon, my brother is taking me home to plead with our parents."

Upon hearing this, the Wen couple exchanged a look.

Compared to the uncertain prospect of a house, having Jiang Ye return to the Jiang Family seemed far more practical. That way, they’d have a steady monthly income, adding up to over a thousand yuan a year.

"Then you should hurry back. I’ll go with your father to the housing authority."

·

「The next day.」

Wen Ci was up and getting ready before dawn. After washing up upstairs, she tiptoed out the door, not wanting to wake Xiao Chuan. ’I can bring him breakfast when I get back,’ she thought.

「In the hospital.」

Huo Jingyuan stared intently at the clock on the wall. ’Just a few more minutes and I’ll get to see my wife.’ In his downtime, he had been doing some deep reflection.

’The recent riot in the city was unprecedented.’

Just then, Wen Ci pushed the door open. Seeing him sitting up against the headboard, she walked to his side. "Looks like you’re recovering well."

Huo Jingyuan nodded.

Recalling what she’d been wrestling with the night before, Wen Ci looked up at him, cleared her throat, and said, "There’s something I’m really torn about, and I’d like to hear your opinion."

The man blinked.

"You know the Wen Family has a son, right? I’m thinking of taking him under my wing, at least until this winter break. But I’m worried that doing so will force me to be closer to the Wen Family."

Wen Ci laid out her thoughts and concerns for Huo Jingyuan.

She wanted to hear his opinion.

Huo Jingyuan was her husband, and she felt something like this required his consent.

"Why?"

The sound that came from the man’s dry throat was faint.

"Huh?" Wen Ci froze for a moment before realizing what he was asking. She bit her lower lip and explained, "My time with the Wen Family is something I’d rather not look back on, but Yaozu was the only one who was ever good to me. I don’t want him to become a scourge on society."

Yaozu attended junior high in town, coming home once a month. Thanks to his parents bribing the principal with gifts, he was arrogant and domineering at school, a bona fide little tyrant.

In a few more years, he might very well become a scourge on society.

Huo Jingyuan glanced sideways at Wen Ci. His hand slowly emerged from under the blanket, his large, rough palm covering her slender one. "If you want to do it, then do it," he said comfortingly. "Don’t leave yourself with any regrets."

He could see the bone-chilling coldness in Wen Ci’s eyes when she mentioned the Wen Family. But when she spoke of her brother, that frigid look was tempered with a touch of gentleness.

"Can I hug you?" Wen Ci asked. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Hearing this, the man’s deep, ink-black eyes fixed on her. A satisfied smile touched his lips. "Yes."

Wen Ci moved with extreme gentleness. Smelling the sharp scent of antiseptic on him, she tilted her head and placed a light kiss on his cheek. "You need to get well soon."

"Mm."

Pleasure spread across the man’s face.

·

After her visit, Wen Ci returned home.

She considered leaving Xiao Chuan in Xu Wen’s care first. The Beijing City District was a long way from Wen Yaozu’s junior high school; it was a six-hour bus ride to get to the county.

Whether or not she could make it back tonight remained to be seen.

On her way past the residential compound’s cafeteria, Wen Ci grabbed an egg. She returned and knocked on the door of the first-floor room, where Xiao Chuan was sitting by the window, reading a book.

Wen Ci walked over to him. Outside the first-floor window was a yard.

"Xiao Chuan, I have to go out for a little while. Is it okay if I take you to the barracks to find Uncle Xu from yesterday?"

"Where are you going?"

"To the countryside."

Suddenly, several men in military uniform appeared outside the yard. Through the iron gate, she saw Captain Xu among them, and her eyebrows rose in surprise.

’This saves me a trip to the barracks!’

Wen Ci handed the egg to Xiao Chuan, then led him out into the yard. Opening the main gate, she said, "Captain Xu, I need to ask you for a favor."

"Of course."

"I have to go out for a bit, so I was hoping Xiao Chuan could stay at the barracks. If I make it back today, I’ll come get him. If not, I’ll be back for him tomorrow."

Xu Wen smiled warmly. "We actually need Xiao Chuan’s help, too."

"You caught the criminals that quickly?"

Xu Wen nodded. "So far, we’ve only apprehended the woman from the couple. We need Xiao Chuan to come and identify if she’s the person who abducted him from the orphanage under the guise of adoption."

"I see." Wen Ci handed Xiao Chuan over to Xu Wen. "Then I’ll have to trouble you."

"It’s no trouble at all."

After a few more pleasantries, Wen Ci left as well, boarding a long-distance bus to Qu County. This was outside the Capital’s range, in a remote, mountainous area.

The county wasn’t densely populated, and only two buses ran there each day.

The weather today was bright and sunny.

Following her memory, Wen Ci made her way to the county junior high. She had once been a student here herself. The education in this remote region was terrible; the entire county only had a primary school and a junior high.

The school’s surrounding wall wasn’t high and was easy to climb over.

Before Wen Ci even reached the school gate, she spotted a few students climbing over the wall to her left. They wore the school uniform of white shirts and blue pants, but you could hardly tell their shirts were supposed to be white.

They were filthy.

"Boss Wen, put some effort into it! We can’t pull you up!"

"Yeah, Boss, you really should go on a diet."

The next second, two bottles hit the two students on top of the wall, and a coarse, pubescent voice squawked, "Say that again! See if I don’t mess you up!"

The closer she got, the more certain Wen Ci became that the squawking voice belonged to Wen Yaozu.

Wen Ci stood by the wall, her eyes on the two boys perched on top. They were sweating profusely, having just spent a great deal of effort to haul Wen Yaozu up.

Wen Yaozu panted, "Damn, that was tiring."

A boy’s voice called out from behind the wall, "Boss, you were just sitting on my shoulders. My neck feels a little weird. I’m gonna head back to the classroom to rest."

Wen Ci: "..."

’So not only were two people on the wall pulling him, but there was also someone on the other side boosting him up,’ Wen Ci thought. She couldn’t help but facepalm. She sized up the wall—she could have scaled it with one hand.

"Useless trash!" Wen Yaozu cursed.

Hearing this, Wen Ci looked straight at the chubby boy on the wall and asked in a slow, deliberate voice, "And who are you calling trash?"

"You, of course," Wen Yaozu blurted out without thinking.

The words had barely left his mouth when he realized the voice belonged to a girl. He glanced over the wall into the school grounds, but when he didn’t see the "she-devil" dean, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Wen Yaozu," Wen Ci said coolly.

Wen Yaozu’s eyes went wide. He recognized that voice. Stiffly, he slowly turned his head to look outside the school grounds. The moment he saw Wen Ci’s face...

...he instinctively tried to jump back inside, but he lost his balance and tumbled straight off the wall, landing outside with a THUD that kicked up a cloud of dust. Wen Yaozu muttered to himself:

"No way... Didn’t Sis go with the army to the Northwest?"

Wen Ci’s expression was stern as she looked down at him. "Is this really how you act at school?"

Perhaps due to his weight, his shirt was no longer able to completely cover his belly fat. Wen Ci’s gaze lowered. "Have you gained more weight?"

Children in poor, remote villages were usually malnourished and thin. Wen Yaozu, however, was clearly over-nourished, spending his days eating snacks instead of proper meals.

Wen Yaozu scrambled up from the ground, took a deep breath to suck in his stomach, and plastered a sycophantic grin on his face. "Nope. Absolutely haven’t gained any weight."