– At Night –
After hearing the strong recommendation from Wang Ying, Yan Wei, and Wu Hao, the head instructor couldn’t help but be curious and call his instructor buddy at the 5th Military Region.
The head instructor of the 5th Military Region was actually surprised that a military region ranked in the top ten would come to him to headhunt. He bitterly smiled.
If you came a month ago, I would’ve told you hell no. But now, even if I’m willing, it’s already too late.
The head instructor of the 8th Military Region frowned.
Huh? He quit?
Nope. He loves this profession and he also proved his value, but unfortunately, there was an incident in a mission two months ago that caused his comprehensive strength to regress, dropping from A to C+. To be honest, even though he wasn’t qualified to join the Dragon Division, he’s still more than enough to stay in the military region. However, he’s a prideful guy, and he didn’t want to stay just because we are sympathetic, so he took the initiative and left. I arranged him to work in Shangcheng so he can at least have a stable life after he leaves the army,
the 5th Military Region’s head instructor sighed and said.
What kind of incident would cause someone’s power to drop this dramatically?
The head instructor of the 8th Military Region was curious.
It was a mission destroying a private laboratory base. They were hidden very well in the Middle East. We caught traces of investments from many different countries sponsoring them in the dark and found out that they frequently used live humans to do their genetic experiments on. The higher-up gave the order to destroy it, but unfortunately, Xu Cheng was injected with a defective genetic product during the mission. Our scientists and doctors said that he might not have too long to live anymore, but I didn’t tell Xu Cheng that yet.
The 8th Military Region’s head instructor finally came to a realization.
No wonder you would let go someone as talented as him.
The 5th Military Region’s head instructor laughed and said,
Even after his power dropped to that of an ordinary person, he’s still a soldier of the 5th Military Region. Stop dreaming about headhunting him. This brat told me before he left that he will be back. Although I believe those old men at the research facility, I have more faith in Xu Cheng making a miraculous recovery and returning. You already know, we already sent off 2 of the Three Swordsmen to the Dragon Division, he’s the only signature soldier we have here, so stop daydreaming. I know you guys at Shangcheng have all the resources and talents already, but let me tell you, Xu Cheng’s a very loyal guy. You guys can give up on that thought.
The 8th Military Region’s instructor snorted,
Would I try to headhunt a C+? The 20-men team we send every year to the military exercise has an average strength of B, he might not even make it into the military exercise team even if he comes.
The 5th Military Region instructor snorted right back,
Stop showing off to my face. You have the population and the resources at Shangcheng, so obviously you can find more talents. We are already doing good enough getting placed at an average ranking, considering how the 5th is in a rural area with little population and resource.
Haha, this year, without the Three Swordsmen, let’s see if you guys will end up last. Fine, I won’t headhunt your guy, so we will leave it at that. When doing the draw later at the military exercise, don’t let us face you guys, or we will give your soldiers existential crises.
Then, the head instructor hung up and went to the ward to find Wu Hao and the others.
Head Instructor, how was it?
Wang Ying asked urgently.
Xu Cheng was indeed a soldier of the 5th Military Region. They didn’t erase him from the system yet and just sent him to Shangcheng to rest for now. I asked about him. Although you guys say he’s very strong, the comprehensive strength report the 5th Military Region gave him was a C+, so I think we should forget about recruiting him.
Wu Hao frowned.
Head Instructor, could there be a mistake with the score?
Okay, let’s just leave this at that. The people at the 5th Military Region already made it clear that they won’t let Xu Cheng go since he’s their signature,
the head instructor replied.
After leaving the 8th Military Region, Xu Cheng didn’t go home. He already made up his mind, so he didn’t want the two women at home bugging him. Suddenly, his phone started ringing, and he took a look at the caller ID.
Lin Chuxue.
Standing on a bridge, facing the wind, looking at the caller ID, Xu Cheng didn’t know whether he should pick it up. Thinking back to 4 years ago, when Lin Chuxue’s father pulled together this arranged marriage, Xu Cheng was self-abased and alone, and he didn’t think he had what it would take to give Lin Chuxue, the princess of a wealthy family, the happiness of a lifetime. So, that night, at the Lin Family’s mansion, he declined her dad’s proposal for him to marry Lin Chuxue.
It was also after that night, him and Lin Chuxue could never return to the past of them being childhood best friends. Then, her dad, Lin Guiren, domineeringly forced the two to get married, but there was already a gap in their relationship and they never crossed the red line. Even though they were in the same city or on the same street, they wouldn’t look directly at each other or deliberately start a conversation.
After Lin Chuxue was forced to abandon her aristocratic lifestyle in England and return to Huaxia with her husband, her temperament gradually became cold, feeling indifferent towards anything. Overtime, she appeared as if she was living without a heart and had no emotions. All of that made Xu Cheng feel guilty, so he felt, that if he owed someone in this lifetime, it would be Lin Chuxue.
In his eyes, Lin Chuxue was a woman as noble and beautiful as a princess. Since childhood, from kindergarten to university, she had always been the center of attention and someone he couldn’t move his eyes away from. However, her father was a British tycoon born in China, yet he was a playmate that was adopted to live under their roof. Under the influence of such sharply contrasted social status, he felt more and more unworthy of Lin Chuxue. That night, he declined Lin Guiren’s decision for the two of them to get married so he could give Lin Chuxue back her freedom. He knew, Lin Guiren was only doing this because Lin Guiren was a dear friend to his deceased father, and he also thought that there was no way that someone as perfect as Lin Chuxue would like him. Marrying her to him felt more like an act of charity and sympathy towards him, so he declined due to his inner pride.
In the thousands of thoughts, the ringtone stopped by itself.
Not long after, his phone began ringing again, and this time the number was from England.
He picked it up.
Brother-in-Law, we are heading over in two days. I’m giving you a heads up, don’t expose the cold war you have been having with my sister.
A guy’s voice came from the other side of the phone. He was Lin Chuxue’s little brother, Lin Lei, and he was the only one that knew about Xu Cheng and Lin Chuxue being only nominal husband and wife.
Xu Cheng paused for a moment.
Why are Dad and Mom suddenly coming to Huaxia?
Lin Lei:
You can ask yourself. You guys went back for four years now, but how come there’s no news from my sister’s belly? In calls with Dad, Sis always says that she’s busy with work, and Dad said he had enough. I will call my sis in a bit and tell her too. You guys get prepared, I failed to convince those two and they already booked their flight.
After hanging up, Xu Cheng’s brain fell into a mess, not knowing what to do.
He had always been grateful to Lin Guiren and his family. Ever since his father died, Lin Guiren took him to England to live with them. He treated him like his own son, and it was exactly because he treated him too well that Xu Cheng declined his proposal to marry his daughter. He already received too much from the Lin Family, so he didn’t want to take Lin Chuxue’s freedom too.
At this moment, Lin Chuxue’s call came in again.
Xu Cheng also had to talk to Lin Chuxue about Lin Guiren’s schedule. After picking up the phone, both of them were afraid that they had nothing to talk about and they both said in unison,
Dad and Mom are coming in two days…
Then, both of them paused and fell into silence.
Lin Chuxue sighed lightly and said,
You have to win no matter what. I will arrange my parents to go to the restaurant first, finish the fight fast and come over after.
Xu Cheng paused for awhile and answered,
Alright.
