CH 128

A year later, Zhu Qiang, dragging his suitcase, stood at the entrance of the Golden Eagle Army and took a deep breath, he finally came back from that place where birds don’t lay eggs!

He had been away on missions for the past year and had not returned to the army, what was on his mind was the Major General. After the Major General and the Commander got married, the two of them would probably fight twice in three days, not sure if the Major General got injured.

He thought to himself as he walked towards the army, the Major General was originally a man who did not know anything about romance, who only knew how to train and fight for so many years. At first glance, he’s someone who doesn’t know how to pamper his wife, and he could imagine how the Major General would leave the Commander cold after he married him. He also doesn’t know if the Commander’s temper has become better after a year of tempering1磋磨 (cuō mó): learn from each other by comparing notes.

It was lunch break and the soldiers were all heading to the canteen. Amongst the crowd, many recognised him and greeted him happily. After not meeting for a long time, Zhu Qiang finally had the joyful feeling of returning home.

He could not help but swallow as he smelled the aroma of rice coming from afar, the thing he had missed most all year was the fried meat from the military canteen. Today, he had to have a good meal!

Smelling the fragrant smell, he quickened his pace and rushed straight to the canteen where the food was served, but unfortunately the lunchboxes were already empty, the fried meat had always been the most popular dish in the Golden Eagle Army and had long been snatched up.

He smelled the aroma and drooled with greed. He looked up just in time to see the Major General walking upstairs with his food box. His eyes brightened and he looked intently. The major general had two plates in his hand.

Zhu Qiang was so happy that he rushed up to the second floor with great strides and shouted happily: “Major General! I’m back.”

Song Xiao Bai placed one of the two meal plates on his own place and one on the opposite place, and looked up slightly when he heard Zhu Qiang’s voice.

He wasn’t too surprised to see Zhu Qiang, Zhu Qiang was able to complete his mission ahead of schedule and come back to the army so quickly because he was the one who transferred him back, so he had received word long ago and knew Zhu Qiang was returning to the army today, it was just that Zhu Qiang was scheduled to come back in the afternoon, he didn’t expect Zhu Qiang to come back so early.

He looked Zhu Qiang up and down and saw that apart from being a little tanned, Zhu Qiang was very healthy and had not suffered any injuries, so he patted Zhu Qiang’s shoulder reassuringly and said with a light smile: “Welcome back to the unit, just in time for the meeting this afternoon, you report on the situation of this mission.”

“Yes, Major General!” Zhu Qiang happily gave a military salute, his eyes grew brighter when he saw the crispy fried meat in the lunch box opposite Song Xiao Bai, “Major General, is this the meal you ordered for me? How did you know I would be back early?”

The Major General must have known that he liked fried meat, that’s why he had packed the lunch box full of fried meat. He excitedly picked up his chopsticks and reached towards the coveted fried meat, just as his chopsticks were about to touch the fried meat, the Major General pressed his arm.

He stopped his hand and looked up in confusion “What is it, Major General?”

Song Xiao Bai snatched the chopsticks out of his hand, pushed his hand away and said indifferently: “It’s not for you, you can go downstairs and eat it yourself if you want.”

“……Then who is it for?” Zhu Qiang blinked blankly, unable to think of anyone else’s plate that would be placed opposite the Major General for a moment, the Major General had always eaten alone before, and he still thought that because he had returned today, the Major General had given him special permission to eat here.

“Of course it’s for me.” An unpleasant voice rang out behind Zhu Qiang.

When Zhu Qiang heard the familiar tone, he looked back and saw Tang Wu Yuan’s still radiant face. He was stunned for two seconds and stared at Tang Wu Yuan with straight eyes, unable to stop himself from taking a closer look.

Why does he feel that after a year, the commander not only was not tormented by the Major General until his face was haggard, but had been nourished more and more brightly, a white, rosy face as if water could be pinched out.

Tang Wu Yuan held two bottles of water in his hand, placing one in front of Song Xiao Bai and one in front of himself, then looked up and glared at Zhu Qiang, “You’ve only just returned and you want to rob me of my crispy fried meat?”

Zhu Qiang opened his mouth, and before he could say anything, he saw Song Xiao Bai suddenly crouch down without saying a word, he was startled and looked down, and saw a scene that horrified him!

The Major General was actually tying the Commander’s shoelaces! And he was tying them naturally! His skilled movements was as if he had tied them countless times before.

His eyes widened in astonishment, how how how……could this be possible? Had the world changed, or were his eyes hallucinating? The Major General……tying the Commander’s shoelaces?

How degrading for the Major General to do that with so many people in the canteen! This was his high and mighty, all-powerful, flawless Major General! How could he do such a thing?

He looked around in horror but found that everyone had a calm face, as if they were used to it, they all just gave a faint glance towards this side and then withdrew their eyes and continued to eat with their heads down, he was the only one who looked a bit abrupt in his horror.

……En?

He froze in place for a moment in silence, very puzzled by everyone’s reaction and couldn’t help but wonder if he was just being too sensitive. Was it actually quite normal for the Major General to tie the Commander’s shoelaces?

He looked at Tang Wu Yuan, looked him up and down and couldn’t help but ask: “Commander, did you hurt your back?”

“No ah.” Tang Wu Yuan gave him a look, then looked down and said to Song Xiao Bai, “I don’t want a butterfly knot, so sissy.”

Song Xiao Bai seemed to laugh a little and didn’t say much, he just untied the butterfly knot he had just tied and retied it, this time obediently not tying a butterfly knot.

Zhu Qiang took this scene in his eyes and couldn’t help but choke on it, sizing up Tang Wu Yuan even more suspiciously, “Then you have an arm injury?”

“……My body is very healthy, no injuries, no colds, no fever.” Tang Wu Yuan looked at him speechlessly, “Any more questions?”

Zhu Qiang was silent for a while and suddenly said joyfully, “Could it be that you are pregnant? How many months have you been pregnant? Do you know if it’s a boy or girl yet?”

When Tang Wu Yuan heard his words, his face flushed red and he snarled lowly: “No!”

Zhu Qiang scratched his head in disappointment and couldn’t help but ask the biggest doubt in his heart directly, “Then why did the Major General tie your shoelaces?” In his mind, he could do such a small thing himself, not to mention that Tang Wu Yuan was a soldier, so there was no need for other people to do such a small thing that is within their power.

Tang Wu Yuan gave him a sympathetic look and patted him on the shoulder, “Find a date when you have time.”

“……” Zhu Qiang felt hurt, he wanted to fall in love too! But the troops are all big, burly men, where would he find one!

Tang Wu Yuan sat down very unsympathetically, picked up his chopsticks and put a piece of golden crispy fried meat into his mouth, chewing and swallowing it slowly.

Zhu Qiang stood next to him, looking red in the eyes, and could not help swallowing his saliva. This year he spent outside, not a single one of his meals was fragrant. When he thought about the rough dry rations, and then looked at the crispy fried meat in front of him, his stomach could not help but growl.

Song Xiao Bai stood up and wiped his hands slowly with a wet towel, looking up and glancing at Zhu Qiang, “Go and eat, if there’s anything we’ll talk about it during the meeting this afternoon.”

Zhu Qiang kept his eyes fixed on the crispy fried meat and said pitifully: “Major General, I haven’t seen you for a year, I have a lot to report, why don’t I eat here too?” That way he could take the opportunity to grab a few pieces of the Commander’s fried meat, he hadn’t eaten it for a year and he was really hungry for it.

Song Xiao Bai shook his head and refused without mercy, saying in a businesslike manner, “Don’t talk about official business during mealtime, if there’s anything, you can come to my office in the afternoon after the meeting.”

“……Yes.” Zhu Qiang reluctantly glanced at Tang Wu Yuan, who had already sat down and started eating crispy fried meat, with envy in his heart.

Covering his wounded heart, he wheedled and turned to walk downstairs, and when he took a few steps and looked back again, the Major General had already sat down in front of the Commander and was pinching the crispy fried meat from his plate to him, and gently whispered to ask if it was delicious.

Zhu Qiang found that this year, the relationship between the Major General and the Commander was not only different from what he thought, after the Commander married, he even got an endless supply of crispy fried meat.

It was really……making Zhu Qiang envious.

……

Although Zhu Qiang didn’t get to eat Song Xiao Bai’s crispy fried meat, he cleared out all of his other good buddies’ crispy fried meat downstairs in the canteen and ended up patting his full stomach, feeling very satisfied.

At the afternoon meeting, he finally saw the familiar appearance of the old Major General and Commander, as the Major General and the Commander, just like before, had another disagreement in the meeting.

When he saw Tang Wu Yuan slap the table in anger, his eyes instantly glazed over; was this another fight? This is the Golden Eagle Army that he is familiar with!

Tang Wu Yuan didn’t notice his bright gaze, instead he narrowed his eyes at Song Xiao Bai and said loudly in an icy voice: “It’s the Silver Tiger Army’s business if they want to hold a tournament, why should we let them hold it here?”

Song Xiao Bai wrinkled his eyebrows, his gaze equally sullen as he looked at him, “The leader of the Silver Tiger Army said that their training grounds are not as large as ours, so they want to come to us to borrow the grounds to hold the tournament.”

“They say borrow then they borrow, based on what? Who do they think they are?”

“It’s just one match, it won’t take more than a few days.”

“Just one match? Not even if they only take the venue for a day, this is a matter of dignity for our army! There is absolutely no way we can compromise so easily and there is absolutely no way we can back down!”

……

With the stalemate between the two of them, the atmosphere in the conference room gradually became tense.

Zhu Qiang sat on the side, somewhat torn as to whether he should stand up and speak for the Major General like he did before. After all, the Commander was now the Major General’s mate and seemed to be one of his own when he calculated seriously.

He turned his head to look at the others in the conference room only to see that they were all sitting firmly in their seats. The Major General’s cronies and the Commander’s cronies did not look like they wanted to get involved in the argument, instead they looked like they were isolated, ignoring the Major General and the Commander’s quarrel.

He rubbed his forehead surreptitiously, feeling as if a year had passed and nothing was quite as he had thought it would be.

He pursed his lips and had to be patient and continue to sit honestly with everyone else, staying put for the time being, though he kept a close eye on the Major General and the Commander, as soon as they moved to fight, he would immediately rush up……as to who he would help, he hadn’t thought about it yet.

It’s all family anyway, whoever he help seems to be the same.