Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“Get in touch with this person as soon as you get to N City,” he responded almost immediately and gave her a number, which did not seem like a number to call for a pager. It had nine digits and seemed like a cellphone number. It was probably going to ring a first-generation mobile phone.
“Sure, I’ll get in touch! Xiao, it’s getting late now, you should get back to your dorm. Don’t worry about me!”
Lu Beixiao took a look at the clock and realized that he really should be going now. He had less than three minutes until the nightly inspection.
“I’ll be away in a couple of days. My pager won’t be able to receive any connection, so don’t worry about me. Let’s call it a night.”
“Sure. Good night, Xiao. Mwah!” There was an emphasis on the last word as if she had just kissed him.
Lu Beixiao began to burn with desire as soon as he remembered what Ye Cheng told him – she was flirting.
“Girl, you’d better wait for it!” Lu Beixiao was a hot-blooded young man, full of vigor and vitality. Even the slightest hint of seduction could turn him on easily.
“What should I be waiting for?” She continued to play dumb.
There came silence, while he gnashed his teeth to quench the burning desire. “You should hang up. Do it now; I only have two minutes to spare.”
Even when he was in urgent haste, he still insisted on waiting for her to hang up first.
Ye Qiao was not bashful at all, so she hung up the call almost instantly, for she understood his current situation. There was no time to waste.
In haste, he cleared the ashtray and put it back where it belonged. There was a sound of something astir outside of the office, so he had to go. From the window, he took a swift leap to the ground and was swift enough to avoid getting caught along his way.
He arrived at the dormitory area almost the same time as Lao Cai and his inspectors. With a pleased smile, he jumped into the air and climbed onto the roof instead.
As soon as Lao Cai stepped into their sleeping quarters, he immediately raised his voice like a maniac. Everyone else got up from their sleep instantaneously, except Lu Beixiao. He still had his blanket over his head, so they could not see his face.
Lao Cai gave inspector Chen a look to check on him.
“Oh no.” Ye Cheng broke into a cold sweat, for Lu Beixiao was seriously going to get into trouble.
What could he be doing stealthily during the night? Was he on a date? But there was no woman within the perimeter of the training base. Could he be dating a man?
Inspector Chen stood by Lu Beixiao’s bed and, without further ado, pulled away his blanket.
“Ouch!”
With a toss and a twist, Inspector Chen was already seized on the ground with no chance to resist. He could only screech in pain.
“Hey, it’s you, Inspector Chen!” Lu Beixiao only had a singlet and a pair of underpants on. He finally let go of Inspector Chen and yawned as he replied, “Why do you keep pulling away my blanket?”
No one saw when or how he sneaked in, but Ye Cheng felt quite bad for not being in the know.
Meanwhile, Lu Beixiao received a stern look from Lao Cai before he left their sleeping quarters.
As an inspector, Lao Cai was aware of Lu Beixiao’s every movement and action. However, he was invariably outsmarted. As for the other dorm mates, it was a relief to have a member who could outsmart him.
One must use strength and strategy, with considerable ingenuity, as a means of bringing people to allegiance, especially in the Special Forces. These minor incidents could be pardoned, as long as they stayed within the line.
The Special Forces operated in its own way, apparently impervious to the National Defense’s criticism. Training had always been their number one priority so that they would spend most of their time in the field instead. Internal affairs, such as dormitory inspections, were considerably insignificant. In fact, they stayed true only to their priorities and never played by the rules.
Once the inspection team was gone, the dormitory became peaceful and quiet again. Lu Beixiao returned to his bed, with his blanket tucked in.
“Xiao, why do you cover yourself in a blanket when it’s so hot?” Ye Cheng teased.
Lu Beixiao picked up one of his boots and swung it across the room without even looking. He was aiming for Ye Cheng, his future brother-in-law, whose bed was in the other corner.
Terrified, Ye Cheng quickly hid in his blanket.
With his eyes closed, all Lu Beixiao could see was Ye Qiao’s face. He must have been poisoned by love as he began tittering at the possibility of their next encounter.
“Girl, you’d better wait for it!”
The village was precisely the way she remembered it – impoverished and backward, with children running around barefoot. Most of her childhood play pals had only made their academic progress as far as a junior in high school before they succumbed to societal pressure and began working abroad. Others stayed behind, loafing about the village with nothing better to do.
These idlers, if lucky, would be given a house and an arranged marriage. Those who could not afford it would continue to live with their parents. On the other hand, if they were unlucky, they would end up becoming manual laborers in the field.
The only option for women here was to marry into a good family that could provide them with a lifetime of comfort and security. Education was merely a luxury that they disdained to continue.
Qiao Tian’s incident was an example that the villagers used to make their point clear – that education leads to nowhere.
“Why do you study, girl? Two or three years are more than enough for you to be literate. You should spend helping your family to farm or raise the pigs instead. Once you’re older, you can go to the south and work in a factory with an annual income of 2,000-3,000 Yuan!”
“What’s good about being educated? Look at the boy from the Qiao family, he’s already finished his tertiary studies but cannot even graduate with a certificate, not to mention getting a job. So many years in school and so much money spent on books, but all for nothing.”
These were the latest gossip that she had been hearing.
Her family was not rich, but they had enough to send all three siblings from the family to school. Her father, Qiao Xingmin, graduated from high school but did not make it to college; it was something he always regretted. He knew exactly how important education was, so regardless of his financial constraints, he insisted on sending his children to school.
Her eldest sister made it to the third junior year before she quit, simply because her results were too terrible to continue her studies.
Her brother, Qiao Tian, was an excellent student with exceedingly good results. As soon as he graduated from his junior year, he began his tertiary education in a college and took a five-year course. Back in the olden days, having graduated from a college was almost synonymous with succeeding in life.
Ye Qiao herself had spent 12 years with the Qiao family, and the amount of education that she had received was nothing less than what she ought to have.
It was a cozy afternoon, and Ye Qiao spent her time idling by a tree as she watched a group of children fish for crayfish by the pond.
She would be leaving for N City the next day to visit her brother and this time, by train.
She had a lot in mind recently. To be given a second life was something that she was thankful for, so she intended to make full use of it and turn her family situation around; this time, for the better.
The child from the Chen family already had about half a bucket of crayfish by now. Those days, crayfish was not even considered as a delicacy. It was just something that children enjoyed catching as a competition. Without their parents’ help, the children would usually sizzle the crayfish by the fire on their own.
Who would have thought that 20 years from now, crayfish would end up becoming more valuable than prawn?
Hot and spicy crayfish, crayfish braised with 13 spices, stir-fried crayfish with garlic, the list goes on. Soon, she began craving for a crayfish feast.
“Xiao Qiang, do you remember me?” Politely, Ye Qiao talked to an older boy among the kids.
The 12-year-old boy shook his head in denial. However, he blushed at the unexpected encounter with Ye Qiao, whom he regarded as beautiful and stylish.
“I’m Qiao Qiao! Are you selling the crayfish? I can pay you 50 cents for the whole lot.”
50 cents sounded like a good deal. It was enough for the boy to afford a water gun.
Xiao Qiang agreed to the business without giving it a second thought. He promptly grabbed his sister’s bucket and put all the crayfish together and said, “They’re all yours!”
His sister began sobbing as a result of the daylight crayfish robbery. Quickly, Ye Qiao took out a White Rabbit milk candy from her purse and handed it to the little girl. Her face immediately lit up with glee. It was not easy to get milk candy in rural places like this.
The milk candy had successfully grabbed the attention of the children. With expectant faces, they offered their crayfish, too, in hopes that they could get some milk candy in return.
“Sure! Sure! Everyone gets one!” Ye Qiao was happy with the deal and offered the rest of her milk candy to the children.
Her father was perplexed when he saw the bucket full of crayfish that she had carried all the way home. “Silly, what’s so good about crayfish? I’ll ask your mother to get you some prawns from the fresh market tomorrow morning!”