in2ebook Chapter 324
Chapter 324
A smile curved on Rong Yu’s lips.After all this time, the guy had finally taken the initiative.
She reached out and wrapped her arms around his waist. It had been a while, and his waist had grown even leaner.
Just as she pinched the soft flesh at his side, a series of whistles erupted from the corridor outside.
“Ooh la la—”
“So sweet, so sweet, I’m shipping this first.”
“So she really is the missus—beautiful missus, hehehe.”
“…”
Five or six sunburned new recruits were pressed against the doorframe, winking and craning their necks to get a better look.
Sheng Qingyan’s face instantly darkened. He pulled Rong Yu behind him and barked, “Got nothing better to do, do you? I haven’t officially left base yet. You lot—ten-kilometer loaded march, starting now!”
The recruits groaned in unison.
One bold kid still grinned. “Report, Captain Sheng! You’re just using your authority to get back at us…”
“Twenty kilometers.” Sheng Qingyan kept a straight face. “One more word, and it’s thirty.”
The young soldiers scattered like startled birds, their footsteps thudding heavily against the ground.
Rong Yu buried her face in his shoulder, stifling her laughter. She could clearly feel the tight muscles of his waist tremble slightly beneath her palm.
This man—his ears were burning red, yet he insisted on putting on that stone-cold face.
She teased him deliberately. “Quite the display of authority, Captain Sheng.”
Sheng Qingyan cleared his throat. “Then let me take you to meet someone with even more authority. Let’s go.”
Rong Yu was curious. “Who?”
“My superior.” He straightened his collar. “I’m being transferred to the Northern Special Forces unit. I need to say goodbye to the leadership, and—introduce you while I’m at it.”
Rong Yu thought back. His superior should be Commissar Li, whom she already knew.
Dropping by to say hello wouldn’t hurt.
She followed Sheng Qingyan downstairs to the administrative building.
“Qingyan, you’re here. I was just about to send for you,” Commissar Li said, pulling an envelope out of his drawer. “This is your allowance and bonus for the past few months. I’ve processed it all at once—take it.”
“Thank you, Commissar Li.” Sheng Qingyan’s face suddenly flushed an odd shade of red. “Commissar, let me introduce someone.”
Only then did Commissar Li notice that someone else had come in. He broke into a smile. “Engineer Rong, when did you arrive at the base?”
“Just today,” Sheng Qingyan answered for her, coughing awkwardly. “Uh, Commissar, you didn’t believe me before when I said I had a girlfriend. Well, she’s my girlfriend.”
Commissar Li froze for a moment, then burst into laughter. “Qingyan, don’t joke around. Engineer Rong is still a teenager, in school. How could she be your girlfriend? Don’t tell me you dragged this young lady into playing a part just to reject my matchmaking.”
Rong Yu understood immediately. She spoke up firmly. “Commissar, Sheng Qingyan and I really are in a romantic relationship.”
“What?” Commissar Li was stunned for a few seconds. “How old are you? Why are you dating already…”
And of all people, she was dating Sheng Qingyan.
Sheng Qingyan—the young man he had his eye on as a son-in-law.
His daughter had visited the military district a while ago and had fallen for Sheng Qingyan at first sight, begging him to set them up.
He had been quite satisfied with the young man himself and had even offered to arrange a meeting. But Sheng Qingyan had turned him down flat, saying he already had a girlfriend. He hadn’t believed it at first. Yet now, the two standing together—handsome man, beautiful woman, a perfect match—made his daughter seem hardly in the same league.
He shook his head regretfully. “I was too presumptuous. Sheng Qingyan, attention!”
“Yes, Commissar!”
Sheng Qingyan immediately snapped to attention, standing at the ready.
“Your final order!” Commissar Li boomed. “Escort Engineer Rong back to Beijing safely. Can you do that?”
Sheng Qingyan looked slightly surprised, then promptly replied, “Understood!”
Commissar Li tapped him on the head. “What, did you think I’d order you to go on a blind date? I’m not the kind of unreasonable person who meddles in other people’s relationships. Breaking up a couple brings bad karma—I wouldn’t do such a thing. All right, you two get out of here, before I can’t resist poaching you myself.”
Sheng Qingyan saluted, took Rong Yu by the hand, and led her out.
Rong Yu’s work at the base had come to an end for now, and Sheng Qingyan was due to leave that day as well. By evening, they had bought the last two tickets for a flight to the airport.
As soon as they entered the terminal, an announcement came over the intercom: their flight had been delayed by three hours due to uncontrollable factors.
Rong Yu glanced at her watch. “Want to take a walk outside?”
The night wind swept in, carrying fine grit. Rong Yu squinted instinctively.
Sheng Qingyan silently shifted half a step closer, his tall frame perfectly blocking the wind. In the distance, the lights of a night market flickered in the dusk, and the air was thick with the charred fragrance of baked naan and the smell of cumin.
Hand in hand, the two strolled through the market.
For them, this was an incredibly rare moment of peaceful leisure.
Rong Yu spotted a row of handmade copper items. A woman at the stall smiled and handed her a handcrafted copper whistle. “Young lady, this whistle is cheap—twenty yuan each. Want one?”
Rong Yu paid for it.
She blew it lightly—the sound was quite clear and pleasant.
Sheng Qingyan reached out. “Let me try?”
They had wandered to the far end of the market, a quiet spot with only poplar trees around. Taking the whistle, he leaned against a tree and pressed it to his lips, playing a melody from “In That Distant Place.”
That piece of music made Rong Yu feel a sudden sense of disorientation.
It was like a key, unexpectedly unlocking the floodgates of memory.
The salty sea breeze seemed to rush back over her. She remembered standing by the railing of a cruise ship over seventy years ago, Ji Zheng leaning casually against the gunwale, an old copper whistle glinting at his lips as he played the same melody, rising and falling with the waves.
The moonlight had been just as cold and clear back then, casting a soft silver glow over his gentle features.
She stretched out her hand as if possessed.
Her fingertips touched his brow bone.
Sheng Qingyan’s breath caught, but he stood still, letting her trace his face.
Her fingers slid down his high nose bridge—a different shape from Ji Zheng’s, yet under the moonlight, it cast the same heart-stirring shadow.
Suddenly, she stood on her tiptoes.
Her warm lips pressed against his thin ones.
Boom—!
Sheng Qingyan’s mind practically exploded.
He hesitated for only a second before taking charge. One hand cupped the back of her head, the other wrapped around her waist, pulling her completely into his embrace.
The clamor of the distant market seemed to fade away, leaving only the sound of their interlaced breaths.
Sheng Qingyan’s kiss carried the scent of gunpowder and raw masculinity, blending in her mind with Ji Zheng’s salty, sea-laced kiss from memory. Time twisted strangely in that moment, and she could no longer tell whether the heartbeat she felt was from the past or the present.
They kissed for what felt like an eternity before finally parting.
A trace of confusion lingered in Sheng Qingyan’s eyes.
Rong Yu’s voice was hoarse. “What’s wrong?”
“I feel like…” He pressed his temple. “Like I’ve suddenly gained a memory that isn’t mine—a cruise ship, the sea…”
Rong Yu was startled. “Then what else? What else do you remember?”
Sheng Qingyan tried hard to recall. “There were many people... gunfire... a battle had started... so many dead…”
His head throbbed with pain, and his face turned pale.