“Can you straighten your neck out for me?”
“Okay.”
“I’ll ask you once more — has she shown any unusual behavior recently?”
Xi Gu was nearly in tears. “She r-really… hasn’t.”
Xi Gu was kept there by Han Beiyao, getting grilled for over an hour, until Nan Chu came looking for her and rescued her from his clutches.
Once Xi Gu had retreated, she asked the man lounging in the chair, “You’ve been very free lately?”
Han Beiyao watched Xi Gu’s fleeing figure with a thoughtful expression and answered obliquely, “I’ve just discovered your little stammerer is quite amusing.”
“Xi Gu?”
“Mm.”
“Stay away from her.”
“……”
Han Beiyao put his sunglasses back on, feigning surprise. “What’s this? You’re interested in that little girl?”
Nan Chu: “……She’s too pure for you.”
Han Beiyao dismissed it with ease. “Whether she’s suited or not is something you find out by trying — but don’t worry yourself over my affairs. You focus on filming well. I heard you quit smoking recently. Good — very wholesome. I hope you stay this wholesome. Girls are cuter when they’re wholesome.”
After Han Beiyao left, Nan Chu got a call from Lin Qi, inviting her out to a bar that evening.
Nan Chu declined; Lin Qi wouldn’t give up and kept coaxing her. “I just found a new place — incredible vibe, amazing décor, amazing drinks! Come on, come with me!”
Nan Chu firmly refused.
Lin Qi was utterly stunned. His friendship with Nan Chu was built entirely on a foundation of cigarettes and alcohol — the very definition of a drinking buddy. Nan Chu had an incredible palate for liquor; she was extraordinarily knowledgeable about it and had been since she was young. The bar owner in Milan had told him, when he first met her, that Nan Chu was the most gifted woman he’d ever seen when it came to tasting alcohol. Lin Qi’s curiosity had been piqued, and he’d struck up a conversation with her on a whim. It turned out she could really hold her liquor — and on top of that, she could identify six or seven spirits that had been blended together in one pour.
For her to say she was quitting drinking was like a prodigiously talented pianist announcing a career change to become a cook. Lin Qi simply couldn’t comprehend it. “Why?!”
“Cherishing my life. Staying away from cigarettes and alcohol.”
Lin Qi: “You suddenly wanting to live like this is scaring me.”
Nan Chu: “Lin Qi.”
“What?!”
“Let’s both be more wholesome.”
“……”
Nan Chu hung up. She was quiet for a moment, then composed a text message and sent it off.
……
At that moment, Lin Luxiao was away training new recruits. The fresh enlistees had charged in full of fire at the start, but one week of training later, every one of them looked like an eggplant that had been left out in the frost — wilted. That evening, Lin Luxiao gave them a lecture on military theory and firefighting knowledge. The recruits peppered him with questions: “Was it this bad when you first enlisted? Your first week must have been rough too, right? I feel like we’re actually pretty impressive — we’ve held on through so many drills.”
Lin Luxiao glanced down with a quiet laugh. He closed his book, dropped it on the lectern, and before he could even say a word, the drill instructor beside him jumped in: “You little turnips — if we threw you into Instructor Lin’s unit, not one of you would last a week before getting kicked out.”
The drill instructor pointed at the group and rattled off each of them in turn: “How many of you passed the weighted run this afternoon? You’re firefighters — the water hose you’ll carry in the field is heavier than the sandbag you ran with this afternoon!! When Instructor Lin’s unit first enlisted, do you know how many push-ups they did in a day? More than your whole week’s quota combined! Instructor Lin is going easy on you! You ungrateful lot — trying to haggle with your instructor?!”
Not a peep from the group below. There were still a few stubborn troublemakers who felt they hadn’t quite been convinced.
Lin Luxiao stood at the front of the room. The brim of his military cap shadowed half his face. His jawline was sharply taut, his features clean and precise. When he was serious, he was genuinely intimidating.
“I’m not going easy on you — this is the military. There’s no such thing as going easy here. Whatever rules you follow, everyone follows them. Every drill you complete will one day save your life in the field. You’re here to rescue people — don’t show up at the scene needing to be rescued yourself. As I’ve said before: since you chose this path, whether you can bear it or not, you bear it. A man who can’t carry this on his shoulders — should his wife and children carry it for him instead? When you enter the military, you give your life to the nation. Even if you’re a dragon, you coil yourself. Even if you’re a tiger, you lie down.”
At those last words, it was as if blood rushed to their heads. The recruits erupted in thunderous applause. Men always have a streak of heroism in them — one mention of defending the homeland and protecting their families, and in an instant they felt ten feet tall. That evening when they called their girlfriends, they all made sure to quote what Instructor Lin had said, suddenly feeling like paragons of manliness.
The new recruits all agreed this Instructor Lin was a real man through and through. Handsome on top of it — utterly cool. Even the most insubordinate troublemaker stood at crisp attention when he spotted Lin Luxiao and called out a respectful “Instructor Lin.”
Walking back to the dormitory, the drill instructor clicked his tongue admiringly: “You educated types really are something else — talk like that and you’ve got them eating out of your hand. They don’t even dare break wind!”
Lin Luxiao was scrolling through his texts, saying nothing.
The drill instructor pushed his shoulder: “How did the talk with the leadership go last time?”
“Exam next month.” Lin Luxiao kept his head down, fingers moving rapidly across the phone screen.
“Then it won’t be long before I’ll be calling you ‘commander.’ You’ve finally made it through.” The drill instructor clapped him on the shoulder and headed down a different path. “Alright — you rest up. I’m off to do roll call.”
Lin Luxiao returned to the dormitory, dropped his books on the desk, lay down on the bed with his feet kicked up, brow furrowed, turning over what the drill instructor had just said.
Before long, his phone buzzed again.
He reached over and grabbed it.
【Little Miss Troublemaker: One week no smoking. Requesting my reward.】
Lin Luxiao: Out of town training.
【Little Miss Troublemaker: Then once you’re back — dinner together?】
Lin Luxiao: We’ll see.
【Little Miss Troublemaker: Then it’s settled.】
Lin Luxiao: ……
【Little Miss Troublemaker: Your little brother just invited me out for drinks — I didn’t go. I even gave him a lecture on your behalf.】
Lin Luxiao: I’ll be back next weekend.
【Little Miss Troublemaker: So we’ll have dinner then — just the two of us?】
Lin Luxiao: Mm.
【Little Miss Troublemaker: Then I’ll pick the place.】
Lin Luxiao: One condition.
【Little Miss Troublemaker: ?】
Lin Luxiao set his feet down, sat up straight, dark eyes intent, lips pressed firmly together — and typed back with considerable seriousness:
Don’t dress like last time.
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