A few minutes later...
Wuli and Yueyue both finished their breakfast and left the house for work, leaving only the three of them at the dining table.
"What’s taking Xiaoyun so long? How is he still not up yet?" Yuqi curiously asked.
"I don’t know," Kate murmured.
"He said he was tired last night. So I wanted him to sleep in for a little bit longer." Leyan responded next.
Seeing the two of them shoving in food to avoid needing to talk, Yuqi felt sothing was a little off, especially after connecting the dots in her head.
Yueyue, Kate, and Leyan clearly had done sothing last night. Sothing too embarrassing to admit made them stay up late.
"I’ll go check on him."
As Yuqi got up from her seat and headed towards the stairs, she soon arrived outside in the upstairs hallway.
With a gentle knock to the door, she heard no noise from the inside. Her hand quickly reached for the doorknob, only to find it unlocked.
Inside the bedroom, no one was there—only a small piece of paper on the table that stood out from the usual.
"I’m heading out for talks in Changsha. Leyan, tell Yuqi that I’ll be back by the afternoon... He really just left like that?"
Yuqi didn’t think too much of it as she put the paper back down onto the table, heading back downstairs before telling the two of them about the letter.
"He really just left without saying a word." Kate grumpily murmured, feeling a little annoyed that Xiaoyun left without her.
"Changsha for talks? What kind of talks is he having at Changsha?" Leyan innocently asked, looking a little confused.
"Just about refugees..."
---
anwhile, over on a highway near Qingyuan...
A heavily armored car was driving down the road, followed by several other armored cars right behind.
"Lingang, have you solved your problems yet?" Xiaoyun curiously asked as he shifted the car into higher gears.
"Yeah... Thank you so much, sir."
Lingang was sitting in the back, his face still looking a little sleepy as if he had just woken up a few minutes ago.
"No need to call , sir. Just call by na, Xiaoyun."
As the car continued to drive down the road, Xiaoyun quickly noticed the tired face in the rearview.
"You can sleep if you want... Sorry for waking you up so early. I don’t really have any guide other than you."
"It’s fine, Commander... Can I ask what we are going to Changsha for?"
"To have a little talk with Zhongxiong. There needs to be more proper ways for refugee to travel south than just having them do it on their own."
Lingang nodded his head slightly, as if he had witnessed it firsthand during his ti in Changsha.
"Ahem, you don’t have to answer this if you really want. But I’m just a little curious about sothing..."
"What is it, Commander?"
"How did you solve your problem? I heard ntal blocks are one of the hardest things to resolve in the bedroom."
The car instantly fell into an awkward silence. Xiaoyun could even see Lingang’s face blush for a second, which he had never seen him do.
"I..."
"You don’t have to say it if you don’t want to. Just ignore my question as being nosy."
"Commander, I don’t mind telling you the answer. I actually need to offer you sothing as well."
"Offer sothing?"
Xiaoyun suddenly had a weird feeling as he looked over to the rear view, only to see Lingang scratching his head out of nervousness.
"I’m actually marrying again. I was wondering if you could be the host of the wedding. O-Or just the groomsn."
"You what? Wait, wait, wait. What do you an you’re marrying again? You divorced your wife?!?"
"No, no, of course not. She’s the love of my life. I’ll never divorce her."
"Then what do you an you’re marrying again... Wait. Your wife agreed to this? Seriously?"
Xiaoyun finally realized what Lingang was trying to imply, but his head couldn’t wrap around the idea of a wife willing to share a man.
"Yeah... She’s more than happy for to marry another woman. It actually worked, too. The three of us were able to——"
"Okay. Okay. That’s enough. I don’t need to know your bedroom affairs... I’m happy to hear everything is working out for you."
As the car fell into silence again, Xiaoyun’s urge to gossip started to scratch his mind over and over again.
Soon, it reached a boiling point as they drove past Qingyuan and towards Shaoguan.
"Lingang, you do know the laws technically don’t allow for bigamy, right?"
"I know, sir... But my wife and I can’t make another woman live as a concubine like this. She deserves her dignity."
"That’s a good mindset to have. I thought of that too when I... Ahem."
Xiaoyun quickly fell into silence.
His mind realized he was the biggest double standard inside this car when it ca to marrying multiple won.
"Lingang, don’t worry about the legal issues. I’ll make sure it won’t impact you. And I’m more than honored to be your groomsman."
"Thank you, sir!
Seeing Lingang bowing down in gratitude, Xiaoyun’s heart suddenly felt a little guilty as flashes of Leyan’s plan popped up in his mind.
In his eyes, Lingang felt more like a young adult—an innocent young man who wouldn’t ever think of growing ambitious to overthrow anyone.
"When is the wedding? Have you planned it out yet?"
"The three of us were thinking about it near the end of this month. We already sent out the list of invites and the wedding nus."
"That’s good to hear..."
---
After driving for five hours nonstop at full speed, the car finally arrived near the outskirts of Changsha.
They were imdiately t with patrol cars right at the entrances, requesting them to exit the car and hand over the weapons.
Xiaoyun explained himself as a delegate from Luoping and even showed Lingang, which the soldiers instantly recognized.
But still, they refused to let them inside unless they disard themselves.
"Commander?"
"You guys stay outside. Lingang and I will go talk to them."
"Yes, sir."
As the ten of them went back into the perspective armored car, Xiaoyun handed his pistol over before Lingang reluctantly handed in his pistol.
"Now, can you guys lead us inside?"
"Of course, Mr.Chen. Please follow our car lead."
Back inside the car, Xiaoyun quickly started the engine back up before following the car in front of them, leaving the rest of the armored car behind.
Driving towards the city, both of them could see hundreds of people repairing the roads and removing the various collapsed rubble.
Everyone was working hard, their faces sweating underneath the hot sun as they carried their shovel on their shoulders.
"So many people."
Lingang comnted as the car ca to a stop, letting people cross the street before resuming.
"Yeah... They are really using everything to rebuild the city."
As Xiaoyun drove deeper into the city, they could see burning almost at every corner. Corpses, zombie and human alike, are being burnt.
In the distance, they could even hear faint gunshots, almost as if the city hadn’t been fully liberated as they had imagined.
"Lingang, how clear is Changsha when the hordes pinch in you guys?"
"About four-fifths of the city was cleared. The tro was mostly empty the last ti I rember soone talking about it."
"I see..."
After following the car for almost twenty minutes straight, they finally ca to a stop in front of a building.
The sa building that had its front entrance almost completely burned off.
"This is the building, Mr.Chen. Our commander is inside. We can’t guide you any further."
"That’s fine. Thank you."
As Xiaoyun and Lingang entered through the main entrance, all of the traces of blood were long gone, but the burnt mark remained.
"Stop right there. Who are you?"
Two soldiers quickly ca up nearby, stopping them on the spot as Xiaoyun took out a small folder filled with paper.
"I’m a delegate from Luoping. I’m here to talk to your commander Zhongxiong about refugees going south."
"Commander Zhongxiong?"
The two soldiers looked at each other for a second before turning back to Xiaoyun with a confused look.
"Commander Zhongxiong isn’t here." One of the soldiers explained.
"Oh really? Do you know where he is? Or is there soone else that I can talk to?"
"Major Chengyi is in his office right now. But you might need to talk to Major Pinli about any sort of legal paper, I think."
"Major Chengyi? He got promoted? Ahem, where is his office?" Xiaoyun asked, his surprise face instantly changing back to normal.
"It’s on the third floor, 302. Do you need us to bring you there?"
"I’m good. I walked through these buildings before."
Just as Xiaoyun was about to leave, the two soldiers suddenly pulled Lingang over with a small piece of paper.
"Mister Lingang, can I have your signature? I had been a big fan of yours since I joined the army."
" too!"
"Um... Commander, can I sign them?" Lingang nervously asked as he scratched his head, looking a little scared for so reason.
"Go ahead... Here’s a pen for you."
After Lingang signed the paper with the pen, the two soldiers went back to patrolling with a full smile on their faces.
"Looks like you are quite the famous person here."
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