Chapter 395 - 391: Sister-in-law

Chapter 395: Chapter 391: Sister-in-law

Qi Guoqing caught his breath and continued, "And you guys, too. You should know that our captain is open with us, but that doesn’t mean you can just go blabbing about things he hasn’t explicitly mentioned."

Zhang Huai, Liang Changsheng, and Jiang Wenhao all nodded quickly. Liang Changsheng said to Qi Guoqing, "I won’t ask, I won’t ask. I’m done asking. Brother Qi, don’t get so worked up. We get what you’re saying even without you spelling it out. We’re not that stupid." As he spoke, he slapped himself lightly on the mouth with a grin. "Serves you right for being a blabbermouth."

His antics made everyone laugh. Luo Hongyi shook his head with a smile. "Actually, I wasn’t planning on hiding it from you. To be honest, that person was none other than my wife. If she hadn’t been so close to me just now, letting me catch her scent, I never would have guessed it was her. I can’t even imagine how she got bold enough to come all the way out here by herself. This was a complete coincidence. It all happened so suddenly, and I was so focused on Old Qi’s injury that I haven’t had a chance to ask her what on earth she’s doing here."

Qi Guoqing: "..."

Zhang Huai: "..."

Liang Changsheng: "..."

Jiang Wenhao: "..."

For a moment, everyone looked completely baffled. They glanced at one another, then swallowed hard in unison. "Your... wife?"

"What’s so strange about it being my wife?" Luo Hongyi patted the backpack, his expression perfectly matter-of-fact. Then his face turned dead serious as he glanced at the group, his eyes practically boring into Liang Changsheng’s as he delivered a harsh warning. "That’s why some of the things in this bag aren’t for you to see. If I find out anyone took a peek... heh. If you don’t want those paws of yours anymore, feel free to give it a try. Then you can get discharged for injury and go back to a normal life with a wife, kids, and a warm bed."

"Captain, can you please not look at me like that? It’s terrifying. My poor little heart, you’re really going to scare it into stopping. At that point, you won’t even need to report me as injured. You can just bury me on the spot." Being stared at by Luo Hongyi made Liang Changsheng’s very heart and soul tremble and pound uncontrollably. ’He’s not afraid of facing a powerful enemy, but the pressure of the Captain staring him down like this is just too much. It’s terrifying, isn’t it?’

"Get lost. In your dreams." Luo Hongyi said, giving Liang Changsheng a light kick. "You want to be buried here without so much as a name? You’d have to see if this land would even welcome you. A nuisance like you, despised by man and dog alike... I bet even the dirt here would reject you. There’s no place for you here." In response, Liang Changsheng actually clutched his head and rolled once on the ground, making the others burst out laughing.

Luo Hongyi stared, speechless for a moment, before laughing and scolding, "...Get your ass back here. You’ve really gotten bold, haven’t you?"

"But Captain, you were the one who ordered me to get lost. I was just following orders, right?" Liang Changsheng did another flip and ’rolled’ right back, grinning shamelessly at Luo Hongyi. The others laughed even harder. Qi Guoqing clutched his bandaged stomach, looking like he was about to cry out, "OW! OW!"

After a long moment, the laughter died down. Qi Guoqing asked Luo Hongyi, "Does your wife know about this other identity of yours?"

"How could I possibly tell her? But I can’t hide my injuries from her. All I can do is tell her that I’m not involved in anything illegal or criminal. I’ve said it so many times that she’s probably figured out a thing or two, so she eventually stopped asking." Luo Hongyi shook his head, his face a mixture of guilt and helplessness.

In his past life, he had been secretly recruited in his late teens into what was, on the surface, just a private security company. In the first few years after getting married, he often had to use excuses like "business trips" for all sorts of extremely dangerous, top-secret missions that he couldn’t breathe a word of to his family.

He remembered how, at first, Nuannuan had pressed him for answers out of worry. But he couldn’t say anything, only repeat over and over that he could guarantee that nothing he did had the slightest connection to anything illegal or criminal.

After asking so many times and always getting the same boilerplate response, she must have finally sensed something, because eventually, Nuannuan stopped asking altogether. Instead, whenever he came home injured, she would just hold him tightly and cry in silence.

In this life, when he was reborn, he found himself in a college dorm, but he had already been a member of this "security company" for several years. So he didn’t have to agonize over the decision to join all over again.

Luo Hongyi’s words cast a silence over the others.

When Gu Nuan Nuan reappeared, she did so as herself, without any disguise.

’Since Luo Hongyi said there was no use hiding, I might as well not bother,’ she thought. She had faith in his judgment and his read on people. When she arrived, Luo Hongyi and his men were gathered around, gnawing on meat jerky. The ground had been cleaned up so thoroughly that it was hard to tell a brutal, bloody battle had just taken place, aside from two unlucky bastards still lying there.

And while the five men appeared relaxed, the moment she appeared, every one of them looked over with alarm, instinctively dropping into a combat-ready stance. The second he saw it was her, Luo Hongyi relaxed, getting up to greet her. "All set?"

As Luo Hongyi went to meet her, the others quickly got to their feet, smiling at Gu Nuan Nuan. Before she could even answer Luo Hongyi, she heard the three standing team members shout in unison, "Ma’am!" Then, even Qi Guoqing leaned forward, pushing his upper body up slightly. A grateful smile spread across his face as he called out to her, "Ma’am."

Gu Nuan Nuan smiled with graceful composure and gave a slight nod, unsure how to respond. She didn’t recognize any of them; she’d never met a single one in her past life. ’Could it be...?’ The thought startled her, and she shot a questioning look at Luo Hongyi. He gave a slight nod, a flicker of almost imperceptible sadness in his eyes. Then he took her hand, and they faced the others together. He led her over to Qi Guoqing and had her squat down beside him as he made the introduction. "I’m their captain. This is my second-in-command, Qi Guoqing. He’s a few years older than me. You can call him Old Qi, like I do, or Brother Qi. Aside from this, they have another public identity—they’re all partners in my company, though none of them hold a large stake."

Gu Nuan Nuan’s gaze swept over the wound on Qi Guoqing’s abdomen. From the look of the bandage, she could tell the work was no less professional than what you’d get from a doctor or nurse in a hospital. She smiled at him and said softly, "Brother Qi."

Qi Guoqing was clearly flattered and smiled back. "Ah, you can just call me Old Qi."

Gu Nuan Nuan smiled without replying. Luo Hongyi had already pulled her to her feet, tossing a comment to Qi Guoqing, "’Brother Qi’ sounds good." He then proceeded to introduce his other three team members: Third, Zhang Huai; Fourth, Liang Changsheng; and Fifth Brother, Jiang Wenhao. This time, Gu Nuan Nuan addressed each of them by their team rankings—the same ’codenames’ they used for each other on missions. Her doing so made Zhang Huai, Liang Changsheng, and Jiang Wenhao so ecstatic they looked like they might start scratching their heads and ears in excitement.