Chapter 396 - 392: Gratitude

Chapter 396: Chapter 392: Gratitude

They all stared at her with passionate, almost fanatical eyes, shouting "Sister-in-law" with incredible warmth. They crowded around, completely ignoring Luo Hongyi’s earlier introductions, and insisted on introducing themselves all over again.

Introducing themselves wasn’t enough; they had to expand the conversation, chattering aimlessly about anything and everything. When the three grown men got going, they were louder than five hundred ducks quacking at once. If Gu Nuannuan hadn’t already lived one life over, she might have found their sheer enthusiasm overwhelming.

Finally, Luo Hongyi couldn’t take it anymore. He impatiently waved them away. "Alright, alright, what’s with all the chatter? Saying ’Sister-in-law’ once is enough. If you love talking so much, hurry up and find your own wives to go home to. You can talk for as long as you want then. This is my wife. I haven’t even had a chance to talk to her yet, so what makes you think it’s your turn to cozy up to her?"

Intimidated by Luo Hongyi’s tyrannical presence, Zhang Huai, Liang Changsheng, and Jiang Wenhao all shut their mouths with aggrieved expressions. Then they exchanged glances, winked, and chanted in unison, "Boss, Boss is a cheapskate! A cheapskate drinks cold water, and his wife will smack his mouth crooked!"

Luo Hongyi was speechless. He aimed a light kick at each of them and laughingly cursed, "Get lost." Intent on goofing off in front of Gu Nuannuan, the three immediately and in perfect sync, clutched their heads and rolled on the ground again. Gu Nuannuan burst out laughing. Luo Hongyi gave the trio a look as if they were idiots, then cracked his knuckles. "Is it fun doing the same thing twice in a row? Looks like you have too much free time. Just wait until we get back. I’ll show you what training really is."

The three immediately began to wail. They threw themselves at Luo Hongyi’s legs, each one wiping away imaginary tears as they howled dramatically, "Boss, have mercy!"

From the side, Qi Guoqing couldn’t help but chuckle as he said to Gu Nuannuan, "Sister-in-law, please don’t be startled by them. Once you get to know them, you’ll see. These three only act like this around our own people. They’re actually quite serious when we’re out in the field."

Gu Nuannuan couldn’t suppress her smile. "I’m not startled. They’re very amusing."

Hearing her, Zhang Huai, Liang Changsheng, and Jiang Wenhao all looked over, their faces beaming with joy. They then tilted their heads at Luo Hongyi, their eyes seeming to say, ’See? See? Sister-in-law doesn’t mind us at all.’

Luo Hongyi was both amused and exasperated, so he decided to simply ignore them. He turned back to Gu Nuannuan. Remembering she still hadn’t answered his earlier question, Gu Nuannuan smiled and said, "It’s all set up over there. We can head over now. It’s not too far, just a ten-or-so-minute walk if we go slowly. Brother Qi, you guys can carry him or help him walk. Do you want to leave right now?"

"Based on experience, even if those people decide to come after us again, they won’t be this fast. So, this place should be relatively safe until tomorrow. I don’t plan on taking these two with us. I’ll just interrogate them here and then deal with them."

Luo Hongyi thought for a moment, then glanced at the two captives on the ground with a disgusted frown. He turned to Jiang Wenhao and said, "Fifth Brother, you help Old Qi and go with your sister-in-law. This is a precaution. If they don’t play by the rules and pursue us ahead of schedule, Old Qi will inevitably sustain further injuries. It’s better not to take that risk. Here, Third, Fourth, and I are enough to interrogate these two. And even if we run into that group again, after the recovery we just had, the three of us could probably fight them for a whole day and night without any problem."

He finished and looked up at Gu Nuannuan. "Once you get them to the safe place, don’t come back. I’ll have them leave markers along the way. When we’re done here, we’ll find our way over. We have an audible signal, so they’ll know as soon as we arrive."

"I’ve already set up the Array over there. When you arrive, you won’t need any signal. Just walk into the Array; triggering it will let us know from the inside. We’ll naturally come out to get you." Gu Nuannuan nodded, then took out a medicine bottle and handed it to him. "Will an hour be enough for your interrogation? If it is, and if we don’t see you after an hour, I’ll come out to provide backup for the three of you."

Luo Hongyi took the medicine bottle, raising an eyebrow at her. ’Judging by what my wife is saying, this medicine takes effect the moment you take it?’

Gu Nuannuan nodded. "You’ll know once you try it." ’A product of the Cultivation World. Quality guaranteed, no counterfeits.’

Luo Hongyi smiled. "Let’s make it two hours. They might have a lot to confess."

"Okay."

Gu Nuannuan agreed. ’In any case, while they’re here, I’ll have Cao Cao keep an eye on the surroundings. If anything happens, I can rush over immediately.’ She smiled, pursing her lips. "Perfect. I saw a wild deer earlier and happened to hunt it. There’s a wild chicken over there, too. And I looked in that creek; there are some fish. We can even make fish soup. We’ll start roasting the meat, so by the time you’re done, you can come over and eat."

As she spoke, Gu Nuannuan reached toward Luo Hongyi for the backpack. "There’s also some honey in this bag that I found a while ago. It’ll be great on the roasted meat."

"Whoa~"

Her words instantly made the men’s mouths water. It was Zhang Huai, Liang Changsheng, and Jiang Wenhao again, swallowing hard and letting out sounds of amazement. Qi Guoqing was also tempted, but then he gave a wry smile. He looked at Gu Nuannuan with immense relief and gratitude. "I guess I won’t have the good fortune to eat this time," he lamented. "But thankfully, thanks to Sister-in-law, I still have my life. In the future, I can eat whatever I want, right?"

’Oops~ How could I have forgotten about the patient?’

Gu Nuannuan reached into the backpack again and took out a Jade Bottle, handing the whole thing to Qi Guoqing. "Brother Qi, these are Satiety Pills. There are thirty pills inside. If you take one a day, you won’t need to eat or drink for the entire day. This should be enough to last until your mission is over and you head back, right? If it’s not enough, I’ll leave some more with Hongyi, and you can get them from him then. By that time, you should be fine and able to eat normally. But just to be safe, you should still go to a hospital for a thorough check-up when you get back."

"This bottle?" Qi Guoqing held the small jade bottle, looking from Gu Nuannuan to Luo Hongyi. "I’ve been meaning to ask. The life-saving medicine pills our captain carries... you gave them to him, didn’t you?"

Zhang Huai, Liang Changsheng, and Jiang Wenhao’s gazes all snapped over in unison. They looked at the small jade bottle, then at Gu Nuannuan and Luo Hongyi. Zhang Huai nodded in agreement. "The bottle the captain took out earlier was also a Jade Bottle, though the shape was a little different. They must have come from the same source."

"I happened to come across some ancient formulas," Gu Nuannuan said, nodding vaguely.

"I knew I couldn’t hide it from you guys. So from now on, you’d better be careful. Don’t you dare make your sister-in-law unhappy, or else... hehe..." Luo Hongyi gave Zhang Huai, Liang Changsheng, and Jiang Wenhao a look that said, ’You’re on your own.’

"Thank you, Sister-in-law."

Zhang Huai, Liang Changsheng, and Jiang Wenhao exchanged a look, then, with perfect understanding, they all bowed deeply to Gu Nuannuan in gratitude.

Her face slightly red, Gu Nuannuan shied away. She glanced at Luo Hongyi, then waved her hand. "Don’t be so formal. Actually, giving these to you all is putting them to their best possible use. It’s just that right now, they require special methods to create, so they can’t be mass-produced for a while. In the future, I’ll try my best to come up with simpler formulas so they can be distributed more widely."

Her words moved all five of them, including Luo Hongyi. Only those who had used the medicine could truly understand. For people like them, who constantly walked the line between life and death, it was no exaggeration to say that having these pills was like having several extra lives.