Chapter 65: Journeying with You

  "This Spring Festival, I should have approved your marriage leave and let you get married early. Delayed until now, I really owe you an apology!" Zhang Yu held up his wine glass, smiling at the groom and bride who were both dressed in bright red. The two of them looked extremely happy today, Xie Yi had a flushed face while the bride Ai Ruolin's pale cheeks had already turned red like apples, looking shy and demure. "This cup of wine is my blessing to you both!" After saying that, Zhang Yu nodded at Zhou Qin beside him, and the four of them clinked their glasses together before downing their drinks in one gulp.

  "Ai's younger sister, can you help me greet Aibo and his wife for a moment? Xie Yi, come out with me first!"

  Put down the wine glass, Zhang Yu hinted that Zhou Qin should leave. The Ai and Xie families had booked the entire Jinhao Hotel in Fangchenggang City for a wedding between their children. Each table cost over 100 yuan, and the price of one meal was almost equal to a mid-level worker's monthly salary. Just looking at this scene, Zhang Yu didn't have the heart to stay any longer. Of course, there were more important things that couldn't be delayed, and he couldn't afford to indulge in free food and drink here.

  "Xie Yi, you have one month's time for your wedding. After the holiday is over, go to Kunming Army Academy to report!"

  "Commander, are you taking care of me? I'm not some sentimental hero with a weak heart, I've already gotten used to the Internal Guard..."

  "I'm not taking care of you, the Army Academy and Navy Academy are both opening soon, the troops need a batch of experienced old soldiers to temporarily enter the school to help with administrative management, of course, they can also become students... Ah, give me a pack of your cigarettes, I forgot to bring mine when I went out today!"

  "Isn't this unfair? The People's Army has over a million soldiers, and in terms of seniority and experience, there are countless veterans who are stronger than me. Why am I so lucky?" Xie Yi said, pulling out a pack of cigarettes from his pants pocket and handing it to Zhang Yu, "I scattered a few earlier, not the whole pack!"

  "Don't tell me about fairness or luck! The military academy is the common foundation for the three armies of the future, and the army college is the pillar of the army. There are indeed many old soldiers in the troops, and there are many with excellent individual combat capabilities, but those with leadership talent are not many. At a certain time, what is needed is more talented officers rather than soldiers. The army college has just been established, and there must be many deficiencies. You have a lot of experience and ideas in leading troops, and it's a waste to stay in the inner guard. Remember to report on time."

  "Right, you'd better hurry back! There are many people waiting for you to toast in the hall!" Zhang Yu smiled and walked towards the VIP elevator. Yu Ran and Zhou Qin had been waiting for a while. "Old Zhou, it seems we've come at the wrong time for this wedding!" In the elevator, Zhang Yu pointed to each of their clothes, and suddenly all three couldn't help but burst out laughing. Compared to the guests at someone else's wedding banquet, they were simply unmatched.

  "This Ai family used to be a landlord's family, but after the land reform, they switched to food processing business. In recent years, they have made a lot of money, so now there are three food processing factories in Nanning Industrial Zone alone, and one factory in Fangchenggang Port Industrial Zone. So her family is well-connected with people from all walks of life, and today's wedding banquet has become a grand gathering for big and small bosses in the food processing industry..."

  "How did you know so clearly?"

  "Not long ago, they proposed a food business association, led by the Ai family." Zhou Qin said, politely gesturing for Zhang Yu to exit the elevator first. "I reckon the Xie family also has plans to enter the food industry, but in my opinion, this industry is already close to saturation. If the Xie family wants to insert another foot..."

  Zhou Qin's words entered Zhang Yu's ears, quickly shocking him to a stop. He turned around and asked Zhou Qin: "Your meaning is that this marriage is a marriage of purpose? Not the emotional union between Xie Yi and Ai Ruolin? I thought their relationship was pretty good."

  "I'm just guessing, but it's clear to everyone that the World War is coming to an end, and the days of making canned food are numbered. If companies don't adjust their product positioning and marketing strategies in time, I estimate that winter will come to the food industry soon after the war ends. Corporate restructuring takes time and resources, so maybe Ai's family is looking for a better way out, which is also a brave attempt for the entire industry..."

  "It doesn't matter if it's a marriage of convenience or true love, as long as the two people are happy! Zhang Yu sat in the car and closed his eyes to think for a moment before asking Zhou Qin, who was standing outside the car without getting in: "Not going back to Nanning together?"

  "Now that I've come to Fangchenggang, I'll take the opportunity to visit the municipal party committee leaders. The Nanning-Qinzhou expressway project is about to start construction, and Fangchenggang city also wants to participate and is very enthusiastic. Who knows, we might even create a massive three-city joint project..."

  "Then you go ahead!" Zhang Yu said, gesturing to Zhou Qin to close the car door and roll up the window. He then said calmly, "You contact the people in the back immediately and have them prepare the relevant documents for the Nanchang Expressway project, as well as those related to the Ai and Xie families. We're heading straight to Kunming, I hope we can get the information we want when we stop in Nanning."

  The car quickly drove out of the underground parking lot and had just turned onto the street without accelerating when it encountered a woman waving her hand. "Commander, it's the female teacher who gave me the letter!" Yu Ran said, turning his head to look at the woman waving on the side of the road: "Do you need to stop?"

  "Pull over and ask her if she has any more big news to reveal?"

  It was all because of a letter from that fearless woman that Zhang Yu hadn't had a good night's sleep or a decent meal for over ten days, and just managed to catch up with the happy event. "Ran into her again, what bad luck!" he muttered, lying down directly, not caring about what good things Yan Ran in the front seat and the woman were discussing, Zhang Yu didn't have the curiosity to ask, this nemesis always brought no good news whenever they met.

  "Commander, she asked if it's okay to hitch a ride back to Nanning?" Yu Ran asked Zhang Yu with a serious face, he was also a bit afraid of this troublemaker, nothing good ever happened when they met.

  "How did she know we're going back to Nanning? Does she have superhuman hearing?" Zhang Yu got up in surprise, looking at Yu Ran with a bewildered expression. "We were talking about this earlier in the underground parking lot, weren't we? There wasn't a single person around, does she have some kind of special ability?"

  "No, she and the bride are colleagues at school. Today's wedding banquet was specially arranged for her to take two days off, Zhou Qin is the mayor, leaving the wedding scene only has a share of going back, so when this girl asked the bride to resign, the bride kindly told her that she can take the mayor's car back, taking the bus is very crowded... Of course, Yu Ran must know, this is probably Xie Yi's deliberate arrangement, the good-looking Li Xiao Ran and Zhang Yu are still suitable, and Yu Ran himself also thinks so, but he dare not say it."

  "This woman is really fond of hitchhiking, isn't she! Mayor Zhou is not here, you... never mind, let her get in the car!" Zhang Yu still thought that this woman had made a significant contribution, and if it weren't for the anonymous letter reporting, they would probably have to give her some kind of reward. So he quickly sat up straight, not forgetting to wipe down the other seat, hoping that his feet hadn't left anything behind, especially any bad smells.

  "Good Commander Zhang!"

  "You...hello! Thanks for the ride. I appreciate it." As soon as she got in the car, Li Xiao Ran took the initiative to greet Zhang Yu, but Zhang Yu had a feeling like he had done something wrong, and spoke hesitantly.

  Yu Ran pulled up the window between the front and back seats, making the back seat a separate small room. After exchanging greetings, no one spoke. Li Xiao Ran looked at the newspaper in Zhang Yu's car, not intending to talk to Zhang Yu at all. Zhang Yu had nothing to do and felt a bit "sitting and standing uncomfortably". After a long time, Zhang Yu broke the awkwardness. "Since we shared a wedding banquet, it can be said that we have a fate. When sitting in the car, there's no need to say thank you or anything like that. If someone should really thank someone, I should actually thank you!"

  "You don't need to thank me, and I don't need to thank you!"

  "What do you mean? You're making me dizzy." Zhang Yu looked at the beautiful woman beside him, her whole body seemed to be covered with thorns, and her words were sharp enough to cut through anything. When facing this kind of person, one might get scolded without even knowing what they did wrong.

  "You don't have to thank me, I just mean that my classmate's unjust death should get a fair judgment. I believe the truth will eventually come out and the perpetrator will not be able to escape legal punishment. As for other matters triggered by the incident, I'm sure the government and party will handle them properly. I just let you know the truth of the incident ahead of time, and you have also completed the correct handling of the incident ahead of time. I just did my duty as a citizen with a conscience, and it's even more worthwhile for my good friend."

  Lí Xiǎo Rǎn said so because the newspaper she saw earlier, which is the headline of "People's Weekly", was about a series of events triggered by the car accident during last year's Spring Festival. The People's Autonomous Government has attached great importance to this matter and has already begun to plan an investigation team with multiple departments to investigate the cause and effect of the incident and will strictly enforce the law...

  "I agree with this and appreciate your courage, but I hope in the future you can send letters directly to my office, don't intercept our cars on the street to deliver letters...". Zhang Yu looked at Li Xiao Ran with a friendly expression, implying that she should also give some face to the government and him, and not let people think that a love letter needs to be delivered so dramatically. "Also, you said why you don't need to thank me?"

  "Is that so? I hitched a ride, no need to thank you!" Li Xiao Ran turned around and looked at Zhang Yu Shu very seriously: "The license plate on this car is the government's, which proves it's an official vehicle, purchased with people's tax money for government personnel to go out on business. Since you're using it to attend a wedding to gain face for yourself, why can't I just take advantage of the comfortable and luxurious official vehicle?"

  I've seen many silver-tongued people, but Zhang Yu swore he'd never seen anyone who could speak so eloquently and yet still manage to deceive others after using fallacious arguments. Li Xiao Ran's performance had completely convinced Zhang Yu, and he reckoned that this little girl could only be lectured by her elder brother, who was full of political jargon.

  "So, it seems I was the one who first violated the regulations for the use of official vehicles," Zhang Yu said. "But you, as a people's teacher, are also paid with the people's taxes. How can you take time off work to attend a wedding banquet during working hours? Was the food at today's wedding banquet really that enticing?"

  "I..."

  Li Xiao Ran couldn't find the words to refute, but those big eyes were staring at Zhang Yu's heart, making him feel hairy. His snow-white face was flushed red, and his chest was heaving with anger. Of course, he couldn't look anymore. He raised his head again, and said calmly: "Alright, after all, we're just empty shells, let's just consider it a way to unwind after work!"

  "You certainly said it well, you've looked down on everyone. However, I have seen your true face clearly. Who would have thought that the great People's Liberation Army commander in the hearts of many beautiful girls is actually such a despicable scoundrel."

  After finishing, Li Xiao Ran turned around in anger and put her bag between the two of them, as if to draw a boundary. Unbeknownst to her, Zhang Yu really needed such a boundary. The two leaned against the back of their chairs, looking at the scenery outside the window without saying a word. As the car sped by quickly, they gradually felt visual fatigue and fell asleep.

  In the afternoon, there were cars coming and going on the highway, but overall, the traffic volume was not very large, and the speed was just a bit fast. The journey of over 200 kilometers from Fangchenggang to Nanning quickly dwindled to zero in four hours. However, after arriving in Nanning, neither the driver nor Yu Ran knew where to go next. The two people sitting in the car didn't react for a long time until Yu Ran hurriedly called out to Wang Shifu after opening the window.

  "Are you looking at Commander and Teacher Li Xiaorong, after all, whether they have that fate or not?"

  Yu Ran looked at the two people in the back seat, Zhang Yu was sitting upright, while the woman's upper body was almost pressed against his thigh, a natural and comfortable human pillow, sleeping soundly. Zhang Yu's left hand was placed on the back of the chair, but his right hand was not very honest, directly placed on the girl's abdomen...

  "Do we need to wake them up?"

  "What the hell do you know?! How can you only drive and not use your brain?! This is the most silent time of Spring Dream, I'll go get the materials, you stay here and guard. The commander hasn't slept so soundly in a long time, don't let them wake him up." After finishing speaking, Yu Ran closed the window and smiled eerily as he quietly opened the front car door, slowly got out and then slowly closed the door, before running away quietly, afraid of startling the people inside.

  From the moment when the sun was low in the sky, to the moment when it was about to set below the horizon, when the streetlights lit up and illuminated the astonished streets, Zhang Yu inside the car finally woke up first, but seeing the woman in his arms, he was so surprised that his mouth could hold an egg.

  "Hey! Hey! Female comrade, female strong person, female..." Zhang Yu called out several times but couldn't wake up the woman. He was also afraid of being too loud and letting the people in front hear that he and a woman were sleeping together, which would be terrible. So he could only shake the woman gently while softly calling out: "Li Da Mei, it's time to get up..."

  The continuous dizziness finally woke up Li Xiao Ran, but although she was awake, her facial expression was probably stiffened like being petrified. Her big eyes stared at Zhang Yu without blinking, as if asking him what he had done to her. After a period of extremely awkward time passed, she finally spoke up. "I knew you weren't a good person, taking advantage of me. I'll make you regret it."

  "My goodness, take a look at who's taking advantage of whom. You're not used to sleeping on your dad or grandfather's lap and treating me like family, are you?!" Zhang Yu hinted that she should notice who was lying in whose arms, and his numb legs were silently complaining at this time. In order to get the woman to leave his numb legs as soon as possible, he could only add fuel to the fire and say: "Although our government officials are all parental officials who love the people like their children, you're being too overly familiar! What am I supposed to do after you leave?"

  "I've seen shameless people before, but I've never seen anyone as shameless as you. Obviously, I'm the one who's been taken advantage of, yet you're acting all high and mighty." As she spoke, the Queen of Variable Face was about to make a scene, although she didn't burst into tears like a little girl would. However, her big, watery eyes did well up with tears immediately, threatening to overflow like the Yellow River.

  "I'm really afraid of you!" Zhang Yu said, directly reaching out to help her up and sit properly, and said with a straight face: "The people in front will not say anything, today's matter I will keep it as a top military secret, absolutely no one will know that we actually did such an unseemly thing..."

  "You still dare to say that!" Lei Xiao Ran cried, pointing her nose at Zhang Yu and said angrily: "Just now you said you were my father or grandfather, I've been an orphan for a long time. How dare you say something like that... You're really a big bad egg! Driver, I want to get off the car, I never want to see you again in my life."

  Lí Xiǎo Rǎng's last few words were almost shouted out, which startled Yu Rán and the driver who had already returned to the front. They quickly opened the partition window and asked, "Commander, what happened?"

  "Nothing happened, just drive your cars!" Only then did he feel that the car had already stopped. He grabbed a pack of tissues and handed one to Li Hua, who was crying uncontrollably with tears streaming down her face, but his eyes were fixed intently on Yu Ran and the others as he said, "You'd better treat this matter as top secret!"

  Zhang Yu's words immediately made Yu Ran slam the window shut, looking as if nothing had happened. "Alright, my little lady, we haven't arrived in Nanning City yet. If you want to get off, it's not the right time. Where do you want to go? I'll have the driver take you there. I was wrong, please forgive me."

  As he spoke, Zhang Yu handed one tissue after another to Li Xiao Ran, whose tears were now flowing uncontrollably, making her look like a crying goddess.

  "Your family really has no one left? How old are you? Where do you live, which school do you work at, we can send you back." After half a day, the god finally stopped crying, it seemed that there were no more tears left. At this time, Zhang Yu also had a chance to ask questions, and if he didn't handle it well, he could only rest in Nanning for one night and go to Kunming tomorrow.

  "I'm from Qinzhou, Guizhou. What's my age got to do with sending me back? " Li Xiao Ran gave Zhang Yu a big white eye, but seeing Zhang Yu's innocent look, she suddenly stopped talking and forced out a smile: "I teach Chinese at the Second Primary School. The ones who died in the car accident and those who got married today are all my good friends. We used to study together at Gongda University, of course you've met them before..."

  "So you mean...you now live in school all the time and don't have any immediate family members left?"

  Zhang Yu asked cautiously, for him, including his elder brother Zhang Yusheng who went to the United States, can be said to be a true orphan since he was born. He gradually became worried about Li Xiaorong's situation and also understood why this girl sometimes had a strong personality and sometimes was weak and changeable. At this time, it was more of a feeling of sympathy for each other.

  "The person you saved was my last relative, and since then I've become an orphan. I heard that you and your brother are also orphans?" Li Xiao Ran wiped away the tears from the corner of her eyes, asking Zhang Yu very seriously.

  "My elder brother Zhang Yusheng and I are not biological brothers, but we are both pitiful orphans who have fallen on hard times in a foreign land. We became sworn brothers by chance, he is one year older than me, so I call him elder brother..."

  "Then you all must have attended some university before, otherwise how could you be so fierce..."

  "What's so great about me?"

  "I don't know either, it's just that I feel like you..."

  "I feel like I'm nothing..."

  ……

  The moon quietly climbs up the branches, and tonight's night sky is no longer just a twinkling starry sky, but also a faint moonlight, and the quiet earth under the moonlight. The pure white moonlight is like covering the entire night sky with a thin layer of gauze, and the city under the stars becomes increasingly lively as the night deepens. The cars that have been parked for a long time finally start their engines, slowly starting to rush to the next destination. Perhaps from now on, there will no longer be only one ambitious but lack of suitable relaxation heart in the back seat of the car, an old lonely man, someone may be willing to travel with you...

  PS: This chapter is not well-written, don't blame Xiao Zi, emotional things have reached my limit, I've done my best, if the depiction of romantic love is not good, please forgive me!