Thinking this way, his heart softened. He held Shen Lingshuang gently and patted her, then felt a bit conflicted inside.
Originally, when he knew that Shen Lingshuang was downstairs mourning for him and burning joss paper, he thought she was just messing around or cursing him.
After all, it’s quite normal for a young lady to suddenly become petulant.
But unexpectedly, Shen Lingshuang was genuinely worried about him...
Silly girl. We’ve known each other for only a few days, and yet she is so upset over me.
"Whistle--" And as Qiu Tu was thinking this, a whistling sound suddenly came from upstairs.
Qiu Tu looked up.
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He saw Ah-Tai, Eagle, and Ah-Kun, a few guys, laughing and looking down from the window of the upstairs corridor, clearly enjoying the spectacle.
Qiu Tu pointed at them with a helpless expression on his face, feeling like he had really encountered a bunch of bad friends.
Perhaps because she had tired herself out from crying, Shen Lingshuang cried for a while then fell asleep in Qiu Tu’s arms like a koala.
The girl was only fifteen or sixteen years old, slender, and Qiu Tu, being a Cataclysmic, had undergone a significant boost in strength, so he barely felt her weight.
Thus, Qiu Tu didn’t disturb her and simply kicked the brazier and the black and white photo aside, then carried the girl upstairs.
Reaching the upstairs, several brothers were waiting, looking at the two with teasing faces and mischievous smiles.
Qiu Tu glared at them, carried Shen Lingshuang back to his room and gently placed her on his bed.
Eagle was quite reliable. The door that Qiu Tu had broken was now replaced with a new one, and it was an iron door at that.
After closing the iron door and coming to the corridor, Eagle and the others leaned against the window.
Seeing Qiu Tu coming out, Eagle passed him a cigarette and softly said, "She’s a good girl."
"This afternoon, she mourned for you as a wife, with sackcloth and burning paper."
Qiu Tu held the cigarette in his mouth, paused for a moment while striking a match, then struck it again.
"Chk~"
The flame ignited, and Qiu Tu lit the cigarette in his mouth, then said indifferently, "Don’t think too much. She feels that if something happened to me, it would be her fault, and she should take responsibility."
"Plus she has emotional trauma, that’s why she’s so sensitive about this matter."
Hearing their conversation, Ah-Tai, the big fellow, popped his head from behind and interjected, "What kind of reason is that? Brother Tu, I’d bet my nonexistent father’s life, that girl likes you a hundred percent."
Qiu Tu said nothing, just quietly continued smoking.
Eagle looked up at Qiu Tu and smiled.
If even Ah-Tai of simple mind could see it, it was obvious Qiu Tu could too; he was just being stubborn.
However, Qiu Tu was after all the eldest among them, and if he didn’t want to express his stance, it meant he had his own reasons, so Eagle tactfully changed the subject, "Brother Ted, how’s it going for you in the Special Service Department these past two days?"
Hearing Eagle’s question, Ah-Tai immediately got excited. He waved his thick arms around and boasted, "Do I even need to mention it? Where am I not number one?"
"Eagle, let me tell you, none of those agents in the training team can match me!"
"I reckon, in a few days I’ll get promoted. Then I can do more for Brother Tu."
Qiu Tu looked at Ah-Tai, feeling that it sounded a bit far-fetched.
He exchanged looks with Eagle and Ah-Kun, finding the same answer.
But knowing Ah-Tai’s personality, none of them confronted him about it.
After all, Ah-Tai was someone who loved face.
They remembered a time when Ah-Tai, while drinking, bragged that he caught a chicken with his bare hands in an alley.
Eagle, also drunk at the time, questioned his boast—Xinjie City was so poor that even a bird that fell could be eaten; how could there be living chickens.
As a result... for the next few days, every time Ah-Tai saw Eagle, he insisted on taking him to that alley.
How things ended up, Qiu Tu didn’t enquire, only knowing that the two seemed to be a bit off during that time.
So, after listening to Ah-Tai’s words, everyone hurriedly agreed, "Ah yes, yes. My Brother Ted is the best in the world."
"Yeah, there’s no way Brother Ted’s opponents could be those small fries from the Special Service Department."
"Ah-Tai is really good indeed."
Seeing the three of them praising him, Ah-Tai immediately broke into a grin.
After updating each other on Ah-Tai’s recent situation, Qiu Tu turned to look at Eagle and Ah-Kun and asked, "Don’t just talk about Ah-Tai. Eagle, Ah-Kun, how are you guys doing?"
"Have you passed the selection from the Political Department?"
Upon hearing this, Eagle nodded his head, and Ah-Kun also spoke up, "Brother Tu, don’t worry. Both Brother Ying and I passed the written and the interviews."
"The Political Department has already notified us to report there tomorrow."
"But it’s unclear which department we will be assigned to."
Qiu Tu took his last puff of the cigarette, slightly nodded his head, then bent down to extinguish the butt and said, "I will be meeting with someone from the Security Department tonight."
"They’ve promised that they can arrange for me to place two people in the military."
"When there’s time tomorrow, let’s gather the brothers and see who’s suitable."
Hearing Qiu Tu’s words, the three of them were slightly surprised.
The youths who grew up together in troubled times knew from a young age that in this dog-eat-dog era, an individual’s strength was too small, and only by sticking together could they survive.
This principle, even now as they were grown up, flowed in their every vein.
So, the stronger their small group was, the safer they were. In this era, it meant they could live better.
"Let’s create a great undertaking together!" Qiu Tu flicked the extinguished cigarette butt away and was the first to extend his hand.
Ah-Tai, Eagle, and Ah-Kun also stacked their hands on top, "To create a great undertaking!"
The dying sunlight bathed the four men, golden and radiant, as if foreshadowing the golden age they were about to create together...
[Eagle Loyalty +1, Current Loyalty: 91]
[Ah-Tai Loyalty +1, Current Loyalty: 96]
[Ah-Kun Loyalty +2, Current Loyalty: 87]
.....
Having stayed up late and endured a night of fear, Shen Lingshuang was indeed tired, so she slept until past 9 o’clock before she groggily got up.
The first thing she did upon getting out of bed was to look for Qiu Tu.
By now, Qiu Tu had already sent Ah-Tai, Eagle, and Ah-Kun away. He had exchanged back the guns and the Communicator, completely eliminating last night’s risks.
So, he was sitting by the bed, silently pondering the next step in his plan.
Hearing Shen Lingshuang stirring, Qiu Tu came back to reality, turned his head to glance at her, and softly asked, "Awake? Are you hungry?"
Seeing Qiu Tu at her side obviously reassured Shen Lingshuang. She fell back onto the bed in her usual lady-like manner, then pouted and said coyly, "I’m not hungry."
Qiu Tu laughed at her antics and didn’t take offense with the young girl. He went to the living room to bring back some food they had ordered.
The dishes were, of course, cold, but in these chaotic times, no one cared much about such things.
Shen Lingshuang was stubborn, but she wasn’t foolish.
Seeing Qiu Tu bring the food, she immediately said, giggling, "This is you begging me to eat."
Then she sat up from the bed and began to devour her meal with her chopsticks.
Seeing her cute ways, Qiu Tu smiled and sat quietly by, watching her eat.
The young girl must have suffered quite a bit recently, so she gobbled down her food, her cheeks puffing out like a hamster’s.
Qiu Tu went to get her a cup of water in the middle of the meal and coaxed her to eat more slowly.
It wasn’t until she was almost full and slowed down that Qiu Tu spoke softly,
"Ling Shuang, when I initially sought you out to create the ’Cataclysmic Potion,’ we made a verbal agreement."