Chapter 840: Stuck to the Past
As noon turned into evening, Xiaoyun was sitting on the sofa. His eyes were staring towards the TV with the kids’ laughter in the background.
"You feeling better?" Tianci asked as she slowly handed him a cup of water before sitting down.
"Yeah."
After a small sip, Xiaoyun puts the cup back down as he turns around fully to stare at her right in the eyes.
"What are you looking at me like this?" Tianci impatiently asked.
"Tianci, am I really ever going to get my ability back?"
"Um..."
Seeing the confusion on her face, Xiaoyun turned back around to face the TV. A frown was on his face as he looked lost.
"I don’t know if you’re getting your ability back." Tianci quietly murmured, unable to give a definitive answer.
"That’s going to be one hell of a nightmare."
Just as Tianci was about to speak up to him again, the sound of a key being put into the front door could be heard.
"Leyan, can you come and open the door? I forgot to bring the key!" The familiar voice yelled from outside the porch.
"I got it."
Tianci quickly ran over to the door, only to reveal a woman standing behind it in a military officer uniform and a gun holster strapped to her waist.
"Wuli?"
"Hey Tianci. Where’s Leyan?"
"In the kitchen playing with the kids... When did you come back to town?" Tianci curiously asked as Wuli put her holster in a cabinet.
"This morning. I had a meeting with Yiming earlier... Who’s that boy sitting on the sofa?" Wuli questioned once inside the living room.
"Um, hey?"
"Xiaoyun?"
Wuli quickly looked over to Tianci for an answer, only to receive a nod as a response. Her eyes immediately widened in disbelief as she moved closer.
"You serious? There’s no way this is Xiaoyun. Why is he so small like this? You two have to be joking, right?"
"It’s a long story."
Xiaoyun answered as he tried to deepen his tone, only to backfire as it sounded even higher in pitch than before.
"What’s all that noise from the front door—"
"Mommy!"
A baby inside Leyan’s arms immediately tried to reach for Wuli as she came over into the living room with all the kids around her.
"Bingbing!"
"Your daughter has been missing you so much," Leyan murmured as she walked over to let Bingbing crawl over into Wuli’s arms.
"I miss her too."
As Wuli gave Bingbing a warm hug, one of the kids suddenly ran over to tap her on the ankles.
"H-Hello Mommy Wuli!"
"Hey, Yongyi."
"Hello Mommy Wuli!" All of the kids said at the same time as they quickly copied what Yongyi had done first.
"Hello to you all."
"Okay, that’s enough. Sister Wuli has a lot of work to do. Let’s all go back to the kitchen to do today’s daily reading."
With the kids following Leyan back towards the kitchen, Wuli finally let out a small sigh of relief as she got a little nervous having all of them surrounding her.
"Bingbing, have you been behaving while I was gone?" Wuli asked as she took a seat on the sofa.
"Yeah!"
"That’s amazing. Muah!"
"Xiaoyun, what are you looking at?" Tianci quietly asked on the side as the two of them sat on the opposite side from Wuli.
"Nothing."
Just as Xiaoyun turned his attention to the TV, Wuli had noticed both of them looking towards her and Bingbing the whole time.
"Hey Bingbing, do you recognize your dada?"
"Hm?"
Seeing Bingbing looking back at her with a confused face, Wuli immediately realized why her husband acted so weirdly distant.
"Your dada is over here. Xiaoyun, come say hello to our daughter."
"There’s really no need to—"
"Da-da?"
The voice made Xiaoyun turn around, only to see Bingbing staring at his face—a hint of hesitation and confusion towards him.
"Hey Bingbing, do you recognize me?"
"Da-da!"
As Wuli freed Bingbing onto the sofa, she quickly crawled over to the other side, where Xiaoyun and Tianci sat.
Both of the wives let out a sigh of relief in their heads after seeing a warm smile appear on their husbands’ faces.
---
Dinner time soon arrived as more and more of Xiaoyun’s wives came back from school or from work.
To Xiaoyun’s surprise, none of his wives laughed at him. They were more than kind to him as they all asked if he was okay or not.
The only exception was Nami, who giggled for a bit when she saw Xiaoyun now being the same height as her.
But her giggle soon turned into embarrassment when Leyan pointed out she was comparing herself to a middle-school Xiaoyun.
"Do you actually remember nothing about your trip to Houqin’s house?" Kate curiously asked.
"I can’t even remember if I drove there until Tianci told me... Actually, I should have asked you this when we had the time."
Xiaoyun paused for a second as he picked up a pork chop with his chopsticks.
"Tianci, what happened when you found me? What was I doing? And how did you even know I was there?"
The question went unanswered as Tianci immediately turned around to Leyan, who shook her head.
"Um, we can talk about this after we finish eating." Tianci quietly murmured as her face suddenly looked much more nervous than usual.
"Okay, that’s fine."
As Xiaoyun started eating the rice in his bowl, Shuli’s attention was fully focused on the woman wearing pajamas next to her.
"Wuli, how long are you planning to stay in Luoping?"
"Got to stay until Monday evening. Then I’ll need to head back to Shaoguan... Hey Yuqi, I wanted to ask you something."
"What is it?"
"Yiming told me Xiaoyun can’t lead the expedition to the South because of—this... Will he be able to go to the capital at all?"
"Obviously no."
For a second, Xiaoyun wanted to interrupt them and speak up. But after looking down, he kept his mouth shut.
"Have you decided who to replace him?"
"Yiming is going to lead the expedition. And for the person to the capital... I don’t have the person in mind yet."
Yuqi paused for a second, then continued.
"But probably someone with a military background and savvy enough to negotiate some sort of deal to lead in charge of it."
"How about me?" Wuli finally reveals her intention.
"You? Not in a million years."
"What? Why not?"
As Wuli looked back at Yuqi’s rejection in complete disbelief, Xiaoyun let out a small sigh of relief inside his head.
It was the first time he had agreed so much with Yuqi’s decision. The risk and the distance were just way too much for someone so close and dear to him.
"You think a bunch of Northerners would respect a recently promoted female officer? You have nowhere near enough weight to your name for a diplomat talk."
"Hmph!"
Wuli rolled her eyes in annoyance, unable to argue back as she knew what was most likely her response to her question already.
"Why not just send Yiming? Doesn’t he already have the military connection before the outbreak?" Kate curiously asked.
"I already asked him. He said he’s too old for it... And he isn’t wrong if you ever get to see his gout..."
Everyone at the table shivered a little despite Yuqi not finishing her sentence. Still, the question lingered.
"Did he suggest anyone to take Xiaoyun’s place then?" Leyan questioned this time.
"He said either Lingang or Han Bang. But I’m leaning towards Han Bang... He got a college degree, unlike Lingang."
"Han Bang?"
Yueyue’s sudden tone immediately grabbed everyone’s attention. Everyone was intrigued by the suspicion she had put on him.
"What’s wrong with Han Bang?"
Xiaoyun curiously asked as his mind had already selected Han Bang as the only logical replacement.
"Nothing!"
Despite Yueyue’s attempt to cover herself, it was far too late, as everyone’s eyes kept staring at her for an answer.
"Yueyue, just say it. Everyone here won’t leak anything." Xiaoyun reassured.
"Fine... Ahem, just as a disclaimer. This is an ongoing case, okay? I’m not even sure if all the accusations are true or not."
After seeing everyone nodding their head, Yueyue finally spoke up again.
"There had been something off about his girlfriend’s parent. They were getting a mysterious amount of foreign-sent money every few weeks."
"Foreign-sent?" Nami questioned as her eyes immediately widened as if it were her area of expertise.
"Yep. Exactly what you’re thinking of. Money is from outsiders, and all transactions are being done in a village checkbook that’s impossible to trace."
"What does that have to do with Han Bang? That’s her girlfriend’s parent doing something fishy." Anna argued.
"Well, his girlfriend had been spending that money on herself and on her..."
Once again, Yueyue fell into silence. Unable to speak up as if she couldn’t reveal this secret to them.
"Sister Yueyue, you can’t leave us hanging like this," Lily murmured as she looked just as intrigued as everyone else.
"Yeah."
"Come on, just say it."
"Yueyue, I grant you full permission to leak it. Whatever classified information of what sort, you can declassify it," Yuqi added.
