"That's what you say, but it only took you one day to find me," Peng Mingzhu responded to him with crossed arms.
Wei Kangnuan almost had on a crying face, "Ah Nai, must you be so mean? And force me to find you as you leave with no notice? Not even telling me where you have run to?"
"I've told Xiao Zu. I think that's more than enough notice, no?" Peng Mingzhu shrugged as she walked closer to him to pat him on the shoulder. "Besides, I indeed want to keep myself hidden from the imperial family, but definitely not you. Otherwise, how am I supposed to do something without your power?"
"Ah Nai, you need my help?" Wei Kangnuan immediately perked up from his sadness, almost similar to a pouting dog that has just received some treats.
Peng Mingzhu could even almost see his ears and tail swinging excitedly back and forth.
"I've finished speaking to the man," Peng Mingzhu told Wei Kangnuan. "We've made a promise with each other. I will protect him and in return, he will also protect me. Of course, with the addition that he would also help us out with the case."
"He is willing?" Wei Kangnuan asked with a surprised expression on his face.
"Well, it took a while, but I got it done," Peng Mingzhu muttered. "Also, I've made him my subordinate. So, even if I don't want to protect him, I must protect him now that he's related to me."
"You are his master. Whatever you do is right and whatever you deem wrong is wrong," Wei Kangnuan said without a care that his words sounded a bit cold.
"I'm not such an inhumane person," Peng Mingzhu stated with cold eyes, not at Wei Kangnuan but at the skies above her. "I've read a few books that the girls here are quite cruel though."
"That is why, even if you treated him horribly, nobody would speak against you," Wei Kangnuan honestly spoke with a shrug. "Though, I am sure that you will not even if I encouraged you to do so."
"Would you do it to your own men?" Peng Mingzhu asked with a raise of her brow from interest.
"Of course not," Wei Kangnuan immediately answered with a happy voice. "They are hardworking and honest. If they are punished, it is only that they are deserving of it. Otherwise, I believe that they should all be rewarded for their service."
"Mm," Peng Mingzhu nodded in agreement. "That is the same with me. For all the men and women that serve me, I do not like to punish them unless it is a last resort."
"Not even a whipping?" Wei Kangnuan questioned curiously since the military was quite prone to whippings for the smallest things.
"Our country no longer does such things as whippings since it goes against human rights," Peng Mingzhu told him. "In the military, the worst punishment you can get is dishonorable discharge and going into jail. However, rarely does anyone from the military go to jail while still in service. Majority of them are either in house arrest or discharged from the military."
"You are still able to control your people without harsh punishments?" Wei Kangnuan asked with a raise of his brow since whipping in the military was common throughout the entire continent.
"It is called respect and camaraderie," Peng Mingzhu told Wei Kangnuan as she started walking to the fresh produce market.
"Where are you going?" Wei Kangnuan asked as he followed next to her.
"To the fresh produce market to read the city board," Peng Mingzhu answered, still walking at the same pace as previous.
"Oh," Wei Kangnuan muttered, showing no interest aside from just looking at her beauty. "The people in your military must be super close to each other?"
"Yes," Peng Mingzhu answered with a bright smile as she remembered all the people that have fought next to her and has helped her when she was still serving in the military. "Though men and women are separated most of the time, if you are with a high enough rank and useful to the dangerous missions that each side must accomplish, you are generally put in mixed groups."
"So, did you go to them or did they go to you?" Wei Kangnuan asked, once again really interested in what their military was like.
"Generally, it is the women who have to do the dangerous missions with men," Peng Mingzhu said. "Most of the time, if the women are not working with the policemen, they are the working central force. They almost never leave the mainland to fight. And only a few do leave to either work as a spy or to go on undercover missions."
"What about you? What did you do?" Wei Kangnuan questioned as he crossed his arms, still following her.
"I was an all-rounder," Peng Mingzhu told Wei Kangnuan while at the same time reminiscing the past. "If the military needed a skilled female to be an undercover spy, they would use me if I did not already have another mission or they would give me that mission if my current mission was not as important and crucial to the country. Or if they needed a great sniper, they would also go to me."
"Sniper?" Wei Kangnuan repeated with confusion. "What is that?"
"It's a gunner," Peng Mingzhu replied before thinking that her answer was not enough to let him know what she did. "A sniper is someone who shoots something similar to a bow, but with an item that allows them to see up to eight times or even ten times closer to the enemy. However, snipers have a rough life as many of them only get one chance to shoot their enemy or they would be exposed and shot back immediately. Even the training to become one is hard."
"What was the training like?" Wei Kangnuan asked, he wanted to know what she went through in order to become someone important in the military.
"Very harsh," Peng Mingzhu put in two words with a bitter smile. "Sigh… Aside from the tough physical training, you also needed to learn how to survive in the wild. Many of us who were in training were taught how to eat reptiles, amphibians, and many other creatures that the general public would never eat, even the poisonous. However, the most important lesson was to learn how to stay in position for hours on end, days on end, even with torturous weather and even enduring animal bites without making a sound."
"So harsh and you still trained to become one?" Wei Kangnuan raised a brow, wanting to know why she would torture herself.
"There were not that many women who were snipers. Wait… I shouldn't say that. Rather, there was no woman at all that was a sniper," Peng Mingzhu told him while she looked up at the blue sky. "In our military, I was the only woman who was a sniper, who was a fighter, and who was someone who could handle bombs. My knowledge was far greater than any other women in the military."
"I would definitely agree, but still… Why did you want to become a sniper when the training was so hard?" Wei Kangnuan continued to ask. "I know that your reason is definitely not to spread feminine power."
"Because I wanted to die," Peng Mingzhu answered whilst knowing how much her answer could shock Wei Kangnuan. "At that point in my life, depression and anger was running rampant in me. I was very bitter at the world and hated life. 'Why must I live when everyone else could die? Why did everyone have a family but I did not? Why…' I'd ask myself everyday. Everyday, I was wallowing in self-pity."
However, Peng Mingzhu then turned to face Wei Kangnuan and spoke with a bitter smile on her face, "But you know? Even though I tried so many methods to kill myself, my body proved to be stronger than my mentality. Whether from poisoning, cutting and stabbing myself, shooting myself, throwing myself in some of the most dangerous places of the world… I did so many things, but nothing worked. Even the scars disappeared soon after they were left."
Wei Kangnuan did not like to see such a sad smile from her, so he hugged her.
Tightly, he hugged her in the middle of the street where everyone could recognize him.
Naturally, Peng Mingzhu was shocked and surprised, especially so when there were people staring and whispering to each other. However, she soon got over the shock and a single stream of tears came down her right eye.
Despite the fact that he could not see her face at the moment, he could still tell that she was crying.
So, with a calming and spoiling voice, he said, "Don't cry. From now on, I will be beside you for life. For all the pain that you have, I will bear it with you. For all the happiness that you have, I will live with you. So, don't cry. Because if you cry, I will hurt just as much as you."