"Only three points?"
Each word precisely enunciated, a voice rich with magnetic allure slipped by her ear.
The atmosphere, previously warm and ambiguous, instantly drew tense as if swords were drawn and crossbows loaded, the air itself pregnant with crisis.
With a subtle shift of her brows, Mo Shangjun cleverly said, "A three-point system."
No sooner had the words fallen than the oppressive sensation of being stalked by a wild beast vanished without a trace.
Mo Shangjun looked at him with amusement, her gaze meeting his relaxed and satisfied one. Something crossed her mind, and her eyes drifted to his lips.
Perfectly shaped, they were thin and undeniably sexy.
An ambiguous image flashed through her mind, and the blush on her face, already pink, deepened a shade.
"Let's go."
Gathering her trench coat around her, Mo Shangjun turned away from his gaze, her voice steady and calm.
As her silhouette entered his view, Ya Tianxing's eyes narrowed, a shadow of a smile played upon his lips, his hand casually slid into his pocket, and then he lifted his long legs and walked past Mo Shangjun.
The man walked ahead in a blink. Mo Shangjun paused slightly, then pulled the collar of her coat up to cover most of her face before she quickened her pace to follow.
Ya Tianxing didn't settle the bill, but as they walked out, no one stopped them.
Noticing this strange phenomenon, Mo Shangjun felt a twinge of doubt but suppressed it.
Mu Cheng was waiting outside for them.
Upon seeing them, he got out of the car to open the door for them.
As Mo Shangjun bent down to get into the car, she clearly noticed Mu Cheng staring at her lips with a meaningful glance.
Raising an eyebrow, Mo Shangjun swiftly got in and took the initiative to close the door herself.
Mu Cheng, left standing outside, touched his nose innocently, then realizing that his suspicion was confirmed, stood dumbfounded for three seconds.
He had never imagined that the captain, single for so many years, would be so adept at flirting. The scene was so shocking, he... wanted to see it with his own eyes.
"Come here."
Having just closed her eyes upon settling in the car, Mo Shangjun heard a firm and steady command from beside her.
"I'm sleeping," Mo Shangjun replied lazily, lifting her eyelids.
Having nothing else to do and feeling sleepy after the meal, Mo Shangjun planned to sleep all the way.
"That's why I'm telling you to come here," Ya Tianxing said in an even tone, unrippled by emotion.
Mo Shangjun looked up and understood.
Narrowing her eyes, Mo Shangjun made no fuss and shifted closer to his side, promptly falling asleep on his shoulder.
Ya Tianxing said nothing.
Mu Cheng, who secretly witnessed this scene, was shocked and nearly drove the car into a ditch.
...
The journey back to the base took longer than expected, and it was five in the afternoon by the time Mo Shangjun arrived.
Mu Cheng specifically parked the jeep under their dorm building.
Before getting out of the car, Mo Shangjun took off her trench coat, put on her training jacket, and adjusted her camouflage cap.
"I'll come to find you on Saturday," Ya Tianxing reminded her.
"Okay."
Straightforwardly, without any goodbyes, Mo Shangjun opened the door and got out of the car.
The jeep didn't immediately leave. Ya Tianxing frowned, watching her retreating figure.
She walked with her hands in her pockets, composed and at ease as she approached the dorm building, her confident stance leaving no room for suspicion about any marks on her lips.
Only after her figure had disappeared into the dorm building did Ya Tianxing retract his gaze, the smile on his lips deepening gradually.
*
After returning to the dorm, Mo Shangjun immediately took out her phone and saved the missed calls into her contact list.
Then, looking in the mirror and seeing the mark was not too noticeable, she boldly left her room.
In mid-December, darkness fell quickly, and by the dinner hour, the day had turned to night.
Mo Shangjun timed her entrance to the cafeteria with the peak mealtime, happening upon two platoons from Second Company.
"Deputy Platoon Leader Mo!"
Marching in stride toward the entrance of the cafeteria, the platoons came to a halt upon seeing her, saluting in unison with a clear shout.
Mo Shangjun took in the group with a sweeping glance, then her brows knit as she turned to the platoon leaders of the first and third platoons, "What about Second Platoon?"
Zhang Zheng glanced at Lai Liang.
Feeling the gaze, Lai Liang hesitated before straightening up and loudly responding, "Report, the second squad is doing extra training!"
"Extra training?" Mo Shangjun furrowed her brows and asked.
"Report, yes!" Lai Liang enunciated each word.
"Reason."
"Report, I don't know!" Lai Liang answered stiffly.
He still harbored a certain hostility towards Mo Shangjun; being overly rigid under the guise of following rules was his form of rebellion against her.
Unconcerned about his attitude, Mo Shangjun pondered with knitted brows before instructing, "First, go have your meal."
"Yes!"
Lai Liang shouted.
Immediately, he rapidly issued the command, letting the people from both squads enter the mess hall.
As for Mo Shangjun, she didn't take any special action as they had expected. Instead, she entered the mess hall alongside them and queued up to get food.
Nobody dared to share a table with Mo Shangjun, even those who ate near her would deliberately lower their voices. Mo Shangjun took advantage of the quiet to earnestly finish her meal.
She ate quickly, and while the people at the surrounding tables were still halfway through their meal discussing her, they glanced her way subconsciously, only to find that she had already disappeared.
After leaving the mess hall, Mo Shangjun did not head directly back to her dorm but decided to go to the training field.
Unexpectedly, she encountered Lang Yan, who was coming out of the office building.
"Took the afternoon off?"
Upon seeing her, Lang Yan walked over.
"Hmm," Mo Shangjun replied indifferently.
"You're quite popular," Lang Yan smiled meaningfully, "these brats have been pestering me all afternoon, asking where you went."
Mo Shangjun touched her nose.
If hate points were an indicator of popularity, then her popularity was indeed quite high.
"By the way, the instructor asked me to pass a message to you," Lang Yan said, "chat with the new recruits in the next few days, ask about their adaptation, and incidentally pay attention to their emotions."
The army is also about humanization. Although these new recruits are quite strong, they've only just enlisted and are prone to emotional issues.
Doing ideological work was necessary.
"Me?" Mo Shangjun was unavoidably surprised.
The bunch currently hated her to the bone, and the instructor wanted her to chat and counsel the new recruits?
"Comrade Mo Shangjun," Lang Yan patted her shoulder and said decisively, "you're the deputy company commander; this is your responsibility."
Knowing she couldn't refuse, Mo Shangjun could only shrug her shoulders, "Duty calls."
Lang Yan lifted his foot to leave, but after taking a step, he pointed at Mo Shangjun and said, "If the talk collapses..."
"Hmm?" Mo Shangjun voiced her confusion.
"The instructor will probably have to do some ideological work on you," Lang Yan looked at her sympathetically.
"Understood," Mo Shangjun replied resignedly.
Lang Yan shook his head, sighed deeply for her, and then left with a bit of schadenfreude.
Helplessly, Mo Shangjun adjusted the brim of her cap and turned around, continuing her walk towards the training field.
It was just ideological work. She could just follow the old routine.
Thinking this way, Mo Shangjun sorted out the steps in her mind and arrived at the training field without issue.
Just as Lai Liang had said, the second squad was still training. Led by Lin Qi, the second squad was following him in a uniform pace, running on the track.
As three columns ran past in front of her, Mo Shangjun, with the help of the streetlights that had lit up along the roadside, saw each of their exhausted faces and frowned slightly.
Mo Shangjun took out a whistle and brought it to her lips.
"Tweet—"
The sudden sound of the whistle, in the deserted parade ground, was extremely piercing.
However, upon hearing it, the second squad stopped at once.
A few, nearly on the verge of collapsing, almost fell to the ground upon stopping but were awkwardly helped up by others.
"Assemble!"
With a cold sweep of her eyes toward that direction, Mo Shangjun crisply delivered the command.