The fifth son of the Huo family, Edmond Huo, was infamous for having the worst temper in the family. He had always been unruly and disobedient from childhood to adulthood. Matthew even tried unpopular methods of disciplining him by giving him a good old thrashing, but unfortunately, it didn't work.
When Wesley and Gifford were in their mid-twenties, they had been promoted several ranks in a row in the military.
However, the story of a 24-year-old Edmond, was very different because he was still just a junior official—only one level higher than the rookies. He never made any attempt to make progress but instead, caused trouble all day long. It was as if his mind was wandering elsewhere.
The reason for his depression stemmed out of a big fight he had with Erma when he was twenty years old. It all started when Matthew told him the truth. "Erma was born three minutes earlier which makes you the youngest member of the family. But we wanted your sister to have five older brothers so your grandfather and I decided to tell everyone that you were older than Erma."
Edmond was shocked by the news.
In fact, he didn't speak for three days after that.
The poor young man could do nothing but bottle up his anger, after all, he couldn't turn back the hands of time.
All of a sudden, Erma started bossing him around. She was so proud of the fact that she was older than him that she kept pestering Edmond to show her more respect.
Fortunately, Edmond's anger didn't last long. After all, he loved his sister from the bottom of his heart. It really didn't matter whether he was the older or the younger between them. He was happy to have her as his sister anyway.
One day during the training, the superior announced in public that a high ranking official would be paying them a visit in two days, and this person was a woman.
This caused a heated discussion in his platoon, but Edmond brushed it off disdainfully as he couldn't care less about some woman just because she was a superior officer. In his head, he could beat ten women with one hand.
Unfortunately, the woman he thought he could beat with one hand was the very same woman who ended up embarrassing him in front of his associates for the first time in his life.
The woman was in her early twenties, but she was already several ranks higher than he was. She was dressed sharply in a neat uniform, with short hair, and she had an imposing aura.
During the break, Edmond leaned against the horizontal bar with a blade of grass in his mouth and listened to others talking about the female instructor. He sneered, "She's just like a hard ass. She didn't even smile for one moment."
His voice was neither loud nor low, and everyone within a few meters could hear it.
"Edmond Huo!" The voice of an infuriated woman exploded in his ears.
Startled by the voice, Edmond's heart throbbed violently. He rubbed his ears nervously and turned around slowly. "Yes!"
The woman's glare could burn a hole through his skull. "You sound unconvinced?" She had heard about the notorious member of the team who was well-known for giving the other instructors a headache. On top of that, most of his antics would go unpunished. After seeing him in person today, the woman realized that the rumors were all true.
Even if everyone else didn't dare to punish him, she did!
"It took you that long enough to figure that out? Why don't you just go back and let Mr. Luo do the teaching. We can continue to follow him!" 'A group of men trained by a woman? How ridiculous!' Edmond sneered.
"Why don't we settle this with a little contest? If you can beat me in the five-kilometer swimming race, I will ask Mr. Luo to come back immediately. Are you up for it?"
The female instructor's words caused an uproar in the place. 'Five kilometers? That's awesome!'
The furthest distance Edmond swam in record was four kilometers. However, the thought of one extra kilometer didn't seem like such a big deal to him and he sprang up to his feet.
"It's a deal!" As long as they wouldn't have to be trained by a woman anymore, he was willing to face the challenge.
"All right then!"
The swimming competition was set for two o'clock on that very same day.
The swimming pool in the training ground wasn't big enough, so they went to the river outside the military base. The river just outside the suburbs was several kilometers long and was in perfect condition for swimming.
Standing by the river, the female instructor took off her coat, revealing a green military vest underneath. She smirked at Edmond and said, "The one to reach that bridge first, wins."
"Okay!" Edmond looked away, took off his coat and jumped into the river to assume position.
When the race started, it went quite smoothly for Edmond. He managed to keep a reasonable lead in the first two kilometers, but after that he began to fall behind, despite his efforts.
The woman began to pick up the speed and swam forward without taking a rest.
Edmond emerged from the water, panting helplessly. He looked at the woman swimming in front of him and murmured, "Humph, she must be a boring woman. If anyone marries such a woman in the future…" The mere thought of it gave him goose bumps. Luckily, he would not have to marry this kind of woman because he preferred gentle girls.
Thinking of this, he plunged into the water and swam forward with all his strength.
When he reached four-kilometer mark, he knew that he wouldn't be able to catch up with her. However, for the sake of bringing Mr. Luo back, he rolled his eyes and decided to play tricks. "Help! Help…" he screamed.
The moment she heard his voice, Olivia Gu, the female instructor, turned around and swam to his rescue without hesitation.
"Edmond Huo, are you okay?"
When she got closer to him, Edmond suddenly pulled her under water. The two people tussled and tangled under water in each other's arms and finally… their lips pressed together without their will or knowledge.
Neither of them expected this to happen. In fact, Edmond just wanted to buy time. When their eyes met, he felt the softness of her lips and Edmond felt a tingling feeling in his heart.
Suddenly, he pulled Olivia Gu into his arms and gave her a deeper kiss.
This was the first time someone had dared to do this to her. When she came to her senses, Olivia Gu was so angry she wanted to grab his neck and drown him. However, Edmond reacted quickly as he let go of her and swam ahead before she could catch him.
Unfortunately for Edmond, Olivia Gu wasn't the type to be pushed around, that too by a bad boy. She immediately swam after him, vowing to smash his head in for stealing her first kiss without her consent.
When they were about to reach the finish line, Edmond suddenly disappeared.
She looked for him in the water, but he was nowhere to be found.
Suddenly, a vague trace appeared on the calm water surface and Olivia Gu reached out without hesitation to grab Edmond's collar from the back.
Edmond flashed her a cheeky smile and said, "Miss Gu, go ahead. Don't you have a race to win?"
'The race? You and your race can go to hell!' Enduring the urge to hurl curses at him, Olivia Gu decided to punch him in the face instead.
Unfortunately, Edmond slipped out of her hands yet again, and dived into the water to swim ashore.
Since her competitor was already running away from the race, why would she bother about continuing? As such, she followed him ashore.
Before long, Olivia Gu caught up with him again. The two fought for a few rounds, and eventually she had him pinned down on a haystack in the riverbank.
"You brat! How dare you do that to me! I'll beat you to death today!" Olivia Gu didn't care whose son Edmond was. She wanted to get her revenge, first and foremost!
Edmond cleverly turned over with her in his arms and before she could react, he pressed her under his body and said, "Madam, please calm down. That kiss was only meant to serve as a distraction!" 'Are you kidding me? Why would I kiss such a hard ass?' he thought contemptuously.
"How dare you!" Olivia Gu hardly ever blushed the same way she did now. Embarrassed, she turned him over with all her might and pressed him down again.
This way, she could still keep punching Edmond.
The man was absolutely furious. Why was she hitting him so hard? All he did was kiss her twice. Despite his greatest efforts to best the woman, he failed as she was far more skilled than he was. In the end, he had no choice but to be taught a hard lesson.
When he came back to the military base with his face red and swollen, the look of embarrassment on his face made everyone roar with laughter.
