Yun Xi had a hard time remembering how she’d managed to drag her legs, which had felt almost paralyzed, back to the hotel, but she eventually made it back in one piece. Seeing Yun Xi slump down against the cushions of the sofa the moment she returned, seemingly unable to get up, Mu Feichi felt heartbroken. As he noticed that her legs were still shivering from the cold, it broke his heart into a million pieces.
Jin Lei had left as soon as he had made sure Yun Xi had arrived at the hotel safely. So there was no one Mu Feichi could vent his anger on.
“Qi Yuan,” Mu Feichi called out, “please fetch a big bowl of hot water suitable for a foot bath.” Thereafter, Mu Feichi stayed silent. He sat on the edge of the sofa, frowning.
“I shouldn’t have allowed Jin Lei to take you up the mountain.”
Mu Feichi was aware of the difficulty of Jin Lei’s training routine. If it had not been for his constant exhortations, it was most probable that Yun Xi would have been crawling, instead of walking, back to the hotel tonight.
“Young Marshal, remember what you promised? Didn’t you agree not to be too lenient or too indulgent? What happened to not shielding my faults and covering up my mistakes? Instructor Jin may be strict, but he’s not a bad person. He did cut me some slack. Although today was just a practice session, I must say it was instructive. I’ve learned quite a bit from today’s session.”
KNOCK! KNOCK! Qi Yuan entered the room with what seemed to be a number of bottles of varying heights and sizes. Mu Feichi leaned over and sat beside Yun Xi. Without saying a word, he lifted his hand and pressed it against a spot right below Yun Xi’s shoulder, but just above her chest. “Does that hurt?”
With her eyes concentrated on the direction of his hand and what it was moving toward, Yun Xi was taken aback by Mu Feichi’s sudden motion. Any farther and he would have touched her chest.
Her cheeks turning pink with embarrassment, Yun Xi speedily slapped Mu Feichi’s hand away. “Hey! What are you up to? Are you trying to take advantage of me? You hooligan!”
“For god’s sake, you’re already in a terrible state, how could I take advantage of you?”
Watching Yun Xi’s reaction, Mu Feichi couldn’t help but burst into laughter. She had crossed her forearms in front of her chest and was shooting him a wary look. Mu Feichi pointed to the area above her chest and questioned her again, “The sniper rifle you had, although it has one of the weakest recoils, there had to be some form of impact. Did that hurt?”
“Of course it hurts. But I can deal with it. Just hand me the medicine.”
There was no way Yun Xi was going to remove her clothes in front of Mu Feichi. Besides, her bruise was located at a place visible to her, and applying the medicine to it should, therefore, be something she could do on her own.
“I’m at your service, free of charge too. Are you sure you’re going to give this opportunity a miss?” Mu Feichi teased her.
“I’ll pass. A treat or a trap, I can still distinguish between them clearly. But in any case, I shall not trouble you to personally treat my bruise. Besides, I did not injure my hands so I can do this.”
“All right then, if you say so. I’ll leave you to it.”
With that, Mu Feichi placed the bottle of medicine next to Yun Xi. He then let out a small sigh and asked her, “How did you perform today? Share it with me; I want to hear all about it.”
Yun Xi gave him a detailed recount of the missions she had been tasked to complete and the lessons that she’d learned from Jin Lei. As Mu Feichi listened to Yun Xi’s narration, he did not look in the least surprised at the results or the flow of events. It seemed as if the majority of events that happened were things he could have predicted. However, there was one thing that caught him by surprise: Yun Xi had obtained a result much better than he had expected.
“Well, well. it seems as if you have some talent in this field. If you hadn’t, the two of you would have had to spend the night in the mountains. Then I would have had to cover 1,000 miles in search of my wife.”
“Could you please calm down.” Yun Xi snapped as she shot Mu Feichi a glare. Reflecting back on the day, Yun Xi understood the challenges of being a sniper and thought that it was remarkable and impressive that Instructor Zilan, despite her young age, had already achieved the title of First-Class Military Sniper.
“Young Commander, could I try out your War God when we get back?”
“What is there to try? It gives off a really murderous vibe. It doesn’t suit you.”
“In that case…can I just have a look?”
“Are you implying that a rifle is more handsome than me? Don’t I have a face much better looking than a rifle?”
“…”
…
The next morning, after breakfast and subsequently completing Jiang Qilin’s course of acupuncture, Yun Xi went to find Jin Lei of her own accord and said she was ready to head up the mountain.
Seeing Yun Xi standing at his door, one could almost see the surprise on Jin Lei’s expressionless handsome face. Jin Lei had thought that after the previous mountain training session, Yun Xi would most probably be convinced by the Young Commander to stay in and rest at the hotel.
“Precisely because I have a poor physique and physical strength, I should be training a lot. Once we return, I’m afraid there will not be a training ground as good as this. So I should be treasuring this opportunity. Slacking off? No can do.”
“All right then, wait for me downstairs. I’ll be down once I’ve changed.”
With Yun Xi’s heart set on continuing training, Mu Feichi knew that no amount of persuasion from him was going to convince her otherwise. Even though it worried him a lot, Mu Feichi ultimately did not attempt to stop her.
In the future, if there ever was a need to go to war, whatever skills Yun Xi had to learn and whatever scenarios she had to face, it was impossible for Mu Feichi to protect her in every situation.
Mu Feichi and Yun Xi both understood that only a formidable opponent has nothing to fear.
