“Hello everyone, I’m Miao Xinyuan.”
Miao Xiaoyuan’s eyes rowed across the female soldiers as she introduced herself. They all wore the same uniform, and none of them leaped to the eye.
The same uniform, the same skin tone, and even similar faces at a quick glance.
All but one of them.
One of them, the one with white skin, stood out like a white bun in a lunch tray of cornbread. Her skin was white enough to make women’s eyes green with envy. How could anyone have such skin after all those training under the blazing sun? Plus, she owned exceptional beauty, a familiar kind of beauty.
Some people, like Yan Huan, are born with fair skin.
Yan Huan too noticed that the new instructor’s eyes had stopped on her for at least 5 seconds before moving away.
Miao Xinyuan walked to Lu Yi and stood beside him. Objectively speaking, they had a matching look. Both were wearing camouflage uniforms and stood at attention.
One was no-nonsense while the other smiled often.
Indeed, they had a couple look.
“How have you been?” she asked Lu Yi, smiling.
Lu Yi gave no replies. She didn’t mind either, now that she knew that he was like that by nature. She had thought about it long and hard before coming to the decision of persevering. If she wanted something, she had to get it.
She would be an idiot if she gave up on a man who would risk his own life to save her.
“I’m here for you,” she continued. “I think our lives would be intersecting from now on.”
Her voice was soft, but her expression and lip language made it seem like there was something special between them.
Instructor Huang raised her eyes. The wind mussed up her short hair.
This was the army, not a place to woo a man.
Plus, relationships were forbidden here, not to mention a love triangle.
Had she known earlier that Miao Xinyuan was here for Lu Yi, she would have stopped her from coming even if it meant offending the entire Miao Family. The army is there to defend peace, not promote chaos.
A love triangle between one man and two women is a war without guns or smoke, but no less fierce.
At lunchtime, Yan Huan was late because she was on laundry duty. An extra lunch tray of food sat before Lu Yi.
Lu Yi raised his slightly-narrowed eyes.
When Yan Huan walked in, she immediately realized that the lunch tray of food belonged to her. Since there weren’t many people in the canteen at the moment, no one would suspect anything between her and Instructor Lu.
However, someone arrived and plumped down before her.
“How did you know I haven’t eaten yet? Thank goodness you reserved a lunch tray for me, or I shall not know what to eat,” she said as she dug in before Lu Yi could say a thing. She never asked whether it was meant for her, but she had no doubts it was. Who else could it be meant for? Even if Lu Yi had a big appetite, he wouldn’t be able to eat two people’s share. Plus, he was known to have a modest appetite. If that’s the case, then it had to be for her.
As she ate happily, Lu Yi remained still with his chopsticks in hand.
He suddenly rose.
“You don’t have to get more rice for me, I have enough.”
However, Lu Yi simply took his lunch tray and chopsticks and left.
Miao Xinyuan almost choked on her rice, and grains were stuck to her face by the time she was done coughing. There were snickers. It was no secret that Instructor Miao liked Lu Yi.
There’s a saying that goes ‘It’s as hard as crossing a mountain for a man to woo a woman but as easy as seeing through a silk handkerchief for a woman to woo a man. Miao Xinyuan had been wearing her heart on her sleeve, but attaining his favor seemed as hard as crossing a desert.
Lunch tray in hand, Lu Yi walked passed Yan Huan. He made a covert sideways turn when he was beside her.
“Follow me.”
His voice was a whisper only heard by Yan Huan, but Yan Huan could sense the hatred and envy coming from Miao Xinyuan’s icy eyes. She seemed like she would have killed her in a heartbeat.
Yan Huan turned and followed after Lu Yi. In her previous life, she was afraid of everything. But in this life? Sorry, but she wasn’t afraid of anything. What’s a Miao Xinyuan to her?
Hmm, but who was Miao Xinyuan? She pondered about it but arrived at no answer. She didn’t remember anyone with the name from her previous life. Perhaps she had been there, but she didn’t notice. Or perhaps she was altering history too much. In this life, Fang Zhu and Lu Yi’s relationship would not last until they were past thirty. Neither would Yan Huan get married to Lu Qin or use her hard-earned money to support him. Neither would Lu Qin be having the time of his life in the Lu Family. Su Muran was doing relatively well in the acting sphere, but Yan Huan did way better.
Outside the canteen, Lu Yi sat down, placed the lunch tray on his legs, and passed the chopsticks to Yan Huan.
Yan Huan took them and prodded at the rice, looking for something she liked.
“Stop being picky,” Lu Yi pinched her nose. “Look at how skinny you are. You best stop being picky before I punish you.”
Yan Huan, sitting on the ground with her legs crossed, picked up the chopsticks and began to eat. She was famished, and there was training later, so she had to eat. Lu Yi didn’t have to participate as an inspector, so it was best for her to mind her own tummy for now.
“Eat more meat,” Lu Yi patted her head. “Stop being picky.”
“Stop it, or I’ll stop eating,” said Yan Huan. She wanted to throw her chopsticks at him. She wasn’t a pig, and neither did she needed to be fed like one, unless she wanted her actress career to end.
“Just one more piece,” said Lu Yi, as though he was convincing a child.
“It’s okay to eat more. You are exercising a lot these days, so you don’t have to worry about gaining weight. Look at how built your muscles are,” he said as he felt Yan Huan’s arm.
Yan Huan’s eyes welled up.
“What’s wrong?” asked Lu Yi, concerned. Was it the food? Was she feeling unwell? Was the food poisoned?
Yan Huan felt like bawling her eyes out.
“I’m an actress, Lu Yi, not an athlete! I don’t want muscles..”
“What’s so bad about having muscles?” smiled Lu Yi warmly. “I bet you can gain more fans if you post a picture of your firm abs.”
