Under the warm light, the tip of the long spear emitted a faint cold glint.
What the hell... she actually hid a long spear in her room?!
Lin Qiye swallowed, and quickly said, "No, Sister Hong Ying... I just wanted to ask... do you have paper and a pen?"
Hong Ying was startled, "It's late at night, what do you need paper and a pen for?"
"To write a letter."
"Hmm... I think I do, wait here!" Hong Ying placed the long spear aside, went back into her room, and started rummaging through things.
Standing at the door, Lin Qiye could clearly see the situation inside Hong Ying's room.
Unexpectedly, Hong Ying's room was very simple, even bordering on spartan.
In this room, there was only a hard bed, a desk lamp, a desk, and a plush toy placed by the bed.
There were no extra decorations, no expensive Simmons mattress, no sofa, no air conditioning... Lin Qiye found it hard to imagine that in such a luxurious large villa, Hong Ying's room could be this simple.
Instead of calling it the master bedroom of a villa, calling it a hermit's thatched hut would be more appropriate.
Only that cute plush toy was the only thing in this room that matched Hong Ying's age.
"Paper... paper, paper... Found it!" Hong Ying's eyes lit up, and she walked to the door with a pen and a few sheets of paper, handing them to Lin Qiye.
"Sister Hong Ying, you usually... sleep here?"
Hong Ying looked back, nodded, and said, "As a Night Watcher, one cannot be too indulged in material enjoyment; one must constantly temper their will... If this villa weren't my parents' heirloom, requiring frequent maintenance, I might have sold it long ago and gone back to the dormitory."
Lin Qiye was silent for a moment, "I understand, thank you... Good night."
"Good night, you should go to bed early too." Hong Ying smiled and waved at him, then gently closed the door.
Lin Qiye walked downstairs, sat on a chair in the living room, and turned on the lamp above his head.
On the table was a piece of paper and a pen.
The lonely chirping of cicadas faintly sounded outside the window. The heat of the summer night was completely swept away after the rain, and the silhouettes of leaves were cast on the table by the moonlight...
Lin Qiye held the pen, sat at the table, and remained motionless.
After an unknown amount of time, he gently put down the pen, and wrote the first line of text on the paper.
"To Aunt, Yang Jin..."
...
"Mom, Mom!"
Yang Jin shook the Aunt who was sleeping at the dining table, and called softly.
Auntie opened her blurry eyes, slowly raised her head, and rubbed her sore neck with one hand while asking, "What's wrong? Did your Brother come back?"
Yang Jin shook his head, "No, but there's a letter under the door crack."
"A letter?"
"Yes! It seems like Brother wrote it."
"Xiao Qi? Quick, quick, open it and see!" The Aunt said anxiously, watching Yang Jin open the letter while saying, "This child, he didn't come back all night, didn't even say hello, and he's at the doorstep but won't come in."
What did he mean by slipping a letter to me?
Yang Jin opened the letter, and his aunt took it. The two of them huddled together and read it carefully.
After a long while, Auntie put down the letter with trembling hands and sat there blankly.
"Mom, Brother and our little Chen said they joined the army." Yang Jin picked up the letter and turned to look at the Aunt.
"Joined the army... joined the army? How did they... suddenly join the army?" The Aunt murmured, "I've never heard him mention it before..."
"No, Brother did say it." Yang Jin nodded seriously.
"He said it?"
"Before, he often privately told me that his biggest dream was actually to join the army, but his eyes never got better, so he temporarily gave up on this dream." Yang Jin paused, then pointed to a few words on the letter and said,
"And look, Brother also said in the letter that after his eyes got better, he secretly signed up for the army, but because he was afraid you would stop him, he didn't tell you. Last night, he secretly took the train to Qiqihar..."
"That's not right."
"What's not right?"
"You only got this letter this morning. According to the letter, he should be on the train now!" The Aunt's mind was rarely sharp!
"Uh..." Yang Jin scratched his head, "Actually, I only found this letter this morning. It's possible it was there last night, I just didn't see it."
"But, but this is too sudden!" Auntie couldn't accept this fact, "And Xiao Qi's eyes just got better. What if they relapse when he's in the army?"
"No... no! I'm not at ease!"
"I'm going to find the government, I want my nephew back!"
The Aunt stood up anxiously, not caring that she was wearing slippers, opened the door, and hurried out.
Suddenly, she stopped.
Just outside the door, two men in military uniforms were standing awkwardly, seemingly about to knock.
If Lin Qiye were here, he would immediately recognize that these two were Chen Muye and Wen Qimo.
"Who are you?" Auntie asked with a frown.
Chen Muye and Wen Qimo exchanged glances. A gentle smile immediately appeared on Wen Qimo's face, and he gave the Aunt a not-so-standard military salute.
"Hello, are you Ms. Wang Fang, Lin Qiye and Lin Xi Chen's guardian?"
"Yes, I am."
"We are from the Cangnan Military and Political Office, here to deliver some procedures and subsidies for Lin Qiye's enlistment."
"Military and Political Office?" The Aunt asked suspiciously, "What kind of place is that?"
"It's... specifically responsible for new recruits joining the army."
"Oh... well then, please come in and sit." The Aunt took a few steps back to let the two in, turned around to make them tea, "I was just about to go find you, something isn't right about this!"
Chen Muye and Wen Qimo had just sat down when the latter heard this, and cold sweat broke out.
Wen Qimo quietly leaned into Chen Muye's ear and whispered, "Captain, can we... really fool her?"
"What are you afraid of? Our procedures are issued by the regular army, they're all real!"
"But, but you only submitted the siblings's applications yesterday. The documents shouldn't have arrived this quickly, right? Are you sure... these are real?"
"..." Chen Muye's mouth twitched slightly, "Soon, they will become real."
"But I don't understand, we could have waited until the official documents came down before coming to the door, why the rush?"
"It's not us who are in a hurry, it's these kids." Chen Muye glanced at the Aunt who was busy in the kitchen, and whispered, "He's afraid his Aunt won't believe the content of the letter and will go directly to the government to verify, but the lower-level government officials don't know about our existence... Do you understand what I mean?"
"Understood."
Wen Qimo nodded, sat up straight, and showed a standard smile."Ms. Wang Fang, please rest assured, we are the regular army. Lin Qiye's enlistment in Urumqi has also been approved, there are no issues!"
Yang Jin on the side helplessly held his forehead.
The Aunt, who was making tea, trembled. The teacup in her hand directly spilled onto the table. She stiffly turned around, her eyes wide, and said,
"He, wasn't he going to Qiqihar?!"