When Major Ye told Feng Qingxue he wanted to ask her something, she had already suspected something. What could he question her out of the blue about? The most probable thing was the item she had given to Lu Jiang. It was something unique, which couldn’t be found in her country. But when she heard Major Ye and Lieutenant Zhao speak, and saw the soft expressions on their faces, knowing they were enquiring, not interrogating, she breathed a sigh of relief.
Before showing the item, Feng Qingxue had already prepared a fabricated tale for it.
This tale, once truthfully told, had a few gaping holes in it, but for this era, no one could delve deeply into it. She had pondered over this countless times, doing her best not to leave any questions that might betray her lie.
Just as Master Lu occasionally mentioned she must have had a real mentor who imparted her knowledge in culture and manners, otherwise she wouldn’t be so enlightened. Similarly, she made up an untraceable backstory for these objects.
"A solitary old lady I used to know. She wasn’t part of our Caohu collective farm unit. But she was talented and had a son who seemed to be abroad. Every time I spent time with her, she taught me literacy and life principles. I kept this relationship to myself, hiding it from my parents and brother. A few years ago, she gave me a few things and mysteriously, she disappeared."
"What kind of items?" Major Ye eagerly inquired.
Abroad, yes. Only someone abroad would have been able to access this advanced bullet-proof vest, not available locally. Also, the compass and military dagger, compared to local technology, were a cut above the rest.
Zhao Yong added: "Don’t worry, sister, apart from us, no one will know about this."
They were soldiers, not power-hungry authority figures. They simply wanted to do as much as they could to protect the lives of as many soldiers as possible.
Feeling shy, Feng Qingxue said: "Those are the very items I gave to Ajiang. The old lady said that they were brought back painstakingly by her son from abroad, aiming to crack foreign technology and support the national border defense construction. What happened later or what other matters occurred, I have no idea, as the old lady just vanished out of the blue."
"She vanished?" Major Ye and Zhao Yong involuntarily furrowed their brows.
But then, realizing the old lady’s son had returned from abroad, they understood the probable causes. However, these reasons weren’t appropriate, nor possible, to directly tell Feng Qingxue, so they quietly listened to her continue.
She paused before continuing, "Later, I met Lu Jiang, got to know some affairs in the city. Seemed like overseas relations involved some spying activities and I, being a country lass, wasn’t too sure and opted to keep these items hidden just to be safe. If not for Ajiang going to the battlefield and my fear for his safety, I wouldn’t have dared to take them out. I remember the old lady saying that the bulletproof vest was a rare sight even abroad, being fresh from development, and that the compass was extremely accurate."
Listenting to this, Major Ye asked half-heartedly, "No news from the old lady at all?"
"No news, the old lady disappeared without a trace. To my shock, I realize now I don’t remember her name or know who her son is." Feng Qingxue helplessly shrugged, "Looking back now, it was pretty reckless of me, spending time reading and learning with the old lady without knowing a thing about her."
Suddenly, Zhao Yong interjected: "I recall Ajiang saying it was you who had the vest brought in from overseas."
Such statements just didn’t match up.