After getting home, Lu Jing suddenly asked out loud:
"Do we have any vegetables in the fridge?"
The man paused for a moment:
The two of them never bought excessive groceries; who knew when they’d suddenly get busy—so much so that they might not return home for days and nights on end?
"What do you mean ’probably’?"
He rolled his eyes, already heading towards the kitchen. Nᴇw ɴovel chaptᴇrs are published on novel[f]ire.net
After checking, indeed, there were none—not even a single spring onion or garlic sprout.
Jiang Ye followed eagerly and saw for himself the emptiness of the fridge:
"What do we do now? Go out to eat?" he asked.
Lu Jing checked the time on his phone:
"No, there’s no time, let’s go to the mess hall."
Well, it seemed that was the only option.
Although there was still a full half-hour before mealtime at the base, with Jiang Ye’s rank, it was quite easy for him to go into the kitchen early to whip something up.
"Go ahead, I’ll take a shower."
Otherwise, he’d have to wait until he got off work tomorrow morning to shower.
Jiang Ye had already gone downstairs. The other team members were still far away when they started running pell-mell.
That afternoon on the training ground, everybody had seen with their own eyes—Devil Jiang was a bit too harsh when beating someone up. Who knew if he’d cause trouble again?
So, the best and safest thing to do was to keep away.
Jiang Ye didn’t care though, not sparing these people so much as a glance from the corner of his eye.
After a considerable distance had passed, the team members finally seemed to come back to life:
"Damn, how unlucky is this? Ran into the Great Demon as soon as I stepped out."
"Let’s move, quickly."
Even though he had already walked past, they still seemed scared to death. The sense of oppression coming from the Great Demon had truly embedded itself deep in their bones.
When Jiang Ye arrived at the base’s kitchen, he happened to run into the old mess chief.
"Hey, Captain Jiang, what brings you here so early today?"
The mess chief was probably the only person in the whole firefighting squad who wasn’t afraid of Devil Jiang. Although his rank wasn’t as high, he had been there for almost twenty years, a veritable old-timer.
Jiang Ye acknowledged with a grunt:
"Chief, is the food ready?" he asked.
The mess chief looked inside:
"Should be ready in a couple of minutes."
Then, they just started chatting back and forth.
"Heard you beat someone up again today, eh?"
Jiang Ye’s eyes flickered. Bad news really travels fast, huh? Even the mess chief had caught wind of it.
Well, with that statement, the mess chief pretty much understood—there must have been a reason.
"You, look at how demonized everyone’s made you out to be. Aren’t you worried about your reputation at all?"
"I don’t care. Let them say what they will."
As a commander, his priority was to manage the team well. Everything else could be ignored.
Who had the time to deal with trivial matters when there was so much work to do?
Wouldn’t it be better to spend that time with his wife instead?
The mess chief understood and fished a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket:
"Fancy a smoke?" he asked.
Jiang Ye didn’t hesitate to shake his head:
"What’s the matter? I remember you used to smoke. When did you quit?"
"Ah, right. You’re married now, planning for a family, aren’t you?"
Jiang Ye didn’t deny it.
Not denying it was as good as an admission.
The mess chief gave him a thumbs up.
Jiang Ye had been keeping an eye on the time all along and saw that it was about right:
"Chief, I’m going to go get the food now. We’ll talk later."