Lili said sternly, clearly not appreciating Ziqing’s joke.
Ziqing went on regardless, "Well, if you don’t have one, that’s even better."
Lili’s mind was a bit chaotic for a moment, and she wasn’t paying attention to the deeper meaning in Ziqing’s words.
"I just went to the resting room and saw you were still revising. What’s up? Haven’t finished reviewing the content for the written test?"
"Military knowledge, military law, and current political affairs—three big books, there’s more content than I expected."
Lili honestly admitted that she thought half a month would be enough time, but after going through it once, she still didn’t feel confident.
"That day Xiaoer called me, and I said over the phone that you have to get into Xilin Military Academy on your own merit."
"Brother Lu, you might as well call me Xiao Hua. If you mix it up and let it slip someday..."
"You don’t trust me?"
Well, indeed she didn’t trust him very much.
"No, no... just to be safe."
"When it’s just the two of us, I’ll call you Lili. In public, I won’t make a mistake. Of course, in private, you’re happy to call me whatever you like."
Lili felt that Ziqing was very much doing his own thing, which was quite unlike the honest and proper soldiers she had imagined.
The jeep wound around two mountain peaks and entered a small county town at the foot of the mountains.
The roads in the county town weren’t very wide, and there were a variety of shops on both sides of the road: grocers, snack stalls, hardware and repair shops, small clinics—much more miscellaneous than the storefronts in big cities.
The vehicle entered a residential complex and as soon as Lili got out of the car, a feeling of familiarity hit her.
"The house is assigned by the military, can’t compare to the military residences in Ruicheng, but for this small county town, it’s already a nice place to settle down."
Ziqing was saying this as he took Lili’s luggage out of the car.
"Let’s go. Building 15, apartment 501."
Lili, shouldering her bag, followed Ziqing up the stairs, just in time to see a resident coming out on the third floor,
"Isn’t that Da Lu? What brings you back today?"
"Oh! Uncle Zhuo, where are you off to?"
"I’m off to sit in the yard... have a little chat..."
Ziqing hurriedly stepped aside, but in doing so, he ended up revealing Lili to Uncle Zhuo. When he saw Lili, his eyes lit up, and spinning around he asked Ziqing,
"You, you’ve got a girlfriend now?"
"Cough, Uncle Zhuo, you—"
"Amazing, amazing! Da Lu’s got a girlfriend. Granny Wang is going to cry her eyes out... She’s so pretty too... No hope now, no hope..."
Ziqing hadn’t even finished his sentence when he saw Uncle Zhuo muttering to himself as he slowly went downstairs.
Lili’s face turned red with restraint as she looked toward Ziqing,
"Brother, why didn’t you explain it to the old man?"
"I wanted to explain, but I didn’t get the chance, did I?"
Ziqing spread his hands, managing to deflect blame smoothly.
Lili felt that this wasn’t good.
"Forget it, forget it. With the old man, if you explain too much, he might not understand anyway. Let’s head up."
Just as they reached the fifth floor, the door opposite apartment 501 opened, and a woman in her thirties, holding a child, who seemed to be on her way out too, saw Ziqing and was visibly delighted,
"Senior Lu! Haven’t seen you in a long time! What brings you back today?"
"Ah, sister-in-law, taking the little one out?"
"Yeah, going out for a stroll this evening. Senior Lu, are you... bringing your girlfriend back?"