Tang Li heard him and looked up at Song Baiyan.
Song Baiyan gave a slight smile and asked, "Do you have other plans tonight?"
"...No," Tang Li denied.
Her mood felt like a roller coaster. She tried hard not to let her smile show and worried Song Baiyan might change his mind. She sealed the plan, "Then it’s settled, we’ll have supper together."
After saying that, she prepared to head back to the training field.
Walking backward with her hands behind her, she added, "The exact time, let’s decide after you’re done with your work."
Song Baiyan stood in front of the stairs, watching her barely contain her excitement, her face radiant like a bright little sun, her short hair neat and clean, her eyes curving with joy. After Tang Li turned and ran off, he couldn’t help but smile, and he withdrew his gaze. He didn’t stay at the cafeteria any longer and walked towards the administrative building at the shooting range.
At the shooting training field, Tang Li listened to the deafening gunshots, no longer finding it tedious.
Her good mood seemed to infect everyone else.
Qi Liang asked, "Are you this happy just practicing shooting?"
Tang Li smiled, not denying it.
It wasn’t long before she caught a glimpse of someone outside the protective net from the corner of her eye.
Seeing that it was Song Baiyan, Tang Li suddenly felt as if the sniper rifle in her hand weighed a thousand pounds. She dared not look directly, afraid he would notice she was distracted, yet her heart still flew towards the protective net.
Beside Song Baiyan, Cao Liang spoke up, "Do you know that actress?"
"You should still remember the time I was injured during a mission and fell into the Mihesha River."
Hearing Song Baiyan bring up the past, Cao Liang nodded, "Back then, everyone thought you were like Old Xu... We searched for you around there for several days, and the leaders from higher up personally came to the base for a thorough search of the rainforest, but we couldn’t find any trace of you. A few days later, you came back leaning on a stick."
"It was her who saved me," Song Baiyan said.
Cao Liang was slightly stunned, and upon realizing what he was saying, he looked toward Tang Li on the other side of the protective net, "Is it her?"
Song Baiyan nodded gently.
Cao Liang looked surprised, "Back then you didn’t tell us, she was a tough wild girl? Those who fooled you, if not given what they wanted, would throw tantrums?" He then glanced at the girl holding the sniper rifle inside the training field and said in wonder, "She looks delicate and frail, nothing like the rogue who used to trick you and throw tantrums."
Hearing this, Song Baiyan also smiled.
"That scar on your abdomen that looks like a centipede, didn’t she sew it up? Weren’t you the one who said that when you met her again, you needed to settle the score? Did you?"
Cao Liang jokingly added, "Actually, we all said behind you that it was lucky you weren’t tormented to death by her. She dug out a bullet with her bare hands without disinfecting, and used opium as a painkiller for you. It was really dubious whether you could have made it back if she hadn’t been careful."
Song Baiyan spoke, "No matter what, ultimately, my life was saved by her."
At this point, Cao Liang’s expression turned solemn.
After a long moment, he continued, "If she hadn’t rescued you, further downstream there were drug traffickers on guard. Those traffickers also went to the riverside villages. It was definitely unexpected that she was able to hide you, but it’s a pity about Old Xu who was blown up by those bastards..."
Cao Liang’s voice choked, his eyes reddening slightly: "It was supposed to be me on that mission, but my mother fell ill..."
Due to guilt, he had spent these years guarding Old Xu on the mountain.
Nevertheless, he must retire at the end of this year.
Cao Liang turned his head, noticed Song Baiyan’s gaze still fixed towards the protective barrier and wondered, "Does she know that you are the same person she saved back then?"