"The capital isn’t in traffic hour now," Lin Chan suddenly said before giving He Teng a meaningful glance.
"Correct, correct!" Kang Xing nodded repeatedly, "Work hour rush is over. What cars would be on the road?"
"No more excuses! Get back to the base immediately, that’s an order!"
The command made Kang Xing silent. Lin Chan struggled to suppress his laughter, "As the old saying goes, a general may not heed an order when in the field. And right now, we have this sickly and pitiful shrimp of a soldier lying in a hospital bed!"
Kang Xing shook his head defiantly, "I can’t disobey the platoon leader’s order; the consequences would be severe!"
"Ambition!" Lin Chan threw out the word.
Unperturbed, Kang Xing bid goodbye to He Teng, who was lying on the bed. After that, he turned to He Zhilan and sniggered, "Sister-in-law! Could you accompany me down?"
"Kang Xing! Are you still dependent on mommy?" He Teng bellowed. The audacity to ask his wife for a favour, was his nerve becoming limitless?, "It’s such a short trip and you need someone to accompany you? Can’t you navigate it on your own?"
Caught off-guard, Kang Xing mumbled, "I just wanted to spend more time with my sister-in-law. After staying only a few days at the base, she’s already leaving, and so am I, after only a brief chat with her. We haven’t had time to get closer, so I must seize every opportunity!"
He Zhilan burst into laughter. Meanwhile, Lin Chan was laughing so hard he was almost choking, "How simplistic! Why would you want to get closer to the platoon leader’s wife?"
"It’s the bond between comrades and their families!" Kang Xing naturally answered.
"Enough, enough!" He Zhilan interrupted their conversation and chuckled, "Come on, Kang Xing. I’ll walk you to the hospital entrance."
"Thank you, sister-in-law!" Kang Xing’s eyes brightened. Receiving He Zhilan’s permission, he bid a quick farewell to the others in the sick room and then exited the room with He Zhilan.
Back in the sick room, He Teng glared wide-eyed as his wife left without saying a word to accompany Kang Xing, while Lin Chan nonchalantly stared at He Teng with his chin resting on his hand. He shook his head and teased, "Ah, our brother-in-law is getting jealous. His wife is all smiles around another man, so he used military orders to chase the guy away. However, Kang Xing was so oblivious, he still wanted to take our brother-in-law’s wife away."
The unrestrained banter earned Lin Chan a cold stare from He Teng. But who cared? Lin Chan was too thick-skinned to be frightened.
"Moreover, the cute and youthful soldier is definitely more likable than that old cucumber like He Teng. He’s sweet-talking, and even knows how to act cute. What’s that saying? ’The child who acts cute gets the candy.’ Surely when our Zhilan is back, she will be all smiles!"
The ’cute and youthful soldier’ referred to Kang Xing, while the ’old cucumber’ obviously referred to He Teng. He Teng knew full well what ’old cucumber’ implied - Lin Chan was insidiously calling him old.
He Teng shut his eyes, not even glancing at Lin Chan as he said, "I need some rest. You can leave."
He might have failed at verbal sparring, but surely he could still kick Lin Chan out under the guise of being a patient?
"You won’t admit you’re jealous? Very interesting!" Lin Chan’s thick skin was on full display, "I didn’t expect our brother-in-law to be so amusing when he gets jealous."