After the sandbags were tied on, Le Ning kept a cold face and ignored Zhou Ran completely.
When training started, Le Ning naturally fell to the very back. She moved slowly, really starting to feel dizzy.
Someone was constantly beside her — it was impossible for Le Ning not to notice.
The man’s strides were clearly long, yet somehow… he kept exactly the same pace as her.
After running for a while, Le Ning finally couldn’t hold back.
“What are you running next to me for?”
Zhou Ran glanced at her: “Still holding up?”
Le Ning glared at him: “What, you think it’s not too late to ask now?”
Zhou Ran didn’t reply.
Le Ning muttered to herself: “Zhou Ran, isn’t this going too far? Signing me up without even asking?”
Hearing that, Zhou Ran paused for a second. He didn’t say the words “I did ask you” out loud.
He lowered his head and looked at Le Ning. Because of the strong sun and the exercise, her whole face was flushed red — yet even so, she still glowed with beauty.
He looked for a moment, then looked away: “If you can’t handle it, go rest.”
“I can.”
Le Ning had always been stubborn since she was little — she hated admitting defeat. Since she was already here, she would finish it.
After the weighted run ended, Le Luo was also drenched in sweat and panting heavily.
“Sis, you okay?”
“Mm.”
Le Ning was too tired to talk. Even taking off the sandbag was done by Le Luo for her.
“Go eat.”
The two followed the large group into the cafeteria. It was pretty much what Le Ning had imagined — everyone was extremely disciplined, even while eating.
Le Ning had no appetite. She picked some light food and was about to find a seat when, not far away, a voice called out: “Miss Le, over here.”
Le Ning looked up. It was Peng Jingshan.
And beside him… Zhou Ran.
She paused for a second, then walked straight over.
As soon as the two sat down, Peng Jingshan looked at the food on her tray and laughed: “That’s all you’re eating?”
Le Ning nodded: “Not really hungry.”
“Too tired from the morning, huh.” Peng Jingshan said: “But we already lowered the intensity for you guys.”
He added bluntly: “If you two hadn’t come today, those new recruits wouldn’t have had it this easy.”
“What?”
Le Luo’s eyes widened in disbelief: “This intensity is already the lowered version?”
“Yeah.”
Peng Jingshan smiled: “Still want to be a soldier?”
Le Luo fell silent.
Peng Jingshan continued: “If it weren’t for Zhou Ran—”
Before he could finish, Zhou Ran cut him off directly: “Eat first. I’ll take you guys to rest afterward.”
Le Ning frowned. She glanced at Peng Jingshan, then at the man across from her who was eating with his head down. She felt like she was missing some key piece of information.
After the meal, Little Six and Zhou Ran accompanied them to the rest area. To Le Ning’s surprise, there were two separate rooms.
Zhou Ran glanced at Le Ning’s face and said softly: “Call me if you need anything.”
Le Ning gave a small smile: “Oh.”
Seeing her attitude, Zhou Ran didn’t say more and turned to leave.
Little Six, however, was pulled into the room by Le Luo to chat.
After a while, Le Ning called out to the one about to leave.
“Little Six.”
“Yes, Miss Le?”
Le Ning pointed outside: “Let’s talk out here.”
“…Sure.”
Once outside, Le Ning gestured to the two rooms in front of them: “Isn’t this a bit wasteful of resources?”
She vaguely remembered that rest rooms in the unit were hard to get approved.
Little Six paused, then reassured her: “It’s fine — just for one day. Captain Zhou was worried you wouldn’t rest well, so he specially asked Captain Peng to apply for them.”
Le Ning froze: “He specially applied?”
“Yeah.”
Little Six scratched his head, not really understanding the relationship between Le Ning and Zhou Ran, and said quietly: “Our captain said this is the first time Captain Zhou has ever asked anyone for a favor.”
Hearing that, Le Ning felt something was off.
She stayed quiet for a few seconds, suddenly remembering the unfinished sentence from Peng Jingshan at lunch. Thinking about it, she looked at Little Six: “By the way, is it really hard for outsiders to come experience training life here? Has anyone from outside ever come in before?”
Little Six answered honestly: “No. The only people who can come in are unit colleagues or family members.”
He looked at Le Ning a little embarrassed: “At first I thought you were Captain Zhou’s family member, but later when we applied, our captain said you weren’t.”
“What do you mean?”
Little Six explained: “To enter the training ground, there has to be a legitimate reason. Besides family, the only other way is for training purposes.”
…
After Little Six left, Le Ning lay on the bed and finally pieced it all together.
The unit had strict management — outsiders weren’t allowed in without a proper reason. The only way Zhou Ran could get her and Le Luo inside… was by using “training” as the excuse. So—
She scratched her hair in frustration. So that damn guy didn’t throw her into training as some kind of deliberate revenge?
It was just because there was no other way to arrange for her?!
But couldn’t he have told her in advance?
He wasn’t mute!
If she’d known, she would’ve kicked him a few more times.
Thinking about it, Le Ning rolled herself up in the blanket and lay down to rest.
The bed was really hard — not comfortable at all.
Suddenly, her phone buzzed on the side. Le Ning picked it up — it was a text.
Zhou Ran: [Asleep?]
Le Ning: [Something wrong?]
Zhou Ran: [At the door.]
Le Ning: …
Honestly, if she hadn’t felt a flash of guilt just now, she absolutely wouldn’t have gotten up to open the door for Zhou Ran.
The moment the door opened, Le Ning asked irritably: “Captain Zhou, aren’t you afraid people will talk if you knock on a woman’s door in the middle of the day?”
“Talk about what?”
Zhou Ran’s tone was calm — no detectable emotion.
Le Ning choked, then looked down at what he was holding.
Zhou Ran handed it to her and said concisely: “Drink two bottles. Have Le Luo drink two too — to prevent heatstroke.”
He paused for a second, then added: “There’s some food inside. Eat it.”
Le Ning instinctively wanted to refuse. Zhou Ran said calmly: “You can be mad at me, but don’t take it out on your body.”
Le Ning: “…”
She slowly lifted her eyes to look at Zhou Ran: “When was I ever mad at you?”
She gave a cold laugh: “Captain Zhou, anything else? If not, I’m resting.”
Zhou Ran looked at her quietly for a moment, then suddenly smiled.
“Rest well.”
After watching Zhou Ran turn and go downstairs, Le Ning was still a little dazed.
What was he smiling about?
Didn’t he see she was seriously trying to argue with him?
What was so funny?
Le Ning was quite angry.
It felt like punching cotton — infuriating.
She slammed the door shut with a loud bang, but it didn’t even wake Le Luo.
She stood quietly in the living area for a moment before taking the things out of the bag. Besides two bottles of Huoxiang Zhengqi Water… there was a pack of candy and a small box of cookies.
Le Ning stared at them for a while, drank the Zhengqi Water, and left everything else untouched.
The afternoon sun was even harsher than in the morning.
Just as Le Ning and Le Luo were about to step out, someone was standing at the door.
Zhou Ran tilted his head slightly and looked at Le Ning: “Do you still want to go train?”
Le Ning smiled and shot back: “What? If I don’t want to train, I don’t have to?”
“Mm.”
Le Ning: “…”
She choked for a second, then said a little angrily: “Then why didn’t you ask this morning?”
Zhou Ran stayed quiet for a few seconds before reminding her: “Check your WeChat.”
The two stared at each other for a few moments. Zhou Ran glanced at the dazed Le Ning, then looked at Le Luo and said: “Little Six is waiting downstairs. You two go ahead first.”
Le Luo blinked: “…Oh.”
Le Ning was staring at her phone and didn’t even notice them leave.
She pulled out her phone and scrolled through her chat history with Zhou Ran. When she reached a certain part, she fell silent.
Zhou Ran had sent her a few messages earlier.
The gist was that once they got to the unit, she might have to join in the experience training. He asked if she could handle it — if not, he could just bring Le Luo alone.
Le Ning had thought it would just be casual fun, so she naturally said no problem. Plus, she was full of curiosity and respect for the place.
But in the end—
Le Ning’s lips pressed into a thin line. After a moment, she asked: “So that sentence you sent before… that’s what you meant?”
“Mm.”
Le Ning looked at the indifferent Zhou Ran and suddenly felt even angrier.
“Then when I kicked you, why didn’t you explain?”
Zhou Ran paused and looked at her: “No need.”
Le Ning: ???
What do you mean “no need”?!
Zhou Ran wasn’t the type who liked explaining. If Le Ning hadn’t asked a second time, he probably wouldn’t have even reminded her to check the chat history she’d already forgotten.
In Zhou Ran’s world, these things weren’t necessary.
But in Le Ning’s world, they were.
She had always thought she was in the right — only to find out in the end… she was the one who was wrong.
The moment she realized that, she couldn’t stand it.
Zhou Ran looked at her: “This afternoon I’ll take you somewhere else. Want to go?”
Le Ning paused, then asked irritably: “Now you’re not afraid of breaking the rules?”
Zhou Ran let out a soft laugh, looking at her bristling like an angry cat: “I already cleared it with them.”
Le Ning rolled her eyes, tsundere and a little guilty: “Where to?”
By the time they walked into a spacious room and Le Ning saw the equipment laid out in front of her, she was still a bit dazed.
“What is this place?”
“Professional training area.”
Zhou Ran glanced sideways at her: “Go change clothes. I’ll teach you something.”
Le Ning: “…Self-defense?”
“Mm.”
Le Ning frowned and looked at Zhou Ran: “Did Le Luo mention it to you?”
Lately there had been one incident after another. Le Ning had casually mentioned to Le Luo that maybe they should find a place to learn some self-defense techniques — just in case there was ever trouble… at least she could buy some time.
Zhou Ran gave her a surprised look but didn’t confirm whether Le Luo had brought it up. He just asked calmly: “Want to give it a try?”
Le Ning choked for a second, then said quietly: “Try.”
She wouldn’t let anything get in the way of her own safety.
Zhou Ran was a criminal investigator — when it came to self-defense, he was definitely better than anyone else could teach.
From that video last time, she could already tell how agile and powerful he was.
Plus, after the little misunderstanding earlier, Le Ning felt too embarrassed to say she didn’t want him to teach her.
If it were a stranger teaching her, she’d probably feel even more uncomfortable.
So… she’d make do.
…
After getting home that day, Le Ning lay in bed for two full days.
When Ruan Qiu called, Le Ning was still sprawled out, half-dead on the bed.
“Hello.”
Ruan Qiu heard her weak voice and burst out laughing: “What’s wrong with you? It was just one day of training — you still haven’t recovered?”
Le Ning rolled her eyes at the ceiling: “Almost. What’s up?”
Ruan Qiu laughed: “Inviting you out to eat. The school reunion is in a few days — let’s go buy a couple outfits.”
“…Oh.”
Le Ning thought for a second: “Sure. Come pick me up — I don’t feel like driving.”
“No problem.”
She got up to do her makeup.
Le Ning looked at her face, hesitated for two seconds among her sheet masks, then picked one from “Pamper Name” to slap on for emergency skin rescue.
She checked the weather outside and deliberately did a super gentle autumn rose makeup look.
The moment Ruan Qiu saw her, she almost thought her eyes were playing tricks.
“You today…”
“What?”
Le Ning blinked at her. The rose eyeshadow was soft and light, making her look unbelievably gentle.
“You look… way too much like a good, virtuous wife today.”
Le Ning choked, glared at her: “When have I ever not been a good, virtuous wife?”
She flipped her hair, eyes watery as she stared at Ruan Qiu: “How do I look? Fallen for me yet?”
“What perfume are you wearing? Smells nice.”
Le Ning smiled: “Gucci Bloom — the bottle you gave me.”
Ruan Qiu was a little surprised: “It smells this good?”
When she bought it, she thought it was too strong and just tossed it to Le Ning.
Le Ning hummed in agreement and urged her: “Let’s go. Where are we eating?”
“Up to you.”
Le Ning thought for two seconds: “Let’s go to Taikoo Hui. I’m craving curry beef brisket.”
“…Okay.”
After eating, Le Ning and Ruan Qiu went shopping.
Le Ning walked a few steps, then stopped. Ruan Qiu looked at her suspiciously: “What are you doing?”
Le Ning shook her head, glanced back, then looked at Ruan Qiu again: “I keep feeling like someone’s following me.”
Ruan Qiu froze, then instinctively looked behind them.
“Where? It’s probably just your imagination.”
She added: “Nothing’s there. Let’s go check out the Armani beauty counter — they have the new 206 shade, and I still haven’t gotten it. Come on.”
Le Ning frowned. She really didn’t see anyone suspicious.
She let out a soft “Mm” and followed Ruan Qiu into the counter.
Once inside the beauty section, the two of them went a little wild.
Le Ning had money, and because of her job, she never hesitated when buying these things.
After trying several lipsticks, she ended up buying foundation and a no-makeup cream too.
Ruan Qiu was still testing products. Le Ning said: “I’m going to the bathroom. Wait here for me.”
“Okay~”
Le Ning headed toward the restroom with her phone in hand. The mall was crowded at this hour — people coming and going everywhere.
Suddenly, a hand reached out from behind and landed on her shoulder.
Le Ning’s body stiffened. Before she could react, a familiar voice came from above her head: “Too slow.”
“…”
Le Ning turned her head and met Zhou Ran’s eyes.
“What are you doing here?”
As she spoke, she pointed at his hand: “Captain Zhou, taking advantage like this isn’t appropriate, is it?”
Zhou Ran lowered his gaze to look at her and said calmly: “Someone’s following you. Didn’t notice?”
Le Ning: “…I thought it was just my imagination.”
She instinctively wanted to look back.
Zhou Ran held her shoulder firmly and said in a low voice: “Don’t turn around. Come with me.”
Author’s note:
Captain Zhou: Forgot everything I taught you?
Lemon: Shut up.
Captain Zhou: My wife just wants me to protect her personally.
Author: …?
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