No
Even with some age differences, it shouldn’t exceed two years much.
If Nannan were alive, she would be twenty-seven this year.
If my sister could be met so easily, why would it take over twenty years without a single piece of news?
What I fear most is that before we find her, Nannan may have already passed away.
Disappointment was clearly written on the faces of the two young soldiers.
Chun Xia looked on angrily, “What do you mean?
Are you despising her because she’s older, aren’t you?”
The pain of finding a relative only to have one’s hopes dashed suddenly is something that those who have never experienced can’t understand.
At this moment, Lu Jun didn’t have the time to consider the feelings of others either.
Before the cold mask on his face crumbled, he strode away from another woman who had disappointed him and hailed a car to leave.
“So rude!
When I gave him five hundred yuan, I should have been rougher,” Chun Xia stomped her foot and muttered quietly.
For Manman, what mattered was repaying the debt owed to others.
The cold Jun Ye had departed for some reason, but fortunately, Grandpa Yao remained.
Yao Ziye, at this moment, was even more disappointed than Lu Jun.
Because no matter how he thought about it before, he always felt like Manman was the most suitable as the Nannan he had envisioned in his mind, which is why he let Lu Jun know.
Even if Manman now claimed to be 29, he still wanted to find traces of lying in the features of her face.
“Please give me your bank account,” Manman said seriously as she took out a pen and paper from her small bag.
“You wouldn’t lie to us, would you?
Are you really twenty-nine?” Yao Ziye advanced another step toward her.
The wavering light from the lake shone through his slender and spirited eyes, radiating gentle ripples of water.
With a slight frown, Manman knew that her answer would disappoint him again and uttered clearly, “I have no reason to deceive you.”
“Exactly,” Chun Xia joined in the conversation to prevent Manman from being bullied constantly.
Manman might be kind and not bear grudges, but she, Chun Xia, had long been displeased.
She pointed forcefully at the military uniform on his body, “You’re a soldier; you should understand manners even more!
Don’t you know that asking a woman about her age again and again is extremely impolite?”
Yao Ziye, as if awakened by her words, broke into a wry smile with a hint of amusement, “I’m sorry.
My friend and I didn’t mean that.”
“Then what do you mean?!” Chun Xia shouted angrily.
Asking Manman about her age wasn’t because he wanted to pursue her, so was it that he intended to mock her by finding an excuse?
Things are getting worse by the minute.
Astutely avoiding the subject, Yao Ziye only asked them, “How come you’re here?
I don’t think you specifically came here to repay the money, did you?”
Confronted with this counter-question, both Chun Xia and Manman were momentarily at a loss for words.
“I really did want to repay you,” Manman said.
“You don’t need to worry about the money,” Yao Ziye revealed to her frankly.
“The fifty bucks each was donated by fifty brothers on the bus.
It boils down to less than a hundred bucks per person.
The amount is small; you don’t need to repay it.”
“Even a small amount of money is still money; how could it not be repaid?” Under Manman’s concept of diligence and thrift, how could a few tens of yuan be overlooked?
Seeing her bite her lip stubbornly, Yao Ziye was reminded of the initial misunderstanding on the bus and smiled gracefully, “The problem is that most of these fifty brothers have returned to their respective units after the mission and some are not in this province or this city.
If you really went to each one to repay the money, the cost of transportation and bank fees alone would exceed the amount owed.”
Realizing the complexity of the situation, Chun Xia and Manman were both speechless.
“Then—” How to deal with the favor owed if the money can’t be repaid?
Yao Ziye craftily narrowed his eyes at the two of them, “If you really want to repay this favor, why not tell me what you’re doing here?”
After all, he was their savior; how could they continue to treat him as a stranger and quibble further, which would only make them seem petty.
Chun Xia took a leap of faith, “We’re here to visit a friend and deliver something for him.
He’s a soldier who’s recently been studying at this school.”
“I see,” Yao Ziye sighed with relief and escorted them towards the gatehouse at the entrance, asking, “May I know the name of my comrade-in-arms?
Which class is he in?”
“We didn’t get a chance to ask which class he’s in, but his name is Mo Wenyang,” Chun Xia said.
What a small world!
The smile on Yao Ziye’s lips grew wider as he said, “If it’s not a coincidence of identical names, Officer Mo happens to be in the same class as I am.
If you had mentioned earlier that you are friends with Officer Mo, my comrade Lu Jun wouldn’t have stopped you from getting on the vehicle.”
Mo Wenyang = Officer Mo?
Chun Xia and Manman looked at each other, both sighing at how small the world really was.
Upon reaching the gatehouse, Yao Ziye intended to take them directly to find the person in question, but considering it was nap time, he was wary of disturbing the other comrades and opted to use the gatehouse phone to inform Mo Wenyang to come out.
When Mo Wenyang received the call, he only noticed that Chun Xia and Manman had arrived.
Jumping off the iron bunk in his dormitory, he rushed out to knock on Jiang Yan’s door.
Excited at the prospect of seeing Manman again the next day, Jiang Yan ran out barefoot, slipping into his military boots and buttoning up his shirt while dodging the patrol team.
As the two of them ran towards the gatehouse, they could see from afar Yao Ziye’s figure standing there.
Speaking of which, Yao Ziye was a handsome and dashing officer, regarded as the most good-looking in his class, outshining even those classmates who prided themselves on their appearance.
At this moment, seeing Yao Ziye standing face-to-face with Manman, Jiang Yan couldn’t help feeling puzzled: “Why haven’t I heard that Colonel Yao has found a girlfriend?”
“Jun Ye has high standards,” Mo Wenyang said with a twinge of jealousy.
Both ‘ye’s had good looks and backgrounds, plus talent to boot, and had a bevy of women chasing after them, “But I’ve heard that he was betrothed as a child.”
So he was betrothed.
When Jiang Yan stood facing Yao Ziye at the gatehouse, he let down his guard.
“Major Jiang has come as well?” Yao Ziye appraised Jiang Yan from head to toe, noting his sockless feet, and then as his gaze shifted to Manman’s blushing face, a thought flickered in his deep, contemplative eyes.
A couple stood face-to-face, only a few steps apart, yet unable to move freely because of the somewhat familiar person standing in between them.
Major Jiang was in a state of urgency, signaling with his eyes to Mo Wenyang.
Getting the hint, Mo Wenyang intended to send Yao Ziye on his way, saying, “Colonel Yao, what brings you here?”
“Just so happens, these two are also friends of mine,” Yao Ziye said, arms crossed and leaning back against the wall, without any sign of leaving.
Never known Jun Ye to be unaware of social cues.
All four of them felt a sense of urgency, exchanging meaningful glances.
Based on their understanding of Yao Ziye, they guessed he must have observed something and deliberately stayed behind.
“Don’t you have something to give him?” Yao Ziye asked Chun Xia with a leisurely and complacent smile, the corner of his mouth arching.
Chun Xia murmured as she unzipped her bag, and took out Manman’s medical records, intending to hand them directly to Jiang Yan.
As Jiang Yan reached out to take the medical records, he noticed Yao Ziye’s gaze focused on his hand and suddenly realized a major blunder.
“What’s wrong?” Chun Xia asked, puzzled by his outstretched hand hanging in midair without taking anything for quite some time.
“How did you guys actually get to know each other?” Jiang Yan asked, pointing at them and Yao Ziye.