Even Ling Xi was startled, letting out a small cry of surprise.
“Holy cow! There’s actually someone here!” A rough voice rang out, somewhat familiar.
Ling Xi turned around and saw the camouflage trio. The one who had just spoken was the same man who had used a rope to snare the boar in the woods earlier, and the handsome guy standing beside him holding a crossbow was none other than the one who had given her the pig leg.
As their eyes met, Chen Tianjun greeted her with delight, “Little girl, it’s you again!”
“Soldier uncles.” Ling Xi greeted them obediently. Seeing them pick up the wild pheasant, her eyes went wide as saucers. “Uncle, I saw it first!”
“Huh?” Luo Fei froze mid-motion, scratching his head as he looked toward his battalion commander, at a loss for what to do.
Ling Xi pouted and pointed at Xiao Jue’s crossbow, saying petulantly, “Uncle almost hit me.”
In truth, this really wasn’t Xiao Jue’s fault. Ling Xi was just too short—from where they had been standing, all they could see was the bushes. Plus, her body was so weak and her breathing so shallow that they simply couldn’t detect her.
But Ling Xi didn’t care about any of that. She was still a child, after all—she was allowed to be unreasonable.
Xiao Jue looked at the delicate little girl before him, a tiny skinny thing with barely any hair, tangled like dried straw. Her features were faint, her face devoid of any color.
Only her eyes were black and bright, glistening with moisture, remarkably full of life.
She was like a naive little kitten—so frail, yet so spirited.
“I’ll trade you pork for it,” he said.
Chen Tianjun nodded repeatedly, flashing his charming tiger teeth. “Right, we’ll trade you pork for it!”
Heaven knew how tough wild boar meat was. After several meals of it, his jaw ached from chewing. They’d finally gotten a chicken to improve their rations—they couldn’t just hand it over.
Ling Xi knew the pork they mentioned was from yesterday’s wild boar. In fact, that tough, gamey pork tasted pretty mediocre to her. If her body didn’t need the nutrition, she wouldn’t want to eat it either.
Besides, the origin of that meat was hard to explain. If she said the soldier uncles gave it to her, it would probably stir up gossip again.
Seeing her frown, Xiao Jue added, “Fish works too.”
“Fish?” Fish was good—nutritious and delicious. Ling Xi blinked. “How many fish?”
Chen Tianjun was amused by her. This little girl looked so well-behaved, so how was she so cunningly clever? She even knew how to haggle?
“How many do you want?”
Ling Xi sneakily glanced at Xiao Jue a couple of times, then held out her tiny little hand. “How about… five?”
“Five! What a rip-off!” Luo Fei was stunned, thinking this little girl really dared to ask. “One chicken for five fish—whoever makes that trade must be…”
“Deal.” Xiao Jue agreed without hesitation.
Gulp. Luo Fei swallowed the word “idiot” back down his throat.
But his eyes were clearly saying: My goodness, has the battalion commander gone crazy from being stuck out in these woods?!
They were currently on a mission, and getting in the water was actually something to be avoided. For one thing, getting wet would affect their combat readiness; for another, the weight of the water would slow them down.
Now the battalion commander wasn’t just volunteering to get in the water—he’d unhesitatingly promised to catch five fish, all for one chicken??
Luo Fei was completely dumbfounded.
But shocked as he was, the task assigned by his superior still had to be completed. He solemnly picked up the chicken and led Ling Xi to the riverside, keeping watch with Chen Tianjun while also minding the kid.
Fortunately, the kid was fairly well-behaved. She squatted by the river without wandering off—she just asked too many questions.
Was Ling Xi just squatting there innocently? Of course not.
While chatting, she had already sized up all three men, and now she was discussing the handsome guys with Cai Yu!
All three members of the camouflage trio were good-looking. Luo Fei was a tough guy; Chen Tianjun had peach-blossom eyes, fair skin, and a cute fang when he smiled—clearly a playboy at a glance. But the most captivating one was definitely Xiao Jue.
He was tall with long legs and a wheat-colored complexion, his features deep and chiseled. His taciturn manner gave him an air of aloof restraint. Especially now, having taken off his jacket and rolled up his trouser legs to catch fish in the river, his soaked tank top clung to his body, radiating raw, wild masculine charm.
Dressed, he looked lean; undressed, a beast. Wasn’t that every woman’s dream?
“Broad shoulders, narrow waist, long legs—even his calves are that toned. Tsk tsk tsk, his future wife must be so lucky.”
Terror was practically tangible in Cai Yu’s eyes. “Ancestress, do you remember that you’re only twelve years old?”
Ling Xi shot him a glare. Did she want to be twelve? Didn’t she want a domineering young CEO in one hand and fresh young eye candy in the other? It was all his fault!
She glanced at her bean-sprout-like body and sighed deeply.
Catching fish wasn’t as easy as it seemed, especially in this era of scarce resources. The fish in the river were craftier than usual and loved toying with people.
Fortunately, Xiao Jue had eagle eyes and agile reflexes—every jab of his whittled wooden fish spear came up with a fish.
Ling Xi looked at the fish, then at his smooth, taut arm muscles, and for a moment couldn’t decide which looked more delicious.
The afternoon sun sparkled on the water’s surface, making the man in the river shine even brighter. Standing there quietly, he looked like a deity from ancient Greek mythology.
Watching him, that familiar feeling stirred again. Ling Xi was so dazed she didn’t even notice him approaching.
“Five.” He placed the fish in front of her, as economical with words as ever.
Ling Xi snapped out of it, poked one of the fish still gasping, and gave him a sweet smile. “Thank you, Uncle~”
Xiao Jue frowned, his dark eyes fixed on her, his thin lips pressed into a straight line.
“Yo, Xiao Jue, you’ve become an uncle!” Chen Tianjun punched his childhood friend playfully, then winked at Ling Xi. “Comrade Xiao here is only nineteen. Even if he looks a bit mature, calling him ‘uncle’ is a bit much, don’t you think?”
Ling Xi was a little surprised too. She knew people joined the army young in this era, but she hadn’t expected Xiao Jue to be a battalion commander at such a young age.
Seeing her small mouth fall open and her dark, glossy eyes fixed on him, Xiao Jue felt an inexplicable sense of achievement. For the first time, he felt his rank was something to be proud of.
“Just call me gege.” The words slipped out before he knew it.
Ling Xi’s eyes curved into crescent moons, and she readily obliged. “Thank you, gege~”
Calling him gege was a much better deal than calling him uncle. How could such a handsome young man be a generation apart from her?
Cai Yu’s bird eyes widened, a bad premonition rising in his heart. “Foremother, you’re probably older than his ancestors—don’t go corrupting a good young sapling!”
“Nonsense, I’m only twelve.” Ling Xi covered her face in mock shyness.
Gege is good, gege is great, gege’s body is first-rate!
Cai Yu: “…” That was blindingly painful to watch.
“Su girl, what are you staring at?” Luo Fei’s loud voice rang out. “Handsome, isn’t our battalion commander? Back when we were in the provincial region, the prettiest girls from the art troupe were chasing after him!”
“Really?” Ling Xi’s interest was piqued. “What did the prettiest girl look like?”
She hadn’t forgotten the original agreement: after completing each mission, she got to choose an adjustment to one part of her body, based on characters relevant to the mission world’s plot.
In other words, if she found a certain plot character’s hands beautiful, then after completing the mission she could adjust her own hands to match that person’s—just like installing and fine-tuning parts.
A cultural troupe would surely be full of pretty young girls, and there might just be a part or two she had her eye on.
At this, Luo Fei laughed heartily: “Now you’ve asked the right person! That girl is whiter than dumpling skin, with a round face and round eyes—incredibly spirited!”
Ling Xi’s face went dark. Was he sure she wasn’t a snow-skin mooncake?
She glanced at Xiao Jue. “Xiao Jue-gege, is she really as pretty as Luo Fei-ge says?”