Lei Li’s steps faltered.
But he didn’t turn around. He merely stopped at the doorway, impatience clear in his stance.
“Does Miss Bai have anything else to say?”
His tone was filled with disdain.
Bai Luoluo stood barefoot on the cold floor, the chill shooting straight up from the soles of her feet.
Enduring the soreness in her ankle, she hurried a few steps and rushed up behind Lei Li.
“Commander Lei, leaving just like this—aren’t you taking our Bai family a little too lightly?”
Her voice was no longer soft and sweet like before; instead, it carried a cool, steely edge.
Lei Li turned around, narrowing his eyes as he sized her up.
This woman—just moments ago she looked like she was about to cry. How had she suddenly turned into a bristling little cat?
“I’m taking the Bai family lightly?”
Lei Li sounded as if he’d heard a joke.
“Miss Bai, if it weren’t for the fact that the Bai family donated aircraft back in the day, I wouldn’t even have stepped through this door today.”
“Let me make this clear.”
“I, Lei Li, am a rough man. I live a life licking blood off a blade.”
“A pampered young lady like you won’t be able to endure my way of life.”
“And I don’t have the time to serve an ancestor at home.”
“Breaking this off early is better for everyone.”
With that, he turned again, his hand already on the doorknob.
Bai Luoluo stared at his broad back, her heart pounding so hard it felt like it might leap out of her throat.
The system’s red countdown was already flashing across her vision.
【Time until punishment begins: 10 minutes.】
Damn it!
Force wouldn’t work—she could only go soft.
But not the useless kind of weakness she’d shown earlier.
She needed a reason he couldn’t refuse.
Bai Luoluo took a deep breath, her mind racing.
In the original plot, Lei Li had a foul temper, but he had one fatal weakness.
National interest.
As long as it benefited the country, he wouldn’t hesitate to stake his life on it.
And the Bai family happened to possess exactly what he wanted most right now.
“What if I told you I have the improved design schematics for the Dongfeng-1 propulsion system?”
Bai Luoluo’s voice wasn’t loud, but it reached Lei Li’s ears with crystal clarity.
Lei Li’s hand on the doorknob stiffened violently.
In that instant, it felt as though the air around them had frozen.
He slowly turned around. This time, there was no disdain in his eyes—only razor-sharp scrutiny, like that of a hawk.
The look seemed ready to pierce straight through Bai Luoluo.
“What did you say?”
His voice was low, carrying a dangerous undertone.
“The Dongfeng-1 propulsion system.”
Bai Luoluo straightened her back and met his killing gaze head-on.
Though her legs were still weak, she forced herself not to show it.
“When I was studying abroad, my mentor was a top-tier expert in aerodynamics.”
“I have the latest improved schematics. They can increase the range by at least 30%.”
“I know that domestic research is currently stuck at exactly this bottleneck.”
Lei Li’s pupils contracted violently.
As a military region commander, he understood all too well what this meant.
A 30% increase in range.
That wasn’t just a number—it was a qualitative leap in national defense power!
It was the leverage that could force enemies to lower their heads at the negotiation table!
But he didn’t believe her.
“You?”
Lei Li looked her up and down, his gaze lingering on her refined Western dress and bare feet.
“A young lady who only knows how to dress up—understands aerodynamics?”
“Don’t tell me this is some nonsense you made up to force a marriage.”
Bai Luoluo had expected his suspicion.
She didn’t waste words and directly rattled off a string of complex data and formulas.
“Combustion chamber pressure parameters adjusted to…”
“Nozzle expansion ratio corrected to…”
“Fuel mixture ratio…”
As one professional term after another flowed from those cherry-red lips, Lei Li’s expression changed.
From doubt, to shock, to solemn focus.
Though he wasn’t a researcher, as a commander he was no stranger to these core parameters.
When a true expert spoke, you could tell immediately.
Everything she said was solid, substantive content.
And it pointed directly at the exact problems domestic experts were currently working day and night to solve.
The way Lei Li looked at Bai Luoluo changed completely.
This woman, who looked like nothing more than a decorative vase, actually knew this stuff?
“Where are the schematics?”
Lei Li took a step forward, his imposing presence bearing down on her.
Bai Luoluo instinctively retreated half a step, then quickly steadied herself.
Now that she’d caught his interest, it was time to talk terms.
“The schematics are in my head—and in my dowry chests.”
Bai Luoluo lifted her chin, like a proud little peacock.
“Commander Lei, I’m not stupid.”
“With the current situation, the Bai family is like a piece of fat meat—everyone wants a bite.”
“My father may be rich, but in certain people’s eyes, that just makes him a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.”
“I need a protective umbrella.”
“One that’s hard enough that no one dares touch it.”
Bai Luoluo walked up to Lei Li, stopping less than half a meter away.
She could even feel the heat radiating from his body.
She looked up at him. The misty eyes that had once seemed delicate now held sharp calculation and clarity.
“Marry me, and the schematics are my dowry.”
“And I guarantee that from now on, all of the Bai family’s overseas channels and funds will prioritize supporting military development.”
Lei Li narrowed his eyes, staring at her coldly.
“Are you making a deal with me?”
“In your eyes, is marriage nothing more than a transaction?”
He hated people who calculated benefits so clearly.
Especially those who used marriage as a bargaining chip.
It made him feel disgusted.
Bai Luoluo rolled her eyes inwardly.
Brother, at a time like this you’re still pretending to be pure?This is a political marriage to begin with, okay?
But aloud, she spoke with complete sincerity:
“Commander Lei, I know you look down on me.”
“You think I’m delicate, that I reek of capitalist habits.”
“That’s fine. I never expected you to like me anyway.”
“We can sign an agreement.”
“A marriage in name only.”
Bai Luoluo raised one finger and gently shook it.
“You give me the title of Mrs. Lei, and a place to stay.”
“I’ll give you the blueprints, and I’ll give you funding.”
“At home, I won’t interfere with your freedom, and you won’t need to fulfill any husbandly obligations.”
“We’ll mind our own business.”
“In a few years, once the situation stabilizes, or if you meet a woman you truly like, we can divorce at any time.”
“This deal—you won’t lose.”
Lei Li fell silent.
He stared fixedly at Bai Luoluo, trying to find even the slightest crack in her expression.
But all he saw was frankness, and a trace of desperation born from being cornered.
Marriage in name only.Mind our own business.
Those words inexplicably made him feel irritated.
Just moments ago, she had been soft as water in his arms—and now she was negotiating terms with him?
But that set of blueprints…
They were far too important.
For those blueprints, let alone marrying a wife—even if it meant charging straight into a minefield, he would do it.
National interest came above all else.
That belief was carved into his very bones.
Lei Li clenched his back teeth, a hard muscle bulging along his jaw.
“Fine.”
He forced the word out through clenched teeth.
His voice was cold as ice shards.
“Bai Luoluo, you’d better pray those blueprints are real.”
“If they’re fake, I’ll make sure you understand the consequences of deceiving a soldier.”
The heavy stone in Bai Luoluo’s heart finally fell away.
The red countdown numbers in the system vanished instantly.
【Ding! Crisis resolved. Mission completed: Successfully bound to the Child of Fate.】【Reward: Beginner Gift Pack ×1, stored in system space.】
Bai Luoluo let out a breath of relief. Her legs went weak, and she nearly collapsed again.
This time, Lei Li didn’t help her up.
He only looked at her coldly, as if she were nothing but trouble.
“Since it’s settled, let’s go.”
Lei Li glanced at the military watch on his wrist.
“I only have half an hour.”
“Pack your things and come back to the compound with me.”
Bai Luoluo froze. “Now?”
“Otherwise?” Lei Li raised an eyebrow. “Do you expect me to come fetch you with an eight-man sedan chair?”
“Since it’s a transaction, we should be efficient.”
“I don’t like dragging things out.”
Bai Luoluo looked at her own pampered outfit, then thought of the harsh conditions of the legendary military compound.
Bitterness rose in her chest.
But for survival.For the blueprints.And for… those future seven babies in one pregnancy.
Endure it!
“Alright, I’ll go pack right now.”
She turned to head upstairs.
“Wait.”
Lei Li suddenly called out to her.
Bai Luoluo turned back. “Something else?”
Lei Li’s gaze dropped to her bare feet.
They were small and pale, her toes round and delicate. Against the dark floor, they created a striking visual contrast.
Lei Li’s Adam’s apple bobbed unconsciously.
He looked away, his voice stiff.
“Put your shoes on.”
“What kind of sight is that.”
With that, he strode over to the sofa and sat down, no longer looking at her.
Bai Luoluo was momentarily stunned. Then she lowered her head and glanced at her feet.
The corner of her lips curved into a barely noticeable smile.
Looks like this living Yama King isn’t completely impenetrable after all.
Half an hour later.
At the entrance of the Bai family residence, two military-green trucks were parked.
They had been specially arranged by Bai Luoluo’s father for his precious daughter.
Lei Li stood beside the jeep, watching box after box being loaded onto the trucks, his face turning as black as the bottom of a pot.
Aside from clothes and jewelry, there were entire sets of rosewood furniture.
And then—
“What’s that?”
Lei Li pointed at a huge white object the workers were carefully carrying out.
Bai Luoluo was directing the workers Hearing him, she glanced back and replied matter-of-factly:
“A bathtub.”
“It’s a German-imported enamel bathtub. I’m used to soaking in baths—without it, I can’t sleep.”
The veins at Lei Li’s temple throbbed violently.
He took a deep breath and reminded himself: For the blueprints. For the blueprints.
“And that one.”
Lei Li pointed at a massive padded item behind it.
“A Simmons mattress,” Bai Luoluo explained. “Also imported. Very soft. Want to try it?”
Lei Li felt his fists clench.
He slept in foxholes at the front lines, on hard wooden boards.
And this woman was moving house like she was relocating a palace.
“Bai Luoluo.”
Lei Li ground his teeth. “You’re going to join the army, not go on vacation.”
“The single-story houses in the compound can’t fit a Buddha of your size.”
Bai Luoluo blinked her innocent, wide eyes.
“But we already agreed earlier.”
“You give me a place to stay, and I won’t interfere with your life.”
“I didn’t ask you to help me move—this is all my own stuff.”
“Could it be that the commander wants to go back on his word?”
Lei Li was choked into silence.
Fine.
You’re rich. You’re willful.
Let’s see how long those delicate things of yours survive in a place like the military compound.
“Drive!”
Lei Li yanked the car door open, climbed into the driver’s seat, and refused to look at her again.
With the roar of engines, the jeep, along with two large trucks loaded with “decadent capitalist materials,” drove in a grand procession toward the military compound.
Bai Luoluo sat in the passenger seat, watching the scenery rushing past the window, silently cheering herself up.
Lei Li, we’ll see.
This is just the beginning.
Not only am I going to move into this mansion, but I’m also going to turn you, this cold-faced devil, into my devoted subject!
But she was unaware of this at the time.
What awaits her is a chaotic and out-of-place new life.