We Are the Regular Army

Under the warm light, the tip of the long spear gleamed with icy flashes.

What the hell... She actually had a long spear hidden in her room?!

Lin Qiye swallowed and hurriedly said, "No, Sister Hong Ying... I just wanted to ask... do you have any paper and a pen?"

Hong Ying froze. "What do you need paper and a pen for in the middle of the night?"

"To write a letter."

"Mm... I think I do. Wait here a moment!" Hong Ying set the spear aside and returned to her room, rummaging through boxes and cabinets.

Standing at the doorway, Lin Qiye could clearly see inside Hong Ying's room.

Unexpectedly, Hong Ying's room was extremely simple—one could even call it shabby.

There was only a hard wooden bed, a desk lamp, a writing desk, and a stuffed toy by the bed.

There were no extra decorations, no expensive mattress, no sofa, no air conditioner... Lin Qiye found it hard to imagine that, in such a luxurious villa, Hong Ying's room could be this bare.

Rather than the master bedroom of a villa, it was more like the hut of an ascetic.

Only that cute stuffed toy seemed to suit Hong Ying's age at all.

"Paper... paper, paper... Found it!" Hong Ying's eyes lit up. Holding a pen and several sheets of paper, she walked to the door and handed them to Lin Qiye.

"Sister Hong Ying, do you usually... sleep here?"

Hong Ying looked back into the room and nodded. "As a Night Watchman, I can't indulge too much in material comforts. I need to temper my will at all times... If this villa weren't left behind by my parents and needed regular upkeep, I might have sold it long ago and gone back to live in the dorms."

Lin Qiye fell silent for a moment. "I understand. Thank you... Good night."

"Good night. You should get some sleep too." Hong Ying smiled and waved to him, then gently closed the door.

Lin Qiye went downstairs, sat in a chair in the living room, and switched on a bright light overhead.

On the table lay a sheet of paper and a pen.

The lonely chirping of cicadas drifted faintly beyond the window. The sweltering heat of the summer night had been swept away by the rain, while the shadows of leaves fell across the table in the moonlight...

Lin Qiye held the pen and sat at the table, motionless.

After an unknown amount of time, he gently put pen to paper.

He wrote the first line.

"To Auntie and Yang Jin..."

"Mom, Mom!"

Yang Jin shook Auntie, who had fallen asleep at the dining table, and called softly.

Auntie opened her bleary eyes and slowly raised her head. Rubbing her aching neck with one hand, she asked, "What is it? Has your brother come back?"

Yang Jin shook his head. "No, but there's a letter under the door."

"A letter?"

"Yeah! It looks like it's from Brother."

"Xiao Qi? Hurry, open it and let's see!" Auntie said anxiously. As she watched Yang Jin open the letter, she continued, "That child didn't come home all night and didn't even say anything. He got all the way to the door and still didn't come in.

What... what did he mean by slipping in a letter?"

Yang Jin opened the letter, and Auntie took it. The two of them huddled together and read it carefully.

After a long while, Auntie lowered the letter with trembling hands and sat there blankly.

"Mom, Brother said he joined the army." Yang Jin picked up the letter and turned to look at Auntie.

"Joined the army... joined the army? How could he... suddenly join the army?" Auntie muttered. "He never mentioned it before..."

"No, Brother did mention it." Yang Jin nodded seriously.

"He did?"

"Before, he often told me in private that his biggest dream was to join the army. But since his eyes never got better, he temporarily gave up on that dream." Yang Jin paused, then pointed at several words in the letter.

"And look, Brother also said in the letter that after his eyes got better, he secretly enlisted. But because he was afraid you'd stop him, he didn't tell you. Last night, he secretly boarded a train to Qiqihar by himself..."

"That's not right."

"What's not right?"

"You only found this letter this morning. According to what it says, he should already be on the train!" For once, Auntie's mind was unusually sharp!

"Uh..." Yang Jin scratched his head. "Actually, I only found this letter this morning. It might have been there last night—I just didn't see it."

"B-but this is too sudden!" Auntie could not accept this fact. "And Qiye's eyes only just got better. What if they flare up again while he's serving in the army?

No... no, I can't! I'm worried!

I'm going to the government. I'm going to get my nephew back!"

Auntie anxiously stood up. Without even changing out of her slippers, she opened the door and hurried outside.

Suddenly, she stopped.

Outside the front door, two men in military uniforms stood there awkwardly, seemingly about to knock.

If Lin Qiye had been there, he would have recognized them at once. They were Chen Muye and Wen Qimo.

"Who are you?" Aunt Wang asked with a frown.

Chen Muye and Wen Qimo exchanged a glance. A gentle smile immediately appeared on Wen Qimo's face, and he gave Aunt Wang a rather unstandard military salute.

"Hello, may I ask if you are Ms. Wang Fang, Lin Qiye's guardian?"

"Yes, I am."

"We're from the Cangnan Military and Political Office. We've come to deliver some of the paperwork and subsidies for Lin Qiye's enlistment."

"Military and Political Office?" Aunt Wang asked suspiciously. "What kind of place is that?"

"It's... specifically responsible for new recruits enlisting."

"Oh... then, then please come in and have a seat." Aunt Wang stepped back to let them inside, then turned to make tea for them. "I was just about to go find you people. Something about this doesn't seem right!"

Chen Muye and Wen Qimo had just sat down when Wen Qimo broke out in a cold sweat at those words.

Wen Qimo quietly leaned close to Chen Muye's ear and whispered, "Captain, can we... really bluff our way through this?"

"What are you afraid of? Our paperwork was issued through the regular military. It's all real!"

"But, but you only submitted Lin Qiye's application yesterday. There's no way the documents could have arrived this quickly, right? Are you sure... these are real?"

"..." Chen Muye's mouth twitched slightly. "Very soon, they'll become real."

"But I don't get it. We could clearly have waited until the official documents came through before visiting. Why are we in such a rush?"

"It's not us who's in a rush. It's that kid Lin Qiye." Chen Muye glanced at Aunt Wang, who was busy in the kitchen, and lowered his voice. "He was afraid his aunt wouldn't believe what was written in the letter and would go straight to the government to verify it. But the lower-level government officials don't know we exist... you get what I mean, right?"

"Got it."

Wen Qimo nodded, sat up straight, and put on a standard smile.

"Ms. Wang Fang, please rest assured. We're regular military personnel. Lin Qiye's enlistment in Wulumuqi has also been approved. There are absolutely no problems!"

Beside them, Yang Jin helplessly covered his forehead.

Aunt Wang, who was making tea, shuddered. The teacup in her hand toppled directly onto the table. She turned around stiffly, her eyes wide as she blurted out:

"H-He isn't going to Qiqihar?!"