Lü Qinglong's Older Brother

"Squad Leader, you knew my older brother?"

There was a tremor in Lü Qinglong's voice.

"Yeah."

"Your brother was one of my soldiers, too."

"Back then, I happened to be assigned to train recruits in New Recruit Company, so I trained your brother's intake. He was in my squad."

Chen Ting didn't deny it. He nodded and spoke gently.

"Squad Leader Chen Ting, are you the squad leader my brother said beat him eight times in one day during recruit training?"

Chen Ting: ...

"We were young and hot-blooded back then, and your brother wouldn't listen to me. I had no choice but to hit him, right?"

"Back then, we didn't believe in humane training. That was just how things were."

Chen Ting gave an awkward cough.

He'd thought Lü Qinglong would be devastated at the mention of his brother, but it seemed he wasn't particularly affected.

"I know what you're like, Squad Leader. My brother told me that he'd met a really good and responsible squad leader in New Recruit Company."

"I didn't realize it was you! My brother was right about you, Squad Leader!"

Lü Qinglong stared earnestly at Chen Ting. But with his bulky, muscular face, he looked a little like he wanted to eat Chen Ting alive. It was rather frightening.

"Your brother was very talented. Of all the soldiers I've met, he was the most gifted and the hardest-working."

"Lü Qinglong, you'll have to work hard if you want to catch up to your brother. He really was outstanding."

Chen Ting looked at Lü Qinglong, his eyes seeming to hold some complicated emotions. He even stood up and reached out to pat Lü Qinglong on the shoulder.

The gesture left Ji Baichang, standing nearby, dumbfounded.

The other recruits were busy deleting things from their phones or making the most of their remaining time to chat with friends and girlfriends.

But his phone had been turned in, so he could only focus entirely on their conversation—and he was getting more and more lost.

Just who was Lü Qinglong's older brother?

How had he earned such praise from a veteran who'd served in the Special Operations Brigade for sixteen years?

"I will, Squad Leader!"

"One of the reasons I enlisted was my brother. I'll fulfill the wish he never got to see through!"

Lü Qinglong's voice was firm, and his eyes shone with conviction.

"Hmm. How about this? Get up at five tomorrow morning, and I'll give you a head start on training. I'll teach you everything I can."

"How much you learn will depend on you."

After saying that, Squad Leader Chen Ting turned and left the company room, apparently heading toward Company Headquarters.

"Holy crap, Qinglong! You really are connected!"

"No wonder you've got a build like that. How else could you have gotten into the army?"

"By the way, what does your brother do? Is he in our unit? In the Special Operations Brigade, too?"

As soon as Chen Ting left, Ji Baichang hurried over to Lü Qinglong and started gossiping.

It was as if Ji Baichang had discovered a whole new world. He'd thought he'd done a good job hiding that he came from a rich family, but apparently Lü Qinglong had kept his background even more under wraps!

"My brother?"

"Before he died carrying out a decapitation mission against the enemy, he was a captain."

Lü Qinglong was a huge man, and his voice usually seemed to echo. But as he said those words, Ji Baichang felt as if a breeze had brushed past his ear.

"I—I'm sorry, Qinglong. I didn't mean to."

Ji Baichang froze, then wore an expression of equal parts sorrow and regret.

What a stupid mouth he had! He'd said all that without knowing anything!

"It's fine. My mother, my father, and I are all proud of my brother."

Lü Qinglong smiled. He didn't seem to mind much.

"Qinglong, I mean it. I'm definitely sticking with you, brother."

"You can eat a lot, right? I saw some little shops outside the camp. I'll buy one of them and let you eat whatever you want!"

Ji Baichang patted Lü Qinglong on the chest.

He liked spending time with people like Lü Qinglong.

He was good at reading people, too. Lü Qinglong was simple and sincere!

"Really? Then next time Squad Leader takes us out to buy snacks, I'm going to eat my fill."

Lü Qinglong smiled, his gaze settling on the other recruits in the room just like Ji Baichang's had.

"Down-to-earth Daoist, what are you doing? I feel like your fingers are about to start smoking."

Ji Baichang dragged over a little stool and scooted over to sit beside Xue Daochao.

He stared intently at Xue Daochao's phone, seemingly eager to see what sort of needlework he was fiddling with.

"Nothing. I'm just deleting the stuff I'm supposed to delete. But I still have some apps with study materials from my teachers. Do I have to delete those?"

Xue Daochao looked troubled.

Training hadn't stumped him. Physical conditioning hadn't stumped him, either.

But the phone inspection had thoroughly defeated him!

Quite a few of the apps on his phone had lifetime memberships. If he deleted them, where was he supposed to find them again?

"Well, well! I knew you were up to something!"

"Can't you read fortunes? Why don't you tell your own fortune and see if the squad leader will find anything on your phone today?"

Ji Baichang was positively gloating.

At last, he'd caught this guy in a bind. Otherwise, he was always so calm and collected—it was downright irritating!

"You don't understand. There are three things a man must never touch. First, gambling. You can never beat the house, and gambling will only ruin your family."

"Second, drugs. I don't need to tell you how dangerous they are."

"And the third thing is staying up late!"

"Staying up late is bad for your health."

After saying that, Xue Daochao put on a highly professional air and stroked a nonexistent beard.

"Ptooey!"

"By the heavens, you're really sworn against gambling and drugs for life, huh?"

Ji Baichang was speechless. This guy really did seem to love the teachers who taught him all those lessons!

"I've got it!"

Xue Daochao suddenly seemed to realize something. He pulled out the notebook they'd been issued the night before and flipped to a page near the middle.

He opened each study app in turn and wrote down the usernames, passwords, and websites where he could download the materials.

Only after he'd finished writing everything down did he contentedly delete the useless apps.

"Huh? Where's the squad leader? I was going to hand him my phone to check."

Xue Daochao stood up, intending to look for Squad Leader Chen Ting, but realized he wasn't in the room.

"I don't know. I think the squad leader was in here just a moment ago."

Lü Qinglong shook his head. He had no idea why the squad leader had gone out.

"Baby~ Please forgive me~ I didn't know they'd take our phones when we enlisted."

"I enlisted, didn't I? Joining the army is the fastest way for me to be able to marry you."

"What? You're saying I have a duty to enlist, but you don't have a duty to wait for me?"

"That's not right, Baby! You didn't say that before I enlisted!"

Song Si's voice nearby caught the attention of the three of them.