Zhou Yuanchao felt a little better after his teacher's wife said that.

"Since my teacher's wife has said so, I'll be magnanimous and drink this cup of wine," Zhou Yuanchao said heartily, picking up the cup and taking a sip, his lips twitching from the spiciness.

Huo Yingjie quickly poured another glass and said, "We came to the weapons research institute this year, and thanks to the teacher's guidance, our work has been able to proceed smoothly. Shouldn't we toast the teacher?"

"Serves you right!" Zhou Yuanchao downed another cup, swallowed it, his eyes glazed over, and his tongue lolled out.

"Your teacher's wife has taken good care of you, shouldn't we toast her too?" Huo Yingjie said with a smile, taking the opportunity to pour another cup of wine into Zhou Yuanchao's wine cup.

"Serves you right!" Zhou Yuanchao downed his drink in one gulp, his eyes glazed over.

Zhou Yuanchao's temper flared up quickly but subsided just as fast. After drinking two small glasses of wine from Chief Engineer Sun, he started to ramble incoherently, repeatedly calling Huo Yingjie "Big Brother, Big Brother" in such a sweet voice!

Zhou Yuanchao, a burly man, was knocked out by three cups of wine.

Aunt Li looked at Zhou Yuanchao, who had passed out on the table without even having eaten, and slapped Huo Yingjie's arm, scolding, "You silly child, even if you want to get him drunk, you have to wait until he's full. It's hard to drink when you're not full!"

"Hehe!" Huo Yingjie chuckled. "He's drunk, let's eat. He'll probably sober up on his own in a bit."

Aunt Li wanted to say something more after hearing Huo Yingjie's words, but Chief Engineer Sun stopped her, saying, "Let's eat and drink. Yuan Chao's alcohol tolerance is too low; he's been knocked out with just a little."

The three of them were almost finished eating when Zhou Yuanchao woke up groggily. He picked up a bowl, went to the kitchen, ladled out a large bowl of noodles, poured all the leftovers from the table into the bowl in front of him, and ate it all up, soup and all, without really understanding what was going on. Then, he curled up on the sofa at Chief Engineer Sun's house like a little dog and fell asleep.

Chief Engineer Sun and Aunt Li were dumbfounded by Zhou Yuanchao's actions!

Judging from Zhou Yuanchao's actions, he didn't seem to be drunk, but looking into his eyes, they were glazed over, as if he were sleepwalking.

"He...he's always like this..." Aunt Li asked curiously, "Young man, are you sure Xiao Zhou is drunk and not sleepwalking?"

Huo Yingjie smiled and said, "I'm pretty sure he's drunk, not sleepwalking."

"Hehehe, this kid has a rather peculiar drinking habit," Chief Engineer Sun chuckled. "You, in the future, don't take advantage of your intelligence to bully honest people."

Huo Yingjie nodded and said, "Hehe, it won't happen again."

“Since Xiao Zhou is asleep, let him sleep here,” Chief Engineer Sun said. “You help him to the guest room. Your Aunt Li and I don’t have that much strength.”

Huo Yingjie helped Zhou Yuanchao to the guest room, personally took off his shoes, covered him with a blanket, and then came out of the room.

It was getting late, so Huo Yingjie took his leave.

The cool moonlight filtered through the bare branches, leaving irregular patterns on the ground.

Huo Yingjie walked along the road, feeling the tranquility and peace of the place. He took a few deep breaths and thought, "I'll be back soon. Everything will be alright."

The next morning, when Zhou Yuanchao returned, he found that Huo Yingjie was nowhere to be found in the dormitory. The neatly packed rattan suitcase was gone; Huo Yingjie had already gone home.

There was a piece of paper on the table, on which Huo Yingjie had left a note.

"I owe you a belated 'Brother Zhou,' but now that I've done it, I'll still be your older brother from now on—Huo Yingjie."

Zhou Yuanchao smiled. In his heart, it didn't matter who the eldest brother was! His previous discomfort was simply because Huo Yingjie had kept it from him.

"You brat!" Zhou Yuanchao put the note away and started packing his luggage. He only had two days left before his vacation, so it was time to get ready.

Although Zhou Yuanchao and Huo Yingjie had only known each other for less than half a year, and were usually quite different in their personalities, often bickering, it was precisely because of this that their friendship deepened. Even if he had some ulterior motives, after thinking about it from a different perspective, he no longer felt jealous of Huo Yingjie.

Meanwhile, Huo Yingjie, carrying a rattan suitcase, finally emerged from the weapons research institute early in the morning after passing through layers of security checks. Having been inside for months, this was his first time outside, and he was nearly suffocating.

Huo Yingjie now wishes he could grow wings and fly home, but today the meeting said there were no cars to the county, so Huo Yingjie could only walk, hoping to meet some fellow villagers driving oxcarts on the way.

Huo Yingjie walked and looked around, his neck almost as long as a giraffe's, but he didn't see any of the villagers' oxcarts, so he had to rely on his own two legs to walk.

"Put-put-put..." The sound of a motor vehicle came from behind. Great, there's a car.

Huo Yingjie, dressed in military uniform, stood straight by the roadside, waving to the cars in the distance.

The young soldier driving the vehicle said to the two female soldiers inside, "Sir, there are people up ahead who want a ride!"

"Don't worry about it!" one of the female soldiers said. "There's no room left in the vehicle. We're riding in a military vehicle; not just anyone can ride in it."

The young soldier driving the car pursed his lips, thinking to himself, "Even ordinary people need a ride, as soldiers, why can't we help those in need? Besides... hey, that person was wearing a uniform too, he was a soldier too..."

"Sir, there's a soldier up ahead, one of our comrades," the driver said honestly. Although he didn't know him, they were both soldiers, both shedding blood and sweat for the country, so of course he could get on.

"A soldier?" A female soldier squinted at the man standing straight through the window. He looked neat and clean, and giving him a ride wouldn't be so bad.

"Alright, let's stop here and give him a ride," the female soldier said lazily.

The military vehicle stopped next to Huo Yingjie, and a young soldier asked, "Comrade, where are we going?"

Huo Yingjie saluted and said, "To the county train station!"

“We’re going to the county too. Get in, we’ll give you a ride,” the young soldier said kindly, opening the car door and letting Huo Yingjie sit in the passenger seat.

Huo Yingjie got into the car and then noticed two female soldiers staring at him from behind; they were probably military doctors.

Even though they didn't know each other, Huo Yingjie nodded as a greeting while sitting in the other person's car.

"Comrade, where are you serving in the army?" the young soldier asked, very kindly.

Huo Yingjie smiled and said, "Sorry, it's disciplined to keep it a secret!"

"Huh?" The young soldier was taken aback. There weren't many units that couldn't give out their unit numbers. "Oh, okay, then I won't ask."

Just then, a woman behind them asked with a smile, "Can you tell us your name?"

From a distance, Huo Yingjie looked handsome, but up close he was even more so. His face was angular and deep-set, with a straight nose, well-proportioned mouth, and neat buzz cut. He was much more handsome than the soldiers in their village.

******(To be continued.)