Chapter 170 Extra Four

A few days later, Pingzhou received a reply from Qi Yan.

Her words were tactful, but her meaning was clear—don't worry about Xie Yulin.

Xie Yulin can join the army if he wants, and do whatever he wants.

As for Xie Qingyu, he's too busy kneeling down to admit his mistake to argue with Qi Yan.

After all, Xie Yulin's personality was mostly due to Xie Yulin's spoiling.

"Name," asked the registration officer in charge of the military camp.

"Qi Lin." Xie Yulin's statement wasn't exactly a lie; he had two household registrations, one with his father's surname and the other with his mother's surname.

"age."

"Seventeen."

Place of origin.

"Yongzhou".

Finally, Baihu narrowed his eyes and looked Xie Yulin up and down, asking the last question: "What are your special skills?"

Xie Yulin: "..."

Normally, he would definitely say that he is very good-looking, but in the military camp, is this advantage a joke?

But aside from that, what else could he say?

He raised his hand timidly: "I have good handwriting."

As Chunsheng had said before, Xie Yulin was uninterested in everything and only worked sporadically. Qi Yan forced him to learn things, and if he didn't, she would spank him, so he would run to Xie Qingyu's place.

Xie Qingyu dotes on this son the most, and is not demanding of him in any way, but when he has nothing to do, he holds his hand and writes.

To avoid being beaten when he returned to Qi Yan's place, Xie Yulin had no choice but to obediently practice calligraphy with him.

Baihu shook his head: "The transcript is enough. Even though you have good handwriting, we don't need it."

Xie Yulin frowned again: "Is there any position that can be assigned to me that is closer to the young master? I can learn any of them."

The centurion became alert. This man was not from Pingzhou, and he was trying to get close to the young master. Could he be a spy?

But if he's a spy, isn't that incredibly stupid? He just exposed his intentions like that?

Seeing the centurion's tense expression, Xie Yulin realized he might have said something wrong and quickly waved his hands, "No, no, that's not it. I just admire the young master..."

His face turned red after he finished speaking.

Baihu narrowed his eyes again.

Oh~ So it's another one who admires the young master and tries to infiltrate the military camp?

No wonder he has such fair skin and looks like a young man from a wealthy family.

"Hmph, don't blame me for not warning you. The military camp is not easy to navigate, and the young master is the most impartial and incorruptible. If you run away halfway, you will be caught as a deserter and flogged a hundred times! Last year, the person who came with the same purpose as you went home and lay in bed for a whole year before he recovered. The last one who came was just carried back home by his family."

Despite the tragic end, the admirers flocked to him like ants drawn to honey.

The previous one just left, and the new one took their place.

Although these young men were a bit annoying, the sidelong glances they received showed that their young master was popular, and despite their annoyance, they were quite proud.

"I won't run away," Xie Yulin made up his mind.

No matter how tough the military camp is, as long as I can see my sister, it's sweet.

"Alright then." The centurion took his identification card and registered him. "Didn't you say you could learn anything? Here's your chance. The young master's kitchen is short of someone. Go there."

Soldiers in the mess hall not only had to do rough work like chopping wood and carrying water, but also had to cook, leaving them covered in the smell of cooking oil. They also had to train alongside the soldiers so they wouldn't be a hindrance on the battlefield.

A young man with such delicate skin and tender flesh would probably be clamoring to go home in less than a month.

"Okay, okay!" Xie Yulin nodded vigorously, clutching his bundle tightly.

Fortunately, he took the recipe with him when he left.

The soldier took him away, gave him two sets of clothes and a badge, and explained the rules to him: "When the time comes, just do what the people around you are doing."

Xie Yulin changed his clothes. Although the coarse linen clothes made his skin itchy and the environment was not good, he was happy.

When he opened the tent flap, he could see Zhao Tulin's main tent in the distance.

During the day, he would familiarize himself with the surroundings with the newcomers, and only return to his tent to rest at night.

There was only one large communal bed in each tent, where ten people slept. Xie Yulin shared a room with the cooks from the kitchen. Their clothes were always stained with oil. They were big and burly, with muscular arms, and looked like they were experts at cooking large pots of food.

The tents were filled with a foul, fermenting smell of sweat, foot odor, and cooking fumes.

Xie Yulin's face turned somewhat pale.

Seeing that he was new and looked weak, the men couldn't help but look down on him: "Kid, what are you doing in the army camp, you weakling?"

They laughed again: "Looking like that, are you really not a woman?"

"Take off your clothes and let us see." When Xie Yulin didn't speak, they continued, "You're a man, what are you afraid of taking off your clothes for? Are you really a woman? There was Mulan before. You don't have to take them off, just let us feel whether you're a man or not."

As she spoke, she came up and tried to tear off his clothes.

Xie Yulin gripped his clothes tightly, already prepared to fight them.

"Oh dear, you guys were just teasing him, but look how scared he is."

"Who knew he was so easily frightened? Look at him, he's just like a respectable woman. Oh well, I won't tease him anymore. Time for bed, I have to get up early to cook tomorrow."

They laughed, took off their clothes, and climbed onto the shared sleeping platform.

One of the older men patted the spot next to him and said to Xie Yulin, "Kid, come to sleep. We have to prepare breakfast for the soldiers tomorrow morning, so we have to get up before dawn."

Xie Yulin slowly loosened his grip on his clothes, his forehead covered in cold sweat.

He had heard before that women were rarely seen in military camps, so many men would target handsome men.

He climbed onto the communal bed, glanced at them, found a spot far away to huddle up, wrapped himself in the blanket, and almost completely covered his nose—the smell was truly unpleasant.

But he definitely won't desert!

Xie Yulin was just drifting off to sleep when he was startled awake by a series of shrill screams, like the rumbling of a horse-drawn carriage.

The cooks snored loudly, accompanied by the sound of grinding their teeth.

In addition, he dared not take off his clothes to sleep, as the rough fabric chafed his skin painfully, causing him to suffer from complete insomnia.

At the beginning of the hour of Chou (1-3 AM), those people got up, quickly washed up, and went out to work one by one.

Xie Yulin was used to a life of luxury and was slow to do things. He only finished tidying up after everyone had left and hurriedly went to the small kitchen.

The small kitchen was specifically for cooking for Zhao Tulin.

Compared to Xie Yulin, who had been pampered since childhood, Zhao Tulin was even more privileged.

Zhao Xiheng doted on her daughter, and Wei Li loved her even more.

However, Xie Yulin developed a lot of bad habits, while Zhao Tulin managed to share the hardships with the soldiers.

I heard that the newcomer Qi Lin is someone who followed the young master here. The people in the small kitchen don't take him seriously and are very indifferent to him, as if he doesn't exist.

Even though Xie Yulin greeted everyone warmly and tried to integrate himself, he still couldn't help but be met with a cold shoulder.

Compared to direct violence, passive-aggressive violence is often harder for people to accept.

But if you say that others bullied him, that's a misconception. They just don't like him and don't talk to him. Is that a mistake?

Xie Yulin felt somewhat embarrassed, but then he thought that he came here to find his sister, not to curry favor with them. If they didn't like him, so be it.

He just needs to do his job well.

Although he hadn't touched the stove for several days, he figured out how the fire burned and memorized the recipe book in his hand.

He spent his morning, noon, and evening meals in the kitchen, and in the afternoon he would spend an hour with them running laps around the training ground to practice combat.

He had lost a lot of weight. He wasn't fat to begin with, but now he looked even more frail. He didn't feel like he had lost weight; on the contrary, he felt like he had gained more muscle and was stronger.

The person didn't get tanned, just their skin turned red after being in the sun, but it quickly returned to its original color.

Such a delicate-skinned person endured more than half a month in the military camp, which is truly remarkable.

This one is quite patient.

There were four people in the small kitchen. The leader found Xie Yulin and asked him, "How's the cooking?"

Xie Yulin lowered his head modestly and shyly: "Not really."

The leader smiled, "Not too bad is good, that's exactly what I wanted." He patted the young master's shoulder and said, "It's alright, everyone learns from bad experiences. Tonight, cook a late-night snack for the young master and bring it over. It's okay if it's not very good, the young master is very forgiving and won't cause you any trouble. It's cold, remember to add some seasonings to warm the young master up when you cook it."

Xie Yulin's eyes lit up with excitement.

"Thanks."

He hurriedly went to prepare the ingredients; he wanted to make the seafood noodles that his sister hadn't had last time.

"Boss, you're ruthless." The assistant who was helping the boss gave him a thumbs up: "That kid's finished."

Who doesn't know that the young master is picky? He doesn't eat scallions, cilantro, ginger, Sichuan peppercorns, chili peppers, black pepper, garlic, or chives.

The young master wouldn't delve into who instructed Qi Lin to add the spices; he would only punish Qi Lin.

The leader snorted: "Just you wait, he's been sitting on the sidelines for so many days, he's definitely eager to show off."

They all went back to sleep, while Xie Yulin was busy preparing a late-night snack in the kitchen.

You shouldn't add chili peppers if you're trying to ward off the cold, as eating chili peppers at night is bad for your stomach.

He sliced ​​more ginger and put it into the chicken soup to remove the fishy smell. After cooking, he picked out and threw away all the ginger slices.

Zhao Tulin sat listlessly in his chair, his legs propped up on the table, his face full of impatience as he listened to the people below arguing amongst themselves.

It was all for those three soldiers and two dates.

She was hungry, but she didn't say anything...

Zhao Tulin gets irritable and easily angered when she's hungry. She slammed the knife on the table and said, "Go back to sleep, I'll make my own decision."

The generals trembled and slunk away.

She watched them leave, couldn't help but purse her lips, roll her eyes, and lean back in her chair.

Ah! Why hasn't the late-night snack been delivered yet? She's so hungry.

"What are you doing!" Xie Yulin was new and had never delivered food to Zhao Tulin before. The person guarding the tent didn't recognize him and stopped him.

"Here to bring the young master a midnight snack."

"Go in."

Zhao Tulin quickly sat up straight, not slouching or looking lazy, afraid of being laughed at by outsiders, and pretended to be looking at official documents.

The aroma of chicken soup was enticing, and the cook was already standing by the counter. Zhao Tulin pursed his lips, pretending not to care, and didn't even look up.

"Just put it down, you can go now."

Hurry up and get out of here, she's about to eat!

Xie Yulin stared at Zhao Tulin with some fascination. As expected of her sister, she was still working hard so late. She looked so beautiful when she was serious!

"Sister..." Xie Yulin called out softly.

The voice was muffled through the tent, and Zhao Tulin couldn't hear the person's tone clearly, assuming it was just an ordinary cook from the kitchen.

Now, they're still calling her "sister," and Zhao Tulin's pupils contracted as she looked up.

Xie Yulin was standing in front of her.

When Xie Yulin saw her looking over, he withdrew his hand and couldn't help but take two steps back.

He's covered in the smell of cooking oil now, he doesn't smell nice anymore, so it's better for him to stay away from his sister.

He was nervous, wondering if he looked ugly in his unflattering clothes, if his hair was messy, and if his skin was rough.

Zhao Tulin felt like he had something to ask, but the words stuck in his throat and he didn't know what to say.

"Sister..." Xie Yulin called out to her weakly again when she didn't speak, and he bit his lower lip.

Don't chase him away, he's already chased you all the way here.