shop

Since then, Zhao Tingfeng would come to see Ye Wanqing almost every day after finishing training and official business in the army.

Ye Wanqing was initially reluctant to see him, but then she thought that she didn't have any friends here.

Just treat it as a pastime?

That evening, just as Ye Wanqing finished tidying up, Zhao Tingfeng came to find her.

"The team finished early today. I'll take you to the city this weekend."

Ye Wanqing thought to herself that she hadn't had a proper look around since she arrived.

"good."

Zhao Tingfeng borrowed a bicycle and carried Ye Wanqing on it.

"Hurry up."

The bicycle bell jingled as it passed through the bustling street. Ye Wanqing sat sideways on the back seat, her hand gently gripping the spring under the seat.

Zhao Tingfeng pedaled steadily, his back ramrod straight.

"I heard Xinhua Bookstore just got a new batch of comic books," Zhao Tingfeng said, his voice carried on the wind as he looked ahead. "Shall we go check them out later?"

"good."

The county town wasn't big; it was more like a large township. This was Ye Wanqing's first time visiting a county town, especially one in the far northwest of China.

She was curious and her thoughts wandered around. There were already all sorts of small vendors setting up stalls on the street.

Her gaze, however, was drawn to a vendor selling candied hawthorns. The bright red hawthorns, coated in glistening sugar, looked especially tempting in the sunlight.

Seeing the candied hawthorns, her thoughts drifted away. They drifted back to the time she and Gao Yu had traveled through the capital together…

Thinking of Gao Yu, she felt inexplicably sad.

He's been back in Hong Kong for four years now, and I wonder how he's doing. All these years, I haven't even given him a single phone call…

As expected, it was just a fleeting affair with him...

Just then, the car stopped.

Zhao Tingfeng stopped the car and propped one leg up: "Wait."

Ye Wanqing got out of the car and stood by the roadside.

Zhao Tingfeng jogged over to the candied hawthorn vendor, quickly returned with two skewers, and handed one to her in each hand.

"Try it."

Just then, a woman's voice, tinged with surprise and deliberately raised a few octaves, rang out behind them:

"Battalion Commander Zhao? Technician Ye? What a coincidence!"

They both turned around at the same time.

Ji Xinxin was not wearing a military uniform, but a trendy floral dacron shirt. She was standing at the entrance of a department store not far away, carrying a brand new net bag containing freshly bought face cream and shampoo.

"Dr. Ji, what a coincidence," Zhao Tingfeng greeted politely.

Ye Wanqing smiled slightly in response to show her politeness.

Ji Xinxin's gaze fell on the two mismatched strings of candied hawthorns in Ye Wanqing's hand, and her eyes lit up.

"Wow! Battalion Commander Zhao! You bought two skewers of candied hawthorn. I love candied hawthorn the most."

After saying that, she immediately went up and tried to snatch a string of candied hawthorns from Ye Wanqing's hand.

Ye Wanqing immediately raised her hand high, "This was bought for me by Battalion Commander Zhao. If you want some, go buy some yourself."

She couldn't stand Ji Xinxin. She was inherently seductive, a classic green tea bitch.

She could also tell that Ji Xinxin had feelings for Zhao Tingfeng.

Although she wasn't interested in Zhao Tingfeng, she was determined not to let Ji Xinxin have her way.

After all, she's the one who can handle any kind of scheming woman.

Instead, Ji Xinxin pouted and started to whine. "Oh dear, Battalion Commander Zhao, look how stingy Ye Wanqing is. She won't even give me a string of candied hawthorns."

“She’s right, I did buy it for her.”

Zhao Tingfeng said with a smile that Ye Wanqing's way of protecting the candied hawthorn was particularly cute, especially since he was the one who bought it for her, which made him very happy.

Hearing this, Ji Xinxin felt a little embarrassed and could only try to smooth things over, "Alright then. I've lost my appetite now. But, Battalion Commander Zhao, did the sun rise in the west today? You're such a busy man, how come you have time to stroll around the county town?"

In the past, she had taken the initiative to ask him out many times, wanting to go to the county town together, but he always declined.

Now, however, he's brought Ye Wanqing along for a stroll. It would be a lie to say I'm not jealous.

Zhao Tingfeng coughed lightly: "This is Wanqing's first time here, she's unfamiliar with the place, so I'm showing her around."

Ji Xinxin turned her gaze to Ye Wanqing, her smile concealing a knife, "Technician Ye is really lucky to have our battalion commander personally acting as her bodyguard. But then again, you're unfamiliar with this place, so you need someone to guide you. This county town may look small, but there are many intricacies involved, unlike our military compound, which is simple."

Ye Wanqing could easily sense the veiled meaning in those words. "Our military compound" clearly implied that she was being categorized as an outsider.

She smiled slightly and shook the candied hawthorn in her hand: "Yes, it's all thanks to Battalion Commander Zhao's thoughtfulness in accommodating my little hobby. This candied hawthorn is sweet but not cloying."

After saying that, Ye Wanqing put it to her lips, took a gentle bite, and her eyes lit up. "Mmm, so sweet!"

"you!"

Ji Xinxin was immediately angry. It seemed that Ye Wanqing was no pushover either.

Seeing this, Zhao Tingfeng felt a little amused, so he tried to ease the awkwardness by asking, "Dr. Ji, have you finished buying your things?"

Ji Xinxin felt frustrated, but forced a smile: "I'm done shopping! I was just thinking of going to the tailor shop up ahead to look at some clothes. Battalion Commander, don't you always say that military appearance and discipline are important? I see that the sleeves of your uniform are all worn out, you should get a new one made. Why don't we go over and take a look together? I know that master tailor, his skills are excellent."

Zhao Tingfeng firmly declined, "No. I train every day in the army, and I can't wear good clothes for more than a few days. Thank you for your kindness, Dr. Ji."

He paused, then looked at Ye Wanqing, "Wanqing, aren't we going to the bookstore? If we're late, all the good books will be gone. Let's go!"

After saying that, he put his long legs on the bicycle, grabbed the handlebars, and gestured for Ye Wanqing to get on the bike.

Ye Wanqing nodded immediately and sat on the back of the bicycle. "Yes, business comes first. Dr. Ji, we'll be going now."

Watching them walk away, Ji Xinxin stomped her feet angrily behind them.

Zhao Tingfeng pedaled his bike, while Ye Wanqing ate a candied hawthorn and asked a question.

"Does that Ji Xinxin like you?"

"I don't know," Zhao Tingfeng replied casually.

"I can see it, can't you? But she seems pretty manipulative, you shouldn't be with her."

Zhao Tingfeng laughed, "Then who should I be with?"

"As long as it's not her, it's fine." Ye Wanqing said, eating her candied hawthorn.

Zhao Tingfeng's lips curled into a smile, and he deliberately asked, "Then, can I be with you?"

"No, no, no! I only want to date, not get married. I don't want to ruin your life."

"Why don't you want to get married? Isn't dating without the intention of marriage just playing around?"

"I just wanted to be a pervert!" Ye Wanqing said casually.

Startled, Zhao Tingfeng immediately slammed on the brakes. "A... woman... a hooligan?"

Good heavens. This was the first time he'd ever seen a girl in this day and age call herself a "female hooligan."

"You can think of it that way. Anyway, my main approach is to adopt an attitude of neither taking initiative nor refusing, and being irresponsible."

Ye Wanqing continued to eat the candied hawthorn with abandon, completely unaware that there was anything wrong with what she had said.

Zhao Tingfeng was utterly dumbfounded. "Then aren't you just letting those male hooligans get away with this?"

"It doesn't matter, we're both getting a good deal anyway, and we don't have to take any responsibility, which is great."

Zhao Tingfeng immediately turned around, snatched the candied hawthorn from her, and lowered his head to kiss her lips.

"Mmm..."

Ye Wanqing's eyes widened.

Zhao Tingfeng only thought her lips were very sweet.

He released her, teasingly saying, "So according to you, I don't have to take responsibility for kissing you just now. After all, you took advantage of me?"

"You..." Ye Wanqing was somewhat helpless, but after all, she had dug her own hole.

She wiped her lips with the back of her hand, looking somewhat disgusted, but to be honest, she had felt quite aroused just now.

Zhao Tingfeng gave him the feeling of being a combination of Xue Mubai and Xiao Heng.

She hadn't seen Xiao Heng in a long time; it was said that he was captured after he was possessed by Ye Yan and injured her.