Chapter 62

"BB, where am I?"

When Iris opened her eyes, her mind was still foggy. The curtains were drawn tightly, and she didn't know if it was still dark. She groped for a warm source beside her, and Zhuang Zhuoyuan hugged her and kissed her forehead: "You're awake, wife? We're at ULO."

He turned over and switched on the bedside lamp, glancing at the time; it was almost time to get up. But seeing Iris tucked back into bed, eyes closed and wrapped even tighter around herself, Zhuang Zhuoyuan considered indulging her: "Do you need to ask for leave?"

There is only one class today.

"So this is a good time to take leave."

Iris chuckled, but the next second she was so overcome with nausea that she reflexively got up and ran to the bathroom to dry heave. She still didn't vomit anything. Zhuang Zhuoyuan poured her a glass of warm water, and she only took a small sip before leaning weakly into his arms, complaining aggrievedly, "I have no choice but to get up now."

Zhuang Zhuoyuan held reservations: "I think now we have a good reason to ask for leave."

Iris nudged him, her voice sweet as honey, "You can't spoil me like this!"

"Who told you to be my wife?" he whispered in her ear, lowering his head. Iris nestled against Zhuang Zhuoyuan's shoulder and laughed. Her physical discomfort was greatly relieved, and her emotional distress also lessened considerably. She felt she couldn't survive in this world alone, and having Zhuang Zhuoyuan by her side at this moment was truly wonderful. "Honey, do you know, just now, for a moment, I wanted to ask you if we should cancel the wedding."

Zhuang Zhuoyuan instantly abandoned his gentleness, and quite seriously cupped Iris's face: "Are you still half asleep? Go back and restart. Don't expect you two to leave me behind."

He half-carried, half-lifted her into the bedroom, but couldn't abandon her at the last moment. Holding his breath, Zhuang Zhuoyuan sat sideways on the edge of the bed, turning half his body away from her. Forced to lie flat, Iris got up again and put her arm around his shoulder from behind: "I don't want you to regret it, honey."

Such an explanation was ineffective. Before the matter was even settled, Iris was already going to deliver a verdict, even sentencing him to death. Zhuang Zhuoyuan felt this was extremely unreasonable.

"I want to appeal, Your Honor."

"But the original verdict has been overturned."

Zhuang Zhuoyuan remained silent.

Iris continued, "After a good night's sleep, I've figured it out. Ella won't abandon me; otherwise, she wouldn't have sent Kenny to help me. As long as I know she's alive, I can rest easy. What life is without regrets? I can accept it."

Zhuang Zhuoyuan sighed inwardly, fearing that Iris would discover something amiss, yet also wanting to see her other reactions. So he said, "This is assuming that the person last night was indeed Kenny. What if he wasn't?"

“Then I’m guilty of a terrible crime.” Iris seemed to have already accepted this answer in her heart, and stopped speculating on other possibilities. Her focus now was entirely on coaxing Zhuang Zhuoyuan back. The way she clung to him made her feel like she was a snake in her past life: “For the sake of a passerby, you have affected the relationship between my husband and me, and hurt my dearest husband. I can never repay you for this in my entire life.”

"So what?" Zhuang Zhuoyuan finally relented.

"So they sentenced me to life imprisonment." She coaxed and snuggled into Zhuang Zhuoyuan's arms. Zhuang Zhuoyuan was completely speechless, but he still retorted, "So my embrace is a cage."

Of course not, no one would be so happy while in jail. Iris said all the nice things, and as soon as Zhuang Zhuoyuan smiled, their positions immediately reversed. The little witch demanded domineeringly, "Now it's your turn to coax me. This was the task you were supposed to complete this morning."

Now I really don't need to sleep anymore.

Gently turning the page, Zhuang Zhuoyuan and Jennie secretly observed for several more days. Seeing that everything was as usual, they finally believed that the matter was truly over. By this time, the invitations had almost all been sent out. Thinking about the busyness of the last week, Zhuang Zhuoyuan took Iris to the Zhan family's house for a hot pot meal to enjoy some relaxation.

They arrived early this time, so there were plenty of seats and unlimited food. As soon as the water boiled, several impatient people started eating without even checking if the food was laid out properly. Su Wenqiang quickly stopped them, saying, "Don't put so much in, or the latecomers won't get any."

“There’s still half a box in the kitchen,” Zhuang Zhuoyuan said, taking the sliced ​​beef that she had taken from Yu Xueli back. “Auntie said he would bring more food, so you don’t have to worry. Besides, we were late last time, and those guys didn’t leave any for me.”

Su Wenqiang was speechless. Yu Xueli, whether wanting to stand up for her or to argue with Zhuang Zhuoyuan, immediately replied, "Brother Yuan, pay attention to prenatal education. Be gentle with the girl."

"Nonsense! My baby received excellent prenatal education, didn't I, wife?"

Iris smiled and nodded, making it clear that she would agree with whatever Zhuang Zhuoyuan said.

Sitting directly opposite them, Yu Xueli couldn't stand their nagging anymore. He pretended to rub his goosebumps and then turned around and grabbed the first slice of beef from the pot.

"You little brat, sneaking in!" A shout rang out, and the hot pot battle instantly began. Su Wenqiang looked helplessly at the group of childish men in front of him. Not to mention a plate of fatty beef, he might not even be able to save most of the food on the table.

Too lazy to compete for food with a swarm of locusts, and finding it too far to sit diagonally opposite Iris, Su Wenqiang simply moved over with his bowl to talk to her. The couple hadn't been seen during happy hour for several days, and knowing Iris had just had a prenatal checkup, she took the opportunity to come over and ask, "I heard you had NIPT. How was it? Is the baby healthy? Can you find out if it's a boy or a girl?"

This was another big event for Flying Tigers. Upon hearing Su Wenqiang ask about the child's gender, everyone at the table shifted their attention from the soup pot to Iris. Iris was exasperated by their stares: "What are you doing? Don't tell me you took this as an opening plate."

No one admitted it, but judging from their behavior, everyone knew what games they were playing behind the scenes. "Ha! You didn't invite me to the opening!" Iris started to act like a boss, targeting Yu Xueli, "Ali, did you guess boy or girl?"

"Girl! Ah Yuan is a wife slave, he'll definitely become a daughter slave in the end, so of course I'm guessing it's a girl."

"What about Ah-Hsuan? Ah-Li always agrees with Ah-Li's opinion. Do you also guess that I'm having a daughter?" If the table wasn't already full, the situation would really be suitable for pointing at someone with a chopstick.

This time, Qiu Junxuan disagreed with Yu Xueli: "No, I guessed it was a boy. People say sour foods mean a boy and spicy foods mean a girl. Since you like sour foods so much, it must be a son."

"Anything else?"

Based on what Qiu Junxuan said, Iris thought that most people in Team A would guess she would have a son, but she didn't expect that after asking, it was actually 50/50, and everyone's reasons were bizarre. For example, Grandma Long's reasoning was the most ridiculous; she guessed it was a daughter because Zhuang Zhuoyuan looked like a father-in-law.

Just as they were chatting happily, the doorbell rang again. Uncle Chao went to open the door with great interest and immediately saw a person dressed in a heavy-duty manner, dressed like a Flying Tigers member, standing at the door. However, judging from his figure, he did not resemble any of the current Flying Tigers members.

Uncle Chao asked in confusion, "Who are you? Who are you looking for?"

The man didn't answer, but pushed aside Uncle Chao's hand and barged inside. Reaching the hall, he stood at attention before Zhan Hantao at the dining table, saluted, and loudly proclaimed, "Zhan Sir, I'm here to report for duty!"

Everyone stopped eating and moved over. Zhan Hantao was the first to look at the newcomer with the same question: "Who are you?"

The man then lifted his mask, and Iris stared at him closely. It was Deng Fuqi! You might think this man has some mental issues, but he doesn't seem like it at this moment. After greeting Zhan Sir, he turned around and greeted several Flying Tigers members he knew. He shook hands and hugged them. He even remembered to call Iris, whom he had only met once, "Sister-in-law." He was really good at fooling people.

Iris imagined Iris's expression must have been priceless. Turning to look at Zhuang Zhuoyuan, she saw he wore the same awkward yet polite smile. While everyone was watching Deng Fuqi congratulate Qiu Junxuan on solving the major case, Zhuang Zhuoyuan, observing Iris's suppressed laughter, secretly pinched her cheek with his hand that was on her shoulder. Caught off guard, Iris immediately retaliated: "Did they ask you for a smoke? You're the best sniper!"

Zhuang Zhuoyuan then extended an invitation: "Then come together, Mrs. Zhuang."

Pauline and Uncle Chao were completely taken aback by the scene and genuinely believed that Deng Fuqi was a newly joined team member. Pauline was in a hurry to go to the kitchen to prepare more food, while Uncle Chao was ready to recount his glorious past. Yu Xueli quickly pulled him aside and secretly told him about Deng Fuqi's situation, while Zhan Sir took this opportunity to try to find out Deng Fuqi's purpose for coming.

To everyone's surprise, Deng Fuqi was quite serious and repeated what he had said earlier: "Inspector Zhan, I formally apply to join the Flying Tigers." He had not only bought the uniform but also prepared a gun. As he spoke, he drew his gun, took a stance, and began to demonstrate it. Everyone assumed he was just playing around like a child and didn't pay much attention, at most simply dodging his movements. Only Zhuang Zhuoyuan was more perceptive. When the gun was pointed at Iris, he immediately stopped Deng Fuqi's actions and warned him: "Don't point your gun at people carelessly, it's a big no-no. Put it away."

Deng Fuqi's attitude in admitting his mistake was good, but he was single-mindedly focused on joining the Flying Tigers, showing no sign of giving up until he achieved his goal. Seeing him ignore Su Wenqiang's objections and insist on staying in the hall to wait for Zhan Sir to approve his application, Iris instantly felt a headache coming on. She quietly leaned close to Zhuang Zhuoyuan's ear and whispered, "It seems that your last encounter had a very deep impact on him. If he doesn't become a Flying Tiger today, he probably won't leave."

"Do you think you can leave just because you've become a Flying Tiger?" Zhuang Zhuoyuan gestured to the table of dishes inside. "If you become a Flying Tiger, shouldn't you stay and celebrate, have some hot pot?" Based on his performance just now, Deng Fuqi would take over the reins in no time.

Just as Zhuang Zhuoyuan had predicted, when Zhan Sir approved Deng Fuqi to become a Flying Tiger on a one-year probationary period in the village, the overjoyed Deng Fuqi immediately invited everyone to go eat.

I won't go into the subsequent reactions of the Flying Tigers members, but when they talked about it after returning home that night, the whole family agreed that the boy was being too stubborn. Given his previous experience of being tricked out of a piece of land for a gun, Iris was worried he might cause more trouble. With his intelligence, he was far too easily manipulated.

Jennie quipped, "Iris, although our house has a view of the sea, you don't need to worry about that. You should just focus on preparing to be your bride."

Iris wisely zipped up her mouth.