Chapter 57
As expected, Zhuang Zhuoyuan didn't go home by dawn. I called him during lunchtime and confirmed that they had been trained by Inspector Liang all night. Tug-of-war, carrying sandbags, shooting, weighted running, and finally, they had to go back to climbing stairs and rope skipping. In short, they were almost dead by the end of the night.
“Even when training new recruits, we didn’t train them like this.” Zhuang Zhuoyuan looked exhausted, a sight that tugged at Iris’s heartstrings. Iris couldn’t bear to tell him that Inspector Liang might have a trump card up his sleeve. She had seen him fire a gun at a shooting competition, and given Liang Rifeng’s marksmanship, she figured he wouldn’t be satisfied with the current Flying Tigers’ level. She’d heard from her father that Inspector Liang was so strict during training that he made people rappel down stairs even in typhoon weather. She just hoped that he wouldn’t cause any deaths during his shooting training.
“BB, you look scary.” Zhuang Zhuoyuan recalled her farewell words and thought his wife was just being prescient, not jinxing him. Iris nodded with her eyes closed, simply affirming him: “BB, remember, you are the best marksman.”
Zhuang Zhuoyuan found out.
Zhuang Zhuoyuan and his brothers finally learned that there are eighteen levels of hell.
Liang Rifeng not only made them shoot at targets behind and to the side of the Flying Tigers members, but he also went so far as to move the distance between the two groups to fifty meters, the maximum range of the MP5 rifle.
"During the live-fire training, he wasn't satisfied with the end, so he made us run around all afternoon, saying we were wasting bullets and the whole squad was full of pampered soldiers." Even happy hour was boring; everyone went home and dispersed as soon as work was over. Zhuang Zhuoyuan slumped on the sofa, resting his head on Iris's lap and complaining, "I've been in SDU for so long, and I've never been pushed so hard."
“Well, you guys are the best of the best, so there shouldn’t be any limits, right?” Iris patted her husband’s face, helpless. But deep down, she was somewhat biased towards Inspector Liang. The harder they trained, the stronger their ability to handle danger; Derek was a perfect example. Zhuang Zhuoyuan wasn’t always in the sniper position, and she really didn’t want him to get into trouble when he was the spearhead.
Zhuang Zhuoyuan was inevitably disappointed when he didn't hear what he wanted to hear, but what surprised him even more was that what Iris said was 70-80% similar to what Liang Rifeng had used to lecture them that afternoon. He wondered if she had used 009 or M016 again.
Iris didn't have the time; she had a full afternoon of classes, and even Grace had to be picked up by Derek first. "And so that you could see me at home when you got off work, I didn't even take Yuanbao for a walk today."
Zhuang Zhuoyuan was happy and turned around to hug his wife's waist. However, he still had some doubts and his guesses became bolder: "I always feel that you and Liang Sir have a good relationship. BB, don't tell me that you actually know about his training of us."
"I guessed it. I've heard about his style from Daddy." The sound of the door opening came from inside. Iris patted Zhuang Zhuoyuan and hurriedly told him to get up. With Grace around, she felt embarrassed.
Smelling its owner's scent, Yuanbao happily ran over. Zhuang Zhuoyuan, seeing how fast it ran, stepped in front of it to pick it up first, only to be immediately licked all over the face. "Alright, go to your sister's." He stroked its fur, and the big dog closed its eyes comfortably. Iris sat down a bit closer, playing with Yuanbao while talking to the two people returning from walking their dogs. Grace and Yuanbao's run around had improved their mood considerably, while Derek still seemed perfectly fine with everything.
"Stay for dinner later, Derek. My sister went to see the exhibition, Sir. We'll start eating as soon as Mommy gets back. You're free to do whatever you want now. You can choose between the arcade or the movie theater. If you want to go to the gym, a better option is to have a match with Ah Yuan. He was just trained by his boss, so you can see if he's improved."
Pushed out, Zhuang Zhuoyuan was surprised and bewildered. But thinking back, it was strange that he hadn't sparred with Derek, who had been Iris's bodyguard for so long. From the beginning, he had only heard from his family that Derek was one of AK's handpicked subordinates and a former Navy SEAL. As for his fighting skills, Zhuang Zhuoyuan had never actually witnessed them.
Derek didn't really want to fight Zhuang Zhuoyuan. Fighting with his employer's family was too troublesome. He couldn't be too lenient or too harsh. Even though Iris considered him a friend and said she could make any move she wanted, if he didn't control the degree of his actions, AK wouldn't be so lenient.
Iris noticed his hesitation: "Then let's just treat him as a sparring partner, and stop when we've hit the mark, okay? I'll make a video call to AK, that way he won't hold it against me later."
Alan King was quite interested in the upcoming sparring match. In his data analysis, Zhuang Zhuoyuan's fighting ability was unsatisfactory due to the difference in physical fitness. However, he hadn't yet closely observed Zhuang Zhuoyuan's true performance, and now that Iris had offered an opportunity, he gladly accepted. "Derek, stop short of a direct confrontation, but feel free to trip him up a bit. I want to see my future nephew-in-law's adaptability and agility."
Zhuang Zhuoyuan finally realized that AK and Liang Sir were the same kind of people, except that one was a smiling fox and the other was a black-faced tiger.
The bodyguards of the wealthy are indeed a mixed bag. Having been defeated by Derek the previous night, Inspector Leung brought another bodyguard from a tycoon's entourage the very next day. Upon introduction by Leung Yat-fung, everyone realized this was Hung Kin, the once-renowned sharpshooter from the SDU, who still holds several shooting records within the Flying Tigers. Judging by his peak abilities, it's no exaggeration to say that if he hadn't retired due to injury, Inspector Leung's position would likely be his now.
Liang Rifeng's increasingly outrageous training methods caused the team members to complain bitterly. He also knew that simply suppressing them was not the way, so he specially asked Hong Jian to demonstrate together, so that these young men could see stronger strength, have higher goals, and realize their great potential.
To be fair, the motivational speech did have an effect, but the high-intensity training was still too much for the A Team members. There was always a clear line separating them from Inspector Leung.
While his brothers were undergoing intensive training, Zhan Hantao could only follow behind, doing some logistical work. Compared to before, the work of an administrative staff member was certainly much easier, and he could do it just as well. But at this moment, the work that didn't require high concentration only made him think of his mother lying in the hospital from time to time. He had visited her in the hospital, but only when Lamy wasn't around.
No one wanted things to turn out this way, but it had already happened, and Zhan Hantao could only try to make amends. Years ago, when they first moved to a new house, their mother had asked Zhan Sir to help them choose a property, and the same thing happened this time. After much thought, Zhan Hantao decided that the only solution was to renovate the new house for them before Ye Shuhui woke up. Anyway, the thrifty husband had originally planned to have his brothers do the "labor," and now was the perfect time.
When we said that the ten people of SDU were of one mind, everyone thought it was a cliché, but it really is true. After the grueling training, the vacation finally arrived, and the whole group of people stayed at their mother's new house. The environment of the renovation site was not suitable for Iris, who was pregnant, so she, who was also on vacation, was only responsible for logistics, arranging three meals and afternoon tea for everyone, and sometimes offering a suggestion or two about the renovation via video.
It's worth mentioning that Zhuang Zhuohua and Zhan Hantao's relationship seems to be progressing rapidly recently. Every day during their rest time, Zhuang Zhuoyuan would see his older sister bringing gifts to reward them. He himself has a wife who dotes on him, so everyone knows for sure who she's coming for.
Since the subject of their gossip was a girl, they couldn't be too outrageous. A group of burly men stared at the parties involved for a while, then, each with a suspicious smile, turned away, drinks in hand, to examine the ceiling and walls they had painted. Only Zhuang Zhuoyuan, oblivious to the danger, dared to take out his phone and snap a picture of Zhan Hantao and her even with Madam watching. He hadn't done this before, but now, in this rare moment, he felt he should share it with his wife. If Iris was interested, Zhuang Zhuoyuan even considered encouraging her to use her psychological analysis to boldly speculate and carefully trace the love line between Zhuang and Zhan.
Just before Madam Zhuang gave up on using her eyes and was about to take action, Iris finally arrived to save the day. Zhuang Zhuoyuan had already prepared a reason, and after the video call, he slipped away to a smaller room. He turned the camera around so Iris could see the whole room clearly, while asking about suitable color schemes. The men were still arguing about the little girl's room; the pink and purple paint was still unopened.
Iris didn't care whether the room was long or square. Upon hearing that it was Grace's bedroom, she didn't even ask about the specific paint color. Instead, she directly asked Zhuang Zhuoyuan, "If our baby is a girl, would you want your little princess to imagine a peach or an eggplant every time she wakes up?"
More directly, Zhuang Zhuoyuan had seen Grace wear pink clothes, but he had never seen her show any preference for purple. He instantly felt the confidence of a doting father and rushed to the center of the hall: "Hey, Grace's room, my wife also supports pink, so let's win by one vote and paint it pink!"
Qiu Junxuan, who supported purple, wanted to try again: "Purple is more elegant, sister-in-law?"
Iris then showed him a purple color swatch in the video. When the men who had come to watch saw the large number of different shades of purple on the screen, they immediately agreed: "Pink! Little girls love pink and tender colors the most! Who doesn't want to be a little princess!"
Qiu Junxuan, who was painting for the first time, was speechless for a moment. He really couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't paint the whole room like an eggplant. Indeed, imagination is often far from reality.
Just as everyone was getting ready to get to work, Iris's second color swatch arrived. She circled a lighter pink, marking it as the best choice, and crossed out a darker shade, advising the men not to paint the pink into a dull, earthy rose red. While everyone was scratching their heads, Iris sent over a few carefully selected lace patterns, saying that adding some small details after painting would make the room even more beautiful.
Everyone imagined what the finished renovation would look like and nodded in agreement, then handed the tools to Zhuang Zhuoyuan and Qiu Junxuan one by one.
Zhuang Zhuoyuan and Qiu Junxuan looked at each other, and when they tried to hand the tools over to each other, they found that all four of their hands were full.
Great, after this job, even if I can't be a Flying Tiger anymore, I should be able to go into the renovation business.
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