Are You Addicted?

Translator: Sae

Proofreader: Nancy

By now, Jiang Yuan has lived in the military compound with Gu Wei Ting for seven years. During these pa.s.sing years, the number of times Bai Luo Yin had visited the two of them could be counted on one hand. Sometimes, when Jiang Yuan missed her son, she would use her status as the Regional Deputy Commander"s wife and go into the military base to see him. Unfortunately, with this advantage, Bai Luo Yin and Jiang Yuan had seen each other more than Bai Han Qi for the past few years.

Since Chinese New Year was closely approaching, with some of the military units going on holiday leave, Jiang Yuan could not sit still any longer.

For the past few days, Bai Luo Yin had been buried with work to the point he was going crazy. Aside from the daily physical stamina and technical ability training sessions, there were also regular work inspections. As for the remaining time, it was all spent in the research laboratory. Not only that, he had to prioritize time to carry special missions first when it arose. This continuous lack of personal s.p.a.ce was a direct consequence of Bai Luo Yin barely attaining a measly five hours of sleep every day, to the extent that, he would doze off even during mealtime.

When Jiang Yuan finally found Bai Luo Yin, he was being driven mad by a pile of data that sat silently in front of him.

"Xiao Bai, your mother is here to see you," said an engineer who had just walked into the room, chuckling as he looked at Bai Luo Yin.

Bai Luo Yin"s weary gaze forcefully drew toward the doorway, looking at it for a moment before he lazily faced the a.s.sistant beside him and said, "Tell her that I"m very busy right now. If it"s not something urgent, she can go back first."

A moment later, the a.s.sistant pushed the door open and entered again, "Reporting! Major, your mother said that it"s a very urgent matter, and that you only need to give her "ten minutes". She will immediately leave after she finishes."

Glancing at the pile on his desk, all he could do was to temporarily put aside the work in his hand, get up and walk out.

At the moment, Jiang Yuan was sitting in the car. When she saw Bai Luo Yin come out, she was about to get out but Bai Luo Yin promptly gave her a hand gesture, insinuating for her not to get out and to have the discussion in the car.

"Oh no, your complexion doesn"t look well at all! Have you been really tired for the last few days?"

Bai Luo Yin casually lit a cigarette and said rather indifferently, "I have a pile of work at hand. They said my annual leave was approved but I have to complete all the work before I go on leave so I can have a peaceful holiday. If I had known earlier that it needs to be rushed like this, I would rather celebrate the New Year in the military compound than spend all day long going through this torture."

Hearing out his stress, Jiang Yuan regrettably looked at him with a heavy heart, "Mom brought over a lot of tonic for you. It"s all in the trunk so when you get out of the car, don"t forget to take it with you."

Bai Luo Yin"s cryptic gaze swept toward Jiang Yuan for a quick glance, "You didn"t come here to look for me because of these tonics, did you?"

"Of course not," said Jiang Yuan as she pulled Bai Luo Yin"s hand over and placed it in the palm of her own hand, "Two days ago, mom saw an old schoolmate. You should call her Aunt Zhang! Aunt Zhang has a daughter that"s the same age as you this year. She graduated from the University of International Business and Economics with honors, and although she had just graduated for two years, her monthly income is already over five figures……"[1] 

Those words caused Bai Luo Yin"s face to immediately collapse, "What exactly are you trying to say?"

"You"re already 26 years old. How is it okay to stay single like this for the rest of your life? It would be a pity for someone like you with such great qualifications and conditions when all the good girls are being s.n.a.t.c.hed away by others! Look, you"ve been in the military for eight years already and everything is stable now, so it"s time to consider marriage."

To that sentence, Bai Luo Yin merely patted her hand, "I"m extremely busy!"

When she saw that he wanted to get out of the car, Jiang Yuan held onto his hand, refusing to let go at all cost, "Yin Zi, that girl is pretty good. I"ve seen her already and she"s quite beautiful. Your Aunt Zhang is a government official who will probably retire in two years and her husband is a high school princ.i.p.al. What a great family with great conditions!"

Bai Luo Yin"s face darkened, showing no sign of warmth, "Even if she"s the Prime Minister"s daughter, I still wouldn’t be interested!"

"Then, how long are you going to wait?" Jiang Yuan was also getting anxious, "You"re already 26, even Xiao Hai has a girlfriend now so what are you waiting, huh?! By then, all your friends will be married and you"ll be the only bachelor. Wouldn"t you be embarra.s.sed when you go out to see them?"

This was the first time in eight years that Jiang Yuan mentioned Gu Hai. Before, that name was prohibited in front of Bai Luo Yin, but today it slipped out probably due to desperation and anxiety.

"Why should I be embarra.s.sed?" Bai Luo Yin snorted, revealing a smile that was sealed with a gust of chilliness, "I want to wait until their wives are old and wrinkled. Then I will get a bunch of young girls around 17 or 18 years old as a mistress and flaunt them in front of my friends all day long."

"You!!……" Jiang Yuan was so furious that she nearly spewed blood.

"Your ten minutes is up." Bai Luo Yin coldly threw those words out before nonchalantly getting out of the car.

Just as he reached the research room, he saw the a.s.sistant about to head out with a briefcase in his hand.

"What are you doing going out?" Bai Luo Yin promptly asked.

The a.s.sistant gave him a proper salute first, and then he spoke with a rather stern expression, "Reporting! Major, I"m going to Beijing Haiyin High-Tech Company to attain the signature for our contract."

"Okay, give it to me. I"ll go!" Bai Luo Yin extended his hand out.

Not daring to look away, the a.s.sistant was a bit reluctant, as he spoke "But umm…Major, it"s better if I go. There"s no need to trouble you with such a trivial matter."

With just one glance at the underlying ulterior motive that secretly lay beneath the a.s.sistant"s eyes, Bai Luo Yin could immediately make out what this b.a.s.t.a.r.d was thinking. No wonder, when they were recruiting for engineers, anyone with even a bit of qualification all eagerly applied. After going through all this trouble, it wasn"t even to support this project, but rather to support the merchant that was collaborating on this project.

"I"ll go, since it"s convenient to stop by the hospital to see Liu Chong on the way back. You can help me input all the data in the computer again. I"m getting a headache looking at it since it"s a bit confusing."

Hearing that, the a.s.sistant did not utter another word.

Noting his silence, Bai Luo Yin simply let out a light cough before he spoke, his tone drenched with seriousness, "Do you have any objections?"

The a.s.sistant immediately straightened up his posture, "Reporting. No Major."

"Then go do what you have to!" Bai Luo Yin smiled then patted the a.s.sistant"s head.

Yan Ya Jing had already taken a leave of absence for one week now since something happened in her family. For the past few days, Gu Hai had been extremely busy with work but he did not feel anything, until seeing that he had been continuously working overtime, Gu Hai actually started to miss her a bit.

After the meeting in the afternoon, Gu Hai finally received a call from Yan Ya Jing.

"Gu Zong, I"m back."

Gu Hai secretly felt a sense of relief hearing those words.

You"re finally back.

"I have to leave shortly, I"m only here to visit you for a short moment."

Gu Hai"s brows slightly wrung together once he sensed that Yan Ya Jing"s tone sounded somewhat strange.

"What"s going on?"

Yan Ya Jing"s voice suddenly choked with sobs, "Gu Hai, can you come down? I don"t want to go into the office like this. I"m at the main entrance right now. I have to return to Qingdao after I say a few words to you."

"Okay. Just wait a minute. I"ll head down right now."

The moment Gu Hai got to the entrance, he immediately saw Yan Ya Jing quietly standing there with swollen red eyes. After not seeing her for just a few days, she seemed to have withered, making her whole presence extremely thin and pallid.

"What happened?"

Seeing him, Yan Ya Jing"s arms stretched out to hug Gu Hai, and her head pressed against his chest, while tears that were being held back, easily flowed.

"My mom has been diagnosed with lung cancer at the terminal stage. The doctor said that she won"t live past six months……"

As Gu Hai listened to her, his expression became grave, "It"s okay. Make sure she receives active treatment. If it doesn"t work, then transfer your mother for treatment abroad. I know a few foreign internal medicine experts so I can definitely help to contact with them for you."

Yan Ya Jing continued to cry without saying anything else.

At that moment, Bai Luo Yin"s car drove over and right when he was about to open the door to get out, he saw that not-so-harmonious scene from a short distance away.

Bai Luo Yin"s heart swiftly throbbed of its own accord. That kind of feeling was unbearable. And, although he had acknowledged this reality long ago, but what the mind had fabricated and what he saw with his own eyes are two quite different things.

Gu Hai"s hand was still gently patting Yan Ya Jing"s shoulder when he heard a kind warning travelling over from behind his back.

"What is this with showing intimacy in front of the office building? You"re a President after all, you need to at least pay attention to your image."

Recognizing that voice, Gu Hai"s arm stiffened as he turned around to see Bai Luo Yin leaning against the car window with his hand supporting his chin as he looked at them, full of interest and admiration.

"Why are you here?" Gu Hai walked over and asked.

Giving him a quick glance, Bai Luo Yin pa.s.sed the contract in his hand over to Gu Hai, "I was looking for you to sign the contract."

"Oh, then you can go to my office. The two of us can take our time and have a good chat."

"It"s not necessary. You can just sign it right here. I don"t have time to chat with you." With that said, he then pa.s.sed Gu Hai a pen.

If Yan Ya Jing was not here, Gu Hai would have definitely hara.s.sed Bai Luo Yin and tricked him into going up. But right now, there is still a tear-stricken employee who had been the advocate to his company"s success standing to the side, so Gu Hai could not force him to stay.

After he signed the contract, Gu Hai handed Bai Luo Yin the other copy before he rested his hand at the edge of the car window and faintly asked, "Aren"t you jealous seeing us like this?"

Bai Luo Yin quickly retorted, "Why should I be jealous?"

A mischievous smile crept along the corners of Gu Hai"s lips, "How about I introduce you to someone? There"s plenty of beautiful women in the company. Since you"re my older brother and seeing that you"ve always been a bachelor, as your younger brother, I don"t have the heart to tolerate it!"

At those sniping words, Bai Luo Yin cast Gu Hai a considerably destructive glance.

Don"t even think about provoking me. I won"t be f.u.c.king fooled!

On the way back, Bai Luo Yin picked up the contract and carefully looked at it. His and Gu Hai"s name was signed together, using the same exact handwriting.

If I had known earlier, I would have signed it myself. There was no need to waste all this time!

Feeling annoyed, Bai Luo Yin flung the contract toward the pa.s.senger seat before picking up his phone.

"Luo Yin?" asked Jiang Yuan from the other side.

Bai Luo Yin took a deep breath, "You can give me that girl"s contact details!!"

Jiang Yuan"s voice was still subjected with depression but once her words entered her brain, she was immediately struck with excitement.

"You"ve really thought it through? You want to meet with her? That"s great, that"s great! Mom will immediately send it over to you. If you find it embarra.s.sing to contact her first, mom can help you set up a meeting."

After hanging up on that call, Jiang Yuan was beaming with joy as she gave Gu Wei Ting a call.

"Lao Gu ah. When you have time, give Luo Yin"s supervisor a call and tell him to give Luo Yin a day of leave!"

From just those words, Gu Wei Ting seemed somewhat unhappy, "Do you think a soldier"s leave is permitted just because you say so? It has to go through multiple levels of approval. Don"t interfere with things that you don"t understand."

Even with his tone, Jiang Yuan"s raging enthusiasm did not take a plunder, "Our Yin Zi understand things properly now, he"s opened up and finally willing to go on a blind date!!"

Silence reigned on the other side for a quite a while, "……I"ll handle this matter over my side. You don"t need to bother with it."

Once Jiang Yuan placed the phone down, she was unable to keep her lips sealed.

Translator"s Note:

[1] Salary over five figures in Chinese currency is quite an achievement for a new graduate. This is in comparison to the Chinese average monthly wage of $2,500 RMB (370 USD).