Chapter 269 – Regardless Of The Past, Fight First And Talk Later
After seeing his old comrades-in-arms, Yang Yi naturally couldn’t let them drink the northwest wind outside. He walked ahead and invited Luo Zongsheng and the others to his coffee shop to continue catching up.
Just as he opened the door, the little girl who had already had her tears wiped away by Sister Ding Xiang ran over in surprise and threw herself into her father’s arms. However, she quickly pouted and complained, “Papa, you’re a liar!”
Papa? Father? This call made Shen Xinyu, who was following behind, stunned, and he exchanged surprised glances with Luo Zongsheng and Yu Xiaotian.
Yang Yi already has a child? But having a child wasn’t particularly strange. Not everyone in the military was single. Gramps Luo was married, although hasn’t had children yet. What puzzled Shen Xinyu was that Yang Yi’s daughter seemed a bit old, she looked like she’s five or six years old!
“You said, you said that after I count to ten you would come back, but you didn’t come back!” The little girl turned her worry for her father into a complaint, tightly hugged her father’s neck, and said.
After speaking, the little girl saw that there were many people behind her father. She shrank her head shyly, but now she was much bolder. Her big eyes rolled around and looked at these people wearing green clothes.
“It’s Papa’s fault. Papa came back late because he met these uncles outside, Papa’s old good friends.” Yang Yi turned around and introduced them, “Gramps Luo, Shen Xinyu, A’Xiao, this is my daughter, Xixi. This is Uncle Luo, Uncle Shen, Uncle Yu, and Uncle Guo.”
“Uncle Guo?” Xixi was a little surprised. She turned her head to look at Guo Ziyi, who was explaining things to Ding Xiang. The little girl was a little puzzled, “Why are there two Uncle Guos?”
“Because they both have the surname Guo, but that’s Uncle Guo Ziyi, and this is Uncle Guo Dabao!” Yang Yi smiled.
“Okay then…”
After greeting, Xixi ran off to continue playing with Lan Xin.
The fierce guy from earlier didn’t leave any psychological shadow on Xixi because her father stepped forward and stood up for her like a mountain.1
It was like children from previous generations who liked watching Ultraman.2Although they should have been afraid of those ferocious looking monsters, as long as they believed Ultraman would come to help them defeat those monsters, those monsters were nothing to be afraid of!
Guo Ziyi considerately went to tease Ding Xiang and didn’t come over to disturb Yang Yi and his comrades’ reunion.
Yang Yi invited Luo Zongsheng and the others, including Guo Dabao, to sit together in a larger booth. He brought out his tea set from the bar and personally brewed tea for his brothers, which of course they were not used to drinking.
“D*mn, Yang Yi, what have you been through these years? You even started drinking tea like this?” Shen Xinyu couldn’t help but scream as he watched Yang Yi meticulously use tweezers to pick up each delicate purple clay teacup and rinse them with boiling water like he was handling artworks.
Luo Zongsheng and Yu Xiaotian had similar reactions to Shen Xinyu’s. Guo Dabao scratched his head in a simple and honest manner, and said, “I drink tea in big gulps. These small tea cups aren’t enough to quench my thirst.”
“He used to be like that. In the past, when Gramps Luo got some good tea leaves from some big shots, he drank it like you, chewing peonies like a cow!” Shen Xinyu revealed.
Yang Yi smiled and turned to the bar to get a coffee cup for Guo Dabao. The other three still were still a little tasteful, but Guo Dabao was probably not used to this leisurely way of drinking.
Although Luo Zongsheng also asked Yang Yi about the conflict at the dam that happened earlier, Yang Yi didn’t want to dwell on it and casually brushed it off. As they drank tea, they talked about many things that happened after Yang Yi left.
“After you left, there were some changes among the members of War Wolf. Several batches came and went. First, Shaozi and Old Chen got injured and retired to become civil servants, and then…” Luo Zongsheng said slightly with a hint of sadness.
“And there’s Old Zhang and Zhuzi, they sacrificed their lives!” Shen Xinyu added.
Yang Yi was slightly stunned. Although he had long grown indifferent to life and death, these two comrades were vivid figures in his memory, not just unrelated targets to be eliminated. Upon hearing the news of their deaths, Yang Yi couldn’t help but feel a tug at his heart.
“How… did they sacrifice?” Yang Yi asked in a solemn voice.
“Four years ago, when we were besieging Naw Kham, the intelligence was wrong, and we fell into his ambush…” Luo Zongsheng didn’t want to mention these sad things, but since Shen Xinyu had already let it slip, he simply told Yang Yi.
During the reminiscence, it was only natural to ask about Yang Yi’s experiences over the years. Luo Zongsheng and the others were curious about what Yang Yi had gone through and what changes had occurred. He had also written works like “Soldiers a.s.sault” and “Drawing Sword.”
“It’s nothing much, I’ve traveled far and wide, worked in various industries, but I work at the gra.s.sroots level, learning from the people around me, so I picked up a little bit of everything. As for writing novels…” Yang Yi smiled and said lightly, “During those years when I was alone, I could only pa.s.s the time by reading books at night. After reading so many novels, I learned how to write.”
These comrades didn’t have any doubt, they just sighed that Yang Yi’s life was not easy.
However, Shen Xinyu looked at Yang Yi strangely and said, “What’s the deal with your daughter? She’s already five or six years old, right? I remember you didn’t take any leave in the years before you retired…”
This guy still lacks filter in his speech.
“What nonsense are you talking about? Yang Yi’s daughter is so beautiful. Her eyebrows and eyes are all carved out of the same mold as Yang Yi!” Luo Zongsheng scolded.
Yang Yi couldn’t help laughing and explained, “Xixi is only four years old. It’s just that her mother is tall and has good genes, so she’s a bit taller than children her age.”
“So that’s how it is!” Several people suddenly realized and also breathed a sigh of relief for Yang Yi.
Yang Yi didn’t tell them about his and Mo Fei’s “ups and downs” emotional experiences. He mostly glossed over those details and firmly avoided any unnecessary elaboration.
This reminiscence still took a long time, and several batches of tea leaves were changed.
However, Shen Xinyu had always been thinking about competing with Yang Yi. Taking advantage of Luo Zongsheng going to the restroom, he grinned excitedly and said, “Yang Yi, it was Gramps Luo Ye who stopped us earlier, but we haven’t seen each other for so long, shouldn’t we compete? I heard from Guo Dabao that your martial arts skills has improved a lot over the years.”
“You can’t beat Yang Yi,” Guo Dabao kindly reminded him.
Upon hearing this, Shen Xinyu became displeased and said, “D*mn it, who said I can’t beat him! Back in the army, he was my defeated opponent!”
“Shen, doesn’t your conscience hurt when you say such things?” Yang Yi chuckled, his interest aroused, and he imitated Shen Xinyu’s tone, speaking in a rough voice, “When we fought back then, don’t you have a little count in your heart who lost more and who won more?”
At that time, Yang Yi and Shen Xinyu were both very skilled, basically at a 50-50 level, but neither of them would admit defeat and stubbornly believed they had won more.
“You say you won more? A’Xiao, come and judge, wasn’t it me who knocked him down back then?” Shen Xinyu was not convinced.
Yu Xiaotian has been quiet and didn’t talk much, due to his personality.
But at this moment, he looked at these two people and finally spoke, “Regardless of the past, fight first and talk later.”
“Good, let’s fight and then talk!” Shen Xinyu confidently stood up, raised his eyebrows at Yang Yi, and said, “Shall we go?”
Luo Zongsheng returned and saw this scene. He shook his head helplessly with a wry smile, but did not stop them anymore.
A person who is fierce doesn’t say much3, Yang Yi responded with actions. He unb.u.t.toned his somewhat c.u.mbersome coat, revealing the short sleeves underneath.
Shen Xinyu didn’t show weakness either. He also took off his coat, revealing his burly body in a green vest. The two then plunged into the biting cold wind outside.