“Hmph! You don’t respect bachelors at all!”

After Quan Shaoteng said so, he stretched his hand to help them close the door.

Bai Muchuan, however, made a remark. “It’s already night time and the snow’s getting thicker. There’s no hurry to go back to the mountains, you better hurry up to get them back! When it stops snowing tomorrow, bring them up again!”

“Alright.” Quan Shaoteng nodded his head.

“One more thing, you take charge of the arrangements for tonight’s night duty!”

“…”

Thud! The door was wide open again.

Quan Shaoteng had pushed it open with a disdainful glance.

Then he left!

A gust of cold wind came in, causing Xiang Wan to sneeze in turn, and then burst into laughter.

“Captain Quan needs a girlfriend!”

Bai Muchuan looked at the door; his lips gave a twitch uncontrollably. “Such manners!”

…

Xiang Wan hugged her knees and laughed as Bai Muchuan got up to close the door.

“Why did I feel that… you two are actually a match?”

“Really?” Bai Muchuan raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah!” Xiang Wan blinked at him.

“I think so as well…” He wore a straight expression and continued to poke the charcoal inside the heater.

However, his words…

Xiang Wan looked up. “I feel that a green-colored crow just flew past my head…”

“…”

Actually, Quan Shaoteng was mistaken.

Both of them were not behaving lovey-dovey with each other at all.

At the very least, Bai Muchuan was not.

Ever since their rescue, Xiang Wan was the one doing most of the talking. Bai Muchuan hardly spoke.

He was relatively quieter than usual.

It was also not the kind of silence the average person could feel.

Most of the time, he was just like everyone else—he could talk, laugh, and communicate normally.

Only Xiang Wan, who was closest to him, managed to sensitively detect the abnormality in his mood.

For example, when he poked the heater earlier, he looked at the glowing red-colored charcoals inside as though in a trance without uttering a single word.

Otherwise, Xiang Wan would not have gotten out of her warm bed to talk to him?

She tried to cheer Bai Muchuan up, but he did not show much interest.

Hence, Xiang Wan gave up.

… Maybe, that really needed time.

After all, this experience was especially intensive.

Everything that happened to them was similar to a huge stone weighing down on their hearts.

Bai Muchuan… he was different from others.

Xiang Wan thought of the dark room where he told her about his painful experience. Thus, she was more tolerant and patient toward him.

She believed if as a teenager, he was able to come out of his despair and create a future for himself, he would not be bound by the current negative emotions for long…

…

She did not ask him anything.

She just stayed beside him quietly.

It was just like when she was upset, he would pretend to be ignorant but would keep her company.

…

After resting for more than an hour, they heard the owner’s voice from the backyard downstairs.

“Dinner is ready!”

Hmm, this dinner was very different.

One would not be able to get such an experience from staying in an ordinary hotel or restaurant.

They did not feel like they were staying in a hotel but back to the simple, rural life where families in the countryside would sit down and eat food from one big pot of rice.

In the dining room downstairs, there were only three large round tables covered with plates of food.

Although there were no delicacies, the looks of their dinner were still sumptuous.

There were various kinds of beans, rice wine, large pots of braised meat, there was also a fish at each table, as well as some vegetables.

The teammates who were dealing with the aftermath of the explosion were back.

Everyone washed their hands before eating. Since they were exhausted, they held onto their bowls and focused on eating. No one talked about the case.

No one wanted to talk about it!

… It was such a nice dinner. Nobody wanted to spoil the mood.

The boss came into the dining room with a radiant smile. “All these are the local flavor of our town. Young brothers, do give them a try…”

After that, he saw Xiang Wan. “Elder sister, do try them as well! It’s very delicious and nourishing!”

Xiang Wan smiled in return. “…”

Her heart was as though suffered a blow!

Why did he call the rest ‘Young brother’?

However, when it comes to her, the owner called her ‘Elder sister’?

Originally, that piece of braised pork inside her mouth felt delicious; suddenly, it no longer had any taste.

Xiang Wan took a look at the old-fashioned and colorful ethnic costume she was wearing and then looked at Bai Muchuan next to him.

“Do I look old?” she whispered.

“Mm!” Bai Muchuan obviously was not listening.

“… Did I look old or something? Why did he… call me Elder Sister?”

“It’s just a polite form of address!”

“But why did he call all of you ‘Young brother’? You mean he’s not polite toward all of you?”

“…”

Bai Muchuan gave it a thought. “If he were to call you ‘Miss’, it’s not suitable right?”

“…”

The two of them looked at each other for half a second; Xiang Wan did not know what to say.

Picking up the chopsticks to eat, she still felt her clothes were too mature-looking for her.

“When you were in the clothing store, you didn’t come across younger looking clothes?”

Bai Muchuan raised an eyebrow. “… What are you talking about? You look really good in this.”

Such taste!

Xiang Wan puffed a sigh. “What’s nice about this?”

“Mature!”

Xiang Wan looked at him seriously.

She stared at him without batting an eyelid.

After a while, she drew closer and spoke softly. “So you actually like… a domineering and mature woman!”

“…”

Somehow, a woman would always be concerned about her appearance.

As long as one didn’t wear the right clothes, one would feel uncomfortable all over. One might even be fussy or picky in everything she did.

After Xiang Wan ate a mouthful of food, she felt that her body was stiff and asked another question.

“Bai Muchuan, I look old in these clothes, right?”

“I don’t think so?” This time, Bai Muchuan scrutinized her from head to toe. “Around 30 to 40 years old!”

“…”

Xiang Wan felt like flipping the table!

“You’re silly, who else do you want to dress up for besides me?” Bai Muchuan coaxed as he put a piece of meat in her bowl. “Eat!”

“I’m not eating anymore. I’m on a diet!”

“You’re already thin enough! If you get any thinner, I’ll only see a bolt of lightning left. Do you think I dare to hug you by then!?”

Pffft! Xiang Wan couldn’t control her laughter. She lowered her head and laughed.

Bai Muchuan glanced at her when a team member came over to pour some wine, “Boss, this rice wine’s good. Come, let me pour you a cup!”

That teammate was an armed police officer from the Municipal Bureau of Nanmu.

Bai Muchuan held his cup for a while. When he saw that everyone was drinking, he did not want to make that teammate lose face, so he moved his hand away from the cup.

“Just drink some, everyone has worked hard for the past two days! Drink some wine so we can sleep better tonight!”

“Alright!” That teammate poured a full cup for him.

However, before Bai Muchuan could drink it, he heard Cheng Zheng’s voice.

“You’re injured all over, you can’t drink!”

His cold remark sounded heavy. It was stern and fierce.

That sounded terrifying!

Bai Muchuan did not turn to look at him, but the teammate who poured the wine was taken aback!

He saw Cheng Zheng’s face which was black as thunder and tried to alleviate the situation. “If so… then forget it! Captain Bai, you have injuries, after all, it’s better not to drink!”

Bai Muchuan retorted, “Rice wine won’t make me drunk! I’m not that weak!”

“Rice wine’s also wine!” Cheng Zheng seemed really furious. “If you don’t spare a thought for yourself, then don’t trouble others!”

Without another word, he put down his bowl heavily and wanted to leave.

Bai Muchuan squinted his eyes at him, revealing a sneer as he curled his lips.

“I’ll never trouble others, especially you!”

After that, he drank the wine and looked at the teammate who was still in a daze.

“Nice wine! Come, pour it up, I wanna toast with all of my brothers!”

Cheng Zheng looked at him; his eyes were livid with anger.

Looking at them… were they going to fight?

Xiang Wan pulled a corner of Bai Muchuan’s clothes under the table.

When one was injured, it was best that one should not drink. Of course, Bai Muchuan might not be bothered about this… However, both Bai Muchuan and Cheng Zheng seemed overly agitated on this matter.

One wanted to drink; the other threw the idea out directly. Even if both of them could not reach an agreement, they shouldn’t fall out of each other right in the presence of so many people.

In other words, if it were anyone else, they wouldn’t turn against each other like that.

However, both of them were like natural enemies!

Both of them couldn’t stand each other!

Ultimately, Bai Muchuan happily drank one cup after another with everyone!

As for Cheng Zheng, he had left in anger…

…

Xiang Wan kept Bai Muchuan company without a word.

She knew that this fellow behaved like a kid whenever he was at loggerheads with Cheng Zheng!

Not to mention, there was also Quan Laowu, who kept drinking with him!

Both of them looked like they were reminiscing the times where they were together in Red Thorn, a bottle of ordinary rice wine seemed like some top quality wine when they gulped down the drink.

Looking at how excited they were, while Bai Muchuan was not looking, Xiang Wan stole a few sips from Bai Muchuan’s cup.

… That tasted sweet and mellow; it was actually good!

In order to let Bai Muchuan drink lesser, she was like a kitty who was stealing food.

She would drink a few mouthfuls occasionally. Bai Muchuan did not seem to notice that as he continued to talk to Quan Shaoteng as well as the rest of the teammates about the days when they were in the military…

Nevertheless, everyone was visibly exhausted.

They did not stay at the dinner table for too long. When they felt that they have drunk enough, they stopped drinking.

When they started to get back to their rooms, Xiang Wan noticed that besides those few who were on night duty, all others had drunk till their faces were red.

The weather was cold! It was also nice to drink some wine to keep warm.

As Xiang Wan thought of that, she touched Bai Muchuan’s hand. “Everyone’s gone back to their rooms! Should we go back too?”

“Mm…” Bai Muchuan turned to look at her slowly, nodding his head.

Xiang Wan noticed that his eyes looked a little red; his cheeks were also suffused in shades of red and pink. He actually made her have a feeling that he looked like a hot young stud…

She blushed a little, suddenly feeling a little warm. “… Can you still walk?”

“Yeah.” He pushed himself up with his hands on the table.

His alcohol tolerance was not bad after all.

While they made their way from the dining room to their room upstairs, from the cold winds with little snowflakes mixed into their warm room, he did not act up in his drunken stupor but was very well-behaved. He fell asleep the moment he entered the room.

Xiang Wan had been helping to support him upstairs that her arms felt sore. She flicked her arms. “This is really… Aye!”

She knew Bai Muchuan was not in a good mood, so she did not stop him.

Perhaps after he drank some wine to vent and woke up after a sleep, he would be fine?

“Bai Muchuan…” Xiang Wan lowered her head to look at him.

He did not make any sound. In his breath, his clothes, everything reeked of wine…

Xiang Wan sighed; she lifted his arm to remove his jacket…

His clothing was too thick!

How could he sleep like this?

This man was too heavy. It was difficult for her to remove his extra clothing…

What was even tougher was to remove his pants…

This was Xiang Wan’s first time to remove a man’s pants.

She felt strange and awkward to do that. She felt that her actions… even seemed a little risqué!

Should she remove that!? She was troubled.

…