Chapter 90 : Rescue workers arrive

But he didn’t have time to check now. He kept walking forward, but when he saw the way his brother was looking at Siying, he immediately knew his brother was also interested in her. That made him uncomfortable, so he moved to stand in front of Siying, deliberately blocking his brother’s view.

“Brother, so the army sent you to assist me with this mission.”

Nangong Ruoyi noticed how his brother blocked him from looking at Siying. ‘This brat’s got feelings for her,’ he thought. ‘What a problem… I quite like this girl myself.’

Still, he asked with concern, “Are you injured?”

“Yeah, but luckily Siying helped me remove the bullet.” Then he turned to Yun Siying and said, “Siying, this is my big brother, Nangong Ruoyi. You can call him Big Brother.”

Nangong Ruoyi raised an eyebrow. ‘This brat is clearly claiming her as his, trying to assert his territory and show off, too.’

“Hello, Comrade Nangong,” Yun Siying greeted politely. In the original owner’s memories, Nangong Ruoyi was nearly ten years older than her. She had barely seen him growing up, perhaps just once or twice as a child and only had a faint impression of him. As she got older, she’d heard people talk about him. Everyone said he was cunning and sharp.

“Brother Nangong, are you the one in charge of this mission?” Han Yuecheng, having heard the voices outside, woke up. When he noticed that Siying and Nangong were no longer inside the cave, he rushed out in a hurry.

“You all go ahead and talk,” Yun Siying said. Seeing they had serious matters to discuss, she left them and returned to the cave by herself. Military missions were confidential, and she knew it wasn’t her place to listen in.

A short while later, Nangong Ruochen came back into the cave. “Siying, we have something to take care of outside. Stay here and wait for me. We’ll be back soon.”

“Go ahead,” Yun Siying replied with a smile.

When Nangong Ruochen led the team to where the five bodies were located, they were still lying there, untouched by wild animals. It seemed luck had been on their side, and the corpses remained intact.

When everyone saw how all five had died in exactly the same way, each shot with unerring accuracy, bullets hitting the same spot their eyes widened. The expressions on the faces of the dead were filled with terror, as if they had witnessed something horrifying in their final moments. The team was baffled, and Nangong Ruochen didn’t say much. They searched the bodies but didn’t find anything of value.

As they continued on, they found more corpses along the way. It was evident that these were the ones killed during the firefight between Nangong Ruochen and Han Yuecheng. The manner of death was more conventional. They confiscated the guns and ammunition from the bodies and searched the area thoroughly, especially around where the mysterious person had appeared. Still, they found no clues, so they returned to the cave.

On the way back, Nangong Ruochen and Nangong Ruoyi are behind the others.

“Tell me,” Nangong Ruoyi said, “what’s the deal with those people?”

Nangong Ruochen glanced at his brother still as sharp as ever and proceeded to tell him what he had seen with his own eyes. Nangong Ruoyi fell silent. ‘Could something that strange really have happened?’ But he knew his brother well, he wouldn’t lie to him.

He felt a deep sense of gratitude. If that strange event hadn’t happened, he might never have seen his brother alive again.

Once they returned to the cave, Nangong Ruochen sat down beside Yun Siying.

“Siying, close your eyes and get some rest. We’ll be heading down the mountain at dawn.”

“Alright, I’ll take a short nap.” She leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes. She was truly tired. She had gone up and down the mountain twice on foot, helped remove bullets from two wounded men, and stayed up all night on watch.

Nangong Ruochen looked at her exhausted face, feeling both warmth and guilt. The soldiers assigned two people to keep watch while the others gathered around the fire, leaning against each other and resting with their eyes closed.

When Yun Siying woke up, she found herself leaning on Nangong Ruochen’s shoulder. She froze for a moment, her mind momentarily blank. Nangong Ruochen noticed she was awake and said with a guilty look, “Siying, how did you sleep last night?”

Seeing his clear, alert eyes, it was obvious he had been awake the whole time. Yun Siying recalled how she had unknowingly fallen asleep leaning against his shoulder, and her face flushed red. She quickly looked away and replied, “Not bad.”

In truth, she had slept deeply so deeply that she didn’t even notice she had leaned on someone else.

“Alright, we should get ready to head out of the mountains,” Nangong Ruochen said, his eyes glinting with a triumphant smile.

Nangong Ruoyi, watching his brother’s entire operation, felt a toothache from sheer exasperation. When Siying had fallen asleep, this guy had carefully guided her head onto his shoulder with his big hand, then sat there with a goofy grin on his face, occasionally sneaking glances at her affectionately all the way until dawn.

When the other comrades woke up, he signaled for them to stay quiet and let her sleep longer. Only after Siying woke up were they allowed to get up. It was all ‘so cheesy’.

It was already 6 a.m. by the time Yun Siying returned to the Youth Courtyard. After a quick wash, she collapsed into bed and fell asleep. When she woke up for lunch, Nangong Ruochen and the others had already returned.

They had split ways at the edge of the forest, Yun Siying returned back, while the others headed into town.

After sleeping until noon, Yun Siying got up, washed, had something to eat, and left her room. She noticed that Nangong Ruochen and the others were already back, their door was still open.

She went over to Nangong Ruochen’s room, where Han Yuecheng happened to be as well. She asked with concern, “Did you two go to the hospital to have your injuries checked?”

“Yes, the doctor said we’re healing well. You handled the wounds very professionally, we just need a few days of rest at home,” Han Yuecheng replied right away.

Nangong Ruochen didn’t say anything, silently agreeing but inside, he felt conflicted. He had actually refused the doctor’s examination that morning because when he checked his wound, it had already begun to scab over.

But Han Yuecheng’s wound seemed the same as before, with no noticeable change. Nangong Ruochen had a strong intuition, his own rapid recovery had something to do with Siying.

“Then make sure to follow the doctor’s advice and take care of yourselves,” Yun Siying reminded them before leaving the room.

Seeing the blazing sun outside, she went to the courtyard to dry the mushrooms they had picked the previous day. After that, she headed to the village entrance, to the big locust tree where all the aunts gathered.

From a distance, Li Hongying spotted her and called out, waving, “Siying, over here!”

Yun Siying saw that Li Hongying, Wang Yunfeng, Zhang Cuifen, and Lu Lianzhi were all present. She walked over quickly and sat on one of the stone stools they had brought over.

“Aunties, do you come here every day at noon to cool off?” she asked.

“Yes, we usually gather here around noon to cool off and chat,” Li Hongying replied with a smile.

“Then it must get pretty lively here every day,” Yun Siying commented. She figured that if she ever wanted to hear the village gossip or news, this was definitely the place to go though the stories might be a little embellished in the retelling.

“Siying, I heard a handsome young man came to your Youth courtyard today. Do you know who he is?” Li Hongying asked curiously. She had noticed the man looked spirited and likable.

“He’s Nangong Ruochen’s older brother. He was passing through and came by to visit him,” Yun Siying answered.