Chapter 10 I’ll Send Him Back

Chapter 10: I'll Just Take Him Back

"You..." Although he could tell it was just a joke, Zhu Shinian still didn't know what to say.

Until Jiang Huaiyan looked at him and let out a soft laugh. "Why are you so stunned?"

The door to the private room clicked softly, and Mr. Lin opened it from inside, smiling politely at the two of them. "Young Master, Colonel Zhu, the food is being served."

Jiang Huaiyan smiled. "Come on, let's go eat first."

"Mr. Jiang," Zhu Shinian remembered the purpose of coming to this meal in the first place and spoke quietly to Jiang Huaiyan. "About the sponsorship slot... you don't have to give it to my grandmother anymore. Please take it back. Someone else must need it more."

Jiang Huaiyan was slightly taken aback by his words, as if he hadn't expected someone to voluntarily give up such a windfall.

"I do have money. Even if I don't..." Gu Zhen's name felt like it was burning his tongue, and Zhu Shinian couldn't bring himself to say it in front of Jiang Huaiyan. "Even if it's just me alone... I can still afford the treatment. Surely someone else needs this more..."

"But the slot's already been confirmed. To cancel it, I'd need a reason. That would be a bit troublesome." Jiang Huaiyan slightly frowned, looking a little troubled.

Zhu Shinian, always terrified of causing trouble, immediately didn't know what to do when he heard this.

"Let's eat first. I'll think about it," Jiang Huaiyan said, deliberately hesitating because he knew what would make it hard for Zhu Shinian to refuse.

When they returned to the table, two or three dishes were already on the table, but no one had touched their chopsticks. Jiang Huaiyan quickly urged everyone to help themselves.

A male alpha in his forties stood up and proposed a toast to Jiang Huaiyan first, and then every so often, another patient or family member would get up to toast him.

"Mr. Jiang, I'd like to toast you too."

"Do you drink?" Jiang Huaiyan didn't immediately raise his own glass. "If you don't drink, don't force it."

Zhu Shinian really wasn't much of a drinker. The Imperial Army wasn't that strict, and the banquet drinking culture wasn't common in the military.

Even at the rare banquet, Zhu Shinian was always with Gu Zhen, so nobody was dumb enough to make him offer a toast, and nobody dared interrupt them to toast him.

But today, he really did need to toast Jiang Huaiyan.

"I'd like to toast you. I'm very happy to have met you, and I'm especially grateful and I admire you..."

And I also feel... so sorry to you.

Zhu Shinian downed the red wine in one gulp. Jiang Huaiyan hesitated but didn't stop him.

......

"Has the registration list for the Arctic Wolf Squad come out yet?" Gu Zhen frowned. "Registration closed two hours ago. What the hell have you been doing? You still haven't gotten the list together."

"Sir, there might be an issue with the registration. Let me check again." The subordinate, seeing him approach, almost instinctively closed the document.

The more he tried to hide it, the more suspicious Gu Zhen found him. Although no real spy would be this blatantly suspicious, Gu Zhen still told him to get lost and opened his computer.

The registration list for the Arctic Wolf Squad was right there on his desktop. Gu Zhen clicked it open; there were no garbled characters, and everything was clearly arranged.

But as he scrolled down, Zhu Shinian's name was prominently listed.

"Sir, it might be a registration error. Please don't be angry. Let me check again. Maybe someone entered the wrong ID..."

Chen Yueming and Zhu Shinian had entered the academy together and later joined the Gu Family Guard together. Although he wasn't particularly close to Zhu Shinian, Zhu Shinian had a good nature and would always help anyone if he could.

Zhu Shinian secretly signing up for the Arctic Wolf Squad would definitely make Gu Zhen angry. Chen Yueming was about to secretly contact Zhu Shinian to ask what was going on when Gu Zhen came over.

"Both the ID and name wrong for the same person? That would take a real idiot."

"Please don't be angry, sir. Colonel Zhu is popular with the lower ranks. Maybe someone, not knowing, signed him up as a joke or without asking..."

Gu Zhen's face was terrifyingly dark. Chen Yueming, watching his face, spoke more and more quietly, finally trailing off into silence.

Although he didn't know exactly what had happened, he could understand Zhu Shinian. Gu Zhen wasn't exactly easygoing, and after all, he was the grandson of Marshal Gu. Even if he didn't abuse his power, he still had his pride. Being with him must have been a real pain.

Besides, Zhu Shinian was an S-class alpha, incredibly good-looking. Whenever a comrade's family visited and saw Zhu Shinian, they'd always ask if he was seeing anyone and what his pheromone code was. If he broke up with Gu Zhen, he could definitely find a gentle, beautiful omega willing to marry him.

Even if Gu Zhen was great, how could an alpha ever be better than an omega?

Of course, Chen Yueming wouldn't dare say such things out loud even with a hundred guts, and even when just thinking them to himself, he had to keep checking Gu Zhen's expression.

Gu Zhen picked up his personal communicator with a dark look and walked out of the office, presumably to call Zhu Shinian. Chen Yueming could only silently pray for Zhu Shinian, hoping he'd survive the storm.

"Are you at home?" The call was picked up quickly, and Gu Zhen got straight to the point. "What's this about signing up for the Arctic Wolf Squad? Zhu Shinian, you'd better give me an explanation."

There was no immediate response from the other end. For a moment, Gu Zhen regretted being too harsh with Zhu Shinian.

Lately, he'd spoken to Zhu Shinian harshly several times and never apologized afterward.

While reflecting on himself, Gu Zhen also felt a bit resentful that Zhu Shinian never got angry with him. If Zhu Shinian were a few years younger, a harsh word would make him ignore him for a whole day.

"Niannian, I'm not scolding you. Was it a subordinate's joke, or did you sign up on impulse? The list came to me; I can cancel it for you..."

"I'm not quite sure about that," came an unfamiliar male voice from the other end. Gu Zhen immediately became alert. "Xiao Zhu got a bit drunk and fell asleep in the car. Who is this, may I ask? I'll have him call you back when he wakes up."

The man's tone was polite yet affected. Gu Zhen instantly recognized the voice.

"The Jiang guy, how are you so..." Gu Zhen nearly ground his teeth. "Like a persistent ghost."

Zhu Shinian must have saved his name as a contact, yet Jiang Huaiyan was pretending not to know who was calling. Even though Gu Zhen knew he was just trying to rile him up, he still fell for it and got even angrier.

"Where's Zhu Shinian? I'm coming to get him."

"No need to trouble the Major General," Jiang Huaiyan said politely. "It seems the Major General is quite busy with work. I'll just take him back."

"Jiang Huaiyan, have I warned you? If you keep meddling with the people around me, I swear I'll..."

"You've already used that threat on me multiple times. Can't you come up with something new?" Jiang Huaiyan said flatly. "I thought you'd save that important trump card of knowing my true identity for later, instead of using it for... this—jealousy, is that it?"

"You two have known each other for seven years, and you have so little confidence in your relationship? If an omega were making moves on him, would you lose your mind even more? Even if I'm competing with you fairly, with all those years together, you shouldn't have anything to worry about."

"I really don't get why General Gu is so worked up. Today really was a coincidence. Jiang Holdings developed a new treatment for a rare disease—the same one his grandmother has. A few patients and their families invited me to dinner, and I happened to run into him."

"Do you actually have any real power at Jiang Holdings? The great Young Master Jiang personally eating with patients and their families? Do you think I'm an idiot?"

"General Gu, you're too loud," Jiang Huaiyan frowned slightly. "You're about to wake him up. I'll hang up. We'll talk later."

At eight in the evening, the command office wasn't too busy, since it wasn't wartime. Apart from Chen Yueming, no one else was still working overtime.

Chen Yueming should have left long ago, but after checking the list, he didn't dare walk past Gu Zhen, who was on the phone with a face dark enough to scare ten kids.

He just hoped Gu Zhen would take the elevator after the call, so he could sneak out without greeting that devil.

But fate wasn't on his side. The devil, whose face was now dark enough to scare twenty kids, came back into the office.

And he even walked up to his desk.

"Look up every license plate registered to Jiang Huaiyan. Find out which car he's driving now."

“Alright, alright, yes, sir...” Gu Zhen never took his anger out on his subordinates, but Chen Yueming could really feel how intimidating Gu Zhen was. “He has three cars in total. The one he’s driving now should be a white Corolla, license plate α-72-XT91. It just passed the intersection of Commercial Street and Guanhai North Road.”

The system also mapped out the entire route and destination for that white Corolla, and the most probable destination displayed on the computer screen was a suburban villa.

Chen Yueming had heard of that villa—it was where the wealthy gathered. He naturally assumed it was Jiang Huaiyan’s own residence, but he couldn’t quite figure out why Gu Zhen, who had just been angry with Zhu Shinian, was now suddenly asking him to track Jiang Huaiyan’s car.

He dared to turn his head and steal a glance at Gu Zhen. Well... now the Major General’s face was dark enough to scare a hundred children.

Author's Note: