The Tycoon's Mysterious Darling Wife
Chapter 316 - 318. Exercise 1 (Update 38)

Chapter 316: 318. Exercise 1 (Update 38)

Qin Yan seemed somewhat embarrassed, her face still awkward, "I divorced my ex-husband recently, and my current husband is a soldier."

Chu Yunrong’s slight sympathy for her vanished at once upon hearing this statement. A woman who quickly finds someone new after a divorce always felt somewhat off to her, although this idea came with a hint of prejudice.

Shen Qinglan curled her lips, not asking further. It was Qin Yan who seemed not to want any misunderstandings, continuing to explain, "My ex-husband was violent. On the surface, he treated me well, but in reality, he often beat and kicked me. I endured it for many years, tried calling the police, running away, but each time, it only led to more severe beatings. I was truly scared.

Later, when I returned to Nancheng, I met my current husband, who was my first love when I was young. He learned about my situation and helped me divorce my ex-husband. Coincidentally, he had already divorced his ex-wife by then, so we naturally came together."

As Qin Yan spoke, her eyes reddened. Chu Yunrong felt a tinge of sourness in her heart. They were both women; had she encountered such a situation, she probably would have broken down by now.

"It’s all in the past now, you are free and have a happy family. All’s well that ends well, you should look on the bright side," comforted Chu Yunrong.

Shen Qinglan glanced at her mother.

Qin Yan smiled, "I made you laugh seeing me like this. Really, I don’t have many friends here. My only friend has her own family troubles to deal with and no time to listen to me. I wouldn’t have mentioned this if I hadn’t been bottling it up inside for so long. Sorry for dampening your spirits."

Her earnest words left Chu Yunrong with nothing further to say, while Shen Qinglan watched coldly as Chu Yunrong comforted Qin Yan.

After the meal ended, Qin Yan and Chu Yunrong had evidently become good friends.

After dinner, Qin Yan asked, "Sister Yun, can I come to visit you often in the future?"

Chu Yunrong smiled, "Why not? You have my phone number. Next time you come to Beijing, just call me. I’m usually free, and it would be great to go shopping or have tea together."

Upon hearing this, Qin Yan immediately beamed with joy, "That would be wonderful. You mustn’t find me annoying later."

"Of course not. We’ll keep in touch. We should get going for today and talk more next time you come to Beijing."

"Okay, Sister Yun, Qinglan, I’m leaving now. Goodbye."

On the way back, Shen Qinglan turned to look at Chu Yunrong, "Mom, do you really like Qin Yan?"

"Where did you see that I liked her?" Chu Yunrong countered, then laughed, "My silly girl, do you really think your mom is naive? Although I used to be in the arts, I can handle basic human relationships. Qin Yan has encountered us several times. Once or twice could be coincidence, but not every time. And this time, we hardly know her, yet she came right up to us with her tragic story. Is that normal?"

Listening to Chu Yunrong’s logical analysis, Shen Qinglan gained a new understanding of her mother.

Noticing her gaze, Chu Yunrong shot her a look, "Don’t look at your mother with those eyes. I have over thirty years more life experience than you. I still have the ability to judge people. Better to keep her close under watch than let her cause trouble behind our backs."

Although Qin Yan seemed very pleasant, it was precisely because she was too pleasant that she aroused suspicion.

"Qinglan, do you know why Qin Yan wants to get close to us?" Chu Yunrong suddenly asked.

Shen Qinglan shook her head, "I’m not sure, but Mom, you should keep your distance. It’s better not to associate with her unnecessarily."

Chu Yunrong smiled reassuringly, "Mom knows. As for you, you are in a special situation now. Take good care of yourself, and that will put me at ease."

**

At the border rainforest of Z Country, today marked the fifth day of the military exercise, and the third day since Hengyi and his team had entered.

Hengyi, dressed in military camouflage with his face painted in military colors, stood on a large tree, holding a pair of binoculars and gazing into the distance. Mu Liancheng also held a pair of binoculars.

"Captain, Red Team is to our west with about ten people, and Blue Team is to our north with five, which side should we deal with first?"

Fu Hengyi put down his binoculars and spoke in a deep voice, "Although Red Team has more people, they are clearly exhausted and physically depleted, while every member of Blue Team is energetic; though few in number, their combat strength is formidable."

"So, are we going to deal with Red Team first?" Meng Liang asked.

Qian Fei rolled his eyes at him, this idiot. "Of course, we’re dealing with Blue Team first. Their strong combat power means they have a greater chance of victory. Don’t forget, our mission is to annihilate both teams before they can breach the opposing side’s main camp."

Meng Liang slapped his forehead, "Oh right, I really am stupid."

"It’s okay, knowing you’re stupid means you’re not completely hopeless," Qian Fei said coolly, earning an elbow from Meng Liang.

"Enough you two, if the other side notices us, well..."

Mu Liancheng spoke up.

Fu Hengyi glanced at them, his gaze slightly cold, and the two immediately quieted down.

"Captain, are we really going to attack Blue Team?" Meng Liang asked, eyes full of excitement.

Fu Hengyi spoke, "Wait a bit longer. The two teams are too close to each other right now, easily drawing each other’s attention. Let’s wait until they are further apart before making a move."

That meant they were indeed going to attack Blue Team. Meng Liang looked sympathetically in the direction of Blue Team, who, targeted by their captain, could only go so far as an elite group.

On the other side, several members of Blue Team were also discussing this exercise; a particularly sturdy blue soldier spoke up, "Group leader, this military drill is so strange. We’ve participated in drills before, even ones stronger than this, but we’ve never seen anything like this with such large losses; and what’s most important is that it’s happening so fast, especially these past three days—over two-thirds of our people have been lost. Could it be that South City Military District has brought in all of their elites?"

A slightly shorter person parted the waist-high thorns with a stick and responded, "That’s impossible. While the scale of this exercise is larger than before, both military districts wouldn’t show all their strengths outright. Besides, we’ve encountered many from Red Team along the way, and their strength is comparable to ours, not vastly superior. It shouldn’t be easy for them to quickly defeat us."

Pang Wen, addressed as the group leader, looked grave. "Perhaps there’s a third party involved."

The others, upon hearing this, changed colors. "Group leader, what do you mean by a third party, reinforcements from Red Team?"

Pang Wen shook his head, "No, not reinforcements. Red Team has even higher casualties than us. I guess this third party’s task is to target both our teams."

Mu Liancheng, hidden in Blue Team’s inevitable path, flashed a hint of admiration in his eyes upon hearing Pang Wen’s words. He hadn’t expected the young man to be so clever. Although it took until the fifth day to figure it out, that was still much longer than they had anticipated. They had thought it might take until the sixth or even the seventh day for them to realize, or that they might remain clueless until the end of the exercise, as had happened before.

Mu Liancheng’s hiding position and skills were excellent; five people passed right in front of him without noticing his presence.

The stout blue soldier who had started speaking immediately countered his teammate’s words, "How could that be possible? Red and Blue Teams together make up four hundred people. If the third party intends to annihilate both sides, they must have no fewer than a hundred people. If there were that many extra people, they would’ve been detected long ago. The fact that no signals have been sent from the camp till now clearly shows no abnormalities have been discovered. If there truly is a third party, their numbers couldn’t possibly be large, but how likely is it for a few dozen people to fight against our several hundred?"

"What if it’s Special Forces?" Pang Wen said coolly.

The one who had spoken fell silent. If it was Special Forces, that really was hard to predict. "Their level is so much higher than ours, coming to participate in an exercise like this, wouldn’t that be an underuse of their capabilities?"

Now that hit home for Mu Liancheng. He too was puzzled as to why the base leadership had agreed to this. Although third parties had appeared before, those were during exercises between Special Forces units. Participating in a regular exercise like this one was unprecedented.

In the control room, the leaders from Beijing Military Region and South City Military District hadn’t looked normal these past three days; they were perpetually grim, radiating a tense, cold air. Seeing members of Sharp Blade Unit looking at them, nothing seemed right—their noses not noses, their eyes not eyes, and even their words were tinged with sarcasm. No wonder, anyone would be unhappy to see their personnel completely thrashed.

"I didn’t expect a mere exercise to make Commander Liu deploy all the elites from the base; isn’t that a bit too grand?" Chief of Staff Chen from South City Military District said.

The person known as Commander Liu of the Sharp Blade Unit grinned, "Chief of Staff Chen is joking. It’s just a routine exercise; why would we need to deploy all our elites? If that were the case, this exercise would have ended long ago. Many among those who came this time are new recruits we are currently selecting; consider it a type of assessment for them." The implication was, our new recruits alone are more than you can handle; if we deployed our elites, what chance would you have?

Chief of Staff Chen snorted, "That doesn’t sound right. As far as I know, Fu Hengyi is the captain of your main team, and is the most capable person there."