The money-transfer tactic didn’t help Lu Qiming catch on to her subtext. Qian Duoduo tugged at her ear, once again sinking into frustration.
Originally, she hadn’t wanted to hurt him and had tried to be subtle about it.
Qian Duoduo thought it over for a moment, then took a deep breath and made up her mind.
She typed in the chat box: [Mr. Lu, please accept the money. Unless something unexpected happens, we probably won’t see each other again.]
After typing, she hit “send.”
Lu Qiming: [What part of me does Miss Qian find unsatisfactory?]
Qian Duoduo: [You’re a great person. It’s just that we’re not quite compatible.]
Qian Duoduo: [In any case, it was nice meeting you. I wish you the best in finding someone you truly like.]
Lu Qiming: [I wish Miss Qian all the best.]
About two seconds after she received this message, a system notification popped up on Qian Duoduo’s screen: The other party has returned the transfer.
The soldier comrade simply refused to take the 48 yuan.
Qian Duoduo didn’t want to force the issue, so she just shrugged and exited the chat window.
She opened the game interface, and just as she entered the hero selection stage, a voice came from the bedroom door.
Zhang Xuelan: “I just remembered today is Saturday! Duoduo, didn’t you say you were meeting the guy this Saturday?”
Qian Duoduo was completely focused on rune setup and didn’t even glance up: “Already met.”
Zhang Xuelan was shocked: “Already? When?”
“This afternoon.”
“Oh…” Zhang Xuelan’s face lit up with joy and curiosity.
She quickly walked over and plopped down beside Qian Duoduo. “So? Is he good-looking?”
Already in the match interface, Qian Duoduo couldn’t afford distractions. She squeezed out a reply: “Yeah.”
Zhang Xuelan beamed: “I knew this one was promising! Your Aunt Sun already told me—this young man is accomplished and has won lots of commendations and awards.”
“Mhm.” Qian Duoduo nodded while casting a control skill at the enemy jungler.
“Guess how your Aunt Sun met this young man.”
“How?”
“Their family’s in engineering, right? This year, they won a bid to work on a project — renovating the car maintenance facility at the military compound in our Shishui district. She ran into him a few times.” Zhang Xuelan grew more animated as she spoke, eyes sparkling. “You know your Aunt Sun — she can talk to anyone. After a few chats, she found out this outstanding young officer was single and instantly thought of introducing him to you.”
Busy farming monsters to earn gold, Qian Duoduo wasn’t really listening. She just kept replying with “mm-hmm.”
Zhang Xuelan: “Come on, come on, tell Mom — what did you two talk about today?”
“Just chatted about random stuff.”
“What stuff?”
Both sides were engaged in the first team fight.
Qian Duoduo’s hand slipped, and a misplay left her with barely any health.
Half a second later, the screen went gray.
Only then did Qian Duoduo lift her head to look at Zhang Xuelan.
She said, “Mom, don’t ask. That officer and I aren’t going to work out.”
The moment she said that, the smile vanished from Zhang Xuelan’s face.
She frowned and asked, “Why? Is he some macho type who bullied you?”
“No, Mom, don’t jump to conclusions. He’s actually a decent guy.”
“Then why say it won’t work?”
The screen lit up again.
Qian Duoduo quickly bought her gear and jumped back into the match while replying, “Because he’s a soldier. I don’t want to date someone in the military.”
That line made Zhang Xuelan burst out laughing.
“What’s wrong with being a soldier? They’re upstanding and patriotic — reliable as they come. Go online and you’ll see how many girls dream of dating their ‘soldier boyfriend.’ And here you are, nitpicking a profession that people fight over in the matchmaking scene?”
“I’m not nitpicking. I just think the responsibilities and burdens that come with being a soldier are too heavy.” Qian Duoduo explained gently. “Mom, Lu Qiming said he spends a quarter of each year away on missions.”
“Serving the country is a soldier’s duty. He goes on his missions, you do your job—what’s so bad about that?”
Qian Duoduo said, “But I’m not okay with long-distance relationships.”
Zhang Xuelan’s eyes narrowed slightly, and she immediately fell silent.
Qian Duoduo let out a soft sigh. “Take Aunt and Uncle for example. Look at my cousin — from birth to adulthood, it’s been Aunt who handled everything. Uncle’s in the border defense forces, always busy and rarely home. Aunt had to work, raise a child, and take care of both sets of parents. I’ve seen firsthand how hard it’s been on her all these years.”
“That’s true,” Zhang Xuelan nodded thoughtfully.
“And Aunt told me before,” Qian Duoduo said with a faint smile, half-joking, half-serious, “she loves gardening, while Uncle likes growing garlic. She enjoys tea and traveling, but Uncle not only doesn’t understand or support her, he calls it all a waste of time. Two people like that living together — it’s exhausting just to watch.”
After hearing her daughter out, Zhang Xuelan mulled it over, then finally nodded. “I get what you’re saying. I really do think that boy is a good one, but if you’re not into it, then forget it.”
Having convinced her mom, Qian Duoduo quietly breathed a sigh of relief and finally focused entirely on her match.
Zhang Xuelan sat beside her for a while, gazing at her daughter’s delicate profile, looking like she had something more to say.
After clearing a few jungle monsters, Qian Duoduo noticed and blinked at her. “Mom, what else is up?”
Zhang Xuelan cleared her throat a bit too forcefully. “Uh… do you have time tomorrow night?”
“Hard to say. Why?”
“Your Uncle Zhuang asked if we could all have dinner together — said it’s been years since our families got together and thought it’d be nice to catch up,” Zhang Xuelan said.
“Just us and Uncle Zhuang’s family?”
“Yeah.” Zhang Xuelan answered, then paused for a few seconds, rubbed her nose, and gave an awkward little laugh. “Maybe also his nephew. That boy studied in Italy and just got back…”
No one knew her mom better than Qian Duoduo.
She instantly saw through the setup and said with a laugh, “You said after this one, no more blind dates. Backtracking already?”
“Says who!” Zhang Xuelan, already in her fifties, realized she’d lose face if she admitted to going back on her word. So she changed her tune. “Your dad and I will go tomorrow night. You can figure out your own dinner.” With a dramatic sigh and hand to her forehead, she got up and walked off.
After putting the sliced Asian pears into a clay pot to stew, Zhang Xuelan flopped onto the couch and started a video call, venting her frustrations.
“Aiya, Aunt Sun, let me tell you — Duoduo met that boy you introduced today, and she’s just not into him! This girl, she’s really driving me crazy…”
*
Outside the Fourth Ring of Shishui District, on the outskirts — PLA Southern City Garrison, a certain brigade.
Under the night sky, the red-lit sign above the office building was visible from far away: Follow the Party’s command, win battles, uphold excellent conduct. A lone figure stood rigid in the sentry box outside the gate, expression stern, posture upright, dressed in winter camo training gear, weapon in hand, on alert.
It was nearing 10 p.m., yet the lights in the office building remained brightly lit.
The place was so quiet that the sound of military boots striking the ground echoed clearly, heading from the stairwell on the first floor straight to the office at the end of the third.
“Didn’t see you in the dorm — figured you’d be here.” The speaker was a young man around thirty, wearing a thick army coat over his winter uniform, bundled up well against the cold.
But the man inside acted like he hadn’t heard him at all. In the silence, only the rapid tapping of a keyboard filled the room.
Clearly used to this, Song Qingfeng raised his brows with mild exasperation and walked in, knocking a few times on the desk. Tap, tap, tap.
“Reporting!”
“What is it?” Lu Qiming didn’t even lift his eyes, continuing his work.
“Oh, so you do know I’m here.” Song Qingfeng leaned his hip on the edge of Lu Qiming’s desk. “For a moment there I thought once Captain Lu enters work mode, the rest of the world just disappears.”
Lu Qiming remained focused on the model in front of him, adjusting data.
The glow of the screen lit up his sharp features, casting cold reflections.
Song Qingfeng craned his neck for a look at the screen below and instantly let out a shocked gasp. “Holy shit, Lao Lu, are you even human? The task just came in a few days ago, and you’ve already got this whole thing built?”
“It’s just a draft,” Lu Qiming replied. “Still plenty to tweak.”
Song Qingfeng looked thoroughly impressed, giving a big thumbs-up. “No wonder you were top of your class at National Defense University. No wonder they always say: ‘Send Lu Qiming to lead the first charge— you’re guaranteed to win.’”
“What did you come here for?” Lu Qiming asked.
“Wang Siqi told me you played basketball until seven-thirty tonight, and by the time you made it to the cafeteria, all you got were two steamed buns. Here— no need to thank me.” As he spoke, Song Qingfeng casually tossed a thermal food container onto Lu Qiming’s desk.
Lu Qiming glanced at it. “What is it?”
“I’m on duty this week, can’t go home. My wife didn’t want me to starve, so she packed me some love-filled rice balls.” Song Qingfeng popped one into his mouth, speaking around the bite. “Come on, eat with me. Don’t get all polite with your bro.”
“You eat. I still have instant noodles in my dorm.”
Song Qingfeng pitched his voice higher. “What’s the matter, dear brother? You know these are from your future sister-in-law, and now you’re too shy to eat? Is this what single-man bashfulness looks like?”
Lu Qiming shot him a look— cold as a blade.
Song Qingfeng was Lu Qiming’s junior.
Light-hearted and playful by nature, he was the comic relief of the entire special ops team.
After hanging out and working overtime with his captain for a bit, Song Qingfeng suddenly nudged him with an elbow.
“Hey, Lao Lu.”
“Yeah?”
“Word is you went on a blind date this afternoon. So, how’d it go?”
Lu Qiming’s fingers froze briefly over the keyboard, eyes darkening for a moment, but he quickly resumed typing like nothing happened.
“Where’d you hear that?”
Song Qingfeng gave an awkward chuckle and slung an arm around Lu Qiming’s shoulder. “Come on, doesn’t matter where I heard it. The point is— our whole team sees you as our prized treasure. Your love life is practically a national concern. Even Commander Xiao was saying the other day, ‘That Lu Qiming— how’s he still single?’”
Lu Qiming wasn’t buying a word of it. “You’re the only one with time to gossip.”
“I swear it’s true! Ask Yang-ge and the others— they all heard it!” Song Qingfeng looked ready to swear an oath. Then, smoothly steering back to his main question, “Anyway, the girl you met today— what was she like?”
At that, an image rose in Lu Qiming’s mind.
Early winter, afternoon sun, warm and golden, the air filled with the sweet scent of cream.
She had walked into the brightly colored dessert shop, soft curls framing a petite, fair face— the color of the season’s first snow back home.
She sat across from him eating cake, poised and graceful, always wearing a gentle, faint smile.
When a bit of cream got on her lip, she’d instinctively dart her tongue out to lick it off, like a little animal…
The night air was colder than the day, but somehow Lu Qiming felt his mouth go dry.
He tugged at his uniform collar, lowered his gaze, and took a sip of water.
“You’re asking how it went?” Lu Qiming asked calmly.
Song Qingfeng: “Yeah— was she nice? Did the date go well?”
“She was great.”
“Then that’s a win!”
“She was too great. Out of my league.”
“……”