Chapter 287: Missing His Son?
Chapter 287: Missing His Son?
Translator: ryuxenji Editor: H2dH2mr
It was worth mentioning that those excellent youths had still been frightened badly by that major general of the 23rd Division. The moment the other had appeared, they had sensed the horrifying force of presence emanating from that major general's body. It was almost enough to crumble their composure instantly. If the other had not stopped to speak with Ling Lan, thus dissipating this pressure, they might not have been able to hold up for long.
This also made them secretly admire the 23rd Division even more ... as expected of General Ling Xiao's man — compared to the other divisions, the 23rd Division's representative was clearly much more impressive. This caused these youths to revere the 23rd Division greatly — 4 years later 1 , quite a number of students would choose the 23rd Division as their enlistment goal.
This was certainly a beautiful misunderstanding. Just think — if the full force of Ling Lan's presence at optimal peak of Qi-Jin was unleashed, it would naturally exceed the pressure exerted by a regular officer. Besides that, the visiting officers were afraid to put too much pressure on the students, so they had all tamped down on their force of presence. Thus, these students had the false impression that the 23rd Division was much stronger compared to the other teams.
Furthermore, Ling Xiao was a god-class operator. Even if he was fully suppressing his presence, when the gap between the realms of two parties was too wide, mere proximity would be enough for the weaker party to feel a tremendous pressure. This was also why those students had felt the pressure so keenly. However, when Ling Xiao had spoken with his daughter, his mood had become joyful, which had subconsciously relaxed his defensive aura, thus reducing that pressure by a significant amount. In fact, it was precisely this kind of moment that would be a prime opportunity to assassinate Ling Xiao. It had to be said that Ling Xiao's only two weaknesses were Lan Luofeng and Ling Lan.
Thus, it wasn't that those other representatives were not strong — the father-daughter duo of Ling Xiao and Ling Lan were just too strong, which was why such a wondrous misunderstanding was created.
After bidding farewell to the other team members, Ling Lan led Luo Lang back to their villa. Before Ling Lan could tell Luo Lang the truth, however, Ling Lan received a notification from the school administrators. The message said that there were representatives from the 23rd Division on their way to her villa for a tour.
At the end of the message, the administrators did not forget to remind Ling Lan to try and find chances to extol the virtues of the school. If the academy did well, then everyone would be even better off.
Ling Lan hung up the call with a frigid expression on her face, while the news made Han Jijyun and the others exchange looks. The assessment teams had nothing to do with them freshmen ... so why did this person from the 23rd Division want to come find them? Right then, they were a little blind, having forgotten for the moment that the commander of the 23rd Division was Ling Lan's dad, Ling Xiao.
Alright, since Ling Lan had never spoken much about Ling Xiao in front of them, as time went by, they had almost completely neglected the fact that Ling Xiao was Ling Lan's father. This was a classic example of missing something in plain sight. It could only be said that, in their minds, Ling Lan was formidable enough in her own right to make them forget about Ling Xiao's existence.
"Hells, what other tricks is that idiot father planning?" A grumpy Ling Lan could only wait in the living room for her dad to arrive, her expression frosty.
Seeing Boss Lan shrouded in cold air, everyone knew that Ling Lan was in a bad mood. By now, Luo Lang could already confirm that his boss most definitely knew that major general back there.
Among those coming to the villa, other than the representative from the school administration, there were only 3 people from the 23rd Division. The leader was Ling Xiao, while the other two trailed behind him silently. When Ling Xiao stepped into the hall of the villa, the other two men automatically chose two strategic positions and planted themselves there.
Seeing this, Ling Lan knew that these two must be her dad's personal bodyguards because of the positions they had chosen. One was at the window — the range of sight at the window was vast, allowing him to have a firm grasp of the situation outside. Meanwhile, the other was standing at a position that would be almost overlooked by all the people in the hall, but where all the people would be clearly captured by his gaze. In other words, any strange movements by the people within the hall would be seen by him. One obvious, one unassuming; one outward-facing, one internal — their cooperation was impeccable.
Ling Xiao nodded at Ling Lan's group of six with a smile. Under the administrator's arrangement, he sat on a sofa in the hall and began chatting amicably with Ling Lan's group, getting a rough idea of their situation. Then, he conversed for a bit with the administrator, and finally, by his request, the representative from the administration had no choice but to leave reluctantly. Of course, when he left, the administrator did not forget to throw a pointed glance in Ling Lan's direction.
Once the administrator was gone, there was only Ling Lan's team left in the villa and Ling Xiao's group of three. Only then did Ling Xiao drop his scholarly gentleman demeanour, shaking out his arms as he leaned back into the sofa and grumbled, "Speaking with them, is really so tiring!"
The way he was behaving, loose and relaxed like he was in his own home, made the corners of the eyes of his two bodyguards twitch subtly. In their minds, they were probably howling: Sir, please maintain some bit of the decorum and dignity a general should have!
Of course, this behaviour also made Qi Long and the others stare at one another, uncertain what they should do. If this were a proper conversation, they might still know what they could say, but this type of situation was beyond their expectations, so they really had no clue how to react anymore.
Unanimously, they all turned to look at their boss Ling Lan. Ling Lan had his arms folded across his chest as he stared coldly at the other ... alright, Boss was definitely in a bad mood. They had better keep their distance.
Surreptitiously, Han Jijyun, Xie Yi, and Lin Zhong-qing retreated several steps back in unison. Han Jijyun was a staunch brother, not forgetting to tug on Qi Long's arm to alert this rather insensitive fellow.
Qi Long stared in confusion as the three put some distance between themselves and Boss Lan, but then he checked his boss's aura ... fine, he may be a bit insensitive, but his animal instinct let him understand that Han Jijyun and the others were acting appropriately. And so, he followed suit instantly to retreat, and holding true to the ideology of helping a comrade who had suffered with him before, he did not forget to alert Luo Lang while he was at it.
Just like this, Luo Lang also realised the danger and retreated silently. These actions only took several seconds to complete — if one was not paying attention, the five of them would seem to have dashed back at about the same time.
Perhaps the cold air around Ling Lan was rather aggressive — it took a while, but Ling Xiao finally discovered that his daughter did not seem to welcome his arrival. He quickly stood up and said with an awkward smile, "Cadet, has our visit troubled you?"
"What do you think? Sir Major General?" responded Ling Lan coolly. She could already predict that her initially peaceful and tranquil cadet life, would definitely be destroyed by her old man ... (Truth be told, Ling Lan's cadet life had never been tranquil from the start ... could this be considered Ling Lan wilfully trumping up a charge to condemn Ling Xiao?) 2
Ling Lan's retort caused Lin Zhong-qing and Xie Yi to suck in a cold breath. Was it really okay to use this kind of hostile attitude when interacting with a major general from the 23rd Division?
Only Han Jijyun seemed to have an inkling spark through his mind, but it went by so quickly that he could not grab hold of it. This made him crinkle his brow and descend into thought.
Those two bodyguards of Ling Xiao also frowned at the same time — Ling Lan's manner made them extremely angry. As Ling Xiao's personal bodyguards, they would not permit anyone to show any disrespect to their senior officer, especially since this senior officer was also the one they revered the most.
The only one who was still as cheerful as ever was Ling Xiao; he did not mind Ling Lan's attitude in the least. In short, no matter what expression or motions his daughter did, in this father's eyes, they were all perfect and wonderful ... See, this is my daughter! Her proud bones would absolutely never break just from a show of greater power! As expected of a progeny of mine, Ling Xiao's! In the eyes of this twenty-four filial exemplars dad, his own child was absolutely faultless. If by any chance there was any fault, then it still must be the fault of other people.
Thus, an internally gleeful Ling Xiao walked towards Ling Lan, all smiles as he opened his arms wide and said, "In short, for this duration of time at the academy, I'll be troubling you." Ling Xiao moved forwards, planning to use a passionate hug to convey how proud he was right now, as well as give an outlet for his full berth of fatherly love.
This passionate action of Ling Xiao's made the complexions of Ling Lan's team of five pale. Having already retreated a distance away previously, they once again took several steps back right now in unison, putting even more distance between them and Ling Lan.
They knew very well that their boss really hated any physical contact with strangers. Even with them, unless absolutely necessary, he would not come close and touch them, much less this type of passionate embrace.
Han Jijyun could not help but peek at Boss Lan who was emitting a steady flow of cold air, standing stiffly right ahead of them. He hoped his boss would be able to just tolerate this hug this time — after all, the other was a major general of the 23rd Division. If they offended the other ...
Wait, something was not right. Wasn't the 23rd Division Ling Lan's father's division? Han Jijyun's brain finally seemed to figure something out. He turned his head to stare gobsmacked at that obviously affectionate major general, and a notion sparked through his mind ...
Reality proved that Ling Lan would not resign herself to things she disliked. She abruptly raised a fist and ploughed it straight into the offending person's abdomen.
A 'bam' and Ling Lan sent her dad reeling back into the sofa with one punch. This extremely blatant attack made the two men by Ling Xiao's side blanch dramatically — they had planned to intercept the attack, but they had been frozen in place by a tremendous force of presence at that instant.
Bewildered, they stared at their senior officer, not even daring to struggle. This was because they were well aware who was the source of this force of presence — it was precisely their leader General Ling Xiao.
Looking at Ling Xiao playing up how pitiful he was by laying on the sofa cradling his stomach with a pained expression, Ling Lan blew on her own fists lightly and then asked coldly, "What are you doing here?"
"I missed you," said Ling Xiao, his gaze sad and pleading. Despite appearances, he was actually extremely glad in his heart, because this behaviour of Ling Lan's proved that his daughter had already recognised him even with his disguise. As expected of his daughter — what keen and discerning eyes 3 , able to see the truth with just one glance.
"You actually abandoned the 23rd Division so irresponsibly to come here? Is that how a commander should act?" Ling Lan's ice-block face finally cracked as she bellowed in a deep voice.
Why had she thought that Ling Xiao was a responsible and good man worthy of trust? Sure enough, the idealised image in her heart was having a serious mismatch with reality. Ling Lan felt that she had been duped.
This bellow stupefied Qi Long and the others. They stared in shock at that major general sitting on the sofa cradling his stomach, his eyes the only thing exposed on his face. So he was the gentle-mannered and refreshing-like-a-spring-breeze national idol, General Ling Xiao?
Only Han Jijyun let out a soft sigh, thinking, 'So it is him!'
"I missed my son, so what's wrong with coming to visit him?" Since his charade had been exposed by his daughter, Ling Xiao no longer tried to pretend. He sat up properly on the sofa and tugged down that rather stifling mask, declaring why he had come with bold righteousness.