"!? "
Han Juyou stared intently at Liu Muye's face, a strange, brilliant light flickering in her pretty eyes. The man before her was truly a complete mystery.
She desperately wanted to ask Liu Muye, "Just who are you? Why are you helping me? Why are you treating me so well?"
Yet the words stuck in her throat, refusing to come out...
All morning long, Han Juyou was distracted and made numerous mistakes. But out of deference to Liu Muye, the instructor said nothing, turning a blind eye and pretending not to notice.
During the final stance-holding drill before the end of training, Nangong Ye whispered to Liu Muye, "What did you say to the instructor just now? Why did he suddenly calm down?"
Liu Muye replied indifferently, "Grown-up business. Kids shouldn't ask so many questions."
"Me? A kid? How dare you say that to me, the honorable Nangong—"
"Who's making a racket back there?!"
Before Nangong Ye could finish, the instructor cut him off with a roar.
Chastised by the instructor, Nangong Ye obediently shut his mouth and continued standing in silence without another peep.
"Pfft~"
Liu Muye was amused by Nangong Ye's good-boy act.
"What are you laughing at?" Nangong Ye couldn't see Liu Muye's expression and could only guess, "Are you mocking me?"
"No, I just remembered something happy."
Nangong Ye asked, "What happy thing?"
"Don't ask."
Liu Muye looked at Han Juyou, who was standing at the very front wearing his military training cap.
In the entire formation, only Han Juyou wore no standard training uniform, sporting a camouflage cap instead; and in the entire formation, only he, Liu Muye, wore the camouflage training uniform without a cap.
Suddenly, Liu Muye thought back to his own freshman military training days at Sunan University.
Late one night, the wind blew his training uniform down under the dorm building. After waking up, he searched for it for a long time to no avail. In the end, his good roommates each pitched in: one contributed a cap, one a shirt, and one a pair of training shoes. By scrounging together like that, all four of them wore a mismatched fraction of an outfit and went off to military training.
Because all four of them wore incomplete uniforms, the instructor cursed them out from head to toe and punished them by making them run laps around the athletic field.
Yet it was precisely because of that punishment that a rock-solid foundation was laid for their dormitory's four-year friendship.
Later, upon graduation, everyone went their separate ways, and they rarely saw each other again.
When he wrote this scene in his book, he happened to recall his own military training experiences and added this plot point for the female lead.
...
"Here, thanks."
After the morning training session ended, Han Juyou took off the cap and returned it to Liu Muye.
"Don't mention it." Liu Muye skillfully rolled up the cap and shoved it into the breast pocket of his training uniform.
Han Juyou asked, "Did you bribe the instructor again this morning?"
"How can you call that a bribe? I was just making reasonable use of my authority, alright?" Liu Muye tilted his head and said, "Besides, I only bribed the instructor to help you."
Han Juyou pointed at Liu Muye's mouth and said with a half-smile, "Look at that, you just admitted to bribing the instructor yourself."
Laughing despite himself, Liu Muye said, "Fine, you trapped me!"
Han Juyou blinked her alluring eyes in feigned innocence and said, "I didn't. You're the one who slipped up."
"..."
Liu Muye covered his face, utterly speechless for a moment.
"That aside..." Han Juyou stared straight into Liu Muye's eyes and asked, "Why on earth are you helping me?"
"Didn't I tell you long ago? This young master is just naturally helpful."
"..."
This time it was Han Juyou's turn to be speechless. She rolled her eyes at Liu Muye.
At that moment, Shangguan Yurou walked over and asked Liu Muye, "Liu Muye, you said this morning that my training uniform was blown downstairs to the dorm building by the wind. Is that true?"
"Of course it—" Liu Muye initially wanted to say that it was definitely true, but on second thought, if he sounded too certain, Han Juyou would definitely get suspicious. So he changed his tune: "I guessed. Because my clothes were blown downstairs from the balcony by the wind yesterday, I figured your training uniform might have met the same fate."
Nangong Ye chimed in foolishly from the side, "Didn't you say you didn't do laundry yesterday?"
"..."
Everything went black before Liu Muye's eyes. He grabbed him and muttered in a low voice, "Can you look at the situation before you open your mouth? Don't undermine me right now!"
"Oh, oh, right." Nangong Ye nodded obediently.
Yet Liu Muye figured this kid definitely hadn't taken the words to heart.
Han Juyou looked at Liu Muye skeptically and said, "How come I feel like there isn't a word of truth coming out of this guy's mouth?"
"Oh, come on, Han Juyou. I treat you so well, and you still doubt me?" Liu Muye clutched his chest with a heartbroken expression. "Hmph, I'm done playing with you. Young Ye, let's go."
With that, Liu Muye turned and bolted—because if he didn't make a run for it now, Han Juyou would start interrogating him all over again.
"Huh, what?"
Nangong Ye scratched his head. Though still utterly bewildered, he followed him away anyway.
"Done playing with me, my foot," Han Juyou pouted and said. "What kind of person is he? Acting like an elementary schooler."
"Alright now." Shangguan Yurou took Han Juyou's hand and said with a smile, "Come on, Xiaoju, help me go look for my training uniform."
"Mm-hm."
The two of them returned together to the foot of the women's dormitory building to search for the training uniform. Before long, they found the missing uniform in the shrubbery behind the dorm building.
"Found it! We really found it!" Shangguan Yurou clutched the recovered training uniform and said excitedly to Han Juyou, "That boy named Liu Muye is amazing! He actually guessed right!"
"Yeah."
Han Juyou cupped her chin in her hand, muttering thoughtfully to herself, "This guy... why does it seem like he knows everything? How on earth did he deduce that, and why was he so dead certain about it...?"
Meanwhile, inside the men's dormitory.
Liu Muye was admonishing Nangong Ye: "Sometimes you can't be too honest. Take today, for instance—I had my reasons for lying. You shouldn't undermine me, got it!"
"Oh, oh." Nangong Ye nodded obediently.
Then he had second thoughts. *Wait a minute*, he thought, *I'm the eldest young master of the Nangong Family, why should I listen to this kid?*
So he resorted to his overbearing CEO quotes and said, "You... are you trying to teach me how to do my job?"
"..."
Covering his face, Liu Muye felt dark lines cross his forehead.