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Chapter 112: Chapter 112 Covet
Han Jiaojiao spent the entire morning on the terrace, unmoving, until Yan Xiao called her down for lunch. It was then that she snapped back to reality, realizing that her brother still hadn’t returned.
The lunch was bountiful, yet Han Jiaojiao had little appetite. She forced herself to eat a bit before putting down her chopsticks.
Everyone noticed Han Jiaojiao seemed out of sorts. They had thought she would ask a few questions, but unexpectedly, she simply ate in silence.
Seeing her downhearted, Lu Changyuan spoke up at the dining table, "Your brother won’t be back for a while. The base has prepared a banquet to welcome the people from the Research Institute. To express their gratitude they’ve invited him."
At his words, Han Jiaojiao forced a bitter smile onto her face—they probably thought she was unhappy because her brother wasn’t around, like a child suddenly separated from their parents. Han Jiaojiao didn’t want to explain it to them; in fact, even if she wanted to, she couldn’t clearly express... her hatred for Qin Nanyi, and her wariness towards the members of the Qin Family, she simply couldn’t articulate.
Leaving her bowl and chopsticks behind, Han Jiaojiao returned alone to the terrace.
Guided by memories of her previous life, she knew that Qin Nanyi would spend a significant amount of time at the Beicheng Base. Beautiful, with an astute mind, and the Qin Family’s support, she attracted the attention of many high-ranking officials within the base. Even though she continually professed her fondness for Han Yi, she never outright rejected any man’s advances.
Thanks to Qin Nanyi’s presence, those who were once at odds with Han Yi now saw him as even more of a thorn in their side, knowing that she had favorable feelings towards him.
Now that Qin Nanyi had entered the base, what would she do next...
With her cheek propped on her hand, Han Jiaojiao fell into deep thought.
...If she wasn’t mistaken, Qin Nanyi would probably go to great lengths to invite Han Yi to visit the Yunan Base, right? ...Even if she failed to persuade him, she would definitely find a way to convince her brother to join the Beicheng Base’s ability team, giving herself an excuse to frequently interact with Han Yi.
The reasons were clear-cut. It would be a man’s achievement to join the ability team and make some notable contributions. With the Qin Family backing Han Yi, they could help him secure a position in Beicheng Base’s Military Commission, bringing him closer to the center of power...
Everything would progress logically.
With the Qin Family showing such sincerity, should her brother consider reciprocating, perhaps with a marriage alliance between the two families?...
Han Jiaojiao massaged her temples. She couldn’t help but... speculate in that direction again.
She stood up with a somber expression, set up a parasol for the Hourly Space-Time Beast, refilled its bowl with water, and then went downstairs.
Seeing her about to leave, Lu Changyuan gave Yan Xiao a meaningful glance. Yan Xiao immediately asked, "Are you going out? The sun is quite harsh outside now."
"Uh-huh, just a casual stroll... I’ll check out the material exchange," Han Jiaojiao answered nonchalantly.
Yan Xiao stood up and followed her, saying, "I’ll come with you. There are no points on your Life Card." Points were credited to the card used for accepting missions. All their points were on the Life Cards belonging to Xiao Jian and Yan Xiao. However, Yan Xiao’s main reason for accompanying Han Jiaojiao was to ensure her safety—a young girl walking alone outside was always a bit improper.
Han Jiaojiao didn’t give it much thought and allowed him to come along.
The area wasn’t very large, so the two didn’t drive. They simply put on sun hats and wandered out at a leisurely pace.
Han Jiaojiao was primarily feeling restless and wanted to walk it off; she wasn’t actually intending to buy anything. But when she really arrived at the material exchange, she couldn’t help but be captivated by the variety of supplies.
What caught her eye was the live poultry section.—Right next to the frozen food area, a new section had been carved out selling live chickens, ducks, and seafood. There were both normal and mutant varieties. The points needed for mutant animals were a lot less than those for normal ones, indicating that the base had now acknowledged that mutant animals didn’t transmit viruses, and that people were now... starting to consume mutant animals...
After looking around, Han Jiaojiao eventually had Yan Xiao use points to exchange for a cage of Mutant Rats.
Yan Xiao was scared by Han Jiaojiao, "What are you buying this for? ..." Rats were disgusting enough as it was, let alone mutant rats. Although there were quite a few people at the base who ate these creatures ... with their current conditions, they surely weren’t so destitute that they had to eat mutant rats, right?
Han Jiaojiao urged him on, "Oh, just go. Think of it as a pet I’m raising." She just thought that rats had a high breeding rate, and buying a cage of them would solve the problem of food for Xiaogua and Xiaodou in the short term.
Yan Xiao had no choice but to comply. After all, given her favored status, even if he didn’t buy them, once Han Yi came back, he would surely buy them anyway.
"Buy, buy, buy! You just wait."
A cage of mutant rats only cost ten points, which was incredibly cheap. When Yan Xiao went to swipe his card, he saw quite a few people in line with cages of rats, waiting to pay. The thought that these people were probably buying rats to eat made his stomach churn, and nausea turned his complexion several shades paler.
Once they left the resource trading center, Han Jiaojiao looked at the sky outside and hesitated, "Shall we go straight back? Why don’t we go to my brother’s place and wait to go home with him?"
Yan Xiao thought it made sense. The Research Institute wasn’t far from there, and at this time of day, meals and discussions should have finished.
So the two of them, carrying the cage of rats, went to the Research Institute.
The Research Institute was in the North District of the base, which was also the military family district. The military facilities, including the family residences, were all concentrated in this area.
However, neither of them had a pass, so they couldn’t get in.
If they couldn’t get in, so be it, but Yan Xiao wasn’t willing to give up so easily. He ran over to the guarding soldiers to ask if the banquet inside was over.
The rotation soldiers were disciplined and couldn’t reveal any information about the inside of the military family district. So no matter what Yan Xiao asked, they just gave him a cold glance. If he said a few more words, they would even raise their guns to chase him off.
Yan Xiao was infuriated, but he also knew he couldn’t make a scene there.
Han Jiaojiao, on the other hand, was fine with it. She had been part of the Special Training Team in her previous life and knew some of the rules in the military family district. However, she couldn’t help feeling a bit let down, not expecting the rotation soldiers to be unwilling to even pass on a message and just shooing them away.
There was no point in staying longer, so Han Jiaojiao and Yan Xiao decided to leave. Just at that moment, Zhan Rong came out and said in surprise upon seeing them, "Are you here looking for Han Yi? But the banquet has been over for a while."
Han Jiaojiao and Yan Xiao exchanged a doubtful glance.
Zhan Rong smacked his forehead and said, "Oh! He must have been taken to the hospital by Miss Qin! Professor Duan had emergency surgery last night, and Han Yi probably went to visit her."
"..." Han Jiaojiao bowed her head, a sarcastic smile spreading across her face.
Yan Xiao also felt unhappy, but he dared not blame Han Yi, so he directed his ire elsewhere, complaining, "My Han Yi hardly slept in his bed before you guys summoned him, first to attend a banquet and now to visit the sick. You really know how to keep someone busy, huh, heh..."
Zhan Rong gave an awkward laugh and explained, "Han Yi was brought by Miss Qin, and once the banquet finished ... it’s only proper for Miss Qin to take him back, maybe Professor Duan had some last words to impart. We juniors naturally should follow ..."
Yan Xiao looked at Zhan Rong with a mocking face, considering to jab at him with a few more barbs, but then he saw Han Jiaojiao turn and walk away.
"Hey! Jiaojiao! Wait for me!" Yan Xiao hurriedly followed her with the cage in tow.
Zhan Rong watched the two leave one after the other, wiping the sweat from his face. Recalling the eager look Miss Qin Nanyi had given Han Yi during the banquet, he thought to himself, What’s the Qin Family playing at? ... Could it be they’re trying to lure Han Yi to Yunan? It seemed ... he would need to have a serious talk with the old general ...
