After Marrying the Officer

"Cough, cough!" The senior officer coughed again, as if to cover something up, and said, "Uh... maybe something came up over there?"

"Or maybe your father is truly ill?"

Huo Shiqian still looked calm, watching the senior officer with detachment.

"Enough, enough! I get it, it's all fake, fake!" The senior officer shook his head and said, "Her goal is probably to trick you into going back to the Capital City, maybe to smooth things over between you and your father or something."

At this point, the senior officer sighed deeply and said, "This Su Susu, the gap between her and your mother is just too vast."

One was astoundingly intelligent, the other frustratingly foolish.

The senior officer walked with his hands behind his back, falling into reminiscence.

As for Huo Shiqian, upon hearing the senior officer's words, he merely furrowed his brow slightly without saying a word.

After a while, the senior officer said to him, "Speak up, Huo boy, what do you plan to do about this situation?"

"Do you want to return to the Capital City?" The senior officer stared at him.

Huo Shiqian's expression remained calm.

The senior officer ground his teeth; when it came to staying composed, he couldn't outdo this youngster.

Forget it, the senior officer didn't feel like beating around the bush with his own subordinate any longer and laid his cards on the table, "I'll tell you the truth, if you're thinking of returning to Beijing, it's going to be difficult since you already took family leave six months ago. The paperwork to request leave again is somewhat troublesome."

"So what I can do at most is assign you to a public duty in the direction of the Capital City, and once you're there, you might find a chance to visit home."

However, after hearing the senior officer's words, Huo Shiqian replied calmly, "Who said I wanted to go back?"

The senior officer's words halted abruptly as he glared at Huo Shiqian: What's this about playing coy after getting a bargain?

Finally, the senior officer narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing his subordinate, "So what exactly do you want to do?"

Huo Shiqian, with an unfazed expression, replied measuredly, "Military duties are my priority; I cannot simply leave at will."

The senior officer's mouth twitched: You're aware of that, kid! So why mention that your dad is 'unwell'?

"However, I would need the commander to write a few letters for me, to be sent to the Capital City," Huo Shiqian continued in his detached tone.

"What kind of letters?" The senior officer asked, puzzled and somewhat wary as he looked at him.

Huo Shiqian replied evenly, "As a soldier, I cannot tend to my family. Please, I ask that my seniors take good care of themselves."

"Also, I ask you to look after my betrothed on my behalf."

At these words, the senior officer fell silent. After a while, he said, "...So, you come to me, beat around the bush with a big detour, and in the end, your actual purpose is to have me write letters to the Capital City, to get those old men to take care of your sweetheart?"

Huo Shiqian looked at the senior officer, his expression candid, "Commander, you are wise."

The senior officer: ...Wise my ass!

After all this time, young Huo comes to him, making a song and dance about it all, just so he'd offer to help—thinking it was about going to the Capital City, but it turned out to be about writing letters!

He was completely led by the nose by his own subordinate!

Frustration!

If he had known the young man came asking for a favor, wanting his help with writing letters, to have the Capital City elders look after Huo's young wife,

He should have set his terms properly, set his terms!

Though frustrated, as a soldier, his word was his bond, and he couldn't go back on his word.

Besides the senior officer, Huo Shiqian also personally wrote several letters and sent them to the Capital City.

Before long, many in the Capital City received letters from the Southwest—containing no main points or highlights.

The only thing that became clear was that Huo Shiqian had a wife.

So...

All those families who had contemplated an alliance with the Huo family ceased their scheming.