Chapter 56: Teacher Little Fish, Welcome Home!… part 1
The first time Yu Songwei met Shao Shijun was in Shao Yinghai’s military camp.
At the time, he was a non-commissioned officer. He saw Shao Shijun being held in Shao Yinghai’s arms, wearing a diaper, chubby all over, looking like a pink lotus root.
Yu Songwei mistook him at first glance, thinking he was a little girl. He coaxed him, saying, “Let Uncle hold you, Uncle will buy you a floral dress to wear.”
The group of people burst into laughter. Shao Shijun cried out in anger, saying in a childish voice, “I’m a little boy, I won’t wear a dress!”
Yu Songwei immediately became flustered, not knowing how to coax him.
Shao Yinghai pinched his little face, kissed his fleshy cheek, and laughed loudly, “My Xiaoshi is so fragrant, it’s not surprising he was mistaken for a girl.”
Shao Shijun cried even harder, his chubby hands slapping his exceptionally handsome face, loudly saying that Daddy was talking nonsense, Daddy was a bad guy.
The soldiers watched with delight. Shao Yinghai was famously impartial and had the title of the Great Demon King of the training camp; everyone was afraid to breathe heavily when they met him.
Now, he was being played like a fiddle by a kid in diapers, smiling and not fighting back when slapped. How could people not gloat?
Yu Songwei chuckled, thinking this child was really cute. It would be great if the child he and Liu Yin had in the future was this fun.
Not long after, a war broke out in the Ninth Zone, and Shao Yinghai personally led the peacekeeping forces to suppress the rebellion.
That battle was exceptionally tragic. Their granary had problems; all the supplied food was taken away by quicksand overnight, the reserve depot was bombed by enemy forces, and the new provisions were stuck at the Seventh Zone customs.
That night, everyone belatedly realized that they had been set up.
It could be an internal traitor or a factional struggle. In short, someone wanted them dead—more accurately, they wanted Shao Yinghai dead.
Facing this desperate situation, Shao Yinghai did not panic at all. He immediately gathered everyone and held a two-hour meeting.
Two hours later, he personally led the vanguard, taking the entire brigade to night-raid the enemy’s granary.
Having the general charge at the very front undoubtedly boosted morale greatly. Yu Songwei was the leading soldier of the vanguard regiment, closely following Shao Yinghai deep into the enemy camp.
This raid lasted for three days and three nights. At the final moment, only five people remained in their regiment, besieged in a sandy area, waiting for reinforcements to arrive.
They were trapped for four days. The most critical issue during these four days wasn’t the lack of dry rations, but the absence of water.
There were no plants or animals nearby. They could only drink a few drops of water from their waterskins every day, struggling on their last breath as they walked in the direction from which reinforcements would come.
Everyone felt they were going to die in there. Yu Songwei’s condition was tragic; he was shot twice and had a fractured foot. The others took turns carrying him on their backs, and the one who carried him the most was Shao Yinghai.
On the fourth day, reinforcements still hadn’t arrived, and everyone was utterly dispirited.
Yu Songwei said weakly, “General, put me down… You guys go a bit further forward. If you can get out, then find someone to come back and save me…”
Shao Yinghai’s tone was much weaker, but still calm and powerful: “Cut the crap. This place is full of quicksand. If I throw you on the ground, I won’t even be able to find your bones when I come back. Shut your mouth and lie quietly.”
Yu Songwei smiled, “How are you still so fierce… I remembered the old company commander in the recruit camp before, cough, you look so much like him…”
Shao Yinghai said, “Xie Chengfeng, right? He was your company commander? Hey, you’re already a fourth-term non-commissioned officer, why haven’t you been promoted to an officer yet?”
“I… don’t have much education, and I don’t like studying, cough, exams… I always fail them,” Yu Songwei said. “So I simply gave up.”
Shao Yinghai chuckled, “The assessment mechanism has changed now. You made a great contribution this time. When we go back, I’ll write an application for you. I guarantee you’ll be promoted.”
Yu Songwei pursed his lips and sighed, “I’m afraid… I’m afraid I won’t make it back… If you see Xiao Yin, tell her…”
He fainted. When he woke up again, his mouth tasted salty and warm.
That warm current was like an endless spring. He couldn’t help but sip a few more mouthfuls. Slowly opening his eyes, he realized it was Shao Yinghai who had cut his wrist and was feeding him blood.
High-level pheromones surged into his throat gulp by gulp. Shao Yinghai’s face was as pale as a ghost. He parted his cracked lips and smiled at him, “With me here, none of you will die.”
When Yu Songwei mentioned him again, he couldn’t help but burst into tears.
He choked up, “Ever since that battle, I no longer had the courage to brave life and death, so I applied for a transfer back to the local area… I always considered your father as my savior. Later, when he asked me to look for you, I set off for the Seventh Zone immediately. I didn’t expect to still be a step too late, letting you get caught by those people…”
Yu Shi knelt with his head bowed, his upper body straight. His hands, hanging by his sides, clenched tightly into fists, and his body trembled slightly.
At that time, he was taken by Wang Chonghan to break through the encirclement, escaping the pursuit of those soldiers, but he didn’t expect to be caught by another group of people.
After being drugged and taken out of customs, Yu Shi woke up to find himself already in the Azure Orphanage in the Seventh Zone.
The parent organization of this orphanage was the infamous Duomen Laboratory.
They adopted children in order to extract the youngest and most vigorous pheromones.
A year later, when Yu Songwei found him, the “little lotus root” from his memory was neither fully human nor ghost. His hair hadn’t been trimmed for a long time, covering his gloomy and pale face, and those gray-blue eyes were utterly lifeless.
He remembered Yu Shi being very lively as a child, but after being brought back, he remained silent for a long time.
The doctor diagnosed that besides a damaged gland, the child also had mild autistic symptoms.
After a long period of treatment, Yu Songwei chose to erase some of his memories. Only after a long time following that did he gradually walk out of it.
Yu Shi never mentioned to anyone what he had experienced in the orphanage, and Yu Songwei didn’t dare to ask, for fear of triggering him.
Those days in the orphanage, along with Shao Yinghai’s criminal charges, were forever buried in a place that never saw the light of day.
Yu Shi said in a hoarse voice, “Dad, I’m sorry to have made you worry.”
Having called him “Dad” from the age of seven until now, Yu Songwei had long treated him as his biological son.
Yu Songwei wiped away his tears and shook his head, saying, “You were controlled by that wanted criminal for so long, and I never noticed… It’s Dad’s fault for not caring enough about you normally. It’s all Dad’s fault.”
Yu Shi instantly choked up, his eyes turning red.
After a while, Yu Songwei asked, “How did you meet? Did he use me and your mother to threaten you?”
Yu Shi explained, “He and I met in the orphanage. I was still very young then. Later, after returning to Sundial, he recognized me at an investment promotion conference, and we made some deals…”
He thought of that chip. If Yu Songwei knew the whole story, it would be inevitable that he’d be dragged into this muddy water.
He couldn’t let him get involved again.
Yu Songwei let out a long sigh: “Your mother and I once thought we could protect you from worries for a lifetime, thinking we’d find you a suitable partner in the future, so you could support and take care of each other, allowing us to rest at ease when we grow old. But we didn’t expect that you still felt unresigned in your heart.”
He patted Yu Shi’s shoulder. “Xiaoshi, many people and events have already settled into the past. We are powerless to change the outcome. Your father’s last words were hoping that you could live your whole life peacefully and steadily like an ordinary person. Your mother and I also hope you can let go of the past. Do you understand?”
Yu Shi closed his eyes and said, “I will, Dad.”
Unfortunately, the moment he chose to walk this path, the arrow had already left the bow; there was no turning back.
Now, he could only hope to make them worry a little less.
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