Chapter 71
“Since when does the Seventh District have a Marshal? Who would dare suspend a Marshal from their post?”
“What is this mess?”
The push notifications from the news apps were clearly just fishing for clicks, piling up high-impact keywords to create incoherent headlines. Shu Ci frowned as he read them.
However, he had a vague guess as to what the news was actually about.
Clicking through, he saw that every media account was reposting a specific notice from the official account of the Marshal’s Office:
“Due to the concerns raised by the incident linked to the Moon Shadow, and the subsequent questioning of our military’s stance, it has been decided after deliberation that the Seventh District will withdraw from the joint investigation team. The police will take full responsibility for the investigation, with the military acting solely in a supervisory capacity.
“General Lu Wanqing of the Far-flung Seventh District, due to personal reasons, failed to control his emotions and lost sight of his position. Having violated military discipline during the Moon Shadow incident by privately connecting a call for a candidate, and following a decision by the Marshal’s Office, he is hereby suspended pending investigation.
“Effective immediately, the command of the Far-flung Seventh District will be temporarily assumed by Major General Cui You and others. The end date of General Lu Wanqing’s disciplinary action will be determined based on the progress and results of the investigation.”
Shu Ci silently read the announcement five times, lost in thought.
Just as he was about to exit the page, he noticed a system-generated hyperlink attached to Lu Wanqing’s name. He tapped it casually.
A webpage popped up.
It automatically redirected to Lu Wanqing’s official personal profile. The “Suspended Pending Investigation” status had already been updated, the bold red characters looking particularly glaring.
But Shu Ci’s gaze landed on the column for marital status.
— Married. Spouse: Shu Ci.
Back when he was trying to integrate into this world, he had read countless magazines and webpages, and naturally, he had searched for Lu Wanqing.
At that time, those last four words—Spouse: Shu Ci—had not been there.
That man, always saying one thing and doing another.
Shu Ci’s heart trembled slightly.
A numbing sensation rushed through his veins, and he found himself submerged in a wave of delight so disorienting he couldn’t tell north from south.
Shu Ci didn’t care what was going through Lu Wanqing’s head.
At least in his eyes, those four words were a silent, earth-shattering response that Lu Wanqing had given him.
With a deep gaze, he reached out and tapped the photo on the Alpha’s profile, his finger landing right on those lake-colored eyes.
When he received the news, Shen Ti was standing at the door of Cui You’s house.
He had left an important notebook on the bedside table. It contained records of company movements that Shen Lin had asked him to monitor in the beginning. He had moved out in such a hurry that he had forgotten to pack it.
The comment section of the Marshal’s Office had been completely shut down, but the trending topic of Lu Wanqing’s suspension was climbing its way to the top of the charts.
Shen Ti closed the news app with a complicated expression and placed his hand on the doorbell.
Just as he was about to press it, the courtyard gate opened from the inside. Startled, Shen Ti took a small step back.
Cui You walked out hurriedly, his brow furrowed. He was buttoning his uniform jacket with one hand in a messy fashion, a dark cloud of low pressure hanging over him.
He had been in the middle of a compensatory nap when he was suddenly woken up and summoned to the base to take over Lu Wanqing’s work. He felt the specific kind of decadent exhaustion one feels when their coffin lid is pried open and they are dragged out to continue existing. His waking temper was at its peak.
When he saw Shen Ti, he thought he hadn’t fully woken up yet.
Cui You suppressed the surprise and flash of joy in his eyes. He glanced at the car behind Shen Ti, which bore the Shen family crest, then lowered his gaze, his voice deep.
“Why ring the bell? I didn’t delete your fingerprints.”
Shen Ti’s eyelid twitched, his face darkening with displeasure.
Their marriage alliance had been pleasant, and they had gotten along relatively well after the wedding. Even during their recent cold war, he had never heard Cui You speak to him with such a fierce, biting tone.
“Look at you. Usually so casual and sloppy, but now you know how to put on a high-and-mighty act?” Shen Ti looked at Cui You mockingly. “Climbing the ladder fast by stepping on Lu Wanqing, aren’t you— Hey, hey, don’t pull me!”
Cui You frowned, ignoring him. He grabbed Shen Ti’s hand, pulled him into the house, closed the door, and stood in the entryway.
Shen Ti ignored him, keeping his head down as he rubbed his wrist.
Cui You was silent for a long time before speaking. “As a member of the main family, and now that you’re directly representing Shen Lin’s team, you should be more careful. Don’t think you can speak without a filter just because you’re at my door. Those reporters…”
Reporters and spies who thrived on chasing shadows were everywhere in the country. High-ranking families like theirs usually had to be exceptionally cautious.
“What about you?”
“What about me?”
Shen Ti raised an eyebrow and ground his back teeth.
“Netizens are saying your Cui family pressured the Marshal. Inheriting titles, rapid promotion… you’ve taken all the benefits. And look at you, going out without even buttoning your shirt properly. Are you waiting for rumors about the ‘Golden Shield’s sloppy appearance’ to start spreading thanks to you?”
Cui You stood frozen, as if meeting Shen Ti for the first time. He didn’t know what to say.
He and Shen Ti spent little time together. The wife he saw when he went home on leave was always gentle and proper, the picture of a noble Omega.
Even when they flirted, Shen Ti was measured; in intimate moments, his sounds were crisp and sweet. Cui You had never experienced such sharp-toothed aggression from him before.
“Who said this is a benefit? Do you know how much work Lu Wanqing does on a daily basis? The man is made of iron. He handles training and work back-to-back without batting an eye. If he hadn’t been suspended, I sure as hell wouldn’t want to step in for him.”
With the argument reaching this point, Cui You stopped pretending. He dumped his bellyful of frustration right in front of Shen Ti.
“Can’t you see why he was suspended? You work right beside Councilman Shen.”
After venting, Cui You looked at Shen Ti with concern.
If Shen Ti couldn’t even see through this, would the people in Shen Lin’s think tank look down on him?
Shen Ti crossed his arms and huffed lightly. “Do you look down on me? Marshal He is making a preemptive strike. Rather than waiting for Gu Lanzhu’s side to make an issue out of Lu Wanqing, it’s better to resolve the potential liability himself so others don’t get a chance to strike.”
The wording in the announcement was clever. Admitting Lu Wanqing’s mistake was due to “personal reasons” and having the punishment come directly from the Marshal effectively distanced the military from any accusations of bias.
“Only by resolving these distracting issues in advance can the public’s gaze be focused on the side where no conclusion has been reached, where the truth has yet to come out.”
Even a high-ranking officer like one of the Twelve Generals had been punished. How could the Gu family, the suspected source of the evil, remain uninvolved?
“Sacrificing one Lu Wanqing to put pressure on Councilman Gu. It’s not a bad trade.”
Cui You stared into his eyes. “Not a bad trade? Then why aren’t you happy?”
“My best friend’s husband just lost his job temporarily, while my husband—who I haven’t divorced yet—got a promotion because of it. Do you think I can be happy about that?”
Cold calculations of interest were a compulsory course for families like theirs growing up. But logic was logic; emotionally, he had no idea how to face Shu Ci.
“Alright, stop blocking my way.” Shen Ti rolled his eyes. “I just came to get something. You hurry up and go cover your General’s shift.”
Cui You let out an “Oh.” Watching Shen Ti’s hurried figure run up the stairs, a trace of loneliness flashed across his eyes.
He had a lot he wanted to say, wanted to ask him to stay, but Shen Ti’s impatient demeanor suggested he wouldn’t listen, and Cui You didn’t have the time to explain things slowly.
“Remember to lock the door,” Cui You sighed silently, dropping his hands and turning around.
Suddenly, someone grabbed his arm. The Omega who had been heading upstairs had run back down and physically turned him around.
Slender fingers danced across his chest. Shen Ti buttoned the inner shirt and the uniform jacket one by one. He even undid the tie and re-tied it into the knot Cui You was most familiar with.
“You scold me so much, yet you plan to go out looking like a slob? Even if you don’t feel ashamed, I do.”
Shen Ti gave the tie a firm tug, settling the perfect knot in place.
There was a hint of resentment in the action.
A sense of tightness and suffocation rose up, and Cui You’s heart gave two quick, tight beats. The moment the other let go, that nervous flutter was instantly enveloped by loneliness.
Shen Ti didn’t notice Cui You’s expression. He patted Cui You’s chest firmly. “Get out of here. I won’t see you off.”
With that, he turned and walked upstairs, head held high.
Cui You walked out in a daze, hopped into his car, and sent a message to Lu Wanqing.
Cui You: [Old Lu, can I trouble you with something? Since you’re suspended and at home, help me ask your wife: How do I coax my wife?]
A moment later, Lu Wanqing replied: [? I’m still waiting for you to divorce so you can set an example for me.]
Cui You: [???]
Listen to that. Is that something a human being says?
After the news of Lu Wanqing’s suspension broke, the marital home on Jiqing Road was quickly surrounded by media reporters until not a drop of water could trickle through.
The narrow two-lane road was packed with parked cars lying in wait. While waiting for the protagonist to appear, peers in the industry were chatting—
Why had Lu Wanqing, who rose all the way to be one of the Twelve Generals, never received even a tiny bit of attention?
Why hadn’t a single people’s magazine ever interviewed him?
They prided themselves on being meticulous and knowing the lay of the land, yet they had only dug up Lu Wanqing’s address today!
Shu Ci was completely unaware of the uproar outside.
Since Lu Wanqing hadn’t replied to his messages, he locked himself in the storage room under the stairs for his daily training, trying to calm himself down.
He knew Marshal He had good intentions, and he believed Lu Wanqing would accept the decision. But not seeing the man for several days, without even a message to say he was safe, inevitably made him anxious.
Once his self-imposed training time was up, he turned on his phone.
At first, the online platforms were full of cynicism and ridicule toward Lu Wanqing, criticizing his arbitrariness and privilege.
However, the wind changed direction several times within a few hours.
Residents of the Seventh District posted in disbelief, questioning the correctness of the official handling.
The Seventh District had once been reached by Gu Lanzhu’s hand, living miserable lives under the heavy suppression of Gu capital for a long time.
It was successive Generals who had led them out of that sea of bitterness.
Lu Wanqing had the most distinguished achievements among them. He never acted high and mighty, insisting on military-civilian joint construction, uniting everyone in the Seventh District.
While questioning the decision, they demanded a thorough investigation into the Gu family, all while spreading the word about General Lu’s deeds in the Seventh District across the internet.
Paired with Lu Wanqing’s face, the stories took on an inexplicably divine and legendary quality.
Then came the Third District.
People who had just emerged from the disaster all recalled the tall, silent figure who was handsome and stoic during the rescue.
“General Lu carried me on his back for fifteen kilometers, and from start to finish, he never said who he was.”
“I saw with my own eyes his arm riddled with needle marks from suppressants. Even so, he built houses for our entire village for three days without losing control once.”
“A ‘personal reason’? Just dismissing it so lightly? Doesn’t your conscience hurt? The one who was actually hurt was his wife!”
It turned out that Shu Ci’s action that day on the cruise ship—holding Lu Wanqing’s hand and letting him save them from Gu Lanzhu’s pressure at the last moment—was correct.
The hundreds of people on the deck had witnessed Lu Wanqing’s reliability and sense of security.
They had personally experienced the terror of Gu Lanzhu’s rampage and his indifference to human life, so their gratitude and reverence for Lu Wanqing were that much stronger.
People on the cruise ship who held high status and had no allegiance to the Gu family began to speak up for Lu Wanqing.
The videos in their possession pushed Gu Lanzhu into the crosshairs of public criticism.
The hashtag #GuLanzhuShouldBeSanctioned exploded.
The pressure was officially shifted to the police, who wanted to drag out the case.
The slower they investigated, the later the results came out, and the longer Lu Wanqing’s suspension would last. And because of that, the public outrage on Lu Wanqing’s behalf would only grow stronger.
Shu Ci watched with satisfaction as the situation developed exactly according to his expectations. He tossed his phone aside and walked out of the stairwell.
Just as he stepped out, his sharp ears caught the sound of the courtyard gate.
Lu Wanqing was back!
Shu Ci’s eyes lit up. Without even changing his shoes, he sprinted out of the house in his slippers and pajamas, pushing open the courtyard gate with a creak.
Countless camera flashes went off, and the crowd surged forward.
“Is General Lu at home?”
“Mr. Shu, can we have an exclusive interview?”
“What are your thoughts on Lu Wanqing’s suspension pending investigation? After all, it was because of your speech that he…”
Shu Ci’s eyes went wide. “Hah? Which outlet are you from? Did Councilman Gu send you to dump the blame on me?”
He rolled up his sleeves, ready to start cursing.
Suddenly, he was swept up by the waist.
“No interviews. Please do not disturb my life with my husband,” Lu Wanqing’s voice resonated from behind him.
Author’s Note:
Seventh District Comrades Private Group Chat:
“Cui You” has changed the group name to “Lu Wanqing is an Old Dog, Who Agrees and Who Objects?“
Administrator “Yu Xingxing” has muted “Cui You“.
