"Dismissed!"

As the command fell, Zhang Guoqing immediately turned around and ran for the dorm.

"Wait for me, what’s the rush!"

Zhang Guoqing rolled his eyes to the sky. Of course he was rushing back to hug his wife. Still, he slowed his steps to let Yi Jiefang catch up.

"Tell me, should I go to your place first, or go home?"

The few guys beside them burst out laughing.

"What are you laughing at? You don’t get it. Once he goes home, they’ll definitely have meat waiting to welcome him."

Mouse joked, "Aren’t you afraid they’ll kick you out if you go there?"

Yi Jiefang shot him a disdainful look. "Xiao Wu already invited us last night. They’d be embarrassed to chase us away. You guys going or not?"

As soon as the big guy heard "meat," he swallowed his saliva. "Wouldn’t it be bad for so many of us to show up? Is it far?"

Oh right, only now did everyone remember that last night Zhang Guoqing had invited everyone, but other than his work address, who knew where his home was?

"Brother Wu, where do you live?"

Yi Jiefang looked at Zhang Guoqing in amusement—let’s see how you answer that.

Zhang Guoqing kicked the troublemaker who was just there for the drama. "You get on a bus as soon as you leave the gate, how far can it be? Da Yi and I both live in the army family compound. Why don’t you come back with us today and pack the place out?"

Yi Jiefang stared at him, dumbfounded. This guy could even say that with a straight face?

"Next time. We won’t disturb your family reunion this time." "Young Master Li"—Li Guangming—glanced at a few comrades in amusement and was the first to decline.

Among this batch of comrades, not everyone was unaware of Zhang Guoqing’s background. But since he never brought it up, those who knew also didn’t spread it around.

Maybe when they first arrived, a few guys had a bit of a problem with Zhang Guoqing, thinking he’d just married well. But he proved himself with his own strength, so what was there to say?

"Hahaha, fine, next time then. I also have to rush home once by train before reporting in. You all have to write me letters later."

Zhang Guoqing nodded with a smile at the big guy. He had to reply to a pile of letters every month anyway; a few more wouldn’t make a difference.

The whole building’s dorm rooms each finished packing their luggage. Whether leaving now or at night, they all headed in an orderly fashion to the school gate to say goodbye on the parade ground.

Everything that could or should be said had pretty much been said over the last two days. Now they just waved, told each other to take care, and that was that. Zhang Guoqing and Yi Jiefang couldn’t be bothered to wait for the bus that hadn’t come yet; they took a shortcut first.

"The hardest part is finally over." With no outsiders around, Yi Jiefang dared to speak his heart.

Zhang Guoqing agreed with a sigh. "Yeah, it wasn’t easy at all. Luckily it didn’t last too long."

"Say, looking like this now, do you think I can still get a wife?"

Zhang Guoqing didn’t even have to look back at his buddy dark as charcoal to know what expression he was wearing. He immediately stabbed him. "Not for another two or three years at least. Tough luck."

Yi Jiefang shot him a glare. "You’re not much better. Watch out or my sister might dislike you."

"Get lost. My wife cares about my inner qualities. Know what inner qualities are? Like your big brother here!"

"I know—inner qualities of a dog shedding its skin." Before he even finished, he took off running.

"You little brat, just you wait!"

"We’re gentlemen. Gentlemen talk, they don’t fight."

"Wrong—I’m a soldier. I like speaking with my fists."

The two horsed around for a bit, backpacks on their backs, arms slung over each other’s shoulders, squeezing together to mutter away. Thankfully it was noon and the place was remote; under the blazing sun, there were almost no passersby. Otherwise people’s eyes would be popping out—what kind of soldierly image was this?

After walking quite a while, they got on the bus. Neither of them went for seats. Ever since they’d put on this uniform, they understood they’d probably be giving up seats in the future anyway, so they might as well stand.

At the Big Courtyard gate, under the tree shade being roasted by the sun, stood one adult and three kids with an oil-paper umbrella.

From a distance, Zhang Guoqing saw them, and his nose suddenly stung. He didn’t even bother saying goodbye to Yi Jiefang who was heading home; he just sprinted forward.

"Daddy..." The three brothers spotted Zhang Guoqing’s figure and happily broke free from Zhou Jiao’s hand, running toward him as well.

The strongman’s advantage finally showed its importance at this moment. Zhang Guoqing swung out his arms in one go and scooped all three brothers into his embrace, striding forward in high spirits until he reached Zhou Jiao.

"Jiao Jiao..." Staring at his smiling, flower-bright little wife, he had so much to say, but realized the thing he wanted most to say was still: I missed you so much.

"You’ve worked hard! Let’s go home first."

"Hehe, not hard at all. I just missed you guys. How come you’ve lost weight again? While I wasn’t home, did anyone bully you?"

Zhou Jiao shot him a sideways look, amused. Which of his eyes saw her losing weight? It was he who’d gotten much thinner.

"Daddy, Mommy’s been busy."

"Have you three been good at home? You didn’t make Mommy angry, did you?"

"No, my little brothers were very good too." Ping’an’s one arm clung tightly around his neck, the other shielding his brothers. "You’re not going to be gone for so long again, are you?"

"What a good kid!" Zhang Guoqing nodded and greeted acquaintances they passed, then loosened his arms a bit. "From now on you’ll see Daddy every day."

"That’s great. I want to go to the countryside."

"No problem. We’ll all go as a family this weekend."

Almost at their door, Zhang Guoqing finally remembered something. "In this heat, why did you all run outside to wait? What if you got heatstroke?"

Zhou Jiao gave him a plaintive look. "The three of them are stronger than me."

Zhang Guoqing burst out laughing. He’d never expected his wife to one day be overpowered by their sons!

It amused Zhou Jiao too. With one push and one pull from the three of them, she’d been light as a feather dragged out the door; a mother’s majesty was completely gone.

"Dad’s not home?!" If he were, these three little ones wouldn’t have dared.

Zhou Jiao nodded. "He’s gone down to the grassroots. Said he’d come back tonight to celebrate for you."

"What’s there to celebrate? It’s nothing special." Even so, being acknowledged by his father-in-law still made Zhang Guoqing very happy. No matter what he said, the grin on his face couldn’t be hidden.

Zhou Jiao laughed and gave him a thumbs-up. "All-around champion! That’s impressive. They almost even talked Dad into agreeing to transfer you to a ground unit."

Zhang Guoqing shook his head. "I’m not that outstanding. That place is full of talent. Some were sent for advanced training with injuries, and some have long-term malnutrition—those are all factors. I just got lucky."

Zhou Jiao looked at him with appreciative eyes. Not arrogant, not impatient—he’d really matured!

Zhang Guoqing had originally wanted to mention that the real ace troops were under his father-in-law’s command. But he thought better of it; no need to make his smart wife worry.

On this trip to the academy, besides the physical and military training, he’d also heard a lot of army gossip, especially plenty of legends about his father-in-law, that Northeast Tiger.

He still had a lot to learn from his father-in-law. The road ahead was long.

Little Ping’an refused to accept that. "Besides my grandpa, my dad is the best!"

"Daddy’s the best." 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

"I like Daddy the most."

See, even the kids could tell. Zhang Guoqing laughed and kissed his three soft, pink sons. "My boys are awesome too! Liu Yi, May 1st, can you both run now?"

"We can’t run faster than big brother."

"Big brother’s the strongest."

Seeing they were home, Little Ping’an patted his dad, asking to get down. "Right now it’s okay if the little brothers run slowly. If they go too fast, they’ll fall easily."

When the twins heard that wasn’t praise, they shouted in unison, "Big brother’s bad."

Looking at his three sons playing around together, then at his beaming wife, and then at his mother-in-law hurrying over, Zhang Guoqing felt genuinely grateful to the heavens.