Back To The 80s-Chapter 563 - 555: Eaglet_1

Gu Xiaobei shifted from merely disliking Xu Yanhong to being guarded against her, a motherly instinct within her, always feeling Xu Yanhong has her eyes on Mo Wang. Despite knowing the children disliked her, she would always ask about them. Wasn’t her insistence a bit too much, even if she genuinely liked children?

Gu Xiaobei parked her bicycle and locked it. She said not a word to Xu Yanhong and walked straight up to her apartment.

Xu Yanhong watched Gu Xiaobei’s retreating back and then looked up at the balcony of her apartment. Both of them were former snipers, so she was naturally tuned into the gaze from the floor above.

...

When Gu Xiaobei walked in the door, Xiaopang and Mo Wang were obediently sitting at the coffee table, eating their noodles.

"Why are you back so early today? And you’ve even cooked?" Gu Xiaobei asked knowingly as she changed her shoes.

Lu Zhanguo came out of the kitchen holding a plate, calmly stating, "I wasn’t too busy today. There’s night training later that I need to attend."

Gu Xiaobei scoffed lightly. Training children during the day, soldiers at night -- was this man addicted to teaching?

"Go wash your hands and eat. I made your favorite noodle soup," Lu Zhanguo generously prompted.

After washing her hands and coming out, Gu Xiaobei saw Lu Zhanguo changing his shoes, preparing for his departure.

"You’ve eaten already?" Gu Xiaobei asked curiously. She had barely sat down when he was already in such a hurry to leave.

"I have a meeting at one o’clock. I won’t be back tonight, you don’t need to leave the door unlocked for me," Lu Zhanguo spoke while opening the door. He quickly left, moving with great speed.

Gu Xiaobei sat down to eat, perplexed. She inadvertently glanced over at Mo Wang, who was stuffing his face with food, and realized why Lu Zhanguo had made such a speedy exit.

There was a ring of red marks around Mo Wang’s wrist, and the same on the wrist of his other hand which was holding the bowl. Xiaopang had it too.

"How did you two get these? Does it hurt?" Gu Xiaobei put down her chopsticks and held Mo Wang’s wrist sympathetically. Both sides of his wrist were scratched, with a hint of swelling. Xiaopang’s marks appeared a little lighter, a red ring on his wrist.

Stubbornly, Mo Wang withdrew his hand and shook his head, "It doesn’t hurt, Mom. I learned to untie knots."

Xiaopang also shook his head, "It doesn’t hurt. When I said it did, Dad untied it for me."

Although Gu Xiaobei felt heartbroken for her children, she was also angry with Lu Zhanguo. Just a few days ago, he had taught Mo Wang to strike matches and pick locks. Since Mo Wang wasn’t strong enough, it seemed he struggled with the latter.

Finding themselves grappling with knots today, there was always a different lesson each day. Lu Zhanguo seemed slightly more lenient with Xiaopang, but extremely strict with Mo Wang.

Seeing Gu Xiaobei sit in thought, Xiaopang slurped his noodles and said, "Mom, eat. Dad’s noodles are yummy."

Gu Xiaobei stroked his head, moved to another room to fetch a tube of erythromycin ointment, and applied it to Mo Wang. In her mind, she was reprimanding Lu Zhanguo sternly.

...

After Xu Yanhong’s threat, Ou Tiannan felt as anxious as an ant on a hot pan. His peaceful days had just begun, how had he drawn attention so soon?

Getting hold of blueprints was impossible for him. He didn’t know anyone in the provincial capital, let alone in the army.

After racking his brain, he suddenly thought of Ma Chengwen, his brother who had once served in the army. Reportedly, he held a not-so-low rank. Moreover, before his biological father passed away, he too had been in the army and had many contacts.

With this idea, Ou Tiannan felt hopeful. He had leveraged Ma Chengwen once, and he could do it again. However, he had failed to meet Ma Chengwen during his last visit to the provincial capital; all he could do was repeatedly visit places where Ma Chengwen had stayed.

Engrossed in his activities, Ou Tiannan had no time to find Ou Ruoshui.

...

For the next two days, Lu Zhanguo did not return home, partly because of his mission and partly due to guilt.

Upon returning from his mission, he circled the building once before finally going upstairs.

The moment Xiaopang heard the sound of the key in the door, he excitedly told Gu Xiaobei, "Is that Dad? Is Dad back?" He then ran to get Lu Zhanguo’s slippers.

Mo Wang’s face also lit up with joy. He enjoyed learning new things with Lu Zhanguo, and yearned to become a hero like Betta.

Gu Xiaobei sat on the sofa, her face stern. She was waiting for Lu Zhanguo to come in. So, he had made a mistake and had learned to evade it!

As soon as Lu Zhanguo entered, Xiaopang greeted him with slippers, his small face glowing with excitement.

"Dad, change your shoes." Xiaopang carefully arranged the slippers for Lu Zhanguo.

Lu Zhanguo glanced at Gu Xiaobei, then changed his shoes and walked over with Xiaopang.

Sitting next to Gu Xiaobei, he handed her a wax paper package and said dryly, "Your favorite biscuits."

Gu Xiaobei couldn’t help but give him a stern look, "Stop trying to pacify me with gifts." Having expressed her disapproval, she reached out and took the biscuits.

"Could you not be so hard on the children in the future? It breaks my heart, they’re only three years old," Gu Xiaobei couldn’t resist voicing her complaint.

Lu Zhanguo nodded in agreement. He took out two silver-colored whistles threaded with a red cord from his pocket and called Mo Wang over. He put them around both children’s necks, stuffed them inside their clothing, and said, "Keep this hidden inside your clothes. If you get into danger, sneak it out and blow hard. No matter how far away you are, Dad will be able to hear it!"

Finally, Gu Xiaobei felt something was amiss, "Are you hiding something from me? Why do you keep mentioning ’danger’? Are Mo Wang and Xiaopang in danger?"

Lu Zhanguo smiled and patted Gu Xiaobei’s head, "There’s no danger. I’m merely teaching them early. I gave them these whistles today to instill a sense of courage."

Gu Xiaobei shook her head, "No, that’s not it. You’ve never been this demanding before. Lately, you’ve been frequently stressing our children. You must be hiding something from me."

"No, I’m not. It’s all because of those fairy tale books you bought." Lu Zhanguo spoke, his face expressionless.

Xiaopang pulled out his whistle and put it in his mouth. He puffed out his cheeks and blew into it. A sharp, piercing sound filled the room.

Laughing, Lu Zhanguo pulled his daughter towards him and said, "You can’t blow the whistle anytime. Only when there’s danger, you can. When you see your brother take his whistle out, you should take yours out and blow. Understand?"

But Xiaopang, not willing to listen, went on blowing his whistle: beep, beep.

But Mo Wang, quite serious, touched the small bulge on his chest. Could this be the secret weapon Dad spoke about?

Gu Xiaobei frowned, tolerating the piercing noise Xiaopang was making with his whistle. She figured it made sense since they were living in a peaceful era, but Lu Zhanguo teaching them these things could at least guard them from potential kidnappers.

Once Xiaopang had enough and his fascination with it faded, he carefully wiped his saliva off the whistle, and carefully stuffed it back inside his clothing.

Lu Zhanguo looked satisfied at both children’s actions, thinking once spring arrived, he would start teaching them basic self-defence skills. Perhaps he could even start teaching Mo Wang how to hold a gun.

"Let’s go to Zhang Lijun’s house tomorrow." Lu Zhanguo suddenly suggested.

"Why the sudden visit? What’s going on?" Gu Xiaobei asked curiously.

"Nothing particular. Zhang Lijun called me at the office. Fengmei’s mother and her sister are visiting. He invited us over to meet them."

Gu Xiaobei nodded, "Alright, let’s buy some meat on our way there tomorrow."