CH 136

Soon, dinner was ready. Chu Ge hurried into the kitchen to help Qiu Wuji serve the dishes, bustling around.

Lin Wuyang wanted to help but didn’t know how to intervene. He looked at Chu Ge’s homely appearance, smiling and busy in the kitchen, and couldn’t help but feel that this old classmate had also grown up. Once upon a time, they imagined a writer as decadent, unconventional, staying up all night and sleeping during the day, with a messy room where even a dog wouldn’t stay…

But Chu Ge turned out to be cheerful and optimistic, with a strong physique, as if he had returned to his university days. The house was elegant and tidy, with a rose on the coffee table, and Lin Wuyang had no idea how it managed to stay alive… There were even calligraphy and paintings on the walls.

And here he was, harmonious with his girlfriend, cooking and serving food, their gazes filled with tenderness, on both sides.

Lin Wuyang, due to his professional habit of observing carefully, felt more and more like he had been bombarded with dog food, even without eating a single bite of the meal. It was obvious that they were a couple in the midst of a passionate love affair. Even if the Emperor himself came, the answer would still be the same.

Lin Wuyang felt like he might be intruding, and wondered if the girlfriend would be unhappy with the interruption of their private time…

But Qiu Wuji showed no signs of displeasure. She brought out a large bowl of chicken soup and smiled, “I bought handmade noodles today. Let’s try them with the chicken soup. They should be good.”

Chu Ge finished bringing the dishes to the table and smiled, “Let me introduce my old classmate, Lin Wuyang. And this is my cousin… well, girlfriend, Qiu Wuji.”

After speaking, he glanced cautiously at Qiu Wuji. She gave him a sideways look but didn’t refute him.

Lin Wuyang laughed. “If you knew she was your cousin, why call her your cousin or female fan? Who were you fooling?”

Qiu Wuji pouted but still didn’t argue. Giving him face in front of others, hmph… It wasn’t the first time she had been called his girlfriend.

Lin Wuyang continued, “When are you going to hold the wedding banquet?”

Chu Ge glanced at Qiu Wuji again, and she remained expressionless. He quickly got up to pour wine for Lin Wuyang and changed the subject, “Wuyang, it seems you were one of the earliest to get married in our class?”

“I think I wasn’t the earliest, maybe top three,” Lin Wuyang laughed. “I had just passed the civil service exam when my family started arranging blind dates. This profession has its advantages, blind dates are in demand, and things progressed quickly. One thing led to another, and we got married.”

“I heard your wife is an elementary school teacher? A combination of a civil servant and a teacher, a perfect match,” Chu Ge remarked.

“Yes,” Lin Wuyang smiled. “When it comes to your child’s education, you can consult my wife. She’s well-versed in educational matters.”

Chu Ge stole another glance at Qiu Wuji, who was leisurely serving soup to everyone, still expressionless.

He cleared his throat. “Back then, you didn’t send me a wedding invitation. Wasn’t that unbrotherly of you?”

Lin Wuyang just smiled. “So, you gained from it.”

Their relationship in school was just average. They had separate dorm rooms, limited interaction, and even less contact after graduation. These days, wedding invitations were like red bombs. Sending an invitation with such a relationship probably wouldn’t be right. Now that their relationship had improved, Chu Ge would definitely send him an invitation, and Lin Wuyang would give him a gift instead. Chu Ge was the one benefiting.

Qiu Wuji seemed to understand these gift-giving rules as well and finally spoke with a smile, “So, Chief Lin, drink more chicken soup, have a chicken leg, and make up for the loss a bit.”

Chu Ge looked at her strangely again, and this time Qiu Wuji glared back at him with irritation. Can you be more professional? Why are you looking at me like that!

Chu Ge lowered his head and held his own bowl. “Drinking chicken soup is generally a good thing…”

He then thought of something and asked curiously, “Hey, Chief Lin, you said you’re not into cyber security, but you spend more time online than anyone else?”

“It’s just a little hobby, occasionally slacking off,” Lin Wuyang sighed. “But now it’s gone. My account got banned. I’ll transfer to the cyber security department someday. I won’t let that guy off…”

Chu Ge chuckled.

But then Lin Wuyang’s voice turned solemn. “I really want to transfer to the cyber security department… Working overtime day after day, risking my life on the front line. This time, my family even received death threats regarding the Wang family’s case. What am I pursuing…”

Chu Ge was shocked. “The Wang family is so bold?”

Lin Wuyang waved his hand. “In the end, nothing happened… But I’m just frustrated, why should it be like this?”

Chu Ge was reminded of Zhang Qiren’s “Why should it be like this?”

The two figures, one bright and one dark, seemed to overlap.

He silently raised his glass and clinked it with Lin Wuyang’s, without saying much. They both emptied their glasses.

After finishing their drinks, Chu Ge sighed and tried to console him. “Wuyang, you said yourself not to have high expectations before. After all, our age is a factor, it’s not surprising…”

Lin Wuyang shook his head, “Age and qualifications may not be the main reason. It’s just a convenient excuse…”

He pointed upward, “There’s no one above to support us.”

Chu Ge smiled bitterly, “Why think like this? It’s not worth tormenting yourself.”

“If a capable and talented person replaced me, I’d agree. But if someone who has only worked in political affairs and has no special abilities replaces me, then what’s the justification?” Lin Wuyang wasn’t consoled; instead, he grew more agitated. “They arrive and do nothing, just hold a few formal meetings with a bunch of empty words. Who do they think they are?”

Chu Ge asked, “How old is the guy? Is it possible that the person is old and transitioning to retirement so that you can take over?”

Lin Wuyang sneered, “In his forties, still too young for retirement.”

Chu Ge remained silent.

Lin Wuyang vented his frustration, “It’s not even about not getting promoted. The key problem now is that labor and capital have become deputies. Do you know that? The so-called upgrade of the department is just adding more chairs for others. Have they ever considered us?”

Chu Ge hadn’t thought about this before and couldn’t come up with a solution. Hearing Lin Wuyang’s words, he felt a surge of anger, which anyone would feel.

So he decided not to persuade him anymore. He just filled up their glasses again and said, “Brother, I can’t help you in other ways, but let’s get drunk together!”

Lin Wuyang burst into laughter. “I was waiting for you to say that. Why bother trying to convince me? I didn’t come to listen to advise. I came here to drink with my brother.”

There was no need to talk about stopping halfway when drawing a sword or water continuing to flow. At this moment, all they wanted was to get drunk and vent. As a friend, accompanying them in getting drunk was enough. Chu Ge didn’t say much and simply toasted with Lin Wuyang, saying, “Cheers!”

They didn’t eat much of the dishes on the table. Qiu Wuji ate slowly on her own, tilting her head to watch Chu Ge’s heavy drinking with someone.

As an ancient person, she had witnessed too much of life’s hardships and joys. Although she sighed at Lin Wuyang’s predicament, it didn’t create much of a ripple. There were just too many similar things…

It was Chu Ge’s behavior that amused her.

This was the aura of the Jianghu (martial world) , which actually fit Qiu Wuji’s aesthetics quite well. She was a female warrior who had fought her way through the Jianghu, not a female cultivator who had practiced in an ivory tower since childhood. However, Chu Ge rarely showed this demeanor, or rather, it was rare for this era to allow people to exhibit it.

Qiu Wuji knew that Chu Ge had the aura of the Jianghu, but without witnessing it firsthand, she felt that something was lacking. Now that she had seen it, she found it very interesting.

There was Chu Ge, immersed in the documents, painstakingly concocting stories.

There was Chu Ge, rushing into the battle, his golden fists intercepting Rong Fu and slamming into Iron Anvil.

There was Chu Ge, indulging in drinking and laughter, drinking like a whale to help his friend forget his worries.

Fearless and daring, his hair standing on end, discussing life and death. The youthful chivalry was hidden within his diligent writing, never lost. It permeated the entire life of the protagonist, Chu Tiange, in his stories and ran through Qiu Wuji’s eternal existence.

Suddenly, Qiu Wuji yearned for Chu Ge to enter her world, where the two of them would wield their swords together and roam the martial world.

Compared to the cozy sweetness of domestic life, would it be another unique landscape?

“F***…” Lin Wuyang was already drunk and mumbled, “If labor and capital have to endure for three more years and I still don’t have a share next time, then I’ll just lie down and let it be. Whoever wants to do it, let them do it, f*** them…”

“Bang!” Lin Wuyang collapsed onto the table, drunk and passed out.

“I didn’t expect him to have such a low tolerance. I thought police officers could hold their liquor,” Chu Ge sighed as if he had nothing to do with it. “I need to find sister-in-law and have her come pick him up…”

Qiu Wuji smiled wryly, “You two have only been drinking for a short while, and you’ve already gone through a whole case of beer without even eating much… It’s not that his tolerance is low, it’s that your constitution is different. Don’t you realize that?”

Chu Ge paused for a moment, realizing that… he had drunk half a case of beer without feeling anything, as if he were drinking water. Although his alcohol tolerance had been decent before, it had never been this exaggerated. It seemed that in his cultivation journey, he had at least excelled in alcohol tolerance.

“Hey, by the way… If I got drunk like this with someone else, wouldn’t you be upset?”

“As long as you’re not drunk, I have confidence in you,” Qiu Wuji smiled faintly. “You have a lot of pressure, so occasionally releasing it and satisfying a friend’s need for venting is a good thing. It satisfies both the friend’s desire for relief and your own loyalty. It’s a win-win.”

A win-win… Chu Ge looked down at the intoxicated Lin Wuyang, slurring his words, and whispered, “Why do I feel like Nanjiang lost this round?”

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