Chapter 174 — Sister-in-Law and Sister-in-Law
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 3
"Heh..." Wei Zhao chose not to explain further. Similarly, when Yang Huaijun had first joined that special operations squad, he had been just as green and callow. Wei Zhao had led him through growth step by step. The bond between him and Yang Huaijun, therefore, ran even deeper than the one Qiu Lingshan shared with the man. That kind of friendship forged between life and death -- it was irreplaceable.
So even if Wei Zhao had pointed straight at Yang Huaijun's nose and berated him to his face, the man would have simply smiled and taken it in stride. In truth, though the old Wei Zhao had defended his squad members fiercely in front of outsiders, behind closed doors he had been merciless in dressing them down. He still remembered how Yang Huaijun -- a full-grown man back then -- had been reduced to tears by his team leader, a man younger than himself...
Of course, Wei Zhao couldn't very well tell Qiu Lingshan any of that.
"Fine. You defend him, so I'll stop putting it that way." Wei Zhao nodded. "Though you can always ask Yang Huaijun about it later. I don't think he'd take offense at what I said..."
"?" Qiu Lingshan blinked, not quite understanding what Wei Zhao meant. Professional instinct had long ago made her suspect that some undisclosed secret lay between Wei Zhao and Captain Yang. But because it involved Yang Huaijun -- the person she respected most in the world -- Qiu Lingshan had deliberately avoided digging any deeper. She believed Yang Huaijun was a man of integrity; there was no way he would associate with anyone truly wicked.
But now, looking at the accumulating evidence, it seemed Wei Zhao and Captain Yang shared countless secrets -- secrets she knew nothing about. The curiosity was maddening. She didn't dare press Yang Huaijun, but Wei Zhao was fair game. This kid -- she was going to coax something out of him one way or another. Qiu Lingshan thought to herself...
"Perhaps I got a bit too worked up." Qiu Lingshan restarted the engine, no longer wearing the icy expression she had before; her face had softened considerably. "Wei Zhao -- you and Captain Yang... did you know each other from before?"
Qiu Lingshan began working the subject in from the side.
"I suppose you could say that, though it was a long time ago... I've more or less forgotten all about it. If he hadn't recognized me that day, I doubt I'd even have been able to recall him." Wei Zhao explained this with perfect composure, but Qiu Lingshan refused to believe a word of it.
Forgotten? The way Yang Huaijun had acted, he'd been happier than he would have been at catching a criminal suspect. How could it possibly be as simple as Wei Zhao made it sound? Qiu Lingshan could tell that Captain Yang had been genuinely, deeply moved that day, so much so that he'd come close to babbling incoherently.
"Is that so? Then how did you two meet?" Qiu Lingshan asked.
"Didn't your superior ever tell you not to ask questions you shouldn't? I hear you worked as an instructor in the special forces. You ought to know better than to be so ill-disciplined." With a single sentence, Wei Zhao blocked every question she had: "There's a confidentiality system, you know. Haven't you heard of it?"
"......" Qiu Lingshan was speechless. What sort of confidentiality system was this? You're not part of the police system, nor the military. What could you possibly have to keep secret? Even if Captain Yang is a police captain now, just telling me how you two met couldn't possibly have anything to do with confidentiality, could it?
"If you don't want to talk about it, then don't!" Qiu Lingshan tried a little provocation of her own: "It's not like you're on a mission — what's there to keep secret?"
"Mm, once you become my sister-in-law, or Yang Huaijun's sister-in-law, I'll tell you." Wei Zhao looked at Qiu Lingshan with a smile as he spoke.