Blazing Armor

After helping handle the situation on site, it was already late by the time they returned to the team base.

Ren Yi placed Miaomiao in his room, opened a can of food for it, filled a bowl with water, and then headed to take a shower himself.

It was already late autumn, but he didn’t turn on the hot water. The icy shower splashed down on him, cooling the frustration that had been simmering in his heart.

I lost my temper, he thought. I shouldn’t have gotten angry—after all, Gong Yingxian was just trying to help.

But when you’re out on a call, absolute obedience to orders is a principle engraved in his bones. A fire scene is like a battlefield, and in such a dangerous place, no one is an exception. Gong Yingxian’s actions at the time had truly worried him.

What if the tank on the truck was still leaking? What if the chemicals spilling out were reacting with the oxidizers? What if the fire started right next to Gong Yingxian?

One “what if” after another, things he didn’t even dare to think too deeply about, had been the root of his anger. Gong Yingxian was so afraid of fire—how could Ren let him be at risk of being caught in it?

Of course, now that he’d calmed down, Ren realized he had overreacted a bit. Gong Yingxian, despite his fear, had gone without hesitation to help them. The least Ren could have done was thank him.

Ren let out a deep sigh, filled with regret, and banged his head against the bathroom tiles a few times.

From behind him, a soft meow sounded.

Ren turned his head to see that at some point, Miaomiao had nudged open the slightly ajar bathroom door, poking its little black head in and staring at him intently.

“Why are you peeking at me in the shower?” Ren flexed his bicep. “Your dad’s got a pretty good body, huh?”

Miaomiao tilted its head.

Feeling a bit deflated, Ren put his arm down and sighed. “Do you think I should apologize to him or something?”

Miaomiao’s golden eyes stared unblinkingly at him.

“I was impulsive, sure, but he wasn’t exactly right either. I’m the officer in charge—how could he act on his own? It was so dangerous.”

“But there’s no way he’s going to apologize to me. You know what he said when I asked for an apology last time?” Ren mimicked Gong Yingxian’s haughty tone, pursing his lips, “I know I misunderstood you, but I just don’t feel like apologizing. Ugh, is that even human?”

“But… if he doesn’t apologize and I don’t go to him, does that mean we’re just going to ignore each other from now on?” Ren scrubbed shampoo through his hair in frustration. “What’s the point of playing the silent treatment at this age? Plus, we still have work to do.”

As Ren muttered to himself, he finished his shower, changed into his pajamas, and picked Miaomiao up, placing the cat on the bed. Lying down with his arm as a pillow, he stared at the plain white ceiling, but what floated in his mind wasn’t the argument that had left them both unhappy—it was Gong Yingxian’s handsome face as he leaned towards him, wearing a gas mask.

Ren’s heart suddenly jolted, and he snapped awake.

What’s going on with him? Was he really falling for Gong Yingxian’s looks? Sure, pretending he had no thoughts at all when faced with that face and body would be self-deception, but he was way past the age of judging people by their appearance. They were two people who had practically nothing in common from head to toe—he shouldn’t be entertaining unnecessary thoughts.

Besides, the way Gong Yingxian looked at Qiu Yan already said plenty. Ren wasn’t about to embarrass himself over it.

It must be guilt, that’s why his mind was wandering all over the place today. He should just go apologize. Expecting Gong Yingxian to come to him first? Not a chance. He needed to be mature, magnanimous even. There was no point in butting heads with a spoiled rich kid.

—

The next morning during drills, Ren Yi was a little distracted. He fiddled with his phone, debating whether or not to send a message. Should he text first to ease the tension and warm things up, or just find Gong Yingxian and deal with it face-to-face?

Neither option seemed ideal. If he sent a message and Gong Yingxian didn’t respond, that would be denying him a way to smooth things over. What, was he supposed to go groveling for forgiveness? How embarrassing. But if he went to confront him directly and got a cold shoulder, that would be even worse—there’d be no recovering from that.

Ren was stuck in a loop of indecision, growing frustrated with himself. Since when did he become so indecisive and overthinking?

“Captain Ren, Captain Ren!” Liu Hui came running over, panting. “We’ve finished the run, can we rest now?”

Ren Yi waved him off half-heartedly, “Yeah, take a break.”

The group scattered immediately, everyone dispersing on the spot.

As Li Sa passed by Ren, she stopped and smiled. “Captain Ren, what’s eating at you? You’ve been out of it all morning.”

Ren glanced up at her, dejected, and patted the spot next to him, “Want to sit?” He was sitting on the steps leading up to the team building, his usual “throne” for overseeing training.

Covered in sweat from the workout, Li Sa wiped her brow and sat down beside him. “What’s up?” she asked, taking a few long swigs from her water bottle.

“What do I look like I’m stressed about?” Ren wasn’t actually planning on talking it out with anyone—he just wanted to vent a little. He opened his own water bottle and took a sip.

Li Sa leaned back, putting some distance between them, and squinted at Ren, giving him a once-over. “You look like you pissed off your girlfriend and have no idea how to make it right.”

Ren Yi spit out a mouthful of water.

Li Sa burst out laughing.

Ren wiped his face. “What the hell? How did you come to that conclusion?”

“You’ve been looking at your phone all morning, picking it up and putting it down, over and over again, and you’ve got this worried look on your face,” Li Sa grinned. “I just guessed. Wait, did I hit the mark?”

“Hit what, my ass,” Ren replied, feeling a bit guilty. Even though Gong Yingxian wasn’t a woman, nor was he Ren’s girlfriend, the feeling was… well, it was kind of spot on. Damn, a woman’s intuition was terrifying!

“What are you worried about?” Li Sa asked curiously.

Ren Yi glanced at Li Sa, cleared his throat, and said, “Let me be clear first, I don’t have a girlfriend, but I’m just curious, purely curious—how do you usually make up when you piss off your girlfriend?”

Li Sa gave an exaggerated “oh” and smirked mischievously. “I can teach you three foolproof tricks.”

“What tricks?”

“Apologize, buy gifts, and sweet talk. You have to use all three together, and I guarantee you’ll be back on good terms.”

Ren Yi blinked. “Oh, you girls are pretty easy to please, huh?” Would this even work on Gong Yingxian?

Li Sa patted Ren Yi on the shoulder. “The most important thing is sincerity.”

Ren Yi clicked his tongue. “Stop making random guesses, I’m stressed about work.”

—

In the end, Ren Yi decided to first send a message to apologize. After sending it, he waited anxiously for a long time, but, as expected, there was no response. Even though he had anticipated this, he couldn’t help feeling a bit down.

He even seriously considered whether he should buy Gong Yingxian a gift or something, but Gong Yingxian didn’t seem to lack anything. Plus, with someone as picky as him, getting the wrong thing could backfire.

After thinking it over, Ren Yi figured it would be better to confront Gong Yingxian directly, but not right away. He decided to let things cool down for a couple of days, which worked out since he had a pile of paperwork to catch up on.

That afternoon, while he was writing a report, Qu Yangbo informed him that Gong Feilan had arrived.

He went downstairs and saw several soldiers helping Gong Feilan carry multiple paper bags. Clearly, she had brought them some snacks again.

“Feilan? Aren’t you supposed to be in school today?”

“I took the day off,” Gong Feilan said proudly. “I had a cold and didn’t want to go.”

Ren Yi scolded lightly, “You seem fine now. You’re not skipping, are you?”

“No way, I really did have a cold a few days ago. I’m just better now, and I’ll go back tomorrow.” Gong Feilan beamed as she ran up to Ren Yi. “I just came from my cousin’s place. Uncle Sheng packed a ton of food for me to bring here.”

“You just came from your brother’s place?” Ren Yi asked casually, though his eyes flickered with interest. “Was he home?”

“He came back to grab something, and I ran into him.”

“How’s he… doing?”

Gong Feilan looked puzzled. “What do you mean?”

The soldiers who had witnessed the recent argument between Ren Yi and Gong Yingxian exchanged amused glances.

Ren Yi shot them a look. “Oh, just asking casually. He must be pretty busy, huh?”

“Yeah, but when he heard I was coming to the unit, he told Uncle Sheng to pack extra food.” Gong Feilan proudly added, “So I brought a lot this time—Cantonese dim sum and desserts. I’m sure there’s plenty that you’ll like.” She began unpacking the snack boxes as she spoke.

Ren Yi’s heart lifted. Gong Yingxian actually asked Uncle Sheng to prepare extra food for him? It seemed like he wasn’t angry anymore, just too proud to reach out. Maybe if Ren Yi made the first move…

“Ah!” Gong Feilan suddenly let out a sharp scream, startling everyone.

“W-what happened?”

“My mango mousse!” Gong Feilan cried, staring at the squished dessert inside the box. She stomped her foot in frustration. “It was so pretty! How did it get all messed up?”

“Oh no, this box is smashed too,” Ding Qing said, opening another box to reveal a crumpled batch of turnip pastries. “What a shame.”

“This one’s ruined too…”

Gong Feilan’s face fell as she checked each box, realizing that at least half of the beautifully crafted treats had been through a mini disaster in transit. “How could this happen? I was so careful, I didn’t drop them at all!”

“Maybe someone else didn’t handle them properly?”

Ding Qing and the others quickly raised their hands. “Not me! I was super careful. The boxes didn’t even tilt.”

Sun Diyi chuckled, “It’s no big deal. Don’t worry, we’ll still eat every last bit.”

The others chimed in, trying to comfort her.

Still puzzled, Gong Feilan mumbled, “Uncle Sheng and my cousin helped me load them into the car after they were packed, and the ride was super smooth. I handled them carefully too, so how did this happen?”

Hearing this, Ren Yi furrowed his brows. “Your cousin helped load the boxes?”

“Yeah, it’s rare for him to bother with such small tasks,” Gong Feilan said, still frustrated as she headed to the kitchen to grab some utensils.

Ren Yi stood frozen for a moment, then it clicked. He couldn’t help but laugh through gritted teeth. “That bastard really is a princess.”

“Captain Ren, are you talking about Gong Feilan?” Liu Hui whispered. “She’s pretty cute, doesn’t seem like a spoiled brat at all.”

“I’m talking about Gong Yingxian.”