An 80s female translator was spoiled rotten by a rough and jealous man.

Chapter 273

Xiong Ayou was reviewing the operation procedures of the spectrum analyzer when the enemy initiated another communication. Meng Youyou told him to keep practicing, and she would hold on for a little while longer.

When the call ended, Meng Youyou put down her pen and looked to the side. She saw Ayou's lips moving, but the earphone cover was too well sealed, so she couldn't hear what he was saying clearly.

She casually ripped off the earphones that were on her head. She had done this countless times in recent days, and it had become muscle memory. However, this time, the earmuffs were pulled by an external force and rubbed against her earlobes. Meng Youyou immediately hissed in pain.

Ayu quickly asked with concern, "Sister Meng, what's wrong? Are you alright?"

The man who had been standing against the wall behind her also took three steps at a time to get closer to her, his brows slightly furrowed and his eyes deep.

Out of the corner of her eye, Meng Youyou could see that his movements were particularly swift when he moved. The shape of the light and shadow cast on the ground by the overhead light kept changing. When the man was in front of her, his long shadow covered the light on her side, and a shadow fell diagonally over him. His upper body was reflected on the table in front of Meng Youyou.

The smooth lines of the man's profile, where his lips and nose meet, became distorted and strange on the skin of Meng Youyou's arched hand. The outline of the cartilage protruding in the middle of his neck rolled and rolled, but in the end, he still didn't say anything.

Meng Youyou withdrew her gaze from the table and turned to Xiong Ayou with a smile. She naturally placed the headphones she had taken off on the table, and then lied without changing her expression: "It's nothing, I accidentally twisted my neck when I took off my headphones." As she spoke, she raised her right hand and rubbed the back of her neck in a serious manner, "It'll be fine after moving around for a bit."

Huo Qingshan looked at her suspiciously from her earlobe to her neck, but after a couple of seconds he turned back and stared at her ear.

As if sensing the gaze lingering on her from the side, Meng Youyou suddenly turned to face the man and asked, "Why are you still here?"

He didn't reply immediately, his eyes fixed on Meng Youyou's, dark and probing, as if he had to find something out before he would stop.

Such a gaze, yet such a gaze, Meng Youyou wanted to give it a name many times, such as "revealing its true colors" or "nowhere to hide".

Too direct, too sharp, and so purposeful, the person targeted feels tingling all over and their heart pounding with fear, as if their defenses will crumble at any moment, and they will surrender, offering up what the target wants with trepidation.

Before this, he had used this trick on Meng Youyou every time, and it had never failed him.

Meng Youyou straightened her shoulders and back, her brain sending signals to make her facial muscles more relaxed and composed. Unwilling to always be the one at a disadvantage, unwilling to be dominated and exploited by him every time, she steadied her breathing and calmly told him to leave: "If there's nothing else, please leave as soon as possible, Platoon Leader Huo. Outsiders lingering in the listening room for too long will disrupt our normal work rhythm."

This time, Meng Youyou was extremely eager, intense, and resistant to letting him succeed easily. She wanted to see him leave empty-handed and wanted to turn the tables.

Upon hearing this, the man finally lowered his gaze, gestured with his chin towards the spectrum analyzer, and replied, "Waiting for feedback."

"Oh," Meng Youyou reached out and took the natural noise baseline diagram that Xiong Ayou had just drawn, examined it closely, and after half a minute, said in a deep voice: "Did you record this audio?"

"Yes."

"You recorded it while wearing it on your person?"

Upon hearing this, Huo Qingshan raised an eyebrow, seemingly surprised by the question, and replied, "It was recorded in a squatting position, with the arm resting on the thigh and the hand supporting it."

Meng Youyou stared at the graph paper, her face serious as she shook her head. “In the future, when recording audio, the recorder should be fixed at a distance of more than half a meter from the human body using sandbags. Even the most well-trained reconnaissance soldier cannot control the natural tremors of the human body, which will cause equipment resonance and contaminate the sample.”

"Okay, I'll improve next time."

Meng Youyou looked down at the drawing in her hand for a while, then said softly, "I have no other objections."

Huo Qingshan nodded slightly and replied, "Okay, then I'll be going now."

As soon as he finished speaking, the man turned and left.

Huo Qingshan stepped out the door, his hand on the doorknob as he was about to close it, when he heard an excited female voice burst from inside: "Don't move!" He instinctively looked in the direction of the voice and saw Meng Youyou grab the young man's arm, snatch the earphones he was holding to the side of his head, her expression and actions perfectly matching her anxiety, shouting loudly: "Didn't I tell you a couple of days ago? You and I need to use our earphones separately. The one with the red marking on the casing is the one I'm using."

The boy stood frozen in place, not moving for a long time.

Meng Youyou yanked open a drawer, took out a pair of identical black headphones, threw them on the table, and gave Xiong Ayou a stern warning: "This pair is yours, don't mix them up again!"

Calling it a word of advice is too euphemistic; his words came out like a machine gun, sounding more like he was getting angry.

Xiong Ayou has been here for almost a week now. In his memory, Sister Meng is easygoing and approachable, and she always takes special care of him. Even when she teaches him something, she becomes quite serious. If he learns slowly or makes a mistake in the steps, she simply points it out carefully and correctly. She has never been as harsh as she was today.

And... it's just for a pair of headphones.

The young man was instantly flustered. He jumped up from his chair, put his hands behind his back, and hurriedly apologized: "I'm...I'm sorry, Sister Meng, I was wrong."

Seeing the flustered expression on the person in front of her, Meng Youyou gradually calmed down and softened her tone, but her tone remained serious: "Ayou, I told you on the first day you came here that details determine success or failure. In this place, every little thing you do can lead to disastrous consequences."

I've told you more than once that every single piece of advice I've given you, no matter how small or how important you think it is, must be strictly followed.

During Meng Youyou's reprimand, Xiong Ayou's head kept drooping, filled with self-blame, regret, and frustration; a host of negative emotions suddenly overwhelmed him.

Meng Youyou noticed this, but this time she didn't choose to soften her heart. She just kept a straight face and said, "You made a mistake today. Apologize to me and I can forgive you."

But what if you make a mistake at work tomorrow? Who will forgive you? Will the soldiers who bled and died because of your negligence forgive you?

Having said that, the dust in the air seemed to freeze.

"Even if they are willing to forgive you," Meng Youyou leaned forward, her gaze piercing straight into his eyes, "at that time, could you forgive yourself?"

After reciting several long lines of scripts in one breath, during the half-second pause to catch her breath, a strange sense of déjà vu arose from the bottom of her heart—she felt like she had heard it somewhere before.
Meng Youyou was momentarily stunned, her tongue seemed to have been suddenly tripped by something, and the words she wanted to say got stuck in her throat and she couldn't utter them. Gradually, her eyes began to glaze over.

After a long silence, Meng Youyou slowly exhaled twice, raised her hand and patted Ayou's shoulder, resuming her most ordinary tone: "I know you've just arrived here and there are still many things you're not used to. I won't force you to master things you don't know in a short time, or to become so proficient in one step."

But I hope you can remember what I've taught you and implement it thoroughly. Don't take it lightly. You might think that not doing things perfectly won't have a big impact or cause any serious consequences, but reality often can't withstand repeated trial and error based on "what you thought," "what you felt," and "what you didn't know would turn out this way."

Xiong Ayou slowly raised his head and looked at Meng Youyou. Her young, clear eyes seemed exceptionally sincere at that moment. He said, "Sister Meng, I really realize my mistake. I will remember every word you said from now on. I will review it at least twice, no... three times, every night before I go to sleep." He observed the changes in Meng Youyou's expression and tentatively asked, "Five times, is that okay?"

The boy standing before her had youthful features, still bearing the marks of adolescence, with a touch of baby fat on his cheeks. Realizing his mistake, his face and earlobes flushed red. Meng Youyou's gaze slid down to the boy's slender shoulders and narrow frame; every feature reminded her that he was not yet nineteen!
At the age of eighteen or nineteen, Meng Youyou suddenly wondered what she was doing at eighteen.
If eighteen-year-old Meng Youyou came to this place, could she do better than him?

The answer seems obvious.

"Ayu, I was a bit too emotional just now, my tone was too harsh, and I wasn't calm enough. I didn't handle that well, and I apologize to you..."

“It’s not heavy!” Ayu shook her head abruptly, cutting her off: “Sister Meng, you’re right. I didn’t think you were in a bad mood. It’s my fault for not doing well enough. It’s right for you to criticize me.”

After saying that, he put his hands on Meng Youyou's shoulders, pushed her a few steps away, then plopped down in a chair, picked up his headphones, and before putting them on, turned back and grinned at Meng Youyou: "Sister Meng, you should go back and rest."

Meng Youyou walked out of the monitoring room, not forgetting to take her earphones with her. The sky was just beginning to lighten, and as she looked up against the morning light, she saw the man's back view next to the sandbag bunker a dozen meters away.

Why are people who should have left a few minutes ago still here?