Dare to shirk responsibility? This adorable little one will tear down your military district!

The midday sun was scorching, baking the cement roads in the military area until they turned white.

On the way from the office building to the cafeteria, a scene that can be described as a "world wonder" has appeared.

Commander Gu, who usually buttoned his shirt all the way up, walked with a swagger, and had a gaze that could freeze you to death, was now holding a dirty little dumpling in one hand.

"Hello, Commander!"

Two staff officers carrying documents walked towards us. We instinctively stood at attention and saluted, our movements as precise as if they were from a textbook.

Gu Changfeng nodded expressionlessly, then darted away with lightning speed.

The two staff officers remained frozen in place, their necks creaking like rusty gears as they turned their heads to stare at the retreating figure.

"Old Zhang, did I get mushroom poisoning from eating this lunch?"

"If we're poisoned, the poison we're in should be the same. I think I just saw the Living Yama carrying a child? And he was also carrying... was that a basket for pig feed?"

The cafeteria was bustling with activity during mealtime.

The sounds of aluminum lunchboxes clattering, swallowing, and talking mingled together, creating a steaming atmosphere.

With a "bang," the heavy windproof curtain was lifted open by a large hand.

The once noisy cafeteria fell silent abruptly. Hundreds of eyes turned to the entrance.

Gu Changfeng ignored this. He lifted Meng Yaya in his arms higher, glanced back at Lin Wanrou who was timidly hesitant to enter the room, and frowned slightly: "Stay close, aren't you hungry?"

Lin Wanrou was stared at by hundreds of grown men. She didn't dare to lift her head and could only clutch the hem of her clothes tightly, like a wronged little wife, as she shuffled in along the wall.

Meng Yaya didn't care about any of that.

The aroma of braised pork wafting in the air is simply irresistible.

"Dad, there! There's meat at that window!" Meng Yaya pointed her little finger at the innermost window, her drool practically dripping onto Gu Changfeng's collar insignia.

That crisp "Dad" echoed in the quiet cafeteria.

Clang.

Not far away, a company commander dropped his lunchbox, spilling braised eggplant all over the ground.

Gu Changfeng's temple throbbed as he strode toward the food serving window, enduring hundreds of X-ray-like stares.

The cook was the old head of the mess hall, a chubby man who looked like a Maitreya Buddha. At that moment, he was holding a large ladle, his mouth wide open, staring blankly as Gu Changfeng approached.

"Commander... Commander?" The old squad leader's spoon was trembling with meat. "What's wrong?"

"Get the food." Gu Changfeng said succinctly, placing Meng Yaya on the windowsill. "Meat. Fatty meat."

Meng Yaya gripped the windowsill with both hands, standing on tiptoe, her large, clear eyes fixed on the braised pork in the stainless steel bucket. She swallowed hard and said, "Grandpa, don't let your hand shake. Give me more. I can eat a whole cow."

The old squad leader was overjoyed to hear the word "Grandpa," but seeing how thin the child was, with sunken eyes, he felt a pang of sadness.

"Hey! Alright! Grandpa's got you a full spoonful!" The old squad leader flipped his wrist, and the spoon seemed to have a precise navigation system, avoiding all the potatoes and filling it to the brim with glistening, trembling pork belly.

One spoonful, two spoonfuls, three spoonfuls.

The lunchboxes piled up into a small mountain, so big that the lids couldn't be closed anymore.

"Is that your...daughter?" The old squad leader asked in a low voice, gossiping as he served food to Lin Wanrou.

Gu Changfeng pulled a stack of meal tickets and money from his pocket and slapped them on the windowsill: "Hmm. From my own mouth."

Another gasp was heard.

This is now officially confirmed!

Gu Changfeng, carrying two overflowing lunchboxes, found a corner seat and sat down. Lin Wanrou, too embarrassed to sit, stood awkwardly by the table, feeling completely lost.

"Sit down and eat." Gu Changfeng shoved the chopsticks into her hand. Although his tone was stiff, his actions pushed the lunchbox with the most meat in front of her.

Lin Wanrou looked at the overflowing braised pork, and tears streamed down her face, mixing into the rice.

For three years, she hadn't even smelled the meat. The most common food she ate at the Meng family's house was rice porridge so thin you could see your reflection in it.

"Why are you crying? Can you cry while eating meat?" Gu Changfeng scratched his hair in frustration. He was most afraid of women crying.

"Ignore her, my mom's just happy." Meng Yaya had already started. She grabbed a piece of juicy braised pork and stuffed it into her mouth.

Rich but not greasy, it melts in your mouth.

The sensation of the oil bursting on her tongue made Meng Yaya squint her eyes in bliss, every cell in her body cheering.

Gu Changfeng watched the mother and daughter eating. One was crying as she stuffed her food, while the other pounced on her food like a hungry tiger.

The little girl had a small mouth, so she couldn't fit too much food in it. Her cheeks bulged out like a hamster's, and her mouth was covered in oil as she ate. She even sucked on her fingers.

The soldiers who had been pretending to eat but were actually eavesdropping felt a tightness in their chests when they saw this scene.

How long have they been starving?

Gu Changfeng's nameless anger flared up again. He ate special provisions in the army and sent his monthly allowance home, yet his wife and children were starving like this? Those beasts from the Meng family!

"Eat slowly, no one's going to take it from you." Gu Changfeng unscrewed his water bottle and handed it over, "Have a sip of water, don't choke."

Meng Yaya took a big gulp of water and let out a loud burp. She poured the last bit of broth into her rice, mixed it well, and then shoveled in two more big mouthfuls before patting her round little belly contentedly.

"I'm alive again." Meng Yaya breathed a sigh of relief, leaned back in her chair, and her eyes regained their shrewdness that was beyond her years.

She glanced around the cafeteria.

Those who were peeping at her would instinctively look away whenever their eyes met hers.

"Dad, why are all these uncles and elders staring at us?" Meng Yaya asked loudly on purpose. "Is it because I'm too pretty, like you?"

puff--

The political commissar at the next table spat out the soup he had just drunk.

Following the long wind? Good-looking?

This little brat really dares to speak her mind! Gu Changfeng isn't handsome; she's a fierce demon that can stop children from crying at night!

For once, Gu Changfeng's perpetually icy face revealed a rare hint of helplessness.

He took out his handkerchief, intending to wipe Meng Yaya's mouth. But looking at her little face covered in grease, and then at his own clean handkerchief, he paused.

Meng Yaya grabbed his handkerchief, wiped it haphazardly on her face, turning the white handkerchief into an oily rag, and then stuffed it back into his hand: "Thanks, Dad. This handkerchief is of good quality. I'll make a patch for my mom later."

Gu Changfeng looked at the "oiled rag" in his hand, his face darkening, but in the end he only snorted through his nose: "Let's go back to the dormitory."

He stood up, scooped Meng Yaya up with one hand again, and picked up the tattered basket with the other.

Lin Wanrou quickly picked up the remaining grains of rice from the table and put them in her mouth before hurriedly following.

A family of three walked out of the cafeteria.

Only after their figures disappeared did the oppressive atmosphere in the cafeteria suddenly explode.

"My God! They really are his biological son! That little look in his eyes is exactly like the commander's!"

"That woman looks so pitiful. Didn't the commander say before that he had no one else to rely on?"

"Something's definitely up here! Judging from the commander's expression just now, he looked very menacing. I reckon someone's going to be in trouble."

In the crowd, a female officer dressed in civilian military uniform stared intently at the door, her chopsticks bent in her hand.

She's the head nurse at the hospital and has had a crush on Gu Changfeng for two years. Her attempts to win him over, both openly and secretly, have been rejected. And now, a country girl has suddenly appeared?

At this moment, Gu Changfeng had no time to pay attention to these rumors.

He led the mother and daughter across the playground to a row of red brick buildings behind the family compound. This was the cadre dormitory.

Because he has always been single, Gu Changfeng did not apply for a detached house in the family compound, but instead lived in this single dormitory.

"arrive."

Gu Changfeng took out his key and turned the knob to open a green wooden door.

Meng Yaya jumped down from his arms, peeked inside, and her heart skipped a beat.

The house is indeed very clean, and it is also very simple.

A single hardboard bed, a desk, a chair, and a wardrobe. Military uniforms hang on the wall, and the blankets are folded into neat squares.

It lacked any sense of life, as cold and hard as Gu Changfeng himself.

Most importantly, there was only one bed.

Meng Yaya turned around, looked at her uneasy mother, and then glanced at her father who was standing at the door like a doorpost. Her lips twitched.

This isn't a reunion; it's clearly the prelude to a catastrophe.

"Um..." Gu Changfeng clearly realized the problem as well, his Adam's apple bobbing as he pointed to the single bed, which was only 1.2 meters wide, "Where will we sleep tonight?"