It's time to give out the rings, Admiral!

The evidence, of course, is that he has many married ships, not only Akagi and Fusō, but also Shinano, and even destroyers like Shirayuki are the admiral's married ships. In fact, according to Katori, his admiral even refers to Shirayuki as his young wife.

She didn't know whether to believe what they said, or whether both sides were telling the truth, but that didn't stop her from becoming even more curious about her own admiral and even more eager to meet him.

Although he has disappeared and has not been found yet, since Sister Akagi said that as long as she perseveres, she will find him sooner or later, she is willing to believe it.

If our admiral is really as powerful as Shinano and the others say, able to make so many different ship girls, who were even enemies before, live together in a friendly and harmonious way.

So, with his guidance, they should be able to realize their naval dreams, right?

The girl couldn't help but think.

Volume 1, Chapter 554: The Girl's Expectations

Touching her cheek, the girl smiled gently. Her soft fingertips touched the delicate face of someone on the wooden carving. She couldn't help but start imagining her future life in the port area with Zhaohe, as well as Sister Zhenhai and Sister Haitian.

Although the admiral's evaluation was mixed, Ying Rui was more willing to believe what Shinano and Shiyuki said—putting everything else aside, having such a large port area and so many sisters living harmoniously in one port area was enough to demonstrate the admiral's ability.

Of course, these are all secondary. What makes Ying Rui more curious and expectant about her admiral is actually the attitude of Akagi and the others towards her and Zhaohe, these C-class ship girls.

The ship girls of the Chinese and Japanese lines have a long-standing feud. Although those memories are merely inherited from their original forms, from the old-generation warships that share their names, it is undeniable that if a port has both Chinese and Japanese ship girls, the Chinese ship girls will definitely try to stay far away from the Japanese ship girls.

At first, she was the same way. When she and Hajime were rescued from the sea by Akagi and the other J-class ship girls, she and Hajime were unable to integrate into this small circle that she naturally felt repulsed by, which consisted only of J-class ship girls.

As two light cruisers, Hajime and I were clearly insignificant against a fleet of powerful carrier-girls like Akagi, Shinano, and Taihou.

And that was indeed the case. From the moment they were pulled out of the water, they traveled all the way from the far north to this coastal city in the south. During their nearly ten-day journey, they encountered many deep-sea attacks. In addition, new sisters such as Zhenhai, Haitian, Huayue, and Changbo joined their group.

Without exception, she, Zhaohe, and the other girls didn't even have the chance to participate in the battles against the deep sea. They only had to wait far behind with Shiyuki, Katori, and the newly arrived Zhenhai and Haitian. Before long, Akagi and Shinano would easily finish the battles.

Even if they encounter a submarine that Akagi and the others are not good at, the ones who are very skilled at anti-submarine warfare, as if they have participated in countless anti-submarine operations, will be able to quickly resolve the threat of deep-sea submarines.

However, even though she and Zhaohe, Zhenhai and Haitian were much weaker than them, Chicheng and Fusang never ignored or looked down on them.

There weren't any facilities when they were at sea, but just two days ago, when they arrived in Tianshui, the J-system sisters, led by Sister Akagi, immediately threw them a welcome party, even though they had originally planned to go to the police station immediately that day to report the case and ask them to help find their admiral...

Moreover, that's not all. Perhaps they knew they still harbored resentment towards them, and in order to make up for the harm they had caused them in the past, Sister Akagi and everyone else solemnly apologized to her and Sister Haitian, hoping that she could forgive their shameful actions.

Now that things have come to this, how could she possibly blame others? After all, Akagi and the others were just ship girls who inherited the memories of the original body.

Moreover, even those warships themselves only committed so many tragic acts because they were driven by the filth of human hearts and the pull of fate.

They should only hate those despicable people who, for their own benefit, impose tragedy on others.

Memories are just memories, after all. Now they live in the same port, in a small world, and their world consists only of sisters under the same admiral. They should put aside their past prejudices and work together for a better tomorrow for the port, but it's easier said than done.

First of all, former enemies may not be willing to apologize to each other. Even as ship girls, they all have the same goal: to protect the admiral and the sea. But former enemies are not so easy to let go of their past grievances and reconcile easily, especially when the stronger party apologizes to the weaker victim.

As the eldest sister among the J-class ship girls in this squad, Akagi was willing to apologize to a small light cruiser like herself. Clearly, she didn't have that much charm, so the reason could only be her own admiral.

According to Fusang-nee, it's not just Akagi-nee and herself; even the German and British ship girls in their own port get along well. Akagi-nee has even become good friends with Lexington, her former enemy and now the most trusted secretary ship of the admiral in the port.

It can be said that all of this is thanks to our own admiral. As everyone says, whether it's Akagi or others, the reason why our port has become so harmonious and beautiful is all because of our admiral.

"I really hope to see you right now, Admiral. Where are you right now?"

The girl rested her chin on her hand, gazing at the lifelike wooden carving before her, and spoke softly.

She remembered Fubuki telling her that there was another pair of ship girls in her own port, Zhaohe and Yingrui, who were different from her and Zhaohe. It was an absurd thing that only her own admiral could do something like having two ship girls with the same name in one port.

The girl imagined what she should say to Akagi and the other girls if she could find the admiral she had always dreamed of on this trip to Tianshui.

Should I be more proactive, or should I act more reserved like a lady from Donghuang?

Looking at the face on the wooden carving, which she found increasingly beautiful, the girl felt a strange flutter in her heart.

Akagi and the others went to great lengths to find the Admiral. Even though they always greeted her with kind smiles, the perceptive girl could still sense the oppression and heaviness hidden beneath the surface.

But unlike Akagi who secretly cried alone at midnight, Shirayuki's pillow would be damp the next morning after she slept there, yet the girl didn't feel too sad.

This was certainly not because she had never met the admiral and therefore didn't care; it was simply because she had a strange intuition that it wouldn't be long before she and her companions would meet their admiral, and she trusted this intuition.

The girl smiled, stared blankly for a moment, then put the wooden carving back into her pocket and stood up.

Having rested for a while, she needed to hurry up and help her "older sister" finish the remaining cleaning work.

But when she looked up, she saw a girl with long, silvery-white hair, who looked ethereal, like a fairy who had stepped out of a classical painting, walking in from outside the courtyard gate.

"Sister Haitian? What are you holding in your hand?"

She asked.

Volume 1, Chapter 555: Expectations

"Sister Haitian? What are you holding in your hand?"

Looking up, Ying Rui asked the girl who had just walked in from outside.

Before Ying Rui, a beautiful young woman, whose gentle and serene aura was immediately apparent, gracefully walked in from outside the courtyard, carrying a book.

She wore a beautiful light blue dress, and the long, azure sleeves danced gently with her movements, like a galaxy cascading down from the sky, a truly magnificent sight.

Coupled with her strong scholarly aura, this stunningly beautiful girl looked like a fairy who had just stepped out of a perfect painting.

The fairy-like girl had long, silvery-white hair. At the ends of her waist-length hair, which was as pure and elegant as white silk, the soft ends turned into a beautiful and lovely jet black, as if they had been stained with ink. Her appearance reminded people of the writing brush among the Four Treasures of the Study.

Not only was the girl's face beautiful, but her figure was also exceptionally good. Beneath her knee-length skirt, her long and lovely legs shone with a snowy white glow in the sunlight.

She wore a pure white stocking that revealed a hint of flesh on her right leg, while her equally fair and smooth left leg was bare. But no matter which side she wore or how she dressed, her long, beautiful legs were the kind of legs that would make leg fetishists shout "bliss" at just one glance.

"Ying Rui? Ah, you mean this? This is an excerpt of ancient poems and prose that I just found in the warehouse. The original owners of this courtyard were so wasteful; such a well-preserved book was left in a cold and damp warehouse."

"I found it by accident while cleaning the warehouse, so I brought it out, thinking I could copy it down when I have some free time."

As if welcoming the girl's arrival, the ginkgo trees in the courtyard rustled softly. In a gentle breeze, Ying Rui's questioning voice was heard. Holding a book bound with needle and thread to her soft chest, the girl explained to her in a soft voice.

Standing on the stone slabs, slightly mottled from the rain, she gently patted the book in her hand, even though there was no dust on it. Then, she carefully placed it on the brand-new table in the yard.

"What were you doing here just now? Have you and Zhaohe finished cleaning the house? If you have nothing to do, why don't you copy some poems with me?"

"Hmm... never mind, Sister Haitian. I just left Zhao and came out to rest for a bit. I'm about to go back and help her now."

"is it?"

Seeing that Ying Rui rejected her suggestion, the beautiful girl, with a hint of starlight and tenderness in her dark eyes, did not insist. She gracefully sat in the chair that Ying Rui had just sat in and opened the book of poems that she had just rescued.

"Sure enough, it's still intact inside. It would be such a waste to just throw it away like this."

The girl gently turned the pages of the book. Although it was just an ordinary book, in her hands it seemed to have become a rare treasure, making it seem extraordinary just by looking at it.

Beside her, Ying Rui was originally about to go inside to help Zhao He with the remaining housework, but seeing Hai Tian's focused movements and expression, she once again withdrew her lotus foot and looked at the poetry collection beside the girl.

"Sister Haitian really loves these ancient poems and prose. Although I like them too, I still can't compare to you, Sister Haitian."

Ying Rui sighed. If Chi Cheng was the undisputed elder sister in his team, everyone would willingly obey her leadership.

So for her and Zhaohe, Haitian was the elder sister who belonged only to them, the ship girls from that ancient civilization in the East.

People say that an elder sister is like a mother. Hai Tian, ​​who was born not long ago, is so gentle and willing to forgive herself and Zhao He. She is just like a mother, so when she is unhappy or sad, she can't help but think of going to Hai Tian to confide in her.

Although Bai Xue and the others told him that there was another Yi Xian in the port area, and that Yi Xian was just as gentle and tolerant as Hai Tian, ​​Ying Rui still thought that Hai Tian was the elder sister before meeting her, and that she would definitely be the elder sister that his admiral, whom he had never met, liked very much.

"Yes, beautiful poems can cultivate one's character. The beauty of poetry lies not only in rhyme and parallelism, but also in the myriad emotions expressed in just a few words. When I find the admiral, I will also let him learn about the beauty of poetry."

"Speaking of which, wasn't that the wooden carving of the admiral that Yamashiro made for you? And now you're just standing here in a daze, wondering what kind of person the admiral really was?"

"Hehe, you saw this, Haitian-jie~ Haitian-jie, tell me, what do you think of our admiral?"

Ying Rui smiled gently. She wasn't annoyed that Hai Tian had noticed her daydreaming. Instead, she asked the girl for her opinion on the admiral.

For some reason, she has been looking forward to meeting the Admiral more and more lately, and the premonition that she will see the Admiral soon has become stronger and stronger since she came to Tianshui.

Her premonition even affected others, not only her closest friends Zhaohe, Haitian and Zhenhai, but also Chuixue and Baixue, who have been smiling more lately.

"Our admiral... well, that's a bit hard to say... like a harbor, right? It's hard to feel at ease without seeing him. We've never met him, but... I imagine he's a very outstanding person. Akagi and the others often say that, don't they?"

"But no matter what, the admiral is the admiral. Regardless of his excellence or what he is like, he is our admiral, the person we will rely on in the future. Moreover, if it weren't for the admiral, we would still be lying in the depths of the sea right now."

"Hehe, Sister Haitian is right. I was overthinking it. No matter what, she is still our admiral. However, it would be even better if she could be more outstanding. With the admiral's leadership, maybe our naval dream can be realized?"

The girl took out her copybook of poems, and seeing the girl beside her skillfully grinding ink for her, Hai Tian smiled, lifted her azure sleeves, picked up the brush, and nodded.

Of course, she also hoped that her admiral would be an outstanding person. However, compared to those outstanding people who didn't need anyone's help or companionship, she still hoped that her admiral would be more ordinary, so ordinary that he needed their companionship and help.

After all, they were looking for their own admiral, not some boss with whom they could share the blame, but someone with whom they would spend the rest of their lives, and perhaps even... cough hum.

"Yingrui, didn't you have a feeling you'd find the Admiral soon? Have you decided what gift to give him when you meet him?"

"Hmm~ Of course, Sister Haitian, actually, I was already prepared. Look, it's a Chinese knot, I made it myself~"

"A peace knot, it symbolizes a lifetime of peace and good fortune, very nice. As for me, I'll write a book of poems and lyrics to give to the Admiral. The Admiral is also from Donghuang, he should like these, right? Hmm, let's do that. I'll prepare it when I have time. By the way, Yingrui, what do you want to eat for lunch? I'll prepare it when Zhenhai returns. After lunch, we'll go to the port to post missing person notices this afternoon..."

Volume 1, Chapter 556: News Has Arrived

"By the way, Yingrui, what do you want to eat for lunch? I'll prepare it when Zhenhai gets back. After lunch, we'll go to the port to post missing person notices this afternoon..."

The courtyard where the girls lived was surrounded by high walls. Inside the courtyard, a cool breeze blew under the lush canopy of the ginkgo trees, making it comfortable and extremely peaceful.

The flower bed in the corner, which used to be neglected, has been cleared of weeds and planted with several bright and beautiful flowers.

Although it was only a temporary place to stay, it was clear that after the girls took care of it, the originally dilapidated courtyard gradually became more vibrant.

But a little bit of life is not enough. No matter how well the courtyard is managed, these girls, who are like duckweed, will not consider this place their home. They only have one home, which is always the place where their admiral is located, the port district where their admiral is located.

So even though they hadn't even met their admiral yet, and had only just arrived in this unfamiliar city, only just found a place to stay, and only just recovered from the long voyage that had lasted for several days, the girls were already eager to go out and continue searching for their admiral.

"Hmm, what do you want to eat? Actually, I'm not very hungry... Didn't Sister Zhenhai go out and buy some chicken breast yesterday? How about Kung Pao Chicken, Sister Haitian?"

With her beautifully shaped legs pressed together, Ying Rui picked up a ginkgo leaf that had fallen on the table and played with it in her hand, then tapped her chin as she answered.

Her breakfast consisted of just a little bit of thin porridge, but the girl didn't feel hungry. Although she was always smiling and seemed carefree, the admiral's disappearance had actually affected her to some extent.

No ship girl would be indifferent to her admiral, even though she can only learn about him from her other ship girls.

These days, whenever she has a spare moment, the girl often thinks about how so many powerful and capable sisters in her port couldn't stop the admiral's disappearance, and that he still hasn't been found even after more than a year. Could something have happened to the admiral...?

Of course, her intuition told her that those were just her wild fantasies, but the fact that the admiral had disappeared and had not been found was undeniable, so it was perfectly normal for it to affect her appetite.

“Ying Rui… Alright then, let’s just have something simple for lunch. Aren’t you and Zhao He already impatient to find the Admiral? The missing person posters that we asked the copy shop to print yesterday have already been delivered. After lunch, we can go to the port to post them, that’s where the flow of people is the largest.”

Ying Rui ground the ink, and Hai Tian picked up a brush, dipped it in the ink, and began to write gently on her copybook. On the snow-white Xuan paper, the elegant characters exuded a pleasant aroma of ink and wash. Her clear and ethereal eyes blinked slightly as she looked at her work, and the beautiful girl nodded gently.

As a traditional and reserved Eastern woman, Hai Tian's love for calligraphy and poetry is undoubtedly genuine.

After so many days of long voyages at sea, and worrying unnecessarily about the safety of their admiral, even the gentle sea and sky, as tranquil as water, are starting to feel a little tired and irritable.

This is where the benefits of loving poetry come in. For Hai Tian, ​​sitting there copying poems for a while is a great way to relax.

However, there was a downside to doing this. Looking at the poems in the collection that lamented the passing of spring and the sorrow of parting, the girl felt a sense of empathy—the authors of these poems had left their loved ones, and she, too, was not by the side of her important admiral.

"By the way, where did Sister Haitian, Sister Chicheng, and Sister Zhenhai go? I haven't seen them since I got up this morning."

"Yes, Akagi and the others went out to sea early this morning. Didn't she say that besides looking for the Admiral, they also discovered some resources that our port area would need in the waters around here?"

"I heard it's on an uninhabited island in the nearby sea. They plan to go there to explore today, and if it's confirmed to be there, they'll hire some workers to mine it."

"As for Zhenhai, she went out shopping with Huayue and the others, and she should be back soon."

The girl gently smoothed her temples, which had somehow ended up in front of her eyes, and spoke softly.

Beneath a lush ginkgo tree, two girls, resembling fairies, rested in the cool shade. One was copying poems, while the other ground ink for her beside her. The scene was so beautiful it seemed like a perfectly natural painting, but alas…

"Yingrui, you're pushing all the work onto me again! If I weren't your older sister and I didn't have to take care of you, I wouldn't be doing all this dirty and tiring work for you!"

Just then, a pleasant voice, tinged with annoyance, suddenly came from inside the house. Hai Tian and Ying Rui were sitting together under the ginkgo tree, while on the other side, Zhao He, who had been busy for half a day and had finally cleaned the house, came out of the house with a flushed face from exhaustion.

"You've worked hard, but what can I do? You're the older sister, after all. It's the older sister's job to give in to her younger sister, isn't it?"

"You, you, you! Fine, fine, I'm the older sister anyway, I'll let you off this time."

"Hehe~"

Seeing the two sisters bickering as before, Hai Tian put down his pen, dusted off his sleeves, and stood up.

"It's getting late. If you two aren't busy, how about you help me prepare lunch?"

The girl made the suggestion, but just then, a series of hurried footsteps suddenly came from outside the courtyard.

"Sister Haitian, Yingrui, Zhaohe, are you there?"

A melodious yet anxious voice entered from inside the wall, and then, in front of the girls, a girl with long, beautiful cherry-blossom hair like a rainbow and a pair of fox ears rushed in.

The girl's face had a touch of gentleness and softness, but her anxious appearance at this moment was completely at odds with her somewhat fragile temperament, as if something surprising had really happened.