The Cannon Fodder Roles I Play All Become White Moonlights [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 28.2

Jiang Lingfeng stared at Su Qingmeng for a long while before the cold severity on his face gradually receded. Only then did he step forward to approach her, his voice slightly hoarse as he asked, “Were you scared?”

Su Qingmeng, unusually docile like a little kitten, lowered her eyes and shook her head. Strands of her hair swayed forward with the motion.

This time, Jiang Lingfeng couldn’t resist reaching out to stroke her dark hair. “If you’re ever in danger, don’t throw the kerosene lamp. What if you burn yourself? I’ll get you a dagger later for self-defense.”

She reached up and pulled his hand down. The texture of their hands was starkly different, his rough, hers delicate. Suddenly, he didn’t want to let go, wishing he could hold her hand like this for a lifetime.

But Su Qingmeng eventually released his hand, pouting as she said, “I always comb my hair smooth before bed. If you mess it up like this, it’ll be all tangled again.”

Jiang Lingfeng covered his mouth with his hand, hiding the upward curve of his lips, but the scent of her filled his nostrils again, and he lowered his hand.

“Jiang Lingfeng,” she called his name directly for the first time, and it sounded surprisingly pleasant to his ears, “I am your sister-in-law. As the elder sister-in-law, I’m like a mother to you. I should get to pat your head too.”

Jiang Lingfeng coughed lightly into his fist, his eagle-like eyes brimming with amusement as he half-crouched, allowing Su Qingmeng to messily ruffle his buzz cut. In the end, she withdrew her hand in a huff. “Your hair is as prickly as a hedgehog’s! It hurt my hand.”

He remembered how she had once sprained her pinky while hitting someone and couldn’t help but feel like laughing again.

“Well, Comrade Su, you should go back and rest. I’ll reinforce your door from the outside, it might be a bit noisy,” he said, hiding his smile and changing how he addressed her.

As he reached the doorway, Jiang Lingfeng suddenly turned back and said with a grin, “Comrade Su, don’t go patting another male comrade’s head in the future. Otherwise, you’ll have to become his wife.”

Su Qingmeng froze, her snow-white face suddenly flushing bright red. Stamping her foot, she retorted, “Jiang Lingfeng, stop talking nonsense!”

She looked utterly adorable.

The smile on Jiang Lingfeng’s face lingered until he finished reinforcing Su Qingmeng’s door and returned to the military base, only then fading away.

“Commander, Lin Wangbei is being held in the interrogation room,” reported a soldier who had taken part in the operation.

Jiang Lingfeng asked, “Has there been a response from the capital?”

“Yes. Last year, several young women were first drugged unconscious before having their eyes gouged out. The capital’s police have been searching for the perpetrator,” the soldier replied.

In this era, with minimal population mobility and generally good public security across regions, such a vicious assault had shocked the entire capital. The police had reported the case upward, hoping for additional personnel to apprehend the criminal as soon as possible, but strangely, the request had never been approved.

Jiang Lingfeng nodded. Having been up until this hour, he decided not to return home, saying he would wait for Li Jianhua to arrive so they could interrogate the suspect together.

At six in the morning, Jiang Lingfeng saw Li Jianhua. “Morning.”

“Morning? With something this serious happening, you should’ve notified me earlier,” Li Jianhua grumbled.

“Let’s go. It’s not too late to know now,” Jiang Lingfeng said, heading with Li Jianhua toward the interrogation room.

After a night in custody, Lin Wangbei looked even more sickly. His left cheek bore burn marks, and both of his fractured hands hung limply.

The interrogation was primarily handled by Li Jianhua. Though he usually greeted everyone with a smile, few could match him in psychological warfare when he put his mind to it. Even someone as unconventional as Lin Wangbei ended up confessing everything under Li Jianhua’s questioning, including his actions in the capital.

If not for having to maintain his image as a political commissar, Li Jianhua would have given Lin Wangbei a couple more punches, the man was utterly inhuman! How many innocent young women had he ruined?

Stepping out of the interrogation room, Li Jianhua instructed someone to first call the capital and report that the perpetrator who gouged out people’s eyes had been captured on Nanjiang Island. Then, turning to Jiang Lingfeng, he said, “Lingfeng, I know how you feel, but we can’t be the ones to decide this man’s punishment. He must be sent back to the capital.”

By protocol, since Lin Wangbei had committed crimes within the military district, the army could deal with him directly. However, due to his unique background and the sensitive political climate, the matter had to be escalated to higher authorities for disposition.

“It’s a bit more complicated this way, but given the severity of his crimes, he won’t escape the death penalty. There’s no need for you to take this burden upon yourself.” Li Jianhua laid it out plainly, and Jiang Lingfeng, ever sharp-witted, understood his concerns perfectly.

Jiang Lingfeng stared ahead intently, finally proposing a compromise: “I’m not comfortable sending him back to the capital. How about handing him over to the police on the other shore? Once the execution order comes down, we can deal with him locally.”

Li Jianhua thought this was a viable solution, as long as Lin Wangbei didn’t die on the island.

But just after he sent a telegram to the capital explaining the situation, the soldier guarding Lin Wangbei reported that Lin had died.

Lin Wangbei had hanged himself from a beam. The problem was, both his hands were fractured, making it impossible for him to have done it alone.

“Did anyone come in during that time?” Li Jianhua asked.

The guard shook his head. He had only left to eat and was relieved by another soldier, all personnel from the unit.

Jiang Lingfeng came over to inspect the scene. He looked up at the small window high in the interrogation room and said, “The intruder likely came in through the window. They must be highly skilled, able to climb in and out directly from the wall. They’re not tall and are quite thin.”

He then examined the faint footprints on the wall. “They were wearing standard-issue military shoes, size 42.”

But these characteristics weren’t unusual among the troops stationed on Nanjiang Island, there were plenty who fit the description.

Jiang Lingfeng’s brow furrowed deeply. He ordered an additional report to be sent to the capital detailing Lin Wangbei’s suspicious death, then privately discussed the matter of the listening device with Li Jianhua.

Li Jianhua’s frown deepened even more than Jiang Lingfeng’s. “What is this person’s goal?”

Although the political struggles in the capital were intense, they typically didn’t involve frontier troops, especially not the navy, which the nation had painstakingly built up.

Jiang Lingfeng and Li Jianhua exchanged a look, both already forming a guess about the culprit.

Li Jianhua let out a long sigh and patted Jiang Lingfeng’s shoulder. “Lingfeng, you need to lay low for a while, especially in how you treat Comrade Su. Don’t give anyone leverage against you during such turbulent times.”

“Old Li,” Jiang Lingfeng replied, his resolve hidden beneath a calm gaze, “I, Jiang Lingfeng, have never been one to shy away from trouble.”

“You…” Li Jianhua felt a throbbing in his temples suddenly turn into a full-blown headache. It was as if a thousand-year-old iron tree had finally bloomed, only for its flowers to flaunt themselves everywhere, that was Jiang Lingfeng for you.

Yang Dongming found out that Su Qingmeng had encountered trouble through his classmates’ discussions.

Ever since moving to the Jiang family, he only saw Su Qingmeng during dinner time. In the mornings, Jiang Lingfeng paid him no mind, so he took care of himself.

He didn’t wait for class to end before climbing over the wall to find Su Qingmeng. First, he went to the cultural troupe, only to learn that she had taken leave. He then turned back and headed to the Yang family home. Seeing the reinforced door, his heart tightened sharply. Rushing inside, he called out, “Su Qingmeng!”

Su Qingmeng was sitting there, with Qiao Jihong on her left and Teacher An on her right. She looked completely at ease, showing no signs of being frightened. Only then did Yang Dongming breathe a sigh of relief.

Su Qingmeng blinked at him, and Qiao Jihong glanced at the time, casually asking, “Is class over at this hour?”

“You skipped class again?!” Su Qingmeng stood up, hands on her hips, looking ready to interrogate him.

“I… just wanted to make sure…” The young man, unusually flustered, lowered his head. With so many people around, he didn’t voice the concern in his heart.

“I’ll take him back.” Yang Dongming turned abruptly to find Jiang Lingfeng standing behind him.

Since Jiang Lingfeng was now his guardian, the homeroom teacher had called the military base as soon as he noticed Yang Dongming was missing. That was how Jiang Lingfeng had arrived so quickly to retrieve him.

Yang Dongming pressed his lips together and followed Jiang Lingfeng out of the room. Softly, he said, “Thank you.”

“For what?” Jiang Lingfeng retorted. After a pause, he spoke with utmost seriousness, “Dongming, she and you are no longer family. While you think of us as equals, I must also tell you: we are equals. We’ll compete on our own merits, and the choice lies with her.”

Yang Dongming stiffened. He had assumed Jiang Lingfeng would remain silent or simply disregard him. Looking Jiang Lingfeng squarely in the eyes, he said earnestly, “Uncle Jiang, I won’t admit defeat.”

Jiang Lingfeng glanced at the young man. His eyes were still naive but earnest enough. A rare smile touched his lips as he said, “I’ve never lost.”

Yang Dongming had thought this would be a fair contest, but after being escorted back to school, he realized he was no match for Jiang Lingfeng at present. For starters, he was already at a significant disadvantage in terms of time.

After his truancy, he was warned that any further skipping would result in the revocation of his recommendation quota. Moreover, the school suddenly announced that, in preparation for the second year of high school starting in the latter half of the year, evening self-study sessions would be added, and dinner would now be served at school.

Yang Dongming couldn’t help but wonder if this was a scheme Jiang Lingfeng had orchestrated with the principal to keep him away. His time with Su Qingmeng was already pitifully scarce, and now he could only see her on Sundays.

As for Jiang Lingfeng, after the incident with Lin Wangbei, he was almost openly pursuing Su Qingmeng.

Dropping her off in the morning and picking her up in the evening had become routine. Beyond that, whenever the cultural troupe had a performance, big or small, Jiang Lingfeng would attend, always sitting in the front row.

Eventually, Su Qingmeng couldn’t take it anymore. Pointing at Jiang Lingfeng, she said, “Can you please stop coming to these small performances? When you’re here, all the attention falls on me.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?” He didn’t understand dance, but even he could see that Su Qingmeng was the best dancer in the troupe. It was only natural for her to be the center of attention.

“No, whether it’s the lead or a supporting role, I only want to play the most beautiful one.” Su Qingmeng’s eyes curved into crescents as she spoke, and even Jiang Lingfeng found her utterly charming.

Jiang Lingfeng gazed at the distant sunset and asked Su Qingmeng, “I might be away for a few days soon. Would you like to take a walk with me on the beach?”

Before Su Qingmeng could refuse, he thoughtfully added, “I’ve prepared an umbrella. I’ll hold it for you.”

It seemed there was no reason left to decline, so Su Qingmeng reluctantly agreed to accompany him for a stroll along the seaside.

In June, Nanjiang Island had already entered summer, but Su Qingmeng, afraid of getting tanned, still wore a long-sleeved dacron shirt paired with a floral-print maxi skirt. Her jet-black hair was tied into a braid, making her look exceptionally beautiful.

She had even woven herself a wide-brimmed straw sun hat, completely different from the pointed straw hats commonly seen on the island.

The materials for the straw hat were prepared by Jiang Lingfeng, who had watched the girl weave it with his own eyes. The delicate girl had skillful hands, it all depended on whether she enjoyed the task. And he was wise enough never to ask Su Qingmeng why she couldn’t cook.

Being needed was what would draw the girl closer to him, step by step, until they were naturally together.

Just like now, as he held an umbrella, Su Qingmeng smiled and let him inch closer bit by bit.

“Huh? At this hour, why is there still a ferry coming?” Su Qingmeng noticed a ship in the distance heading toward Nanjiang Island and felt curious. Aside from military vessels and fishing boats, Nanjiang Island only had two ferry trips to and from the mainland each day, and the second ferry’s scheduled time had long passed.

Jiang Lingfeng narrowed his eyes slightly, but when the girl turned to look at him, he quickly concealed his sharpness. “It’s probably some important official business. I’ll take you to Comrade Qiao’s place. For the next couple of days, I’ll have to ask her to take care of your meals.”

What was bound to come would come, it was just that the timing was rather inconvenient.