Elder brother's garrison

Page 1061

"...We might not hire him...it depends on his performance." Ringo was silent for a moment.

"It's alright, I'm already very grateful to you, Sister Ringo, for giving Commander Huai Ren a chance." Xiao Bai shook her head indifferently.

"..." The breathing on the other end of the phone eased a little, and then Ringo's gentle voice rang out again, "Have you resolved your issues?"

"Yes, it's all taken care of. The Black Flame Garrison threw a living Abyssal Ship onto the surface, and I've already dealt with it." Xiaobai nodded, but her expression suddenly turned awkward. "Ah... but I messed up your car, Ringo-neechan..."

"It's ok."

"Hmm... I guess I'd better lose some money..."

"Then top up my phone number with some credit," Ringo's gentle voice came through. "Where's the car now? I'll have someone tow it back."

"Okay, I'm in a small fishing village behind the next station in Mianjiang City, on the coast..." Xiaobai quickly told him the address of the fishing village.

Ringo seemed to have a lot of things to do next. After Xiaobai gave her the address and said that she had nothing else to do, the two chatted for a few minutes. Ringo then gently said that they could continue chatting next time. She reminded Xiaobai to ask Commander Huai Ren to arrive in Mianjiang City as soon as possible before hanging up the phone.

Xiao Bai held the phone after hanging up and let out a satisfied sigh of relief.

As expected, I called Ringo.

It's so much more comfortable than talking to Mu Yu on the phone...

Xiao Bai silently put away the phone and turned to look at Commander Huai Ren, who was staring at him with wide eyes.

"Commander Huai Ren, a very reliable governor will be interviewing you in Mianjiang City. He just said on the phone that you have to be there within three hours, right?" Xiao Bai said to Commander Huai Ren. "Three hours is a tight timeframe. You should go for the interview quickly."

"...Huh?" Commander Huai Ren still seemed to be living in a dream.

"An interview doesn't guarantee you'll pass, and being an admiral isn't as easy and carefree as you described, Commander Huai Ren... Anyway, I wish you a safe journey." Xiao Bai smiled at Commander Huai Ren, "Go on, you only have three hours left."

"Three...three hours?" Commander Huai Ren gasped, forced to understand the situation. "Going to Mianjiang City for an interview...an interview for an admiral position??"

"Yes."

Commander Huai Ren looked at the ship girl beside him with a bewildered expression.

"Commander! Hurry! Go to the interview!"

The ship girls under Commander Huai Ren hurriedly called out.

"Oh! I understand! I understand!" Commander Huai Ren bowed three times to Xiao Bai, then, looking bewildered, he was surrounded by a group of ship girls and rumbled towards the exit of the small fishing village. "Thank you so much! I will do my best!"

Xiaobai and the ship girls behind her watched as the ship girls of the Huai Ren mercenary group hurriedly accompanied their leader, Huai Ren, as they ran into the distance. In the end, they even complained that Huai Ren was running too slowly, so they simply carried him on their backs and ran away. Xiaobai and the ship girls behind her silently waved to the group.

In an instant, the once bustling beach was left with only a dozen or so tents and nets that hadn't been taken down yet, making it look much quieter.

"Phew... Admiral. Although the shipgirl seniors from the Huai Ren Mercenary Group will be back after their interviews... it doesn't look right here, so Missouri should take care of it. You and Senior Pompeii should go and report the results of this mission to Kyouka." Missouri glanced at the tents scattered across the beach and said to Shiro.

“There are too many tents here, let us help pack them up. Admiral Xiaobai, you go first.” Pompeii and Zara exchanged a glance, then raised their hands and said to Xiaobai.

"Oh... sure."

Missouri and Zara Pompeii stayed on the beach and began tidying up the tents and supplies left behind by the Huai Ren mercenary group. Xiao Bai walked alone towards Teacher Jinghua's house.

Ms. Jinghua's house is a short distance from the beach, just outside the safety net.

When Xiaobai arrived at Jinghua's house, the door of Jinghua's house was wide open.

Xiao Bai knocked on Teacher Jinghua's door and called out softly into the room.

"Is Jinghua here?"

Inside the gate.

The room was completely quiet, with no echo for a moment.

Xiao Bai waited at the door for a while, and finally, Teacher Jinghua's old voice slowly came out.

"I sent Kyoka to play with the other children in the middle of the village—you're the admiral of the rookie naval base, right? Come in if you need anything."

Xiao Bai walked into the room.

As always, the house of Teacher Jinghua was filled with the wonderful smell of Chinese medicine. When Xiaobai entered the house, Teacher Jinghua was holding a paper fan and squatting in the kitchen, gently fanning a Chinese medicine pot that was bathed in flames.

Upon seeing Xiaobai walk in, Teacher Jinghua put down her paper fan, slowly walked out of the kitchen, and nodded to Xiaobai.

"You're back...that's good. Please make yourself at home," said Ms. Jinghua.

"...Grandpa, you didn't teach the children a lesson today?"

"We were going to talk about it, but this morning your ship girls said there might be danger on the beach and put up safety lines, so the parents of these kids called them home."

"Uh... I'm sorry..."

"There's nothing to be embarrassed about. I don't charge for teaching, so I'm enjoying some peace and quiet." Teacher Jinghua took a few breaths and said to Xiaobai, "I just heard you calling Jinghua's name. May I ask what happened?"

"Ah, that's how it is." Xiaobai smiled at Teacher Jinghua, "This marine pollution has ended."

"...It's over?" A hint of surprise flashed across Kyoka-sensei's expression.

"Yes, that's right. Actually, the pollution in this sea area was caused by a man-made disaster privately by the Admiral and Garrison Command of Mianjiang City..." Xiaobai said to Teacher Jinghua, based on the principle that the client has the right to know.

But we were only halfway through the conversation.

Xiao Bai suddenly noticed that Teacher Jinghua's wrinkled old face was staring at him in utter astonishment.

"...Grandpa?" Xiaobai stopped talking and looked at Teacher Jinghua curiously. "...Wh-what's wrong?"

“Mianjiang City…?” Teacher Jinghua didn’t say anything else, only murmured this sentence, “Was this disaster caused by the governor of Mianjiang City?”

"...Really?" Xiaobai nodded in surprise.

"..." Teacher Jinghua stared blankly at Xiaobai. He looked down at his hands and stared blankly for a long time.

After a while.

Teacher Jinghua suddenly gasped, a strange blush rising on her face.

"Hahahaha...hahaha cough cough cough cough cough! Cough cough hahaha cough cough cough!" Teacher Jinghua took a breath and coughed violently, laughing incoherently between coughs, slapping her thighs as she laughed. The laughter sounded more like crying, carrying a strange sadness. "Hahahaha! Karma! Karma! It's all karma... cough cough cough cough cough... cough cough haha ​​cough cough cough—"

Finally, Ms. Jinghua coughed so much that she couldn't even straighten her body.

"Hey?? Grandpa, what's wrong?!" Xiaobai exclaimed in surprise and rushed over, searching the ground for a spittoon.

"Cough cough cough cough... cough cough cough!!" Teacher Jinghua coughed heavily twice, then caught her breath, raised her old face, and waved her hand at Xiaobai with a wry smile, "Admiral... no need, no need to worry about me."

"But...you..."

"I was just a little emotional just now, I'm fine now... Sigh... I see... I see..." Kyouka-sensei let out a heavy sigh, shook her head, and muttered softly, "It's all karma... karma..."

Xiao Bai looked at Teacher Jinghua with a confused expression.

"Grandpa, what do you mean by retribution?"

"...Retribution...is that good people are rewarded and bad people are punished by heaven." Teacher Jinghua pointed to herself, grinned at Xiaobai, and her wrinkles gathered together like chrysanthemums. "Speaking of which, I don't think I've ever told you about my previous profession, Admiral?"

"Uh...Admiral?"

"Yes, it's the Admiral." Teacher Jinghua exhaled, as if all the bones in his body were about to fall apart, and he visibly collapsed. He looked at the ground in front of him and thought for a long time.

"...I am the previous governor of Mianjiang City."

Chapter 1372 The Novice Town Guardian

Sunlight from the coast streamed into the room through the half-open doors and windows, mingling with streaks of darkness.

Inside the door.

The sound of medicine being decocted in the kitchen never stopped after Xiaobai entered the room. The slightly bitter smell of Chinese medicine, like fluttering ribbons, kept drifting between Xiaobai and Teacher Jinghua.

"Gurgling, gurgling, gurgling..."

The sizzling sound, like boiling water, never stopped.

"Huh?" Xiaobai took several seconds to react. She blinked and looked at Jinghua's teacher with some confusion. "Grandpa, you...you're the governor of Mianjiang City?"

Ms. Jinghua bent over deeply, as if all the bones in her body had been pulled out.

Teacher Jinghua did not reply to Xiaobai.

Under Xiaobai's watchful gaze, Teacher Jinghua slowly got up, walked to the neatly folded clothes rack in the corner of the room, and rummaged through it for a while.

Finally, Jinghua's teacher slowly walked back to her seat, carrying a somewhat damaged and yellowed admiral's certificate, and handed it to Xiaobai.

“This is my…admiral’s certificate from back then,” Teacher Jinghua said softly, her tone complicated. “I should have thrown it away…but I kept it anyway, take a look.”

"Oh...this is troublesome."

Xiao Bai accepted the admiral's certificate with both hands and carefully opened it to take a look.

Inside the tattered admiral's certificate belonging to Teacher Jinghua, a yellowed photograph, badly eroded by time, was no longer clearly visible. One could only make out the outline that it was a young man with a certain spirit.

Xiao Bai looked at the information on the admiral's certificate.

This admiral's certificate is really badly damaged.

It seems that it's not just the erosion of time; a long, long time ago, the information on this admiral's certificate was deliberately damaged, to the point that Xiaobai can't even see the admiral's name or the name of the naval base.

However, for some reason, the year the naval base was established and the city where it was located have not been destroyed and can still be clearly seen.

Xiao Bai shifted his gaze to the location of the garrison headquarters.

really.

The city of Mianjiang is indeed mentioned in a lengthy and detailed account of the location of the garrison headquarters.

This garrison was established twenty-six years ago.

If Jinghua's teacher served as admiral for sixteen years and then retired, it would roughly coincide with the ten-year term of the Black Flame Garrison.

After reading about the establishment date and location of the naval base, there was no more valuable information on the tattered admiral's certificate in Xiaobai's hand. Xiaobai closed the admiral's certificate and handed it back to Jinghua's teacher with both hands.

"Thank you, grandpa... Are you really the previous governor of Mianjiang City?" Xiaobai asked, quite surprised.

Xiao Bai was surprised.

Now that I think about it carefully, it's not too strange that the old man in front of Xiaobai is the governor of Mianjiang City.

After all, it seems logically reasonable for a retired admiral like Kyouka-sensei, who appears to have no ties, to retire near the city where he once served.

"The previous one..." Kyouka-sensei accepted the admiral's certificate handed back from Shiro. Clutching the certificate in his hand, he looked up at the ceiling, letting out a somewhat empty, self-deprecating laugh. "But did I even qualify as an admiral..."

Jinghua's teacher lowered his head, his two thumbs constantly fiddling with the admiral's certificate in his hand.

Two cloudy old eyes stared intently at the admiral's certificate.

It seems there's a complicated reason behind it.

Seeing Jinghua's teacher like this, Xiaobai felt a little uneasy. She adjusted her posture and then cautiously spoke to Jinghua's teacher.

"Grandpa... what exactly did you mean by the retribution you mentioned for good and bad people?"

“…Little girl, do you know how old I am?” Jinghua’s teacher didn’t answer Xiaobai’s question, but asked another one.

"Huh?" Xiaobai was taken aback. She stared at Teacher Jinghua's hunched and weathered old man appearance. Although she didn't understand what he meant by asking that question, she still gave her guess, "Uh... I guess he's eighty years old?"

"Old."

"Uh... seventy... seventy?" Xiaobai changed his words somewhat awkwardly.

"Haha... alright, I won't make things difficult for you, little girl." Teacher Jinghua laughed weakly and raised her head. "I'm forty-nine this year."

"Huh?!!" Xiaobai exclaimed in surprise.

The old man in front of me, with his gray hair, wrinkled face, and difficulty even straightening his back... was only six or seven years older than my parents at most.

“My age…is much younger than my appearance suggests, isn’t it?” Teacher Jinghua laughed as she looked at Xiaobai’s shocked expression.

"Uh...yes, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."

"It's alright, this isn't your fault, Miss Admiral." Teacher Jinghua sighed deeply, raised her hand and looked at her palm. "Humans... are such strange creatures. As long as they have an optimistic attitude, some people can still be as energetic as young people even when they are seventy or eighty. On the contrary, they will be like me, who is not even sixty years old, but already looks like someone who is halfway to the grave."

"..." Xiao Bai stared blankly at Teacher Jinghua's mutterings, looking completely bewildered. "Grandpa, are you saying... you're not optimistic?"

"How about I tell you a story about the Admiral?" Kyoka-sensei lowered her hand and looked at Shiro. She gazed at Shiro's face for a long, long time before slowly speaking, "Would you... like to hear it?"

For some reason, there was an inexplicable pleading in Ms. Jinghua's voice.

“…Mm.” Xiaobai nodded.

A look of relief appeared on Teacher Jinghua's face, a flush of red appeared on his face, and his cloudy eyes became clearer.

Jinghua's teacher took a deep breath and slowly spoke to Xiaobai.

In the little house that creaked occasionally in the sea breeze, Jinghua's teacher told Xiaobai a short story.

The story is short.