Zhāng 68

At night, Ely came home early. When he saw his sister and two brothers, whom he hadn't seen in a while, he ran over excitedly and hugged them tightly.

But he only hugged Winn and Uziel.

He was almost thirteen and already understood the difference between boys and girls.

"Big Brother Winn, Brother Uziel, where have you two been lately? You said you'd be home waiting for me.

But the last time I came back, no one was here." Ely looked at them with a sad expression.

"Do you dare say that again in front of Housekeeper Zhang and the others?" Paige said sharply.

"I-I didn't mean it like that. I meant I didn't see the three of you," Ely said awkwardly.

"We didn't go out to play. If we were going to play..." Winn didn't even get to finish before Paige cut in.

"If we were playing, we wouldn't have taken you anyway.

So if we're not at home, don't ask where we went.

Just assume we're out on a mission. It's better you don't know the details. You won't feel as bad that way," Paige added.

Winn and Uziel: Wasn't that too blunt?

Ely's eyes filled with tears. "Why won't you take me? Do you not want me anymore?"

"Students don't have rights. Your only job is to study. As for having fun, leave that to us.

If you happen to have time off, we might take you with us.

But I asked Commander Ye. He said you've fallen too far behind, and you won't have any long vacations for the next few years.

Being allowed to come home for half a month this time already counts as a vacation.

That's thanks to your sister being nearby. Otherwise, you wouldn't even be able to step out of the military camp," Paige said coolly.

She didn't mention it was her idea to push Ely to finish his training as fast as possible.

Preferably becoming an all-rounder.

Ely didn't know whether to feel sad that his sister didn't take him to have fun, or that he wouldn't have any holidays for the next few years.

Suddenly, it felt like storm clouds covered his sky.

But that gloomy feeling didn't last long.

He knew his learning opportunity right now was something many could only dream of.

"We're not exactly free either.

These past days, we weren't in the city because we were reclaiming territory.

Didn't you notice a lot of new faces lately? That's because your sister and I led the charge and took back several surrounding cities.

Those soldiers were all assigned to us from above.

We were so busy we barely had time to eat properly.

It's only today we finally got back and could sit down for a hot meal," Winn said quickly, afraid Ely would feel too disappointed.

Even though what Winn said was true, it was nothing like the intense war scenes Ely imagined.

Ely thought Winn was downplaying the hardship, hiding the painful details to keep him from worrying.

In fact, Winn had exaggerated a bit just to make it sound harder, so Ely wouldn't think capturing cities was easy.

But Ely immediately remembered the tough stories old soldiers told him about defending cities.

If defending was already that hard, capturing one must've been much worse.

He suddenly felt guilty for thinking his sister was off having fun without him.

Paige noticed the guilt in Ely's eyes and had no idea what wild thoughts he was having now.

"Why did you come back so early today?" Paige asked, changing the topic.

"Oh, our instructor approved my early leave.

He said Commander Ye sent word that he knew you were back, and he wants you to go to the camp tomorrow," Ely said.

"Oh, how did Commander Ye know I was back?" Paige thought of what had happened on the street today and didn't expect it to alarm the commander.

"I didn't know," Ely replied.

If the instructor hadn't told him, he wouldn't have known his sister was back.

"Since you're back, take a good rest at home tomorrow.

You've been here for so long and haven't even gone out to look around, right?

Tomorrow, let your Big Brother Winn or Little Brother Uziel take you out for fun."

After Paige finished speaking, she pulled out a large stack of legal currency from her pocket.

Ely stared at Paige in shock. With so much money in her pocket, how had he not noticed earlier?

Wait, who even carries that much money on them?

"Sis!" Ely shouted in excitement. He had never seen so much money before.

The only money he had was one yuan that Paige had given him before, and he had never dared to spend it.

Mainly because there wasn't anything he needed to spend money on.

"Sis, is all that money for me?" Ely's eyes sparkled like stars.

"In your dreams. What does a kid need money for? Didn't I say it? Let your Big Brother Winn or Little Brother Uziel take you out to have fun.

So this money is, of course, for them." Paige didn't hesitate at all and handed the money to Winn.

Ely's eyes followed the money from Paige's hand to Winn's hand, his face full of disappointment.

But he didn't react too strongly. After all, he was used to being poor.

"You've been in the city this long and haven't had a good time out yet. Have fun tomorrow.

Buy whatever you want to eat, anything you like, just get it. Don't hold back. If the money runs out, there's more.

If it's something big, have them send it to the villa and pay there."

Paige thought a bit more and pulled another thick stack of money from her other pocket.

Actually, it all came from her space. Who carries that much money in their pockets?

Paige handed this stack to Uziel. As her man, how could he be short on cash?

Ely stared at his sister, clearly telling her with his eyes: there's still a third person here.

"No more." Paige turned her pants pocket inside out for Ely to see.

This time, there wasn't even a single yuan.

Ely: Real sister, really real.

But thinking about how the three of them would have so much money tomorrow, Ely got excited again.

He started listing in his head all the things he wanted to buy, and all the foods his comrades had mentioned.

Tomorrow, he would eat them all.

The cafeteria food had both meat and vegetables. Compared to the days when they didn't have enough to eat, it was definitely good.

But that didn't mean it was delicious, and he didn't like it.

Besides, Ely was still growing, and his appetite was like a bottomless pit.

He ate and ate every meal, yet still felt starving when it was time to eat again.

Speaking of growing taller…

"Big Brother Winn, Little Brother Uziel, did you notice I've grown taller?" Ely stood up straight, trying to make himself look taller.

"Now that you mention it, you do seem taller, and your face is getting rounder." Uziel said as he pinched Ely's cheek.

"Wait a minute. You're still only up to my chin. You didn't grow taller." Uziel compared again and said,

"Maybe just a little taller."

"No way." Ely immediately argued, "I'm already one meter fifty. The instructor said I've grown nearly ten centimeters since I entered the camp."