Chapter 449: Conversations at The Dining Table
As Xiaoyun headed to the front door, Yuqi gently lifted Lianrong from the groups of babies.
"That was fast... I bet they were probably just a block away from us."
"Welcome back. What took you so long today?" Xiaoyun asked curiously as Nami and Lily entered the house.
"Just meeting with her teacher, which took an hour... We were actually right behind you if you two just didn\'t walk so fast."
Seeing Nami staring at him in contempt, Xiaoyun awkwardly scratched his head as he didn\'t notice them at all.
"You really are right... What are the chances?"Shuli murmured, unable to believe how Yuqi perfectly predicted it.
"Yuqi, you saw them earlier, didn\'t you?"
Wuli was much more cynical, doubting Yuqi\'s guess was just based on luck.\'
"Nope, I just guessed it——"
"Hey, don\'t try to distract yourself from the fact that you got an extra meal from Xiaoyun today."
Nami quickly ran onto the sofa and started punching Yuqi\'s arm as if she were letting out her anger.
"Extra meal?"
Both Wuli and Shuli looked toward Yuqi and Xiaoyun with suspicion, except for Lily, who was a little confused by their secret code.
"Whaaat? I don\'t know what you\'re talking about... Are you just jealous that I was with Xiaoyun when we were walking back from work?"
Yuqi sarcastically responded that her mind was still angry over Yueyue for telling Nami about it.
At the same time, she was a little confused about how the two had even met to talk.
Knowing Yueyue, Yuqi can bet a house that she wouldn\'t just go to the central bank just to tell Nami about this.
"Yuqi, come on. Is that really true?" Wuli asked, staring right at her face, trying to see if she was lying or not.
"Why would I sneak behind you guys\' back just for some desire? I\'m not that desperate enough to do it in my work area."
Seeing Yuqi\'s calm response, Nami started to doubt her source a little. Even Wuli, who doubted her word, started to believe.
However, Yuqi\'s defense had a clear weakness as they all turned towards Xiaoyun.
"Xiaoyun——"
"Ahem, Lily, let me go help with your homework in the guest room. I can explain your class material."
Xiaoyun immediately grabbed Lily\'s hand and backpack and speed-walked out of the living room and into the guest room.
"Yuqi... Just admit it... We won\'t blame you over it." Shuli murmured as she tried to be a neutral meditator.
"Innocent before proven guilty. There is zero evidence other than just claims that are just fake news."
Despite Yuqi\'s stubborn answer, the three had already made their opinion on the matter.
---
When Xiaoyun and Lily came out of the guest room, everyone was already sitting at the dining table.
"Look who finally decided to show up... Honey, where did you go?" Leyan asked.
"Just helping Lily with the homework. Why else would I come out of the guest bedroom with her?"
Seeing the two of them seemingly to be completely normal, none of them raised any suspicion.
However, Xiaoyun could sense an almost hostile attitude from his wives, except for the two newlyweds, who were just in their normal faces.
Looking over across, Yuqi was sitting in her seat completely silent, looking down at her lap as if she had done something wrong.
"What are we waiting for? Let\'s start eating."
As Xiaoyun picked up a small piece of chicken from the table, everyone else finally started using their chopsticks.
But no one spoke up, all eating in silence until Wuli broke it with a question.
"Leyan, how\'s Huayi\'s son\'s birthday?"
"It\'s pretty fun... Although she kept asking me when Yezi was going to come back.
But I could only tell her I don\'t know... She already looked a little worried about him."
Everyone immediately turned towards Xiaoyun, expecting him to answer the question.
However, Xiaoyun remained silent as he couldn\'t give an exact answer to himself either.
"Xiaoyun, when are they done with fighting?"
"Their operation just started... It\'s going to be at least a year of fighting before the campaign ends."
No one spoke up again as the topic got a little heavy until Xiaoyun added one last message.
"There\'s going to be rotating breaking for the soldiers, and I\'m planning to take his position temporarily until he returns from the break.
So you can probably tell Huayi that she will see her husband in one or two months."
As Leyan nodded, the mood at the dining table had drastically worsened.
The thoughts of Xiaoyun leaving made them all worried once again, especially given his track record.
"Hey, stop looking at me like that. Can you not trust me——"
"We don\'t trust you."
All of them said aloud simultaneously, with Kate and Anna joining in as well.
"Well, too bad. There\'s no one else that can switch places for him to take a break.
Besides, I need to lead the army myself at some point again, or else I\'m going to lose my grid as the commander in chief."
Xiaoyun\'s wives couldn\'t argue back, as they knew how important it was for the military to remain loyal to him.
There was no better way for him to participate in the leading process in person than by directing on the frontline like Yezi and Yiming.
"You better bring Kate with you when you do go." Nami immediately pointed out.
"Of course... Unless Kate wants to quit being my bodyguard."
"I... I\'m going to go with you."
Kate made her decision with a slight hesitation as she was starting to get used to living in peace in Luoping.
"Someone should probably start losing some weight first before they start being a bodyguard again."
Yuqi\'s words made Kate blush a little, as she hadn\'t done any sort of training for a very long time now.
Her belly fat was starting to increase, as she hadn\'t reduced the food she had been eating while sitting all day in Anna\'s office.
"I want to go with you guys——"
"Wuli, do you really want to leave Bingbing this early? She\'s going to miss you if you go on a long mission."
Leyan\'s question made Wuli back down, but her face clearly indicated she wanted to do something.
Even though she had only been taking care of Bingbing for less than a month, she was starting to get tired of being a mother.
"I can take care of Bingbing if you really want... I don\'t really think the baby can care about the difference that much between us."
Shuli\'s sudden support caught everyone a little off guard, as she was indirectly trying to make her own sister take the risk.
"I don\'t need two bodyguards... But Wuli, if you really want to help me, you can join back the army again."
"Really?"
Wuli was a little surprised by Xiaoyun\'s offer, as she had been expecting him to prevent her from joining it again.
"Yeah, really. I have two army corps that are undergoing training right now...
I still haven\'t fully established their unit structure, so you can be one of their commanders if you want."
After a short consideration, Wuli ultimately shook her head out of everyone\'s shock.
"That\'s too high of a position for me... I haven\'t been on the frontline for so long now.
There are way more qualified people who deserve it... I\'d like to have the same as my original position instead."
"That\'s no problem... Just tell me when you\'re comfortable in going back to the army."
As the plates on the dining table started to become empty, everyone was already full from eating.
"I\'m full."
Nami and Lily were the first to call it, heading straight into the kitchen to put their empty bowl before walking over to the living room.
With more and more leaving, eventually, only Leyan and Xiaoyun remained.
"Can you hurry up with eating? You\'re blocking me from cleaning the table."
"Okay, okay..."
After shoving all of the food, Xiaoyun finally left his seat to let Leyan begin cleaning it.
"What are you looking at, Yongyi?"
Xiaoyun curiously asked as Yongyi was the only one left in the booster seats.
"Daddy! I want... I want... I want milk!"
Looking over to Leyan, she shook her head as she continued before going back to cleaning the table with a cloth.
"You already ate. It\'s not time for that yet, okay?"
Xiaoyun patiently answered as the three mothers had been feeding their babies a small amount of porridge and other solid food.
"Mommy... I want milk." Yongyi pleaded again.
"You just finished eating the porridge. I can\'t breastfeed you until like an hour or so."
Leyan finally spoke up, but it almost sounded as if she was explaining it to Xiaoyun rather than the baby.
"Yongyi, listen to your mommy, okay?" Xiaoyun murmured as he gently patted Yongiy\'s head.