Chapter 77
Chapter 77, Episode 002: Ghost in the Vegetable Market (2)
1,177 words
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6 min read
The expression on Austin Shepherd’s face stiffened as he unconsciously touched his nose, "Well, I brought them here and the timing seems about right. Sergeant Lin, give me two buns, I have to go back and write a report later."
Having said that, Austin Shepherd went to the kitchen nonchalantly, grabbed two steamed buns, and left without acknowledging the longing gaze of the female soldiers. He waved at them and left straight away.
Whom he was avoiding, anyone with eyes could see it.
The female soldiers watched his departing figure with reluctance, but they were angry and annoyed. As they looked over the two new kitchen staff, their expressions changed again when they saw the newcomers’ faces.
The female soldiers were beautiful. One had delicate features and an understated temperament, her uniform giving her a hint of masculinity and an attractive appeal. Another was seductive and flamboyant with a curvy body, her arrogance and aloofness were hard to dislike.
"I’m Yvonne Watson," Despite trying to suppress her irritation, she managed a sweet smile. Even though her eyes were still wet from tears, she still looked cheerful. "You two come with me to the dormitory first, I will introduce you to the cooking class later."
The cooking team lived separately from the other soldiers, in their dormitory. There were about ten people in total, so they had two dorms, one for men and one for women. However, both fell under one class, with the same class leader and deputy class leader.
"There are only two female soldiers in the cooking class at present, I am one, and Neal Thompson is the other. She is also the deputy for the cooking class." Yvonne Watson led them to the dormitory and explained, "But Neal is in the hospital because of illness, and it will be a few days before she can come back."
Pushing open the door of the dormitory, the state of the room came into sight. Although the room was old, it had the cleanliness and neatness characteristic of a Forces dormitory and surprisingly lacked the smell of fumes and peculiar odors, which was quite satisfactory.
"I want to ask," Becca Reyes looked around, put her arm on Watson’s shoulder and leaned in to ask, "Why does the cooking class have both male and female soldiers?"
Normally, the cooking class would be either all-male or all-female, and there weren’t instances where both male and female soldiers were mixed together in a cooking class...
Tsk tsk, how outrageous!
"Uh," Watson was uncomfortable with her closeness, but it was not nice to push her away so she reluctantly answered, "Because... Uh, we only have one cooking class here."
𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂
Becca Reyes exerted some force on the elbow resting on Watson’s shoulder and laughed, "Be more clear."
A sudden threat came from the side, Watson felt a chill run down her spine. She trembled slightly and explained, "That is, both male and female soldiers of the Marine Corps are training here, including the new soldiers who came with you...We also have plenty of livestock and vegetables here, so there’s no need to have two separate cooking classes."
Becca Reyes released Watson after a satisfied glance at her and then went to choose an empty bed.
However, while looking over, she saw Flossie, who came with her, had already chosen a bed—the backpack was already unloaded on an empty bed.
Becca Reyes frowned at Flossie - she of course knew this female soldier who was famous in the new soldiers’ camp. She had a memorable image as a waste of space early on but later showed some improvement. The most memorable thing was her marksmanship on the target sheet.
However, Becca Reyes was not close to Flossie, nor did she have any plan to get along with her well. She unloaded her backpack, picked a bed opposite Flossie’s, and started to organize her things.
Watson, who had been put in place by the newly arrived soldiers, was deeply annoyed but couldn’t do anything because she didn’t have the power. So she waited patiently until they had nearly finished setting up their things, and then took them on a tour around the nearby area and to the kitchen to grab some food after Becca Reyes pretended to urge her to.
Without a doubt, among the two soldiers, Flossie who was less talkative but didn’t cause trouble left a better impression, so Watson showed more affection to her, also because she hoped to win her over.
Of course, this must have been her one-sided expectation...
The next morning.
Even though the sky was still dark, the sound of banging the iron basin woke up everyone who was still in bed.
Yvonne Watson emerged from the duvet, rubbing her eyes. She was just about to wake up the two new soldiers, but as soon as she opened her eyes, she was startled out of her drowsiness.
In the dim dormitory without any lights on, two figures were faintly noticeable. They were dressed up neatly and casually making their beds.
As her consciousness gradually woke up, Watson only felt a pang of embarrassment. She jumped out of the duvet, put on her clothes, and made her bed at twice her usual speed.
She was even outdone by the newbies!
If the deputy group leader knew about this, she would probably berate her.
"Becca Reyes, you go to the kitchen and find Little Yan, he will tell you what to do." Once Watson had finished tidying up, she spoke awkwardly to Becca Reyes. Then she turned to Flossie, her eyes bright and full of smiles, "Flossie, follow me."
Her contrasting attitude felt overtly targeted.
Becca Reyes rolled her eyes, finding this girl’s behavior highly childish. Flossie, who was being courted by Watson, just glanced at her without taking Watson’s ploy seriously.
The menu had been prepared yesterday by Sergeant Lin. All Watson and Flossie had to do was push the tricycle to their usual vegetable market to buy the supplies. However, Flossie noticed that Watson’s high spirits seemed to dip as soon as they arrived at the market and she started looking anxiously all around as if afraid of bumping into someone.
"Flossie," Watson hesitated, then took out two pieces of paper, handed over a sheet and some money as if asking for her opinion. "To save time, we should split up and shop. You go to the market to buy vegetables and meat, I’ll buy some spices and oils."
Flossie glanced at the money and a shadow crossed her gaze.
The fact that even the money had been pre-divided, clearly showed that she had been planning this for a while.
But what was she afraid of?
"I understand."
Without exposing Watson’s intentions, Flossie took the shopping list and the money, and pushed the tricycle towards the market.
Watson, who had delegated the tasks to Flossie, disregarded Flossie’s action, closed her eyes, and considered that she hadn’t seen anything.
— End of Chapter 77 —