Volume 2: Crisis Acceptance Chapter 19: Looking Up to Bai He

  "I thought it would be a refreshing change after a long drought, but I didn't expect it to be so disappointing!"

  "There's no way, Lieutenant. Your combat effectiveness has been completely lost in this devilish test of yours."

  "Perhaps it's because of being overly infatuated in the General's mansion where beauties are as common as clouds? Stealing glances too many times, even a cat will become tired and useless."

  "How come you don't think this is all Sergeant Mafeng's doing?"

  "You've become Li Lianying, you're quite pleased with yourself, aren't you?"

  "If all men were like Li Lianying, Miss Aya would be so happy!"

  "Boring!"

  "Where did you go in the middle of the night?"

  "You've occupied the magpie's nest, I'll have to find a branch to settle on."

  "Let's just spend the night together then."

  "A fire was burning brightly, but was suddenly extinguished by a scoop of water. Water and fire cannot coexist, how can they be reconciled?"

  "By tomorrow morning, maybe the water will have been boiled by the fire."

  "Li Lianying is still Li Lianying, but from that one knife down, he can never go back to the past."

  "Just consider yourself as Empress Dowager Cixi for one night, and tomorrow the magpie will definitely not occupy the sparrow's nest."

  "Never mind, you're wounded, need special care."

  "Why bother with what's past when you know how things are today?"

  "No more nonsense, take good care of your injury, I'm leaving."

  Meizhi insisted on leaving, making Chuanqi recall what had just happened and wanting to laugh heartily. He thought to himself, "You're a female demon who does whatever you want, aren't you? When I refused to buy into your nonsense, you still couldn't succeed in your schemes! In the end, didn't you also end up like a lonely mandarin duck, wailing away with a defeated look on your face?"

  However, Kawaki's feeling of schadenfreude instantly turned into sorrow after Motoko left. He felt like a complete fool, holding up a burning firewood stick and shouting "Don't move!" at an enemy with a loaded gun, who raised his hands in surprise, only to be killed by the enemy when he came back to his senses.

  At night, unable to sleep, Kawaki gets out of bed and stands by the window, looking at the bright moon hanging in the sky, thinking of the cherry blossoms at the mountain pass. It was Michiko's mischief that made him miss his first love even more. He even thought that his own incompetence was related to his rejection of Michiko and his nostalgia for the cherry blossoms.

  Until the bright moon slanted to the west, the river and horse returned to bed, gradually falling asleep in the dance and confrontation with the flower-legged mosquitoes. But when they woke up, their forehead was itchy and unbearable, and when they reached out to touch it, they found that the buzzing flower-legged mosquitoes had given them "a thunderbolt" during the night.

  After several days of treatment, Kawahara gradually recovered and his physical condition also improved greatly. However, in order to avoid participating in that devil-like training, he had to pretend to be ill. It was unclear whether Mochizuki was good at coaxing or if she expected Kawahara to recover quickly so they could do that thing together.

  Lying in bed is not a solution, so Kawaki gets up and dresses, preparing to stretch his muscles. Standing in the small room filled with Mochizuki's scent, he looks out through the branch-woven window at the training grounds, where each member of the Crow team has their own unique skills, whether it's grappling or single/double bars, they're all top-notch, and every move leaves Kawaki speechless.

  Kawaji was worried, whether he could calm down this team. Since following Itagaki's general, he had never thought of leading a team, let alone how to calm down a team. But now, he was pushed to the forefront. In Chinese folklore, it is said that a cat catches a glutinous rice ball - can't get rid of its claws.

  In that case, I should think about how to lead this team. Thus, Kawachi immediately tidied up his clothes and walked out of the hut with a brisk military stride, coming to the training ground.

  "Reporting to Black Team, Crow Team's deputy commander Ichirou Kawauchi has fully recovered from his injuries and is requesting to return to the team."

  Mi Zhīzi heard the sound and immediately turned around, seeing Kawahara in full military attire, standing at attention, waiting for her command, and became so excited that she shed tears.

  Kawara saw that Mieko had already noticed him, and the trained crow members also stopped, so he repeated what he just said in a loud voice.

  The applause rang out with a "pa pa pa" sound, and the beautiful Chiko, who led the applause, rubbed her eyes red from crying and loudly ordered Kawari: "Return to the team!"

  Kawara ran towards the squad with a good military posture, and when he arrived beside Akane, he skillfully turned around to face Motoko, standing at attention and waiting for her next command.

  Mei didn't give an order for training but instead asked everyone, "Do you know why the Upper Blade gave the codename 'White Crow' to Lieutenant Kawahara?"

  Everyone looked at each other in dismay, most of them shaking their heads. Only a young crow said, "He's quite white, though."

  Everyone burst out laughing at the sight of Kawaki's ancient bronze-colored skin.

  Crow immediately attacked Crow: "According to Zhu Gongqiu's words, our captain is as black as a pot of smoke?"

  The young crow was teased by the old crow and didn't say a word, but everyone's laughter just got louder and louder.

  "Quiet! Give our team quiet!" Yoshiko loudly stopped the laughter, and then said seriously: "The Chinese say that all crows under the sky are generally black. In other words, there are many crows like our team everywhere. Are there any crows that aren't black?"

  "Present!" croaked the raven.

  "Let's hear it." Meiko's gaze turned to him.

  Crow said: "Young Crow is just a black crow that can't tell right from wrong."

  The young crow said: "Mother's muddy river, you are the black and white crow!"

  "Alright!" Meizhi shouted loudly, scaring the young crows and old crows into a neat line before saying: "Let's get down to business."

  "It's said that in Tanzania, Africa, there are three types of crows that aren't entirely black. One is called the pied crow, which has a white ring around its neck and white feathers on its chest. Another is called the white-necked raven, which has crescent-shaped white feathers on its neck and back, making it look very handsome. And then there's the hooded white-billed crow, which has a white beak. But these are nothing compared to what we have in our great Japanese Empire - a crow that is entirely white, from head to toe! This is truly a one-of-a-kind bird in the world, and its numbers are unmatched anywhere else. How precious and valuable it must be!"

  "Ladies and gentlemen." Mizuko changed the subject, saying: "There's an old Chinese proverb that says 'a loud drum doesn't need a heavy hammer', I'm sure you all know why Captain Shiroba gave us Lieutenant Kawachi's codename 'White Crow'?"

  Everyone let Moe Shizuko have it a bit, and they started discussing. This made her very angry, and she shouted loudly to stop them.

  "From today on, Lieutenant Kawachi is your head, which means you must look up to Shirakawa, and anyone who disobeys orders will be..." As she said this, Mochizuki's hand flicked outward, and a bird fell from the white birch tree 10 meters away, right before everyone's eyes.

  Although everyone was dissatisfied, they were subdued by Mei Chizuko's move. They whispered to each other, "With Kuroba Mei Chizuko here, why should we listen to Kawara?"