CHAPTER 338: CHAPTER 195: GRUDGES

Military boots, camo pants paired with an army green sweatshirt, her damp short hair bristly with spirit, delicate features on her beautiful, flushed face glowed with a radiant sheen, her figure slender and graceful. Eyeing Luo Ye as he approached, Feng Hua laughed and said: "A beauty fresh from her bath is indeed a sight for sore eyes!"

"Are you complimenting me?" Luo Ye laughed.

"I originally wanted to say you’re beautiful, but then I thought, that’s just so cliché and insincere, so I figured I should phrase it differently."

With feigned seriousness, Luo Ye said: "Feng Hua, you truly are beautiful!" Spreading his hands: "I can’t help it, you’re just so beautiful, I have to tell it like it is."

With an oval face, light willow-leaf eyebrows, a high nose bridge, cherry-red lips, skin smooth as honey, and a figure as lithe as a willow, her classical beauty had a touch of modern wildness—Feng Hua was indeed beautiful.

"You’re just teasing me," Feng Hua curbed her smile: "You must be curious as to why I personally sought you out, right?"

Luo Ye nodded: "I don’t like beating around the bush. If I’m not mistaken, you’re from the Feng Family, so it would be odd for me not to find it strange."

"Everyone knows of the Feng Family, but what they don’t know is that the Feng Family has long been split into two branches. My grand-uncle and great-aunt were the ones who caused harm to the Wen Family. My household and my third uncle belong to another branch. These two branches, they’re like water and fire, completely incompatible." Feng Hua paused for a moment: "Only, the two sides have tacitly agreed not to broadcast this fact."

Luo Ye smiled faintly: "I won’t meddle in your family’s grudges. Let’s get to the main point."

"The reason why I sought you out is simple. You’re the first person who dared to stand up against Hang Menglin and put her in her place. Just for that, I want to be friends with you." Feng Hua rolled up her sleeve and extended her arm towards Luo Ye. An unsightly scar lay about two centimeters above her elbow, around five centimeters in length.

"I have two such wounds on my body, one on my arm, one on my lower leg, and both of these ’gifts’ are from Hang Menglin. As a girl, you can imagine what it means to have these two scars; I think you understand. That’s why I hate her, and anyone she dislikes is a friend of mine!" Flames danced in Feng Hua’s eyes.

Luo Ye’s brows furrowed: "Why would she do that to you?"

"Let me tell you about Hang Menglin. She’s the third child in the Hang Family. Mr. Hang has always raised the daughters in the family as if they were sons.

Eldest Sister Hang and Hang Erjie both protested against this practice, but only Hang Menglin fully complied with Mr. Hang’s wishes, and he doted on her uniquely.

Before Hang Wen and Hang Wu were born, Menglin was Mr. Hang’s favorite, cherished even more than her own father.

It is likely that to please Mr. Hang, Menglin’s personality became colder and harsher. After joining the military, she was known for her guts and readiness to fight to the death.

It’s said Mr. Hang regretted seeing her like this and originally just wanted his granddaughters to be strong and bring glory to the family. However, Menglin went a bit too far with it. Alas, once your personality is set, how can it be easily changed?

Menglin’s greatest setback came in her fifth year of service. The A Squad was selecting individuals from local troops, needing only one female soldier. Menglin excelled in every selection criterion, but the chosen one was a girl from a smaller city.

She confronted the selecting officer, questioning why she wasn’t chosen despite having better qualifications. The officer explained they needed a gentler female participant for the mission because they already had too many tough female soldiers.

Menglin, in defiance, called it bias by appearance and an attraction-based selection, angering the selecting officers, and the matter was reported to the division commander of her division, resulting in Menglin receiving a disciplinary record.

The day her punishment was pronounced, she ran out and got thoroughly drunk. She was creating a scene at the bar, singing and shouting, and if it hadn’t been for a classmate who took her away, who knows how long she would have caused a commotion there... What’s wrong?" Seeing Luo Ye smile from the corner of his mouth, Menglin asked in confusion.

Luo Ye waved his hand: "Oh, it’s nothing, please continue."

"Since then, she developed a particular dislike for women who appear gentle. During training, she acted almost insane. Her recalcitrant nature made it impossible for anyone to get along with her. That must have been her most disheartened time.

A turning point came during a large-scale joint military exercise she participated in. Can you imagine? She actually infiltrated the Red Army’s headquarters alone and blew it up in a suicide attack.

It wasn’t cleverness or cunning that she relied on, but pure willpower and fearlessness. Because she didn’t get along well with her comrades-in-arms, she volunteered to the commanding officer to go alone through a less guarded ’death zone’ to strike the Red Army headquarters and had even written her own will in advance.