Under the moonlight

Huang Meng paced back and forth in the room, unable to understand why the woman would hide food. Was she really hungry? Probably not; she didn't seem like someone with a particularly large appetite.

Although the food was distributed per person, one serving was enough for the men to last until the next meal, so they shouldn't go hungry. Besides, she must have been secretly hiding the food and taking it back to her room each time. Could it be that the food she brought back to her room went bad, which attracted the rats?

Huang Meng scratched her head in frustration, completely baffled! She plopped down in a chair, sighed, and couldn't help but find herself a little amused. These things seemed to have nothing to do with her, so why was she thinking about them?

Huang Meng scratched her head again, then picked up a strand of hair and smelled it. It wasn't as bad as she had imagined, but it wasn't much better either; it had a smoky, pungent smell. Huang Meng got up and went to the bathroom. She looked at the toiletries on the sink and then turned on the tap.

As Huang Meng was drying her hair, she heard a knock at the door. While rubbing her hair to one side of her head with a towel, she asked, "Who is it?"

The voice I heard should be Xu Ao.

Huang Meng opened the door and saw Xu Ao standing there, dressed casually as if he had just exercised, with wet bangs on his forehead.

After opening the door, Huang Meng ignored him and went straight to the window, where a patch of sunlight shone down, perfect for drying her hair. Xu Ao glanced at Huang Meng, whose back was turned and a section of her fair neck was exposed, then walked in, turned around, and closed the door.

Huang Meng gestured to him with her lips, indicating that he should sit down, and then sat on the edge of the bed, watching. Xu Ao knew that she had probably guessed the purpose of his visit, so he didn't beat around the bush and said directly, "We've scheduled the meeting for tonight. After dinner, you and I will go to the office together. There are some materials that you need to familiarize yourself with beforehand." Huang Meng nodded and said, "Okay."

Xu Ao watched her fiddling with her hair, water dripping from the ends, her clothes soaked in the front. A sudden surge of heat rose in his heart as he looked at the slight bulge in her chest. He quickly averted his gaze to the window and coughed awkwardly.

Huang Meng thought he had something else to say but heard no response, so she put the towel on the table and looked at him, saying, "Is there anything else you want to say?"

Xu Ao turned to look at her and said with a smile, "I heard you were quite brave at the restaurant, confronting a group of people head-on?"

Huang Meng knew what he was talking about, and she also wanted to ask him about that woman.

She leaned forward slightly and looked at Xu Ao, saying, "How much do you know about that woman? She doesn't seem like the type to steal food at all."

Xu Ao crossed his arms and thought for a moment before saying, "That woman was brought back by my colleague. He told me that it was very early that day, around 5 a.m., when it was still dark. He was on the early shift and went to the duty room to clock in. On his way back to the dormitory, he heard someone calling him from outside the wall. He couldn't see clearly, but when he got closer, he saw that it was this woman calling him. He took her to the gate, checked her identity information, and confirmed that she was Chinese before bringing her in."

Huang Meng listened carefully to Xu Ao's words and asked in confusion, "When I came out, the mercenaries had already surrounded the entire main city. There should be people at every intersection, big and small. How did she get out?"

Xu Ao analyzed, "She arrived a day earlier than you. At that time, some of the side roads outside the city were not yet blocked. She probably bypassed the main city area to come out. Otherwise, why would she have gone around to the outer wall of the embassy?"

Huang Meng thought about it and agreed that it made sense. Xu Ao smiled and said, "Why are you so concerned about her? Is it any of your business?"

Huang Meng felt she was meddling in his affairs after being asked that question. Feeling bored, she pouted, glanced at Xu Ao, picked up the towel, and continued drying her hair.

Seeing that she was sulking and didn't want to talk after being choked, Xu Ao found it amusing and his lips curled up slightly. He then stood up, put his hands in his pockets, and walked towards the door. Huang Meng ignored him. Xu Ao opened the door, walked to the door, turned around, looked at Huang Meng who was still drying her hair, smiled, and gently closed the door.

Huang Meng took a nice bath, and after Xu Ao left, she lay down on the bed to sleep. Perhaps because her muscles were relaxed, she slept straight until the afternoon. When she woke up, the light in the room had become much dimmer. She looked at the deep blue sky outside the window, with a touch of orange-red hanging in the sky, and guessed that it would be time for dinner in a little while.

Sure enough, there was a knock on the door. Huang Meng quickly tidied herself up and opened the door to find Li Linlin smiling broadly. She had come to invite Huang Meng to dinner.

Huang Meng walked to the restaurant with her. There were already quite a few people sitting and eating. Huang Meng remembered that she had said at noon that she would give up her share, so she accompanied Li Linlin to get the food and did not take any for herself.

Li Linlin said softly, "Oh, what happened at noon is over. Besides, who would really care whether you took it or not? And look, that woman didn't come to eat either. Doesn't this mean there's an extra serving? You might as well eat it!"

Huang Meng looked at Li Linlin, smiled, and shook her head, saying, "Whether she eats or not is her business."

Seeing that she couldn't persuade her, Li Linlin placed the plate between the two of them and said, "Then let's eat together. I'm on a diet anyway."

Huang Meng looked at Li Linlin's smiling face and said with a smile, "You're at the age where you're growing, why are you trying to lose weight? Just eat, don't worry about me. If you feel like I can't eat while you're watching, then I'll leave?"

Seeing that she was about to leave, Li Linlin quickly said, "No, wait, never mind, I'll eat first then~" Huang Meng smiled and nodded.

The second-floor corridor was quiet. At the far left, a door opened slightly, and a woman peeked out, looking around to make sure no one was there before quickly opening the door and coming out. She clutched what she was carrying tightly and hurried to the stairwell, cautiously peeking out again to look around. The lobby on the first floor was noisy; everyone was probably having lunch in the dining room.

She quickly walked to the bottom of the stairs on the first floor, hid behind the wall and peeked out. She took a deep breath, trying to relax, but dared not make any big movements or look back. She quickly walked towards the door of the lobby.

Without turning her head, she quickly walked to a section of the wall on the right side of the courtyard and stopped. By then, it was already dark. She was panting heavily, and nervously looked around before slowly squatting down and taking out the thing from her arms.

That was her secretly hidden breakfast, which was supposed to include rice and vegetables for lunch, but it was discovered and spilled. Looking at the cold, hardened bun in her hand, tears welled up in her eyes. She wiped them with the back of her hand, then moved a rock, stood on it, and forcefully threw the wrapped bun over the wall. She then leaned against the wall and waited quietly. After a while, she heard a soft rustling sound outside the wall. She then whispered, "Eat quickly, this is all. It's lunch, I can't leave it here. I'll take more tomorrow."

After she finished speaking, she pressed herself tightly against the wall as if waiting, until a hoarse male voice sounded: "Thank you, this is enough. Take good care of yourself."

Then the man outside the wall started coughing rapidly. Hearing his incessant coughing, the woman asked anxiously, "How are you feeling?" After coughing for a while, the man finally spoke again, "I'm fine, I'm alright, you don't need to worry about me." His voice was even hoarser than before.

After saying this, the man gasped for breath, and the cough seemed to have exhausted all his strength.

The woman knew he urgently needed medication. In the few days she'd been there, she'd only dared to secretly take some food. Although she was worried about his health, she didn't dare do anything too drastic. Besides, the embassy staff seemed to be afraid of too many people causing trouble; all daily necessities and medicines were supplied by them on a need-based, measured-quantity basis, and you could only ask them for more when you ran out. Especially the medicines—they didn't even know where they were stored, let alone take them secretly.

She could feel the man's body growing weaker day by day. No matter what, she had to find some medicine. The woman made up her mind, wiped away her tears, and said to him on the other side of the wall, "Tomorrow, I will definitely find a way to get some medicine. Wait for me."

After the woman finished speaking, she put the stone back in its original place. She turned around, looked around, and then quickly walked back. The people who had finished eating gathered together and chatted. Some people saw her coming but did not show much change in expression. They just stared at her for a few more seconds before continuing to chat with the others.

After having lunch with Li Linlin, Huang Meng went to the office. Xu Ao must have given prior notice, because the staff didn't say anything when she came in, but warmly invited her to sit down.

Huang Meng awkwardly pulled out a chair and sat at the far end of the table. She looked at the few people busy around the other end of the table. They looked to be about the same age as her, yet they were able to work at the embassy. Huang Meng couldn't help but think that their jobs must be at the highest level of the official staff!

Thinking back to when she was in college, her parents kept nagging her to take the civil service exam. At that time, Huang Meng didn't care. She thought those jobs were just for older people to kill time and wait for retirement. How could an ambitious young person like her waste her youth on such monotonous work? Her future job must be something new and exciting to be interesting.

She couldn't help but chuckle to herself. Her job was indeed quite exciting. She had come here as a translator and then encountered war, and by some twist of fate, she had to work as a temporary translator for the embassy. It was as if she had fulfilled her parents' wishes!

I used to only know the word 'mercenaries' from romance novels, and now I have to deal with them. Heh, life always has its ups and downs, it just might not be the most pleasant way to do it.

As Huang Meng flipped through the documents in her hand, her mind wandered, she suddenly noticed someone walking towards her. The person sat down next to her, and Huang Meng looked up to see a young man with a buzz cut who looked even younger than herself.

He sat down and greeted us with a smile: "Hello, I'm Chen Che."

Huang Meng looked at the outstretched hand in front of her, quickly sat up straight, politely shook it, and said with a smile, "Hello, Huang Meng."

After a brief introduction, Chen Che looked at the documents on the table and asked, "Have you looked at these documents? Is there anything you don't understand?"

Huang Meng picked up the documents on the table and said with an embarrassed smile, "Um, hehe, I haven't finished reading them yet." She had been daydreaming and hadn't been paying attention. Chen Che smiled and said, "It's okay, take your time. You can ask me if you don't understand anything."

Huang Meng nodded hurriedly. After Chen Che got up and left, Huang Meng quickly picked up the documents in her hand and began to read them carefully.