Elder brother's garrison

Page 1830

“Humans will eventually grow up, Admiral.” Upon hearing this, Veneto moved slightly closer to Xiaobai and gently patted Xiaobai’s back. “Even I’m not the type to easily trust others. The reason I trusted that agent just now was only for some special reasons.”

"A special reason? What is it?" Xiaobai was taken aback.

“…I’ll tell you when I get back.” Veneto smiled mysteriously.

"Hey……"

The corridor of Luming Company was not long. After walking for a few minutes, Xiaobai and Veneto returned to the door of the conference room they had been in before.

The meeting room door was not locked, but only slightly ajar.

Xiao Bai gently pulled open the door with the handle and saw that the large conference room was quiet. The company leaders who had previously hosted Xiao Bai were now sitting together in a neat row, heads bowed and silent, and the atmosphere was somewhat heavy for a moment.

Perhaps it was the sound of opening the door that made a noise, because the moment Xiaobai stepped into the conference room, the leaders inside all looked up and turned to look at him.

All of a sudden.

A dozen or so dry gazes converged on Xiaobai.

The implications of these gazes are somewhat complex.

In that instant, Xiaobai could clearly sense that these gazes contained a variety of subtle emotions, such as "misunderstanding," "complaint," "resentment," "indignation," "helplessness," and "daring not to speak out."

makes sense.

The last time Xiao Bai appeared in this conference room, the company's leadership treated her like a distinguished guest. However, less than half an hour later, when Xiao Bai returned to the conference room, she was once again facing everyone in the adversarial role of helping Lu Ming escape from the company.

It feels like a guest you've been serving with utmost care one second suddenly turns on you and slaps you across the face the next; it's hard not to feel resentful.

"Uh... well... hello everyone..." Xiaobai naturally understood the feelings of the company's leadership. Feeling a little guilty, she gave them an awkward smile and raised her hand to greet them, "We meet again..."

Xiaobai and Veneto walked into the conference room together.

Xiao Bai's gaze quickly settled on the central position of the leadership team.

In the center of the room, the leader surnamed Chen supported himself with one hand on the IV stand and the other on the table. He stared at Xiaobai, his face changing like a series of expressions, sometimes red, sometimes white, sometimes green, and sometimes black.

"Mr. Chen... um, how are you feeling?" Xiaobai asked.

"...I... am much better." The leader surnamed Chen opened his mouth, then frowned, shook his head, and let out a long sigh. He looked like a deflated balloon, his spirits completely down. "Sigh... never mind, Admiral Lu Lin, please sit down first."

Although the leader surnamed Chen was still quite respectful to Xiao Bai, his tone was clearly no longer as genuinely polite as before.

Xiao Bai scratched her cheek, walked to the seat opposite the leader surnamed Chen, and quietly sat down.

"Um...where are the others?" Xiaobai glanced around the conference room and noticed that the older women in cheongsams had disappeared.

"What? Taking Lu Ming wasn't enough, you're going after them too!" An old man with a white beard standing next to the leader surnamed Chen, upon hearing Xiao Bai's words, immediately spoke up, his cane pounding the floor repeatedly. "Have some mercy! Admiral Lu Lin!"

The old man with the white beard's words immediately made Xiaobai even more embarrassed.

“Old Wang, no, Admiral Lu Lin was just asking a symbolic question. Given her status, she wouldn’t do anything to those girls.” Just then, the leader surnamed Chen turned his head to calm his colleague down. Then he turned back to Xiao Bai with a complicated look and slowly explained, “Those girls usually have very tight schedules. They also have a new project to rehearse recently, so after entertaining Admiral Lu Lin, I sent them back.”

"I see..." Xiaobai nodded.

"Sigh... Let's get down to business." The leader surnamed Chen rubbed his forehead and sighed deeply again. "Lu Ming's agent just came over and talked to us for a long time. He said that Lu Ming's resignation and retirement were guaranteed by Admiral Lu Lin... Is that right?"

"Yes," Xiaobai nodded, "I hope you will agree."

"In that case, there's nothing we can do." The manager surnamed Chen nodded and said to Xiaobai, "Regarding Lu Ming's resignation contract, our company will draft it soon. Admiral Lu Lin, could you please leave us an address so we can mail the resignation contract to you later?"

"Huh? So decisive?" Xiaobai blinked, somewhat surprised.

"What's wrong?" the leader surnamed Chen asked in return.

"I thought you guys would at least try to persuade me or something..." Xiaobai covered her mouth, her eyes darting around.

Upon hearing Xiaobai's words, the leaders shook their heads and smiled wryly.

"Your agent has already accurately conveyed your attitude to us, Admiral Lu Lin," the leader surnamed Chen said to Xiao Bai. "We know very well that in the current situation, it won't make any difference if we try to persuade Admiral Lu Lin and Lu Ming. In that case, why don't we all get straight to the point? That way, we can save some energy for making a living, right?"

"That makes sense." Xiaobai nodded.

"We only want to meet with you to confirm whether what the agent said is true," the manager surnamed Chen said to Xiaobai.

“It was my instruction,” Xiaobai nodded again.

The company's leaders looked at each other, and everyone wore a silent, bitter smile.

"In that case, please go back." The leader surnamed Chen raised his hand and said decisively to Xiaobai, "After you go back, please pass on a message to Lu Ming. From now on, she is free. As long as she promises not to appear on screen again, we will not interfere with what she does."

"Thank you very much." Xiao Bai bowed slightly to the leader surnamed Chen.

The leader surnamed Chen tilted his head back and leaned over the IV stand, looking as if he didn't want to look at Xiaobai again.

Xiaobai smiled sheepishly at the leaders, took out his wallet, left a business card for the rookie naval base, and then left the meeting room with Veneto.

After leaving the conference room, Xiaobai and Veneto retraced their steps.

"Phew... the time we spent together was surprisingly short..." Xiaobai breathed a sigh of relief.

“Those leaders seem pretty easy to talk to.” Veneto nodded and said to Xiaobai, “I thought you guys would at least have a fight.”

"It must have been the agent who coordinated things beforehand... He must have told us everything he could, otherwise we wouldn't have had such an easy time getting here." Xiaobai said, turning to look at Veneto, "From now on, Miss Luming is free, right?"

“Perhaps we should call her Shropshire now.” Veneto said, then suddenly seemed to remember something and asked Xiaobai, “Speaking of which, when does the Admiral plan to bring her back to the naval base?”

"Huh? Who?"

“Shropshire…that’s Miss Shikamei.” Veneto asked matter-of-factly. “Miss Shikamei has nowhere to go now. If no one takes her in, she might have to go back to that mercenary group and suffer. In that case, Admiral, aren’t you going to take her back to the naval base and give her a better living environment as a ship girl?”

"Uh……"

"Admiral, you really haven't thought about this, have you?" Veneto asked with a strange expression.

“No, no… wait…” Xiaobai was taken aback by Veneto’s words. Then she shook her head in confusion, carefully looked around, and then brought her hand to her mouth. She leaned closer to Veneto and asked her with a strange look, “…So Miss Luming didn’t say she wanted to join our naval base?”

"...?"

"I... I thought Miss Luming had already agreed to join our naval base..." Xiaobai covered her mouth and said to Veneto in surprise, "So she didn't mention this?!"

Xiao Bai covered his head, looking completely bewildered, just like a student who had just realized he hadn't brought a pen to the exam.

"Oh no... what should we do now...?"

"What, what are we going to do now... I thought she was already one of our ship girls. How am I going to tell Miss Shikamei about this...?"

"If I were to ask Miss Luming now if she wanted to join our garrison, would she think I was using her resignation to coerce her...? But, if I don't say anything now, what if Miss Luming runs back to the mercenary group tomorrow..."

"..."

Xiao Bai covered her head and muttered to herself, feeling anxious and uncertain.

Seeing his admiral looking as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, Veneto shrugged, lowered his head, and sighed.

Ok……

It seems there's nothing to worry about.

Chapter 2526 An Unexpected Connection

When Xiaobai and Veneto finished their meeting in the conference room and returned to the dressing room, it was filled with the chattering voices of young girls.

"Waaaaah... Little Deer Cry, you bad guy, you bad guy, you bad guy! Why did you have to leave at this time! We'll miss you so much now that you're gone!"

"Little Deer, you'll remember us, right? Even if you're gone, we'll still text each other online every day, okay?"

"Waaah! I still miss you so much..."

"However, since it's Xiao Luming's idea, then we have no choice but to let you leave..."

"You must pursue your happiness! Don't forget us!"

"..."

Familiar, reluctant calls echoed one after another, faintly accompanied by soft sobs.

Xiaobai and Veneto walked to the door of the dressing room and looked inside.

The makeup artists were gathered around Lu Ming in the center of the room, clinging to his arms like a group of children who didn't want their teacher to leave, crying and rubbing against him.

Lu Ming kept touching the heads of the makeup artists, his hands moving back and forth on more than a dozen heads like he was cooking, looking flustered and overwhelmed.

"Lu Ming isn't dead, she just moved to a different place for work. It's not like you'll never see her again, so why are you all so heartbroken?" The manager, who was as big as a mountain, squatted to the side. He watched the female makeup artists being so affectionate with Lu Ming and felt a wave of nausea. He couldn't help but complain helplessly, "For example, you've added her as a friend on QQ, QQ, and WeChat Moments, haven't you? And I remember you even have a small group chat that you don't allow others to join, right? See, you can chat whenever you want, don't you?"

"So, all those lousy men know is nothing!"

"We girls who are close friends just hope we can live together forever!"

"The agent is an idiot, an idiot, an idiot!"

"You'll never find a girlfriend if you keep going like this!"

"But thank you for bringing us here!"

"..."

The agent's complaints naturally heightened the mood of the female makeup artists, and in an instant, they all raised their phones and angrily protested to the agent.

However, the female makeup artists' protests were mostly in a childish, stilted voice, occasionally interspersed with a word or two of thanks, leaving everyone puzzled.

The agent, squatting on the ground, listened helplessly to the makeup artists' protests and could only shrug his shoulders, indicating that he had given up.

Just then, Xiaobai and Veneto walked into the house.

"Oh! Admiral Lu Lin, you're back. How did the meeting go in the conference room..." The agent was about to get up to welcome Xiao Bai, but just as he was about to stand up, his gaze suddenly swept over Veneto next to Xiao Bai. Then his eyes widened, and he froze as if he had been put on pause. His mouth opened wide, and he remained in the squatting position.

Lu Ming's agent is very tall.

They are at least two meters tall, with well-developed muscles on their bodies. When their exaggeratedly large hands are outstretched, they are even wider than Xiaobai's face.

It's no exaggeration to say that the agent's figure is comparable to that of a humanoid Gundam.

Because of his extremely tall stature, the manager's daily perspective is also much higher than that of ordinary people. So when Lu Ming's manager chats with Xiao Bai, unless he deliberately lowers his head and bends down, Xiao Bai is just a lonely, snow-white little head in the manager's field of vision. The rest of Xiao Bai is completely outside the manager's field of vision.

Veneto is actually a little bit shorter than Iniesta.

If Xiaobai is usually seen as a snow-white little head by Lu Ming's manager, then Veneto is perfectly positioned outside of Lu Ming's manager's field of vision, making him completely unaware of her.

It wasn't until Lu Ming's agent was squatting on the floor that he truly saw Veneto next to Xiao Bai.

"Veneto... Boss Veneto?!" Lu Ming's manager gaped open, looking at Veneto with a shocked expression as if he had seen a ghost.

"Huh?" Xiaobai was stunned. "Boss Wei... could this be...?"

"Hmm..." Beside Xiaobai, Veneto heard her manager call her name. She smiled slightly, crossed her arms, and walked up to her manager, looking down at the man squatting on the ground. "Not bad, you can still remember my name. Looks like you've been trained a lot in the past two years."

"That...that's for sure!" Upon hearing Veneto's words, the agent instantly stood up, took two steps back, and bowed deeply to Veneto. "Boss Veneto's teachings! I will never forget them!!!"

"Huh?? Little brother??" Xiao Bai covered his mouth, looking at Veneto with a surprised expression.

"Admiral, didn't you ask me before why I trust this kid so much?" Veneto turned his head, pointing at the agent's head while smiling at Xiaobai, "Now you should understand, right?"

"Miss Lu Ming's agent... could it also be from the security company you used to work for, Veneto...?" Xiao Bai asked in surprise.

“Yeah, I didn’t know when this kid changed careers.” Veneto crossed his arms, patted his arm lightly with his index finger, and looked at his agent casually. “When the admiral and I went back to the security company last time, we wanted to see you, but we didn’t see you. I thought you had returned home in glory. I didn’t expect you to be a celebrity agent. It’s really amazing.”

"Wei... Boss Wei! So, you're a ship girl??" The agent asked, trembling with fear.

"What? You're only finding out now?" Veneto tilted his head.

"Ah, no... Oh... No wonder..." The agent was sweating profusely, staring at Xiaobai and Veneto with wide eyes. His originally calm face was now filled with the nervous expression of an apprentice.

This was the first time Xiaobai had ever seen Luming's manager make such an expression.

What a great experience.

Little White covered his mouth, looking at Veneto and his agent with an open-minded expression.

The scene at this moment was truly unexpected for Xiaobai.

Ok……

But that makes sense...

Although he had never imagined that the agent was Veneto's underling... looking at the agent's well-developed muscles and the sense of security he exuded, Xiao Bai really didn't find it strange at all that Veneto had said he used to be a bodyguard.

"Reporting to Veneto, a few years ago after you left, I was slightly injured during an escort mission. The injury wasn't serious, but it significantly impacted my physical abilities, so it hasn't been very convenient for me to continue in this line of work. Although the company said they could keep me as a martial arts consultant, I knew I wasn't cut out for it. Staying would only be a burden to everyone, so I chose to resign and switch to another profession." The agent carefully explained to Veneto, "I won't go into the details, but in short, after some twists and turns, I'm now working as an agent at this company!"

“I see. It seems you’re doing quite well after changing careers.” Veneto nodded.

"Yes! Because I always keep Boss Wei's teachings in mind!" the agent shouted. "Of all the things in the world, having a clear conscience is the most important!"

“Not bad.” Veneto’s face showed appreciation. “I deliberately didn’t talk to you before, just to see when you would recognize me. It seems you finally remembered me.”

"Uh..." the agent said awkwardly in a low voice, "Actually, it's because I didn't see it..."

"Huh? What did you say?" Veneto frowned.