"She is my wife, Hiyou." Standing up and walking to the wedding photo, Zhang Jianlin rubbed his face against the picture, his expression filled with obsession as he said, "I love her not only because she is my initial ship but also because she is my Wedding Ship, the first woman in my life, the only one I truly love. But what happened? She was already two months pregnant at that time!"
"I am such a worthless person; I let her down!" Zhang Jianlin cried as he continued, "If I had listened to even a little advice back then, perhaps it wouldn't have led to such a complete disaster."
"Yamato, you better listen carefully." Suddenly, Zhang Jianlin's expression changed as he walked over and grabbed Chuyang by the collar, shouting, "Fame, wealth, status—they're all worthless! Can any of these bring back my wife? Can they bring back the girls from Naval Base? Can they bring back Kaohsiung? Can they bring back Akatsuki? Can they bring back Xukov who calls me 'Dad' and Hiyou 'Mom'? Don't believe those flattering words from government officials; they don't understand anything. Fleet Girls are not weapons; for us Admirals, they are our everything—our family who share our hardships and live with us... But what have I done? I brought this upon myself; I deserve to die... Yamato, I hope you think carefully before giving them orders. No matter how great the military achievements are, you need a life to enjoy them... You’ve seen my situation; I don’t want you to realize the value of things only after losing them. By then, it will be too late... Yes! I exchanged merits for money that I can never spend in this lifetime, but besides money, what do I have left? Nothing at all... Hiyou always held my hand and asked if I liked boys or girls, but I never thought about it back then. If I could start over, I would tell her that as long as it's your child, whether a boy or a girl, I would love it... I drown myself in alcohol every day just to numb myself, but I've found that the more I try to forget something, the more it lingers... I'm such a useless person; I can't even take revenge for them... The Deep Sea Shipgirls attacked Naval Base in retaliation, causing severe head injuries during that attack and permanently stripping me of my qualifications as an Admiral. Even if my Mental Power remains at its previous level, so what? Even if Hiyou could be rebuilt, would this new Hiyou still be the same as before? I'm just an utterly cowardly person; I don't even have the courage to commit suicide..."
"Brother Zhang, are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
"Are you really okay?" Chuyang asked again with concern.
"I'm really fine. If I had that kind of courage, I'd be dead by now. But Brother Zhang hopes you can remember everything I've said tonight." Zhang Jianlin patted Chuyang on the shoulder and waved his hand wearily. "You can go now! I want to stay here and accompany them a bit longer."
Gently closing the door behind him and looking at the door of his bedroom on the second floor, Chuyang let out a long sigh. If he had any competitive spirit before this moment, it was completely gone now. This was not a game from his past life; even if Fleet Girls were sunk, as long as they returned to port for repairs, they could come back fully restored. Here, if Fleet Girls were sunk, it meant they truly lost their lives—forever resting in the vast blue sea. Even if there were chances in the future to miraculously build Fleet Girls with the same names again, they would no longer be the same; losing something means it's truly lost and can never be reclaimed.
"Brother Chu Yang, you're finally back." In the room, Firefly was not asleep but sitting cross-legged on the bed with her big eyes fixed on the door. As soon as Chuyang entered, Loli cheered and jumped into Chuyang's arms.
"What's wrong? Can't sleep?" Holding the soft little Kiddo in his arms, Chuyang made a silent decision.
"I can't sleep; I want to hear Brother Chu Yang tell a story." Saying this, Firefly buried her little head into Chuyang's embrace and sniffed curiously. "Brother Chu Yang, didn't you drink?"
"No, I was just chatting with Brother Zhang downstairs," Chuyang decided to tease little Kiddo and said, "Brother Chu Yang didn't drink, are you disappointed?"
"Not at all! People who drink always smell bad, I don't like that! If Brother Chu Yang had drunk, then you would have to sleep on the sofa tonight. I don't want to sleep with someone who has been drinking!" Little Kiddo rambled on, clearly stating her position.
"Can we really sleep together?" Chuyang expressed that he would definitely avoid alcohol in the future. Although he wasn't at the point of being a beast towards Loli, sleeping with a soft and fragrant little Kiddo was definitely better than hugging a pillow! However, this development seemed a bit too fast!
"Well, if we don't sleep together, how will Brother Chu Yang tell me stories?"
".........." Great, he was happy for nothing, thinking he suddenly had charm! It turned out little Kiddo just wanted to hear stories.
"Once upon a time, there was a lovely little girl whom everyone liked, but the one who loved her the most was her grandmother, who gave her everything she wanted. One day, her grandmother gave the little girl a small red hood made of velvet—"
"I don't want to hear it! I've already read the story of Little Red Riding Hood."
"In a distant kingdom, there lived a king and queen who longed for a child. They sincerely prayed to the heavens. 'God! We are good kings and queens; please grant us a child!' Soon after, the queen indeed gave birth to a lovely little princess named Snow White..."
"Change it! I've already read Snow White."
"............. A long time ago, in a city of Persia lived two brothers; the elder brother was named Goshimu..."
"The younger brother is Alibaba." Firefly interjected, dissatisfied. "Brother Chu Yang, can you tell something else? I've already finished reading 'Grimm's Fairy Tales,' 'Andersen's Fairy Tales,' and 'One Thousand and One Nights!'"
"............." How could he forget? Although history changed after World War II, the history before World War II remained unchanged, and these three books were published before World War II, even earlier. It seemed he could only pull out his trump card: "Once upon a time, there was a group of little lambs living on Mara Goby Grassland... Red Wolf shouted: Gray Wolf has been captured by Pleasant Goat again..."
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