27: The relationship between husband and wife eased, and he promised to help Sha Zhu find a wife, and the reward came

"Alright!" Since he had made the promise, Long Feiyang was determined to carry it out with all his heart.

He held Yaoyao tightly, his pace suddenly quickening, and in a few large strides, he caught up with Li Wenting.

"Wife, what dish do you want to eat for lunch?"

Long Feiyang chose this conversation starter, his face covered in a deliberately crafted, warm smile.

Upon suddenly hearing this call, Li Wenting's body instantly stiffened, her face filled with shock.

She never imagined Long Feiyang would suddenly appear here, much less that he would call her "wife" so naturally and intimately. This immediately dazed her, leaving her mind blank and forgetting how to respond.

Seeing Yaoyao's swollen eyes, Li Wenting's heart suddenly wrenched, and she hurriedly asked with concern, "Yaoyao, why are you crying? Did someone bully you?"

"Mama, Papa said he wants to be with us forever and never be apart."

Yaoyao blinked her large, watery eyes and hurriedly repeated Long Feiyang's promise, her childish voice filled with a longing for family reunion.

"This..." Li Wenting hadn't expected Long Feiyang to say these things to Yaoyao at all. For a moment, a thousand thoughts flooded her mind, and she didn't know how to respond.

After all, the suspicion toward Long Feiyang in her heart hadn't been completely erased.

In her view, if Long Feiyang really was an enemy agent, then this family would be completely finished.

She couldn't bear to let Yaoyao live a difficult life in the future, burdened with the heavy label of being the child of an enemy agent.

"Wife, listen to me."

Long Feiyang leaned in slightly, getting close to Li Wenting's ear, and spoke in a low but crystal-clear voice: "I promise you, I am absolutely not an enemy agent, let alone a bad person. My heart only has you two, mother and daughter, and I just want to take good care of you. Some things aren't convenient to say right now, but I swear, I will never do anything to harm the country. You must believe me."

After speaking, he straightened up and looked at Li Wenting with a steady gaze, the sincerity in his eyes seemingly capable of piercing through a person's heart.

"Is what you're saying true?" Li Wenting's brow furrowed, the suspicion in her eyes not diminishing in the slightest as she muttered to herself: If he's not an enemy agent, then how do you explain those strange, futuristic things in the basement?

"It's true, I swear. If there's half a lie, may lightning strike me and may I die a horrible death."

Long Feiyang spoke decisively, though he deliberately lowered his voice when the latter part, "die a horrible death," left his mouth.

In this special era, if such superstitious curses were overheard by others, it might lead to trouble or even being reported; he had to be cautious.

Li Wenting struggled internally for a long time before her reason finally won out.

For one, during her secret investigations over the past few days, she indeed hadn't found any solid evidence.

Secondly, she knew in her heart that even if she did find evidence of Long Feiyang's crimes later, for Yaoyao's sake, she would not hesitate to put duty before family and hand Long Feiyang over to the state.

"Then... I'll believe you this once." Li Wenting bit her lower lip, her voice carrying hesitation and helplessness.

"Hehe, Yaoyao, look, your mama and I have made up. From now on, our family will live a good life together."

The smile on Long Feiyang's face grew even more brilliant, his eyes full of yearning for their future life.

"Yay, yay!" Yaoyao clapped her small hands, her smile like a flower blooming in spring—pure and innocent—her eyes sparkling with the light of expectation for a happy life.

Watching this scene, Li Wenting suddenly felt an indescribable sense of loss: It seemed that in his heart, Yaoyao was still the most important.

"Wife, what do you actually want to eat for lunch? I'll go buy it now. Same for tonight—just say the word, and I guarantee you'll be satisfied."

Long Feiyang started another conversation, his tone as gentle as a spring breeze, drifting into one's heart.

From this moment on, he secretly decided that since he was going to take the initiative to repair his relationship with Li Wenting, he would take being thick-skinned to the very end.

That way, even if something changed in the future, he could cut his losses in time and make a clean break.

Standing not far away, Sha Zhu quietly watched this family of three. A look of relief was written all over his face, yet deep in his eyes, there was a faint trace of envy.

He was only one year older than Long Feiyang, yet he was still single and hadn't found a lifelong companion; it was inevitable that his heart would stir.

"Anything is fine. Everything you cook is delicious." Li Wenting recalled the meals Long Feiyang had made these past few days; the flavors seemed to still linger on her tongue, her heart full of praise for his culinary skills.

As long as it was a dish made by Long Feiyang, to her, it was a delicacy of the human world; how could she be picky?

"Giggle, giggle..." Seeing her parents so harmonious and full of warmth, Yaoyao's joy bubbled up like a spring. Her crisp laughter drifted through the air like silver bells, as if announcing the start of a happy new chapter for this small family.

Once Li Wenting entered the gates of the Steel rolling mill, Long Feiyang walked a few quick steps and called out to Sha Zhu, who was about to leave, a sincere smile on his face: "Sha Zhu, tell me, what kind of wife are you looking for? I'm free lately; if there's someone suitable, I'll keep an eye out for you."

Hearing this, a light of pleasant surprise flashed in Sha Zhu's eyes. He stopped, turned around, and stared at Long Feiyang with great anticipation, asking in disbelief, "Brother, are you serious?"

"How could it be fake?" Long Feiyang patted Sha Zhu on the shoulder. "Just for the way you usually look after my wife, I have to help you. I just don't know what kind of girl you have in mind?"

Sha Zhu scratched his head and chuckled. After thinking for a moment, he poured out his thoughts like beans from a bamboo tube: "Me? I just want to find someone with decent features, someone pretty—at least not too much worse than your wife or the Sister-in-law Jia. For a life together, I need someone who can manage a household thriftily, someone who can make life prosperous. We also need to have mutual respect and be able to talk to each other. If possible, it's best if she has an urban household registration."

In this special era, an urban household registration meant a fixed monthly grain supply, which was crucial for a family.

Sha Zhu thought that with his job at the Steel rolling mill, plus an urban registration, providing for a wife would be more than enough.

Although he knew finding a wife wasn't easy and wasn't sure if Long Feiyang could find someone satisfactory, having one more person to help always meant one more bit of hope; perhaps it would increase the chances of finding a suitable candidate.

"Oho, those requirements aren't low." Long Feiyang raised an eyebrow slightly and spoke the truth, "But don't worry, I'll do my best. Finding a wife depends on fate and on the person's heart. Some who look pretty have unpredictable minds and aren't necessarily suited for daily life."

He thought to himself that he would have the Red Queen help with the screening later, so he'd have a better grasp of things.

"Hehe, then I'll have to trouble you, brother!" Sha Zhu was open-minded. Hearing Long Feiyang say this, he didn't think much of it and still responded with a grin.

In his view, this matter was difficult to begin with. Now that there was one more person helping, even if the chance only increased a little bit, it was still good. So he didn't hold too high of an expectation, treating it only as an extra possibility.

Long Feiyang carried Yaoyao and turned to walk back, planning his next moves as he went.

The surveillance and network from the Siheyuan to the Steel rolling mill were set up. Next, he would go to other areas to continue the work and buy today's groceries along the way.

[Master, there are police officers looking for you. They came by car, and they are transporting items. A total of three officers have arrived.]

Suddenly, the Red Queen's voice in his earpiece interrupted Long Feiyang's thoughts.

Long Feiyang paused for a moment, then thought: My reward must have arrived.

"Yaoyao, let's go back first." Long Feiyang lowered his head and spoke gently to Yaoyao.

"Papa, we haven't bought groceries yet." Yaoyao reached out her small hand and shook him, reminding him in a milky voice.

"Don't worry, baby, Papa hasn't forgotten. Someone is at home looking for Papa. Let's go back and see first, then we'll come out to buy groceries in a bit, okay?"

Long Feiyang patiently explained to Yaoyao while quickening his pace, carrying her toward the Siheyuan.

Along the way, he wondered how many ingredients the police had brought and what they were, feeling both expectant and curious.

[Yang Ruihua is super shocked, envious, and jealous. Emotion points +5]

[Li Ruzhen is super shocked and envious. Emotion points +5]

[Qin Huairu is super shocked and envious. Emotion points +5]

...In the blink of an eye, many people contributed emotion points to Long Feiyang.

[Master, the police are unloading items. It looks like there is rice as well as various rich food items.]

At this time, the Red Queen's voice rang out clearly in the earpiece again.

Because Yaoyao was beside him, Long Feiyang didn't reply to the Red Queen directly, but he had a rough idea of why the neighbors were contributing emotion points.

Clearly, this reward was on a significant scale, and it was causing quite a stir in this small alley.

When Long Feiyang appeared at South Luogu Lane, the neighbors cast various glances his way, filled with complex emotions—the most obvious being shock and envy.

Especially upon seeing the truck parked quietly outside the Siheyuan, Long Feiyang was truly taken aback; that truck could hold nearly a ton of supplies.

"Comrade Long Feiyang, your reward has arrived."

Officer Liu Xiuan spotted Long Feiyang at once, quickly straightened his uniform, stepped forward, gave a solemn salute, and spoke in a loud, firm voice.

"In view of Comrade Long Feiyang's significant contributions in reporting enemy agents, the following rewards are hereby delivered: fifty kilograms of rice, fifty kilograms of flour, a total of thirty kilograms of various dried meats, ten kilograms of fresh vegetables, five cans of meat, five cans of fruit, one jar of Malted milk extract..."

Officer Liu Xiuan stood tall and, under the gaze of many neighbors, read out the list of rewarded items in an orderly fashion.

After reading, he held the certificate of honor in both hands and solemnly handed it to Long Feiyang, a smile of relief and praise on his face.

"We thank Comrade Long Feiyang for his bravery, fearlessness, and strong sense of patriotism. Your actions have made a great contribution to social stability and the peace of the people."

"Thank you, Officer Liu, thank you so much..."

Upon hearing there were so many good things to eat, a brilliant smile instantly bloomed on Long Feiyang's face. While saying his thanks, he kept nodding to express his gratitude to Officer Liu Xiuan.

He knew in his heart that the total value of these supplies far exceeded 50 yuan. Crucially, no coupons were needed. In those times of scarcity and strict coupon control, this reward was so generous it was bound to make people green with envy.

However, Long Feiyang also understood that a tall tree catches the wind; such a lavish reward would surely attract the covetousness of others. From now on, he had to be constantly vigilant and guard himself carefully to avoid trouble.

Actually, Long Feiyang wasn't very familiar with the normal reward process.

According to the norm, such a major reward should be handled with great fanfare by government departments and publicized through various channels to let more people know of the heroic deeds.

But because Long Feiyang's identity was still under suspicion by the relevant departments, this reward was kept simple, and the scope of publicity was limited to the small area of South Luogu Lane; not many people knew.

"Officer Liu, how is that baby girl from before doing now?"

Long Feiyang suddenly remembered the baby girl and asked Officer Liu Xiuan with great concern.

After all, the baby girl had been injected with the Super Gene Potion. Long Feiyang knew what that meant, so he naturally paid extra attention to her situation.

In his heart, he already considered the baby girl a future star of potential.

He secretly decided that he must not let this child suffer grievances or be bullied as she grew up; he had to ensure she thrived in a good environment.