The 60s Island: The Daily Life of a Capitalist Young Lady with the Army - Chapter 76: Fine, I'll Tell One!

Chapter 76: Fine, I’ll Tell One!

He casually pulled up a chair, placing it steadily by the bedside before sitting down.

“What kind of story do you want to hear?”

He racked his brains, thinking about all those days and nights spent on training grounds and missions. It seemed like aside from sweat and gunpowder, there wasn’t much “interesting” material to draw from.

After pondering for a long while, he finally recalled something: “Then I’ll tell you about something that happened when I was first promoted to platoon leader, during a covert mission.”

He had never told stories to anyone before, so his voice inevitably came out dry and monotonous, as if he were delivering a mission report.

From beginning to end, it was all “what time we departed,” “what the environment was like along the way,” and “how we eventually deployed.”

What he considered a rather perilous infiltration mission was narrated in such a flat, uneventful manner.

“…And then we successfully completed the mission and safely returned to base.”

The story was over.

He even added a concluding remark.

Xu Xiangsi remained silent for a long moment before offering a sharp critique: “Your story is worth ten cents at most.”

Long Peiye: “…”

The sharp arch of his eyebrows twitched almost imperceptibly.

As if oblivious to the momentary stiffness on his face, Xu Xiangsi pressed further:

“Got any worth a dollar?”

Long Peiye: “…”

He took a deep breath, feeling that even the most troublesome recruit he’d ever trained wasn’t half as vexing as this young woman before him.

Abandoning all resistance, he asked directly: “Then tell me, what kind of story do you want to hear?”

Xu Xiangsi’s eyes sparkled with sudden interest.

After a moment’s thought, a complex, unreadable glint flashed in her eyes: “Preferably something thrilling, the kind that stirs emotions.”

No sooner had she spoken than she lazily added: “But never mind the fighting and killing—I’m not particularly interested.”

After all, in her previous life, those so-called life-and-death situations weren’t stories to her—they were daily routine.

She didn’t voice this thought aloud, but the weariness emanating from her very bones was keenly picked up by Long Peiye.

This woman held far too many secrets.

Though this was what he thought, her words sent him into deep contemplation.

Thrilling…

Yet not involving fighting and killing…

Long Peiye’s thoughts drifted far away.

He recalled those days of field training deep in the mountains, standing night watch when everything was dead silent except for the wind and insect chirps.

To ward off the bone-deep drowsiness and chill, a few seasoned soldiers would always huddle around the campfire, speaking in hushed tones as they shared strange and bizarre tales they’d heard from various places.

Those stories contained no hail of bullets, yet they were far more… eerie and thrilling than real combat on the battlefield.

Digging through those smoke-filled memories, he finally unearthed one that seemed somewhat interesting.

He cleared his throat, trying to make his voice sound less like he was giving a pre-training pep talk.

“This story was told to me by an old soldier himself. It happened on the mountain behind his hometown.”

“On that mountain, there’s an unmarked burial ground.”

The moment the words left his mouth, Xu Xiangsi’s eyes lit up instantly.

All traces of her earlier lethargy vanished without a trace, replaced by brimming curiosity and anticipation.

This was promising!

Long Peiye, now confident, tried hard to recall the vivid, exaggerated manner of that old soldier and mimicked his tone as he began recounting the story.

“He said that year, during his vacation, he insisted on taking a shortcut through the back mountain late at night.”

“The moonlight was deathly pale, and the wind rustled the leaves like ghostly wails.”

“As he walked, he saw a white shadow in the woods ahead, floating and drifting…”

Long Peiye lowered his voice and slowed his pace. The dim lighting in the room instantly set the mood.

Xu Xiangsi instinctively tightened the thin quilt around her.

“Wait,” she suddenly interrupted, “Was it just a piece of white cloth tied to a tree with a rope, swinging back and forth?”

She wasn’t falling for such an old, tired trick.

Long Peiye imitated the old soldier’s expression and shook his head with certainty.

“Absolutely not.”

“That shadow was incredibly agile—up and down, left and right, and it could even dart ‘whoosh’ from one tree to another!”

Xu Xiangsi fell silent, her bright, dark eyes fixed intently on him in the dim light.

Long Peiye continued, “The old soldier was so scared his legs went weak. He hid behind a large rock, not daring to even breathe heavily.”

“He watched as that white shadow drifted around the woods for a full half hour.”

The more Xu Xiangsi listened, the more she curled up.

Finally, she couldn’t help but reach out and grab the sleeve of his shirt resting on the edge of the bed.

The fabric was thick and warm, carrying his unique, clean scent of soap, which slightly calmed her racing heart.

Feeling the tug on his sleeve, Long Peiye’s lips curved imperceptibly, but he kept the story going.

“Later, the old soldier scrambled back to the village in a panic and fell seriously ill the next day.”

“The villagers all said he’d encountered something evil, seen something unclean.”

The story stopped abruptly there.

Xu Xiangsi, still clutching his sleeve, asked nervously, “And then? What was that white shadow really?”

Looking at her tense little face, Long Peiye couldn’t hold back a soft chuckle.

He revealed the answer.

“Later on, the village militia teamed up with the local police station for a nighttime operation.”

“It turned out the white shadow was a cat kept by an old shamaness from the neighboring village.”

Xu Xiangsi: “?”

Her expression froze instantly.

Long Peiye, stifling a laugh, continued to explain, “To scam incense money, that shamaness specially trained her white cat. She draped a small piece of white cloth over it and made it jump around the trees in the back mountain every night, just to scare people walking after dark.”

“…”

“…”

An awkward silence fell over the room.

Xu Xiangsi slowly released her grip on his sleeve, her face a mix of complicated emotions.

Well.

She’d even asked if it was a cloth tied with a rope.

And he’d said with such certainty, “Absolutely not.”

Of course it wasn’t a rope—it was a cat!

Xu Xiangsi stared at him expressionlessly and finally squeezed out a fair assessment through gritted teeth.

“To train a cat to that level… that shamaness is quite the talent.”

She paused, then added, “This story is barely worth fifty cents.”

After speaking, she pulled the quilt up to cover half her face, revealing only a pair of eyes as she urged, “Next! I want to hear one worth a dollar! Make it even more exciting!”

This little woman… really knows how to push her luck.

Long Peiye shook his head helplessly and had no choice but to continue digging through his memories.

This time, what he recalled was no longer the kind of “interesting stories” that could be explained by science.

Among those tales were some that remained inexplicable to the end, carrying an eerie and bizarre vibe.

In these times, the label of feudal superstition was no small matter.

But with just the two of them behind closed doors, it should be… fine, right?

Looking into Xu Xiangsi’s bright, expectant eyes, Long Peiye steeled himself.

So be it, he’d tell it!