High-Martial World: System Arrives 30 Years Late-Chapter 45: Congratulations from the Base, Lu Xue’s Envy

Chapter 45: Chapter 45: Congratulations from the Base, Lu Xue’s Envy
Su Mu stepped forward and hugged Miaomiao tightly.
In an instant, two blushes like evening clouds spread across Miaomiao’s face, making her even more captivating. She looked around somewhat flustered.
"Su Mu, everyone... everyone’s watching..."
"Let’s go home first, shall we?"
"Okay, I’m back."
Su Mu didn’t let go, so Miaomiao had to shyly bury her head into Su Mu’s chest. Her hands also responded by tightly clinging to Su Mu’s broad back.
The rideshare car passed through the long Linjiang Bridge, the high-rise buildings outside the window faded away, replaced by somewhat old streets, not-so-tall buildings, separated by a bridge marking the division between the new and old districts.
Su Mu’s family lived in the old district. He planned to buy a new house in the new district during this visit.
"Huh, this road shouldn’t be congested at this hour, right?" The driver was a bit puzzled.
"No hurry." Su Mu continued to tease his daughter Xiaoyue.
After a dozen minutes, the rideshare car stopped at the entrance of an alley, the street in front was just too congested, so Su Mu’s family planned to walk home, which was only a few hundred meters away.
As they walked into the alley, they found it crowded with people, and there were sounds of gongs and drums ahead.
"Miaomiao, is there any event on the street lately?"
Miaomiao thought for a moment and shook her head, "I don’t think so."
As they walked through the crowd, Miaomiao met an old man who owned a small grocery store outside the community, "Uncle Liu, why is it so lively today? Is there an event or a new store opening?"
"Not really. It seems that a family in our community did something great in the city, and they’re coming back today. The people from the base are here to celebrate with a banner."
"Who is it?" Miaomiao’s curiosity was piqued.
"I’m not sure, seems like they survived the Alien Race Battlefield. They say only about three or five people survived, and this person is one of them. Impressive, huh?"
"So impressive?"
Miaomiao looked surprised, completely unaware of the strange expression on Su Mu’s face beside her. He seemed to have figured something out.
"I heard some people in front saying this person received a triple award from the city, is some honorary member of the Martial Arts Association and was awarded the rank of Sergeant by the military, named Su something..."
"Last name Su?" Miaomiao looked at Su Mu.
Just as Su Mu was about to speak, Miaomiao exclaimed in surprise, "Su Mu, what a coincidence, both you and this person have the last name Su and both are back today."
"That’s right, that person’s name is Su Mu. Teacher Jiang, you know this person?" Uncle Liu turned his head in confusion.
Ah?!
Miaomiao trembled, and after she snapped back to her senses, her first reaction was not joy, but shock. She reached over and pinched Su Mu’s waist hard, but found she couldn’t pinch him, so she just glared at him with an expression that said he needed to give her an explanation when they got home.
Seeing Miaomiao actually angry, Su Mu had to give a sheepish smile.
Uncle Liu had a loud voice, and after his shout, all the surrounding people turned their attention to them.
"Su Mu? Oh, I remembered. I thought this name sounded familiar. Isn’t this Su Mu Teacher Jiang’s husband?"
"Ah, it’s Teacher Jiang’s husband? So he’s that Su Mu?"
Immediately, the whole place erupted like boiling water in a pot. Hearing that Su Mu had appeared, the people in front holding the banner shouted, "Everyone, make way, make way."
In an instant, a group of people surrounded Su Mu’s family, and little Xiaoyue sitting on Su Mu’s shoulder curiously looked at the people. Are they all here to see her dad?
Soon, someone from the base squeezed through to Su Mu, and the middle-aged man at the head of the group took out a photo and, upon comparison, joyfully said, "That’s right, it’s him."
"Hello, Mr. Su Mu. I’m a director from the City Lord’s Mansion of Linjiang Base."
Su Mu looked over and saw the bold letters on the red banner: Warmly Congratulate Su Mu from Linjiang Town Base for Being Awarded by Shenjiang Martial Arts University, Shenjiang City Martial Arts Association, and the 1955 Corps, Granted the Titles of Advanced Lecturer and Sergeant...
"What are you all standing around for? Start playing the drums and gongs!"
"Turns out Teacher Jiang’s husband is so impressive. No wonder we’ve lived in the same community these past two years and haven’t seen much of him."
"Such impressive people must be working hard outside, they don’t have much time to spend at home. You think they are like you? But I think Teacher Jiang’s family also just moved here in the past two years."
"Teacher Jiang is so modest, having such an impressive husband, yet she never bragged about it. Impressive."
Soon someone came to pin bright red flowers on Su Mu’s family, and daughter Xiaoyue seemed very excited. The camera flashed continuously, and what should have taken a few hundred meters to walk ended up taking almost half an hour with all the fanfare.
At their doorstep, under the attention of everyone, the director from the base announced loudly, "Now, on behalf of Linjiang Base, I reward Mr. Su Mu’s family with 300,000 low-grade spirit stones and a Linjiang First-class property."
"We hope Mr. Su Mu will continue to strive for excellence in martial arts!"
"Thank you."
The words fell like a stone breaking the silence, causing an uproar among the onlooking crowd.
"300,000 low-grade spirit stones! I couldn’t earn that much in several lifetimes!"
"That’s less, you couldn’t earn it in a dozen lifetimes."
"And I remember Linjiang First-class is a villa area in the center. How much does that cost?"
"Teacher Jiang is truly blessed. Her husband is so accomplished. If you were even half as successful, no, even one-tenth, I’d be satisfied."
In the camera, Miaomiao showed a happy smile. At this moment, she truly felt immeasurably happy and proud of her husband.
Su Mu quickly dealt with the formalities. He politely declined the invitation from the City Lord’s Mansion and refused interviews from other ers.
But the ers still reluctantly followed them up the elevator until Su Mu’s family entered their home and closed the door.
"Come, honey, daughter, I brought you both gifts. See if you like them."
Su Mu took a limited edition Great White Bear plush from his suitcase, which Xiaoyue saw and eagerly went up to hug.
"And these two things."
"What is it?" Xiaoyue took out a dress and a pair of shoes from the bag, feeling very happy.
"Thank you, Dad. Xiaoyue really likes them."
Miaomiao watched this scene, smiled, and shook her head. So Su Mu brought such a big suitcase to carry gifts, she thought. She decided to ask Su Mu about it later when Xiaoyue was asleep.
At that moment, Su Mu took out three more bags.
"Miaomiao, this is for you."
"For me?"
A limited edition handbag, a mother-daughter dress matching Xiaoyue’s, and a pair of shoes. The shoes weren’t any brand name, just a pair of plain white canvas shoes.
But when Miaomiao saw those canvas shoes, her eyes welled up. The first gift Su Mu ever gave her was a pair of canvas shoes.
"Do you like them?"
"I love them, I really do."
Scenes from more than a decade ago overlapped with the present. Her beloved and the man from back then remained unchanged.
Downstairs, Lu Xue silently followed the crowd out of the community, unable to hide her envy and shock on her face. She knew it wasn’t a good time to find Miaomiao now that Su Mu had just returned.
Plus, she couldn’t help but feel a bit worried, wondering if the promise Miaomiao made before still held since Su Mu was now a prominent figure.