'SEE YOU MORNING' 006 Welcome Back

In the dimly lit theater, a performance was underway on stage. The audience was filled with children—elementary school students. The kids were quiet, all watching attentively, when suddenly the curtain on stage caught fire. The flames spread quickly, and by the time the children on stage had come down, the entire stage was engulfed in fire.

Li Haojun immediately turned around and shouted to the children in the front rows, "Rows one and two, stand up, evacuate to the back, quickly, don't push, don't push, quickly! Students in the last row, open the door, hold it, hold the door open!" Li Haojun stood by the aisle seats, watching as the first two rows evacuated, then shouted urgently, "Rows three and four, stand up, rows three and four, go, go, evacuate quickly."

By now the massive fire from the stage behind them had spread to the front ceiling of the theater, with thick smoke and scorching heat rolling above and behind their heads.

"Students in rows five and six, stand up, evacuate quickly, hurry!"

The children were well-behaved and obedient, but the fire was spreading rapidly, and the smoke and heat were getting lower and lower. Li Haojun began to feel anxious as he looked at the remaining children who still needed to evacuate.

"Rows seven, eight, and nine, evacuate, quickly!"

By now, smoke filled the air above their heads, and the heat felt like it was about to singe their hair and backs.

"Bend down and run, bend down..."

Under the swallowing orange flames and pitch-black smoke, Li Haojun urgently realized they might not make it in time.

Suddenly he opened his eyes—it was just a dream. He collected his thoughts. The dream was so vivid, and he didn't know why he'd had such a dream.

Li Haojun got up and found that Qin Wenjing hadn't woken yet, so he went to her room. She was lying in the same position as yesterday morning. Li Haojun sat gently on the edge of the bed, stroking her body. Seeing she didn't respond, he didn't disturb her sleep and quietly left.

Qin Wenjing lay silently, slowly opening her eyes. She had actually already woken up, just waiting for Li Haojun to call her to get up like he had yesterday morning. She knew her man—the more he cared about someone, the more he cared about her past. And last night's intensity might not have strengthened their relationship; it could have caused harm. As a woman, she understood the difference between love and fuck. She had wanted to be intimate with him again this morning, but he had left on his own.

Qin Wenjing, still in her pajamas, got up and left the bedroom. She found Li Haojun sitting at the computer in the living room, so she walked over barefoot, squatted beside his chair, placed her hand on his thigh, looked up at him, and said, "Don't overthink it. John and I have nothing."

Li Haojun looked down at her face—so delicate and pitiful, making one want to protect her. He reached out and pulled her up, helped her sit on his lap, and gently stroked her body as he said, "Don't worry, I love you."

Qin Wenjing wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her face against his.

"A long, long time ago, I tried to live a normal life—get married, have children, just spend my whole life like that. But the marriage failed quickly. I underestimated how hard it is to get along with someone else. When I was drifting through the world, I realized I could never find you again."

As Qin Wenjing spoke, hot tears rolled down her cheeks and dripped onto Li Haojun. He quickly turned to wipe her tears, saying, "Don't cry. I'm right here. We'll never be apart again."

"Mm," Qin Wenjing said with red eyes, sobbing, still looking at Li Haojun and murmuring, "I didn't love that man from my past either. My body from back then was from a long time ago. Don't look down on me now."

Li Haojun gently wiped away her tears, kissed her lips, then held her close and whispered into her ear, "I would never look down on you. How could I? With someone as good as you, I can't even cherish you enough. Sometimes my mind gets muddled, but don't worry—I won't get lost. I'll always remember the way back to you."

After a while of this intimate moment, Qin Wenjing glanced at the computer screen and asked, "What are you doing?"

"Checking the news and major events from the past, filling in the gaps in my memory," Li Haojun said with a self-deprecating laugh.

"Oh, I'll go make breakfast," Qin Wenjing said, sliding off Li Haojun's lap. A smile crossed her face because the man she knew so well had come back.

Li Haojun also put down what he was doing, wrapped his arms around her waist like a shadow, and pressed close to Qin Wenjing as they went to the kitchen together. They could only step with their left legs and right legs in sync, while Qin Wenjing giggled and looked back at Li Haojun.

At the breakfast table, Qin Wenjing pushed her loose hair to one side, wearing her cool pajamas, crossed her legs, and sat across from him with a sweet expression on her face.

"Last time I asked you a question and you never answered me," Li Haojun said while eating.

"What?" Qin Wenjing said in a crisp voice.

"I asked you if we have any guns. I think... it's better to have some. This is America," Li Haojun answered.

"Mm, you've always been like this, always seeming to lack a sense of security. Yes, we do. They were yours before too. Actually, it's quite safe here. We're in a more conservative area, far from the liberal zones of the big cities. The counties in between enforce laws that prohibit crimes like robbery and theft, so the habitual criminals from the liberal zones can't get through. There are patrol cars and drones blocking those with records. Over there they have absolute freedom, but they absolutely cannot escape the consequences." Qin Wenjing said slowly while eating and drinking, casually briefing Li Haojun on the situation.

"Mm, the last line of defense still needs to be there—on one hand for petty thieves, on the other hand in case of something planned, we can't just sit and wait to die," Li Haojun added.

Qin Wenjing smiled at Li Haojun. She knew this man too well. She had told him about the logic of survival countless times before, but she liked this kind of man.

"They're all in the basement. I'll take you to see them after we eat," Qin Wenjing said. She finished eating and stirred her still-hot coffee with a spoon, waiting for Li Haojun.

They came to the basement. The lighting was dim, with no windows or doors leading to the outside of the house. It was a bit cold and damp. Down the stairs on the right was a safe.

"Go try it, fingerprint lock," Qin Wenjing said, arms crossed, not following him forward.

Li Haojun unlocked it and pulled open the heavy door. Inside was like a small arsenal—long and short weapons all there. He turned back to Qin Wenjing in disbelief and asked, "Am I a secret agent too?"

Qin Wenjing still had her arms crossed. "No, you just like them."

"Alright, looks like I'm pretty wealthy," Li Haojun said, helping Qin Wenjing up the stairs and out of the basement. "It's a bit cold down here. You don't need to stay with me."

"Okay, be careful yourself."

After seeing Qin Wenjing off, Li Haojun began his immersive appreciation of his collection. Inside the safe door were all handguns—P228 Sig Sauer, the standard issue for U.S. federal agents; .40 Smith & Wesson USP, the SEAL Team bid series; CZ75 all-steel compact, and so on. Then the CZ sub-compact models, HK P30SK. No full-size pistols, but Li Haojun immediately understood—his hand size simply wasn't suited for full-size grips. A few .38 revolvers, Smith & Wesson and Ruger, all with concealed hammers, double-action only. Then there were pocket-level miniature self-defense pistols, .32 Beretta, and below that a short-barreled Savage shotgun.

Li Haojun chuckled to himself—this must have been a long-term project. It seemed Qin Wenjing's claim of ten years as partners wasn't exaggerated.

Looking further in, there were NATO 7.62 Remington bolt-action, NATO 5.56 SCAR, Warsaw Pact 7.62 AK, and Warsaw Pact rimfire 7.62 Mosin-Nagant—all popular civilian calibers. It really seemed like just a hobby, not a pursuit of ultimate performance, or else extremely practical. Li Haojun analyzed the behavioral motivations as he examined each piece.

Although he had forgotten the experience of using and buying them before, Li Haojun still picked them up one by one to test the feel. Without mental memory, what about muscle memory? Li Haojun tried gripping the handles, chambering rounds, ejecting magazines, clearing the chamber, decocking—nothing felt familiar. It seemed he really was just a hobbyist, not a secret agent.

While handling the pistols, he noticed the serial numbers had years, sequential, spanning a long time. It seemed he really liked this—new models every year.

Li Haojun selected two, locked the safe, and went back up the stairs to the room. Touching the two pieces he'd brought up, he couldn't help but wonder, did he really need that many?

He looked for Qin Wenjing and found her brushing her hair, sitting at her vanity mirror braiding her hair into a small updo.

Li Haojun sat beside her, wrapped his arms around her waist, and admired her work. Qin Wenjing gave him a sweet smile in the mirror.

"Were all those equipment bought at once?" Li Haojun asked.

"No," Qin Wenjing said, a bit surprised he was asking.

"Why do I keep buying guns?"

"Who knows what you were thinking," Qin Wenjing answered, pouting.

"Sigh, am I still an employee of the company? Do I still get a salary?"

"Yes, I've been saving it for you."

"Wife, give it back to me, okay? I want to buy things," Li Haojun said, shaking Qin Wenjing's waist while whispering in her ear.

"Oh, when you want money I'm your wife, when you don't want money I give you everything for free..." Qin Wenjing said with her mouth wide open, pretending to be dissatisfied.

At that moment, Li Haojun also remembered something and asked timidly, "Seriously, did I ever... propose to you before?"

Qin Wenjing slowly calmed down, took Li Haojun's hand, and said softly, "No." She looked to the side. After a moment she turned back to Li Haojun and said, "Drifting through the world..." She stroked Li Haojun's hand and murmured, "Isn't this good enough? Why think so far ahead." Then she gently nestled into Li Haojun's arms.