Chapter 8: Fellow Townsmen Meet Fellow Townsmen, a Backstab

Elegant music played inside the office; today the Prince of Wales sat smiling in an office armchair, holding a cup of black tea, leisurely spending this tranquil afternoon.

The Commander Academy had not yet started classes, and there was no post-graduation hustle; his own garden had been repaired, and nothing could be more pleasant than this.

But just as the Prince of Wales was thinking that, a ringtone shattered the office's tranquility. The Prince, who was sipping black tea, frowned slightly, then quickly relaxed, set the teacup on the desk, and picked up the ringing phone, saying, "Hello, hello, I am the Prince."

…………

"Oh, I remember now!" Fushun shook the letter of introduction that Qin Ge had given him, saying, "Ah, it's that person, haha, he actually dared to send a letter of introduction to the academy... cough, cough, you're Qin Ge, right?"

Seeing Fushun suddenly burst into laughter across from him, Qin Ge felt a bit doubtful—could Xu Xin be that famous at the Commander Academy? But what does it mean that he dared to send a letter of introduction to the academy? As Fushun questioned him, Qin Ge nodded and said, "That's right, I'm Qin Ge."

"Hmm, Qin Ge, since the commander who issued your letter of introduction is somewhat special, I need to check with the school internally; you come in and wait a moment, there shouldn't be any problem, right?" Fushun said to Qin Ge.

"No problem, but could you tell me what makes Commander Xu Xin so special?" Qin Ge asked, looking at the smiling Fushun, he increasingly felt something fishy was going on.

"He was, however, a rising star of last year's term, very impressive." Fushun, looking at Qin Ge who seemed doubtful, chuckled while explaining.

"A rising star?" Qin Ge recalled Xu Xin's smiling face, though he didn't understand, so he just nodded and entered the guardhouse. Meanwhile Fushun ran from the guardhouse into the school grounds; after making sure she could no longer be seen from the guardhouse, she stopped and said, "Hehehe, that guy Xu Xin actually wrote a letter to the dean recommending a commander? He must be introducing his cronies—I'll definitely report this to the dean!"

…….

…….

"Hello, hello, I am the Prince." A mature, steady voice came from the phone—indeed, it was the Prince of Wales resting in the office.

"Dean, sorry to disturb your rest, I'm Fushun." Fushun, while furtively glancing at the distant guardhouse, spoke into the phone.

"Oh, Fushun, aren't you supposed to be on duty at the academy gate today? Why are you calling me all of a sudden? Did something happen?" the Prince of Wales said with a smile; the duty roster at the academy was personally drawn up by her, so she was fully aware of Fushun's movements.

"Dean, I have something to report. While I was on duty at the gate today, a greenhorn showed up, saying he wanted to enroll at our academy, but he didn't know the enrollment procedure at all, so he came to ask me. You know I'm always eager to help, so I told him—who would have thought he actually brought a letter of introduction from another commander? So I wanted to see which irresponsible person failed to give him the latest information, and as it turned out, that letter of introduction was written by Xu Xin!" Fushun vividly recounted her encounter with Qin Ge over the phone, her energetic personality shining through.

"Who did you say? Xu Xin!?" Upon hearing this, the Prince of Wales could hardly stay seated, sprang up from the chair, and exclaimed, "He still dares to recommend a commander to the academy?"

"Exactly, that's the reaction I just got. That guy brought his own warship girl Tang Si, blew up the dean's most beloved garden, then fled on the graduation day without even saying sorry! Now he dares to swaggeringly recommend a commander under his own name to the academy—I think this greenhorn named Qin Ge must be his accomplice!" Fushun hurriedly agreed with the Prince of Wales's tone.

The Prince of Wales was instantly amused by Fushun's tone, chuckling, "Hehe, what do you think we should do?"

Fushun's eyes shifted, "I think we should directly call the Maritime Affairs Bureau's military police and have them come lock up this terrorist for a few days!"

Heaven pities the poor—inside the guardhouse right now, Qin Ge was still thanking his "fellow townsman" for looking out for him, little expecting that this very person would turn around and sell him out, even preparing to call the military police to lock him up. This truly proves the saying, "When fellow townsmen meet, they stab each other in the back."

"Oh, on what grounds?" the Prince of Wales said with a smile.

"Obviously, it's for intentionally damaging the facilities of the Azure Lane Commander Academy." Fushun said with a smile.

"I say, little Fushun, you've really come to spite me. Although he was introduced by Xu Xin, anyone who can make Xu Xin write a letter of introduction despite knowing it would offend me must be extraordinary. We haven't cleared anything up yet, and I haven't even seen the person, yet you want to throw him into the military police's big cell—are you just bored during this break, finally found someone to mess with, and now that you've caught him you're going all out?" The Prince of Wales's tone turned teasing; the wise her had already seen through the whole affair.

"I haven't, I was just feeling sorry for the dean's former garden." Fushun said with a smile, showing no embarrassment at having her little scheme exposed.

"Hmph, how could I not know what you're thinking? Getting back to the point, is that person named Qin Ge still with you?" the Prince of Wales said.

"Yes, he's waiting in the guardhouse at the gate for my reply." Fushun replied.

The Prince of Wales paused, then said, "Bring him to my office. Anyway, I have nothing else this afternoon, and I'd like to see what talent the person recommended by Xu Xin herself actually possesses."

"Ah, that's against the rules, isn't it? He isn't even a commander of our Commander Academy yet." Fushun said cautiously to the Prince of Wales.

"Heh, in the Azure Lane Commander Academy, my word is the rule—what could be against the rules?" the Prince of Wales laughed arrogantly. Although she said this, it wasn't wrong: the Azure Lane Commander Academy is an independent entity separate from the Donghuang Naval Headquarters. The authority of each dean within the school is supreme, so each dean is always a warship girl, because while humans might develop selfish motives from power, warship girls never do.

"All right, you're the dean, I'll listen to you." Fushun said with a smile, then hung up the phone and walked toward the guardhouse at the academy gate. Before long she reached the guardhouse door, opened it, and saw Qin Ge inside, looking somewhat expectant.

"Qin Ge, I just reported your situation upward; the dean of our Commander Academy, the Prince of Wales, wants to see you. Come with me now." Fushun said to Qin Ge with a smile, completely free of her earlier ulterior motives.

"The dean wants to see me?" At this moment Qin Ge was stunned by the news—could Xu Xin's influence really be that great? It's not really his fault; it's like going to the country's top university, holding someone else's recommendation letter, and according to procedure others should receive you, but suddenly the school's dean wants to see you—of course you'd be taken aback…

"That's right, come with me." Fushun said with a smile.

"Oh." Qin Ge nodded and followed Fushun's steps toward the interior of the academy…