Azur Lane Under the Stars

Page 535

When he was leaving, Giuseppe looked back at Duke Abruzzi with great reluctance, and even made an appointment to come back to the port area again next time.

Duke Abruzzi watched Giuseppe leave with a gentle, sisterly smile, only slightly suppressing his smile once Giuseppe was out of sight.

"How is the situation?" Littorio walked out from the side.

"Things are going well, the cooperation this afternoon went quite well." Duke Abruzzi stretched, revealing his perfect curves.

“To be honest, if we can take this down, then I’d like to try and take down the older sister behind her as well…” Littorio was very interested.

“Take your time, these things can’t be rushed… By the way, I asked you to go to St. Louis to get the drama company’s schedule, did you get it? I need to study the plan a bit more tonight.”

"It's all taken care of a long time ago, and I've already gone home."

"Ah."

Chapter 582 Ren Shuo, forced to get out of bed

"Hmph hmph hmph~ Hmph hmph~"

Inside the hotel, Giuseppe, wearing a thin nightgown, lay casually on the bed, her slender yet nimble fingers moving across her phone, seemingly chatting with someone.

What are you doing?

A young girl with flowing blonde hair, delicate features, and a slender figure rushed up behind Giuseppe and asked curiously.

Giuseppe instinctively turned off his phone screen, then turned around and said with displeasure, "Why do you walk so quietly?"

"What? You have a little secret with me? And the door was so loud when I opened it, you were too engrossed... Tell me, who were you chatting with?"

The newcomer stared at Giuseppe with great curiosity and reached out to grab Giuseppe's phone.

"What are you doing!" Giuseppe hurriedly stretched out his arm, preventing her from reaching his phone.

If this friend gets hold of my phone, then all the passwords I set will be useless.

"Tch, you stingy guy. After all these years of friendship, all you want is to take a look?"

The blonde girl withdrew her hand, looking disgruntled, and stood up.

"Da Vinci, you seem to have nothing better to do, don't you? Aren't you tired from the afternoon performance? Why don't you go and rest?"

Giuseppe breathed a sigh of relief and glared at his partner.

When Leonardo da Vinci heard Giuseppe mention this, he grinned mischievously and said, "By the way, why didn't you come to watch our performance this afternoon? Also, I heard from the girls in your group that you weren't at the hotel all afternoon."

"Mind your own business! Can't I go out for a stroll?"

Giuseppe said, "Yeah, I went to visit someone's port and ended up meeting an older sister."

“There’s a flaw!” Leonardo da Vinci narrowed his eyes, then suddenly leaped up, rolled and escaped, snatching the phone from Giuseppe’s side.

"You rascal! You've used that trick again!"

Giuseppe was shocked. This guy always liked to use this trick. Even if he was on guard, it was useless because... it was impossible to defend against.

"Hmph, I'm the genius Leonardo da Vinci! Giuseppe, you're still too green. Let me see what secrets you hold!"

Da Vinci got his hands on the phone and started operating it haphazardly.

Giuseppe could only sit there helplessly. As friends of many years, there were no secrets between them. If he wanted to see Leonardo da Vinci's phone, he would just ask. This was just their usual playful banter.

Anyway, it's not something that can't be known by others.

"Wow... Giuseppe, you actually let someone sneak into the port area!" Leonardo da Vinci looked at Giuseppe in shock.

"What? I was just going to visit someone else's place. How did you let me join the port area without my permission?" Giuseppe was quite helpless.

"Ahem... Just kidding, but I'm still very curious, why did you suddenly decide to visit someone else's port?"

Da Vinci casually put his phone aside and asked.

"Well, how should I put it? It just came to me on a whim. I was really curious about why those ship girls in the port area could have such sweet smiles."

Giuseppe stared blankly at the lights outside.

To be honest, as a dancer and a stage actress, I need to study expressions of joy, anger, sorrow and happiness. However, no matter how much I practice, I can't recreate the smiles I used to see on the faces of the ship girls in the port.

“Hmm, indeed, I’m curious too,” Leonardo da Vinci said. “So, what have you discovered?”

"Not yet," Giuseppe shook his head.

"What did you do all afternoon?" Leonardo da Vinci asked with a suspicious look.

I went out for a big lunch, had afternoon tea and met the Duke of Abruzzi, and brought back quite a few snacks... Does that count?

I was just thinking about it, but I absolutely couldn't say it out loud. If I did, I definitely wouldn't be able to keep any of my desserts!

“Wait a minute… don’t try to hide it from the clever Miss Da Vinci… what’s in your plate?” Da Vinci noticed the cake crumbs in the plate on the coffee table.

“Oh, a snack, bought from outside,” Giuseppe said calmly.

"Oh, I see..." Leonardo da Vinci had no doubts.

"Oh, by the way, I have a question for you. I saw on your phone, are you still going tomorrow?" Da Vinci asked curiously.

"Yeah, I don't have any performances tomorrow, so I'm free to do whatever I want."

“Count me in! I want to go too!” Leonardo da Vinci said immediately.

"Let me ask for you."

Please~

…………

"Commander, why are you suddenly thinking of going over there so late?"

Ren Shuo had already taken a shower and was about to rest when Ming Shi suddenly made a cross-border phone call, asking him to come over, saying that only he could do this.

Then Ren Shuo could only get dressed again with his wife's help and prepare to leave.

“I wanted to ask too. Akashi told me to go there... Seriously, that green-headed cat said the temporary port area over there is all set up and he wants me to go for the ribbon-cutting ceremony so everyone can move in…”

"Honestly, which building project has a ribbon-cutting ceremony late at night after it's finished? And do you think people will stop living here if I don't cut the ribbon? These are all just troublesome ideas," Ren Shuo said helplessly.

"Haha, but that's Akashi's style too, with that slightly nonsensical feel," Azuma laughed.

"Fine, I'll go. Zhenhai just told me he's got a ship girl sorted out, so I'll take a look while I'm at it."

Ren Shuo said.

"So fast?" My wife covered her mouth in surprise.

"Hmm, I find it hard to imagine either. Should I say that they're easy to deal with, or that Zhenhai's methods are just too powerful?" Ren Shuo shrugged. "Alright, I'm going out now."

My wife looked at Ren Shuo with eyes full of love, just like a loving wife seeing her husband off to work: "Have a safe trip."

…………

"Commander is finally here, meow! We've been waiting for you, meow."

Upon seeing Ren Shuo's arrival, Akashi waved happily.

"Commander, we're just waiting for you to cut the ribbon, meow, but before that, please pay the remaining balance of the project funds, meow!"

Akashi's eyes transformed into the shape of money, and with a greedy look on his face, he reached his hand under Ren Shuo's nose, begging for money.

"You called me over in the middle of the night just for a ribbon-cutting ceremony? Your company cuts ribbons in the middle of the night? Huh? And you have the nerve to ask for money? Didn't St. Louis pay you? And you're asking me for money?"

Ren Shuo is not some commander who can be easily manipulated by unscrupulous merchants. You are now my ship girl, and you are only helping the port manage some supplies. I haven't shortchanged you by a single penny in salary.

So you're using the port's job to make money off the port commander? Akashi, you've got quite the airs of a high-ranking official.

Ren Shuo showed no politeness whatsoever, grabbing Ming Shi's cheeks and starting to torment the green-headed cat.

You can't hold back against this unscrupulous merchant at all, or you'll be taken advantage of and ripped off badly.

Ren Shuo has a deep understanding of this.

"It's not the middle of the night, it's only 10 o'clock... Commander, I'm sorry, meow!! Be gentle, meow! You're killing the cat, meow!"

Akashi struggled desperately.

"Alright, alright, Commander, let Akashi go. Akashi is already in a lot of pain."

Mikasa stepped in to act as a peacemaker.

"Hmph. I'll let you off this time, but if you do it again next time, you'll be severely punished." Ren Shuo glared at Ming Shi.

Akashi was on the verge of tears. Why, why did this happen? She could have earned some extra money, she could have reopened her Akashi shop...

Why did I only manage to get five figures in money and not earn any extra cash, but instead got beaten up?

Damn it, I should have added two more zeros when I submitted the materials!

Anyway, St. Louis won't even look at them, as long as it's not Honolulu reviewing the documents...

So Ren Shuo did a good job. Look, even at this point, he's still thinking about how to line his own pocket.

"Huh...why are you all alone? Where's Taihou?"

Ren Shuo noticed that everyone else was gathered in twos and threes, while Kashino was standing alone, and couldn't help but wonder.

Kashino was called out, and she trembled like a startled rabbit, followed by the two little rabbits on her chest struggling as if trying to break free of their restraints.

Kashino said timidly, "-Commander, Taihou said she couldn't wait to see you, so she went back first..."

Well, so you skipped work to go back and see me? And left poor Niu Niu to work overtime all by herself? Poor Niu Niu, you're really pitiful, everyone can bully you.

Mikasa stood next to Ren Shuo and burst into laughter: "That girl Taihou, really, when she was home the Commander went out, and then she went out, and then you went back, and now she went back early again, and you were called over again... She's really unlucky."

Ren Shuo also looked puzzled. This girl... is a bit unlucky.

Meanwhile, in the port area, Taihou sneaked into Ren Shuo's room and was very pleased to see through the window that there was a light on in Ren Shuo's room. The Commander must be in the room!

Taihou was very excited, and then tiptoed around the sight of the ship girls at the door, in the corridor and in the stairwell, like a secret agent, and slowly approached Ren Shuo's door.

Looking at the final checkpoint, Dafeng cautiously glanced left and right, then took out her spare key and slowly began to open the door. With each turn of the key, her mood became more and more cheerful.

Taiho thought her infiltration was perfect, but little did she know that the port district's protection of Ren Shuo was meticulous, with the corridor filled with cameras.

Atago and Noshiro, who were on duty in the monitoring room, looked at each other in bewilderment.

"What's wrong with her? The commander isn't here." Noshiro looked puzzled.

Atago smiled and said, "Perhaps it's a kind of fun?"

Noshiro glanced at the lewd dog but didn't say anything.

Da Feng opened the door and went inside, only to hear a very cheerful singing voice.

When that sound came… Daihou frowned, no longer bothering to conceal himself, and quickly walked in, where he saw Azuma folding clothes with a look of astonishment on his face.

"Taihou? You're back?"

"Why are you here? Where is the commander?" Taihou demanded.

“Commander? The Commander just received a notification from Akashi and went to your place... Didn’t you know?” Azuma said, while Taihou gradually turned pale and lifeless.

"No!!!!"

Taifeng's screams echoed through the night sky.

…………

"That's about it, Commander. It's kind of you to call me here so late at night." Mikasa took back the last document that needed Ren Shuo's signature and said.

"It's nothing, it's nothing... That being said, it's not an important document, is it? Why didn't you notify me tomorrow morning?" Ren Shuo put down his pen and asked.

"We wanted to too, but Akashi couldn't wait and made the call right away."

"It's that green-headed cat again." Ren Shuo gritted his teeth.

“That’s right, look at the Commander, she’s a night owl, but we’re all forced to work overtime,” Mikasa said.

"Let's go back and set up some preferential policies for Shiranui's shops, so that Shiranui can earn more money," Ren Shuo said decisively.

Mikasa looked shocked: "Commander, you're too ruthless."

Ren Shuo smiled reservedly: "It's nothing, it's just average."

For Akashi and Shiranui, these two sworn enemies, the most apt way to describe their relationship is in one sentence.

"It hurts me more to see this kid make money than to see me lose money."