Chapter 14: About General Q's Promotion

  I stood at the entrance, not rashly walking in. The old man was standing there too, staring blankly at Su Haicheng's photo. It wasn't until after more than ten minutes that he put down the photo and said: "You've come up. I thought we wouldn't meet again."

  He slowly walked to the solid wood large desk, and Xiao Bing hurriedly helped him sit down. The old man waved his hand for him to go out first.

  After the little soldier left, the old man said to me: "What do you want this time? Didn't Hai Cheng's mother already give you his card? The money in that card should be enough for you."

  This time, he didn't even let me sit down, but directly said such words. I think he misunderstood me. I said: "Grandpa..."

  "Don't call me like that, just call me Old Master."

  My words got stuck in my throat, this is obviously excluding me. I hesitated for a moment, gave myself a boost, and said: "Old man, I love Su Haicheng, and I'm even pregnant with his child. I want to know where he is? Did he die or something?"

  This line was thought out on the train and should pass.

  The old man's gaze changed as he looked at me, seeming to brighten up in an instant. "You've come this time just to find out the cause of his death?"

  "Yes, I think so too. As the mother of the child in my belly, I have the right to know how he really died. Old man, I..."

  "Call me grandpa." He interrupted my words again. I guessed the old man's mind. At first, he thought I was coming for money, so his attitude towards me was not good, but now that he knew I wasn't here for money, but for Su Haicheng whom we both loved, his attitude towards me naturally changed.

  "Grandpa, I want to know the truth."

  He pointed at the solid wood armchair across from the desk: "Sit down, let's talk."

  I walked over, thinking in my mind that today's goal should be achievable now.

  The old man pushed the photo he had just looked at in front of me, and said in a hoarse voice with a sob: "Look, this is the first time Haicheng made a meritorious deed."

  In the photo, Su Haicheng is wearing camouflage gear and a beret on his shoulder. In the photo, he sits in a rattan chair on the first floor, holding a black stone in his hand, intently staring at the chessboard in front of him. He looks quite handsome like this.

  "Hai Cheng was playing chess with me at that time. His mother came back and took this photo. My grandson, just gone like that. Sigh!"

  "Grandpa, don't be sad anymore. How did he die?"

  "When was the last time he contacted you?"

  I didn't expect the old man to ask me back, and I was so surprised that I didn't know what to say for a moment. Just thinking about the pregnancy time on the last bill, I said: "About, about, roughly two months ago."

  "Alas, he had a special mission half a month ago and sacrificed himself in the mission."

  "Why didn't I see it in the news?"

  "It's normal for soldiers to sacrifice themselves during a mission, there's nothing worth saying about it. Moreover, that was a special task."

  "Grandpa, is that all? Who told you that Su Haicheng had sacrificed himself? When did you receive the news of his sacrifice?"

  "It was the end of August, his political commissar informed us. His mission, even his political commissar wasn't very clear about it. You don't need to ask more, knowing this is enough. If we say any more, it's military secret. Child, go back and take care of yourself, this child is important for our family."

  I nodded, and for a moment I didn't know what to say either. The old man's words were roughly the same as the information we had obtained, which was basically useless and impractical.

  Just as I didn't know how to continue, Su's mother's voice came from the door: "How did you come again? What did I tell you last time? If you don't follow our agreement, then I'll freeze that card and you won't get anything."

  I quickly stood up. I don't know why, but in front of his mother, I felt flustered and timid, so I hastily shrunk my neck and slipped out of the study room from beside her, running downstairs. It was as if I were a thief who had sneaked into her house.

  Just as I was going downstairs, I felt that I shouldn't leave like this. I came all the way here and didn't get any information at all, isn't that very weak?

  And listening to the sound from upstairs, it seemed that Su's mom and the old man were quarreling. Their voices were quite loud, but it seemed like the study door was closed, so I couldn't hear very clearly on the first floor. After hesitating for a moment, I still plucked up my courage and sneaked back to the second floor again.

  As I gradually approached the second floor study, I could also hear what they were saying clearly.

  "Ah, my only son is gone! Do you think I won't be heartbroken? What does it matter what she's called, as long as my grandson... she'll always just be a stranger to me! Waaah~ Dad, can't you tell me what mission Haicheng was on when he had the accident? He's dead and I couldn't even see his body! I couldn't even see his clothes! Dad," she steadied her voice before continuing, "Tell me who General Q is. What kind of mission is it that the general in charge uses a codename, and the soldiers who participated in the mission can't even see their own bodies after they die?"

  "Grow up! You're not a new army wife!" The old man's voice still had a lot of momentum.

  Just then, footsteps came from downstairs, I hastily retreated two steps, wanting to rush down. But just at this moment, Su's mother heard the sound outside and rushed out of the study door.

  What happened next, I'm not very clear about. Anyway, I fell down the stairs. Until much later, I still don't know if I was scared and lost my footing or if it was Su's mom who pushed me. In any case, I fell. And because of the tension or whatever, my stomach suddenly cramped up in pain.

  I was lying on the thick carpet at their home, covering my stomach and thinking of going. My relatives from home should be arriving in these few days. And now I feel like it's really worth coming just before this. No way, that would be too embarrassing.

  I struggled to get up, with cold sweat all over my forehead.

  Su's mom was also panicked and rushed downstairs to help me up, asking: "What's wrong, are you okay? Should we call an ambulance?"

  I hadn't even had a chance to speak yet, and in the next second, her expression changed: "Were you eavesdropping outside the study? What did you hear?"

  I quickly shook my head. If I said I heard something, wouldn't they silence me? Su Haicheng, you stinky dead man, what kind of family do you have anyway?

  "I'm fine! I'm fine! I can go back by myself!" I pushed away Su's mom, who was only pretending to support me, and it seemed like she would feel uncomfortable if we touched. So I gently pushed her away and hurriedly ran towards the door while hugging my stomach. As I ran, I thought about whether there was a restroom at the nearest bus terminal where I could take care of myself.

  So afterwards, I didn't pay attention to what happened next, and I was nervous that my red envelope would accidentally fall out.

  At three o'clock in the afternoon, I returned to my parents' home.

  In City A, in an old residential area, my parents live here. They are workers at a factory nearby and don't have much money, but their lives aren't bad either. Last time I followed Su Haicheng to City A, originally wanted to come back and visit my parents, but was directly pulled away by him.

  Back home, my parents were both at work. After taking a bath, I lay on the bed, fiddling with my phone, thinking about how to convey the information from earlier to Su Haicheng.

  After sorting out the previous messages, there is a General Q and one suspicious point is that they died without seeing their bodies. Just like Su Haicheng said, their squad was completely wiped out, which can be found in the data, but no other soldiers went in to deal with this matter. The place was forgotten as if it had been abandoned.

  I pulled out my phone and thought to myself, hopefully Su Haicheng hasn't arrived at the village yet. If he has, there might not be any signal on his phone over there. Just like last time, I only had one bar of signal on my phone. But Kaka Xi's phone had four bars of signal and could even access the internet back then.

  Hope his new phone is more powerful.