Chapter Sixty My Body Returns Home

  PS: I'm going out this afternoon, so I updated in advance. Wishing everyone a happy Dragon Boat Festival and also wishing all the fathers under the sky a happy Father's Day.

  The fat chef's craftsmanship is not bad. A bowl of Lanzhou beef noodles is done to perfection. The thin and delicate noodles are uniform in thickness, each strand looking the same. Thin slices of beef, cut as thin as a cicada's wing, fill the entire bowl. On top, there are sprinkles of green scallions. The red chili peppers floating in the noodle soup make one's appetite open up just by looking at it.

  A big bowl of beef noodles went down the hatch. His stomach felt comfortable and his heart seemed to have warmed up too. Zhang Tong politely thanked the fat chef before heading back to his dormitory. The unfamiliar environment, the cold treatment he received, made Zhang Tong lose sleep. He tossed and turned, flipping pancakes for half the night, only drifting off to sleep around 2 am.

  The next day, Zhang Tong was woken up by the wake-up call and saw that it was still dark outside. She looked at her phone and found that it was only 6 o'clock. She cursed silently and was about to get out of bed when she thought that the captain hadn't told her anything yesterday. He hadn't assigned any tasks or told her where to report today, just gave her a dormitory assignment. Thinking of this, Zhang Tong decided to ignore them and continued to sleep soundly.

  At 7:30, Zhang Tong was woken up again by the loud training sounds outside the window. After checking the time, she knew it wasn't good and quickly got out of bed to wash up. While dressing, she thought for a moment and changed into the beautiful police uniform, instead wearing the tactical vest with letters printed on it, camouflage pants, and big rubber shoes that she saw the special police officers wearing yesterday, and arrived at the training ground fully dressed.

  There are all sorts of things going on in the training ground. Some classes are practicing physical strength, some are running obstacle courses, and some are practicing combat skills. The most impressive is a special police unit that is practicing climbing a 5-story high simulated building wall. These special police officers have nothing but a rope around their waist. They are extremely agile and nimble. With only a few supporting points, they make the most of it and climb to the top of the building with just a few pushes. Then, with one pull on the safety rope around their waist, they quickly rappel down.

  "Does it look good?" A sarcastic female voice entered Zhang Tong's ears. Turning his head, it was the detestable policewoman from yesterday. Restricted by etiquette, Zhang Tong gave her a salute. The policewoman returned the salute and continued to speak sarcastically: "I forgot to introduce myself. Zeng Yan, female, unmarried; what's your name... never mind what you're called. This isn't important. Tsk tsk, you old fellow slept quite soundly yesterday. We were making a ruckus early in the morning. Didn't we disturb you?"

  Here is the translation:

  "Again with that arrogant attitude, as if someone owed her 200 dollars. Zeng Yan's attitude made Zhang Tong very unhappy. But now that he was under her roof, it wasn't good to offend her too much. Zhang Tong still maintained his politeness and asked: "Excuse me, Officer Zeng, which department should I report to next? And what is my next task?"

  Zeng Yan looked at her strangely: "What do you think the Special Police Team is? Which department are you from? Do you want me to assign a secretary for you? Didn't you report to the captain yesterday? There's no task today, you can take it easy..."

  Zhang Tong turned around and left in disappointment, never wanting to see Zeng Yan again, not even a glance.

  Like this, Zhang Tong, who had nothing to do, returned to the dormitory, moved a chair and sat in front of the window, staring at the outside with his eyes, and before long, his thoughts flew somewhere.

  At noon, Zhang Tong went to the cafeteria alone. Looking at the rows of neat queues in front of the cafeteria, she felt out of place by herself. The more time she spent in this special police force, the more uncomfortable she became. She really didn't fit in with the special police force.

  Embarrassed Zhang Tong heard someone calling her name. On the far left of the line, Li Xing was standing with that despicable Zeng Yan and two special police officers with badges. It was Li Xing who called out to her. "Come have lunch with us today at noon. Come over after 6:30 tonight. I'll explain it to the cafeteria staff."

  Standing at the end of the line, watching the special police officers form up and sing songs, then entering the cafeteria to eat in rows. Zhang Tong couldn't help but think of the Special Recruitment Class.

  The atmosphere was extremely depressing during dinner. The large cafeteria had not a single sound. Not one person spoke. Everyone quietly ate their meal. Zhang Tong couldn't take it anymore and opened his mouth to say: "Squad leader, I have some questions that I'd like to ask you."

  Li Xiang waved his hand, indicating that she should not speak. Next to Zeng Yan slapped her chopsticks on the table and glared at her. Zhang Tong rudely picked up the soup bowl and slammed it heavily on the table. Zeng Yan was so angry that she almost spoke out. The two special police officers next to her looked at each other, smiled and shook their heads, continuing to eat quietly.

  After dinner, Zhang Tong caught up with Li Xing who was leaving. "Squad leader, what do you mean by this."

  Li Xing looked at her strangely and asked, "What's going on? It's time for a nap now. Hurry back to your dorm or you'll be punished if the duty officer sees you."

  Zhang Tong blocked her way, rudely asking: "What's the meaning of this? I arrived yesterday, but until today, not a single person came to talk to me about anything. I heard that the Special Police Unit is organized by class. Which class should I go to? What should I do? Who is my direct superior? No one has told me anything at all."

  Li Xiang took off his hat, fanned himself and said slowly: "You didn't see Zeng Yan this afternoon, did you? She's the team leader of your second district team, your direct superior. Why didn't she tell you?"

  "She ridiculed me with cold words, then dropped a sentence saying there's no task for today and left me to my own devices. Zhang Tong felt that she was angrier than ever before in her life. This feeling of being played like a fool by others made her almost go crazy."

  "Oh, the team leader said there's no task left. You can do as you please. The special police team is under military management. Everything follows orders and commands." Li Xing answered irrelevantly and pushed her away before walking off.

  Lying in bed, she couldn't sleep no matter what. As she lay there, tears began to fall. Zhang Tong buried her face deeply into the pillow and sobbed uncontrollably. This feeling of injustice made her extremely distressed.

  In the afternoon, Zhang Tong didn't go anywhere and was filled with self-pity. After getting out of bed when the phone rang, she tidied up her bed and continued to sit by the window in a daze.

  She was forgotten. Li Xing didn't care about her anymore. Zeng Yan might have already thrown her into some corner of his mind long ago. In the afternoon, Zhang Tong thought a lot. He thought about university life; he thought about the hardships after graduation when he couldn't find a job; he thought about the days when he was an auxiliary police officer at the police station; finally, he thought about the days in the special recruitment class.

  Now that I think about it, is the world inside an ivory tower really the most beautiful after all? Even a temporary small ivory tower can leave such a deep impression on people.

  My mind is open and it's getting messy, like scattered light beams. For some reason, I thought of the day of graduation assignment. Old Hei's instructor said something strange to me: "Do a good job, girl. I'm watching you. After arriving at the new unit, remember to be proactive. Must be proactive. Our squadron leader has that style..."

  Take the initiative, must take the initiative, style... thinking of this, Zhang Tong suddenly had an epiphany. She seemed to understand. She began to understand what Coach Hei was trying to say.

  Hurriedly running downstairs, Zhang Tong searched the entire training field before finally finding Zeng Yan and a team of female special police officers in the southwest corner.

  "Report! Zhang Tong requests to participate in training." Zhang Tong shouted loudly.

  Zeng Yan seemed to have gone deaf. She hadn't heard at all and was self-absorbed in training her team members. Another awkward moment. Zhang Tong was left standing here like this. The curious gazes of over ten team members were fixed on her. Ashamed, Zhang Tong felt like turning around and leaving immediately. But thinking of Old Hei's instructions, she endured it with difficulty.

  It seems that the attention of the team members has been drawn away by Zhang Tong. The training can't continue. Zeng Yan turned around with disgust and looked at her. Zhang Tong, just like yesterday when she reported for duty, continued to ignore her. The team members started whispering to each other in a low voice.

  Disperse the team members, let them train on their own. Zeng Yan took off the combat belt from his waist and grasped it in his hand, circling Zhang Tong several times. "Requesting to join the training, just you, white and chubby like a spoiled young lady, can you handle this punishment."

  "Report to Squadron Leader Zhang Tong requesting training." No matter what Zeng Yan said, Zhang Tong only had this one sentence.

  "It's somewhat interesting. However, training isn't something that just anyone can participate in. Physical ability is the foundation of tactics. Have you received physical training?" Zeng Yan seemed to have become a bit more serious as well, but her tone was still arrogant.

  Jian Zhang Tong shook her head. Zeng Yan said even more disdainfully to her: "See if you can't. The track is 1200 meters long, 10 laps. Running 10,000 meters every day is a routine task for our team. If you can finish it tomorrow, you can join the training. If you can't, then go back where you came from."

  Wang Baoqian once asked a wild goose to deliver a letter from her family to Xue Pinggui, who was fighting in the war. In those days when information was not well developed, people who were separated by distance deeply longed for each other's letters. With the emergence of online platforms such as Tieba, Weibo, and social media... countless attention is paid to showing off one's marriage, career, wealth, and happiness... As time goes on, people sadly discover that when they take out their phones, they don't know who to call.

  Nowadays, even if we are successful, we can't surpass the days when we were foolish together (17k). The classmates from the special class have scattered to various corners of Shanxi Province. Except for a few close friends who can meet often, others gradually lost contact with each other.

  Tian Miao had a dream, in which he returned to the Happiness Road police station. He was wearing a brand new police uniform and had one of the two 64-style handguns from the station holstered at his waist. He patrolled the streets with Su Jing, who complained all along the way: "Those little brats from back then have now become our superiors... Liu Su is so biased..." and so on, talking incessantly.

  Tian Miao laughed very happily, but then she burst into tears. Afraid that Gong Qian would hear her and mock her, she buried her face deep in the pillow and sobbed quietly by herself.

  The pillow was suddenly pulled away. Tian Miao Miao raised her head in a panic. Gong Qian, with a look of disgust, pinched the corner of the pillow with her thumb and index finger, saying: "You're not afraid of suffocating to death."

  She hastily wiped her face, crying like a cat, and snatched back her own pillow. She said viciously: "Mind your own business. It's late at night, you're not sleeping. You're just stuffed from eating too much."

  Gong Qian's counterattack had been waiting for half a day but didn't come. Tian Miao Miao found her sitting on her bed with her arms around her. The two locked eyes together. Gong Qian said softly, "I miss home too..."

  Tian Miao slammed the pillow on the bed, jumped down and walked in front of Gong Qian, saying: "I don't miss home."

  "A dead duck with a hard beak. You're just crying for nothing." Gong Qian didn't believe it at all.

  "I'm crying because I wasted a whole month here for nothing. Everyone else has found their place and knows what they're doing, but me..." Tian Miao Miao said dejectedly.