Chapter 55: Another Difficult Problem Arises

  "Officer Zhang was put in a sack and beaten up last night."

  The news quickly spread throughout the entire regiment. Those soldiers who were often bullied by Officer Zhang secretly cheered when they heard the news.

  Lian Chang Zhu was furious. Someone in his company dared to beat an instructor, this was unbearable. He immediately summoned the three platoon leaders for an emergency meeting and announced that each platoon would conduct a thorough investigation to find out which soldiers were so bold as to defy military discipline and assault an instructor.

  At the same time, Zhu Pai Shan also set up an investigation team. He vowed to catch the soldiers who beat Zhang Jiao and bring them to justice in accordance with military law.

  This matter was investigated again and again, but no clues were found. That day was a Sunday, and many soldiers went out for a stroll, some in groups and others alone. When Officer Zhang returned to the barracks that evening, there were no soldiers coming out to be active on the road of the barracks, only he was alone. Moreover, when he was beaten, his head was covered with a broken sack. He also didn't see clearly who beat him, or how many people beat him. However, judging from the movement of beating him, it must have been at least two people.

  Who exactly was it that ambushed him halfway, and Zhang Feng still hadn't figured it out. Although he had some suspicions about Li Guoting, he didn't have any evidence to prove that Li Guoting was the one who did it. He could only swallow this bitter fruit himself.

  A month has passed in the blink of an eye, and the investigation team still hasn't found any leads. They've suspected many people, including Li Guoting. They even called Li Guoting to the investigation team for questioning. They intentionally intimidated Li Guoting, saying that someone said he was dissatisfied with Instructor Zhang, and that he had privately retaliated by getting someone to beat up Instructor Zhang.

  Li Guoting denied it and said that he also went out to buy daily necessities that afternoon. There were things he bought as evidence. Moreover, he drank a lot of wine in a small tavern. The tavern owner and fellow soldiers can testify. It's impossible to hit Instructor Zhang at all.

  The investigation team didn't get anything out of Li Guoting's mouth. They couldn't find any conclusive evidence either. Commander Zhu, who had been searching for a breakthrough, saw that even after being beaten, Instructor Zhang had recovered and returned to the unit after a stay in the hospital. Not wanting to stir up trouble on his last days as commander of the new recruits, which would be detrimental to his own promotion prospects, he disbanded the investigation team. And so, the matter of the severe beating of Instructor Zhang was dropped.

  October has passed, the hot weather is starting to cool down. In Hankou, a brief autumn is beginning to arrive. The two tall Chinese parasol trees in the barracks are softly singing an autumnal song of coolness. Crickets are jumping out from the corners of walls and grass by the roadside, also singing their own love songs, searching for their own mates.

  The headquarters issued a notice that next week, the new recruit regiment will be disbanded and all soldiers participating in the new recruit assembly training will have to be reassigned.

  As soon as the notice came out, the new recruits' barracks became lively. Everyone was greeting each other, recognizing fellow villagers, and forming sworn brotherhoods. The new recruit training mission also stopped. Some soldiers gathered on the drill ground to celebrate wildly. Someone took off their military cap and threw it into the air, someone hugged each other tightly, with tears in their eyes, shouting out each other's names.

  Li Guoting also became good friends with Zhang Xiaotong and Dong Liang from the fourth class, both of whom were very kind to Li Guoting. They had helped him during the new recruit training process.

  Only one man was not with these new recruits reveling, he lay on his own bunk in the barracks, secretly shedding tears.

  This man is none other than Ma Fei.

  It's strange to say, Ma Fei grew up in a family of gangsters and businessmen from a young age. From his grandfather's time, they worked for the gang and held positions in it, and their family was considered one of the local big families. His grandfather had seven wives. His father was born to the third wife. Later, his father also joined the Green Gang and became a leader in it. Their family not only worked for the gang but also opened many shops. His father, like his grandfather, didn't have seven concubines, but he did have five. Ma Fei was born to the youngest concubine and was the most favored by his father.

  Later, his father was killed in a gang fight, and their home was looted by the gang members. Ma Fei managed to escape under the protection of his family.

  When at home, Ma Fei was elegant and refined, and being the favorite of his father, he had a strong personality, always wanting to be one step ahead. However, he also secretly fell in love with a maid who was several years older than him, her name was Cui Er, she looked icy and pure, with a delicate face. Because Cui Er was diligent, Ma Fei's mother wanted her to take care of the still underage and mischievous Ma Fei.

  Ma Fei initially didn't like her, but after a period of time, under Cui'er's meticulous care, Ma Fei gradually felt that he couldn't leave this "sister" behind. As more time passed, Ma Fei went from being unable to part with her in life to having an inexplicable dependence on her spiritually. Later, he also realized that it was probably the same kind of feeling described in that book called "Dream of the Red Chamber", between Jia Baoyu and Qin Keqing. At that time, young Ma Fei still didn't know that this was a nascent, vague, and unclear love.

  One day, something happened. Ma Fei's father went on a business trip to a distant place and didn't know when he would return. His mother also returned to her hometown to take care of her sick parents, but she didn't bring Ma Fei with her. Instead, she left him at home in the care of their maid, Cui Er. That evening, his second aunt suddenly came to visit. Although she didn't see Ma Fei's mother, she saw Ma Fei and sat down for a bit in the living room. Ma Fei loved listening to this aunt from the city tell ghost stories, so he kept asking her to tell him one. His second aunt couldn't resist Ma Fei's persistence, so she told him a ghost story from "Liaozhai" called "Hua Pi". After hearing the story, Ma Fei was too scared to sleep alone.

  The second aunt left. Ma Fei said he was afraid and asked Cuier to sleep with him together. Cuier didn't mind, thinking that he was just a child. Moreover, Ma Fei was his own young master, so he agreed to accompany him to sleep.

  Cui'er didn't sleep with Ma Fei in the same bed, but instead covered herself with a quilt, wearing pink pajamas, lying on the edge of the bed.

  Ma Fei covered himself with his quilt, stripped off all his clothes, only wearing a pair of shorts, and slept in bed.

  Ma Fei actually didn't feel sleepy. Although he had heard his aunt tell ghost stories and was a little scared in his heart, when Cui'er girl slept beside him, he suddenly felt unafraid, but instead had an indescribable feeling. In fact, that was a primitive, initial sexual attraction between the opposite sex.

  Ma Fei lifted the quilt covering his head, and stole a glance at Cui Er beside him. He found that Cui Er's two long black braids were draped over his quilt, emitting a faint fragrance that wafted from her hair. The scent was like menthol and camphor, intoxicating to anyone who smelled it.

  Then, Ma Fei's heart began to stir up spring waves. He borrowed the excuse that he was afraid to sleep alone and had to drill into Cui Er's quilt. Cui Er didn't mind, thinking that Ma Fei was really scared, so she let him drill naked into her own quilt.

  Ma Fei had just crawled into Cui Er's bed when he was attracted by the unusual fragrance emitted from her body. He pretended to still be afraid, and squeezed into Cui Er's arms. Cui Er felt embarrassed and blushed.

  That night, sleeping till midnight, Ma Fei could no longer hold back, for the first time climbing onto a woman's body. Cui Er also didn't make a sound, the two people did a night of passionate things.

  That was Ma Fei's first time in his life.

  Later, the father died in a gang fight, and the family was also ravaged by the gang. Cuier was forced to jump into the river and kill herself. Before she died, she shouted at him: "Run quickly! Run quickly!"

  Thinking of these things, Ma Fei felt like crying.

  Today when all the fellow soldiers were excited about ending their new recruit training life, Ma Fei suddenly remembered this matter. His heart ached and tears flowed out uncontrollably.

  Of course, there is another reason why Ma Fei shed tears, that is Ye Tuanzhang's daughter, Miss Ye Xinyi.

  For more than a year, Ma Fei and Ye Xinyi secretly talked about love without telling Captain Ye. Although Miss Ye was far away in Shanghai, the two of them almost wrote letters to each other every few days, pouring out their thoughts and feelings. Ma Fei spent all his salary on correspondence.

  Yesterday, Ma Fei received another letter from Ye Xinyi in Shanghai, saying that the revolution was going on in Shanghai and her school had also been affected by the revolution, with all classes suspended. Her father felt that Shanghai was not safe and wanted her to return to Hankou, so he sent Liu Deputy Officer to Shanghai specifically to pick her up and bring her back, probably arriving in Hankou in three days' time. She missed him terribly and hoped to see him soon.

  Ma Fei held the letter in his hand, hesitating. He knew that Captain Ye would absolutely not agree to their love for each other. Last time, it was because of this matter that he almost got shot by Captain Ye. Ma Fei had promised Captain Ye that he would no longer have any contact with Ye Xin Yi, and that's how the matter was settled. Now, Ye Xin Yi was about to return. Would they be able to keep their relationship a secret from Captain Ye? At that time... what if...

  Thinking of this, Ma Fei couldn't help but feel a chill. "Alas, what should I do about this matter?" Ma Fei thought to himself.