Chapter Twenty-Four: Sudden Event

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  Zhang Peng and his comrades returned to their barracks after the military parade, where they had a special celebration feast with a pig that was slaughtered for the occasion. They had a big meal with four dishes and one soup, and each table also had several bottles of local "Red City" beer. The recruits who were about to leave the team each held a bottle of wine and toasted farewell with their comrades in the company. Zhang Peng didn't drink alcohol, so Old Gao brought him a pig's trotter instead.

  The troops were given a two-day holiday, and after lunch, the recruits boarded the large trucks that would take them home. The luggage of the departing recruits was also loaded onto the vehicles. Wu Quan was still acting normally during dinner, chatting and laughing with everyone, jokingly saying that he might come back to join the army again this year. However, when it was almost time to board the truck, he broke down, tears streaming down his face as he hugged and shook hands with his comrades one by one, causing all the departing recruits to burst into tears as well. It took a while to calm them down before they could be persuaded to get on the truck. Zhang Peng watched the tearful scene and thought to himself, "Will I be like them when it's my turn to leave?"

  Zhang Peng returned home, only his parents were at home. His third sister Zhang Ke should have been on summer vacation and said she was going to participate in a training session and hadn't come back. The next day, Zhang Quanyi and his wife decided to take Zhang Peng to the city for a day of fun. This was his first time entering the city after returning home, and also the first time he had gone out with his parents since growing up. Zhang Peng was very excited.

  Mr. and Mrs. Zhang took their son, Zhang Peng, to the provincial capital's zoo, where they spent a morning at the largest department store, had a luxurious lunch of the local specialty "Wuchang Fish", and in the afternoon watched a model play "Lin Hai Snow Original" at the Grand Theater. Zhang Peng's eyes were wide with wonder as he took in the strange and exotic animals at the zoo, the dazzling array of goods at the department store, the grandeur of the theater, the tall buildings on the street, and even the electric trams with their distinctive "queues". His mother, Yan Xiufang, saw how curious her son was about everything they saw, asking questions nonstop, and felt a pang of guilt in her heart. She thought to herself that she had been remiss in not providing him with more opportunities to experience the world.

  Mr. Zhang encouraged his son to be bold and try new things, saying "If you can eat it, don't just smell it; if you can touch it, don't just look at it." When Zhang Peng asked if an elephant's skin was as hard as a rock, Mr. Zhang took him by the hand and they climbed over the high railing to touch the elephant, only to be caught in the act by the zoo administrator.

  Yan Xiufang couldn't help but laugh out loud when she saw her husband, a high-ranking official, being scolded like a naughty schoolboy by the zoo administrator, nodding his head and saying "yes, yes..." in acknowledgement of his mistake.

  The two-day holiday ended quickly, and Zhang Peng returned to the troops. The soldiers who participated in various intensive training sessions in the company came back one after another, and the training was no longer so tense. It resumed its daily routine of half a day of military training and half a day of political studies. Zhang Peng began to study fifth-grade courses. The content of military training was mutual assistance and learning among the backbone of participating in intensive training and other comrades-in-arms, mainly including motorcycle riding, car driving, battlefield rescue, observation reconnaissance, map drawing, etc., requiring everyone to master multiple skills outside of their personal expertise. He also served as a shooting "little instructor" for several days.

  One evening in late autumn, the urgent assembly whistle suddenly sounded, and within a few minutes, all personnel were fully armed and assembled on the drill ground. After the duty officers of each company reported, the regiment commander did not make his usual comments but instead solemnly announced orders.

  "Headquarters orders, reconnaissance battalion enters first-level combat readiness, make good combat preparations. Each company draws weapons and ammunition, carries three days of rations, and waits for the next order! I stress that this is not a drill."

  The warriors were all stunned, could it be that the war was about to break out, but under discipline, no one spoke nonsense, and silently returned to their class, quickly reorganizing their belongings. Each company quickly determined the personnel on duty, distributed a certain amount of ammunition, and personal items were put into the company's warehouse. Everything was carried out in an orderly manner, just like during peacetime training. The preparatory work was completed quickly, and everyone sat on their beds with guns in hand, tensely waiting for orders.

  Zhang Peng and the other recruits were concentrated in the classroom, not allowed to move around freely. They looked at each other nervously, no one dared to make a sound, and the classroom was quiet enough to hear a pin drop. Li Ye secretly held Zhang Peng's hand, her palms sweating, her face pale. When it started getting light, a jeep drove into the camp, followed by over a dozen large trucks with flashing headlights driving onto the parade ground. Before long, the assembly whistle sounded again, and the instructors blocked the recruits who were trying to run out. Everyone could only crowd in front of the windows, watching as groups of fully armed soldiers quickly ran past, assembled on the parade ground, boarded the vehicles, and drove away from the camp to carry out their mission.

  After the sky brightened, the sleepy recruits were finally let out, only to discover that the communications battalion had also left. The vast camp was left with only a few personnel from each company on guard duty, totaling about 20 recruits and a platoon, led by Deputy Battalion Commander Xu Gang of the Communications Battalion. Arrangements were quickly made for everyone, with personnel concentrated in the small building of the battalion headquarters, the ammunition depot, the confidential room, the main gate post, and the sentry towers at the four corners of the camp. The recruits had to take on the patrol and guard duties within the camp due to the shortage of personnel.

  The first few days, everyone was on high alert, armed and patrolling the camp, preventing sabotage by special agents and "class enemies". Any stranger approaching the camp would make everyone tense. One night, a sentry opened fire, claiming to have seen a black shadow entering the camp. Everyone searched anxiously all night, only to find a wounded wild cat. The newspapers and radio didn't report any major incidents, but no one dared ask questions. People ate, patrolled, and slept with a heavy atmosphere. It wasn't until one day when people from the camp came back to fetch supplies that everyone learned many units had received orders to take over key departments. They took over a military airport, but there were no other major actions. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

  That day, Zhang Peng slung his rifle over his shoulder and took a stroll around the camp. By the vegetable garden of the logistics squad, he found Gao Ban Zhang squatting in front of the garden looking worried.

  "Head of the class, what's wrong?" Zhang Peng asked with concern as he leaned over.

  "Hey, the squad leader sent a message saying that the air force's food is much better than ours. The canned goods and pork they were given as comfort gifts are too much to eat, and they're not allowed to send any more vegetables, so we have to digest them ourselves." Captain Gao looked at the vegetable field with worry.

  Zhang Peng took a look at the more than 10 acres of vegetable garden, this year's weather was favorable, and it grew really well. Some vegetables were not harvested, and they seemed to be rotting in the field.

  "It's better for good people to eat and bad pigs to eat than to rot in the ground!" Zhang Peng said.

  "I thought so too, but with so many dishes served to thousands of people in the past, now adding up to our hundred or so mouths to eat, it's impossible to finish even if we burst!"

  "Why don't we just send it to the dependents' home instead, and that'll count as comforting the troops' families too!" Zhang Peng came up with an idea, knowing that the canteen at the dependents' home didn't have enough dishes to sell.

  "That's right, this is a good idea. I'll give my comrades at the service station a call to try it out." Old Gao walked away with excitement.

  Zhang Peng did not expect that his idea would make the officers' families in the barracks praise the old soldier who delivered vegetables every day, and unexpectedly solved the problem of Old Gao's promotion after serving for many years. In fact, everyone was not eating for free, they still gave some money, the dishes were much cheaper than those on the market, and everyone was very satisfied. Old Gao solved this thorny problem and also made some profits for the company, both inside and outside were very satisfied. Many years later, after being promoted to an official, Old Gao was still grateful to Zhang Peng for his unintentional idea.

  National Day is approaching, and everyone also knows from 'small way' that this time war preparation is because 'vice commander-in-chief' took a plane and ran away, crashed to death in Mongolia. These are high-level things, and they have nothing to do with these elementary school soldiers. However, the war preparation has not been lifted yet, so forget about the get-together party, there won't be any gathering dinner either. Plus, during this period of time, except for daily patrol and sentry duty, no classes or training are held anymore. The idle and bored recruits have started to cause trouble again.

  Deputy Director Xu is now having a headache. After dealing with the fight between several student soldiers, he received a report from a nearby production team that several young men had sneaked into someone's vegetable field to steal cucumbers to eat. "They can't even finish eating the vegetables in their own field in one day, and they still go out to steal other people's vegetables. This is purely because they are bored!" Deputy Director Xu thought angrily. After apologizing to the production team members and closing the case, he locked up the troublemaking young men in a confinement room. Deputy Director Xu rubbed his sore head and lay on the bed thinking: The student soldiers are all children, can't be beaten or scolded, must find something for them to do, can't let them idle around, otherwise who knows what kind of trouble they will get into in the future.