The First Part: Reborn from the Fire Chapter 3 Girlfriend

  "Xiang Shao Long!"

  "Arrived!"

  "Fan San Yuan!"

  "Arrived!"

  "Lin Dahai?"

  “……”

  "Lin Dahai?! Who is Lin Dahai?"

  "What's going on? Don't disturb me if nothing's wrong! Call... call me? I'm... coming! Coming!"

  In a burst of laughter, I suddenly jumped up, rubbed my head, and felt a bit dizzy as if I was half asleep.

  We're about to board the train, and inside the station it's bustling with activity. Nearly a hundred new recruits, dressed in oversized uniforms, are huddled together in a military warehouse at the station, their newly issued military clothing and gear scattered all over the place, looking pitiful as they stare blankly at a lieutenant who is taking roll call.

  The lieutenant officer glanced at me with a slightly unpleasant expression but didn't bother me and continued to take roll call.

  "Big Brother Hai, no way!"

  Peng Ze pulled me to sit down at the side, it was this kid who just pushed me awake, at this time he stood up with his thumb and said in a soft voice: "You're awesome, we'll leave X city soon, you still have the heart to sleep, and give this official a strong impression, aren't you afraid that he will play tricks on you in the future? I admire you!"

  "Go away, what does a little kid like you know!"

  I glanced at my parents, who were still outside the large warehouse, with a complex look in their eyes. I said somewhat disappointedly: "You think I want to? You've only slept for three hours in two days, and you're carrying so many bags after walking such a long distance. The bus won't arrive for another hour, let's see if you can sleep."

  It wasn't intentional to make the lieutenant uncomfortable, but because my parents knew I was determined to join the army after this, they granted me a one-night leave at my strong request. That night was basically spent with those old friends, who, upon hearing that I was joining the army, wanted to give me a big sendoff. The atmosphere was like I was leaving and never coming back. We had a big feast, went to a karaoke bar, and made a ruckus all night long.

  Then in the daytime, I had to face the farewell of relatives and friends and the deep concern of my parents. After having lunch with the relatives who came to see me off, I dozed off for a while in the afternoon. At 7 o'clock in the evening, I hurried to the train station with a big backpack and a large package prepared by my parents.

  Arrived at the train station entrance, they were lined up by those military officers in charge, separated from their families and carrying large and small bags all the way from the train station to this military warehouse.

  Carrying a variety of daily necessities issued by the armed forces is almost twenty kilograms, and holding my parents' unknown number of edible and usable items in that tourist bag weighs another twenty kilograms. At first, my parents helped me carry it together, but once I had to bear it all myself, I realized how heavy these things were. After walking about a thousand meters, I was so exhausted that I panted heavily, sweating profusely, and ended up sleeping unknowingly on the military canvas backpack while waiting for the 9 o'clock train in the warehouse.

  "Haha, didn't you and your wife do it last night? You struggled all night?"

  Peng Zhuo narrowed his eyes, with a "I know everything" expression on his face, and smiled warmly: "Big Brother Hai, I know you're strong, you've been at it all night, is it the seventh degree of intoxication?"

  Peng Zhuo was that little kid who was assigned to the same group as me for physical examination. This kid, don't look at his young age, he's only 14 years old, but he's got a big personality, seems like he knows everything, and has an air of pretentiousness about him. The way he looked at me seemed like he had a deep understanding of that kind of taste, not to mention how lewd it was.

  "What do you know? Has your hair even grown yet?"

  Although I'm only two years older than him, I still gave him a dirty look, struck a "you little punk get out of my way" pose and said: "What does this little brat know!"

  Who would have thought that this kid's father was a relative of my father's old comrade? Because of this, on the day of the physical examination, our two families even had dinner together with the deputy director of the armed forces department, and asked us to take care of each other in the army in the future. This kid is young, so of course, this "taking care" was actually said for my benefit.

  "What's the big deal? You think I don't know?"

  Such a big little kid, seeing that he has to leave his parents, of course, couldn't help but burst into tears. But this little guy, with his red and swollen eyes staring at me, immediately became defiant and shouted loudly, his left hand making circles, his right hand holding up a finger and inserting it forcefully, saying:

  "Isn't it just this circle with a cross? I'm not ignorant!"

  I was stunned and stared at him. Damn! This kid really understood, seemingly more than I did, and I was completely speechless.

  "Hey Big Brother Hai, did she come see you off? Introduce us and let me take a look at your wife, is she pretty?"

  But this kid didn't give up, and instead came closer, his eyes scanning outside our window. There were nearly a hundred fellow villagers in the warehouse who were about to join the army, and indeed many girlfriends had come to see them off, some of whom were crying pitifully. This kid was probably trying to figure out which one was my girlfriend.

  "No!"

  At that time, in the city, it was not unusual for high school students to fall in love. Even junior high school girls were talking about romance left and right. I said this with a somewhat darkened face, why did I feel so unwell?

  "Really?"

  Peng Zhuo's face was filled with discontent, and he said somewhat indignantly: "Sister-in-law is being so unreasonable, we don't even know where we're going or when we'll be back, it's really not right!"

  "Are you done yet?"

  I couldn't help it anymore, I glared at him and said in a low voice: "I don't have any girlfriend!"

  Heaven and earth are fair, actually I'm not ugly at all, except for being a bit poor in grades, but other aspects are quite decent. Every day, following those rascals around, makes me look quite impressive. The girls in my class haven't been stingy with writing love letters to me, and even some girls from other classes or schools have flirted with me, but I really don't have a girlfriend.

  Because at that time I was only sixteen years old!

  A sixteen-year-old girl may understand everything, but a sixteen-year-old boy is really as pure as white paper. Don't mention holding hands with girls, even if they meet an MM that they seem to like a little, their mouth will only go "ah ah" and can't say a complete sentence.

  At the age of fifteen, I wrote a love letter and it took me more than a month to muster up the courage to put pen to paper. Unfortunately, before I could even send it out, my mother found it in my bookcase, and in the end, it was stillborn.

  To be honest, I think my luck with women is not bad, but I just don't know how to take that last step. At the time, there was a kind of inexplicable shyness and fear in my heart, until now I still don't understand why.

  I'm not afraid to tell you all, that year when I was in school, a pretty girl from another class stopped me on the road and asked me out to see a movie. Although I usually seem fearless, but when she told me, I didn't dare go.

  In the end, because that girl didn't leave and it was on my way home, I was so scared that I called a large group of boys to follow me together, which made that girl very embarrassed, her face turned red and she walked away with a smile. Now that I think about it, I regret it and feel that I really wronged that girl.

  "What? You don't have a girlfriend?" Peng Ze looked at me with an expression of utter incredulity, probably thinking that someone as tall and handsome as I was should have girls falling all over him, and he couldn't believe it. I thought to myself with a sense of satisfaction.

  "Isn't it strange if there isn't?"

  My face turned red as I looked at the boy next to me, about one-fifth of whom were girls seeing him off. With a hint of self-deprecation, he rolled his eyes and said, "You do!"

  "No... nothing!" Looking at my annoyed eyes, he seemed to be on the verge of blowing up, but this kid also knew some of the reputation I had made in society over the past year and wisely shut his mouth.

  That's my impression of the last moment when I left X city as a soldier, with my parents' reluctant gaze outside the window and the little girlfriends crying at the window, leaving me with a very deep impression. But at that time, my heart was light, bitter, seemingly reluctant to part, yet expecting something...