Chapter Fifty-Seven: Traffic Accident

  In the Guanglan Military Region Command, Commander Chen Song was furious, pointing at the nose of Wang Hong, the commander of the military region's reconnaissance battalion, and scolding loudly: "What are you people eating? Are my requirements for you high? Not at all! I don't need you to bring back first place in everything, but don't make a mess of it either!" The commander was so angry that his face turned blue. When he heard the news, he almost fainted.

  "I'm sorry, Commander. It's our fault for not doing a good job in peacetime. I request to be punished." Wang Hong didn't dare to argue back and had no way to argue back.

  "Sorry?! Punish you?! If it were that easy to solve the problem, I would have shot you dead from the start!" Chen Song had his hands on his hips and paced back and forth in the room a couple of times before pointing at each of them with one finger: "You, and you, what's going on? The seven military regions' reconnaissance team competition, so many events, not even one first place was brought back. After all that fuss, we ended up last in total score! What a loss of face! You guys don't find it embarrassing, but I do! Do you know that when I was attending the meeting in Beijing, Old Du from the Yangtze River Military Region mocked me, saying that if his region wasn't downsized, they wouldn't get first place in total score, but definitely wouldn't end up last. What can I say to him now? He's just a commander with no troops, and he dares to talk about me like this! How am I supposed to respond?"

  Wang Hong and several training staff officers hung their heads, no one knew what to say. Indeed, the western region had been relatively peaceful in recent years. It had been many years since they last fought a war. The military's budget was limited, and many equipment upgrades were not possible, let alone after experiencing the largest downsizing of troops since the founding of the country, the troops had relaxed their training greatly. Many of the original reconnaissance battalion's elite personnel had retired or changed careers, resulting in a significant decline in combat effectiveness.

  "Never mind. I won't scold you guys anymore. After all, there are reasons why the combat effectiveness of our troops has declined. Among the seven military regions, someone has to be at the bottom. Chen Song shook his head and waved his hand: "You go back first, summarize your experiences and lessons, and come up with a rectification plan. I don't want it to be our Guanglan Military Region at the bottom again next year."

  "Yes! Commander Chen, if next year's reconnaissance competition still ranks our military region at the bottom, you don't need to say anything. I'll write a report and go home myself!" Wang Hong stood at attention and saluted.

  Headquarters of the 29th Action Bureau of French Intelligence, Lieutenant Pak Yul-lyun sat upright in his neatly pressed uniform in front of Colonel Henri's desk.

  "Captain Bao Yulin, have you really decided to choose retirement? You know that in our France, the military profession is not bad at all. Not only are they highly respected, but also enjoy good social welfare benefits. With your excellent service record in the army, I believe that before your retirement, it's very likely that you can become a general." Colonel Henri tried to persuade Bao Yulin. To be honest, he was even a little jealous of Bao Yulin. In less than six years, Bao Yulin had risen from an ordinary soldier to captain, which is also extremely fast in France. If this continues, it's really possible that he can become a general.

  "Colonel Henry, I understand what you said, but my situation is a bit special. I like the military profession and have thought about staying in the army for life, but relatively speaking, I prefer my home and miss my family more. For these reasons, I can pay any price. My sister wrote to me saying that my mother misses me, you don't know. We Chinese people emphasize filial piety. For my mother and my family, I must go back. I cannot be a lone wanderer in a foreign land forever." Baoyulin rarely spoke so much, but these past few days he had been in an excited state, plus his relationship with Colonel Henry was not bad, so he said a bit more than usual.

  "Captain Bao Yulin, you should know that no matter what your past was, but now you are a Frenchman. A French army officer. You must be aware of the situation in Red China, it's an autocratic, high-pressure, absolutely centralized and closed country. I'm not sure if someone with your identity goes back, there might be some danger. After all, your identity is very awkward, I think you should consider this carefully." As for the 29th Action Bureau, Bao Yulin was valuable, just letting him go like that would be a loss. Henry knew Bao Yulin's original identity, but officers of their level were not very familiar with China's current situation, and all they understood about China came from media propaganda.

  "Thank you, Colonel Henry. I think I'll be more careful from now on. As you said, I'm a French officer now, and even if I retire, I'm still a French citizen. The Chinese have always placed great importance on diplomacy. I remember Premier Zhou Enlai saying that 'diplomacy is not a trivial matter.' If I were to encounter difficulties or trouble in China, the French embassy would certainly not stand idly by. So, my safety should be guaranteed." Baoyulin said this, but he still felt some unease in his heart. Now the whole world was talking about China's reform and opening up, but who knew if this wasn't just another political movement like the **. For Baoyulin, the memories of ** were still fresh, and many people had become "active counter-revolutionaries" simply because they said something wrong or wrote a wrong character. Beauty, everything good would leave his life. This was also why Baoyulin had never dared to give Baoyu an address, fearing that she would be caught by the authorities.

  "Of course, you are a Knight of the Legion of Honour and a hero in France. If the embassy dares to be rude to you, you can directly contact the French Army Command or the French Intelligence Agency, I'm sure they will teach those politicians a lesson." Henry Colonel's spirit improved a lot after hearing this. In France, the status of soldiers is very high. For example, Henry Colonel, in two years he can retire, but even after retirement, he can still enjoy many privileges reserved for military personnel. At least, he doesn't have to pay taxes. Even when taking a plane, according to regulations, he can enjoy a 70% discount. Bao Yulin is a Knight of the Legion of Honour, according to regulations, he can take any French plane for free for life. The country still attaches great importance to the winners of the French Honorary Medal.

  "I understand this." After getting the Knight Medal, Bao Yulin looked up some information and found that there were a series of benefits, including many preferential policies. Basically, in any place in France where tickets are required, he can enjoy free treatment.

  "Let's put it this way. I've checked, and you have accumulated half a year of vacation time. Your contract service period has 7 months left, which means that in another month, you can take a six-month leave until you return to process your discharge or renew your contract. We don't need to consider what happens next for now; just think of it as a holiday and we'll discuss other things when you get back from your vacation. As for me personally, I hope to sign a long-term contract with you that lasts until your retirement. You should believe that the French Republic very much hopes you will continue serving in our military. This way, you can receive all of your retirement benefits and settlement fees. What do you think?" Colonel Henri gave Bai Yulin an idea.

  "That's great!" Bao Yulin was delighted to hear that, the retirement benefits and resettlement fees added up to a considerable sum of money. Enough to buy a house in France! Who wouldn't want that? But: "But Colonel Henry, if I don't process my retirement now, I'm afraid the Chinese government won't let a French soldier enter China."

  Henry scratched his head: "I think this shouldn't be a problem, you hold a French passport, if you go to China for private tourism, the Chinese government has no reason to oppose it. Besides, you won't be staying long-term. After half a year, you'll still have to come back, after all, you need to come back to handle the formalities. So I think this problem is not big."

  "Mr. Ambassador, we have a Chinese national who has acquired French citizenship and wants to return for a visit due to some special circumstances, but we are somewhat undecided about this. Here is his information." The visa officer in charge of receiving Bao Yulin handed over a thick stack of documents about Bao Yulin to Ambassador Qian, which included some materials provided by Bao Yulin himself and others collected by the embassy staff. Of course, there was also a brief introduction and detailed list on these documents; otherwise, the ambassador would have been busy reading through these files every day.

  "Has he become a French citizen? Does he still have some skills?" Ambassador Qian took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes, and began to browse the documents.

  The visa officer stood on one side, careful not to disturb Ambassador Qian. This Bao Yulin is no ordinary person, having entered France for only a few years and not only obtained citizenship but also became a lieutenant. This is rarely seen in the French Foreign Legion. Their officers are generally French people who hang sheep heads and sell dog meat." Ambassador Qian casually browsed through it and found the problem.

  According to our investigation, Bao Yulin is no longer in the French Foreign Legion. In fact, he was only in the Foreign Legion for a short time, less than two years. Later, he joined the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon. Due to his bravery and outstanding performance in resolving conflicts between Lebanon and Israel, he was awarded the United Nations Peace Medal and the French government's Medal of Honor for his service. After that, Bao Yulin joined the 2nd Action Bureau of the French Intelligence Agency, and later at the training base of the 29th Action Bureau, he captured Arab terrorist leader Abdullah Imil and his brother, earning a reward of over $3.8 million and being awarded the Knight's Cross of the French Legion of Honor by the French government. He was also promoted to officer rank. Later, Bao Yulin participated in multiple operations with the 29th Action Bureau of the French Intelligence Agency in Lebanon and the Middle East, earning numerous awards and promotions to lieutenant. According to our understanding, his contract with the 29th Action Bureau is set to expire in over half a year, and he is currently serving as a training instructor at the 29th Action Bureau. Apparently, Bao Yulin's identity has touched the nerves of the intelligence department of the Chinese Embassy in France, and within days, his background was thoroughly investigated.

  "So he's really not a simple person." Ambassador Qian thought for a moment and asked, "What was this person like before going abroad?"

  Bao Yulin was born in 1960 and is a peasant. He enlisted in the army at the end of 1978 and participated in the Sino-Vietnamese War in 1979. During an infiltration mission, his entire squad was killed, leaving him as the sole survivor. Initially, he was to be awarded for killing many enemy soldiers, but later, the Vietnamese took revenge by attacking a Chinese field hospital and capturing him. To serve their propaganda needs, the Vietnamese fabricated Bao Yulin's speech and created a so-called anti-war declaration. During his time in the POW camp, Bao Yulin took advantage of the enemy's relaxed vigilance to help his comrades escape from the camp. However, he was recaptured again. In May 1987, Bao Yulin was exchanged back to China. Due to unclear circumstances at the time, he received some unfair treatment and could not bear it, so he escaped. However, after contacting domestic authorities, although his military district had been disbanded, they still awarded him first-class merit after investigating the situation.

  "So, this Bao Yulin is still good in nature and has made contributions to the country, but his mental endurance is a bit weaker?" Ambassador Qian said, almost to himself.

  The embassy staff smiled wryly: "At first, we thought so too, but after investigation, we found out that he really had no choice. The place where they live is an old district and they are very hostile to people like him, even his father's funeral was not allowed." The staff member was also a child from the countryside, of course, understood what it meant.

  "If he wants to go back and take a look, then let him go back and take a look. Just sign it for him and that's it." Ambassador Qian didn't understand why such an obvious matter still needed to come find himself.

  "We've also thought about this, and it's not a big deal. But now there are two aspects of the problem. First, his identity. He is currently with the French intelligence agency. We don't know if he has any tasks or goals. Second, due to some grievances he suffered domestically, given his current abilities. If he has a purpose in taking revenge or doing something harmful to society, it would be very difficult to control him. So we've discussed it and think it's best for you to decide on the matter of Bao Yulin." The staff member laid out all the issues, and now it was up to the ambassador to make a decision.

  "I see, I don't think there's anything to worry about in this matter." The ambassador waved his hand: "This is how I understand it. Precisely because the French side also understands that we will be more concerned about Bao Yulin's situation, given his sensitive identity, so the possibility of choosing him as an intelligence personnel is not great. Of course, it's also possible. At the time, I believed that as long as the domestic side paid attention to this, the problem wouldn't be big. As for his current situation, I think he didn't have any extreme reactions even after suffering such a huge injustice, but instead chose to escape and hide. He shouldn't be a ruthless person. After he returns, once he knows that his situation has been investigated clearly, there should be no more problems. So my opinion is, we should give him the necessary treatment, we should encourage overseas Chinese to return and take a look, eliminate misunderstandings, increase understanding. This will benefit our reform and opening up." Ambassador Qian's views are insightful, with a bit of a piercing tone.

  "Understood, if Bao Yulin comes again, we will sign for him." The embassy staff replied.

  Time flies, and a month has passed in the blink of an eye. Bao Yulin exchanged several letters with Bao Yu Feng, roughly understanding the situation at home. The only thing he didn't expect was that he actually had a child.

  Wang Hong's recent days have been really tough. The whole army's big reconnaissance competition, the Guanglan Military Region shaved his head, and he, as the company commander, became a sinner, a thousand people pointing at him, just like he owed money to everyone in the world, no one looked at him with a good eye, for several days, he didn't even dare to stay in the dormitory. After assigning training tasks, he quickly ran away, he really had no face to look at others' faces anymore.

  In order to turn over a new leaf next year, the military region commander Chen Song allocated a sum of money and let Wang Hong take the reconnaissance battalion out for a training session in a suitable location. In Chen's view, these years without war had made his troops soft. He thought back to the wartime era when conditions were so harsh, yet they never dropped the chain in any battle. Now, with good living conditions and no worries about food or clothing, they couldn't even hold a decent martial arts competition. This was a typical case of lack of training. For this reason, at the commander's order, the military region reconnaissance battalion arrived in Panshi County for training, where even daily life and access to water were extremely difficult.

  The scouts of the reconnaissance battalion also knew that because they couldn't beat other military regions in the competition, the battalion commander hadn't slept well for several days. However, this was an unavoidable situation. The people who came to participate in the competition from other military regions were all carefully selected elites. Each one had a unique skill. But the backbone of Guanglan Military Region's military skills were either too old or had retired, and it happened to be a time when they lacked young talent. Moreover, Guanglan Military Region was stationed in the northwest, where the terrain was vast and the conditions were harsh. Due to geographical constraints, they were not familiar with tropical, subtropical jungle and rainforest environments. In such unfamiliar environments, the scouts used all their skills but still couldn't get a good ranking. To sum it up, China's scouts were poor, and Guanglan Military Region's scouts were even poorer.

  Wang Hong drove aimlessly on the street. The scout training was extremely tough and exhausting, many soldiers were exhausted and malnourished after several days of training. Wang Hong had to find a way to buy some meat, eggs, and fresh vegetables for the soldiers. If they didn't replenish their supplies soon, Wang Hong worried that the soldiers wouldn't be able to withstand it, living on dehydrated rations all day.

  After all, he was not familiar with Panshi County. Wang Hong turned around for a few circles. Finally, he saw a farmer's market and hurriedly stepped on the gas pedal. He had to rush to make time, so that at noon, the soldiers could eat fresh vegetables they just bought.

  Yesterday evening, Bao Yu Feng told her mother that her brother had sent a letter saying he had obtained his visa. In a few days, when he gets to the holiday, he will return home immediately. Counting the days, it's just a matter of these few days, in order to let her son have a good meal. Bao Yu Lin's mother went to the market every day for several days, buying the plumpest hen and adding mushrooms, wood ears, etc., stewing them well. In case her son returns, she can take it out at the first time and give Bao Yu Lin a bowl of his favorite childhood dish, steamed chicken with mushrooms, which he hasn't had in years since his mother's cooking.

  Wang Hong and Bao Yulin's mother turned out of the market corner at the same time. Neither of them noticed each other.

  When Wang Hong and Bao Yulian's mother saw each other, it was too late. The tires of the jeep were biting hard on the ground, but the huge inertia made the jeep continue to move forward. Maybe a younger person would have jumped aside, but Bao Yulian's mother was older and not in good health, facing the oncoming jeep, she didn't even know where to dodge.

  The jeep crashed into an old man's house and stopped. When Wang Hong jumped off the car, he found that the old man's leg was obviously deformed.

  There were many onlookers around, but when everyone saw that the person getting off the car was a People's Liberation Army soldier, they all stopped and stared from afar.

  Wang Hongyi took a look around and saw that everyone was staring from afar. He felt anxious, knowing that the old man had to be sent to the hospital immediately.

  "Can someone help me out? I need to take an elderly person to the hospital, who can show me the way?"

  A young man stood up: "I'll take you there!"

  Two people struggled to lift the old man's home onto a jeep, the young fellow was good, fearing the old man would be uncomfortable, he let him lean on himself all the way.

  When Bao Yufeng arrived at the hospital, the old man had already fixed his injured leg and entered the ward.

  "Comrade, sorry, it was an accident." Wang Hong looked at Bao Yufeng, like a child, unable to speak, his hands and feet not knowing what to do.

  "Was it you who hit my mom?" Bao Yu Feng clearly remembered that when she heard her mother had been hit by a car, she felt like she had fallen into an ice cellar and couldn't even speak. It wasn't until they arrived at the hospital and the doctor said that apart from a leg fracture, everything else was fine that she began to feel at ease. Only then did she notice that all of her clothes were soaked through.

  "I didn't mean to, the old man himself didn't either..." Wang Hong also didn't know what to say, stuttered out a few words, thought it wasn't right, and hastily stopped. Unfortunately, it was already too late.

  "You mean my mom accidentally crashed into your car by herself?" Bao Yufeng's face turned blue with rage.

  "I didn't mean it, I... This is my Zheng's family and my wallet, you take it first, I'll go back to get the money." Wang Hong also didn't know what to say at this time, he hastily put his work ID and wallet into Bao Yufeng's hands and turned around to run away.

  "Hey... hey... where are you running to?" Bao Yufeng held a bunch of things in her hand, looking at Wang Hong's flustered appearance, and suddenly found it quite amusing.

  "Yu Feng, actually this car accident is not anyone else's fault, it's the Liberation Army comrades. I was careless and looked at the chicken in my hand. This is good, my son is about to come back, but I ended up in the hospital. When your brother comes back, won't he be worried to death?" The old lady had a kind heart, and she understood the hardships of being a soldier. She comforted Bao Yu Feng.

  "I said, Mom, you're too easy-going. That soldier bumped into you and he should pay for it. Look, this is his work ID, he can't run away." Bao Yufeng sat on the edge of the bed, carefully feeding her mother water.

  "Never mind, it's not easy for him to be a soldier either. Your brother sent back so much money, and he didn't lack those two. Wait until he comes, and give the money to them." The anesthetic had worn off, and the old man's leg was cast in plaster. Except for the pain, his spirit was still good. After all, he was a person who had suffered, enduring the pain and comforting Bao Yufeng.

  At this time, the door of the ward was quietly opened.