Chapter Thirty-Five

  I'm not sure if it was that perfect raid of ours that stunned them, but the disputed areas suddenly became much quieter, and even those thugs carrying AKs who bullied Chinese herders became much more subdued.

  Things in the world are like this, when you press down the gourd, the ladle comes up.

  We had just finished the post-war summary, and the brothers' celebration banquet had just been eaten. The instructor rushed in with a dark face and shouted: "Emergency assembly!"

  They quickly formed a queue, I reckon at least half of the brothers still had undigested braised pork in their stomachs and were still nervous.

  What's going on here?

  If there's a combat mission, is it still necessary for the instructor to personally come and give a shout?

  Which time wasn't it that as soon as the alarm sounded, everyone immediately scurried to gear up and jump in the car to prepare for a fierce battle?

  My heart is skipping a beat!

  Look, everyone is here. The instructor begins to take roll call. Looking at the faces of the instructors, it seems that things are a bit better today. Then he asks his brothers: "Who has not gone out this afternoon? Stand up immediately!"

  Everyone was still.

  The old soldier didn't say anything, but we've all been in the army for almost a year now. How can you be so bad and lacking in quality? Don't you still understand the rules of being a soldier?

  Normally, let alone our 24-hour standby unit, even in ordinary troops, going out without permission is a serious matter!

  To put it bluntly, if you're a soldier at war and you run away without leave, you'll very likely get your head blown off!

  Who knows where you went?

  The instructor asked again, "Is it true that someone secretly went to the restaurant outside the dormitory this afternoon and had a meal without paying, and even beat up the boss of the restaurant?"

  The instructor was speechless!

  I think something is wrong here!

  There is only one street outside our residence's guard station, but that street really has all kinds of shops and most of them are restaurants!

  The garrison is just a general term, and at least a dozen different departments and numbered troops' logistics are all going through the garrison for material allocation and communication conversion. There are also many personnel, including almost all types of armed police, land, air, and naval forces.

  In addition, the location of this rest stop is just at the first intersection under the Karakoram Mountains, and many long-distance drivers know that next to the military base is relatively safe. If something really happens, at least the soldiers inside the camp won't ignore it, so they all like to stop here for food.

  In a strict sense, all the shops on this street are living off the military officers stationed at the garrison!

  I don't like to make a fuss about military rules and whatnot here, anyway the military regulations prohibit eating at outside restaurants, but since my fellow villager came and we missed mealtime, going out for a casual bite shouldn't be excessive, right?

  Joined the party, promoted, went to school, these things three or five close friends drink a few cups, is this a serious mistake?

  To put it bluntly, if I'm craving something and miss home, I'll sneak out to a restaurant and get a bowl of mapo tofu to satisfy my cravings. Is that considered a big deal?

  It's really unheard of for a soldier from the garrison to go out to eat at a restaurant and not pay!

  Since childhood, parents must have taught that eating should be paid for according to the price. If you don't even understand this rule, I can only describe it as having no family education. I don't even want to see people wearing the same vest as me, I really lose face for that person.

  I think the cuirass I'm wearing is also in sync with me.

  The instructor looked around and saw no one making a sound, so he stomped his foot heavily and said, "Today is really unlucky!" Earlier, someone from the military affairs office came and said that it was our troops who did it. This afternoon, they ate at a restaurant but didn't pay, and even injured three people in the restaurant. You don't admit it? Wait until I investigate and find out, then you'll see how I deal with you! Now, disperse the squad leaders and come to the company department for a meeting!

  We dispersed, and then I saw Jiang Kuan's son coming over with a sly look in his eyes. He said to me, "Bald head", and I thought this matter was really troublesome! I knew who didn't pay for food and even beat someone up, but it wasn't surprising that brother did it!

  Huh?

  It's really our brother who did it?

  I quickly asked Jiang Kuan in a low voice who was that so lacking in dignity and family education?

  Jiang Kuan looked around and then said mysteriously that it was the landlord of the fourth class!

  I'm really stunned!

  The landlord, a Wenzhou native, had a large amount of cash at home and his family was engaged in real estate business. When many people thought that having tens of thousands of yuan was already very rich, the landlord's family was already holding hundreds of millions of yuan.

  The landlord's family is wealthy, and the young master of the landlord has never been stingy! In the past, when a comrade's family had an elderly person who was ill and needed money, the landlord quietly obtained the brother's home address from the liaison officer, and without saying a word, he sent 20,000 yuan by mail without leaving his name. If it weren't for the liaison officer recalling later that the landlord had asked about the brother's address before, I'm afraid the brother would have been unable to figure out who helped him!

  Does he even pay for his meals?

  I'd rather die than believe it!

  Look at the disbelieving expression on my face, and Jiang Kuan that son of a gun said "You really don't believe me?"

  The landlord slipped away quietly today, or sent money to the brother of the old man in that family who was ill. The head of the fourth class and two or three other brothers also knew about this matter.

  The money has been mailed out, and the landlord is slowly walking back alone. He sees several brothers from the army transportation team eating at a restaurant, and then those brothers get into an argument with the restaurant owner, their faces red and necks thick.

  The landlord went to take a look. It turned out that the brothers of the several army transportation teams had just come down from the mountain, and they were so hungry that they found a restaurant to eat a bowl of noodles to hold on before returning to report. At that time, it seemed that there were still many people in the restaurant during the meal, and the boss of the restaurant thought that three or four men occupied a table and each only ordered a bowl of mixed noodles, which had a bit of a meaning of wanting to make business.

  First, let those brothers from the army transportation team wait for ten minutes. When they get impatient and hungry, just tell them that the restaurant doesn't sell noodles, at least they have to eat some stir-fried dishes!

  Otherwise, you're out of here!

  Those brothers of several army transport brigades were really angry!

  Isn't this obviously looking down on people?

  Their faces turned red and their necks thickened as they started arguing!

  Then the restaurant owner didn't dare to offend those brothers too much, and said in a sinister tone that you can eat here if you want, but this restaurant only does high-end dishes, those home-cooked dishes are really not our specialty, why don't you go to another restaurant to eat?

  Looking at those several army transport teams' brothers becoming like that, the landlord's heart might have gotten angry!

  Every month, soldiers only get a few subsidies, buying personal items such as envelopes and stationery, mailing a few coins back home, and there's really not much money left on them.

  Running into such a shabby house, specializing in picking on this aspect and making trouble, these silly brothers are really hard to talk to!