Prologue

  Let me make one thing clear first.

  Everything written below is nonsense.

  I'm a person who makes a living by writing code, at least for now and I plan to continue doing so in the future.

  If I don't write, or if I do and no one reads it, then that means I'll have to go hungry and sleep on the streets, and all sorts of unbearable stories like stealing due to hunger will happen...

  So I can only ramble on and hope someone likes my nonsense.

  Let's put it this way!

  If anyone takes what I wrote as true and makes a fuss about it, I'll immediately pack my bags and move in with you to eat and live together!

  You ruined my meal, you know?

  That's it, enough of the polite talk!

  We're getting off track now!

  ——————————————————————————

  How did I end up joining the army?

  I'm about to forget myself.

  So, when I accidentally bumped into my lovely instructor and his even lovelier wife on the street, I almost took them for those scoundrels who approach people on the street claiming to have lost their bus fare money and can't get home without the help of kind-hearted donors!

  At that time, my instructor, who was twenty years older than me, called out to me in a very uncertain and obviously asthma-insufficient voice from behind me: "Bald head, is it you?"

  I turned around and stared at my instructor for a full minute.

  Is that still my instructor?

  My mentor, a Henan man. Sharp but absolutely kind-hearted, walking with the sound of piling, speaking with the tone and rhythm of Yu Opera, can definitely stand on the same stage as Xiaoxiangyu and get a full house!

  But now, my advisor has changed completely!

  They were so thin that they had lost their human shape, yet they looked at me with such care and caution, next to them was his wife who also looked at me with the same caution.

  I don't know what's wrong either...

  Anyway, I hugged my instructor and shouted in a loud voice: "Instructor!!!!!!"

  I'm speechless now.

  I just feel a sourness in my heart.

  My instructor is such a powerful and fierce man!

  It's only been a few years since we last met, and my mentor has become like this. The sharp light in his eyes is gone, replaced by the weariness of life that has worn away all edges, and a dullness that seems to see through everything.

  Tears just poured down my face!

  I'm thirty-four years old, and since I was aware of things, especially after growing up, I haven't cried much.

  Old men have something on their minds and are enduring hardships, why don't they spend their energy doing something useful instead of crying?

  In those years, I also wandered back and forth in the hail of bullets, and I was also a guest who had tea in Yan Wang's living room.

  I've become heartless!

  When I hugged my instructor, I couldn't hold back tears.

  So, just this weekend at dusk, on the busiest street in the city where I live, a nearly sixty-year-old man and a thirty-four-year-old man hugged each other tightly!

  And I'm still shedding tears with all my might.

  Next to him was also the instructor's wife, the woman I called sister-in-law.

  Sister-in-law just stared at me like that.

  It was just like the first time I met her, when my sister-in-law handed me a bowl of something that people from Henan call "sweet soup", in her eyes there was also the humility and obedience unique to women from rural families, as well as the desperate effort to hold up appearances for their men.

  So, if you want to marry a wife, it's still better to marry one from Henan.

  Thick and thin, knowing what hurts others.

  And also, when marrying a rooster follow the rooster, when marrying a dog follow the dog. Even if one has to go out and beg for food, the first mouthful is always given to one's husband and children first.

  What's all this nonsense about?

  Holding me and seeing me cry, the instructor suddenly said to me, "You bald-headed kid, what are you crying about? I remember that when you were younger, you had several broken bones and still didn't shed a tear."

  How did you become such a sissy after just coming out for a few years?

  Maybe seeing me cry made the instructor uncomfortable, he suddenly pushed me away and growled, "Bald head, you damn idiot, stand at attention!"

  I subconsciously stood up straight and looked into the instructor's eyes, where I saw a familiar glint, a gaze that, in Hunan dialect, is called "tiger's unyielding spirit".

  I was even more certain that this was my instructor, my incredibly brave instructor.

  The streetlights are all lit up, and it's also time to eat. Found a quiet little restaurant, didn't say anything, just went in and asked the boss to prepare a box of white wine first.

  The instructor is Hai Liang, I remember when he saw me off from the troop that year, six of us drank two boxes of Yili Special Beer and an extra box of Rose Fragrant Grape Wine, finally rinsing our mouths with Xinjiang Beer, as for how much we drank, I don't quite recall...

  Anyway, I remember that it was the instructor who sent me back on the way, and two people were leaning against each other, crying and howling like ghosts. We even met our political commissar and team leader coming out to inspect the sentry post. The two of us still knew we had to stand at attention and salute, but our legs were shaking and our arms couldn't be lifted...

  I saw the boss shouting to serve dishes and wine, but my sister-in-law stopped me and said that we can't let the instructor drink anymore. This time I came because my stomach is not good, I want to find a better hospital for further examination, is it stomach cancer?

  The instructor glared at her, and the aunt didn't say anything else, but instead looked at the instructor with a gaze that could shatter one's heart into eight pieces.

  The instructor sighed and said, "Forget it, let's just eat and talk. But you, bald head, you have to drink. I'm not drinking anymore, but can't I at least get some pleasure out of watching?"

  Looking at the thin and shapeless instructor, I suddenly felt a void in my heart!

  I grew up in a hospital and I know what it's like when cancer reaches its middle to late stages!

  I'm pouring cup after cup down my throat, not drinking, but pouring!

  The instructor burst out laughing and said, "You bald head, are you still that kind of soldier I trained? Do you still remember how you looked like when you first joined the army?"

  I hastily poured another cup into my mouth, pointing to the iron shell thermos cover next to me and saying "Can I forget? The first cup of wine was on the train, Instructor, you rewarded me with a full thermos cover of Xīnán Spring, almost getting me drunk to death!"

  The instructor burst out laughing and said, "You little kid used to be a bald head back then, now you're still a bald head. You didn't become a soldier, did you? Are you going back to singing again? You're already in your thirties, why are you following the trend like those young kids learning to be avant-garde?"

  I can only smile and tell the instructor that I am not forgetful, with a clever brain that doesn't grow hair. You see how clever I am, through and through...

  The instructor slammed his hand on the table and said, "You bald head, you damn well are famous for being a bald head!!"

  I'm speechless, just pouring wine into my mouth with all my might!

  At that time, there were three big bald heads in our group.

  One team leader, one instructor, and me.

  Awesome, three bald guys!

  In those years, the three bald men drank together like this.

  Get out of my sight!

  This wine is so bitter! Is there a hint of saltiness too?

  Why am I crying again...

  Perhaps it was seeing me cry again? The instructor still picked up his cup.

  My heart was stuffy, so I got drunk very quickly and thoroughly. So the instructor could only pull me back to his dormitory, and we performed another shoulder-to-shoulder, ghostly howling drama on the street again.

  Later, I heard my sister-in-law say that at the time, there were a few idle men on the street who saw us two old men drinking too much and singing military songs loudly. They were pointing and laughing next to us.

  Then I and the instructor rushed over to chat with those idle men in a very casual manner, and then left, without caring about those idle men lying on the ground humming like they were having a difficult childbirth.

  It's also lucky that I got drunk, so the next day I was able to drag the instructor to several famous hospitals. With my mother's connections and face in the health system, a few uncles, aunts, sisters, and brothers shouted and the instructor's examination was done.

  The instructor was quite good at saving face and also very strong, so it was already his bottom line to let me lead him to the hospital. So I didn't pay for the instructor's examination fee, and I just watched as my sister-in-law counted out the bills one by one from her worn-out leather wallet.

  I knew the instructor was not wealthy.

  I told the instructor, if you want to give your new recruits some face, you should live in my house. You've already arrived at my doorstep and still choose to stay in the reception room, it's like you're looking down on me. In the future, when I see my brothers, I'll have no way to hold my head up as a person.

  The instructor nodded and said, "Alright, alright. The reception room is always gloomy and depressing. Go to your house, you little kid, get me some flour, I want to eat a mouthful of noodles made by my wife."

  I lived with the instructor for seven days, and every day I ate the hand-pulled noodles in sweet soup made by his wife. The instructor's stomach was not good, so he could only eat some soft and fine noodles.

  Other than that, even delicacies from mountains and seas are hard to swallow.

  Every day we just chat about those things in our former troops.

  Sometimes laughing, sometimes crying, sometimes sighing, and sometimes scolding. And then there are times when the two of us would watch a stack of war movies, especially those depicting special forces in combat, and we'd be glued to the screen from dawn till dusk, just like how we used to scrutinize military documents.

  And in the end, I really couldn't bear to look anymore!

  Especially those domestic special police-themed films, it's even more like throwing the instructor into the trash can and saying that the director who shot that film would dare to go to the special police team and walk around, I estimate that he could be strangled to death by the brothers of the special police team!

  He actually dares to follow his own thoughts and fabricate things? That's simply ruining the image of Chinese soldiers!

  If Chinese SWAT and special forces are as capable as they appear on TV, then there's no need to take them out onto the battlefield to test their skills!

  Just jump off the building!

  The seven days passed quickly, and I got up early. First, I rushed to the hospital for the test results. I ran to three hospitals and took more than a dozen test reports. I sat down on the chair in the hospital again and cried!

  I bought a train ticket to send the instructor back home, and I secretly put some cash in my sister-in-law's luggage. I know the instructor doesn't like me doing this, but I have to do it!

  Fortunately, the doctor said it's not stomach cancer, just severe chronic gastritis. I can recover at home with rest and attention to diet.

  I didn't send off the instructor and he didn't ask me to either. Neither of us likes sending people off, mainly because we're afraid that when the time comes, we won't be able to hold back our tears and both old men will end up crying, which would be really embarrassing.

  We've already cried once. It was when we retired, and the old men were packed like sardines, crying in a heap, hugging each other in a heap, and that one time hurt us all to tears.

  We never want to have a second time again.

  When I was cleaning the room, I found the money that I had stuffed into my sister-in-law's luggage under the TV, along with a note from the instructor.

  On the strip of paper, it was written: "Bald head, you damn kid. You're still a bit tender. If you really have the heart, write about us brothers and our stories. When you've finished writing, bring it to Henan for me. As time goes on, I'm afraid I'll forget the soldiers I led. I don't want to forget them, nor can they be forgotten."

  Aren't you good at writing tests?

  Just pretend you've finished writing the test!

  Shut up!

  I just laughed.

  Instructor, you forgot that people will always grow up. I know you'll check your sister-in-law's luggage, it's your habit when going out, but did you notice that there's still a little something in your washcloth?

  I'm almost thirty, I also have some tricks up my sleeve!

  As for writing about those annoying things we did in the past...

  Instructor, didn't I write it?