Chapter 58: Two Conversations

  "Choi Jae." After lunch, Gook Min-joon called out, looking at Choi Jae to lift his head and look at him, "Come out with me for a bit, I have something to discuss with you."

  The two brothers walked out of the dormitory and came to the playground. Although it was already cold winter, today's sunshine was very good, shining warmly on the two brothers wearing sweaters.

  Cui Ze lit a cigarette and sat down on the stone slab under the basketball hoop, asking: "What's up? Is it worth bringing me all the way here?"

  "There's nothing wrong." Qu Mingjun also sat down, "I always feel that since I took over as the class leader, the work in the class has never been able to compare with what it was like when Old Guo and his team were here. I'm a bit puzzled, don't you think so?"

  "It's still those few kids, right? They're always slacking off." Cui Ze was indignant. "Look at Wang Jin, let him go sweep the floor, he says he's going to the bathroom but actually he's doing his homework, and in the end I'm the one who does everything for him. Once or twice is fine, maybe he really has something on, but he does this every day, it's ridiculous."

  "Don't get worked up," said Qu Mingjun, "I really don't know what's going on with them. Let me feel out the situation and we'll talk about it later. We need to come up with a solution that addresses the root of the problem."

  "Go on. Where's your monitor? You come out and talk." Cui Ze is now the deputy monitor, and he doesn't shout and yell all day long anymore.

  "By the way, I haven't asked you yet." Qu Mingjun turned his head and curiously asked, "You said yesterday that you didn't want to go home for New Year's, what's going on?"

  "Huh?" Choi Tae's mouth dropped open in surprise. "N-no, nothing's wrong. I'm just...just annoyed."

  "Tired? Haha." Qu Mingjun smiled and shook his head, "Old Cui, we two brothers didn't know each other at first, right?"

  "Hehe, yes." Cui Ze also remembered that time when they were in school and had a push-up competition.

  "Later on, we two brothers went through so many things together." Qu Mingjun raised his head to look at the sky, which was very blue. "A year and a half has passed, it's really gone by quickly."

  "Just say whatever you want to say. What's the point of dragging on about all this nonsense?" Cui Ze said irritably, taking a hard drag on his cigarette.

  "Nothing much. I just want to say that if you still consider me a friend, then tell me, what's the reason why you don't want to go back home this year?"

  "Why are you asking so many questions? You should focus on thinking about the class instead. Besides, even if I told you this stupid thing, could you help me solve it?"

  "...... I, I'm not very good at talking." Qu Mingjun hesitated for a moment, "If you really feel embarrassed then forget it. But if there's something on your mind, speaking out may not necessarily find a solution, but if you don't speak out, you definitely won't find one. What do you think?"

  "No. How did you think of asking this?" Cui Zena muttered.

  "I'm your class leader now, aren't I?" Qu Mingjun smiled. "Although I'm younger than you, my position is higher than yours now. You shouldn't be unhappy about it. Feng Shaojun and Old Guo have both criticized me, saying that I don't pay attention to understanding the thoughts and feelings of people in the class, how can I do a good job with the class work? Ask someone else, I'm not confident myself, so I'll just try you out first."

  "What the...? You want me to try it?" Cui Ze's face suddenly turned ugly.

  "This is a joke, just a joke. You're the vice class leader, how can you help me with work in the class when your mind is full of miscellaneous things? Of course, we need to solve your problem first before talking about others." Qu Mingjun quickly explained.

  After hearing this, Cui Ze's face looked a bit better.

  Looking at Qu Mingjun's eager eyes, Cui Zeyuan chuckled and opened his mouth, "It's nothing big, just some trivial matters at home. Sigh, it's really not a big deal."

  Qu Mingjun was getting more and more curious, what's going on here? Cui Ze is actually so difficult to this extent. This kid usually has a carefree attitude, but today he suddenly became like this.

  "Alas, it's not my parents." Cui Ze suddenly looked down and became disheartened. "You say I'm only 22 years old, but now they must have me go back home for the New Year to get married, saying how good that girl is and how suitable our two families are."

  "What?" Qu Mingjun was stunned, what era is this, still forcing marriage?

  "What can I do?" Choi Ze smiled bitterly. "The reason is still with my grandfather. My grandfather is old and his body is not very good, he has been particularly fond of me since childhood, he said that if he doesn't see me get married, he will die without closing his eyes. He also said that I'm already 22 years old and don't even have a son, it's unbearable for him."

  "...You don't want to go back just because of this?" Qu Mingjun's heart was a bit stifled with laughter, after all, getting married is supposed to be a good thing.

  "What else can I do? I called them, they didn't even listen, and said that the girl's family and our family are old friends, the girl is virtuous, beautiful, gentle and wise. Most importantly, the girl's grandfather and my grandfather were childhood friends, and since we were young, they had promised to arrange a marriage between us. But my mom's generation was all girls, and the two old men would often sigh about this matter. Now that I'm here as an outsider grandson, my grandfather won't give up, saying that if I don't go back home to get married this year, he'll be so angry that he'll die."

  "...Qu Mingjun was stunned, no wonder Cui Ze's family was so unbearable, no wonder he didn't even want to go home for Chinese New Year. He's already in his twenties and still got stuck with this kind of thing, it's really tough on him."

  "You can't say you're still a student and not allowed to get married? Besides, the army has regulations, men must be at least 25 years old to get married. Can't you just explain it clearly to them?" Qiu Mingjun thought for a moment.

  "How could I not have made it clear? But the problem is they won't listen. My grandfather even said this one sentence, telling us to get married first, and then apply for a marriage certificate after meeting the conditions."

  "....Isn't it?" Qu Mingjun was also at a loss for words.

  "What's wrong? I heard that the girl and her family are coming to our house soon." Cui Ze let out a long sigh, "I've seen ducks being driven onto a rack, but I've never seen a girl being driven out of marriage. Alas!"

  "I think it's even more important for you to go home now." Qu Mingjun thought for a moment and said, "I don't have any family experience, I just feel that if you don't go back, won't you ever go back? Besides, doesn't that girl have any thoughts at all? By the way, have you seen that girl?"

  "I've seen the photos, but I don't know what that girl is thinking. She's coming to our house anyway, and I'm not happy about it. As for what you said, I already knew all that." Cui Ze tossed his cigarette butt away with some annoyance, "But what can I do after seeing them? My attitude was clear on the phone, but they just won't listen."

  "Things can't be resolved over the phone, you still have to go back and face it head-on." Qu Mingjun proactively put his arm around Cui Ze, "Escaping isn't a solution, things in this world won't just disappear because you hide from them. Most of the time, they'll only get bigger and more unmanageable. We have to face them and find a way to resolve them. As the son and grandson, you have the responsibility and obligation to communicate with the elderly, don't let things become awkward. Now that you've said it, your aunt's family is about to arrive at your house, and your grandpa is someone who values relationships deeply. If you don't go back, what if your grandpa really gets angry, wouldn't you regret it?"

  "Alright then. I'll go back and take a look first." Cui Ze thought for a moment before shaking his head and saying.

  "Ah, right." Qu Mingjun suddenly smiled, "That girl, you've seen the photo, is she to your liking?"

  "Great." Cui Ze also laughed, "Never mind, the person does look quite handsome. But the key is that we don't understand him."

  "It's worth going back to take a look, right?" Qu Mingjun laughed loudly, stood up and stretched out his hand to pull Cui Ze up to return to the dormitory. "What if you hit it off with that girl at first sight? You're already 22 years old, the army won't forbid you from having a girlfriend, will they? Wouldn't that be great for everyone? By the way, bring back the photos and let me take a look too, haha."

  Whatever.

  The two brothers quickly walked to the entrance of the dormitory building, and Cui Ze said hesitantly, "Uh, that, don't tell anyone else about this, okay?"

  "Uh-huh. Don't worry about it." Qu Mingjun stifled a smile and said seriously to Choi Jae, whose face was bright red.

  ……

  "King Jin?" Qu Mingjun called out.

  "Here!" Wang Jin slowly got up.

  "Come on, follow me to settle the accounts." Today, Feng Shaojun found Class 6 because the holiday is approaching, so he asked Qu Mingjun to find a few people to return some unused training equipment to the physical education department. Since Qu Mingjun was pushing the company's cart, he only called Wang Min to go with him, and they could chat alone on the way.

  "I... I still have something to attend to. Can someone else take over?" Wang Jin blinked his eyes.

  "No way, everyone's fine, it's just you." Qu Mingjun knew he would say that.

  "Alright, alright, that's enough! Go!" Cui Ze happened to be going to pour water and conveniently pushed Wang Jin out with one hand. Wang Jin's face looked very unsightly.

  Wang Jin followed Qu Mingjun, who was pushing a cart, in silence along the way.

  "I said Wang Jin," Qu Mingjun took the initiative to speak, otherwise this kid would definitely become a closed-mouth gourd.

  "I've noticed that since I returned from the martial arts competition, you all seem to be treating me coldly. Is there something I did wrong or do you have some opinion about me?" Qu Mingjun asked straightforwardly.

  "What's wrong? You're overthinking, class monitor." Wang Jin was taken aback for a moment, then quickly put on a smile.

  "What's going on? You've already called me monitor, what else is there?" Qu Mingjun shook his head.

  "Uh, you were the class monitor in the first place."

  "You didn't used to call me like that."

  "So... it turns out you haven't become a class leader yet."

  "That's enough, do you think it's fun to keep going around in circles like this?" Qu Mingjun interrupted Wang Jin impatiently. "I used to think you were a straightforward person, and we could be friends, but how did you become like this today?"

  "What do you want me to say?" Wang Jiong sighed.

  "What are you saying? What exactly are you saying?" Qu Mingjun's temper flared up, "Speak up! What's going on with you guys? Why do you treat the work in class like this? What do you think of me now? Do you have any opinions?"

  "I have no idea." Wang Jin thought for a moment.

  Qu Mingjun was furious, and he stopped the rickshaw with a sudden brake. "Wang Jin, you listen to me carefully! From the day I entered the academy until now, I have asked myself if there's anything I've done wrong to you. At first, my personality was quite cold, so maybe my attitude towards you wasn't very good either. But I've changed now! Today, I'm being completely sincere with you. You can say whatever you want, or not say anything at all - in that case, let's just pretend we're not friends."

  Qiu Mingjun's words were a bit too much, Wang Jin felt a pang in his heart and also shouted out, "I treated you as a friend, did you ever really treat me as one?"

  "What are you talking about?" Qu Mingjun was taken aback and quickly thought back to the past year and a half since he entered school, but couldn't think of anything that would have offended him.

  "Yes, I know you're very capable, Brother Qu. You not only have a wealthy and influential family, but also performed exceptionally well in the army. Look at your achievements over the past year and a half: you were an advanced individual in learning from Lei Feng, an outstanding student in your first year, received a second-class merit award, and were an advanced individual in military training in the military region. You're really impressive! Now that you've become a squad leader, you're even more high and mighty. Have you ever had any interactions with us lower-ranking soldiers?

  Whenever there's some task, you just coldly give orders to someone, 'You go do this,' or 'That person, go do that.' Who is who? When it comes to assigning tasks, it's always the local students like us who get stuck with them. The older soldiers are all chummy with you, taking breaks and chatting. Either you're going out with the older soldiers to do something big, or you're ordering us around. Brother Qu, I'm calling you that one last time - you've already risen above our level, you're a leader now, you're high and mighty. What's the point of us trying to get close to you?"

  After saying a lot in one breath, Wang Jin stopped to catch his breath, and Qu Mingjun was truly stunned. From what Wang Jin meant, it seemed that this root was indeed on himself.

  As a local recruit, I should be closer to them, just like Wang Jiong and the others. However, I somehow feel that they have experienced fewer things and are more immature compared to me. Relatively speaking, I am actually closer to the older soldiers. Moreover, my recent string of dazzling achievements has not made them feel honored, but rather has made them feel slightly jealous.

  There are still some things that I have arranged for myself, and indeed, I have considered Wang Jiong and others less. I often unconsciously treat them as subordinates, while treating old soldiers as fellow comrades of the same level. When discussing at meetings, I ignore them, when receiving awards, I ignore them, and some trivial matters that are not worth mentioning, but they are always asked to do them. Recently, I have been a bit like an old soldier myself, facing local students with an unconscious sense of superiority, even looking at them with colored glasses, no wonder they would have grievances against me.

  It turned out that all the troubles were caused by himself, and he had unconsciously created two classes in the class, one was the old soldiers and himself, and the other was Wang Jiong and others. And he had been increasing the distance between these two classes. Qu Mingjun cursed himself, wasn't this stupid? He had been intentionally creating and intensifying the contradictions within the class, which was incredibly foolish. When Old Guo was around, he had always tried to eliminate the gap between the troops and local students, but what about him? If he were a boss of some enterprise in his hometown, cultivating two forces to balance each other might be a tactic, but now he was in the army, serving as a class leader, how could he manage things fairly if he couldn't even hold a bowl of water level?

  So what should he do next? Looking at Wang Jin's somewhat angry face, Qu Mingjun couldn't say a word for the time being.