Chapter 46: Appointment for Solo Flight

  The sea breeze stirred up waves that ceaselessly pounded the beach. At the horizon, a golden sunrise peeked out and cast a ray of sunlight over the entire harbor. On the beach, the tired footprints left by Sun Qifan and his companions had been washed away by the seawater; only two or three foraging seagulls wandered back and forth where they had passed.

  Sun Qifan's head directly fell from his backpack to the ground after he flipped over.

  The pain made him wake up suddenly, and he couldn't help but rub his sore spot with a raised hand.

  After a yawn, Sun Qifan half-closed his eyes and looked back in the direction of the sun. Under the early sunlight, Jiang Yurou sat quietly alone on the dock, her black silhouette making people feel somewhat depressed.

  Sun Qifan couldn't help but think of the information Zhuo Yi had given him, and since he was already awake, he quietly got up and went to Jiang Yurou's back. Looking at Jiang Yurou staring blankly at the slowly rising sun with her eyes dull, her hands tightly wrapped around herself, she must have been chilled by the morning cold. Sun Qifan quickly took off his camouflage jacket and put it on Jiang Yurou's body.

  Turning back, she saw that it was Sun Qifan. Jiang Yurou didn't say a word and directly reached out to grab Sun Qifan's clothes, pulling them off his body and throwing them aside.

  Watching his good intentions being treated as a joke, Sun Qifan couldn't help but take a deep breath, bend down to pick up the coat and put it back on Jiang Yurou's body. Seeing Jiang Yurou's hand lift again, Sun Qifan gently scolded: "Don't move!" He sat down with both hands pressing on Jiang Yurou's shoulders.

  Jiang Yurou lifted her hand and then put it down again, and Sun Qifan relaxed his grip, smiling and saying: "I didn't expect the seaside in summer to be so cool in the morning!"

  Jiang Yuruo ignored Sun Qifan's advances and simply looked up and continued to gaze eastward.

  Sun Qifan was also curious and looked in the direction that Jiang Yurou was looking, apart from a sparkling sea, there were seagulls soaring above the sea, he didn't find anything particularly attractive.

  Suddenly, Jiang Yurou asked Sun Qifan: "Have you seen the sun?"

  "Ah?" Sun Qifan was stunned for a moment, "En! I saw it, compared to what I saw on the aircraft carrier yesterday...it's a bit redder." After finishing speaking, Sun Qifan coldly smiled to himself, thinking that the sun is still the same sun, no difference.

  But Jiang Yurou suddenly smiled and turned her head back to look at Sun Qifan, looking very serious as she asked: "If there's a chance, can you take me to see the sunrise in an airplane?"

  "Driving a fighter plane?"

  "Hmm!"

  Jiang Yurou nodded excitedly, her eyes filled with expectation and entreaty, like a stone dropping into Sun Qifan's heart sea, making it hard for him to calm down.

  Sun Qifan remembered that Jiang Yurou's file mentioned her emotional issues. Two years ago, the boy she loved was piloting a fighter jet during an emergency takeoff and intercept mission when he encountered a formidable opponent and ultimately crashed and died due to the opponent's operational error.

  What's more important is that Yuan Tuo also promised Jiang Yuru at the time, after Jiang Yuru graduated, he would take her to sit in the co-pilot seat of his fighter jet and watch the sunrise together.

  What a romantic promise, every girl likes the arrival of this day. But in the end, Jiang Yuru waited for nothing but Yuan Tao's crash, and after searching for a long time near the crash site, she couldn't find any remains.

  The only talisman given by Jiang Yuruo to Yuan Tao became the only evidence that Yuan Tao had indeed sacrificed his life for the country.

  At this moment, Sun Qifan didn't know why Jiang Yurou was looking at him with such eyes, as if he were Yuan Tao at that moment.

  "Alright, on the day I fly solo, I'll take you to watch the sunrise!" Sun Qifan said, and couldn't help but stretch out his right hand's little finger in front of Jiang Yurou, saying very affirmatively: "If I deceive you, I'll never grow tall!"

  Sun Qifan's shameless vow made Jiang Yurou burst out laughing uncontrollably.

  But taking a deep breath, Jiang Yurou's expression turned gloomy again as she turned her head to look at the sun that had already risen completely, saying: "You're not Yuan Tuo, but I appreciate you saying those comforting words."

  As she spoke, Jiang Yurou turned her head again and asked Sun Qifan: "Do you want to know why I wanted to watch the sunrise on the warplane?"

  "Why?"

  Why, Sun Qifan actually already knew the reason in his heart. But he still pretended to be ignorant and responded to Jiang Yurou, wanting to hear how Jiang Yurou would describe her past pain.

  However, Jiang Yurou ultimately chose to remain silent. With a bitter smile, she stood up and handed Sun Qifan's camouflage jacket back to him, saying: "When you fly solo one day, I'll tell you why."

  Sun Qifan did not expect Jiang Yurou to say this, and he couldn't help but think, how far is the day of single flight from himself?

  No matter how far away, Sun Qifan found himself slowly falling in love with the pace of life here. Although there were no endless snow-capped mountains, no eagles soaring outside the sky, and no clearly marked national borders, everything here was so vivid and not as bad as he had imagined.

  It was unclear when Sun Qifan had this idea. Perhaps it was after walking around the 094 warehouse with Zhao Hu, or after listening to Zhao Hu's words, or after boarding the Liaoning ship? Everything was so inexplicable, yet changing so obviously.

  At a loss, Sun Qifan also had no choice but to stand up and look at the camouflage jacket in his hand with a smile.

  Looking back at the 22 comrades who, due to last night's fatigue, directly lay down on the ground and fell asleep, Sun Qifan couldn't help but recall a phrase Zhao Hu had once said: "True soldiers are indifferent to where they are; all they need to do is lie in wait for dawn."

  Now, Sun Qifan firmly believes that as soon as the whistle sounds, the new recruits who are now sleeping soundly on the cold ground will immediately get up.

  It really is think what comes what. Sun Qifan had just thought of this when he heard a sudden sharp whistle!

  Following the whistle, Sun Qifan looked to his left and saw that Uncle Sun Fan had already put on his backpack and shouted loudly: "Get up! Lieutenants! Those who die on the battlefield are all lazy soldiers. Only soldiers who are always ready can become generals! Get up quickly!"

  Listening to Sun Fan's words, Sun Qifan suddenly burst out laughing. He thought to himself why he had grown fond of this place, perhaps... it was because his uncle was different from before.

  Backpack on! Everyone's face is full of sleepiness, and the sunlight stretches their shadows very long.

  The sea breeze blew against everyone's clothes, making a "whooshing" sound.

  "Good morning, soldiers!"

  "Good morning, instructor!"

  "Remember, even if you have two more olives on your military cap than the soldiers, that doesn't mean you're not a warrior! To be an officer, first and foremost, you must make our warriors obey willingly!" As he spoke, Sun's right hand rose, pointing towards the beach.

  Everyone looked in the direction that Sun Fu was pointing, and saw a team of soldiers shouting slogans, marching in unison, accompanied by the sound of waves crashing against the shore, running towards them.

  "Now, I want you to prove that you are qualified to lead them in defending every inch of the motherland! Set off!"

  There was no clear training subject, but as soon as Sun Fan's order came out, Qiu Lin looked at the team led by Zhang Qi in the distance and shouted: "If you are a man, rush up!" Forget it, then he was the first to rush out.

  Zhuo Yi never thought that Qiu Lin, behind her cute appearance, would have such a majestic demeanor, which was in no way inferior to Jiang Yu Rong's when she led the team. Moreover, from a physical standpoint, Qiu Lin seemed to be one level higher than Jiang Yu Rong, but Zhuo Yi wasn't quite clear why Jiang Yu Rong had gotten first place previously.

  This also became a mystery in Zhuo Yi's heart, but she didn't have the idea of solving it for now. Seeing that everyone had already run out, she also swung her backpack onto her back and ran quickly to Qiu Lin's side, shouting at Qiu Lin: "If you can outrun me, I'll acknowledge you as my junior sister!"

  "Good!" Qiu Lin also accepted Zhuo Yi's challenge without hesitation and immediately took off running.

  Jiang Yurou saw Zhuo Yi actively challenge Qiu Lin, and she couldn't help but feel unwilling to fall behind. But just as she was about to accelerate her pace, Sun Qifan suddenly pulled her back, shook his head at her, and said: "Sometimes forcing yourself too much isn't a good thing."

  "But if I don't force myself, I won't be able to stay here."

  Listening to Jiang Yurou's rebuttal, Sun Qifan couldn't help but smile and said: "Haven't you already stayed behind?"

  "Then I'll be the first person to fly solo!"

  "Congratulations, you're impossible now."

  This sentence made Jiang Yurou stop suddenly. Jiang Yurou turned her head to look at Sun Qifan, and asked with a displeased face: "If you just want to muddle through the day by relying on your good relationship with Commander Zhao, I have nothing to say. But I'm not, I came here to prove myself!" After that, Jiang Yurou couldn't help but give Sun Qifan a white eye, and then ran again.

  Sun Qifan didn't expect Jiang Yurou to think of him that way in her heart, and he couldn't help but hum softly.

  Seeing Zhang Qi running over, Sun Qifan suddenly raised his hand and blocked Zhang Qi's path.

  Zhang Qi, who had abruptly stopped in his tracks, couldn't help but curiously turn his head to look at Sun Qifan. Seeing that Sun Qifan only gave him a sideways glance, he again lowered his head to look at the left hand with which Sun Qifan was blocking his path.

  He didn't expect Sun Qifan to suddenly raise his thumb, but then he turned it upside down.

  "You..."

  Sun Qifan didn't intend to listen to Zhang Qi's angry words, he simply withdrew his left hand and rushed forward. Zhang Qi saw that Sun Qifan was looking down on him, and with the anger still simmering in his heart over Chen Bin's matter, he couldn't help but shout at the team: "Left turn!"

  "When all the teams have finished, he said again: 'Whoever loses to the group in front of them will do solo endurance training today, 10 kilometers armed cross-country!' "

  Having said that, Zhang Qi rushed out. When he passed by Sun Qifan's side, he reached out and snatched the camouflage hat from Sun Qifan's head, and even gave him a thumbs down. Without looking back, he provocatively said: "If a ninth-degree black belt master like you can catch up with me, I'll call you grandpa!"