Chapter 7: From Discord to Unity

  The five instructors then dispersed the reserve team members and went to the office building together, where they had a heated discussion in Li Zhenhong's office.

  As soon as he walked into the office, the hot-tempered physical education instructor Qi Dajun indignantly asked Li Zhenhong: "Director, why? Isn't it clearly written in our training plan that any reserve member who is late for assembly will be eliminated immediately? Why didn't you follow the regulations on the plan? Why did you let off that Wang Fanglong guy? If this goes on, how can we train them?"

  "Yes! Why?" The other three instructors were also puzzled.

  。

  Li Zhenhong did not answer immediately, but pointed to the guest chairs in the office and said to Qi Dajun and four other instructors: "You sit down first, don't worry, I will talk about this matter. Because of the sudden incident earlier, I made a temporary decision without discussing it with you, which is my fault. However, next I will say the reason why Wang Fanglong was not expelled. Finally, we will vote according to the plan book. If the opinion to expel Wang Fanglong is in the majority, after dinner, let him roll up his bedding and leave immediately!

  After finishing speaking, Li Zhenhong walked over to the office desk and sat down, and the other instructors also took their seats one after another.

  Qī Dàjūn still had a dark face and let out a "hmm" sound to express his dissatisfaction.

  As for Qi Dajun's expression and behavior, Li Zhenhong saw but ignored him, picked up the water cup on the table, took a few light sips, and put it down again.

  After drinking water, Li Zhenhong cleared his throat and said slowly: "As for Wang Fanglong, this reserve player, I don't understand. But as for the reason why he was late, I am very clear."

  The other four instructors were a bit confused, how could this not be contradictory? Without asking for the reason on the spot and without understanding this person, how could they possibly know why he was late?

  "How is this possible? You're not a god!"

  "That's right!" The others nodded in agreement, echoing his words.

  Seeing everyone's disbelieving faces, Li Zhenhong first let out a chuckle, then immediately regained his composure and said: "I knew you wouldn't believe me. Just listen to what I have to say and you'll understand."

  When Li Zhenhong said this, everyone still didn't believe it, but they all stopped making a sound. Li Zhenhong continued to say: "Before this batch of reserve team members reported for duty, an old superior who used to work with me called me and asked me to take care of Wang Fanglong."

  Just as he finished speaking, the other four instructors suddenly realized, with a look of "it's indeed so".

  As for their expressions, Li Zhenhong seemed to have not seen them and continued to say: "The old captain told me that Wang Fanglong is his adopted son. He said that this child's life experience was very pitiful, and his birthplace was in our training base."

  By this time, Qi Dajun and his three companions were all bewildered.

  They all knew that this base had been built for a short time, and even if it was its predecessor, it would be at most 15 years.

  。

  Besides, there are no households nearby, how could Wang Fanglong be born here?

  However, despite their puzzlement, they did not interrupt Li Zhenhong's speech and continued to listen.

  "The place we are in now used to be a village, a village with over 700 years of history. The name of the village was Wangjiacun, and there were 356 villagers living a secluded tribal life. But 18 years ago, disaster struck, and the village was attacked by bandits. Except for Wang Fanglong, all the other villagers were killed, and the entire village was burned to ashes."

  "What?" Everyone gasped in shock, and Qi Dajun was so angry that he slapped his thigh and stood up.

  Seeing everyone's emotions so excited, Li Zhenhong immediately waved his hand, signaling them to calm down and listen to him finish speaking.

  Qi Dajun sat down again and continued to listen to Li Zhenhong's account, but he no longer had the initial impatience and suspicion about this matter.

  "This tragic case, most of you have heard of it, at that time the whole country was shocked, but you must not know that the incident occurred right here. I don't know if you've noticed, in the northwest direction of our base, in a remote corner, there is a low and small bungalow, where the ashes of all the villagers of Wangjia Village are buried."

  "The old chief said that Wang Fanglong comes here every year to pay respects to his parents. Today is his first time this year, after reporting for duty, the first thing he must do is to worship his parents. When we gathered earlier, he was 100% in that bungalow. I can prove it because I specifically observed the direction he came from, which was from the direction of that bungalow. It's a bit far from our gathering place, and even if you hear the whistle and run to our gathering point, even the world short-distance running champion would definitely be late."

  Li Zhenhong stopped here and his calm eyes swept across the other four instructors, and the entire room fell silent.

  Qi Dajun was the first to lose his temper, and he said in a puzzled tone: "Officer Li, I've heard of this case before. At that time, it was reported that everyone in the village was killed, but I didn't expect there were survivors. Wang Fanglong must have been very young at that time. If the report had said he was a survivor, many people would have lent a helping hand. Why did they cover this up?"

  Li Zhenhong also asked Lao Shou Zhang Nie Yuanzheng the same question.

  At this time, he repeated what Nie Yuanzheng told him: "The reason why I didn't say that there were survivors at the time was mainly considering Wang Fanglong's safety issue."

  "Think about it, the murderer was so ruthless, no one knows why they slaughtered the village. If they knew that a child had survived at the time, wouldn't they have silenced him? In that case, Wang Fanglong would be in danger of losing his life at any moment."

  Just then, instructor Sun Hongwei interrupted: "Instructor Li, you don't need to say any more. I'll express my opinion first. Originally, Instructor Qi Dajun and I were in agreement that Wang Fanglong should be expelled immediately. But unexpectedly, there's such a big hidden story behind this matter. I think we can show some leniency and give him another chance. However, if something similar happens again in the future, it must be dealt with seriously!"

  Qi Dajun immediately became anxious when Sun Hongwei said that, suddenly standing up and saying: "Who said I wanted to expel Wang Fanglong? Didn't we just not understand the situation at first? But then again, according to the rules, he should be expelled. Dammit, it's really frustrating! In the past, I've never encountered such a situation, but today I'll make an exception, I agree to let him stay!"

  After finishing speaking, Qi Dajun sat down again.

  Seeing this, Li Zhenhong smiled slightly and said: "Alright, let's not say anything more. Let's vote by show of hands. Those who agree that Wang Fanglong should continue to stay, please raise your hand." After finishing speaking, Li Zhenhong was the first to raise his hand.

  Then, instructors Sun Hongwei, Qi Dajun, Shi Guangzhe, and Wu Tianyu raised their hands one after another, and everyone unanimously agreed that Wang Fanglong would continue to stay.

  For this result, Li Zhenhong was obviously very satisfied. He smiled and said: "Put down your hands, since everyone's opinions are unanimous, then we will let Wang Fanglong continue to stay. And I think everyone made this decision out of their own heart, of course, including me. This matter has nothing to do with my old superior, but this special case is only once. Here, I also guarantee you that no matter what time, I absolutely will not specially care for any reserve team member because of so-called personal relationships!"

  The other four instructors also laughed, but immediately became serious and said loudly: "We won't either!"

  Li Zhenhong smiled and nodded, then stood up, stretched his body, arched his back, and said to the other four instructors: "You all go back to your offices too, take a break, we still need to save our energy to train these young men well."

  "Yes!" Qi Dajun and four other instructors stood up together, gave Li Zhenhong a standard military salute, and then left.

  After they left, Li Zhenhong walked to the window and quietly gazed at the outside scenery, lost in thought...