Chapter 3 Refining 2, your birthday reminds me... (1)

  Your birthday reminds me of an old friend from a long time ago

  Many years later, after Xiao Zhuang had been with many girls, he got a relatively stable girlfriend. I don't know how you understand "relatively stable", but my understanding is that although there were still many girls entering his life and stirring up trouble from time to time, they would soon leave or not keep in close contact, only getting back in touch when needed. But this girlfriend was different - she was a university student. What attracted Xiao Zhuang to her wasn't her youth, beauty, or anything else, but because she looked like Xiao Ying. Up until now, Xiao Zhuang had never seen a girl who looked so much like Xiao Ying.

  The girl became Xiao Ying's shadow. Even her voice, temperament and personality were similar. However, she was not Xiao Ying. So, in the end, she left. She went to a very far away island called Great Britain to continue studying piano.

  When leaving, he took away the white camouflage handkerchief washed by Xiao Zhuang. Xiao Zhuang was alone again, wandering between different girls, hitting the edge of life and emotions like a ball that had been hit out. Xiao Zhuang didn't know if he counted as an outsider or not, although he was a happy person who liked to drink, chop mountains, and flirt with pretty girls in bars. After all these years, the only thing left by the Army Special Forces was his fearlessness of being beaten up by other people's boyfriends.

  But what's behind this happiness? Just like earlier, he cried for a while before daring to open up this DELL laptop and type. But it's no longer the fingers typing out words, it's the heart pouring them out. No longer just characters.

  It's blood.

  What is Xiao Ying? It's Xiao Zhuang's eternal dream.

  I followed Xiaoying to the entrance of the training ground, accompanied by a few patrolmen from the police communication team. I didn't know what his name was later on because I never saw him again; I think he retired that winter. They were all smiling at us with their faces flushed. It's not uncommon to see muddy puddles, and the police communication team also has them, but it's rare to see a beautiful, clean, and refreshing little green onion walking behind a big muddy egghead. I felt even more embarrassed, hehe. Xiaoying gave him a white eye; she's been like this since we were in middle school together - she can't bear to see others mock me or bully me. I've said it before, she's just like my sister.

  Just then, the captain of the training ground let out a loud roar, continuing to train, and the earth-shaking killing sound shook the sky. Xiao Ying was startled and patted her heart, saying "Oh my god, I'm scared to death!" The class leader burst out laughing. Those monitors saw the class leader laugh out loud, and they also laughed in unison, their voices very uniform, it's simply a perfect unity of the troops' style.

  Xiao Ying was unhappy, Xiao Ying has always been this kind of bird temperament. Who let her be a soldier and still in the military district general hospital? I dare say that if she were in some field combat unit's medical team, she would have been disciplined within two days. But I'm not, right? The bird returns to its nest but doesn't dare to be so bird-like anymore. However, the problem is that she is not a female soldier from a field combat unit, but rather from the military district general hospital. What can you do about it? Xiao Ying suddenly said to him: "What are you laughing at?"

  The class monitor was unhappy. The prefects were also unhappy. They all looked very serious.

  I was scared at that time, I was really scared. At that time, I already knew that I was not a big deal in this unit, we were all just mediocre, even one was racing with another to be the worst.

  Xiao Ying turned around and walked away without looking back: "Let's go!" She lifted her leg and started walking.

  I don't know what to do, just follow, covered in mud and following along.

  "Hey! Where are you going?" The class leader spoke up, really from all over the country, and also Tianjin.

  "Report to the squad leader!" I didn't dare let Xiaoying speak anymore, so I spoke up myself, "My fellow villager has arrived, and the battalion commander and company commander have approved my leave!"

  "What's up, fellow villager?" The class leader winked at his own monitor. Those few monitors chuckled and thought the view was quite good-looking, it was normal to be happy, and wanting to chat with Little Scallion was also normal, or else they would still be big boys in their 20s? As a result, Little Scallion didn't want to respond: "What business is it of yours? Your team leader has taken leave, why are you still meddling?"

  My head is big, Xiao Ying, do you know where you are? This isn't the military district general hospital's compound. The higher the rank of the troops, the more this phenomenon occurs - soldiers are more arrogant than officers. I have a comrade who was promoted to a headquarters agency compound and his feeling was that as soon as the soldiers in the compound felt the food was bad, they would immediately dare to throw their bowls on the dining table, and even if there were senior officials present, including major generals, it would be as if they hadn't seen anything. The cadres in the agency are all well-mannered, absolutely not like those in the field army who would get into fights or even just give you a dirty look. They're all old slippery fish who have been through the struggles of officialdom. But in the field army, if an officer is one rank higher and one year older than you, can you try not calling them "Chief" or "Sergeant"? Scolding and beating are unavoidable. So what about a special forces unit made up entirely of outstanding officers? What do you think it would be like?

  But the class leader was stunned for a moment and then became unhappy. Those monitors were all stunned for a moment, and they all became unhappy with their movements and expressions, which were exactly the same as those of the class leader. I didn't know what to say when the class leader spoke up. "Can't you see that this little soldier is not simple at all? You should learn from your fellow female comrade! If she weren't a female soldier, I think she'd make a better special forces soldier than you!" He burst out laughing. Then the monitor brothers also burst out laughing.

  "Cut!" Xiaoyingbai turned his face away: "Leave!"

  I just giggled and followed along.

  "Wait!"

  Xiao Ying stopped and turned around, imitating the class monitor's Tianjin accent: "What's up?"

  "That monitor laughed: 'Going out like this? You won't be stopped by the sentry if you're lucky! Do you have a new camouflage uniform?'"

  I shook my head, I didn't have a new one, I only had one set, and it wasn't enough to send out multiple ones. I only had old-style camouflage training uniforms and regular clothes. Usually, our rookie training was just two sets of camouflage training uniforms that we took turns wearing. At a glance, you could tell which team was the rookie team by their standard-issue camouflage uniforms. Even if they got new ones, it was still obvious that they were the rookie team - not just because of my private's insignia on my shoulder, but also because of an inexplicable aura about them.

  "I'll go out in casual clothes." I said.

  "Are you still not satisfied?" the class leader said, "You're not a cadre, two little soldiers fooled around in the mountains, if anyone else were to be the class leader, would you pass the inspection post?"

  I don't know what to do anymore. The class monitor thought for a moment: "Alright! You two wait for Xiaosun!"

  "Attention!" A sentinel stood at attention.

  "Run! Get a camouflage suit from my closet, the new one at the bottom should fit you!"

  "Yes!" The patrolman turned and ran, his white steel helmet, military uniform, big leather boots, and baton on his belt swaying back and forth like a tail attached to his side.

  Xiao Ying stopped talking, she also knew what was good and bad. The class monitor waved his hand: "Wait over there for a while."

  We stood at the edge of the flowerbed with the squad leaders. The class leader waved his hand, and the soldiers were free to stand a little further apart, but still in the shape of a team. Otherwise, if the cadres saw them, they would have to speak again, "Hey, what are you doing? You haven't even finished your morning exercise yet," and then a bunch of things would come up. The rules and regulations of the troops are endless.

  I was standing there, covered in mud and wearing muddy boots, not knowing what to do. In front of me were not only officers but also mostly second-level officer cadets from the disciplinary unit. It's hard to deal with things if you're not a veteran soldier. Our cadres and some technical officers who studied at the military academy had all been trained by the disciplinary unit's non-commissioned officers, and we would often listen to them tell stories about how they used to bully the young cadets when they were in school.

  If the military academy's rules were too strict, we wouldn't dare to cause trouble during the day. But at night, a few of us who were there for training would sneak into the flowerbeds and wear camouflage uniforms and face paint so that no one could see us. As soon as those young disciplinary officers walked by the flowerbed or under the streetlights, they would be caught and dragged away to a dark corner where we would beat them up. They wouldn't even be able to shout for help because their throats would be locked in a chokehold.

  Many of our military officers who were there for training had come from the battlefield, and they would run away as fast as rabbits after finishing their training. I heard that one time, the Dog Head High School team did something like this during their training at the military academy. During a meeting, they arrived late, but the leader hadn't arrived yet, so the young disciplinary officer wouldn't let them walk across the chairs to get to the front row and had to make them walk through the aisle.

  The Dog Head High School team knew they were in the wrong and didn't say anything, so they walked through the aisle. But then the young disciplinary officer said something that was a bit too much, possibly insulting the name of our unit, and he was immediately beaten up by the Dog Head High School team on the spot. None of the other disciplinary officers, including the head of the disciplinary unit, dared to intervene.

  They all just stood there and said, "Forget it, let's not make a big deal out of this." The young disciplinary officer was beaten pretty badly, but eventually, they stopped beating him up. It turned out that among the thousands of students, cadres, and officers from various units who were there for training, including some professors who were generals or civilian officials, no one said anything about the incident.

  As soon as the military academy's leaders arrived in their cars at the entrance to the auditorium, they stopped beating him up. You have to know that the military academy's principal and political commissar were both deputy commanders of a large region. Would the Dog Head High School team dare to cause trouble with such high-ranking officials?

  So they stopped beating him up and sat down quietly for the meeting. Before the leaders arrived, everything was as if nothing had happened. Of course, this incident wasn't over yet. The Dog Head High School team still had to be detained, write a self-criticism, and apologize publicly to that soldier.

  As soon as the disciplinary unit assembled, the young soldier knelt down and said, "Uncle, uncle, I was wrong!" with tears in his eyes. This made the Dog Head High School team not dare to tell anyone about this incident because it would be too embarrassing to admit that they had beaten up someone like that.

  It was only when some of our officers who were there for training told us about it later that we found out what had happened.

  But the dog head brigade's discipline inspectors are not ordinary people, otherwise, think about it, how can they be disciplined if they don't have a good grasp of martial arts? The discipline inspectors have practiced other special combat subjects less. However, there are two points that other units generally can't match: one is that they are good at shooting pistols, and the other is that they are good at dealing with high-level martial artists. Being good at shooting pistols is necessary for guard work, and being good at dealing with high-level martial artists is necessary for dealing with our brothers. Of course, guard work also requires this. Moreover, they are all veteran officers, absolutely not small birds but big birds, otherwise, how can they do the discipline inspection work?

  So I was really scared at the time, and it's true that being beaten by them is not an easy thing to do. Even if they don't beat me now, there will be plenty of opportunities in the future. The courtyard is just so big, can you follow the cadres every day? They can find a reason to deal with you and report that your attitude is bad, and even if they hit you, you have nowhere to complain unless you are really familiar with the captain of the police communication team, like an old friend. At most, it's just an apology. I've said it before, the higher the rank, the more useless it is. Even if you find the battalion commander, it won't be of any use. Can the battalion commander care about the trivial matter of a small soldier being beaten? Is what he said reasonable?

  So my experience in the Dog Head Brigade is that even if you hammer the squad leader, don't hammer the instructor, of course I didn't dare to hammer the squad leader either, that's just how it is, showing the severity of the consequences.

  I stood there with bated breath, but Xiao Ying was nonchalant. She later told me that the female soldiers from the Military District General Hospital didn't wear their hats when they went out on the streets because it made them look like fools, and the patrols never bothered them either. I said that female soldiers had a special status in the army; at the General Hospital, no one followed any of the military regulations - if you did follow them, wouldn't you be considered a fool? This is generally how things are in military units - the soldiers look down on the cadres.

  Then the class leader wanted to talk to Xiaoying for a few more words, which is very normal, I would do the same if I were in his shoes. With power and conditions like this, it's even more so. Have you tried being locked up in Dashan Pass for half a year? Besides, these old soldiers are clearly not locked up for just half a year.

  But Xiaoying is not like that, she has a personality where if you offend her, she will ignore you for a long time, no matter how hard you try to make amends. It's only when she herself comes around that she'll act as if nothing happened and chat and laugh with you as usual. My experience is that it's best to just answer her questions directly without saying anything extra. If you ask where she's from, she'll say where she's from; if you ask which unit she belongs to, she'll say which unit; if you ask what else, she'll say what else.

  That class monitor has always been in a very good mood, but I believe that his usual temper is not so good, otherwise how can the monitor be so strict? Why don't we just demolish the house? However, in such a wild combat unit, a female soldier who suddenly rushes in will receive this treatment, from the battalion commander to the monitor, no one says half a word.

  Because she is what? A young female soldier. That's all. The rest of the squad didn't dare to talk to Xiaoying so frequently, except for a squad leader from our province who pulled some old hometown connections, but when their squad leader got unhappy, they didn't dare say more.

  Xiao Ying just stood there, looking around and feeling particularly unenthusiastic. What kind of place was this? It wasn't as fun as the amusement parks in the provincial capital, nor did it have the large shopping malls that were worth strolling through. For a girl, even if she was a female soldier in an elite special forces unit, she had to be like a normal girl. She had to like pretty clothes, like secretly putting on makeup (although Xiao Ying thought that openly wearing makeup was okay, but she didn't wear it except when hosting events at school), and like listening to Zhang Xinzhe (at the time, there were no other options, he had just arrived, although I disliked him, Xiao Ying liked him so I listened to a few of his songs). She had to like all the things that normal girls liked. Only then could she be considered a female soldier. My theory was that a military person was first and foremost a human being, and only then a soldier. Otherwise, what sacrifice could you talk about? After chatting idly for a while, the squad leader came running over, wearing not only new camouflage uniforms but also new hats, colorful armbands, and chest badges.

  All that's missing is a new military rank and a new pair of boots, but I have those clean too. We don't wear these when we're rolling in the mud pit anyway. The squad leader just waved his hand: "Go."

  Xiao Ying left.

  I quickly said: "Thank you!"

  The class leader smiled and said, "Alright, alright, be careful not to just find a random mountain and start talking. Some brothers are secretly training, if you sit on their heads or shoulders and get too close, they won't even get up, they'll just wait and see. Go to that mountain over there, there's no training grounds there, it's all barren mountains, the scenery is pretty good too. Hurry up and go, time is tight, you don't think so now, but you will soon know. Go, go!" I quickly went.

  Chasing after the faint shadow. The class leader and those monitors laughed for a while, then formed up and shouted out their numbers as they left. From that day on, I never saw that class leader again. Even until today, his things are still in my backpack. As time passes, many small matters settle down, perhaps it's possible to really know what the soldiers in the mountains, those young men in their youth, lost.

  It's not necessarily something you can put into words.