Chapter 26: The Returned General

  After returning to the city, Su Jingwei and his sister invited Chen Jifan and others to their home for dinner. Su Jingwei said that he must express his gratitude on behalf of his brothers. Chen Jifan thought that he would have to go to the Su's house anyway to ask about the military uniforms, so he agreed.

  The style of the military uniform has been drawn out, Mr. Su asked if there is anything else to change, if not, then make it according to this style. The sample drawing is very realistic, at a glance, you can tell that it's done with great care.

  "These fashion designers of this era are really something." Chen Jifan silently praised. "No problem, just Mr. Su, can you sew an emblem on the sleeve here, the pattern is an eagle."

  "Right, your unit is called 'Divine Eagle', don't worry, Director Chen, I'll have someone add it later, take a look at the design of these undergarments."

  ……

  It was already very late when I returned from Su's house. With Mr. Su and having Su Jingwei present, the atmosphere at the dinner table became lively, and all three of them drank a lot of wine. After returning to the hotel, they rested early.

  The next day, the three of them had lunch early and drove to the street to find barbers one by one. After a round of haggling, they finally found ten and hired ten rickshaws to send them to the Nanjiao barracks.

  When they came back to this place with a group of barbers, they found everything had changed. The playground that was once filled with trash no longer had flying waste paper, the disgusting dirty bandages and polluted water were gone, and what surprised them even more was that there were two soldiers guarding the entrance, although these two soldiers who looked like 'sentries' didn't have any weapons in their hands, and their clothes were tattered, but their eyes were filled with long-lost pride.

  "Good day, sir!" As Chen Jifan and the other two led the trembling barber past the gate, the two "sentries" immediately saluted them.

  Chen Jifan and the other two immediately returned the salute, but for some reason, Chen Jifan felt that their previous salutes to the sentry had never been so solemn before, and sometimes were just perfunctory. But today, the three of them spontaneously gave these unfamiliar soldiers the highest military salute.

  "Everyone, the weather is nice today, so let's set up our stalls on the playground. Someone will come to boil water soon," Chen Jifan instructed.

  "Don't worry, sir. Our craftsmanship is renowned throughout the three towns of Wuhan. We'll make sure these bosses are all spirited and lively." A bold master craftsman said with a smile.

  Arrange the masters, three people go straight to the camp where they paid wages yesterday. As soon as they walked to the door, they heard Su Jingwei's voice: "Brothers, work hard and let Chen Zhangguan see that our Taxation Police Corps is not a self-abandoning team."

  Su Jingwei had arrived early and was directing everyone in cleaning up.

  As soon as Chen Jifan entered the house, he felt a change. The place was spotless, with even a small pot of unknown wildflowers on the windowsill. What amazed Chen Jifan and his companions was that people's mental outlook had completely changed. Gone were the looks of despair and confusion in their eyes, replaced by confidence and hope shining through their gaze.

  "Welcome, Captain Chen!" A soldier standing at the door, who was cleaning up sewage, stood straight up, with his right hand raised above his head, shouting in a slightly hoarse voice.

  The declaration clearly reached the ears of everyone inside. Only Su Jingwei shouted: "Attention!" Everyone stood upright in unison, puffed out their chests, and all eyes were fixed on Chen Jifan and his two companions. Although some of them still had their arms slung over their shoulders, and some still had bandages wrapped around their heads, their clothes were still tattered, and their beards were still dirty and long. But their eyes no longer looked dejected, as if they were lamps shining straight ahead, illuminating the path in front of them.

  "Attention!" Su Jingwei rushed forward at a quick pace, "The Third Battalion of the Third Brigade of the Taxation Police Corps welcomes Director Chen, Director Hu and Director Luo, and thanks 'Divine Eagle' for their assistance." He then saluted.

  "This country's soldiers are really something, if they don't make a sound it's fine, but when they do make a sound, it's shocking. Look at this situation, it's not much different from the People's Liberation Army." Luo Yuguang said quietly from behind.

  "Comrades, don't be polite, seeing you like this makes us all happy for you. This is the kind of troop that makes the little devils tremble with fear! Alright, the barber master is outside, everyone hurry up and get a haircut, don't keep him waiting. By the way, has anyone boiled hot water?"

  "Brother Chen, don't worry, I've already told the kitchen staff as soon as I arrived, and they have plenty of hot water." Su Jingwei smiled, looking happier than he ever had.

  "Have you informed the other dorm brothers? I've brought the money today." Chen Jifan asked Su Jingwei with a smile.

  "Hey! Did this need to be announced? The news had already spread throughout the camp last night when you came to distribute the money. At first, everyone was a bit envious, but after hearing that they also got a share, they were all thrilled as if they had picked up a treasure. Our brothers in the camp kept repeating the words of wisdom that Commander Chen spoke yesterday, and as a result, everyone has been cleaning up from last night to today, saying that we can't let others look down on the Taxation Police Corps, and we can't tarnish the reputation of our troops. Commander Chen, thank you, you've given me the feeling of being back in the army again, I'm really happy, even happier than winning a battle." Su Jingwei's face was filled with sincerity.

  Chen Jifan patted his shoulder, "It's just a small matter, don't mind it. By the way, arrange for us to also send money to other brothers."

  "Brother Chen, wait a moment, I'll be right back." Su Jingwei bowed and ran out. Before long, he came running back again.

  "Alright, all the brothers are lined up, just waiting for the officials now."

  Three people followed Su Jingwei onto the playground, where they saw over 700 people standing in neat rows, quietly standing still.

  "Older brother Pingwu, let the brothers who received money yesterday get a haircut first, and the rest will start receiving money. Yunfeng, Luohan, get ready, let's begin."

  To prevent someone from impersonating, Su Jingwei specially brought over the flower name list of each camp and stood by to supervise. Those who received three silver dollars went to line up for a haircut.

  The entire Nanyuan military camp was in an uproar, just like a bustling market. "With order comes efficiency," this saying is not false at all. Nearly 700 people were divided into three routes and marched forward, finishing everything in less than two hours. Finally, Chen Jifan had Su Jingwei send the ocean of goods to the chef in the kitchen and the sentry at the gate.

  "Luohan, Yunfeng, let's go! We should also get a haircut, it's been over two months since we last had one. Look, our hair is almost covering our foreheads." Chen Jifan said while pointing at Hu Yunfeng's hair.

  "Head, yours isn't the same either? Luohan is a bit better, this kid originally had a shaved head." Hu Yunfeng pointed at Luo Yuguang and smiled.

  "Right, Lian Chang, we need to invite a master back, the troops really need it, otherwise they'll all become savages after fighting for a while, and those little devils will say 'Hachigaya Ru, Chinese people are good at pretending to be ghosts, they don't dare to fight openly with the great Japanese Imperial Army'." Luo Yu Gang learned in a mannered way, making Chen Jifan and Hu Yunfeng laugh loudly. Chen Jifan pointed at Luo Yu Gang's nose and laughed: "You little devil, you only learn the bad things, like Zhao Jun's oily tongue."

  "I told you that Zhao Jun is biased towards me, but you don't believe it? Look, even from afar, he's thinking of me." Luo Yu said quietly to Hu Yunfeng.

  Chen Jifan ignored him and walked straight towards Master Barber's direction.

  The soldiers in the queue saw Chen Jifan coming over and made way for him. After all, he had taken three big oceans from them. When they heard that Chen Jifan also wanted to get a haircut with them, everyone was even more excited, and they all rushed to invite Officer Chen to come to their front, but Chen Jifan insisted on queuing up.

  The entire playground was in an uproar, and just as everyone was arguing with each other, three military vehicles suddenly rushed in and stopped on the playground. As the brakes screeched to a halt, the chaotic scene on the playground came to an abrupt end. The large playground, with hundreds of people, was completely silent, not a single person speaking. The barber had never seen such a scene before, and he was so frightened that he didn't even dare move the razor in his hand, leaving it suspended in mid-air. Everyone's eyes were fixed on the three military vehicles.

  More than 20 soldiers with live ammunition jumped down from the two cars behind, holding brand new submachine guns in a row. A military officer in his thirties slowly walked down from the front car.

  Chen Jifan followed the gaze of the crowd and saw that this military officer had a short flat head, with two bright and spirited eyes embedded on his high nose bridge, and his face was very clean.

  "Who dares to be so bold as to buy people's hearts in my tax police headquarters?" the officer spoke up.

  The voice was not loud, but no one in the room could not hear it, and no one dared to answer. Everyone's eyes followed the officer's words and shifted to Chen Jifan. Chen Jifan slightly gestured for the barber to stop, then stood up nonchalantly. Hu Yunfeng and Luo Yuguang saw that something was amiss and both quickly walked to Chen Jifan's side.

  All this was clearly seen by the officer, who walked straight to where Chen Jifang was standing. The soldiers behind him immediately ran forward and cleared a path for him. This resulted in Chen Jifang's three men facing off against the officer, while everyone else was blocked from view by the soldiers brought by the officer.

  "Who are you? Is this place somewhere you can just come and go as you please?" The officer's gaze was stern and intimidating.

  Chen Jifan was about to speak when Su Jingwei rushed over, panting and saluting: "Reporting to the superior officer, Tax Police General Team 3rd Battalion 3rd Company 7th Platoon 2nd Lieutenant Squad Leader Su Jingwei reports for duty!" It turned out that Su Jingwei, who was in the kitchen, had heard the news and rushed over to report.

  "Do you know me?" the officer asked Su Jingwei coldly.

  "Yes, sir. The captain is Sun, the fourth team leader of the Taxation Police Brigade. In the Battle of Zhoujia Bridge, the captain led by example and was wounded 13 times. He is now recovering in Wuhan. The captain is my role model." Su Jingwei replied with his chest held high.

  "How dare you! General Sun is the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Military Commission and the Lieutenant General of the Taxation Police Corps!" A soldier standing next to the officer shouted, holding his gun.

  Colonel Sun stopped the soldier with his hand, and Su Jingwei's answer was very satisfactory. He then turned his gaze back to Chen Jifan and the other two, "Lieutenant Su, what's going on with these three? In the army, they're handing out money and giving haircuts. What kind of discipline is this? Don't you know this is a military restricted area?"

  Chen Jifan saw Su Jingwei being asked in an embarrassed manner, and his heart was unbearable. He took a step forward and said loudly: "General, I don't know what's wrong with comforting the anti-Japanese heroes?"

  Seeing the newcomer so arrogant, General Sun's soldiers immediately aimed their guns at Chen Jifan. Chen Jifan didn't care at all, while Hu Yunfeng and Luo Yuguang intentionally or unintentionally walked to both sides of Chen Jifan, vigilantly watching both sides.

  Chen Jifang slowly said to General Sun: "General, please ask your soldiers to put down their guns. The national army's guns are for fighting the Japanese, not for pointing at our own compatriots."

  The newly appointed commander of the Tax Police Brigade, Lieutenant General Sun Liren, was a renowned general who graduated from Tsinghua University and later studied in the United States. He also attended the Virginia Military Institute to study military affairs, making him a true "sea returnee". Sun Liren rushed over after hearing the news that someone had been shouting loudly at the Tax Police Brigade's wounded soldiers' quarters and had even given a speech. His first reaction was that it might be the Communist Party trying to deceive people, so he hurried over. When he arrived at the gate of the Nanguo military camp, he found that there were actually guards standing at the entrance, which gave him a good impression. As his car drove into the drill ground, he also discovered that the drill ground was surprisingly clean, making him curious about this military camp. Because Sun Liren often visited some military camps to visit wounded soldiers in Wuhan, almost all of them were disappointing, with dirty and chaotic quarters, and soldiers who were decadent and fallen. This was something that Sun Liren could not accept, as he had always believed that soldiers should have the most basic dignity and honor since returning from studying in the United States. Today, he finally saw some of this at the Nanguo military camp, although he did not know that all of this came from a speech by the person standing opposite him. So he still held hostility towards the three people in front of him. However, Sun Liren was after all a soldier, and seeing the three men remain calm under the muzzles of more than 20 guns also made him secretly admire them.

  "Who are you?" Sun Liren asked gruffly, planning to drive them away on the grounds of disturbing the garrison if they were Communists. It was a period of cooperation between the Nationalists and Communists, so arresting people was out of the question.

  "A Chinese who does not want to be a slave of a lost nation!" Chen Jifang replied calmly.

  "That sounds good, but in front of my thousands of brothers in the Tax Police Corps, do you have the qualifications to say so? Where were you when our brothers were fighting and bleeding with the devils?" Sun Liren said disdainfully. Nowadays, anyone on the street can say something like that.

  "General Sun said that at that time we had not yet returned to the country, but when the National Army retreated from Nanjing, we were resisting." Chen Jifang said calmly.

  Su Jingwei heard Sun Liren ask about their identities, and hastily stepped forward to report: "Reporting to the officer, they are from China's 'Divine Eagle' anti-Japanese special task force. They came to Wuhan to take care of family matters. After hearing me mention the wounded, they came over to offer condolences, saying that everyone is a brother in the fight against Japan and should look out for each other."

  Sun Liren had seen the "Divine Eagle" in a battle report from the Third War Zone. At that time, the National Army was retreating from Nanjing, and the report said that some scattered soldiers of the National Army had spontaneously organized to fight against the enemy in the rear. Sun Liren admired their bravery after reading it, thinking that they were the real men. He didn't expect to meet them today, as long as they weren't Communists. Otherwise, the vengeful spirits of the Blue Shirt Society would come knocking on his door again. The orthodox American education made Sun Liren completely unacceptable to the fascist practices of the Blue Shirt Society, and he was deeply disgusted with them.

  "Are you really a self-organized group of National Army soldiers? How many people do you have?" Sun Liren's curiosity was piqued, and he asked in a changed tone with urgency.

  "I apologize, General. The questions you asked involve military secrets that I am not authorized to answer. However, if the General is interested, please let the soldiers finish their haircut first. The barber needs to return to town before nightfall. We can find a place to have a good talk." Chen Jifang had known Sun Liren before and still had a good impression of him, so he was willing to make friends with him today.

  Sun Liren hesitated for a moment before saying to Su Jingwei: "Alright, Lieutenant Su!"

  "Arrived!"

  "Pass on my order, everyone continues to get a haircut!" Then he turned around and said to Chen Jifan, "Follow me!"

  Sun Liren strode rapidly towards a barracks building on the edge of the playground, with two soldiers immediately turning around and following closely behind him in a jogging posture. Chen Jifan and the other two also followed suit.