Chapter 653 - 320: You Have Your Backing, I Have My Uncle Zhao! (Part 3)

Before departing, I handed most of my luggage over to the logistics team, and they would help send it back to the Third Company.

The small suitcase I was carrying contained a large pack of Zhonghua cigarettes and a few bottles of foreign wine.

At that moment, while carrying my small suitcase, I ran into Company Commander Liang Erxi.

Company Commander Liang Erxi shook my hand tightly, visibly excited:

"Welcome, welcome! The company has always been hoping for some guidance from above, and you could say we’ve been waiting eagerly like waiting for the moon and stars. Today, it’s finally happening!"

The first impression Liang Erxi gave me was that of a simple, honest farmer.

His face was tanned, and his body was very fit, standing at about 1.7 meters tall. His eyes weren’t big, but his lips were thick, tightly pressed into a line.

Just one look, and I knew he must have enlisted wearing a wreath of sorghum flowers.

"Instructor, you seem to be only about twenty-four or twenty-five."

"Not at all, I’m already thirty-two."

"So that means we’re the same age, both born in the year of the rat." He smiled sincerely: "But you look at least seven or eight years younger than me."

"All right, all right, the most you are is a field mouse."

Upon hearing this, Liang Erxi laughed and introduced me: "This is our company’s drama actor, artillery platoon leader Wang Wenxi."

Afterward, Liang Erxi introduced me to the other platoon leaders of the company.

As the alarm for an urgent assembly sounded, I understood it meant showing my face in the company.

"Comrades!"

Liang Erxi couldn’t help but have a delighted expression, as if a great fortune had come: "This is our new instructor."

The applause was thunderous, and everyone eagerly looked at me.

"Comrades, Instructor Zhao requested to be assigned to our Second Company! He’s from a major provincial agency and has quite a bit of work experience."

His gaze toward the company was now serious, unlike the earlier happiness:

"Comrades, you must not have any misunderstandings! Instructor Zhao is neither here for training nor to experience life; he is officially appointed by higher authorities as our Second Company’s instructor!"

"All his records, including organizational relations, have been transferred over. From today onward, everyone should consult him when in doubt and strictly follow his guidance!"

"Let’s have the instructor speak!"

Again, the applause was thunderous.

"Comrades! I... I’m not very skilled and lack experience. I... am willing to work with you all to do a good job with our company’s tasks."

"I’m... I’m finished."

I’m usually quite articulate, but that day, I really couldn’t say much.

I just felt my face burning and my heart racing.

Probably because of the Company Commander’s words, "Instructor Zhao is neither here for training nor to experience life; he is officially appointed by higher authorities as the instructor."

You see, I was born into a military family; my father was a senior officer, and my mother was in a military school.

I went down to the company to fulfill a ’curved career path’ goal after enlisting.

At that time, my wife and I saw each other infrequently, and this wasn’t a sustainable solution.

My mother devised a plan for me to first get some experience at the grassroots level for a few months, and then I could be legitimately transferred back.

The unit I went to had a leader nicknamed "Thunder God."

A person who was strict, always initiating reforms, and a stickler for discipline, without favoring anyone.

I worried that if I went there, I might not be able to transfer back after a few months.

But my mother reassured me, saying she had once saved "Thunder God’s" life during a crisis, and he would do this favor for her.

Of course, no one from Company Commander Liang Erxi down to the ordinary soldiers knew about any of this.

——

Kangle nodded knowingly and then asked a crucial question:

"So, were you transferred back then?"