Just as Wu Yi and Li were working as boys picking up shit in the septic tanks and toilets of the barracks, Hou Jun sat across from company commander Xie Dong in a room next to the small conference room on the second floor.
"Why did you come back?"
Xie Dong was shaving with an electric razor. He didn't stop when Hou Jun came in and raised his chin towards the table.
"The cigarettes are in the drawer, get them yourself."
Hou Jun was not polite, he went over to open the drawer, took out a pack of Furong King, took out one stick, lit it with a lighter, then sat in the chair and took a puff.
While shaving, Xie Dong glanced at his soldiers and said, "You, everything else is good, but your smoking habit is bad."
Hou Jun smoked a cigarette and said, "That's what you promised me when you were the platoon leader. During the competition, you said that as long as I could get a full ring, you would buy all my cigarettes for the whole day in the army."
Xie Dong snorted and smiled.
He didn't care about Hou Jun's words.
The two were actually soldiers of the same year, and both had been in the army for eight years.
It's just that Hou Jun became a sergeant in eight years, while Xie Dong rose through the ranks and became a captain and company commander.
Back then, Hou Jun's training was no worse than Xie Dong's, but his culture was not that good.
When it came time to take the military academy exam, both of them signed up.
The final results came out, Xie Dong made the list and Hou Jun failed.
But Hou Jun had already expected this result.
In his own words, he knew very well how much ink he had in his stomach, and even studied with the prince after taking the exam.
Xie Jun was different. His grades in high school had always been very good. It was a certainty that he would be admitted to college. Unexpectedly, an illness before the college entrance examination caused him to perform abnormally. He missed out on his ideal university by 3 points.
He could have repeated his studies, but later chose to join the army.
After all, not only can you exercise in the army, but you can also enter a military academy to fulfill your dream of going to college, and you can even become an officer after graduation, which is both glorious and a way to realize your personal ideals.
In the end, he actually went to a military academy and became an officer.
After Hou Jun failed the examination, due to his extremely excellent military qualities, he was selected as an outstanding grassroots soldier of the E Division and sent to the non-commissioned officer brigade for intensive training in accordance with the policy of "reforming soldiers". After returning, he became the squad leader and worked there for more than six years. . From squad leader to acting platoon leader, in addition to having more ranks, he is also a top soldier.
Xie Dong graduated from the military academy and returned to Division E. According to the principle of going back and forth where he came from, he returned to the Tiger Regiment, the Fourth Company of the Second Battalion, and became the platoon leader of Hou Jun. A few years later, he became the company commander. long.
Sometimes people's fate is so strange. From the same starting point, they end up running on different tracks.
But Xie Dong respected Hou Jun enough.
The reason is that Hou Jun's military quality is simply not comparable to his own. The reason why he can be Hou Jun's company commander is because his cultural foundation is better than Hou Jun's.
What's more, veterans like Hou Jun are already a banner of the Fourth Company of Sharpshooters and can bring out many backbones. Although Hou Jun is usually a carefree person, and he is always a bit enchanting and undisciplined when he is an old soldier, but at critical moments he never If you don't have diarrhea, you can always win back one or two flags for the fourth company through assessments, competitions, training sessions, etc., and build a strong appearance.
No talent is perfect. Xie Dong is a smart junior officer who knows how to win over the veterans in the company.
Just like Hou Jun, everything is fine, but he can't quit smoking.
Smoking is prohibited in the military, but the rule is that people who are dead are alive, and some people still smoke in private. This is also true.
Like Hou Jun, it's useless to force him to quit smoking. It's better to specify a place and time for him to smoke.
So the competition back then was actually an excuse. Hou Jun thought he had earned the right to smoke openly with his strength. In fact, Xie Dong knew that Hou Jun had this strength, so he simply went along with the flow and gave him a chance to smoke openly.
After Xie Dong finished hanging his beard, he opened the lid of the electric razor, pulled it over the trash can, and sat next to it to sweep away the beard residue with a brush.
While scanning, he asked, "How's the training going?"
Hou Jun blew out a smoke ring and said, "As usual, it's not like you don't know how many guns in Division E can reach the surface."
Xie Dong said: "Zhong Rui went too?"
Hou Jun's face changed slightly, and he said unnaturally: "I'm going."
Xie Dong said: "When master and apprentice met, they didn't start scolding each other, right?"
Hou Jun snorted and said, "Why should I scold him? Can I be so heartless and angry like him?"
Xie Dong sighed slightly and said: "It's been more than three years, and you still haven't let go? Besides, he is also a soldier you brought out. Although he has left our company, he is still a talented person from our company after all, isn't he?"
Hearing what Xie Dong said, Hou Jun became angry, slammed the butt of his cigarette into the ashtray, and said angrily as if he had eaten gunpowder: "I told him back then that I would teach him his skills, but he must stay in the Fourth Company." Leading the troops, even if I retire in the future, our Fourth Company of Sharpshooters will still have someone who can take over, right? I didn’t expect him..."
At this point, I suddenly felt discouraged.
"That's right... after all, we are a motorized infantry regiment, not as good as the special forces brigade in the army! A good bird chooses the right tree to roost, I have nothing to say."
Finally, the anger seemed to subside a little, so I picked up another cigarette, lit it, and continued smoking.
Xie Dong took the cigarette case, put it into his pocket, and then said: "That's almost enough. Don't really treat cigarettes like food! I smoke them for you as a special case. Don't make your body smell like cigarettes. It will have bad effects!"
Hou Jun snorted again: "Smoking a cigarette is not committing a crime. Besides, if there is a soldier in my platoon who has my military qualities, I will buy his cigarettes too!"
Xie Dong suddenly said: "This year's first batch of soldiers seems to be of good quality. Our regiment leader snatched them back."
Hou Jun was stunned for a moment, and then said: "By the way, speaking of recruits, I remembered something. Two recruits were fighting just now, and I happened to see it when I came back. I didn't want to make a big deal about it, so I forgot to talk to him just now. You report."
Xie Dong was a little surprised: "Is there no big problem?"
Hou Jun said: "What's the big problem? The new recruit Danzi has only the strength of a milk baby and can't kill anyone. But fortunately I came back in time, otherwise I don't know if Wu Yi can handle it. I said I'm here The training team is always jealous, so I took the time to come back today to see the new recruits, and the results were good, I saw this as soon as I arrived at the company."
Xie Dong asked: "Which two recruits are they?"
Hou Jun said: "One is named Wei Guoxing and the other is Zhang Jian. They are both soldiers from the East China Sea."
Xie Dong nodded thoughtfully and said: "Wei Guoxing is a soldier with average basics. He has not had much training at home. But Zhang Jian is different. He is a child of the army. He grew up in a military camp and has very good qualities. This is a good piece of steel, I leave it to you, you have to temper it and temper it."
Hou Jun didn't hide it at all: "Zhang Jian has a good foundation, but he is arrogant. I can see it. This guy is a bit like Zhong Rui."
Xie Dong knew not to mention Zhong Rui in front of Hou Jun. He went crazy when he mentioned the latter, so he changed the subject and said: "There is another one, a student from a prestigious university. He has a very good cultural background and good physical condition. He is also in your class. inside."
Hou Jun thought for a while and seemed to remember Li Zheng's name. He tapped his fingers in the air a few times: "You mean... the one named Li Zheng?"
Xie Dong said: "Well, he is a top student at Tunghai University Law School. I have seen his file and his grades are very good."
Hou Jun stared at the ceiling in a daze.
Cultural foundation.
Cultural foundation...
Back then, I suffered from a weak cultural foundation.
Look, just a few years ago, students from prestigious universities have become soldiers.
Time flies so fast...
"What are you thinking about?" Seeing that he was lost in thought, Xie Dong interrupted Hou Jun's train of thought and asked, "What are you thinking about again?"
Hou Jun pulled away from his thoughts and suddenly felt a little sad: "I will retire in two years. This training and selection may be my last chance."
Xie Dong was stunned.
Of course he knew what Hou Jun meant.
He heard Hou Jun say this when the two were still soldiers.
A second-class merit medal.
This is the dream that Hou Jun has been pursuing all these years as a soldier.
"You already have two third-class merit awards, and the regiment leader also said that he will apply for a second-class merit award for you before you retire. Are you still worried about not being able to realize your dream?"
Hou Jun suddenly turned to look at Xie Dong, his eyes unblinking, as if he was looking at a stranger.
Xie Dong was a little confused and asked quickly: "Why are you looking at me like this?"
Hou Jun said: "Do you think I only want a second-class merit medal?"
This time it was Xie Dong's turn to be stunned.
Yes, it's understandable that others don't understand him, Hou Jun, but it's definitely not his fault that Xie Dong doesn't understand him.
