Chapter 407: Return to the Fourth Company, Going to Be a Platoon Leader
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
“All!”
Outside the door, Wang Ye didn’t leave immediately.
He could see that Yan Zhiming was reluctant to leave the military camp.
But he also knew that Yan Zhiming was a person with a strong will deep down.
He didn’t want sympathy.
He didn’t need sympathy either.
A soldier can’t be a soldier forever.
Just as Wang Ye had said.
Enough, he had shed blood for the country. Although his military career was short, only a year, he had already lived up to the identity of a soldier.
Instead of staying in the army and becoming a cared-for patient, it was better to return home with honor and achievements.
Looking back at the ward where Yan Zhiming was, Wang Ye took a heavy step in his heart.
“Damn, why aren’t these white-caps being arrogant now?
Look, I’ve even got my hands in my pockets, and they haven’t come out!”
Outside the small shop of the Iron Bones Hero Regiment, Wei Qinghai was acting very arrogantly.
As he said, now he had one hand in his pocket, and the other hand was holding a bag of spicy sticks and eating.
This image was something he could only dream of before.
After all, doing such things on the road outside the camp used to be risky. It might lead to someone saying, “Comrade, please stop!”
But now, he dared to take action.
In fact, in the past ten days since returning from training, the patrols were basically nowhere to be seen.
Especially this week, there was no sign of them during bed checks, health inspections, or internal affairs checks.
“The ones who wanted to leave have left, and those who didn’t want to have all gone on leave!” Beside him, Luo Yang was just like him, walking casually, holding a bottle of beverage in his hand, taking sips.
These two guys had both chosen to leave the military this year.
Now, these were their last few days in the camp, and they were also the most arrogant days.
Hmm… How arrogant were they?
Just yesterday, Wei Qinghai was grumbling in the dormitory, saying that Wu Jianfeng didn’t salute him in the morning, and he was quite unhappy about it!
Of course, he only dared to mutter such things quietly in the dormitory and wouldn’t say it to Wu Jianfeng’s face.
But even so, it was clear to see how he had changed.
Of course, it wasn’t just them now.
In fact, among the ordinary platoons, all the discharged soldiers were acting quite high-spirited.
Especially the ones with only two years of service, you couldn’t detect a hint of farewell sadness from them at all. Often, you could hear their laughter and see their eager expressions, as if they couldn’t wait to leave.
Two years, indeed!
For two long years, many of the new recruits had actually been counting down the days in their hearts. Now that they were about to be discharged and finally gain their freedom, in this situation, their hearts were already flying outside, and they had little room for sentimentality.
“Hey, look over there!” Suddenly, Luo Yang stopped in his tracks and pulled Wei Qinghai beside him.
“What’s up? What are you looking at?”
Wei Qinghai, eating his spicy sticks, followed Luo Yang’s pointed direction.
The small shop was not too far from the camp’s main gate.
Looking in the direction of the camp’s main gate, Wei Qinghai quickly spotted a figure heading towards the dormitories of the Fourth Platoon.
Wei Qinghai first looked puzzled, but then his eyes widened.
“Wow, isn’t that Wang Ye?” He turned to look at Luo Yang, seeking confirmation.
Luo Yang nodded directly. “I also feel like it!”
Both of them couldn’t be sure because they were still quite a distance away, and from their current position, they could only see the person’s profile.
“Let’s go and check it out.” Wei Qinghai immediately picked up the pace and started jogging.
“Old Wang!”
Suddenly, Wang Ye, carrying a backpack on his back, heard a voice from his left.
He turned to look.
Immediately, Wang Ye smiled.
“Wow, it’s really you!”
The two of them ran up and, looking at Wang Ye, Wei Qinghai exclaimed once again.
His earlier shout had just been a tentative call.
“Long time no see! Are you guys buying stuff at the small shop? Where’s the platoon leader and the others?” Wang Ye asked with a smile.
“The platoon leader and Li Bing went to pick up new recruits, Lao Zhuo and Zhang Wen are working on the vehicles, and Peng Yuhang is currently on guard duty!” Wei Qinghai quickly replied.
This puzzled Wang Ye for a moment.
“Picking up new recruits? Is our Fourth Platoon responsible for training new recruits again this year?”
Wang Ye was surprised.
Normally, a platoon rarely gets to train new recruits consecutively. After all, it’s considered a coveted task, and it’s where promising recruits end up.
Wei Qinghai explained, “No, it’s not just our platoon this year. It’s all three companies together!”
Luo Yang chimed in with a smile, “Old Wang, you definitely don’t know. This is all because of you that this situation has arisen!”
“Me?” Wang Ye was surprised again.
Luo Yang laughed and said, “Exactly! Look at you now, you’ve brought so much glory to our platoon and our battalion.”
With that, he paused for a moment and looked at the badge on Wang Ye’s shoulder with a teasing tone, “Tsk tsk, you’re a Second Lieutenant now, and you have a year’s service ribbon. Old Wang, 1 feel like you’re blinding me!”
As he said this, he even covered his eyes with his hand in a playful manner.
Wang Ye chuckled, “Stop fooling around. What’s the situation, really?”
Although Wang Ye was an experienced soldier compared to the two, he had previously served as a deputy squad leader, so he was used to speaking like this.
At this point, Wei Qinghai jumped in again, eager to explain, “What else could it be? We heard that this year, in order to secure the training quota for the new recruits, the company commanders of each company nearly came to blows, and it wasn’t just the company commanders, even the battalion commander got involved. In the end, the regimental commander decided that the company commander would come from the Military Police Company, and the platoon and squad leaders who would actually lead the troops would come from our three companies, one company per platoon.”
Wang Ye was somewhat speechless. He hadn’t expected the training of the new recruits this year to turn into such a situation. It was truly a case of the entire battalion uniting for this training!
The key question was whether this was really necessary.
After all, the Iron Bones Hero Regiment was just training one new recruit company.
But whether it was necessary or not was no longer up to Wang Ye to decide. The company commanders of each company believed it was necessary. They would rather err on the side of caution than miss out on potential talent. Despite the hardships and challenges of training new recruits, the rewards were well worth it, and there were few who wouldn’t willingly take on the task.
“All right, are you guys heading back now?” Wang Ye continued, still smiling as he looked at the two of them.
“We’re heading back. We just came to buy some snacks. Wang Ye, are you thirsty? 1 have some drinks here!” Luo Yang spoke with a smile.
“No, 1 bought some water outside!”
“Hehe, no worries, here, have a bottle of Kang Shuai Fu green tea. I’ll go get another one for myself!” Without waiting for Wang Ye’s response, Luo Yang reached into the bag he was carrying and pulled out a cold bottle of green tea.
Wang Ye had grown used to Kang Shuai Fu, so he accepted it with a smile. “Sure!”
They didn’t need to be overly formal; after all, they were old comrades, and being too polite would feel a bit distant.
Shortly after, Luo Yang ran back to the small shop, while Wang Ye continued chatting with Wei Qinghai.
Before long, Wang Ye also learned about their decision to leave the military.
Regarding this, Wang Ye made a couple of light-hearted comments but didn’t try to persuade them otherwise.
Back in the Fourth Platoon, Wang Ye had already known about their intentions. These two had been counting down the days for quite some time. Their choice to leave the military was not unexpected.
“Oh, Wang… Wang Ye?”
“Wow, Wang Ye, you’re back!”
As Wang Ye returned to the Fourth Platoon’s area, he caused a little commotion.
Today was Saturday, and due to the special circumstances, most units had not scheduled any training. With soldiers in a state of rest, there were still many of them around the Fourth Platoon’s area.
When they noticed that Wang Ye had returned, their eyes widened in surprise.
Wang Ye greeted each of them with a smile.
“What’s with the show-off? You’re back, so what? Why act like a social butterfly everywhere?” Suddenly, at the entrance of the company commander’s office downstairs, Wu Jianfeng appeared and shouted over in their direction.
Immediately, everyone else became more reserved, including the invincible duo who were about to leave the military.
While they were feeling quite confident behind the scenes, facing Wu Jianfeng in person brought back the psychological shadow of being under his command for the past two years. They didn’t have the courage to act out in front of him.
“Company Commander!”
Wang Ye approached with a smile, saluted, and then maintained a salute as he greeted Zheng Ke and Kang Hua, who had come out with Wu Jianfeng.
“Wow, impressive! You’re really a Second Lieutenant!” Zheng Ke smiled as he looked at Wang Ye’s rank.
Of course, it wasn’t just him; Kang Hua was also examining Wang Ye, especially the service ribbon on his chest. This sight even caused a twitch in his eye and a twitch at the corner of his mouth.
“In this uniform, I feel like you’re insulting me as a useless guy!”
Although they had known about Wang Ye’s promotion before, seeing him in person, wearing the officer’s uniform and standing there, was a completely different experience, especially for Kang Hua.
Thinking back to this time last year, Wang Ye was just an ordinary civilian from a local family. Kang Hua had personally gone to pick him up from his hometown. At that time, Wang Ye was a pure rookie.
But now, a year later?
A year had passed, and Wang Ye was still a Second Lieutenant, just like Kang Hua.
Fortunately, Kang Hua had known about Wang Ye’s situation beforehand. Otherwise, if Wang Ye had suddenly appeared in front of him in this uniform, he might not have been able to handle the shock to his heart.
“Alright, why are you showing off outside? Come in!” Wu Jianfeng smiled and turned into his office.
Kang Hua and Zheng Ke followed suit.
Wang Ye, still wearing a smile, didn’t pay much attention to the deliberate scowl on Wu Jianfeng’s face and followed them inside.
“Why did you come back today, and without contacting us beforehand!” Inside the office, Wu Jianfeng asked directly as soon as Wang Ye entered.
Wang Ye smiled and explained, “It was a last-minute decision, and 1 went to see Yan Zhiming first. We had lunch together before I came back.”
With this explanation, the atmosphere in the office became more serious. Although Yan Zhiming wasn’t from the Fourth Platoon, the story of what happened in 7th Company, 7th Platoon had spread throughout the entire battalion. How could anyone not know about another “One-Turn-Two-Promotions” incident?
“Alright, sit down and let’s talk. Wang Ye, put your bag down for now,” Kang Hua gestured for Wang Ye to sit.
“Sure, thanks, Instructor!”
In the absence of the company commander, and with only Kang Hua as the acting officer present, it was appropriate to address him as “Instructor.”
After some brief small talk, they got down to business.
Wu Jianfeng looked at Wang Ye and said, “The battalion commander and 1 have discussed it. This time, they want you to lead a platoon and act as a platoon leader. So, you’re the one selected as the platoon leader for our Second Company.”
After a pause, he continued, “Originally, for the new recruits’ reception duty, if you had been here, you would have been assigned to it. But since you weren’t, the Instructor personally went to take on the task in your place.”
Wu Jianfeng’s words revealed where the Instructor had gone. Apparently, he wasn’t just away from the office but had left the camp entirely.
However, the focus was on what Wang Ye was about to take on as the platoon leader in the new recruit company. He had never held the position of a platoon leader before..