Following the voice, Fang Qiu saw the old commander who was just getting off the car in front of the hotel.
He was staring at Fang Qiu.
“What’s the matter?” Fang Qiu asked.
“I want to talk to you privately,” the old commander said.
Fang Qiu fixed his eyes on him for a while before he stepped forward.
“All right, leave us alone,” the old commander said to the security staff.
“Commander!” The head of security frowned and instantly persuaded. “We have to keep you safe at any time. Now we’re just getting out of the woods. No one knows what will happen next. You should…”
“What else should I do?” The old commander became angry and turned to stare at the head of security. “Would I be in danger if I stay with him? Do you suspect him or worry that the criminals are not dead yet? This man risked his life to save me. And now you worry that he might hurt me? He helped you catch all the criminals here. Even if any other criminals should come, he would also protect me. But what you guys can do except covering me as a human shield?”
The head of security was embarrassed as he heard that.
In fact, he also knew that the old commander was perfectly safe with the mysterious man, and he had asked to stay in order to have more time to observe the mysterious man and have more contact with him.
But what he hadn’t expected was that the old commander actually got angry.
“Expand the security area to 100 meters.”
The head of security could do nothing but use his own way to guarantee the commander’s safety. Then he walked to the other side.
Everyone left as the commander requested.
Only then did the old commander turn around and look at Fang Qiu.
“I want to tell you a story, a true story,” the old commander finally spoke with a wistful look.
“It was during the Korean War when I was still a soldier, an ordinary soldier who was ready to go to the front of the battlefield to die for my country.
“In that war, our regiment was ambushed by the enemy in a dangerous spot. It was a critical moment. We were surrounded by enemies, so we could only take a high land nearby.
“At that time, the flames of war raged across the land. I couldn’t hear the gunshots, but the rumble of bombs. I couldn’t see any living men, but the blood, corpses, and explosion smoke mixed with the smell of blood everywhere.
“But the strange thing was, with the rumble of the gunfire, I found that everything around me suddenly changed. The huge sound of explosion disappeared, replaced by my comrades’ moans of anguish and roars of fighting for their lives.”
Speaking of which, the old commander suddenly sighed and looked up at the sky.
“In those days, it seemed that the Death was coming.”
The old commander seemed to try to comfort himself. “The Death just wouldn’t let go. No matter how hard they growled or fought, my comrades died in front of me one by one. In the end, even the regimental commander died.
“As he lay dying, I knelt down in front of him, holding him with my shaking hands. He was still reluctant to fall. He said he would hold his head up high even in death.
“He also told me that although this war was not at home, it was a war of founding a country. We couldn’t afford to be defeated in this war.
“It didn’t matter if we died for the war. But we should not allow another humiliation of a country being invaded for a hundred years to exist.
“He said, if we won this war, our Chinese people could really stand up. So we should not be afraid to sacrifice! If we fought for our country, then we died with honor.”
The old commander then turned around and smiled at Fang Qiu with his eyes red.
“Eventually, we won the war, the Chinese people won.”
What a relief. The old commander said with a smile, “Eventually, there were only three people left in our regiment. I had been shot seven places in my body, and I couldn’t feel my legs. I almost died in the war. But we still won.
“Even today, I still remember what the regimental commander told me. When we won the war, we saved our country. All the nations of the world must take us seriously because we have fought against the great power of the world and won the war. Our country had been in a weak position among the countries for a hundred years. This time, we defeated a powerful country. But we were just able to save our place. We still needed to develop our country.
“60 years have passed. After the efforts of two generations, our country is finally getting wealthy and strong.
“There are always people of each generation who need to strive for the prosperity of our country.
“What do they fight for? And what do we fight for?
“For our nation!
“The era which my generation needed to fight for our nation had passed. Sometimes, I would dislike myself, do you know why?”
The question suddenly pulled Fang Qiu back from the story.
“I don’t know,” Fang Qiu replied.
“Because I’m useless now.” The old commander sighed wistfully, then turned his head to look at the security staff in the distance. “They are the pillars of the country, and they are struggling for the rise of our country, but I, I’m just an old man, an old man who can only let these pillars of the country worry about. But do you know why I have to come out here and become their burden since I can just stay at home and enjoy my life as a retired old man?”
Fang Qiu shook his head again.
“Because there’s something I have to do.”
The old commander looked at Fang Qiu, “I didn’t come out here to be seen as a big shot, but I want to do my best to find talents who are willing to struggle for the rise of the country. I hope they can keep on fighting for the development of the country.”
With that, he stared straight at Fang Qiu.
“Would you do it, young man? Would you be one of those who serve our country?”
Fang Qiu was stunned as he heard that. He was silent, pondering.
The old commander’s words really touched him.
Now, the well-being and prosperity of life hadn’t come easily. It was earned by the talents of the old generations. The present age of technology and this powerful country were built through their sacrifices.
However, time keeps going on.
And the country’s development would go far beyond that.
In the future, more people would be needed to get involved in development.
Would he be one of them?
Fang Qiu bowed to the old commander after thinking for a while. “What you said really touched me a lot. I will struggle for the prosperity and rise of the country. I will do my best in every respect. I promise.”
Hearing that, the old commander smiled and nodded with relief. “I hope one day when the country needs you, you’ll show up like what you did today because you got talents.”
Fang Qiu nodded.
“Well.” The old commander thought for a while and said, “Please tell me how to contact you. We have to avoid an accident like this. I’m dying and don’t know how to inform you.”
“How would you like to contact?” Fang Qiu asked.
“Before I do, I want to see who you really are,” The old commander said with interest.
“I’m sorry,” Fang Qiu shook his head and said, “I still have something important to do. If my identity is exposed, it will seriously affect me.”
“Do you think after tonight, I won’t find out who you really are?” the old commander asked with a smile.
“If you find out, I can deny it,” Fang Qiu said with indifference.
“Fine.” The old commander shook his head and chuckled. “Well, I’ll set a bell at your school. When the bell rings, I’ll meet you on the Yaowang mountain.”
“All right.” Fang Qiu nodded.
“Tomorrow at 12 noon, the bell will ring for the first time.” The old commander added.
Fang Qiu understood and nodded. Then he flew out, quickly disappearing into the darkness.
Seeing Fang Qiu leave, the head of security immediately came forward and asked, “How did it go, commander?”
“He was moved.” The old commander laughed and then added, “But something seems to bother him at the moment. I can’t convince him to serve the country for now.”
The head of security nodded.
“But I’m curious.” The old commander raised his eyebrows, and his eyes glistened. “I wonder who his master is. It’s worth it since I’ve lived to this age to see such an outstanding young man.”
At 10:00 p.m., the school was still quite boisterous.
This was supposed to be the time for everyone to get ready for bed, but today was different because the mysterious man showed up.
Many people saw him get into a military vehicle and leave school.
Those who had been investigating the identity of the mysterious man on the campus forum went wild all of a sudden.
The mysterious man left, which meant the man who pretended to be him was definitely not at school at the moment.
No one knew who started it.
Many students started to check who was not at school now, which made the boys’ dormitory so excited.
However, no matter how many efforts they spent, they only found that there were many people who were not at school. Although those people were suspected, they couldn’t be sure who the mysterious man was.
Just when everyone was in the mood, Fang Qiu just returned to the dormitory.
“Hey, Fang, where have you been?” As soon as Fang Qiu entered the door, he was caught by Sun Hao.
“Self-study,” Fang Qiu answered, then showed the book about modern acupuncture he had borrowed from the library, and added, “After studying, I didn’t feel well. I felt that I had been sitting for too long, so I went to Central Lake to go for a walk.”
“Oh, really?” Sun Hao asked.
“Hey, bro.” At this point, Zhou Xiaotian suddenly pounced forward and directly asked, “Are you the mysterious man?”
Before Fang Qiu was able to answer him, Zhou Xiaotian muttered to himself, “No way. If you were the mysterious man, then I would be the superman.”
Then he turned straight back.
Fang Qiu was speechless as he heard that. “Am I that bad?”
Then there had been a heated discussion on the University of Jiangjing Chinese Medicine for several days.
After all, the students couldn’t discuss the matter of the old commander.
They could only be curious about the mysterious person. As time went by, the school also gradually returned to normal.
On the second day when Fang Qiu went back to school, Fang Qiu did hear a unique ring throughout the school at noon.
Hearing the bell, he knew immediately that it was for him.
At the same time, he also remembered last night the old commander said that no matter when the bell rang, they would meet at the Yaowang Mountain.
Of course, the ringing was made to help Fang Qiu be familiar with the bell, which meant he didn’t need to go to the Yaowang Mountain this time.
The real meeting started next time.
The registration of signing up for the Young Physician of Huaxia Competition, which lasted for three days, had been postponed. The University of Jiangjing Chinese Medicine didn’t report the total number of applicants until Friday.
There were 1,000 people who signed up for the competition in the whole school.
As the largest registration spot in the province, there were more than 5,000 people signing up for the competition in the school.
At the same time, the competition’s official Weibo account also posted the statistics.
The total number of national applicants for the Young Physician of Huaxia Competition had reached two hundred thousand, which was a staggering figure.