dmims Chapter 26: A Second-Class Merit Recipient Returns Home, Causing a City-Wide Rally!
Chapter 26: A Second-Class Merit Recipient Returns Home, Causing a City-Wide Rally!
At the Iron Fist Gang's main gate, four figures dressed in civilian clothes stood in a row, creating an eerie scene.
Li Erniu was wearing a gray tracksuit he bought from a street stall and carrying a huge camouflage backpack.
He looked exactly like a simple and honest young man who had just returned home from working in the city and received his wages. The only incongruous things were his buzz cut and his straight back.
He Chenguang was dressed in a refreshing tracksuit and wearing a baseball cap, looking like a college student who had just started summer vacation.
Wang Yanbing was more "flashy," wearing a black tight-fitting T-shirt that accentuated his muscular physique, a work vest with many pockets over it, and ripped jeans. He looked like a "spirited young man."
But what made everyone want to laugh but dare not laugh the most was Gong Jian.
The dignified army lieutenant instructor was dressed in a sharp casual suit, carrying a briefcase, and wearing a pair of non-prescription glasses.
If you ignored his sharp eyes, he would look exactly like a young cadre on a field trip.
"Hey instructor, are you dressed like that because you're going to teach in our village, or are you running for village chief?" Wang Yanbing couldn't help but make a cheeky remark, glancing sideways at Gong Jian.
Gong Jian's face darkened slightly. He pushed up his glasses and said irritably:
"Get lost! Wang Yanbing, what's wrong with your pants? Are you short of money for new fabric? They're full of holes! We're going home in glory, not to beg on the streets. Don't embarrass the Fourth Company!"
He Chenguang, suppressing a laugh, said, "Instructor, this is called fashion. Yours is business style from the last century. But Erniu's outfit is the most reliable; he looks like the pillar of our Lijia Village."
Li Erniu chuckled, "I think it's great. Let's go, or my dad will break my legs if we miss the train."
Gong Jian sighed and waved his hand: "Let's go! I'm warning you three, behave yourselves once you're on the train! Don't sit there like you're throwing javelins, as if you're afraid people won't know you're soldiers? Keep a low profile! Don't you know what it means to keep a low profile?"
……
Inside a green-skinned train carriage at the train station.
Because it was during a short holiday, the train carriage was packed with people, filled with a mixture of smells of sweat, instant noodles, and various local specialties.
It took the four of them a lot of effort to squeeze into their hard-seat seats.
Gong Jian and Li Erniu stood side by side, opposite He Chenguang and Wang Yanbing.
As soon as they sat down, Wang Yanbing and He Chenguang habitually straightened their backs with a snap, placed their hands flat on their thighs, and stared straight ahead, like two door gods.
Passing travelers were startled and turned to look.
Seeing this, Gong Jian's eyelids twitched wildly, and he lowered his voice and roared:
"Loosen up! Hey you guys, can't you relax a bit? Do you have nails in your butts? Lean back! Do you understand the Ge You slouch? This is called integrating with the masses!"
Wang Yanbing shifted his position, looking uncomfortable. "Instructor, sitting like this with my back slumped up makes me feel like my discs are going to herniate. It's so uncomfortable!"
Li Erniu adapted quickly, sliding back into the chair and casually pulling out a sweet potato to munch on, looking incredibly down-to-earth.
"Look at Erniu, that's talent!" Gong Jian pointed at Li Erniu, about to say a few words of praise.
Sudden.
"Ring ring—!"
Gong Jian's phone started ringing incessantly.
He took it out and looked at it; his face instantly turned from black to purplish-red.
Li Erniu glanced sideways and chuckled: "Oh, Xiao Gong, is it your mother, my niece Guifang, who sent you the 'imperial edict'?"
Gong Jian glared at Li Erniu, held his breath, and carefully pressed the answer button. His voice was as gentle as a kitten's: "Hello, Mom... Hey, I'm taking Erniu... Oh no! Taking Uncle San back... Yes, yes, we're on the train."
On the other end of the phone, Li Guifang's loud voice could be heard even three rows away:
"Gong Jian! Let me tell you! Your third uncle is a great hero who has performed a great service! Have you served him well? Did you buy him water? Did you buy him braised pork? I've heard that the food on the train isn't good, you can't let your third uncle go hungry!"
"Mom, I bought it! I bought two buckets of pickled cabbage noodles, and I even added sausage..."
"What?! Instant noodles?!"
Li Guifang exploded on the other end of the line, "Gong Jian, you heartless bastard! You let your own third uncle eat instant noodles? What kind of ridiculous rules did you learn at military school? Are you trying to drive me crazy?"
"Your third great-uncle is a precious daughter, the only son of our Li family... oh no, a senior member! You hurry up and go to the food cart and order! Meat! A big plate of meat!"
Gong Jian was sweating profusely from the yelling, while Wang Yanbing and He Chenguang next to him almost pinched their thighs until they were bruised, just to keep themselves from laughing out loud.
"Mom, I know, I'll go buy it in a bit... Don't worry."
"I'm not worried? How can I not be worried! Let me tell you, Gong Jian, the county leaders are all prepared. If Erniu comes back looking thinner, you can forget about coming back to our house. Just go back to your so-called Fourth Company and eat dirt! Also, give the phone to your third uncle. I need to say a few words to him!"
Gong Jian handed his phone to Li Erniu in despair, his eyes filled with "You're ruthless."
Li Erniu casually took the phone, his voice instantly becoming both authoritative and kind: "Hey? Is this Guifang?"
"Hey! Third Uncle! It's me! It's Guifang!"
The voice on the other end of the phone instantly transformed from a shrewish roar to a gentle, soothing tone, making Gong Jian roll his eyes. "Third Uncle, was the journey tiring? Did that brat Gong give you a hard time? If he dares to disobey, feel free to slap him! He's thick-skinned, I won't mind!"
Li Erniu smiled and looked at Gong Jian, who looked utterly dejected, and said in a condescending tone:
"He's alright. Although Xiao Gong is a bit stubborn, he's reliable when it comes to getting things done. He even bought me some dried sweet potatoes just now; he's quite filial."
"That's good, that's good! Third Uncle, the pig has been slaughtered, and everyone in the village, young and old, is waiting at the village entrance. The leaders said they want to hang your plaque in the most prominent position next to our ancestral hall! You'd better hold it high!"
Li Erniu exchanged a few more pleasantries before hanging up the phone.
Gong Jian snatched the phone back, gritting his teeth as he said, "Li Erniu, you're something else, really something. And how come all those dried sweet potatoes are my purchase? Old Ma gave them to you!"
Li Erniu chuckled: "Isn't this all to maintain your image as a 'filial son' in your mother's eyes? Xiao Gong, you have to understand the elders' good intentions."
Wang Yanbing chimed in, "That's right, Instructor, Erniu is helping you. Hey, Erniu, when we get to the village entrance, don't you think the Instructor will personally hold up the sedan chair curtain for you?"
Gong Jian suddenly turned his head and stared at Wang Yanbing: "Wang, Yan, Bing! When we get back, you're going to do a five-kilometer cross-country run with two backpacks on your back! If you don't finish, you'll be washing pots and pans in the mess hall for a month!"
Wang Yanbing shrank back: "Instructor, this is settling a personal score! I'm going to report this to my 'elders'!"
"Report my ass! I'm the team leader now!" Gong Jian leaned back in his seat angrily, looking at the scenery rushing past the window.
His mind is now filled with images of what he would have seen after arriving in Lijia Village:
The village entrance was filled with the sounds of gongs and drums, and the crackling of firecrackers.
As the dignified political instructor of the fourth company, a crack shot, he had to respectfully help a private off the vehicle under the watchful eyes of the villagers.
Then, in front of those village chiefs and secretaries who were in their seventies and eighties, they had to obediently call this soldier "Third Uncle".
"Heavens above..." Gong Jian covered his face in anguish, "Why did I have to lead this team? Can't I just apply to guard the frontier?"
He Chenguang patted Gong Jian on the shoulder, earnestly comforting him: "Instructor, don't think too much about it. Actually, from another perspective, what you're doing is called 'in-depth research into grassroots clan culture,' which is also a kind of awareness."
"roll!"
More than ten hours later, the green train, puffing out white smoke, chugged to a stop at the small station in the county town.
As Li Erniu and his three companions stepped out of the station, they were not greeted by the sweltering northern wind, but by an intense, almost overwhelming, "heroic aura."
"Holy crap..." Wang Yanbing looked up and was completely stunned.
A banner, at least ten meters long, is prominently displayed at the main entrance of the station.
[A warm welcome to Comrade Li Erniu, a recipient of the Second-Class Merit Citation from our county, as he returns home in glory!]
That's not all. Rows of yellow Xiali taxis parked along the roadside all had red stickers with white lettering on their windshields that read: "Learn from the hero Li Erniu, create civilized taxis."
Several of them even had LED roof lights, and the red lettering on them made He Chenguang dizzy.
[Learn from Comrade Li Erniu, a recipient of the Second-Class Merit Citation! Salute!]
Li Erniu scratched his head, looking embarrassed at the flashing overhead light. "Why do I feel like... I've become a panda in a zoo?"
Gong Jian's eyelids were also twitching.
As a top student in the national defense program, he had seen many grand occasions, but this was the first time he had ever seen such a "citywide search for cattle".
He couldn't help but complain, "Did the county government spend three years' worth of propaganda funds on you alone? With this kind of fuss, anyone who didn't know better would think the Iron Fist Regiment had moved here!"
"Hey, let's go, let's take a taxi!" Wang Yanbing's eyes darted around, and mischievous thoughts popped into his head again.
He was the first to flag down a taxi with a hero sticker on it.
The driver was a middle-aged man in his fifties wearing a Lei Feng hat. Upon hearing that we were going to Lijia Village, his eyes instantly lit up like searchlights.
"Going to Lijia Village? That's the hometown of a hero! Are you guys going to see what's going on, brothers?"
The four of them got into the car.
Li Erniu and Gong Jian sat in the back, while Wang Yanbing plopped down in the passenger seat.
"Master, who is this Li Erniu? I see his name all over the streets. Is he famous?" Wang Yanbing deliberately lowered his hat, pretending to be a tourist from out of town.
"Hey! Young man, you're from out of town, aren't you?"
The uncle slammed on the gas, his voice instantly rising eight octaves, "This Li Erniu is something else! He's the prodigy of the Zhang family in our county... no, the Li family! I heard from a relative in the armed forces department that this kid is in the mess hall, but he single-handedly took on an entire regiment in a military exercise and won a resounding victory! He's practically a war god descended to earth!"
"Pfft—" He Chenguang in the back seat almost couldn't hold it in and quickly turned his face to the window.
"One person against a whole regiment?" Wang Yanbing suppressed a laugh and continued his quip, "Really? Master, I heard that cooks are just people who cook, right? Can they really fight a war with a big ladle?"
"You don't know anything!" the uncle snapped, gripping the steering wheel with one hand and waving the other wildly in the air. "They're called cooks! Have you ever read the Romance of the Sui and Tang Dynasties? Xue Rengui was a cook! The county said that Li Erniu has brought honor to the entire county."
"The day after tomorrow, the county magistrate will personally lead the military band to nail the 'Family of Second-Class Heroes' plaque to the Li family's gate! Anyone who dares to utter a word of dissent at that time will be drowned in the spittle of the entire county!"
Gong Jian sat in the back seat, listening to the driver's mysterious and exaggerated praise, and felt a tightness in his chest.
Just then, the taxi's radio suddenly blared the rousing prelude to "Singing for the Motherland," followed by the clear and resonant voice of the county radio host:
"Listeners, this is an urgent announcement: Comrade Li Erniu, a recipient of the Second-Class Merit Citation in our county, has returned to his hometown today. The county government calls on all citizens and relevant units to make preparations to welcome him."
"A grand ceremony to honor meritorious individuals returning home will be held in Lijia Village at 10:00 AM the day after tomorrow. Leaders from the Municipal Armed Forces Department and key leaders from the County Party Committee and County Government will attend the awarding ceremony..."
"Did you hear that? Did you hear that!" The driver slapped his thigh excitedly. "Even the radio is broadcasting it on repeat! I'm telling you, I'll take you to Lijia Village today, and I'll only charge half the fare! I guess I've done my part for the hero!"
Gong Jian, listening from behind, rolled his eyes and thought to himself: Master, you don't need to exert any more effort, the cow is sitting right behind you!
The taxi bumped along the way and finally approached the entrance to Lijia Village.
From a distance, the once quiet village entrance was now a sea of red.
Hundreds of villagers, dressed as if it were Chinese New Year, crowded around the intersection in layers.
Red banners were flying everywhere:
The villagers of Lijia Village, young and old, welcome their Third Uncle back to his hometown!
Erniu, you are the pride of Lijia Village!
Even more outrageous, there was a group of middle-aged women performing the Yangko dance there, with deafening suona music that could be heard for miles around.
"Wow, we're here! This is a huge setup!"
The driver slowed down and remarked, "Hey young man, who are you related to? This road to Lijia Village is going to be difficult to navigate today."
Wang Yanbing glanced back at Gong Jian, whose face had turned green, then at Li Erniu, whose face was full of helplessness. Suddenly, he chuckled and slapped his thigh:
"Master, there's no need to look for relatives! The one behind him is Li Erniu, the second-class meritorious official you've been searching for!"
The driver was taken aback and subconsciously glanced at the rearview mirror.
In the mirror, the dark-skinned, honest-looking young man in a gray tracksuit was grinning at him somewhat shyly.
"Master, I am Li Erniu. Please put me down under that banner..."
"Creak—!!!"
With a screech of brakes, the taxi circled ten meters away from the crowd.
The driver froze in his seat, his eyes wide like cowbells, his neck snapping as he stared intently at Li Erniu.
"You...you really are the kind of person who can take on an entire raid by yourself..."
The middle-aged man stammered, "Holy crap! A second-class meritorious official rode in my car?! And I've been bragging for ages?!"
"Master, it's not as exaggerated as you all say." Li Erniu chuckled and pulled out a hundred-yuan bill from his pocket. "Keep the change, use the rest to buy some gas."
Just then, sharp-eyed villagers outside spotted the car.
"He's back! Erniu's back!" "Third Uncle! Third Uncle's in the carriage!"
With a loud "boom," hundreds of people surged forward like a tidal wave, and the sound of the suona instantly rose eight octaves, shaking the taxis.
Gong Jian took a deep breath and looked at He Chenguang with despair: "Chenguang, prepare for battle. This is not a drill, this is... a 'great calamity'."
He pushed open the car door, and before he could even stand up straight, an elderly woman in her fifties, his own mother Li Guifang, rushed over in a flurry, shoved Gong Jian aside, and shouted at Li Erniu:
"Third Uncle! You're finally back! That brat Gong Jian didn't cause you any trouble, did he?!"
Li Erniu glanced at Gong Jian, who looked like he'd been abandoned by his own mother, and chuckled sheepishly, "No, no. Little Gong took good care of me."