Police officer Chen Shu

Chapter 704, Section 710: Extra Chapter: Zhu Yiba's Past (Part 6)

Knowing that the stationmaster was in a bad mood, Zhu Yiba silently left and closed the door.

On the way out, we passed a basketball court and saw the soldiers playing basketball shirtless, laughing and talking happily. Then, we thought about the possibility of the mission failing and causing casualties. The two contrasted.

Zhu Yiba suddenly understood the stationmaster's good intentions a little, and his anger naturally dissipated.

When he returned to the dormitory, the squad leader greeted him and offered him a cigarette. After witnessing the station chief's stern criticism of the platoon leader, his grievances also vanished.

Zhu Yiba stared at the cigarette the class monitor offered him, sternly pushed it back, then looked at the other's helpless expression, suddenly smiled, and took the cigarette after all, jokingly saying, "Don't do it again."

Seeing that the platoon leader had already stepped down from the stage, the squad leader was about to flatter him: "Platoon leader, the station chief always tells us that we must always pay attention to protecting ourselves in order to maintain our combat effectiveness. Only when we are safe can we eliminate the enemy."

Zhu Yiba glanced at him without showing any emotion, remained silent for a moment, and then said, "That makes sense."

The squad leader clenched his fist and said, "But every time, at the end, the station chief would emphasize that when we have to face sacrifice, we should bravely bear the sacrifice that may come!"

Having said that, the two exchanged a smile, thus letting the matter drop.

This place is remote, and the people on both sides of the border are quite poor. In the village, the richest family has only a small mud-brick house, which is not even as good as the tile-roofed houses that ordinary villagers in the interior live in.

However, thanks to the fact that this is a border area between two countries, with vast land and jungle, there are still many narrow paths that are passable.

Sometimes a river next to the village separates two different countries, and naturally, smuggling arises from this and has never stopped here.

In earlier years, people in the mountains could earn four or five times the price of ordinary cooling oil by simply delivering it to the other side. They could also bring back a sack of wild game and make some money.

When border guards catch people like this, they usually just question and search them before releasing them. No one has the heart to arrest people like this who smuggle mountain goods to earn a little money for salt and make a living.

That evening, Zhu Yiba led his soldiers on patrol along the mountain road. Halfway there, they spotted a family of three carrying packs and heading towards the border.

Several soldiers stepped out of their ranks and questioned him as usual. While it wasn't unusual for him to be wandering around this area so late at night, the fact that he had his wife and children with him suggested there was probably nothing wrong with him.

However, according to procedure, the three of them still had to be questioned separately, including the child who looked like a primary school student. After the questioning, they had to sign a pledge not to go to Myanmar and have their picture taken.

Although it's just a formality, there are still quotas for this on the site. The main problem is that the impact of telecom fraud has been too rampant in recent years, and the number of people involved in the industry chain on the other side of the mountain alone may reach hundreds of thousands.

This is a truly terrifying number. It's important to understand that telecom fraud not only causes enormous economic losses to ordinary people, but also directly destroys the happiness and stability of countless families.

Even if we only consider the most conservative estimate of one scammer defrauding someone once, there are still hundreds of thousands of victims. Behind each of these numbers are families living in the shadows, who may fall into despair and despair after being scammed.

Team leader Zhu Yiba figured it would take some more time, so he decided to let the team rest on the spot. While they were resting, he noticed the squad leader sitting alone in a corner. Although he was gazing in the direction of his hometown as usual, he was now letting out several long sighs.

The gossipy chubby boy came over and mysteriously told Zhu Yiba that the class monitor's childhood sweetheart was getting married at the end of the year, which was why he was feeling sad.

Zhu Yiba, who had already had several relationships in junior high school, didn't take it seriously and thought that with his years of experience, he should at least give him some advice.

Sitting on the side, Zhu Yiba, who was now the platoon leader, offered a cigarette to the squad leader.

"Platoon leader, what's this?"

The squad leader was a little puzzled. The platoon leader, who had been keeping a close eye on him and preventing him from smoking for some time, was now offering him a cigarette on his own initiative. He hesitated and didn't dare to reach out.

Zhu Yiba: "We're not at the station, have one." The squad leader let out a long breath and reached out to take the cigarette, but Zhu Yiba pulled his hand back and muttered to himself, "It's easy to start a fire in these mountains, I think I'd better not."

This almost made the class monitor cry, but it was a good start. The previously gloomy atmosphere eased a lot, and the two started chatting.

"Squad leader, I heard the girl you like got married?"

"No, it's about the same."

"You're dating? That's perfectly normal. These days, who doesn't date a few times before getting married?"

"Um, it's an engagement."

"Oh, an engagement? That's pretty much it. What does she look like?"

"She has long hair, big eyes that blink beautifully when she blinks."

Why didn't I wait for you?

“Where we come from, girls get married young. Someone like her has already waited a long time, and I have no reason to make her wait any longer.”

"I guess someone stole her away, right? Long-distance relationships never end well."

The squad leader turned his head and looked over, a hint of murderous intent in his eyes.

Zhu Yiba chuckled and teased, "Squad leader, you have a good eye. It's so menacing. You'd definitely scare a lot of people on the battlefield. But don't point it at women, or you'll frighten them."

The class monitor immediately lost interest, his eyes returned to their dull state, and he just kept smoking in silence.

"Actually, you're quite handsome. Come on, smile a little. Oh, and make your eyes a little gentler."

The class monitor was being teased so much that, despite being over thirty years old, he was still a little shy.

Zhu Yiba didn't take it seriously and pressed on, "Why didn't you retire from the army sooner and go back to find her?"

The squad leader rubbed his hands together, his face wrinkled: "Greed, I guess. I was thinking of staying until 12 to get my demobilization pay before leaving. That way, with the salary I'd saved up over the years, I could get a total of over a million yuan. When I went back, they could even arrange a stable job for me back in my hometown."

Having a decent background, Zhu Yiba had never had any worries about this aspect since childhood, and had never even considered it in the slightest. He was stunned after hearing this, having thought of it in every possible way.

The squad leader said self-deprecatingly, "Platoon leader, although some people in the station criticize you, saying you're just a rich kid who came here to get a prestigious education, I know you're an elite member of the special operations platoon, so it's not our place to criticize you. It's just that you look like you come from a good family in a big city, and you don't know how petty and vulgar I am. And I can only be this vulgar. Over a million is a lot of money in our area. It can buy a house and leave some savings. If my wife doesn't want to take care of the kids, she can go out and do some small business."

"I originally planned to wait twelve years before going back, marrying her in a grand ceremony, having a child, and then living a normal life with our little family."

Zhu Yiba never expected to hear such a pure love story, or rather, a story of unrequited love, in this desolate wilderness.

He tried to lend a hand: "Squad leader, let me tell you, things with women are complicated in some ways, but simple in others. Don't you have leave to visit your family? Go back to your hometown then, and we'll talk about it later. You know, this little path is the fastest and most powerful shortcut to a woman's soul."

The squad leader wasn't listening attentively; his thoughts had returned to the woman. Somewhat melancholy, he took off his bulletproof helmet and tucked it into his pocket. Looking up at the crescent moon hanging in the sky, he murmured:
I really want to go home.

(End of this chapter)