Yonghe Road

Chapter 11: Joining the Army
Speaking of Wang Zian's military service, it was quite dramatic.

That year, Baile Village had several quotas for military service, but young people were either working or studying away from home. To fulfill the conscription quota, Secretary Wang Kai even recruited recent college graduate Wang Zian, saying they would just have a meal together and go through the motions. Unexpectedly, after that meal, Wang Zian passed every checkpoint and ultimately became the only young person in the village who met the requirements for military service.

Before his military service, Wang Zian studied at a medical school, intending to become a doctor after graduation. No matter how hard life is for medical students, it's nowhere near as hard as the days of being a recruit.

The new recruit company consisted of ten men, and the company appointed two veterans, one squad leader and the other deputy squad leader, to lead the eight new recruits. The wake-up whistle blew at 5:30, but the new recruits were already up at 4:30, folding their quilts, sorting out their dormitories, and helping the veterans prepare water for washing and toothpaste. After mustering, they began with a 10-kilometer run, followed by a 400-meter obstacle course, and then breakfast. Before and after each meal, they sang military songs: "Unity is Strength" and "I am a Soldier." Three months of intensive training in the Tengger Desert, carrying water bottles, Type 81 rifles, sand leggings, and sand vests, we ran with weights. The crawling left layers of skin on our arms, and our calves were swollen with periostitis, leaving dents wherever we pressed.

At that time, Wang Zian was essentially a scholar. When had he ever endured such hardship? Besides the physical hardships, there were also mental challenges. Later, when he had the opportunity to visit his family, Secretary Wang Kai explained that he had deliberately set up a trap for Wang Zian during that meal, sending him to the army to be tempered. He also said that a man must be forged and tempered like steel to become a man of character. Wang Zian was amused and embarrassed. He had never expected that his father, in order to secure the position of village secretary of Baile Village, would be so ruthless as to sell out even his own son.

However, Wang Zian, who later became a real soldier, understood his father's painstaking efforts and truly fell in love with his identity as a soldier.

He had been with the troops, responding to disasters and maintaining stability, accepting important missions, holding batons and shields, standing at the forefront with the troops to protect the people, being hit by rocks and having his head broken and bloody, and seeing stars...

Because his overall training scores were consistently among the best in the unit, Wang Zian was assigned to represent his brigade unit in an army-level competition, where he took first place and was awarded a second-class merit. He started elementary school a year early and retired after eight years in the military, barely thirty. But when Wang Zian returned to Baile Village and saw the mountains and waters, his feelings were completely different from those of eight years prior.

Wang Zian, you look like a real man now.

A true man must be responsible for all moral and emotional aspects of this world. He was responsible for friendship, so he gave up his coveted stable job in exchange for retirement benefits and lent the Zhong family 200,000 yuan for their wedding. He was responsible for himself, which meant buying a white tea factory and starting a new chapter in his career. He was responsible for himself, which meant bravely confessing his feelings to the woman he liked, without worrying about whether they were compatible or whether there would be any results. He just knew that his heart was moved and he had to express it with his mouth...

Wang Zian, having bravely spoken out, slept soundly that night. In his dream, he and Xie Anmin were on a date in Baile Village's Happiness Garden. It was spring, and the golden rapeseed blossoms stretched as far as the eye could see, unleashing the vibrant spirit of spring. Xie Anmin ran through the sea of rapeseed blossoms, her long hair and skirt flying. Wang Zian chased her through the fields, her running and his chasing, unable to escape. Finally, Wang Zian caught up with Xie Anmin, and they both fell into the sea of flowers...

When Wang Zian woke up the next day, he found that there was a warm area under his pajamas.

Wang Zian's decision to give up his position at the police station was eventually discovered by Secretary Wang Kai. Secretary Wang Kai wanted to curse him. He had been a village secretary his entire life, but he wasn't even officially on the payroll. What on earth was his son thinking? Was his brain stuck in the door?
Wang Zian asked him, "Dad, was this the only reason you sent me to the army?"

That's not it.

He originally wanted him to undergo the training of the army and grow into a real man.

"Then you have achieved your goal. My personality is not suitable for the system." The prince said calmly.

"What's your personality?"

"Just like my dad, a bold and enterprising character."

Life is sometimes unpredictable, and the future that we think we can control is full of unknown variables.

He attended medical school, thinking he'd become a doctor, but ended up joining the army. After eight years of toil, he retired, expecting a stable job and a peaceful rest of his life, but he rejected it and went into business.

What will life be like from now on? It will definitely be more exciting, because a character who has never appeared in the past thirty years has appeared, and the heroine has finally entered his life...

Life is fascinating precisely because it is uncertain and full of variables, isn't it?

After a conversation between the father and son, Secretary Wang Kai really had no way to deal with Wang Zian. Since he sent him to the army for training, expecting him to grow into a real man, then when his son really became a man as he wished, it would mean that he, as a father, would completely lose the power to control his son's destiny, and would be dominated by his son instead.

"Dad, I need to trouble you with something." Wang Zian looked at Secretary Wang Kai with a smile, which made Secretary Wang Kai feel uneasy.

Xie Anmin soon interviewed Secretary Wang Kai.

The interview lasted two hours. Xie Anmin's laptop typing speed was far inferior to Secretary Wang Kai's eloquent speech, so he ended up using a voice recorder to record and edit it later. For two hours, Secretary Wang Kai recounted the history of Baile Village and the future plans for the "Two Parks, Two Districts." He offered both blueprints and details, encompassing both broad national policies and concrete practical examples. His language was witty and emotional, and Xie Anmin laughed out loud many times as he recounted his captivating tales.

Secretary Wang Kai is indeed a capable person, and an interesting one at that.

After the interview, Xie Anmin admired in his heart.

Compared to Secretary Wang Kai, Wang Zian seemed a bit stiff and rule-bound, as if his personality was confined by a rigid frame. Perhaps this was due to his experience of military discipline.

Even though they are father and son, their personalities are so different.

After interviewing Secretary Wang Kai, Xie Anmin planned to thank Wang Zian. Without his help, it was unclear when Secretary Wang Kai's interview would have been arranged.

Remembering that Wang Zian asked her to help write a soft advertisement for his "Zhiyin White Tea House", Xie Anmin planned to go to Wang Zian's white tea factory, but thinking of Wang Zian's confession that night, Xie Anmin felt a little embarrassed, so she did not say hello to Wang Zian and came to the white tea factory on her own, wanting to take a look quietly, and then go back to quietly write the soft advertisement and hand it in to avoid embarrassment.

Xie Anmin did not meet Wang Zian at the white tea factory, but he met Zhong Ziqi.

"Did Wang Boya invite you here?" Zhong Ziqi warmly greeted Xie Anmin. "I heard him say he wanted to invite you to write a soft copy for Zhiyin White Tea House, but he's not at the factory today. Didn't you make an appointment with him before you came? Are you sure it's for today?"

That's what gym boys are like, right? All chatter and nonsense. Xie Anmin looked down on Zhong Ziqi, dismissing his "simple-minded, strong-limbed" nature. But deep down, he couldn't hide his affection for him, his eyes gleaming with infatuation. Xie Anmin hadn't even realized how duplicitous humans can be, saying one thing and doing another.

"Even if he is not here, you can still receive me. Boss Wang said that you are also the owner of this white tea factory." Xie Anmin said.

"How can I be the boss if I don't contribute any money? That's what Wang Boya said to flatter me. He said that just to let me earn some extra money without hurting my self-esteem." Zhong Ziqi said this and still welcomed Xie Anmin into the factory.

Handing Xie Anmin a work suit similar to a doctor's white coat, Zhong Ziqi also put on the same one for himself, and then took Xie Anmin to visit the tea factory workshop.

It's midsummer, and thin sheets of Silver Needle Baihao tea are spread out to dry on the stacked sieves in the withering room. The air is filled with the unique aroma of white tea, which clears the mind and brings a warm and satisfying feeling. It's a wonderful feeling, like being in a unique corner of the universe.

This was a scene that Xie Anmin had never experienced before, and it was quite interesting.

"Now that the spring tea picking season has passed, the summer is hot and sunny, so it's not suitable to use a combined outdoor and indoor withering method. Because there are many thunderstorms in summer, the tea leaves need to be moved from outdoors to indoors for heated withering. Changing the site is relatively labor-intensive, and it's difficult to manage the timing. If a thunderstorm comes and we don't have time to collect the tea leaves, it will be a mess..."

Listening to Zhong Ziqi's story, Xie Anmin thought of the thunderstorm in which they had met and nodded.

Zhong Ziqi continued, "In fact, the combination of the two withering methods is very flexible. In the morning and evening, when the sun is weak, place the green tea leaves in the sun and light them for 25-30 minutes each time. When the leaves are slightly warm, move them into the withering room for withering. Repeat this 2-4 times. This is suitable for withering spring tea and the period around Grain Rain. It can accelerate the evaporation of water from the green tea leaves and increase the alcohol content of the tea soup. The resulting silver needles have a unique aroma. Now it's summer, with high temperatures and low humidity, so the green tea leaves dry easily. Using natural withering, you can produce high-quality silver needles with white buds and green stems..."

Xie Anmin began to look at Zhong Ziqi with a new respect. The sports student was no longer simple-minded. He had strong limbs and could speak eloquently and professionally.

"Boss Zhong has extensive knowledge of tea."

Zhong Ziqi scratched his head and smiled sheepishly: "Oh, it's all Wang Boya's fault. He forced me to learn, and I had no choice. It gave me a headache."

As Zhong Ziqi was speaking, his cell phone rang. He waved it towards Xie Anmin and said, "Speak of the devil, and he'll appear."

Xie Anmin stepped aside and asked Zhong Ziqi to answer Wang Zian's call. Zhong Ziqi was about to tell Wang Zian on the other end of the phone about Xie Anmin's visit to the tea factory, but he heard Wang Zian say, "Ziqi, come to the city right now!"

(End of this chapter)