Chapter 22: Does It Still Hurt?

Song Xilan furrowed her brows. “The border? An island? The conditions must have been tough, right?”

Jiang Chengxiao nodded. “At first, I didn’t adjust well to the climate, but that wasn’t the biggest problem. The real issue was that the old veterans, led by Lin Guangshan, couldn’t stand me and kept setting traps for me. I almost didn’t make it through.”

As he spoke about these past events, there was a smile in Jiang Chengxiao’s eyes.

It had been a tough time. He, a rebellious and arrogant young master from Beijing, had arrived on the island and quickly realized that all the things he had once been proud of were worthless there.

On the island, the only thing that earned respect was a man’s courage and determination.

Jiang Chengxiao wasn’t the type to back down. He was truly determined to push himself to the limit, training relentlessly day after day, slowly growing stronger through constant hardships.

Through rounds of life-and-death battles, he had forged a deep bond of brotherhood with the old veterans.

It was the purest friendship he had ever known.

“Although I was thrown to the island to serve in the army against my will, and I hated my grandfather for it at the time, I now feel grateful. It gave me an extraordinary experience in my life.”

Back to Lin Guangshan.

Two months ago, everyone thought it was just another routine patrol mission.

Before they left, Lin Guangshan was happily talking about how he had submitted a family visit request. After this mission, he would get time off to visit his girlfriend and give her the plum blossom watch he had specially bought for her.

When they encountered the fishing boat, everyone still thought it was just a routine check.

But it turned out to be a smuggling boat carrying a batch of antiques. The smugglers aboard were armed with guns.

It turned into a brutal battle, and Comrade Lin Guangshan sacrificed his life. In the desperate fight, the smuggler leader, seeing there was no way out, attempted to blow up the whole ship and take everyone down with him.

It was Jiang Chengxiao who, with the determination to protect the country’s precious cultural relics even if it meant dying with the smuggler, charged forward, grabbed the smuggler leader holding a powerful bomb, and together, they plunged into the sea.

The moment they entered the water, there was a deafening roar. Huge splashes of water mixed with shattered flesh and blood, like a rain of blood.
The cultural relics were saved, and the comrades survived, but at the time, everyone thought Jiang Chengxiao had also sacrificed his life, his body lost forever.
Three days later, when the unit was already planning his memorial service and his application for a first-class merit was submitted, they suddenly received a notification that fishermen on a nearby island had found an unconscious, wounded naval soldier washed ashore.
The unit leaders rushed to the hospital and confirmed it was Jiang Chengxiao.
Thus, Jiang Chengxiao became an extremely rare hero who received a first-class merit while still alive.
He spent over a month recuperating from his injuries. Every day in the hospital, he eagerly looked forward to recovering and returning to fight alongside his comrades.
Surviving such a near-death experience did not diminish his courage; instead, it strengthened his resolve to defend his country.
If, in the past, he was sent to the military and trained hard for personal reasons, now he truly understood the weight of the uniform he wore. For the first time in his life, he had a goal and a purpose.
But he didn’t know that during his time in the hospital, his mother, Xiao Xinlan, unable to bear the thought of him dying at sea, pressured his father to discharge him on medical grounds.
When Jiang Chengxiao excitedly left the hospital, ready to return to his unit, he discovered he no longer had a place there.
Despite his significant contribution, which would have ensured a bright future in the military, he was discharged. Having finally realized his own worth, he had even secretly imagined becoming a company, battalion, and regimental commander.
He had dreamed of becoming a brigade, division, and even a major or lieutenant general.
Unfortunately, all these dreams were shattered by his own family.
He argued, protested, and pleaded, but to no avail. No one dared to disobey the orders of the Jiang family patriarch. Even his respected leader, Division Commander Liu, who admired and believed in him, advised him to go home.
Thus, his newfound faith and goals were completely destroyed.
In a haze of confusion about his future, Jiang Chengxiao arrived in G City with a “what’s the point” attitude.
He didn’t even care about his disheveled appearance.
Until he met Song Xilan.
That night, she was like a runaway truck, crashing through his defenses.
She was also like a ray of starlight piercing the darkness, landing joyfully in his eyes.
He suddenly wanted to stay.
To stay and be an ordinary person. Here, he wasn’t the prestigious young master of the Jiang family from Beijing, nor was he the decorated hero from the military. He was just himself, Jiang Chengxiao, a small employee in a small food factory.
Of course, Jiang Chengxiao didn’t tell Song Xilan all of this.
He simply told her that during a battle, Lin Guangshan had sacrificed his life, and he had lost his good brother. He himself was injured and, after recovering, was discharged.
He came here to fulfill his brother’s last wish, to deliver a watch he had saved up for to his beloved, Jiang Jingru.
Although Jiang Chengxiao downplayed the battle, Song Xilan sensed its brutality.
Especially the comments on the screen, which were shocking.
[The previous screenwriter must have lost their mind to make such a first-class merit hero the main villain?]
[Tears. There’s a saying online: third-class merit is received standing, second-class merit is received lying down, and first-class merit is received by family. This is an achievement earned with life!]
[It’s unacceptable for Xiao Jiang not to be the male lead.]
[Exactly. What has that pretty boy in the dance troupe done for the country? He doesn’t deserve to stand next to Xiao Jiang.]
[You guys are going too far. It’s just a web drama. Do you have to make such a big deal out of it?]
First-class merit? That must be incredibly difficult. It couldn’t have been as simple as he described.
“Does it still hurt?” Song Xilan suddenly asked, “The injuries you sustained back then.”