Lu Cheng raised his head, stood up immediately, and saluted. “Commander.”

“Sit down, sit down,” the Commander said as he looked at Lu Cheng, feeling a mix of emotions. “Your promotion papers have arrived. Starting from the 1st of next month, you will officially take over my position. I’m handing over my responsibilities to you now since I’ll be transferred soon.”

Lu Cheng had no particular thoughts about this matter; he had already known about it.

The only thing he felt a bit reluctant about was that the Commander would be transferred elsewhere.

However, it wasn’t that hard to accept.

For them, parting and loss had become something they were used to.

They had learned to bury their reluctance deep in their hearts and turn it into motivation to work even harder for the future of the country.

Lu Cheng was silent for a moment. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of the Independent Regiment from now on.”

This was exactly what the Commander wanted to hear: “When I first entered the army, I was assigned to the Independent Regiment, starting as a lowly soldier. I’ve seen one veteran after another leave, and one new recruit after another rise to prominence… Now, you’re taking over, and I’m very at ease.”

After chatting for a while, he took out the appointment documents. “Though it’s a bit cliché, I still want to say: Congratulations, Comrade Lu Cheng.”

Lu Cheng saluted again. “Thank you for your care all these years.”

Dong dong dong…

Another knock at the door.

Both Lu Cheng and the Commander turned around to see the Political Commissar.

The Political Commissar rarely came to the Independent Regiment, because it had its own system.

So, it was unexpected that he showed up today.

“A rare guest!” said the Commander. “Did you come to offer your congratulations, too?”

“Congratulations? What congratulations?” The Political Commissar was still confused.

The Commander was helpless. “The official documents were issued today. Comrade Lu Cheng is officially the Commander of the Independent Regiment starting today.”

The Political Commissar widened his eyes and then quickly realized. “Oh, my head, congratulations, congratulations! The documents are finally here. Comrade Lu Cheng, you must treat us! I’ve heard that your wife, Comrade Lin, is an excellent cook. The food in the Third Company’s mess has become famous thanks to her and the other cooks. You must treat us, it’s a must!”

“You really… Lu Cheng gets promoted, and you’re only thinking about the food,” the Commander said with an exasperated tone, but added, “I’ll bring the alcohol, but you do have to treat us.”

“Hahaha…” The Political Commissar laughed heartily. “You’re more eager than I am!”

Lu Cheng, who didn’t want to throw a party, dared not directly refuse. “I have to ask my wife about this.”

The word “wife” lingered in his mouth, rippling in his heart.

In situations like this, he dared to call her his wife.

In daily life, they both kept to their roles and never spoke out of line.

“Yes, yes, you have to ask Comrade Lin. She’s in charge of the cooking. We can’t bypass her, or there’ll be no good food for us. Hahaha…” the Chief of Staff laughed. Then he remembered something. “Speaking of which, I have something related to Comrade Lin.”

Hearing that it was something related to Lin, Lu Cheng’s attention sharpened. “What is it?”

“I heard that ever since Comrade Lin joined the Third Company’s mess, the food there has gotten much better,” the Political Commissar said.

“I can vouch for this,” the Commander added. “My wife often goes to the Third Company’s mess to get food. Whether it’s meat or vegetables, it’s always delicious. Some dishes look simple, but when my wife tries to make them, she can’t quite replicate the taste. My wife says that many people from the family compound also go to the Third Company’s mess.”

“That’s the issue,” the Political Commissar continued. “Now the problem is that other units are starting to get envious. They’ve seen how the food in the Independent Regiment keeps getting better, and they’re getting restless.

Especially these past few days, with the hot weather, your regiment made mung bean soup and soy milk, which has other regiments wondering if the Independent Regiment’s mess has more funds than theirs.

But we all know that the mess funds for each regiment are the same. The funds don’t go directly into the mess’s hands; they’re managed by the army, so there’s no issue of unequal funding.”

Later, after I investigated, I found out that Comrade Lin, along with a few military wives from the family quarters and the supply and marketing cooperative, was doing business.

This business needed wood ash, so she used the mess hall’s wood ash.

The money earned from the wood ash was used to add some snacks to the meals for the comrades.

This arrangement was certainly allowed, as it increased the income of the military wives and improved the meals for the soldiers.

However, the problem was… when some soldiers have food and others don’t, those young lads aren’t happy about it.

The regiment commander said, “There’s nothing we can do about it. We can’t use the wood ash money from the Independent Regiment to add snacks to the other units, right? That small amount of money isn’t enough.”

The political commissar said, “That’s certainly not possible, so I’ve thought of a solution. Let’s not worry about the green bean soup and soy milk for now. Can’t we improve the meals in other units’ mess halls? For example, we have the same eggplant, but the mess hall gets cold eggplant salad, while other units get steamed eggplant. Just by the name, you can tell the mess hall’s eggplant is more ‘high-end’, don’t you think?”

Lu Cheng asked, “So, what are you suggesting?”

The political commissar finally got to the point: “What I’m suggesting is, Comrade Lin doesn’t need to work in the mess hall of the Third Company anymore. She can go directly to the logistics department, and we’ll give her an official position. From now on, she’ll be in charge of the meals for the entire unit. Do you think Comrade Lin can handle this responsibility?”

Lu Cheng was stunned: “The logistics department is part of our unit, right? That’s like being a female soldier in the logistics department.”

The political commissar replied, “Exactly. She’s a military wife, so her political background should be fine.”

Lu Cheng said, “I’ll ask her.”

The political commissar nodded, “Okay, but this has to be done with her consent. I’ll wait for your good news.”

Lu Cheng didn’t promise anything because he wasn’t sure about Lin Qingqing’s thoughts.

That evening, after having dinner in the Third Company mess hall, Lu Cheng waited for Lin Qingqing to finish her shift.

Afterward, the three of them walked home, and he brought up the matter: “Today, the political commissar came to see me. He talked about two things, both related to you.”

Lin Qingqing was a bit surprised, then said, “I can probably guess one of them, but the second one… I can’t guess.”

This made Lu Cheng quite surprised: “Guess what it is.”

Lin Qingqing smiled slightly: “The first one is probably about this afternoon. This afternoon, several mess hall leaders came to see Qi Shao, requesting that our mess hall’s menu be unified with the other mess halls. They wanted to prevent green bean soup and soy milk from appearing because the other units’ comrades were protesting.”

“Really?” Lu Cheng was surprised. “No wonder the political commissar came to talk to me. So it’s related to that incident.”

He continued, “Indeed, one thing is related to this. The political commissar said, ‘Please join the logistics department and take charge of the entire unit’s meals.’ We have 36 more companies besides our Independent Regiment, meaning there are 36 more mess halls. Do you think you can handle it?”

Lin Qingqing said, “If it’s just about arranging the meals for the unit, like planning the menu and combinations, that’s no problem. I just have to say it, I won’t even need to do any of the cooking. But the problem is… if I do that, I won’t be able to work in the Third Company mess hall anymore, right? I couldn’t handle both at the same time.”

“Of course, if you join the logistics department, you’ll have an official position. It’s like being a logistic soldier,” Lu Cheng said with a smile. “If the logistics soldiers do well, they can even get military titles.”

Lin Qingqing couldn’t help but laugh: “You’re dreaming! I can’t even imagine that. But I do have some concerns.”

“Are you worried about after three years?” Lu Cheng asked with a knowing look.

Lin Qingqing’s eyes widened, and she gave Lu Cheng a thumbs up: “As expected of Deputy Regiment Commander Lu, impressive!”

Lu Cheng curled the corner of his mouth but didn’t let his happiness show too clearly.

He explained, “Even if she leaves in three years, when it’s her turn, she will find a way to leave logistics. I think she’s more afraid of taking risks than anyone else, and she’s more afraid of death than anyone else.”

It wasn’t that she was afraid of death, but rather that everyone feared death.

Even Lu Cheng was afraid of dying.

However, compared to death, he would face it bravely. “Don’t worry, if you want to do something, go ahead and do it. I’ll take responsibility for everything.”

A warm feeling flowed through Lin Qingqing’s heart as she looked at him, her eyes bright and touched.

Her gaze was very captivating to Lu Cheng because it was clean and passionate, like the gentle sunlight of spring.

Lu Cheng smiled at her, saying nothing more, not making any extra gestures.

“Then if I go, will it affect you?” Lin Qingqing still felt a bit uneasy.

“It won’t… well, it might have an effect. Probably… everyone will be jealous of me,” Lu Cheng said with a rare teasing tone.

Lin Qingqing couldn’t help but laugh softly.

Lu Haici looked at his father, then at his mother.

He didn’t understand, but it didn’t matter.

As long as his parents were there, he’d be happy playing with mud.

“And what’s the other thing?” Lin Qingqing asked. “Is it something I can’t guess? Maybe because I’ve been performing well, you want to give me a raise? But that can’t be it. Since I’ve entered logistics, salary raises would be the same for everyone. So, it must be something unrelated to that.”

“Smart.” Lu Cheng complimented her generously. “Try guessing again.”

The Independent Regiment Commander probably never imagined he would one day play a word guessing game with someone.

Lin Qingqing shook her head. “No, I can’t guess.”

“You just called me ‘Deputy Commander Lu’ wrong. From today on, I’m Commander Lu,” he said with a hint of pride in his voice, the kind of pride a man feels in front of a woman he likes.

The usually calm Commander Lu Cheng had been composed in front of the Commander and the Political Commissar in the afternoon, as if the promotion didn’t concern him.

But now, with this proud tone, it was a different story.

Lin Qingqing froze for a moment before slowly widening her eyes.

Her excitement and happiness were hard to control. “Lu Cheng…” she called his name loudly.

Lu Cheng looked at her with a faint smile. “Hm?”

“You’re amazing,” Lin Qingqing said, her face and eyes filled with smiles.

The smile kept growing bigger, impossible to suppress.

Lu Cheng’s smile didn’t change. “Hm.” This “hm” carried more meaning than the first.