Chapter 31 Is there any letter for me today?

This kind of life went on for nearly half a month. A few of the bolder soldiers really couldn’t take Lu Huaijin’s “torment” anymore. If things kept going like this, they were going to die at the hands of their own commander.

So, they quietly went to find Battalion Three’s commander, Zhao Yipeng, to ask what was going on. He had the closest relationship with the regiment commander, so he must know what was wrong with him — why his temper had been getting worse and worse, punishing them at the drop of a hat. Even someone made of steel couldn’t withstand being “tortured” like this every day…

In fact, Zhao Yipeng had also noticed something off about Commander Lu Huaijin recently. It was like he had swallowed a stick of dynamite. Ever since he came back from the mission, he’d been brooding, each day worse than the last — Zhao could tell that he was holding something in.

Sometimes he’d see Lu Huaijin sitting alone on the training field grass, staring blankly at the sky. Other times, he’d be eating and suddenly zone out. More than once, Zhao had run into him on the road, called out to him, and gotten no response — like he was a lost soul. Besides training, he moved like a walking corpse.

Lately, things had gotten even stranger. Several times, Zhao saw him go to the military district’s guard post whenever he had free time. Every time he came back from there, his face was so dark it could rival Lord Bao himself. Zhao didn’t know what was up with his comrade of over ten years — maybe he’d been dumped?

Could it be the woman he’d just started dating found him too old, with two kids, and ditched him? But that didn’t make sense — hadn’t she already known all about his situation?

No, he had to go check on his regiment commander and beloved old war buddy and see what was really going on.

“You guys wait for my word. I’m off…”

And with the hopeful eyes of the soldiers on him, Zhao Yipeng dusted himself off and swaggered away.

Meanwhile, the guard on duty, Ma Jidong, had been living in misery for days. He felt like an ant on a hot pan, always seconds away from being annihilated by Commander Lu.

For some reason, the commander had been coming to the guard post every day, sometimes several times a day, asking if he had any mail. And every time Ma had to say no, that face would fall lower than a donkey’s, blacker than the bottom of a pot.

Whenever he was on duty, Ma was on edge, scared to death the commander would show up again asking about mail.

Just as he was thinking about this — boom — speak of the devil, Lu Huaijin had arrived, walking in like he was stepping on clouds.

“Ma Jidong, is there any mail for me today?”

“Commander Lu… no…” Ma’s heart leapt into his throat. He kept his head down, feeling inexplicably guilty, not daring to look at Lu Huaijin. He could feel the commander’s mood — the air was freezing.

Mom, help!!

Just then, a young soldier under Lu Huaijin’s command came by to pick up his mail. Seeing the commander there, he gave a cheerful greeting.

“Commander, you’re here for mail too? Got a letter from home?”

Then the oblivious young soldier turned to Ma Jidong. “Jidong, is there a letter for me today?”

“Yeah, yeah, here. Take it and go. Hurry.” Ma glanced at Lu Huaijin’s face and quickly fished out the letter, thrusting it at the young soldier like it was on fire. He just wanted him to take it and scram — if he pissed off the commander, not even the gods could save him.

“Awesome! Commander, my girl wrote me again. She must really miss me, haha…”

“Commander, I’ll head off now…”

The kid had no self-preservation instincts, happily waving his letter at Lu Huaijin as he turned to leave.

“Wang Shengli!!”

“Sir!”

The young soldier froze — why was the commander suddenly calling him like that?

“Immediately, now, run 20 kilometers with full gear!”

“Yes, sir!” The young man was devastated, but he didn’t dare argue. He jogged off crying, sniffling all the way.

That night, as he lay on his bunk, Wang Shengli still hadn’t figured out what he’d done to offend the commander.

The next day, he told his dorm mates about it, and after asking Ma Jidong for the full story, everything made sense.

From then on, every soldier who came to the guard post to check for letters would first peek around carefully. Only when they were sure Commander Lu wasn’t around would they go in, grab their mail, and bolt out — faster than they ever ran during training.

For a while, everyone in the Third Regiment was walking on eggshells, terrified of provoking their commander. Training got much more serious too — no one wanted to mess up and get skinned alive.

Meanwhile, Lu Huaijin was getting more and more anxious. It had been over two weeks — why hadn’t Ayu written back?

He had even gone to the post office himself to check. The postman said there hadn’t been any letters for him lately, and he’d personally handled all the mail — nothing had been lost.

Lu Huaijin began to worry — was Ayu really angry and ignoring him? Was that why she hadn’t written?

The more he thought about it, the more nervous he got. He couldn’t sit still anymore. If he waited too long, his bride-to-be might slip away. He rushed off to the communications office to call the commune.

Sure enough, the one who picked up was his father.

“Hello, Qianjin Village Commune — who’s calling?”

The voice on the other end was a little hoarse and weary. It was his dad.

“Dad, it’s me, Huaijin…”

Lu Huaijin gripped the receiver tightly, nervous.

“Son? Is that you? You’re back from your mission? You weren’t hurt, right? Everything okay at the unit?”

Hearing his son’s voice, Lu Dacheng’s voice was filled with concern.

“Dad, don’t worry, I’m fine. Everything’s good in the army. Are you and Mom doing well at home?”

“That’s good, that’s good. As long as you’re safe out there, your mom and I can be at ease at home.”

“We’re both doing fine here, no need to worry about us…”

“Oh right, son, when will you be coming home next? Your wedding — your mother and I would like to start preparing for it.”

“Dad, I’m afraid I won’t be able to come home until New Year’s this time…”

After saying that, Lu Huaijin fell silent for a moment. Then he took a deep breath, trying to steady his emotions.

“Dad… um…”

The words were on the tip of his tongue, but suddenly he didn’t know how to say it to his father.

“Hmm? Son, what is it? Why’d you stop halfway through your sentence?”

Lu Dacheng noticed his son’s hesitation and pressed him.

Lu Huaijin scratched his head, then opened his mouth, sounding hesitant.

“Dad, could you… could you call Peiyu for me? Ask her to come to the phone…”

Hearing this, Lu Dacheng finally slapped his forehead as if suddenly realizing something, his face lighting up with a knowing smile.

“Aiya! Look at my memory — I’m getting senile, haha…”

He had completely forgotten that his son was already engaged to the girl from the Jiang family, so of course, this call was for Peiyu.

“Son, you might have to wait a bit. Peiyu probably isn’t in the village right now.”

As soon as Lu Huaijin heard that, he got nervous and quickly asked, “She’s not in the village? Then where did she go?”