Chapter 4: The Frontline Units Are Teeming With Dashing Military Men
1594 Words
Two years of courtship, undone by a mere two weeks of so-called "love"?
Ning Xi’s clenched fists trembled with rage. Thank heavens she had kept herself chaste; a two-timing scumbag like him was not worth a single tear.
Yet for all her resolve not to grieve, a sharp, aching sorrow welled up unbidden in her chest. She remembered how her juniors had broken down in floods of tears after receiving breakup letters or calls from their boyfriends, and how she had comforted them, saying a man worth loving would never make you cry. Now that it was her turn, she had been caught completely off guard.
The Political Commissar had told her once: to choose a military career is to choose loneliness in matters of the heart. A soldier puts country first, with little time left for family or love. If you found a good partner, you would be consumed with guilt for neglecting them; if you found the wrong one, you would be left broken and scarred.
Ning Xi wandered aimlessly through the streets, until she found herself standing before the gates of an old, tree-lined compound: the military veterans’ retirement home. This was where she had spent her childhood. After her parents passed away, they had left her an old apartment here.
After her aunt and uncle sent her to boarding middle school, she had stayed with them on weekends, and back then, she had even shared a bed with Sitong. She had never imagined that the cousin she had grown up with would hurl such cruel, vicious words at her.
People really do change.
Most of the residents in the compound were elderly retired veterans. The younger generation had long since moved into high-rise apartments with elevators to start their own families, but the elders were too accustomed to life in the compound to leave.
Ning Xi stood before the door of the apartment she had not entered in years, a rusted old key clutched in her hand. Tears welled up in her eyes, spilling over before she could stop them. With her parents gone, she had not the courage to turn the key and step inside.
Yet she had nowhere else to go. She certainly could not go to her aunt and uncle’s house; after the fight with Chen Sitong, another meeting would only end in an even uglier blowup.
She reached out to insert the key into the security door, but it would not fit into the lock no matter how she tried. The inner door creaked open, and a middle-aged woman stared out at her warily. “Who are you looking for?”
Ning Xi froze, sniffled back her tears, and said: “Who are you? This is my apartment.”
“Your apartment?” The woman blinked, then blurted out: “That’s impossible! The couple who rented this to us are surnamed Chen.”
Her aunt and uncle had rented out her apartment?
Ning Xi stood frozen on the doorstep, at a complete loss.
“What do you want? I’m calling the police!” The woman, seeing the key in her hand, thought she was a thief.
“It’s nothing…” Ning Xi gave a bitter smile, turned, and walked back down the stairs.
This time, the tears came flooding out, impossible to hold back. She had never shed a single tear through the brutal training at the academy, through the grueling internships at grassroots military companies.
Why today, of all days?
Today, she had graduated with joy, received her officer’s commission with pride, only to be doused with bucket after bucket of ice-cold water. Now even her last safe haven was gone?
Sobbing uncontrollably, Ning Xi ran out of the apartment building, and slammed straight into a man walking in through the entrance. She stumbled backward in a panic, only to be steadied by a large, firm hand wrapping around her upper arm.
Ning Xi looked up, her gaze locking with that of a tall, upright man. He was so broad and imposing that he blocked out most of the light from the entrance, staring down at her in silence.
Ning Xi froze, thinking to herself that this day could not possibly get any worse. She mumbled a quick “sorry”, then ducked past him and ran out of the building, her face buried in her hands, not caring if he had heard her.
The man turned to watch her run away, his brow furrowing. That girl just now—she’d been wearing an army-green T-shirt and the summer service trousers of a military cadet. Which academy was she from?
Once she was out of the compound gates, Ning Xi sat down on the edge of a flower bed, her face in her hands, trying to calm herself down. Her tattered backpack lay at her feet, a sorry sight. A tiny pink corner peeked out from the outermost pocket, clashing horribly with the drab camouflage of the bag.
Ning Xi blinked, reached in, and pulled out the small pink card. This was what Commissar Qi had pressed into her hands before she left the academy that day. She’d stuffed it into the side pocket of her backpack without a second glance, even as he’d urged her repeatedly to attend the event.
Ning Xi flipped it open, read the contents at a glance, then snapped it shut again.
Crying for her parents was only right and proper, but there was no reason to mope and wallow over a worthless scumbag.
A military academy social mixer?
This was the perfect chance to strike a deal with the Commissar.
…
“I’ll go to the mixer!” Ning Xi stormed back into Commissar Qi’s office, all fire and energy.
Commissar Qi blinked in surprise. “You’ve always refused to cooperate with my ‘work’ before. What changed your mind?”
“I have conditions.” Ning Xi said, her expression serious.
As one of the few female master’s graduates in special operations the academy had ever produced, Ning Xi was doted on by the academy’s leadership and instructors. The Commissar smiled and nodded at her words. “Let’s hear them.”
“What about my application to stay on as an instructor? Have you submitted it yet?” Ning Xi asked.
“Not yet. You only received your commission today, I haven’t even written your letter of recommendation. It’s right here.” Commissar Qi pulled a few sheets of letter paper out of his desk drawer.
Ning Xi took the paper, tore it clean in two with a sharp rip, and said: “I’m applying for a transfer to a frontline combat unit.”
“What?!” Commissar Qi froze, then shook his head. “While the frontline units are desperate for highly educated talent like you, personally, I beg you to think this through. The frontline is brutally hard. What’s a young woman like you doing there?”
“The frontline is full of gorgeous, dashing military men!” Ning Xi said, unapologetic and firm.
Just think about it—what kind of men serve in frontline combat units? Unlike the soldiers in logistics departments and military academies who spent their days buried in academics and technical work, the frontline was a place where men sweated and fought. The soldiers there would be the very picture of hardened, tough men.
Sweat glistening on their skin, eight-pack abs, unyielding resolve and iron will…
These were real men. Men who made Qi Yiyang, that pale, weak pretty boy, look like nothing more than a joke.
Commissar Qi laughed. “Ning Xi, that’s an awfully childish reason to apply for a frontline transfer.”
“How is it childish?” Ning Xi shot back. “Is my education insufficient? My rank? My length of service? My ability, or my ideological awareness? Tell me, what about this is childish? I’m twenty-two years old, well within the age limit for frontline service. Why can’t I go?”
Commissar Qi was left speechless by her barrage of questions. He nodded quickly. “Fine, fine, I’ll write your letter of recommendation. But about this mixer—”
“I will absolutely be there.” Ning Xi nodded firmly.
Commissar Qi was overjoyed. This was perfect! Ning Xi was the unattainable goddess for countless cadets and soldiers. If she attended, the male cadets would be falling over themselves to be there, and the female cadets would go all out to dress up.
“Oh, and one more thing. While the dress code is strictly limited to service uniforms, dress uniforms, and combat uniforms, female personnel are permitted to wear light makeup.” The Commissar added, as a reminder.
“Understood!”
The second Ning Xi left the office, Commissar Qi picked up the phone with a mischievous grin and dialed a number. After being transferred twice, a deep, gravelly male voice spoke on the other end. “Hello?”
“Wen Han.” Commissar Qi said, his voice brimming with excitement. “You have to come to this mixer! I’ve found the perfect match for you!”
The line went dead silent.
“She’s a female officer, absolutely flawless in every way! What’s more, she’s applied for a transfer to the frontline. Your unit is short a—”
The line stayed silent for so long that the Commissar thought the call had dropped, calling out “Hello? Hello?” several times, before a cold, sharp voice cut through the line:
“The thing I hate most in this world, is female officers.”
- Writer
