Qin Yuanzheng stayed in Beijing for three days. During that time, he called both Han Ye’s father and Zhou Dingwen’s father, telling them not to make the trip since he would take care of the two boys and bring them back to Wencheng.
And so, Qin Yuanzheng became just like an ordinary old father. Every day, he brought them food, watched them have their dressings changed, and asked how things were going in the army.
The army really was the best place to temper a person’s character.
Just look at how even that ox had been trained into good behavior.
Han Ye and Zhou Dingwen were now on excellent terms. The two of them often squeezed together and chatted.
Once, when Qin Yuanzheng brought them food, he found them huddled together listening to the radio.
“Are you two usually on duty together?” he asked.
“Of course not,” Han Ye replied. “But we’re in the same company, so we see each other often.”
Zhou Dingwen sighed. “Our comrades there come from all over the country. The only ones from Wencheng are Han Ye and me. When we first arrived, neither of us could adapt. It was far too cold over there. Later, Han Ye gave me a pair of thick socks, and that was how I managed to tough it out.”
Although Han Ye’s biological mother had passed away when he was very young, he now had two mothers—Qiao Lanshu and Zhao Lanfang—and both of them were extremely thoughtful.
Every year, they sent Han Ye plenty of warm clothing. They especially made sure to pack lots of gloves and socks.
Han Ye also wore through clothes quickly in the army, but if he used them sparingly, he had enough.
Zhou Dingwen’s mother, however, probably hadn’t thought of everything so carefully. She had prepared those things for him too, but they weren’t thick enough.
Neither of them had realized just how low the temperatures could drop at the border.
On winter nights, they stood at their posts on mountaintops for most of the night, often until their hands and feet went numb with cold.
The chilblains were painful and itchy, making them especially miserable.
These two boys had grown up without ever suffering hardship.
They might have been formidable at home, but after spending two days standing guard there, they would hide beneath their blankets at night and cry silently.
It was under those circumstances that Han Ye saw the chilblains covering Zhou Dingwen’s feet. At last, the two of them let go of their grudge.
Han Ye gave Zhou Dingwen two pairs of the thick cotton socks his mother had sent him.
From then on, they became sworn brothers.
Han Ye sighed. “We were young and foolish back then. Brother Zhou, don’t hold it against me.”
With his injured leg suspended, Zhou Dingwen reached out and hooked an arm around Han Ye’s shoulders. Moved, he said, “Good brother, I’ll never forget how you helped me when I was in need. From now on, we’re real brothers.”
Qin Yuanzheng: “…”
Qin Yuanzheng was speechless. The two boys were only nineteen, if one counted carefully, yet the way they spoke made them sound as though they were already sixty-nine.
Qin Yuanzheng sat there and sighed, choosing not to say anything else.
Han Ye and Zhou Dingwen continued chatting more and more enthusiastically.
Zhou Dingwen asked Han Ye, “By the way, which home will you be staying at when you go back?”
Han Ye thought about it. “I guess I’ll be staying at the hospital.”
Zhou Dingwen: “…”
Zhou Dingwen said, somewhat annoyed, “Oh, right. I almost forgot.”
His leg was still hanging there, after all, and he had actually managed to forget about it.
Han Ye was utterly exasperated.
Zhou Dingwen continued, “Then when we get to Wencheng Military Hospital, how about we stay in the same room again?”
Han Ye nodded. “Of course. Who else would we stay with? Naturally, we have to share a room!”
A smile spread across Zhou Dingwen’s face. He tightened his arm around Han Ye’s shoulders and lowered his voice. “By the way, now that you’re coming back wounded, your younger sister and brother will come visit you too, right?”
Han Ye didn’t think much of the question at first. He replied casually, “Of course. I’m their big brother.”
Zhou Dingwen nudged him with his elbow again. “Right, how old is your sister? Is she in junior high now?”
Qin Yuanzheng, who had been sitting nearby, looked up and studied Zhou Dingwen.
Zhou Dingwen had grown up in a military compound, so Qin Yuanzheng could practically say he had watched the boy grow up.
He knew him far too well.
Qin Yuanzheng was also familiar with Zhou Dingwen’s parents.
Zhou Dingwen’s father was even Qin Yuanzheng’s subordinate and currently worked at the military district in Wencheng.
Zhou Dingwen’s future prospects would certainly be much the same as Han Ye’s. Their family backgrounds and starting points were similar.
As for how high they could rise in the future, that would depend entirely on their abilities—and their luck.
So why had Zhou Dingwen been asking Han Ye about Xiaxia?
As a father, Qin Yuanzheng was extremely picky.
Even though Zhou Dingwen had good conditions, Qin Yuanzheng still didn’t approve of him.
His expression darkened as he shot Zhou Dingwen a stern look.
Zhou Dingwen immediately felt a chill down his back. He instinctively hunched his neck and turned to look at Qin Yuanzheng.
He found Qin Yuanzheng staring at him with a grim expression.
Zhou Dingwen: “…”
Zhou Dingwen instantly lost his nerve. He gave Qin Yuanzheng an awkward smile and scratched his head, not daring to say anything else.
Han Ye continued listening to the radio and casually said, “You mean Xiaxia? She should be in her second year of junior high, right?”
As he spoke, Han Ye began reminiscing too. “Come to think of it, I really miss my little brother and sister. I wonder if they miss me.”
Zhou Dingwen glanced at Qin Yuanzheng again and saw that he was already lying on the bed beside them with his eyes closed, resting.
Only then did Zhou Dingwen breathe a sigh of relief. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and lowered his voice. “They probably do. They’ve been attached to you since they were little, after all.”
Han Ye failed to notice that anything was amiss.
He continued, “Not at all. Xiaxia isn’t attached to me in the slightest, okay? I’m starting to wonder if she’s forgotten me after more than two years without seeing me.”
Han Ye had always been closer to Qin Qiao’an.
After all, Qin Qiao’an had grown up alongside Han Ye, so the two had a bond.
But by the time Xiaxia was born, Qiao Lanshu’s family had already moved to Wencheng, while Han Ye remained in Longcheng with Han Wenlin. He didn’t move to Wencheng until after he finished elementary school.
By then, Xiaxia was already six years old and rather distant toward him.
Han Ye said jealously, “To be honest, my sister is probably more familiar with you than with me.”
Zhou Dingwen smiled again. “That’s true. We grew up in the same compound and lived close to each other.”
The two of them whispered together for a while.
Then Han Ye asked Qin Yuanzheng, “Uncle Qin, you came to Beijing this time without wearing your uniform or bringing an escort. Did you come here to take care of some personal business?”
Qin Yuanzheng nodded with his eyes closed. “More or less.”
Then he added, “It’s an adult matter. Children shouldn’t ask so many questions.”
Han Ye: “…”
Han Ye and Zhou Dingwen exchanged a glance, and neither dared to ask anything else.
They had been afraid of Qin Yuanzheng since they were young, while also admiring him greatly.
Now that they had joined the army, their admiration for Qin Yuanzheng, a senior commander, had only grown stronger. The two huddled together and spoke in low voices, afraid of disturbing Qin Yuanzheng’s sleep.
By afternoon, Qin Yuanzheng decided that enough time had passed and went to ask the doctor about the results.
He didn’t fully understand his own condition. He was still having nightmares these past two days, but the pain in his body seemed to have eased.
In addition, he felt that there was nothing wrong with his body.
Could he really have a terminal illness?
Qin Yuanzheng's face was solemn. He went to the doctor's office and found the doctor who had examined him.
The doctor took out his examination results, looked at them, and said, "At present, no problems have been found."
Qin Yuanzheng: "..."
Qin Yuanzheng was a bit skeptical. Of course, he was excited deep inside, but he was afraid of getting too happy too soon, so there was no change in his facial expression.
He looked at the examination form in the doctor's hand and asked, "Is there really no problem?"
This time when he came to this hospital, he had his blood drawn and also had a CT scan.
The examination result was hand - written by the doctor. The doctor looked at his report and asked, "Do you still feel very uncomfortable these days?"
Qin Yuanzheng thought for a while and said, "Not really. It's just that I occasionally have some abdominal pain, but it's not frequent, and the situation has improved a lot compared to before."
He remembered very clearly that the abdominal pain started last month. That's when he began to have nightmares.
Every time he had a nightmare, he would die once in the dream.
That feeling was very strange, and he didn't know how to tell the doctor about it.
He just said, "I have pain, and I often have nightmares at night. But the situation has improved a bit in the past two days. I didn't have a nightmare last night, and my abdomen doesn't hurt today."
The doctor looked at the report and asked him, "Have you seen a traditional Chinese medicine doctor?"
Qin Yuanzheng shook his head. "No."
When he was seeing a doctor at the hospital in Wencheng, the doctor there gave him a simple examination. Of course, they didn't do a CT scan because that hospital didn't have the equipment.
But the doctor there said that his condition was not optimistic, and it was very likely a serious liver disease.
And now this doctor said he had no problems?
Qin Yuanzheng wasn't sure for a moment, but he was more willing to believe that there was no problem.
He took his examination report and looked at it, then asked the doctor, "Is this CT scan accurate? Can it really show the internal situation of the body?"
Doctor: "Of course it can. But this thing is too expensive, so not many people get it done. Actually, we've only been using this thing for a few years. It's normal for you to doubt its accuracy."
Qin Yuanzheng then asked, "Since there's nothing wrong with my body, why does my abdomen hurt? It's been a continuous month, not just one or two days."
Qin Yuanzheng just wanted to know why it hurt. If he didn't know the reason, he would always be worried.
The doctor also couldn't figure it out. He thought for a while and said, "Otherwise, you can go and get some traditional Chinese medicine for conditioning?"
Qin Yuanzheng: "..."
The doctor thought for a while and said again, "By the way, you said you've had the same nightmare continuously for a month. Then maybe..."
He said vaguely, "You can go and ask a fortune - teller?"
Qin Yuanzheng: "..."
Qin Yuanzheng looked at the doctor suspiciously, then leaned over to look at the name tag on his chest.
Doctor: "..."
The doctor was a bit annoyed. "I'm a real doctor. What are you looking at?"
Qin Yuanzheng looked at him with a complicated expression and said, "I thought doctors were all materialists. I didn't expect..."
The doctor was a bit embarrassed by what he said. He lowered his voice and said, "Well, it's really hard to say. I've never encountered a situation like yours where you have the same nightmare continuously for a month. The last time I heard about such a thing was when my grandma told me bedtime stories when I was a kid."
Qin Yuanzheng: "..."
The doctor also said, "Comrade, if you're not lying, then I really advise you to go to a temple and pay your respects. What if it works? Right?"
Qin Yuanzheng: "..."
Qin Yuanzheng took his examination report and walked out of the hospital gate.
When he reached the gate, he even walked up to look at the hospital plaque.
It was indeed the largest military - region hospital in Jing City. Those two kids were still staying in the hospital.
So why were the doctors here so funny, talking to him about metaphysics?
Qin Yuanzheng stood at the hospital gate, looking at the people coming in and going out. He was silent for a long time.
Between going to another hospital for another check - up and going to a temple to burn incense, he finally decided to go to the most famous temple and burn some incense.
What if it worked?
Qin Yuanzheng drove to the temple. He knelt down properly in the bustling temple and offered a stick of incense to the Buddha.
He didn't make any wishes or ask for any fortune - telling sticks. After offering the incense, he walked out of the temple.
He drove back to the hospital and told Han Ye and Zhou Dingwen to pack up their things and go back to Wencheng that night.
Han Ye and Zhou Dingwen didn't have much stuff.
Each of them had a backpack, and the backpacks were filled to the brim, very solid. One backpack weighed dozens of catties.
Qin Yuanzheng picked up one backpack in each hand and asked Han Ye, "Can you support him?"
Han Ye's arm was still in a sling around his neck. He said, "Sure! I'll carry him on my back."
It so happened that although Zhou Dingwen's leg was injured, his two arms were fine. Han Ye bent down to carry him on his back, and Zhou Dingwen wrapped his hands around Han Ye. The two of them cooperated quite well.
Qin Yuanzheng went through all the discharge procedures for them and then took them out of the hospital.
He threw the two backpacks into the trunk, let Han Ye sit in the front passenger seat, and then Zhou Dingwen lay diagonally on the back seat.
Originally, Zhou Dingwen and Han Ye could have recovered from their injuries in Jing City before returning to the army.
But they both missed home so much that even though it was a bit of a hassle, they still wanted to go back and have a look.
Han Ye didn't have much of a problem. The main issue was Zhou Dingwen. His leg was in a cast, and it was very inconvenient for him to move around.
Qin Yuanzheng glanced at the two of them and said, "Sit tight. Let's go home."
Han Ye was so excited. "Uncle Qin, how is my mom? How is she doing?"
Qin Yuanzheng had always had an issue with him calling Qiao Lanshu "mom"!
Because Han Ye called Qiao Lanshu mom, Han Wenlin dad, and him Uncle Qin.
Just listen! Just listen!
People who didn't know would think that Qiao Lanshu was Han Wenlin's wife!
But fortunately, Han Wenlin had remarried, so Qin Yuanzheng didn't have as many negative feelings now.
He said calmly, "Without you causing trouble for her at home and getting into mischief every day, she's doing great."
Han Ye: "..."
Han Ye scratched his head a bit embarrassedly. He had a crew cut, and his skin was dark. After two years of tough training in the army, he had grown a bit taller and was even bigger and stronger.
He was now 1.9 meters tall and looked even bigger than Qin Yuanzheng. He was really as strong as an ox.
Qin Yuanzheng sized him up a few times and thought to himself that the younger generation was really impressive.
It was precisely because of outstanding young people like them from generation to generation that the country would become stronger and stronger.
Han Ye said with a silly smile, "My mom doesn't mind me. When she sees me later, she'll definitely be very happy!"
