Chapter 126

Jiang Wenxing pursed his lips and remained silent.

It was the same in his past life, and it will be the same in this one. He was sitting in his dorm room packing up his books, waiting for someone to take them away. He didn't know Ilya would come.

Jiang Wenxing looked at his tall, broad shoulders and recalled the time when he saw him off on his journey. He stood in the snow, upright yet lonely, silently watching the direction he had left in.

They were once comrades-in-arms fighting side by side, but not friends.

But the letters that flew into the hospital like snowflakes made him feel that he was getting closer to Ilya.

"team leader."

The giant wolf nudged Jiang Wenxing's calf and quietly lay down at his feet.

"What's there to be sad about?"

Ilya wiped the corner of his eye.

The guide's face was soft, like a piece of goat's milk tofu, cool to the touch, and when you pressed your thumb into his skin, it bounced back gently.

Ilya's palms were warm, making one feel cozy, and they carried a faint scent of lilac, which smelled very pleasant.

Jiang Wenxing's red nose and eye sockets turned into red cheeks.

Ilya simply wiped his eyes, pulled up a chair for Jiang Wenxing to sit down, and, as he usually did when giving ideological advice to soldiers, asked, "Tell me, what's wrong?"

Jiang Wenxing took a breath and briefly explained the cause and effect.

Ilya listened quietly, his expression unchanged, but the giant wolf's expressions were varied, from surprise to displeasure, with angry growls coming from its throat and its large tail slapping the ground.

Jiang Wenxing said, "Then I came back."

Ilya looked around, then handed him the guide's coat. Jiang Wenxing asked, puzzled, "What for?"

He suddenly opened his eyes wide: "You...you want me to go and apologize to them?"

Jiang Wenxing couldn't have imagined what Ilya would do.

He had always thought of the captain as that serious and responsible border sentry. He trusted him completely and knew that Ilya was the one who most wanted Kush to work together as a team. He was afraid that Ilya would say to endure it for the sake of the group, and he was also afraid that Ilya would say that the old guide was getting old and should be respected.

None of these points can be refuted.

Ilya didn't understand Jiang Wenxing's thoughts. He bent down, his eyebrows slightly furrowed, showing both seriousness and incomprehension.

“Jiang Wenxing,” Ilya called his name, pronouncing the character “Xing” clearly without any Tanas accent, as if he had practiced it many times. He draped the clothes that the guide refused to wear over him, as if he were treating him as a brother, yet seemingly even more tenderly than a brother.

“Here, we are comrades, we are comrades-in-arms, and you are our guide. The old guide is also your comrade-in-arms. We are guarding Tanijama in obedience to the arrangements of the country and the organization.”

"If you are unhappy or dissatisfied, talk to your comrades about it."

“You are the soldier under the old guide’s command, so he has to solve the problems you encounter; that’s his job.”

"People, sentinels, and guides all make many mistakes. You can't blindly trust the person who leads you. You have to learn to question and resist your own problems."

He is your superior, but not your master.

Jiang Wenxing stared blankly at Ilya.

The pent-up sadness and anxiety welled up inside me like a flood, and large tears streamed down my face.

Zhu Ning slandered him, but he didn't want to argue. The old guide did nothing, but he didn't care. Because that's how he lived in his past life—just focus on doing your own thing and don't worry about anything else.

His loneliness and his lack of understanding were of his own making.

In this place where close connections are needed, he lived like an isolated island. He suddenly realized another knot in his heart: behind his high self-esteem was confusion and distrust of himself.

Ilya dressed him and roughly wiped his face with a towel: "Let's go."

The sentry's warm, large hand enveloped Jiang Wenxing, and his calm and magnanimous back gave people a sense of security. He led Jiang Wenxing back to the small white building. Director Liu was at the door. When he saw the two of them, his gaze fell on their clasped hands, and he chuckled twice.

"Jiang, what size shoes do you wear?"

Jiang Wenxing: "Huh?"

Ilya replied seriously, "41."

Watching the two enter the building, Director Liu snorted, hands in his pockets, "That brat."

The old guide was sitting at his desk drinking tea. There were several other guides in the room, discussing the inspection of the sentinel's mental landscape. Ilya knocked on the door and came in, without trying to hide it from the others.

He pushed Jiang Wenxing forward and patted him on the shoulder.

"Me and you?"

Jiang Wenxing shook his head: "No, I want to be myself."

Ilya nodded and called Alena and the other guides out, leaving Junin and the old guide behind.

The old guide looked surprised, put his hands behind his back, and his face quickly fell. Just as Zhu Ning was about to speak, Jiang Wenxing took a breath and straightened his back: "Comrade old guide, I have something I want to ask you."

Zhu Ning put down his pencil: "Where is this place? Aren't you going to greet me...?"

Jiang Wenxing said coldly, "This is the Little White Building. I came here only because I don't understand something. I want to ask clearly and I want an answer."

The old guide was silent for a moment, then said, "Is it about the library?"

Jiang Wenxing paused for a moment. On the way here, Captain Ilya said, "Although we have a good argument, sometimes taking a roundabout approach is easier."

"What detour?"

Ilya's expression was serious and upright. He said a few words in a low voice, and Jiang Wenxing nodded his head in realization.

So he said, "When I arrived here, all the guides were assigned to the medical team. Why was I put in the mess hall alone? In terms of ability, I'm not the worst. Kush clearly needs guides, yet they're wasting resources like this. I don't understand."

The old guide paused for a moment, and Jiang Wenxing's gaze turned to Zhu Ning.

"The second thing, Zhu Ning, you said I formed cliques and small groups. Fine, now produce the evidence. Write it down word for word and sign your name."

"But if you cannot produce solid evidence or find anyone to testify for you, I will immediately report you to the organization and accuse you of deliberately undermining unity."

Zhu Ning's face turned pale, completely unexpected that Jiang Wenxing would stand in front of him and argue with him.

Whether as a child or as an adult, he was always the least likely and least inclined to defend himself.

Zhu Ning didn't possess exceptional intelligence; he simply knew Jiang Wenxing's personality and understood his weaknesses. Stunned by Jiang Wenxing's question, he forced a smile and said, "How would I know what methods you used? You..."

Jiang Wenxing took off his hat, his face cold: "I remember that too. If you can't produce any evidence, I'll report it all."

Zhu Ning: "Evidence? Aren't those things in your dorm room evidence?!"

Jiang Wenxing: "Yes, you know that's my dormitory, it's never been a library."

Zhu Ning hesitated, but the old guide, who had been silently observing, finally spoke up: "Get out."

Zhu Ning's expression changed slightly, but he didn't dare to argue with the old guide. As he walked out, full of anger, he couldn't understand why Jiang Wenxing had changed his mind.

When only the two people remained in the conference room, Jiang Wenxing's aggressive demeanor softened.

The old guide said, "You have a lot of complaints about me?"

Jiang Wenxing initially wanted to say he had no objection, but after thinking about it, he nodded: "Just a little, not much."

The old guide pulled out a chair for Jiang Wenxing, then pulled out a chair for himself and sat down.

He had received a hero's medal and distinguished himself in battle. He should have retired from a good position in the city, but because Kush was short of guides, he came with only a re-employment certificate and asked for nothing else.

Young guides can't stay here. He's been here year after year, watching people come and go.

This year's guides are the most likely to stay, and he needs to choose one to lead the team.

However, Jiang Wenxing has an independent personality and cannot integrate with the other guides.

He followed the old method, sending people to the cooking squad for training. In fact, he wanted to get to know every part of Kush, not just the cooking squad.

The old methods were wartime practices, and people back then were used to the mental and physical burdens they endured, rarely paying attention to their personal feelings.

When Jiang Wenxing looked so distressed, the old guide began to wonder if he had used the wrong method.

He remained silent for a long time before saying to Jiang Wenxing, "It was my fault in doing this, I did it poorly."

Jiang Wenxing felt somewhat sad, but he couldn't quite put his finger on why. Perhaps it was because the old guide, whose hair was almost entirely white, had apologized to him, but he didn't feel relieved.

Jiang Wenxing said, "I learned a lot in the cooking squad, things that the medical team couldn't teach me."

The old guide calmly said, "You're very clever."

Jiang Wenxing paused for a moment, then asked, "When Zhu Ning talked about books today, did you initially think I was forming cliques?"

The old guide said, "No."

Jiang Wenxing said, "You haven't said anything."

The old guide remained silent for a while, seemingly unsure of what to say, his lips still taut and stern: "Just bad with words."

Jiang Wenxing was stunned: "Huh?"

The old guide said, “I wasn’t good at it when I was young. My sentries would teach me back then, but not anymore. If I do it myself, it will make you young people unhappy. This position should be handed over to you, not to an old-fashioned person like me.”

Jiang Wenxing didn't know what to say, but the old guide said, "Alright, you can go back now. Let me think about it. You should get some rest."

Jiang Wenxing stumbled out the door, still a little dizzy. Ilya was sitting on a bench outside, looking at his notebook filled with writing about the greenhouse. Jiang Wenxing, still a bit lightheaded, walked up to Ilya and said, "Captain."

Ilya looked up: "I'm done."

"Hmm, the old guide... isn't as fierce as I thought."

Ilya smiled, this time a more pronounced smile, with shallow dimples on his cheeks: "And there's more good news. Squad Leader Xiong said he wants to come over for bracken tonight."

Jiang Wenxing's eyes lit up: "Really? Then let's go quickly!"

Ilya didn't have to patrol the mountains today, so since he wasn't busy with work, he took the guide up the mountain to dig for ferns.

Finally, they successfully dug up a pile, weighing at least thirty kilograms.

Jiang Wenxing beamed with joy as he looked at the abundance of bracken.

Suddenly, his mind jolted, and he instinctively closed his eyes.

In the mental landscape, white clouds drift by, countless wildflowers bloom on the grass, butterflies flutter by the spring, and the little mouse perched on the flower branch becomes clearer as the mist dissipates.

Jiang Wenxing suddenly opened his eyes: "Captain!"

Ilya turned around, and Jiang Wenxing raised his hand. Transparent ripples appeared in the air, and a small mouse with a pink tail squatted on the back of Jiang Wenxing's hand.

"I can see it clearly now."

The little guide looked like a student who had always been at the bottom of the class but suddenly scored 100 on a test, his eyes wide with surprise: "So clear! Really so clear!"

The happy mood lasted until we ate bracken fern in the evening.

Ilya vomited three times.

Aguz and Squad Leader Xiong each vomited half a bowl.

Jiang Wenxing was terrified when Ilya vomited, fearing that he might have food poisoning. However, Aguz and Squad Leader Xiong patted their chests and said there was no problem. They kept urging the captain to eat more, and even held a bowl, trying to feed Ilya while he vomited.

Jiang Wenxing: It hurts, but I'll keep cooking bracken.

Later, thanks to the efforts of Sentinel and Jiang Wenxing, mainly Sentinel, the greenhouse was built quickly.

The transparent film covering the roof is the wings of a soldier ant. Because the guides need it, the sentries who go out to patrol the mountain these days have been paying extra attention to keeping the corpses of the ant colony intact, and have brought back quite a few one after another.

Besides the plastic film, the supporting frame of the greenhouse is also like the claws of the ant tribe, slender yet sharp, with a very good curvature.

Jiang Wenxing wanted the sentry to rest and didn't tell Ilya about the follow-up work.

He went up the mountain and gathered a lot of thatch. When he came back at night, he wove it into a straw mat. The straw mat was prickly and difficult to weave. At first, Jiang Wenxing didn't know how to do it, but he became more and more familiar with it as he worked.

Author's Note: