Jiang Linchuan was walking back to his office when he suddenly stopped.
He almost forgot that there was still the chicken the old man had given him in the car.
He immediately turned around, picked up the chicken from the passenger seat, and headed straight for the cafeteria.
"Commander Jiang is here?" The cafeteria ladies greeted him with smiles. "Are you here for lunch? I'll cook you a dish!"
It wasn't mealtime yet, and the kitchen was quiet; no fire had been lit.
"No need to trouble yourself." Jiang Linchuan carried the chicken into the kitchen. "A fellow villager gave it to us on the way. You can take care of it and give it to the soldiers as a snack at noon."
The old woman picked up the chicken and weighed it in her hand. Judging from its thin and bony appearance, she knew it was an old hen that the villager had raised for several years, and the family must not be very well-off.
"This must have been killed on purpose because they heard you were getting married! Why don't you and Comrade Xu keep it for tomorrow?"
"No need, just share it with everyone." Jiang Linchuan waved his hand, turned around and walked out of the cafeteria.
The sky outside was clear and the air was fresh, with a hint of spring warmth in the breeze.
He had never felt more refreshed than he did today.
Perhaps tomorrow will be better, and the day of the wedding will be even better than tomorrow...
Some are happy, some are sad.
That night.
Lian Xiao was wide awake.
He lay in bed, staring at the yellowish stain on the ceiling, his mind a jumbled mess.
Xu Xinghe's words were like a fine thorn stuck in my heart, causing me repeated pain.
Should we really give up?
It seems there's no other way but to give up.
He tried to persuade them, he was anxious about it, and he even went to Zhang Cishu to join forces like a headless fly, but in the end, it was all to no avail.
Back in the compound, he used to laugh at those guys who couldn't eat or sleep and were so desperate for girls. He thought they were spineless, didn't understand that there are plenty of fish in the sea, and couldn't understand why some people who like someone want to be with them all the time, even thinking about them while eating and sleeping.
He always felt that when it comes to relationships, it's best to let things take their course and not bother to torment yourself to the point of being neither human nor ghost.
But now he understands.
I understand the panic when I can't see her, the bitterness when I see her smile at others, and the willingness to give up all my pride and impulsiveness for her.
Unfortunately, it was all too late.
The girl he cherished in his heart became someone else's fiancée in the blink of an eye, and was going to get their marriage certificate tomorrow.
From now on, her smiles and her dependence will only be given to one person.
Lian Xiao lowered his eyes and suddenly felt his eyes burning.
It turns out that some things and some people, once missed, can really cause heartache and pain.
The joy in Xu Xinghe's eyes was genuine, as was her trust in Jiang Linchuan. So why should he, under the guise of liking her, disrupt the happiness she had finally longed for?
Lian Xiao pondered this over and over until the first light of dawn appeared outside the window.
His eyes were bloodshot, and he exuded an undeniable sense of defeat.
The sound of soldiers' hurried footsteps came from outside, mixed with hushed conversations.
Lian Xiao propped himself up, rubbed his stiff cheeks, and dragged his heavy steps out the door.
As soon as he reached the gate of the compound, the soldier who came towards him was startled and instinctively took a half step back. "Comrade Lian, have you... not slept all night?"
Lian Xiao was too weak to respond, and only waved his hand.
He has to lead the team in training today, and he has already taken several days off, so he can't afford to delay any longer.
Just then, several soldiers walked quickly past, their murmurs drifting into my ears.
"This is really weird. Someone is causing trouble at the gate again so early in the morning! Why are there so many things happening lately? It hasn't been this lively in years."
"Who says otherwise! I heard it was Commander Chongjiang who came! It's only because we're too easy to talk to, otherwise, do you see who would dare to come to the military headquarters to cause trouble!"
"Jiang Linchuan?" Lian Xiao stopped abruptly, his exhaustion instantly forgotten. He quickly caught up, his voice hoarse, and asked, "Where is he? Take me to see him!"
When the group arrived at the entrance of the military compound, a crowd of onlookers had already gathered.
A man with a pockmarked face stood in front of the gate, hands on his hips, shouting and spitting as he yelled, "Commander Jiang, please give me back my family heirloom! I'm getting married soon, and my family is dirt poor. This is all we have left. You're a commander with such a high allowance; you can't just ignore the lives of us common folk, can you?"
The guards immediately stepped forward and reprimanded him, "Don't talk nonsense here. What does your family heirloom have to do with our Commander Jiang?"
"How can it not be related!" Erlaizi retorted, looking completely self-righteous. "My family heirloom is in his hands!"
"Impossible! Commander Jiang would never take things from ordinary people so easily!"
"You say it's impossible, so it's impossible?" Er Laizi started acting like a rogue. These past few days, he had been repeatedly brainwashed by Xu Mingli. He was not only not afraid, but even a little expectant.
If Jiang Linchuan's bribery can be confirmed, not only can we get our things back, but we might also be able to get some compensation, and then we can go back to the card table and have some fun.
He raised his chin and snorted, "You're not a mind reader for Commander Jiang, how do you know he didn't take it?"
The soldier was speechless, and could only retort firmly, "It's simply impossible. What evidence do you have?"
"I can't be bothered to talk to you!" Erlaizi pushed the soldier aside and shouted into the military headquarters, "Commander Jiang, come out quickly and give me back my family heirloom, or my whole family will really starve to death!"
The crowd suddenly parted to both sides, and Jiang Linchuan strode out.
Although he didn't go to sleep until late last night, he was still full of energy, and his crisp military uniform made him look very imposing.
When Erlaizi met his gaze, he subconsciously took a half step back.
Even from a distance, he was intimidating; now, face to face, his imposing aura, though not angry, made one afraid to look up.
He forced himself to straighten his chest and said, "Commander Jiang, you've finally come out! Quickly, give me back my family heirloom!"
“I didn’t take your things.” Jiang Linchuan said calmly and concisely.
"Why didn't you take it? Didn't you take that chicken yesterday?" Er Laizi suddenly raised his voice, as if afraid that the people around him wouldn't hear him. "It was yesterday afternoon, when you came back from town, my dad gave it to you personally. Someone must have seen it!"
Jiang Linchuan then remembered the old man who delivered the chicken yesterday; it turned out that the person in front of him was his son.
“Your father did give me a chicken.”
"Did you hear that! He admitted it!" Erlaizi shouted excitedly to the onlookers, as if he had seized some huge incriminating evidence. "He took my chickens!"
“If I didn’t accept it, your father would have to kneel down on the spot, so I accepted it.” Jiang Linchuan’s expression remained unchanged. “If that chicken is really your family heirloom, I will compensate you with ten chickens.”
A murmur of discussion immediately arose from the surrounding area.
"Who keeps a chicken as a family heirloom? It won't live for more than a few years!"
"That's right. In the past, when the villagers thanked us, they would give us pigs and grain. What's a chicken compared to that?"
"Is he probably regretted giving it to me and is deliberately causing trouble?"
Erlaizi panicked and quickly repeated what Xu Mingli had taught him: "The chicken isn't a family heirloom; the heirloom is inside the chicken! Commander Jiang, don't pretend you don't know. My dad must have told you, otherwise why would you have accepted that chicken?"
These past few nights, he went to Xu Mingli's house every day to rehearse, going over all of Jiang Linchuan's possible reactions and responses. Otherwise, he simply couldn't improvise on the spot.
Jiang Linchuan frowned. The old man yesterday hadn't mentioned anything about there being something inside the chicken's belly.
He turned to the soldier beside him and ordered, "Go to the mess hall and ask if the chicken I sent over yesterday has been killed."
"Yes, sir!" The soldier took off running.
Er Laizi's heart skipped a beat. The chicken hadn't been killed yet?
The soldier was fast on his feet and soon returned carrying the skinny old hen. "Commander, the chicken is here. The mess hall said they were planning to kill it at noon."
Jiang Linchuan gestured for him to put it on the ground, "Let's cut it open and take a look."
The soldier immediately drew his dagger and, in front of everyone, slit open the chicken's belly.
I searched for a while, but found nothing.
"What family heirloom?"
"I knew it! This guy was definitely picking a fight on purpose!"
Erlaizi was so anxious he jumped up and down. He and Xu Mingli had personally stuffed that thing into the chicken's mouth, and then killed it, afraid it would come out.
"It's definitely inside, search carefully again!"
The soldier patiently searched for a while longer and finally pulled out a hard little thing from between the internal organs.
After wiping away the bloodstains, a golden bean, not much bigger than a corn kernel, suddenly appeared.
Er Laizi's eyes lit up instantly, and he pointed at Jin Doudou and shouted, "See this? This is my family heirloom, pure gold! Don't underestimate it, it's worth a fortune. Commander Jiang only accepted it because he knew there was gold inside the chicken!"
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