Chapter 455 - Commander Guan Quits Smoking
Chapter 455 Commander Guan Quits Smoking
They had retired and were not active generals, but the more it was like this, the more dignified they were. After all, the generals who had gone through the war years were more valuable.
Thus, Ding Ning looked more forward to the International Special Force Competition that was to be held after this Shenzhou New Year holiday. “If I get the title of Dragon Teeth, that is a sudden rise to the top position, and I will surely be a major general!”
The car stopped in front of a garden-style mansion, and a mighty-looking man in plain clothes came out. Mayor Du stepped forward and held his hand. “Commander Guan, thank you for helping me.”
“Mayor Du, you are so courteous.”
In his fifties, Commander Guan was strong-built and had a loud and solemn voice, a straight back and a square face, which looked majestic even if he was not angry. At first sight, anyone would know that this was an iron-blood soldier who had been in a high position for a long time.
Mayor Du was the head of a city, but since military and political affairs were separated, he must get the permission of Commander Guan before putting Hu Quan in the cadres’ sanatorium. This time he owed him a favor.
“This is Doctor Ding, right? Hello, I’ve heard a lot about you.”
After a brief greeting, Commander Guan turned smilingly to Ding Ning and extended his hand warmly.
Ding Ning hurriedly stepped forward, shook his hand with his two hands, and asked with a little confusion, “Commander Guan, you know me?”
“Ha, ha, Doctor Ding, you are very famous. How could I not know you?”
Commander Guan laughed heartily and winked like an acquaintance, making him feel helpless.
However, he knew that after this Shenzhou New Year holiday, he would go to the Sharp Sword special team under the command of Commander Guan with the pseudonym of Ning Ding and represent the Sharp Sword to participate in the Domestic Army Competition. As a matter of fact, he could be counted as his future leader. Naturally, he should build a good relationship with him.
Although he did not know how Mo Fei told Commander Guan about him, he believed that he never told him his real identity.
Since Commander Guan did not know his real identity, it was worth pondering the situation that he treated Ding Ning with so much warmth.
Those who show others exceptional courtesy must demand something from others. Since the commander of such a garrison command waited for him in person and welcomed him with a smile, Ding Ning had predicted that he might want him to do something.
“Commander Guan, I am flattered. If a little boy like me can do anything to help you, just give me instructions.”
No matter what, for Ding Ning, entering the Dragon Soul with the identity of a member of the Sharp Sword special team meant that he owed Commander Guan a favor, so he did not mind using medical skills to repay the favor.
Indeed, Commander Guan wanted him to do something, but he did not beat about the bush and laughed heartily. “Okay, little brother, you are straightforward, and I like this character, but I can’t take the first requester’s position to ask for help as a second requester. You should deal with Mayor Du’s affair first. In a while, let me treat you to dinner, and we can talk about it as we eat.”
“Okay, see you later!”
Ding Ning nodded politely and walked toward the ward with Mayor Du wearing a smile.
Taking advantage of the absence of outsiders, Mayor Du whispered in Ding Ning’s ear, “Commander Guan is only a major general, but his background is impressive. It is worthwhile for him to owe you a favor.”
Ding Ning immediately realized that he was reminding him to notice this point and helping him build a human relationship, so he nodded gently to show he understood.
Walking through the corridor, they came to a ward guarded by four armed policemen. After going through strict identity checks, they entered a luxurious ward like a five-star hotel, and Ding Ning saw Hu Quan in a coma.
In the ward, there were also two armed policemen who kept watching. Even when doctors and nurses came in to renew the medicine, they would be watching closely on the side. This showed that Mayor Du attached great importance to the safety of Hu Quan.
Ding Ning wasted no time to treat Hu Quan. Although he could not let Hu Quan recover immediately, he could wake him up earlier.
Five minutes later, Hu Quan gradually woke up, and his dull eyes gradually restored their vision, but his face was all blank because he did not know why he was here.
Ding Ning fulfilled his responsibility but had no interest in the interrogation, so he took the initiative to leave the room and went to the window at the end of the corridor to smoke.
“Give me a cigarette, too!”
Ding Ning did not know when Commander Guan had come, and then asked him for a cigarette like an old friend.
Quite appreciative of Commander Guan’s military character that he did not assume airs, Ding Ning took out a CHUNGHWA cigarette and handed it to him.
Commander Guan waved his hand to refuse him to light the cigarette, nor did he light it himself. Instead, he only put it at his nose and sniffed it with an enchanted expression as if this could satisfy his craving.
“Commander Guan, you don’t smoke?”
Ding Ning took a drag and asked with a little confusion.
“I did in the past, but I’ve given up now.”
Commander Guan showed a look of nostalgia.
Ding Ning teased him in the manner of an old friend. “Commander Guan, you must have a story.”
“Well, as a man, who doesn’t have a story?”
Commander Guan said with a vicissitude on his face, taking an extremely high pretension.
Ding Ning secretly laughed, knowing that he was waiting for him to ask questions, but pitifully, he was not so curious.
Immediately, he looked out of the window with a melancholy expression and pretended to smoke in a pensive manner. “Damn, who doesn’t know how to pretend to be melancholy?”
Commander Guan saw that Ding Ning did not ask him as expected, so he said a little depressed, “Aren’t you curious about my story?”
“Commander Guan, if you want to say it, you will naturally tell me. If you don’t, you won’t even if I ask.”
Ding Ning rolled his eyes secretly. “It seems that he is also a guy who likes being sentimental.”
After living with Lu Zhan and his colleagues for a long time, Ding Ning had long found out the character of these soldiers. When they were free, they would like to recall their past in the army: very passionate, very enthusiastic, very exciting. But after hearing such stories many times, he had already become numb.
Obviously, Ding Ning had miscalculated the story of Commander Guan, which was definitely not the same as Lu Zhan’s and his colleagues’.
Lu Zhan and his colleagues’ past stories all happened during their missions and were all men’s stories without heroines, but Commander Guan’s story did have a hero and heroine, and it was surely more interesting than their stories.
When Shenzhou’s Self-defense Counterattack Against Yue Country was waged, Commander Guan had just joined the army for a short time. With the passion of protecting the country, he went to the battlefield resolutely.
In the bombardment, the soldiers could only huddle in the dark and damp “cat’s ear holes”, and this would always last a whole day. Only at night could they go out and breathe fresh air.
Every day, the soldiers tried to survive the test of blood and fire and faced the farewell of life and death at any time. The fierce war had brought them tremendous mental stress, and some even chose to commit suicide after they broke down.
When the company where Commander Guan was in was ordered to station a high ground, the comrades who lived with him died one by one in the bombardment. The great fear between life and death made Commander Guan addicted to the smell of cigarettes.
At that time, due to the fierce artillery fire of the Yue army, their logistics supply had become a big problem. When there were only less than ten people of their company left hungry for three days and they even drank their own urine to sustain their lives, one of Commander Guan’s childhood friends brought them cans in person in the gunfire.
That childhood friend was a girl and grew up with him in the same courtyard as close friends. After Commander Guan joined the army, she also entered the battlefield resolutely.
Commander Guan did not know the girl liked him at that time, but when he saw that she was risking her life to deliver them food, the softest part of his heart was touched.
They hugged tightly together. The girl was covered with blood and smiled bitterly. What she did not tell Commander Guan was that their squad of brave soldiers braved the fire blockade to send them supplies, but only she survived.
Commander Guan opened his heart and decided to marry the girl as soon as the war was over. Although the night was still full of gunpowder, the sky was starry and beautiful.
The girl leaned against his shoulder and took out a pack of blood-stained cigarettes like presenting a treasure. Commander Guan, who had long craved to smoke, could not wait to tear it apart, took out a crumpled cigarette, lighted it and took an enjoyable drag.
The addiction caused him to ignore the threat of death in the battlefield. With the light of lighting the cigarette, a cannonball came, and the girl pushed Commander Guan under her. Instantly, blood stained his face, lips, and tears.
He was so heartbreaking that he wanted to die. He knelt in front of the girl’s body and wept, with his heart full of guilt and self-blame. As for the girl’s death, he must take full responsibility.
Had it not been for his comrades to stop him, he would have wanted to die with the girl at that time.
Speaking of this, Commander Guan choked on crying, and Ding Ning was also deeply moved. “The girl was really brave. What a pity!”
Commander Guan wiped away his tears and choked with sobs. “Fate did play a trick on me. The following day, the Yue army retreated, we successfully held our ground, and I was promoted to company commander because I successfully reached the strategic goal. But I was not happy at all because my heart was full of guilt. If it were not for me, she would not die…”
With the detailed explanation of Commander Guan, Ding Ning then knew that this was just the beginning of his story.
Commander Guan was full of remorse for the girl’s death. Since then, he had quit smoking to express his condolences to the girl.
He devoted all his energy to his work to forget the girl and never went home in ten years. It was not until he was thirty years old and had become a regimental cadre that he went home for the first time.
But the moment he went home and came to his family’s gate, he saw the girl. At that moment, he was stunned and holding her in his arms, cried sadly.
But how could the dead come back to life? In fact, that girl was the sister of the dead girl, and the two looked quite similar. Since she knew he was going to come home to visit his family, she deliberately came to his family’s gate to find him to settle accounts.
Unexpectedly, she was moved by his true feelings. Not only did she forgive him, but she also began to pursue him. Then, a plaintive but burlesque love began.
How could Commander Guan accept a girl more than ten years younger than him? More importantly, he was full of guilt for the girl’s sister and did not want to treat her as the shadow of her sister. Before his home-visiting leave was over, he fled back to the army.
The girl was very stubborn and dared to love and hate. Regardless of her family’s strong opposition just like her sister, she resolutely took her sister’s old path: In order to pursue him, she even joined the army.
He had no choice but to accept the girl’s love. They eventually confirmed their love relationship and became a couple.
After their marriage, the two had never argued and also gave birth to a son and a daughter. (According to Ding Ning’s guess, Commander Guan must have been spoiling his wife with his guilt toward her sister, so he had never argued.)
But she was unfortunate. Being only forty years old this year, she had been diagnosed with cancer and received chemotherapy every day to continue her life. Devastated by the disease, she was now as thin as a skeleton, making him feel anguish and desperate.
After learning that Mayor Du’s wife was awakened by Ding Ning, he was not that frustrated anymore. Although he did not have much hope, he still wanted Ding Ning to have a try.
After hearing the whole story, Ding Ning was impressed by the girl’s infatuation and her courage to love and hate and also touched by the deep affection of Commander Guan. So, he did not want to see the moving story end tragically.
He patted Commander Guan’s shoulder with a smile. “If you had come to me some time ago, it would have been useless, but now, I can’t say I will be 100% successful, but I can say I will be 70% to 80% successful.”
“You… Are you serious? Wan’er… She, she is already in the middle stage of lung cancer.”
Commander Guan opened his eyes wide, his eyes even turned red, and he looked at him with mixed feelings consisting of disbelief and hope. He was so excited that he trembled all over.
“As long as she still has breath, I could cure her even if she were in the last stage, let alone she is only in the middle stage, but I have a condition.”
Ding Ning gave him assurance.