This drinking session was enjoyable, and it had been a long time since he had drunk so heartily.
One cup after another, it was more like pouring than drinking. The strong liquor coursed through his intestines, bringing a burning sensation, yet his consciousness became increasingly clear.
He never expected that after so many years, his tolerance for alcohol remained unchanged.
Back when he was still a fresh-faced recruit, enduring daily hardships and punishments during training, he enjoyed drinking. He especially liked encouraging his dorm mates to drink together. This way, if they were caught, it would highlight the spirit of sharing joys and facing difficulties together.
Upon leaving the training camp and becoming an official soldier, he toned it down a bit, but he still behaved recklessly because, no matter what happened, he had the backing of his captain.
After his promotion and assuming a leadership role, he rarely drank. As a commanding officer, the backbone of the entire camp, he needed to stay vigilant at all times. In the face of potential enemy attacks, he had to make arrangements and deployments promptly, without the slightest margin for error, as any mistake would cost the lives of his subordinates.
They entrusted their lives to him, and if they did so, he had to shoulder the responsibility.
Tsk, that damned drill instructor had everything planned out so well. Chu Qianze cursed in his mind.
This year was particularly rare. The New Year’s celebration happened to coincide with the Legion completing its mission and taking a break, allowing everyone to revel without any worries.
The atmosphere and timing were just right, and with the opportunity being so rare, Chu Qianze also wanted to indulge in some drinking.
Unexpectedly, the more he drank, the more sober he became. Did Hu Jia’s brewing skill regress?
When Chu Qianze stood up, he realized he might have had too much to drink. If he were ambushed at this moment, there was a high probability it would be successful.
However, he didn’t want to do anything, didn’t want to think about anything, just let his body collapse.
Just for this one night of recklessness. After tomorrow, he would still be the Chu Qianze who could take on a hundred opponents and emerge victorious in every battle.
In a daze, he seemed to see his former group of teammates. When they first met, he had spun some grandiose goals to convince them to recognize him as their leader. He had thrown around lofty aspirations, mostly along the lines of every man should take up arms to kill enemies and serve the country. The rhetoric was one after another, and these people truly believed in him.
The goals were achieved, but it seemed like he had brainwashed these people.
Later, when they left the training camp, each one was full of bravado, declaring their intention to become heroes and eagerly signing up to handle foreign threats all over the place, afraid that others might beat them to it.
Damn, didn’t they look at their own abilities? Were they rushing off to die?
He reached out to grab this group of people, trying to pull them back, but they scattered faster than rabbits. Catch one here, a few would run there; catch someone there, others would escape here.
After several rounds, unbelievably, not a single one was caught.
And what did he bring back? Just a bunch of small boxes and the medals containing military achievements.
Damn it.
Chu Qianze was infuriated and wanted to curse and even beat them all up, but where could he go to curse, and where could he go to fight?
As he got angrier, the anger just dissipated.
He looked at each of those boxes, remembering the times in the training camp when they stole alcohol. At the first sign that someone was coming, everyone would scatter because being caught meant trouble. To increase the escape rate, they even cooperated to distract the instructors.
So, he was played like an instructor?
Chu Qianze tried to force a smile, but it never materialized. In the end, he gave up on facial expressions.
“Sorry…”
Softly, these words floated from his throat.
If only he had advised them back then, maybe things wouldn’t have turned out like this.
“It’s okay.”
The voice came through, somewhat distant but audible.
What the hell, it felt like something out of a supernatural movie.
He chuckled softly.
Feeling something, Chu Qianze instinctively grabbed it, holding on without letting go.
He slept quite soundly this time.
As consciousness gradually returned, Chu Qianze felt an explosive headache and sensed something in his arms.
Opening his eyes, he saw Shen Zhuofeng tightly confined within his embrace, resembling a pillow.
Chu Qianze loosened his grip and glanced around. Everyone was sprawled out in various positions, sound asleep.
Good, no one saw it.
He attempted to sit up, and at that moment, Shen Zhuofeng’s eyelids flickered, followed by his eyes opening.
“Commander Chu,” Shen Zhuofeng began to rise, but Chu Qianze stopped him.
“It’s okay, go back to sleep,” Chu Qianze said, lifting his hand to hold Shen Zhuofeng in place. He sat up from the couch, stepping over a few sleeping figures as he walked outside.
His expression remained calm throughout, maintaining the composure expected of a commander.
Returning to his office, Chu Qianze closed the door and walked to the washbasin. He turned on the tap and splashed water on his face.
After washing his face, he looked up at himself in the mirror. After about two seconds, he leaned forward, pressing his forehead against the mirror.
“…Finished.”
On the other side, Shen Zhuofeng lay stretched out on the couch, hands resting on his stomach, staring at the ceiling.
Hu Jia rubbed his head, opened his eyes, and immediately saw Shen Zhuofeng’s condition. “Xiao Shen, you’re quite flushed from the drinking. It’s already morning, and you’re still blushing.”
Shen Zhuofeng blinked, unfazed. “Yeah, a bit.”
“No worries, drink more in the future when you can. Alcohol tolerance is something you build up over time,” Hu Jia waved his hand, indicating it was okay, and there’s a long road ahead of us.
“Yes, I’ll keep that in mind,” Shen Zhuofeng replied.
“Practice more. Look at Commander Chu’s alcohol tolerance, right? He built that up by training with us.”
Seeing Shen Zhuofeng looking over with some curiosity, Hu Jia continued, “Let me tell you, Chu Qianze used to be quite a troublemaker in our squad. If someone was stealing alcohol, you could be sure he was involved. And sweet drinks, hahaha, can you believe a big guy like him likes sweet things? He used to put sugar in everything, I got tired of it.”
Shen Zhuofeng’s eyes shifted slightly, and he added, “But I haven’t seen Commander Chu eating much sweet stuff…”
“He hasn’t been eating sweet things?” Hu Jia interrupted, stood up, and stretched his shoulders.
“That’s because he felt it didn’t suit the image of a leader to indulge in sweets, so he quit on his own. In my opinion, who cares what he eats? He’s just getting hung up on trivial things.”
Shen Zhuofeng sat down on the couch and shifted the topic back to the earlier part of the conversation. “You mentioned Commander Chu was… quite active before?”
“Active? That’s probably the worst way to describe it. It was more like the most brutal use of ‘active.’ He was like a demon king. The instructors had headaches every day, but we found it amusing,” Hu Jia chuckled.
Hu Jia remembered his remaining tasks and couldn’t help but feel a headache. He glanced at Shen Zhuofeng, who seemed lost in thought. “If you have time in the next few days, come and help me out a bit.”
Shen Zhuofeng readily agreed. He wanted to learn more about Chu Qianze.
In the afternoon, Chu Qianze received some documents. After a quick glance, he stood up and walked out, knocking on Hu Jia’s office door. “Open up, time to work!”
“Hurry up, or there’ll be more later,” he leaned against the adjacent wall, tapping his fingers rhythmically on it and looking at the doorknob.
The handle turned, and the door opened from the inside, but the person who appeared left Chu Qianze momentarily stunned.
“Commander Chu, I’m here to help Vice Commander Hu Jia,” Shen Zhuofeng stood at attention, succinctly explaining his reason for being there.
“Mhm,” Chu Qianze acknowledged and, seeing Shen Zhuofeng step aside, walked into the office.
“Probably got a task he’s not familiar with, so they sent the documents to me,” he said, placing a stack on Hu Jia’s desk.
“Good luck, comrade. I’m out.”
That’s clearly something the commander should handle! But it becomes an exception when it reaches you, huh?
Hu Jia rolled his eyes. “Thanks for delivering it personally.”
Chu Qianze raised an eyebrow. “Just a small thing.”
Shen Zhuofeng stood in place, watching the two of them converse, feeling a somewhat envious sensation.
It was evident that they had a genuinely good relationship. In his conversation with Hu Jia that afternoon, he learned that these two had been teammates from the beginning, old friends with deep bonds.
As Chu Qianze prepared to leave, Shen Zhuofeng, still in attention, said, “Commander Chu, take care!”
Chu Qianze nodded in acknowledgment and left straight away.
In the following days, Shen Zhuofeng, as a new team member, was occasionally assigned tasks.
However, whenever he returned, he would assist Hu Jia with various tasks, nothing too important, mostly organizing documents and such.
While honing his skills was one aspect, the main reason was that he could glean information about Chu Qianze from Hu Jia.
It was an unfiltered, very authentic portrayal of Chu Qianze.
After completing a mission and returning to the camp, Shen Zhuofeng would take a shower, change into clean clothes, and dissipate any lingering aggressiveness. After making sure there were no issues, he would then head to Hu Jia’s office to help. Upon arrival, he found Hu Jia continuously chuckling while staring at some documents.
“Vice Commander Hu.” Shen Zhuofeng greeted.
“Hey, Xiao Shen’s here,” Hu Jia chuckled, excitement evident in his eyes.
“Is there good news?” Shen Zhuofeng couldn’t help but ask.
“Of course, it’s huge news. I’m about to be able to get married!”
Shen Zhuofeng understood; Hu Jia had been promoted. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you, thank you.” Hu Jia was genuinely happy but maintained a senior’s demeanor. He put down the documents with a light cough. “Xiao Shen, you can organize the things over there.”
Shen Zhuofeng went to the designated area and began organizing things.
Today, Hu Jia was particularly cheerful, so he shared a lot.
“Three years ago, during a mission…”
Shen Zhuofeng listened intently, but suddenly heard another voice.
“Three years ago, during a mission, what happened?”
Turning abruptly, he saw Chu Qianze standing at the door.
He walked in from the door, plopped onto the couch, propped his feet up on a small table, looking relaxed and laid-back.
“Boss Chu,” Hu Jia chuckled, “share some of your glorious deeds with Xiao Shen here.”
“Oh, come on. Can you say anything good about me?” Chu Qianze rolled his eyes, intending to pour himself a glass of water. However, he saw that Shen Zhuofeng had already poured one for him.
Momentarily surprised, he took the glass. “Thanks.”
Shen Zhuofeng returned to his seat, continuing to work on the documents.
“I heard the decision has been made. How’s it going?” Chu Qianze asked abruptly.
“The result…”
Hearing this, Chu Qianze looked up at Hu Jia. Seeing the calm expression on his face, he felt that something was off.
If it had been a success, there would have been cheers all around.
So, this means… the outcome isn’t good?
Chu Qianze adjusted his expression, preparing to say a few consoling words, but then he heard Hu Jia continue.
“It’s approved. I’ll be taking office in a week.”
Hmm?
Chu Qianze paused, then, after realizing what was happening, said, not too pleased, “Are you messing with me?”
“Hahaha, exactly! I am messing with you,” Hu Jia laughed with a mouthful of joy, “Now that I’m officially promoted, you can’t threaten me anymore.”
“Yeah, words won’t work. Next time, I’ll have to use force,” Chu Qianze flashed a friendly smile.
“Get out of here!”
Leaning on the back of the couch, Chu Qianze chuckled. “Congratulations.”
“Absolutely, finally made it through all these years,” Hu Jia was so excited he felt like shouting.
“So, after a while, can we expect a wedding celebration?” Chu Qianze teased.
“Let things settle down first, coordination is needed on her end too,” Hu Jia sighed, bringing up the topic.
“After waiting for so long, a little more won’t hurt,” Chu Qianze remarked.
“True.”
Shen Zhuofeng, working on the side, couldn’t help but smile as he saw the two of them chatting happily.
Suddenly, a thought occurred to Hu Jia, and he clapped his hands. “Now that I’m leaving, your deputy position will be vacant.”
Chu Qianze nodded indifferently. “Let the higher-ups arrange it. If not, we’ll find someone else.”
After all, it was all about handling paperwork.
“Or, let Xiao Shen be your deputy. What do you think?” Hu Jia suggested.
Shen Zhuofeng, exerting a bit too much force, left a small mark on the bookshelf.
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