allonlinenovel Chapter 242 Sharing happiness and hardship!
Chapter 242 Sharing happiness and hardship!
"The ocean, unaware of others' suffering, should not advise others to be kind!"
Zhong Yuemin said:
"Judging a person's goodness or badness, merit or demerit, cannot be based on one's own perspective, much less on moral blackmail. For example, you and I, while not from privileged backgrounds, at least have no worries about food or clothing, and few burdens. We belong to the type where one person is fed and the whole family is not hungry. Even if we leave the military, we still have many options."
But Man Tun is different. Staying in the army is the lifeline he clings to, the hope of his whole family, and even his life. If you were in his shoes, wouldn't you work hard?
In the face of survival, dignity is worthless, but this abandoned 'dignity' is precisely the most precious. What right do we, who eat, drink, and play all day without doing anything productive, have to laugh at others?
"Yuemin, you've really changed," Zhang Haiyang said.
"A trip to northern Shaanxi gave you such a profound understanding?"
"It's not so much profound, but rather a deep empathy. Ning Wei should also understand how difficult life is there."
Early morning!
Zhong Yuemin was sleeping on the top bunk. He heard some movement on the bottom bunk, opened his eyes, and peeked down. It was Wu Mantun, already dressed and getting ready to leave. It was still dark outside.
"Full stock, what are we going to do with this?"
"Yuemin, did I wake you up?" Wu Mantun said in a low voice.
"Sorry, I'm going to clean the yard."
"Wait for me, I'm coming too!" She quickly got up, put on her clothes, and got out of bed.
"Let's go!"
"You...you're going to sweep the yard with me? No way, absolutely not!"
"What, you look down on me?"
"no no……"
"Alright, stop arguing, let's go!" Pulling the person out of the dormitory, Li Yuanchao, still half-asleep, frowned slightly.
"Another idiot!"
He turned over and went back to sleep.
Once outside in the courtyard, each person grabbed a broom and swept the fallen leaves from the ground. Zhong Yuemin said:
"Mantun, do you get up this early every day?"
"Pretty much, I'm used to it. When I'm at home, I go up the mountain to chop firewood and then cut a basket of pig feed. By the time I get home, my younger brother and sister have already prepared breakfast. My parents aren't in very good health and can't do any heavy work."
"Now that you've joined the army, what will happen to your family?"
"And my younger brother, he's grown up too, and he can take good care of my parents, younger brother and sister."
"So, you sweep the yard and clean the toilets every day, is that what the company makes you do? Are you paid for it?"
Wu Mantun shook his head.
“I did it willingly, Yuemin. Don’t laugh at me. I did it to make a good impression on the company leaders. I know that others are talking about me behind my back, saying that I’m scheming and cunning, and that I’m doing this to get promoted. That’s not it. I just want to stay in the army so I can get some salary and have food to eat. I can’t go back home. I have parents, younger brothers and sisters, so many mouths to feed. I can’t compete with them for food.”
I know I'm not capable, and I'm not very smart, so I can only do what I'm capable of.
Zhong Yuemin patted his shoulder.
"Mantun, don't listen to those people's nonsense. Just treat it like a dog barking. What's so funny about that?"
Zhong Yuemin said:
"Call me when you sweep the courtyard from now on."
“No, Yuemin, you’re from Beijing. I heard from Squad Leader Wang that your family is just like Yuanchao’s, with a powerful background. How can you do this kind of rough work?”
Zhong Yuemin smiled,
“Mantun, you’re wrong. Strictly speaking, I’m a farmer from northern Shaanxi. Before joining the army, I spent more than two years working in the fields, cutting wheat, weeding, and fertilizing the fields. I lived in a dilapidated cave dwelling and had to carry water from a mountain gully several miles away. Compared to your Yimeng Mountain area, those conditions were probably even worse.”
When we educated youth were in northern Shaanxi, we ran out of food in the winter, so a few of us went to the county town to beg for food.
"Yuemin, is this true?"
"Of course it's true. So, we're on the same page. What you can do, I can do too. Just consider it exercise."
Since learning martial arts from his master, he has been getting up early every day to exercise without fail, except that he always does it in his spatial dimension.
From then on, every morning he would clean the yard with Mantun. He did this every day, even when it was windy in the afternoon. Sometime later, gossip started circulating in the company that another idiot had come to the Second Company. Zhong Yuemin ignored it. Later, Ning Wei and Zhang Haiyang joined in. They shared hardships and joys. After a while, the two of them became much closer to Mantun.
"Yuemin, you'd better treat us to a nice meal this weekend, you're off work."
Zhang Haiyang said:
“We come with you to sweep the yard every morning. To be honest, I’ve never been this diligent, even at my own home. You know how hard it is for you!”
Zhong Yuemin used the broom in his hand as a stick, twirling it around as he said:
“I didn’t ask you to come and sweep the yard with me. You’re making it sound like I’m some kind of shrew who mistreats you, my farmhand. If you’re tired, go back to bed and sleep. Nobody’s forcing you.”
"Haiyang, Ningwei, you don't need to do this!"
Wu Mantun said, "Yuemin and I will sweep this yard. You two go and rest."
"What's wrong, all stocked up?" Zhang Haiyang joked.
"Afraid I'll steal your credit?"
Wu Mantun chuckled and continued sweeping, knowing the person was joking with him.
"Mantun, there's something I've been wanting to ask you, please don't be angry."
"Ocean, you speak!"
"I heard about it from someone else," Zhang Haiyang said.
"When you first joined the army, you practiced marching for three months and still couldn't distinguish left from right. In target practice, you missed every shot after a few attempts. I heard that it really angered your company commander. Because of you, the Second Company's rotating red flag was taken away by our First Company. He had a lot of complaints about you."
Wu Mantun scratched his head.
"Haiyang, I'm not very smart. Before joining the army, I always stayed in the countryside and never went out. The farthest place I've ever been is our county town. I've never been to school. I don't know anything about this."
"That's not what I said!"
Zhang Haiyang said:
"I mean, you're not good at shooting, but you're really good at hand-to-hand combat. Our company commander, Lao Liu, won first place in the regiment's hand-to-hand combat competition before. He's a rare opponent. You actually managed to take Lao Liu down. Impressive! I see you're very skilled. Did you train at Shaolin Temple before?"
"Haiyang, I don't even know where the Shaolin Temple is, let alone have any experience with it," Wu Mantun said.
“In our Yimeng Mountain area, there are quite a few wild boars. The big ones weigh four or five hundred pounds, are completely black, and have fur as sharp as steel needles. They pant heavily, and their white tusks are over ten centimeters long. In the mountains, the most feared thing for old hunters is encountering such ferocious wild boars that are as big as small hills. I used to learn hunting from a hunter in the village, and I often encountered wild boars in the mountains, so I learned a few tricks from the old hunter.”