Chapter 269: My Son, This Strong???
Everyone craves a fair world.
But the world has always been unfair, and it’s impossible to achieve fairness.
Because once everything is fair, the lazy can enjoy the same treatment as the hardworking, which is unfair to the hardworking.
Usually when soldiers’ families come to visit relatives, not to mention the warriors or non-commissioned officers below, even if the company commander comes to visit relatives, or the battalion commander’s old mother comes.
The regiment commander doesn’t even bother to ask.
Let alone personally receive them!
But when Chen Jun’s father came to the troops to visit relatives, Regiment Commander Wang not only decided to personally greet him at the first moment, but even specifically called the political commissar.
They used the specifications for receiving the division commander to receive the father of a mere acting deputy battalion commander.
Why do this?
The reason is very simple.
It lies in Chen Jun’s contribution to the Seventh Hundred and Second Regiment, which is so great that Regiment Commander Wang must show sufficient importance, and this is something Chen Jun earned through his own efforts.
To put it more bluntly, it is the treatment Chen Jun deserves.
For those who have made outstanding and exceptional contributions to the troops, in order to not chill their hearts and let them feel respect and achievement, special treatment must be given to them.
This is true fairness!
However, Regiment Commander Wang felt the need to do this, and a high-specification welcome for Chen Jun’s father was the only way to honor Chen Jun’s efforts.
But as Chen Jun’s father, Chen Zhenhua had no idea how awesome his son was.
Influenced by preconceived notions.
Or in a more popular saying—prejudices in people’s hearts are a great mountain.
Chen Zhenhua, who hadn’t seen his son for many years, remembered Chen Jun as a skinny pole-like figure with a rebellious style, someone who would definitely not obey discipline in the troops and would surely fare poorly there.
This time he came personally to find his son, and unlike back when his son was in school and got called to a parent-teacher conference to be criticized face-to-face, he thought it would just be that.
The regiment commander bringing the political commissar, both chief officers personally welcoming him?
Chen Zhenhua wouldn’t dare dream of it.
So when he obediently cooperated to fill out the information and was notified that outside vehicles were not allowed inside, he could only wait at the entrance for someone to come receive him.
But then he saw several cars drive out from inside, and from the lead car came two middle-aged officers, both with many stars on their shoulders. Upon closer look, they were colonels, their faces exuding majesty and righteousness.
Even though Chen Zhenhua had traveled the five lakes and four seas and seen all kinds of big shots and grand scenes.
He was shocked by the two men’s morale!
The sight of more than a dozen officers getting out of the cars and marching straight toward him in unison gave this group chairman, who could remain calm negotiating hundred-million-level business deals anywhere with his back straight, an extremely strong impact.
The intense oppressive feeling brought by the soldiers made him unable to stop his heart from panicking.
This kind of fearful panic…
Chen Zhenhua hadn’t felt it for at least twenty years.
He had originally been hoping luckily that they were just passing by, so Chen Zhenhua even got up from the stool and stepped aside to make way in the middle.
But unexpectedly, their target was very clear, their eyes directly locked on him.
Chen Zhenhua was even more confused!
“What’s going on? Looking at their military ranks, they should be regiment commander level, that’s big officials, the troops’ senior leaders, why are they all looking at me? Could it be that Chen Jun caused a big trouble in the troops? As his father, am I going to be implicated and arrested too?”
Chen Zhenhua really couldn’t figure it out, causing all sorts of strange ideas to pop up in his brain, thinking these people were here to arrest him.
Don’t blame Chen Zhenhua for thinking this way.
Soldiers are already very oppressive to ordinary people, let alone someone like Wang Qing Rui, a true iron-blooded regiment commander who had been in the Vietnam War and had lives on his hands.
The powerful morale he carried was really hard for ordinary people to bear.
Fortunately, Chen Zhenhua was at least a group chairman, and though he didn’t rank in the top hundred in the vast Magic City, he still had thousands of employees under him.
The years of chairman demeanor gave him at least some confidence to hold steady without his legs going soft.
If it were an ordinary person here, being stared down by such a large group of senior leaders, they would probably be scared into trembling legs.
It was under Chen Zhenhua’s chaotic emotions that Regiment Commander Wang brought everyone to him.
He proactively extended his hand with a full smile and said, “Comrade, are you Chen Jun’s father? I’m Regiment Commander Wang Qing Rui, welcome, I represent the entire regiment in welcoming your arrival.”
“Comrade, hello, I’m Political Commissar Zhou Yunhai, welcome to the Seventh Hundred and Second Regiment. You’ve had a tiring journey, come with us to regiment headquarters to rest.” The political commissar followed immediately with a face full of smiles.
“Ah? What the heck???”
Chen Zhenhua’s brain was full of question marks, his mind crashing for a moment.
He had thought this large group was here to arrest people, but it turned out they were specifically here to welcome him, and looking at everyone’s smiling faces and the politeness of proactively extending hands, it was almost overly enthusiastic.
Even back at his group’s headquarters, his own company’s employees weren’t this enthusiastic.
“Could it be… could it be they got the wrong person?”
Chen Zhenhua still couldn’t believe that his son had done so well in the troops that coming to visit relatives would get the regiment commander to personally receive him.
So he instinctively thought they had mistaken him for the father of that deputy battalion commander Chen Jun.
He had originally planned to muddle through, but seeing both the top leader and second-in-command come out, Chen Zhenhua was truly scared and didn’t dare play tricks anymore.
He hurriedly explained, “Two senior leaders, you, have you made a mistake?
My son is called Chen Jun, the Jun from soldier.”
Chen Zhenhua thought it was homophones with different characters, so he specifically pointed this out to avoid misunderstanding and causing more trouble later.
“Yes, it’s Chen Jun, no mistake.” Regiment Commander Wang said puzzled.
“Comrade, you have a great son. If my son were half as good as yours, I’d be laughing awake in my dreams at night.”
Political Commissar Zhou Yunhai used a more casual way to chat and draw closer.
His humorous comparison drew laughter from the crowd.
But Chen Zhenhua’s thoughts were deeply rooted, and he still didn’t believe it was his son, thinking the names were the same, so the mistake happened.
The more he thought, the more it seemed that way, so he seriously explained again, “Senior leader, maybe you got it wrong. Your troops probably have two Chen Juns. My son is the deputy company commander Chen Jun, not the deputy battalion commander Chen Jun.”
Regiment Commander Wang and Political Commissar Zhou were both smart people, and hearing this, they finally reacted a bit.
Recalling from deep memory the background on Chen Jun, including some information mentioned during the political review and family descriptions.
It specifically noted disharmonious father-son relations!
Comparing with Chen Zhenhua’s current “misunderstanding,” everything made sense.
This was the typical Chinese family under the strict father loving mother education model, where the son and father have tense relations and rarely communicate.
Regiment Commander Wang and Political Commissar Zhou exchanged a glance, faint smiles rising at the corners of their mouths.
They were certain it was between Chen Jun and Chen Zhenhua, the father and son, who had never communicated with each other, plus Chen Jun had never gone back to visit relatives.
So this “misunderstanding” situation arose.
Thinking of how Chen Jun had contributed so much to the troops, from the initial synthesized year to the current combined arms battalion, over three full years without going back to visit relatives.
Regiment Commander Wang and Political Commissar Zhou were both moved, increasingly recognizing Chen Jun’s dedication to the troops.
Thinking that Chen Jun had given so much to the Seventh Hundred and Second Regiment, devoting all his mind to the troops and neglecting his family, leading to such deep misunderstandings with his father.
The two old leaders of the troops unanimously believed that the troops bore some responsibility for this result.
So.
The two exchanged glances again, tacitly confirming a shared idea.
That was to not explain specially first—that the Seventh Hundred and Second Regiment had no two Chen Juns—but to use this opportunity of the father’s visit to relatives, with them taking responsibility to assist in finding a method to repair and mend the emotional rift between the father and son.
This was the only return they two leaders could give for Chen Jun’s all-out efforts for the Seventh Hundred and Second Regiment.
Eye contact confirmed, mutual understanding.
These two senior leaders of the Seventh Hundred and Second Regiment tacitly began their coordinated operation.
“We know the general situation. Come with us to the regiment first. Standing at the main entrance like this isn’t convenient, right?”
After Regiment Commander Wang spoke, without waiting for Chen Zhenhua’s reply, he directly ordered arrangements to get in the cars.
He even sent a soldier to drive the Mercedes-Benz, with the driver following behind them, while he took Chen Zhenhua in the lead car back to regiment headquarters.
Seeing the troops’ leaders so enthusiastic, Chen Zhenhua didn’t want to say more.
Deep down he was still thinking of his son, worried that offending the troops’ top leaders would mean Chen Jun would be given a hard time by the leaders in the troops later.
The group arrived noisily at regiment headquarters, and after getting out, they first went into the reception room.
After sitting in the reception room for tea and chat, Regiment Commander Wang, who had already made arrangements behind the scenes, then personally brought Chen Zhenhua to the hall of honor.
The disharmony between Chen Jun and his father mainly stemmed from the matter of whether to enlist.
Regiment Commander Wang and Political Commissar Zhou both agreed that as long as father Chen Zhenhua realized how excellent his son was, the conflict between them would inevitably resolve.
The group arrived at the spacious and solemn hall of honor, where an officer immediately came up for a professional explanation.
Starting from the Seventh Hundred and Second Regiment’s predecessors bathing in battlefield blood, from resisting U.S. aggression and aiding Korea all the way to the self-defense war against Vietnam.
It detailed the glorious tradition and history of this steel-honored unit of the Seventh Hundred and Second Regiment, and extended to inheriting the glorious tradition.
Making Chen Zhenhua clearly understand that the Seventh Hundred and Second Regiment was an extremely excellent unit.
His son enlisting here was the most honorable thing.
Then they brought Chen Zhenhua to a newly set-up honor room specifically displayed.
This was from the start of building the combined arms unit, all the honor medals and brocade banners won by the Seventh Hundred and Second Regiment in various martial arts competitions and exercises.
Focusing on the honors gained by the Seventh Hundred and Second Regiment in the reforms under the modern military reform background.
Regiment Commander Wang even personally did the explanation, pointing to the honor brocade banners and medals on the wall, introducing them one by one in detail to Chen Zhenhua.
Chen Jun was the pioneer in building the combined arms unit, the most standout presence in exercises and martial arts competitions.
This also led to Chen Jun’s name appearing especially frequently in Regiment Commander Wang’s introduction, with presence in almost every sentence.
Regiment Commander Wang was not stingy with praise, giving Chen Jun a 360-degree no-dead-angle rave.
That Chen Jun was the young cadre with the most outstanding military talent and ability he had encountered in over thirty years of service, with absolutely immeasurable future prospects.
That Chen Jun broke the group army’s record since founding for the fastest to become regiment-level cadre.
That in just over three years, Chen Jun earned two second class merits and two third-class merits, plus dozens of various honors.
Not to mention in the entire group army, even across the entire army it was extremely rare.
Absolutely one of the top two!
Such praises never stopped, and the Chen Jun from Regiment Commander Wang’s mouth was basically an unparalleled genius.
The number one young cadre in the entire army.
The whole time with a large group enthusiastically hosting, it really made Chen Zhenhua feel flattered.
Now hearing that this twenty-something Chen Jun had such exaggerated achievements at such a young age, simply a genius that could only exist in legends.
He couldn’t help sighing inwardly, “If my disobedient son had even a bit of his promise, I’d definitely support him developing in the troops, even if it meant selling the company, I couldn’t delay his growth in the troops.”
Which man doesn’t have the dream deep down of enlisting and handling guns? Chen Zhenhua actually had it too.
It’s just that he had no way!
And Chen Zhenhua had always not supported Chen Jun enlisting because at the time Chen Jun completely didn’t like exercising, his body thin and skinny like a telegraph pole.
Prejudice plus misunderstanding, plus no communication.
This made Chen Zhenhua fundamentally not believe Chen Jun could have development prospects in the troops.
Since there were no development prospects in the troops, why waste time there? Better to come back and learn business from him to inherit the family business.
Of course.
These true thoughts in Chen Zhenhua’s heart, under China’s unique implicit traditional culture, were rarely deeply communicated between father and son.
So Chen Jun didn’t know Chen Zhenhua’s thoughts, and the father didn’t know why his son did this.
Chen Zhenhua was shocked by the Chen Jun in Regiment Commander Wang’s mouth, his pupils dilated, mouth never closing, really unable to imagine.
The strong envy it produced made him feel like he had eaten a sour lemon.
Yet right in this extreme envy, Regiment Commander Wang’s introduction segment reached the end, the part he had deliberately saved.
At the far right of this hall of honor, a photo album was specially made in a glass frame.
Regiment Commander Wang solemnly brought Chen Zhenhua to this photo album and introduced, “The photos inside were all taken at the time, every moment of earning honor has a photo stored here.”
Chen Zhenhua was now extremely curious about the Chen Jun in Regiment Commander Wang’s mouth.
Unable to wait, he immediately leaned forward, staring hard at the photos in the glass frame, asking curiously while looking, “Leader comrade, is the Chen Jun you mentioned also in here?”
“Of course he is, and…”
Regiment Commander Wang’s mouth curved into a smile, meaningfully saying, “He’s just too excellent, so in these photos, you can almost find him in every one.”
“Hiss~ Eh?”
Chen Zhenhua listened to Regiment Commander Wang’s words, but his eyes were fixed dead on the first photo.
The officer standing in the middle of this photo immediately locked his line of sight, looking very much like his son.
Only his memory of his son wasn’t this sturdy, skin not this healthy wheat color.
But even if the body became stronger and the skin healthier, that bond between father and son still made him firmly certain.
This tall officer in the photo must be his son Chen Jun.
“Only those who earn merit can be photographed here. Xiao Jun appearing in this photo album, could it be he also earned merit in the troops?”
Thinking of this, Chen Zhenhua suddenly became excited and impatiently pointed at the photo, saying, “This is my son, my son is also in here, haha.”
Being able to prove in front of the leaders that his own son was also excellent.
How could a father not be happy!
“Your son is definitely in here, and in every photo, because the Chen Jun I’ve been talking about is this person in the photos, that is, your son. Our regiment has only one Chen Jun, no mistake.”
“Ah???”
Regiment Commander Wang’s words came too suddenly, Chen Zhenhua was directly stunned on the spot.
Too much information, too big a reversal front to back.
His brain couldn’t turn it around.
Crashed!!
