Chapter 44: Company Commander Teams Up With Platoon Leader To Fool Shi Jin
“I once promised the old senior that I would definitely bring out his son and make him a good son he could be proud of, not a turtle son. I must do it.”
Though Shi Jin was not a stubborn and obstinate person, he was a good squad leader who regarded responsibility as life itself.
Gao Cheng very much regretted boasting just now. If he had known, he wouldn’t have been so straightforward. Now he was pinned down by Shi Jin, with no reason to reject.
The matter had come to this.
Gao Cheng exhaled a long puff of smoke. Even if he was a million times unwilling in his heart, he could only agree to this old squad leader and add Xu Sanduo’s name.
But just as Gao Cheng was about to say it, Chen Jun, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke up.
“Company Commander, may I say a few words?”
Chen Jun’s words were very polite, without any emotion at all, leaving Gao Cheng puzzled and unsure of Chen Jun’s intention.
Thinking that Xu Sanduo’s results could meet the standard, Chen Jun was absolutely the first meritorious official.
Gao Cheng felt that Chen Jun was going to speak up for Shi Jin. Since he had already made the decision, he didn’t mind. He nodded and said, “Platoon Leader Chen, everyone has expressed their opinions. Xu Sanduo is from your Second Platoon. I really want to hear your opinion on how to handle it.”
“My opinion is very clear: he cannot be brought. The current Xu Sanduo is not qualified to come to Seventh Company.”
Chen Jun’s words were simple, straightforward, and clear, but the content greatly exceeded everyone’s expectations, leaving Gao Cheng and the others a bit unable to react.
Shi Jin was stunned.
Gao Cheng and Wu Liu Yi were dumbfounded!
Chen Jun had helped Xu Sanduo so much in the new recruit company, completely surpassing a platoon leader’s care for a new recruit, making everyone think Chen Jun wanted Xu Sanduo.
But now came a one hundred and eighty degrees reversal, actually opposing Xu Sanduo going to Seventh Company.
The contrast was so great that it was truly unbelievable.
“Why, Platoon Leader? Why is he not good enough?” Shi Jin anxiously asked in return.
Not only Shi Jin couldn’t figure it out; Gao Cheng, Wu Liu Yi, and Jin Dashan were equally baffled, not knowing what medicine Chen Jun was selling in his gourd.
“Let me tell you a story first.”
Chen Jun prepared to fool Shi Jin, speaking unhurriedly and slowly: “I have a child from a relative’s family whose talent was very average, but he studied very hard and diligently.
He studied in a middle school in a third-tier small county town, and through effort, he could rank in the top few in the class. The child thus gained confidence and was determined to get into a good university.
But when it came to high school, the child’s father, wanting a better learning atmosphere for him, went to all lengths to send him to the best private middle school in the city.
They thought that going to a better middle school would allow his results to soar to new heights.
But the result was the exact opposite.
The city private middle school gathered the city’s top students, all of them genius-level from the county town, with reading talents more outstanding than the next.
My relative’s child relied on hard work for studying, and here he worked even harder.
Unfortunately, in the face of absolute talent and strength, hard work and diligence were just the most basic conditions, not to mention that the geniuses were also working hard—it wasn’t just him being diligent.
The only advantage of the relative’s child was lost. No matter how hard he studied, he couldn’t catch up with his classmates.
The top spots in the class were out of the question; he couldn’t even make mid-tier. Every assessment, he was at the bottom, either first or second from the last.
Suddenly falling from being an outstanding performer admired by all in the county junior high to a duckling among a flock of swans.
In the long run, always at the bottom, the child’s mentality completely collapsed. Forget chasing results; he even lost the heart to study.
In the end, he couldn’t even get into a junior college and had to go to a vocational technical school for cleanup.”
The allegory of this story was already very obvious, but Chen Jun still decided to spell it out.
After pausing for a few seconds, he continued: “Steel Seventh Company is like the best middle school in the city; every soldier inside is the most excellent.
And Xu Sanduo is that hardworking child; apart from being hardworking, he has nothing else.
If Xu Sanduo really comes to Seventh Company now, his hard work and effort will become worthless, because every warrior in Steel Seventh Company is desperately striving.
When Xu Sanduo no longer has the advantage of hard work, do you think it’s possible for you to make him catch up with the company’s elite soldiers?
Even if you forcibly drag Xu Sanduo along, how long can you, Shi Jin, drag him?
You’re not young anymore, Shi Jin; you’re almost thirty. If you forcibly drag Xu Sanduo, the ending will only be you getting dragged down first, and Xu Sanduo won’t have a good result either. He might even completely collapse because of it.
We are all adults; we must think clearly when doing things. Don’t act on impulse, or you’ll not only harm yourself but also others.”
Chen Jun’s final words “harm others and oneself” were like a heavy iron fist slamming into Shi Jin’s mind, creating a violent shock.
Shi Jin wanted to bring Xu Sanduo out but had never thought of harming him to the point of collapse.
Thinking of Xu Sanduo, like the relative’s child, ultimately collapsing in Steel Seventh Company full of elite soldiers everywhere, his own persistence would instead harm Xu Sanduo.
The originally firm idea of bringing Xu Sanduo to Seventh Company began to waver seriously.
He even started to doubt himself: was the decision really right?
Gao Cheng and Wu Liu Yi had talked for half a day without causing Shi Jin the slightest wavering, but with Chen Jun, it completely changed.
Seeing that Chen Jun’s words were having an effect.
Both tacitly kept silent, afraid of affecting Chen Jun’s performance.
They really didn’t want Shi Jin to bring a baggage!
Chen Jun saw the wavering in Shi Jin’s eyes and immediately pressed the advantage: “For the current Xu Sanduo, I think the best way is to first acclimate him a bit.
Just like goldfish bought home to put in the tank; dumping them straight in might kill them.
But if we first do a gradual transition, acclimate these goldfish to the water first, then put them in once they’ve adapted to the tank environment, there will be no problem.
Xu Sanduo is like the goldfish just bought; throwing him straight into Seventh Company is too intense—he definitely won’t adapt.
If we arrange a local area for transition, letting him adapt to the troops at a slow rhythm, then transfer him back to Seventh Company after he’s integrated, it will be perfectly natural by then.
I think by then, once Xu Sanduo has adapted to the troops, the company commander will definitely welcome him to Seventh Company.
Moreover, enlisted soldiers serve for three years. Even for the promise you made to the old senior, you don’t need to rush it in this year or so, right?”
Chen Jun’s analysis and arrangement were all reasonable, and Shi Jin couldn’t pick out the slightest flaw.
Gao Cheng hadn’t thought of really picking up Xu Sanduo; he thought this was Chen Jun’s deliberate delaying tactic to fool Shi Jin into giving up.
He immediately followed up in strong support: “Shi Jin, I think Platoon Leader Chen’s reasoning is very sound. Coming to Seventh Company later won’t be too late.
Moreover, there’s just the right local area very suitable for Xu Sanduo; the pace of life there is very slow and extremely peaceful, perfect for transition.”
