Chapter 143: Military Region Hundred Talents List
Late at night, after the lights-out bell rang, there was no one left in Wolf Fang’s Barracks except the sentries on duty, but He Da Dui’s office was brightly lit at this time.
The owner of this office was signing a document from the Military Region, with a thick stack of already signed documents placed to his right.
After an unknown amount of time, He Da Dui was still staring at the signed documents when his left hand subconsciously reached for a new one and touched nothing. Only then did he realize he had unknowingly stayed in the office until late at night again.
“Looks like I won’t be going back tonight.”
He Da Dui didn’t know how many times he had slept in the barracks. Out of 365 days in a year, he spent more than 300 days there.
Glancing at the time, He Da Dui showed a helpless and guilty smile, one full of bitterness.
He could pat his chest and say he had lived up to this People’s Liberation Army uniform and to his comrades who had gone through life and death with him, but he alone had let down his family, owing his wife a great deal.
He exhaled the stagnant qi blocked in his chest, tidied up the annotated documents, stood up to put on his regular uniform, and was just about to head home when he was startled by a sudden knock at the door.
“What are you two doing running over to my place in the dead of night instead of resting?”
Seeing that it was Xiao Gao and Ma Da, He Da Dui said grumpily.
This was only because it was Xiao Gao; if it were anyone else coming to He Da Dui like this in the middle of the night without something urgent, they would surely get a reprimand.
Even Gao Zhong Dui He Zhijun didn’t get any good face from him. He was already in his forties or fifties, and his physical functions couldn’t compare to the young people. That earlier scare had made his heart race.
“Speak up! What are you two standing there like telephone poles for? If you have nothing to do, go rest—are you that idle every day!”
Seeing the two standing silently in front of him, He Da Dui felt a surge of anger in his heart. He needed rest now and had no time to guess why Xiao Gao had come to him late at night. Since they weren’t in a hurry to speak, it wasn’t anything urgent.
If the people involved weren’t in a hurry, why should he be?
“Captain, please wait—there is something.”
Seeing the leader about to leave, Gao Zhong Dui hurried forward a few steps, spreading his arms to block He Da Dui’s path.
“Then speak up! You come to my place and just stare at me without a word. I don’t have time to waste with you—I’ve still got a meeting at the Military Region tomorrow.”
He Da Dui was actually quite approachable with his subordinates in private and didn’t show anger even when blocked by his own soldier.
With the Captain already urging him, Gao Zhong Dui didn’t dawdle any longer. He spoke up: “Captain, disturbing you late at night is indeed because there’s an important matter to report to you.”
Hearing that Xiao Gao really had business, He Zhijun led the two to the sofa, sat down with them, and gestured for them to continue.
Half-seated on the sofa, Gao Zhong Dui paused to organize his words before continuing: “There are two matters, both quite urgent.
First, Lone Wolf B Team’s sniper Big-tailed Wolf Deng Zhenhua is nearing the end of his term. If he wants to stay, he’s still a bit short on merit.
Captain, what do you think about this?”
“You want me to pull strings?”
He Zhijun said with a stern face and unkind tone.
“How could that be? Captain, even if you lent me the courage, I wouldn’t dare make such a request of you.
I just wanted to ask if the Military Region has any suitable opportunities for Deng Zhenhua lately, so I can have him prepare in advance.
As you know, Deng Zhenhua was just selected into B Team this year. If he has to leave the unit because his service term is up, not to mention all our efforts over the past half year going to waste, it would be a heavy loss.
Deng Zhenhua gets along well with the others in B Team now, and this guy’s business capability is outstanding. If he leaves, not only would replacing him be troublesome, but integrating a newcomer into B Team would also take time.”
Seeing that the leader had misunderstood him, Gao Zhong Dui hurriedly explained, fearing the Captain might splash the tea from the table in his face in a fit of anger.
After hearing Xiao Gao’s explanation, He Zhijun realized he had misunderstood him, and his expression softened.
If Ma Da weren’t sitting beside him, out of consideration for Xiao Gao’s face, He Zhijun would have just picked up the nearby teacup and splashed the tea in Xiao Gao’s face to give him a good face-washing.
He’d heard tea for washing the face worked well—might as well let Xiao Gao try it to see if it could thin his thick skin a bit.
“Let me think about it.”
With the misunderstanding cleared, He Zhijun knew the issues Xiao Gao raised were ones that needed resolving right away.
The winds of military reform had already blown toward the Southeast Military Region. As one of the Military Region’s aces, whether they could seize the opportunity to strengthen their foundation depended on this Captain’s methods.
Lone Wolf B Team was the most critical part of He Zhijun’s plan—it absolutely could not have any problems.
The office was quiet. Gao Zhong Dui and Ma Da stared intently at He Da Dui, not even daring to breathe, afraid of disturbing his thinking.
“I just recalled, and there’s no suitable opportunity lately.”
Hearing this from He Zhijun, Gao Zhong Dui’s heart sank halfway, a bitter smile on his face.
Though he hadn’t held much hope before coming, he still came to take a gamble on the off chance there was news he didn’t know about. Clearly, Gao Zhong Dui’s luck wasn’t great.
“But the recommendation quota for the whole army sniper skills competition wasn’t reported by Assassin—maybe you can try approaching it from that angle.”
He Zhijun’s words turned Gao Zhong Dui’s expression from gloom to brightness. He now understood the feeling Lu You had when writing “Mountains and rivers seemed to bar the way, yet behind willow shade and bright flowers lay another village”—that rollercoaster-like mood was truly complex.
“Alright, I’ll go ask him tomorrow.”
After saying this, Gao Zhong Dui stood to leave, but seeing Ma Da still sitting motionless on the sofa, he felt puzzled. Why wasn’t this guy leaving? Was he waiting for He Da Dui to treat them to a midnight snack? The cookhouse had long since rested at this hour.
Seeing Gao Zhong Dui’s puzzled look, Ma Da wanted to remind him but didn’t know how to say it, hesitating awkwardly.
‘This Xiao Gao clearly said there were two things to discuss just now—how did he forget in the blink of an eye? Better remind him.’
He Zhijun picked up his teacup, tested the temperature, found it just right, took a reassuring sip, and then—ignoring his two subordinates’ little movements—kindly reminded them: “Xiao Gao, aren’t you forgetting something?”
‘Forgetting something? What else…’
Reminded by the leader, Gao Zhong Dui was a bit dazed and didn’t react at first, but upon careful thought, he suddenly realized.
“Oh~
I remembered—there is one more thing.”
“Then hurry up and say it—I’m very tired right now!”
Looking at this capable subordinate with a blank look on his face, He Zhijun didn’t know what to say, a sense of helplessness welling up in his heart.
At this point, Gao Zhong Dui finally understood why Ma Da was sitting still on the sofa and guessed the reason for his earlier hesitant expression.
“The remaining matter is naturally about Chang Ning.
Shouldn’t we decide how to arrange Chang Ning? Dragging it out like this isn’t a solution.” Gao Zhong Dui said.
Chang Ning was currently just a guest at 026, with no real connection to the Lone Wolf Special Assault Team, yet they often trained together, making Gao Zhong Dui feel uncomfortable all over.
“Then what do you say we should do?”
Seeing the Captain counter with a question, Gao Zhong Dui paused for a few seconds. He hadn’t expected He Da Dui to ask him back. In his expectation, throwing out a problem to the Captain would usually get it solved.
Since the Captain had asked, he naturally wouldn’t hold back. They were old brothers of over a decade—there was nothing he couldn’t say.
“I’d say we should just keep Chang Ning in 026 while we’re at it. He’s already eating, living, and training daily with B Team, so simply assign him to B Team. It saves them the time to gel, perfect.”
After hearing Gao Zhong Dui’s wild idea, He Da Dui snorted a few times before saying: “I thought you’d have some constructive opinion, but that’s it?
You think arranging Chang Ning’s retention is that easy?”
After all, they had rolled around in the system for years. He Da Dui had just let slip a hint, and Gao Zhong Dui detected something unusual.
“Captain, is there some secret about Chang Ning?”
Gao Zhong Dui probed cautiously. Given Wolf Fang’s special nature and his own rank, there were few military secrets in the entire Southeast Military Region that even he couldn’t know—but Chang Ning definitely wasn’t one of them, at least not yet.
“Not exactly a secret. There are mainly two points regarding Chang Ning.”
He Da Dui looked at the eager Xiao Gao and Ma Da, then said slowly: “First, Chang Ning’s training results have caught the eye of several others.
Like Assassin’s sniper company—Golden Eagle is recently planning a six-man squad and wants people too—and the captains of several other elite teams run over here three times a day. They’re all brandishing swords at Pei Gong while dancing for Xiang Zhuang.
Xiao Gao, both sides are flesh of my hand—don’t say I’m ignoring our friendship. With wolves outnumbering the meat, I can’t force it for you.”
Good grief—no one pitched in effort, but now that he’d finally cultivated the talent, they all came to pick the peaches.
Gao Zhong Dui was burning with rage at these shameless people. If those peach-pickers were in front of him now, he’d make sure they knew why the flowers are so red!
Did they really think he was easy to bully!
And it wasn’t as if they wouldn’t dare snatch Chang Ning right in front of Gao Zhong Dui. Who made Chang Ning’s results so eye-catching? He didn’t even seem like a newcomer.
Who wouldn’t like a newcomer like Chang Ning who could be used right away without needing training?
“Captain, if I take care of them all, can Chang Ning stay in 026?”
Gao Zhong Dui figured with his combat power and face, he should be able to handle those old hands.
“Naive, aren’t you? Without other factors, I wouldn’t interfere with Chang Ning’s retention—after all, no matter the adjustment, he’d still be in Wolf Fang.
But the problem is Chang Ning is now on the Military Region’s Hundred Talents List, and fairly high up. What do you say we do about that?”
“This…”
Gao Zhong Dui and Hui Lang both showed bitter smiles upon hearing this. They were all old comrades, familiar with the Military Region’s policies—especially on talent recruitment, since their job was snatching people from other units.
Gao Zhong Dui was genuinely happy for Chang Ning from the bottom of his heart at making the Hundred Talents List—it meant Chang Ning could go far in the army, at least farther than this major, and his future military rank might even surpass He Da Dui’s.
By then, he’d have face too—after all, Chang Ning was someone he had trained and discovered himself.
But thinking that Chang Ning might not be in Wolf Fang in the future, the three in the office sighed in unison.
Watching talent right beside them but unable to touch it felt like someone tickling them with something fuzzy that they couldn’t grab—extremely frustrating.
“Now you know why I haven’t arranged Chang Ning’s assignment yet.”
Once on the Hundred Talents List, their retention was no longer up to the original unit.
One of the topics at He Zhijun’s Military Region meeting tomorrow was discussing talent placement and coming up with feasible plans.
Looking at the frowning Xiao Gao and Ma Da, He Da Dui secretly felt pleased. He couldn’t be the only one suffering—since Xiao Gao asked, everyone could worry together.
Thinking of this, He Zhijun’s mood improved a bit.
“What we discussed tonight doesn’t require secrecy, but don’t spread it around outside.”
He Da Dui cautioned.
As for the Hundred Talents List, He Da Dui didn’t tell them to keep it secret, because its confidentiality level was extremely high—he only knew Chang Ning was on it.
This was only because Chang Ning was currently with Wolf Fang that his superiors let him know a bit; one could imagine how high the confidentiality level was.
