Chapter 234: Growth
Plus, Geng Jihui really wanted to see the joke between Chang Ning and Night Tiger, so under his and Ostrich’s depiction, Chang Ning became the mastermind of this incident.
Actually, the matter was more or less the same, but these two portrayed themselves as the passive party.
They didn’t actively cooperate with Chang Ning; everything was Chang Ning’s fault!
“It’s all Chang Ning’s fault!”
Ostrich’s performance at this time was extremely disloyal; he repeated the same rhetoric he had told Xi Wa to Chen Guotao.
Throughout, whether every sentence or the pauses in tone, it was exactly the same as what he had explained to Xi Wa before.
In Wolf Fang, they had received such training; not to mention just this little thing, even something ten times more complex would be a piece of cake for Ostrich.
“I know what you’re saying. When the matter is over, we’ll get together properly.”
Chen Guotao didn’t express any opinion on Ostrich’s sworn rhetoric, and even his expression didn’t change from beginning to end.
“Good, we’ll meet up afterward.”
With that said, both sides saluted and parted; the Wolf Fang duo boarded the car arranged by Chen Guotao to transport the Red Team and left.
After the car carrying the two disappeared from Chen Guotao’s sight, he slowly asked, “What do you think is the feasibility of what these two said?”
“How could I guess that?”
Xi Wa showed his signature honest smile.
Seeing Xi Wa not being serious, Chen Guotao glared at him fiercely without saying a word.
Others might not know, but could he not know?
This kid, ever since returning from Wolf Fang’s selection base, not only trained more diligently and hard, but also studied books in his free time and improved a lot.
Now he was pretending to be dumb in front of him!
Just like that, the two stalemated in place; finally, Xi Wa couldn’t withstand Chen Guotao’s intimidating gaze and conceded defeat.
“I think it’s ninety percent.”
When talking about serious matters, Xi Wa’s expression became serious.
Hearing the answer, Chen Guotao was greatly shocked inside.
Because Xi Wa’s answer matched exactly what he thought.
In the past, Xi Wa’s thinking could not have shown such sensitivity.
After just three days, he had to look at him with new eyes!
Regarding the growth of the soldiers in the company, Chen Guotao was delighted to see it happen.
No company commander wouldn’t want to see his own soldiers grow gradually.
“Tell me more.”
Suppressing his inner joy, Chen Guotao planned to test Xi Wa’s quality further to see how far he had grown, which would also make it convenient for future arrangements for him.
“If I say anything wrong, Company Commander, you can’t blame me.”
A cunning gleam flashed in Xi Wa’s eyes; he was afraid of being reprimanded by the company commander, so he preemptively gave a disclaimer.
“Say it quickly!”
Xi Wa’s little schemes naturally couldn’t fool Chen Guotao; he glared with tiger-like eyes and didn’t say whether he would blame Xi Wa or not, just urging Xi Wa to speak his mind.
In such an environment, Xi Wa had to weigh his words carefully multiple times before telling Chen Guotao his inner analysis.
Time is a magical thing; it quietly heals wounds on the soul and can turn a person into someone completely different.
Xi Wa’s current appearance couldn’t be called worlds apart from before enlistment, but it could be said to be reborn.
Beneath his honest exterior hid a thinking mind; the only thing unchanged was that Xi Wa still maintained his original simple kindness toward his own people.
In Chen Guotao’s view, this was undoubtedly a good phenomenon.
As the environment changes, people change too, but not completely; they must retain something.
Speaking of thinking, everyone might scoff.
Who can’t think!
Any normal person can!
Maintaining one’s own behavioral habits through thinking is something anyone can do, but not everyone extends it deeper.
And Xi Wa showed such signs, meaning he was learning how to see the essence of things through phenomena.
“Xi Wa and Chang Ning enlisted in the same year; in the New Recruit Company, we were even assigned to the same squad, and the Squad Leader was Lao Pao,” Xi Wa said.
“Mm, continue.”
Chen Guotao thought, this is nonsense! At that time, Miao Lian hadn’t left yet and often took him to the regimental New Recruit Company to observe where there were good soldier seedlings; Lao Pao’s squad was a key subject of observation.
“So I can say I’m very familiar with Chang Ning.”
At this point, Xi Wa’s gaze gradually became vacant as he fell into his own memories.
Watching the reminiscing Xi Wa, Chen Guotao showed great patience at this moment and didn’t wake Xi Wa.
As he kept flipping through his memories, Xi Wa once again arrived at the time of his New Recruit Company.
When did he first meet Chang Ning?
He remembered! It was on the green-skinned train transporting the troops.
Chang Ning was sitting across from me with Xiao Zhuang; I saw Xiao Zhuang seemed in a bad mood and gave each of them an apple.
That was what my mom forced into my hands before I left; I carried it all the way without bearing to eat it.
……
“Sorry, Company Commander, I zoned out just now.”
After an unknown amount of time, Xi Wa realized he had zoned out, and upon reacting, he appeared quite flustered.
The leader was asking a question, and yet he zoned out.
Anyone in this situation would panic.
Chen Guotao solemnly raised his wristwatch to check the time: “It’s fine. You just wasted a minute; we still have time.”
The jungle was full of flashing light beams and soldiers’ shouts; for safety, it was said that higher-ups had deployed an Armored Brigade in the vicinity.
Under such dense control, Chen Guotao didn’t believe Wolf Fang’s people could escape unscathed.
Being discovered already eliminated Geng Jihui and Paratrooper was the best example; direct confrontation wasn’t Special Forces’ strength.
Now they had firepower and manpower; Wolf Fang’s few people would sooner or later be caught.
Therefore, Chen Guotao wasn’t anxious; now he was very willing to hear Xi Wa’s analysis.
Maybe there would be a pleasant surprise?
“Speaking of Chang Ning, everyone’s first impression is definitely friendliness; he laughs and jokes all day, looking like he has no worries.
But what I saw was Chang Ning’s superhuman learning ability; that guy has exceptional talent in learning and picks up anything quickly.”
At this point, Chen Guotao rarely nodded in agreement.
At Wolf Fang’s selection base, he had already witnessed Chang Ning’s perversity; the new skills taught by Dog Head Old Gao and Hui Lang were mastered fastest by Chang Ning.
When others were still fumbling, Chang Ning could already use them flexibly.
After laying out many good words about Chang Ning, next Xi Wa was about to talk about Chang Ning’s not-so-good side.
“Through getting along with Chang Ning, I gradually discovered that guy holds grudges; if the Blue Team messed them up this badly, he wouldn’t be himself without causing some trouble.
We all know Geng Jihui; it’s completely impossible for him to break exercise rules without huge benefits.
Not to mention this kind of behavior that would anger the Blue Team, especially under the premise of him about to fall into our hands.
No matter how you look at it, Geng Jihui and Paratrooper have no motive to cause trouble.”
After the analysis, Xi Wa returned to his previous honest appearance, completely different from the clear-minded, logically fluent person who had just spoken eloquently.
