Just as General Ye and Lu Jiang described, he was valiant and majestic, with a particularly loud voice, "Xiaofeng, don’t hold back, leave the fruit for Lu Jiang to eat. He deserves some replenishment! He has suffered greatly this time."
Lu Jiang replied seriously, "General, please don’t say such things. Compared with the comrades who fell here, I am already a hundred times luckier."
Upon this topic, everyone’s faces darkened with profound sorrow.
For one to succeed on the battlefield, countless must perish. The status and glory of the commander are exchanged for the life and death of the soldiers below him. No commander is willing to see their troops unable to return home.
How could Feng Qingxue be oblivious to their emotions? She too felt the grief for the fallen soldiers. But they were here to visit the sick. Quickly, she handed a cucumber and an apple, "Please, don’t hold back. If he wants more, I will go out and buy it. How can we let you all just drink water? That’s not our way of hospitality." She put the remaining two cucumbers directly on the bedside table.
With her distraction, the atmosphere in the ward immediately improved, and no one brought up the heartbreaking topic again.
General Ye was quite untamed, finishing an apple in a few bites, but frowned while eating the cucumber, "Honestly, I don’t like cucumbers. Apples with their sour and sweet taste have some flavor, cucumbers, are completely tasteless."
On the contrary, Zheng Xuefeng, the political commissar, ate the cucumber first and then the apple, with polished manners, he said with a smile: "You just don’t know how to enjoy it. If you eat the cucumber first, your mouth will be full of its refreshing taste, then if you eat the apple, you’ll find it even sweeter than sugar. But you ate a sour and sweet apple first, and then cucumber, of course the cucumber will taste bland."
Commander Zhao was the last to eat. He chuckled and followed the order of cucumber first, apple second, and nodded repeatedly: "Delicious!"
General Ye was left glaring.
Feng Qingxue chuckled, "If you’d like, you can have lunch here. I’ve handed over all the food I bought to the kitchen earlier, rest assured it won’t cost the hospital a penny!"
However, General Ye did not refuse, he nodded, "Good. We actually have a question for Comrade Feng."
"I’ll tell Niu Yibao to talk to the head chef first, to prepare more food. You can ask me anything when I get back, I’ll be completely open and honest." After saying this, Feng Qingxue left the ward, gesturing to Niu Yibao who was sitting in the corridor far away. Upon learning that none of the leaders had brought anyone with them, she whispered: "Tell the head chef to cook the meat and vegetables I brought. If it’s not enough, he can add more and I’ll make up for it tomorrow."
"Yes!" Niu Yibao saluted and left.
Feng Qingxue returned to the ward, "What would you like to ask, General? You can ask now."
"Don’t be alarmed, it’s nothing serious, it’s just about those high-tech things you gave to Lu Jiang. Before the battle, Lu Jiang gave me a bulletproof vest. That thing really worked wonders! If our country developed these bulletproof vests and distributed them to the troops, who would be afraid of those disgusting foreign guns!" General Ye’s eyes were beaming, "When Lu Jiang was taken off the battlefield, it was necessary to clean his wounds, and then we saw his equipment. But we’ve already told the relevant medics and nurses to keep quiet."
"Yes, yes, young lady, that bulletproof vest you gave to our brother Lu Jiang and he gave to me, it saved my life on the battlefield!" Commander Zhao said, "It’s the second time brother Lu Jiang has saved me!"