Excited Commander

"Brother, I'm eighteen now, and Sifangping Vocational and Technical College starts in a couple of days."

"But I want to enlist directly. Four years at a Military Academy is too long."

"If I enlist and get promoted, my advancement should be much faster."

"What do you think, Brother? If you disagree, just eat this Egg Tart, and I'll know you don't want me to enlist."

Lü Qinglong blinked twice, his gaze, like a lion hunting, fixed directly on the box of Egg Tarts in front of the tombstone.

"I'll count to three. If you don't say anything, I'll assume you agree."

"Three."

"Two."

"One!"

As the countdown ended, Lü Qinglong suddenly grabbed the box of Egg Tarts from the ground, opened his gaping mouth, and stuffed the Egg Tarts inside.

"Thanks, Brother! I knew you'd agree to me enlisting!"

"Oh, right. Mom still disagreed when I told her about this today. She told me to ask you."

"Brother, you're twenty-seven and still not married. If you can persuade Mom, and I can successfully enlist, I'll burn three Two-dimensional paper effigies for you later."

"No, one isn't enough, I'll burn three for you!"

After saying this, for some reason, despite the hot August weather, Lü Qinglong inexplicably felt a chill and instinctively sneezed.

"What kind of weather is this? Why is it suddenly hot and cold?"

Lü Qinglong rubbed his nose and chatted for a few more minutes in front of the tombstone about recent events.

After chatting for over half an hour, he finally said goodbye to his brother.

"I'm leaving, Grandpa Gao."

Before leaving, Lü Qinglong tapped on the window. Grandpa Gao, who was watching a video of young women dancing in the security room, was startled. He hurriedly put away his phone and nodded at Lü Qinglong.

By the time he jogged back from the suburbs to his apartment building, it was already past seven o'clock, and it was dark outside.

They lived in an old, small apartment building, housing originally allocated by his father's former employer. They had lived there for over twenty years.

Although most of the residents were elderly, the neighborhood had excellent security, with no incidents of theft.

As soon as he opened the door, he found Mom Lü sitting on the living room sofa, staring at him without a word.

"Mom, I'm back. I just went to see my brother."

Lü Qinglong said, bracing himself.

Mom Lü didn't speak. She just stared at Lü Qinglong in silence for a moment before slowly saying:

"Have you really thought this through?"

"You know, your brother didn't want you to enlist, and neither did your father or I."

"But you're an adult now, and you can make your own decisions about some things."

Lü Qinglong looked at his mother's face, which had once been smooth and delicate but was now etched with the marks of time. The fine lines around her eyes were like imprints left by the years.

Her hair was no longer as black and shiny as it used to be, but was streaked with strands of silver.

Only her gentle and determined eyes had never changed.

"Mom, please let me go enlist. I will definitely avenge my brother!"

Lü Qinglong's nose felt a little sore. He gently hugged Mom Lü.

"You child, you've grown up so much without me realizing it."

"I still remember when you were six years old, you were only a head taller than me."

"Alright, since you've grown your wings, Mom can't control you anymore. Go enlist then."

"But Mom needs to tell you beforehand, you have to consider Mom's feelings before you do anything. You can't be reckless like your brother anymore."

"Mom only has you..."

"Mom!"

Lü Qinglong tightened his embrace around his mother slightly, forcibly tilting his head to look at the ceiling to prevent his tears from falling.

"Okay, I'll talk to Uncle Li at the Armed Forces Department later. You go to your room and sleep now."

Mom Lü patted Lü Qinglong's arm, and Lü Qinglong quickly let go.

"Then Mom, I'll go back to my room now."

"Go on, go on."

Only after the sound of Lü Qinglong's room door closing was heard did Mom Lü rub her shoulders.

"This child, he's getting stronger and stronger."

Li Haoze, sitting at the Armed Forces Department, was busy handling the enlistment matters when he suddenly received a call.

"Excuse me, is this Commander Li? I'm Lü Weiguo's wife."

A somewhat familiar female voice came from the other end of the phone.

"Sister-in-law, you're being too formal. Just call me Little Li."

"Sister-in-law, what can I help you with?"

The Commander asked, a little confused.

"Uh, Commander Li... I want to send my Lü Qinglong to join the army... do you think there's still time this year?"

Mom Lü's voice on the other end of the phone sounded a bit hesitant.

"Oh, sending him to join the army? I'm afraid it's too late this year. The pre-enlistment training is already over, and most of the spots for various locations are filled..."

Commander Li refused instinctively.

He'd been swamped with recruitment matters these past few days, feeling overwhelmed every single day. So many parents wanted to get their children into the army.

The office landline basically rang non-stop every day because of these issues.

However, this was the first time someone had called his private number, wanting their child to join the army.

"Ah? Is it too late this year?"

Mom Lü's voice immediately became much more dejected, but she still asked tentatively, "Then, Commander Li, is there any way you could make an exception this year and add my Qinglong to the list..."

"Who?!"

"Sister-in-law, please wait a moment! You're talking about your Second Young Master Lü wanting to join the army, right?!"

The Commander suddenly stood up from his seat, gripping his phone tightly with his right hand, and quickly interrupted Mom Lü to ask.

"Uh... yes."

"If there really are no spots, then never mind. Sorry to trouble you, Commander Li..."

"There are spots!"

The Commander interrupted again, his voice trembling with too much excitement.

"Huh?"

Mom Lü froze for a moment, seemingly wondering if she had misheard. Why had his attitude done a complete 180-degree turn?

"There are spots! There are plenty of spots, Sister-in-law!"

"Sister-in-law, are you at home right now? Could you send me the address?"

"Your child joining the army is a big deal. I think we need to discuss such an important matter in person!"

"Uh... okay."

Mom Lü sent the address to the Commander.

"Prepare the car! Go to this address immediately!"

The Commander told the driver to floor it. Less than ten minutes later, he was knocking on the door of the Lü family's home.

"Sister-in-law! It's been a while, Sister-in-law!"

"How is Old Brother Lü? Here, this is some welfare rice and cooking oil we just received!"

As soon as the door opened, Commander Li excitedly grabbed Mom Lü's hand and quickly placed the items he was holding on the ground.

Faced with this sudden enthusiasm, Mom Lü nodded, looking a bit flustered: "He's fine. He's still focused on the army like before. He's busy, after all, and doesn't come home much, not even a few times a year."