50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 241 Retiring from the military? I'm not leaving!
The night before he boarded the train, Tong Jiajia kept reminding him to bring her something when he came back next time.

Sun Zhiwei wanted to laugh, but he was afraid she would get angry, so he pretended not to know and readily agreed to bring her something next time.

After boarding the train, Sun Zhiwei inadvertently saw an old newspaper from the 16th, which contained only a brief news item and a eulogy, nothing else.

There was no biography, no introduction of achievements, no speech from leaders—nothing at all. A silent anger welled up inside him, and he unconsciously gripped a corner of the newspaper tightly.

Seeing his movement, Xiang Yi, who was sitting opposite him, quickly asked, "Brother, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"

Sun Zhiwei took a deep breath, thinking to himself, "It'll be soon, it'll be soon."

He smoothed the newspaper out again and said softly, "It's alright, Xiao Xiang. How many hours does it take for our train to get to Qingdao?"

"The station said we wouldn't arrive until 7 or 8 pm, so we're afraid we'll miss dinner at the cafeteria."

"Hehe, if we can't make it, we'll eat out. Do you know any good state-run restaurants near my house?"

"Hey, that's a lot."

When it came to delicious food, the young man got excited and started enthusiastically introducing the snack shops around the base to Sun Zhiwei.

"There's a restaurant called Chuange Fish Dumplings on Qutangxia Road in the South District. Their mackerel dumplings and yellow croaker dumplings are delicious."

"And there's Lao Cangkou potstickers on Yan'an Third Road in the North District. The bottom of the potstickers is golden and crispy, and when you bite into them, you're filled with mackerel meat and whole shrimp. The taste is absolutely amazing!"

"There are also potstickers and sweet porridge on Yanji Road, Laoshan fishermen's dishes on Yinchuan East Road, and pastries from Yingjilou."

Seeing Xiang Yi get so excited about the delicious food, he found it amusing, but then he thought, after all, he's just a young man in his early twenties.

Due to the public-private partnership, the taste of some of the original old-brand restaurants has changed a lot.

The people aren't stupid; they knew the taste wasn't good anymore, so they went less often.

On the contrary, the snack shops are still run by the same people, and the taste hasn't changed in decades.

They naturally cultivated a group of loyal customers because the food was all reasonably priced, so even ordinary families could afford to eat there occasionally.

"Have you tried all these delicious foods?"

"Hehe, bro, I've only gone out to eat there once or twice with my comrades during my holidays. It's a bit expensive, and I need to save my allowance."

"However, the rest of our team have been to other places, and after everyone puts it together, we know which place is delicious and inexpensive."

"By the way, Xiao Xiang, how many years of service did you serve?"

"Brother, I've been in the army for three years now, and this is my last year." Xiang Yi said this with a somewhat cryptic expression.

"What? Want to go home?" Sun Zhiwei thought he was homesick, since Xiang Yi's hometown was in Gansu Province.

"I don't want to." This answer surprised Sun Zhiwei.

"why?"

"Life at home is tough, and going back would only add to their burden."

Sun Zhiwei understood and naturally figured out the reason.

After a moment of silence, he said softly, "If you don't want to go back, then don't go back."

"But my time will be up next year."

"So what if it's time? As long as you don't want to leave, no one will force you to leave."

"Just stay here, train and go on duty every day, just don't leave. After the demobilization season, no one will urge you to leave."

Xiang Yi was a little dumbfounded. Could this really be done?
Of course you can. Army soldiers typically serve 2-3 years, technical soldiers 4 years, naval and air force soldiers 4 years, and conscripts have a maximum of 5 years before they have to retire.

If you serve more than 6 years, you can become a volunteer soldier or be promoted to officer, and then you can receive a salary. However, there are exceptions. If someone has family difficulties and doesn't want to go back, then they can continue serving; this is called serving beyond their term.

At most, some people were overstaying their leave for more than ten years. They would just stay and refuse to leave, since the team wouldn't dare let them starve to death anyway.

In fact, most of the rural soldiers who had served for three or four years were unwilling to go back. What could they do if they went back? There wasn't even enough land to go around at home.

"Brother, will this... will this work?"

When Xiang Yi heard Sun Zhiwei whispering about how to extend his service term, it sounded like a myth to him, and he felt a little dizzy.

"Do you want to go back and compete with your parents, your younger siblings, for food?"

"I don't want to." Xiang Yi quickly shook his head.

Why are you robbing him? There's not enough to eat at home to begin with, and he has to send his extra allowance home every year.

"Then listen to me, and remember to be thick-skinned when the time comes."

"No matter what the higher-ups say, no matter how angry the leaders are, just keep your head down and keep saying 'I'm not going back.'"

"Don't say or do anything else. If you get put in solitary confinement, that's even better; just stay in the solitary confinement cell and don't come out."

"I guarantee that as long as you hold out for a week, the higher-ups will stop pressuring you to go back."

"Really?" Xiang Yi still couldn't believe it. He thought Sun Zhiwei was definitely lying to the naive boy.

"Really. I promise," Sun Zhiwei said with absolute certainty.

In his previous life, he had read reports that many conscripts in that era did not retire and remained until the military reform.

Xiang Yi finally believed him and gritted his teeth: "Okay, I'll listen to you, thank you, Brother Zhiwei."

Seeing that he had finally explained things to this simpleton, Sun Zhiwei leaned back with a great sense of accomplishment.

"By the way, don't sell me out, okay?"

"Absolutely not." This time it was Xiang Yi's turn to be confident.

In fact, Sun Zhiwei didn't care whether he told anyone or not.

It's even better if they leave, as this will allow more rural soldiers to stay in the military, reducing the burden on rural families and contributing to the stability of the armed forces.

Why did ancient soldiers prefer to recruit from rural areas? Because rural soldiers had lower levels of education and simpler thoughts; they weren't prone to idle chatter and were the cornerstone of the army.

In the era before high-tech equipment, rural soldiers were the guarantee of combat effectiveness.

Relying solely on urban soldiers, while they may be educated, without rural soldiers as role models, they will become as slippery and unreliable as the small-town Osaka Division.

At 7:30 p.m., the two got off at Qingdao Station, and Sun Zhiwei immediately took him to the nearest state-run restaurant for dinner.

This is already considered late for a restaurant. If they keep picking and choosing, the restaurant will have to close soon. The diners can't keep the staff from getting off work.

Sure enough, when they entered the restaurant, they found that there were only two tables of customers left, and they had all finished eating.

Upon seeing the two of them enter, the waiter and cashier both looked at the wall clock in the lobby and then sighed in disappointment.

"What do you want to eat? Hurry up, it's almost time to get off work."

"Thank you for your help. We'll just eat whatever we have."

"If there are vegetables, we'll have two meat dishes, one vegetable dish, a soup, and two pounds of rice; if there are no vegetables, we'll make 100 dumplings."

The cashier nodded in satisfaction at his sensible manner.

(End of this chapter)