Military career: Starting with a recruitment letter

Chapter 2 Rebirth in

late autumn.

It was pouring rain. An electric taxi passed through the white rain curtain and stopped at the door of a funeral hall.

The back door was gently pushed open, and a black long-handled umbrella was the first to extend out from the door.

With a light "bang" sound, the umbrella was opened. The middle-aged man in the car rolled up his sleeves and walked out of the car. His leather shoes stepped on the wet road, and the splashing water wet his trouser legs, but he didn't care.

Chen Mo looked ahead with a solemn expression. The funeral hall was all white inside and out. The sad atmosphere of mourning the deceased surged like a wave, making him feel a little choked up.

He looked around and saw a large number of Hongqi cars parked at the entrance, including several state guest cars, which had not been turned off yet. The red light of their taillights was particularly dazzling in the dim weather.

Many guests who had just arrived like him got out of their cars, walked up the stairs holding umbrellas, and greeted him with polite smiles as they passed by him.

Chen Mo came to the funeral hall with them and placed the white flowers that had been prepared long ago on the altar under the portrait of the deceased. Then he stepped behind the crowd and looked at the kind old man in the portrait in a daze.

"Hey, Secretary Chen, it's really you!"

At this moment, a soft cry of barely suppressed enthusiasm came from the side.

Chen Mo turned his head and saw a middle-aged fat man in a suit squeezed over and patted his shoulder gently.

"Wang Bo? You're here too?" Chen Mo was slightly surprised, then said helplessly: "Don't call me Secretary Chen. It happened many years ago. Just call me by my full name."

"I'm used to calling you that!" Wang Bo smiled and then asked, "It's been years since we last met. How have you been lately?"

"Not satisfactory!" Chen Mo shook his head and said bluntly, then looked at Wang Bo.

He was wearing a Dior suit, an LV belt, and a classic Rolex Submariner watch, giving him the air of a nouveau riche.

"You must have made a lot of money over the years, right?" Chen Mo asked with a faint smile.

"It's just a small business, so-so!" Wang Bo whispered.

It’s not that Wang Bo is modest. Although he is now worth tens of millions, he is indeed just a small role in this occasion, otherwise he would not stand at the back of the crowd like Chen Mo.

"Cough cough!"

Perhaps because their whispering seemed a little impolite, a colonel in uniform in front of them coughed twice, and the two of them immediately became alert and shut up.

In the solemn and quiet atmosphere, Chen Mo looked at the black and white portrait of his old leader on the altar, and his thoughts drifted back to twenty years ago.

He was born in 1998. At the age of , that is, in , he joined the army and became a glorious soldier of the people.

Perhaps because of his excellent abilities, or perhaps because of excellent opportunities, he had a smooth career after joining the army. He was promoted to a military academy due to his meritorious service. After graduating from the academy and returning to the army, he was valued by his superiors in a war theory debate competition and was transferred to a secretary.

This is why Wang Bo called him Secretary Chen.

The old leader’s surname is Zhang, and his name is Zhang Canshan. He is his direct superior, and also his mentor and benefactor.

Relying on working alongside his superiors, he was quite respected in the army. Officers of much higher rank than him were extremely polite and enthusiastic towards him. Moreover, he benefited a lot from accompanying his old superiors to attend various high-level meetings. His vision, knowledge and connections were unmatched by officers of the same rank.

Logically speaking, with his starting point, he is destined to have a bright future and a smooth road ahead.

But fate likes to play jokes on people. In the face of the tide of the times, people are like a tiny grain of sand. If they are not careful, they will be abandoned by the times.

The old leader came from the field army, was good at large-scale troop operations, and was obsessed with the development direction of mechanization. As the leader's secretary, Chen Mo also specialized in the theory of troop mechanization. He believed that comprehensive mechanization was the future trend and the future of military development. Wherever the steel torrent passed, no one could defeat it.

Although there were voices calling for the development of informatization at that time, Chen Mo simply ignored it as a side path. He even submitted a speech entitled "Our army should fully develop mechanization, and informatization is just a wrong guidance from the West" to an extremely important meeting attended by old leaders.

The result was that the second Gulf War in 2003 woke up the whole world and everyone.

Chen Mo realized belatedly that informatization is the future and the trend of the new era.

But it was too late.

During the military downsizing and reorganization in 2003, Chen Mo's unit was disbanded, and his old leader was deemed unsuitable for future military development and management positions and retired.

He vaguely remembered the heartfelt words his old leader said on the day he left.

"Xiao Chen, I'm old and can't do it anymore. You have to walk the road ahead on your own."

Thanks to the care of his leader before his departure, he was able to stay in the army even though his unit was disbanded.

But the departure of his leader was a big blow to him, because everything had gone so smoothly before, and the gap after the setback was too much for him to bear.

In addition, without the shade of a big tree, the fickleness of human nature was fully reflected in him. Everyone used to greet him with a smile, but later no one paid any attention to him.

Therefore, instead of continuing to work in disgrace, it is better to choose to leave.

He chose to leave the army because it was a period of military downsizing, and his transfer was approved smoothly. He returned to a local public institution and resigned after a year. He spent twenty years in a daze, and looking back, he achieved nothing.

Chen Mo always likes to comfort himself that he had used up all his luck in the first twenty years, which is why he had such a bad time in the last twenty years.

But excuses are just excuses after all. He is just often immersed in the glory of the past and finds it difficult to get out of it, so it is difficult for him to have the courage to do other things.

If I had a chance to do it again...

He often thought so, but it was ultimately an unrealistic idea. Reality was reality, unlike games where one could watch a 30-second ad to start over.

He took a deep breath and pulled his thoughts back from the distant past. Looking at the leaders' families huddled together and sobbing quietly in front of him, for some reason, he found it difficult to feel sad.

Although it was a very important person in his life who passed away, he seemed to be numb and his heart was very calm.

Perhaps it was because he was old and it was difficult for him to have emotional fluctuations, or perhaps it was because he had visited his leader in the hospital several times before and saw him becoming increasingly haggard, so he had already anticipated this result and was not shocked.

……

In a blink of an eye, it was late at night.

After dinner, Chen Mo bid farewell to the leader’s family and came out of the funeral hall with Wang Bo.

"Where are you going? I'll take you there!" Wang Bo patted Chen Mo's shoulder and asked with a smile, while pressing the car key in his hand. The headlights of a BMW 7 Series lit up, and it stood out among the Hongqi and Audi cars.

"Forget it, I can just take a taxi myself. It's not far!" Chen Mo shook his head and politely declined the other party's kindness.

"Okay, let's contact each other another day!"

After saying that, Wang Bo got into the car, stepped on the accelerator and disappeared from sight.

In the end, it was his self-esteem that was at work. He had a luxury car but refused to take it, insisting on taking Didi.

Chen Mo sighed in his heart, then took out his cell phone and hailed a taxi.

Soon, a taxi arrived. Chen Mo got in, reported the last license plate number, and then leaned back in the back seat with his eyes closed. However, a faint smell of alcohol coming from the front made him frown.

"Master, have you been drinking?"

"How is that possible? That's impossible!"

"But why do I smell alcohol?"

"My last passenger left this. I'm an experienced driver. Even if I'm drunk, I can still drive steadily. Don't worry!"

After saying that, the taxi driver stepped on the accelerator and drove forward. Even if Chen Mo wanted to get off, it was too late.

Chen Mo sighed and was about to take out his cell phone to check the message when a blinding light shone through the car window.

I saw a large truck coming towards me quickly, honking its horn.

Bang!
Accompanied by a loud collision, Chen Mo lost consciousness instantly.

……

"Come on, come on, let's meet at 98~"

"Come on, come on, let's meet in 1998~"

The melodious singing woke Chen Mo from his coma. He opened his sleepy eyes, and his habit of serving in the army made him alert immediately and check his injuries.

But there was not a single scar on his body, and the unfamiliar environment he saw made him stunned for a moment.

"Shouldn't I have been in a car accident?"

Chen Mo's pupils shrank slightly and he looked around.

It was afternoon, the sun was blazing, shining in through the window. He sat by the classroom window, looking at the young boys running and playing on the playground outside, listening to the old songs on the campus radio. For a moment, he felt as if he were in another world.

On the table were stacks of People's Education Press high school textbooks, with "Class 1, Grade 3, Chen Mo" written crookedly on them.

Looking around, it was during the break. Many students were either going to the bathroom or chatting in the corridor, while those who stayed in the classroom were napping on the tables in groups of three or four.

Chen Mo looked down at his delicate arms, a feeling of astonishment flooding his mind!

"Am I, reborn?"

(End of this chapter)