Dare to shirk responsibility? This adorable little one will tear down your military district!

As the sun began to set, the pungent, eye-irritating smell of ammonia wafted from the pigsties in the third row of the Hongxing Farm, so strong it could knock a person over.

Meng Jianjun held the long-handled latrine ladle, which was half a head taller than him, in his hand, his legs trembling. He had been defecating all night, and his intestines were completely emptied of any remaining oil or water. Now his stomach was empty, with only stomach acid churning inside.

"vomit--"

He bent over and gagged at the pool of stinky, sticky pig manure.

This is not a job for a human being.

In his imagination, managing three hundred mouths meant sitting in an office, holding a teacup, giving orders, while hundreds of people lined up to sign for their meals.

The reality is that all three hundred mouths belong to big, fat pigs with long noses who grunt and squeal!

"What are you standing there for? The pigs are waiting for their meal, are you waiting for the New Year?"

Squad Leader Zhu stood like a black iron tower at the entrance of the pigpen, holding a thin bamboo stick used for herding pigs in his hand, and snapped it against the iron bars.

The noise startled Meng Jianjun so much that he almost threw the manure scoop in his hand into the latrine.

"Um... Squad Leader Zhu, I am Commander Gu's younger brother."

Meng Jianjun straightened his back, trying to put on airs of royalty, his face, smeared with pig feed crumbs, scrunched up in a grimace.

"My brother said I'm a special talent, I'm here to... to guide the work, not to shovel manure."

Upon hearing this, Squad Leader Zhu wasn't annoyed; instead, he grinned. He took a step forward, his muscular physique bulging out of his training uniform.

"Provide guidance? Sure."

Squad Leader Zhu pointed to a large breeding pig weighing over 500 jin that was rooting around over there.

"See that? That's our farm's 'Number One Leader.' If you can keep it comfortable and prevent it from whining, then you've done a good job of guiding it. If you can't..."

Squad Leader Zhu cracked the bamboo stick in the air with a sharp "snap".

"Here, pigs are the ancestors, and you're the grandson. If a pig loses a pound due to hunger, I'll make you lose ten pounds."

Meng Jianjun shrank back in fright at the sound of the whip.

He was genuinely terrified. This place was desolate and remote, a place where no one could hear his cries for help. The big, dark-skinned man in front of him looked even more intimidating than Gu Changfeng, his arms thicker than his thighs.

"I'll do it... I'll do it, okay?!"

Meng Jianjun gritted his teeth, tears welling up in his eyes.

He steeled himself, held his breath, and plunged the dung scoop into the pigpen.

It's so heavy!

One spoonful, mixed with pig manure and mud, weighed at least twenty or thirty pounds. Meng Jianjun's body, weakened by alcohol and women, almost strained his back lifting it.

"Ouch, my back..."

He huffed and puffed as he dragged the manure scoop out, his arms aching as if they were broken.

This is only the first spoonful.

Looking around, this row of pigsties, with dozens of pits, is packed full.

Those three hundred-odd pigs, oblivious to the danger, circled around his feet, grunting and nudging his tattered cloth shoes with their long snouts, covering them in mud.

While working, Meng Jianjun cursed Gu Changfeng's ancestors for eighteen generations in his mind. Then he thought that Gu Changfeng's ancestors were also his ancestors, so he could only curse Lin Wanrou, that "vixen," and Meng Yaya, that "brat," instead.

They worked on it until sunset.

Exhausted, Meng Jianjun collapsed on the cement ground at the entrance of the pigsty, panting heavily.

His hands were covered in blisters, and they were excruciatingly painful to the touch. He was covered in sweat and mud, and the stench was so strong that flies swarmed around him.

"Clang, clang—"

The half-railway hanging at the entrance of the canteen in the distance was struck.

Dinner's ready!

Upon hearing this noise, Meng Jianjun's previously limp body instantly became electrified.

meal!

He's the regimental commander's younger brother, a key figure in his training program. After doing such heavy work, shouldn't there at least be braised pork for dinner? Or at the very least, steamed buns with eggs?

He didn't even bother to wash his hands before getting up from the ground and rushing towards the cafeteria, drawn by the aroma.

The canteen was very simple, just a few wooden tables.

Meng Jianjun rushed to the food window, slammed the chipped aluminum lunchbox that Squad Leader Zhu had given him onto the windowsill, as if he were there to collect a debt.

"One order of braised pork belly, extra fatty, please! And four steamed buns! And a bowl of egg drop soup!"

The cook serving the food was a fat man. He paused for a moment with his large iron ladle, then looked up at Meng Jianjun as if he were a fool.

"Are you new here?" the fat cook asked.

"Yes! I was sent by Commander Gu!" Meng Jianjun puffed out his chest.

"Oh, sent by the regimental commander." The chubby cook nodded, grabbed two dark, hard objects from the basket next to him, and threw them into Meng Jianjun's lunchbox with a "clatter".

Then, he stirred the large spoon twice in a pot of vegetable soup that was almost devoid of oil, scooped up a spoonful of cabbage stalks—it was truly all stalks, with hardly any leaves—and placed it directly on the two dark lumps.

"Next!"

Meng Jianjun was dumbfounded.

He stared at the two rock-hard cornbread buns and the bland cabbage soup in the lunchbox, his eyes almost popping out of their sockets.

"This is my food? Where's the meat? Where's the flour?" Meng Jianjun cried out, peering through the window. "Gu Changfeng is my own brother! And this is pig swill you're giving me?"

The fat cook's face hardened, and he banged his ladle against the rim of the pot with a loud clang: "What's all the fuss about! There's no regimental commander's brother here, just soldiers who raise pigs! Conditions are tough here, everyone eats this. Take it or leave it!"

"I won't eat it!"

Meng Jianjun threw the lunchbox on the ground, and the cornbread rolled far away, getting covered in dust.

"I need to find my brother! I'm going to report you for abuse!"

The cafeteria fell silent immediately.

Seven or eight soldiers, all muscular and fresh from their work, turned around in unison and stared at Meng Jianjun. Their gazes were as if they were looking at a fool who had no sense of his own mortality.

Squad Leader Zhu slowly walked over, carrying a large bowl.

Without even glancing at Meng Jianjun, he bent down and picked up the two dusty cornbread buns from the ground, blew off the dirt, then cut them in half, handing one half to the soldier next to him and keeping the other half for himself.

"This grain was grown by farmers through hard work."

Squad Leader Zhu took a bite of the cornbread, chewing it with a loud crunch, his cheeks bulging.

"Since this new comrade isn't hungry, then let's not eat tonight. Wasting food shows a lack of awareness. Tomorrow morning, he'll have to run five kilometers with weights to wake him up."

"Yes!" The surrounding soldiers responded in unison, their voices so loud that dust fell from the roof beams.

Looking at Squad Leader Zhu's big white teeth and then at the pairs of malicious eyes around him, Meng Jianjun's stomach rumbled loudly, completely lacking any backbone.

He chickened out.

He was really hungry.

Squad Leader Zhu ate the two steamed buns, and the large bucket by the window was covered up.

Meng Jianjun finally picked up half a hardened sweet potato peel that someone had left behind next to the swill bucket, hid under the sheltered wall of the pigsty, and swallowed it while tears streamed down his face.

Late at night.

The mountain wind was strong, making the red-tiled roofs groan and howl.

Meng Jianjun lay on the far side of the communal bed, with only a thin, tattered cotton quilt beneath him, bombarded by bedbugs and fleas.

My comrade next to me was snoring loudly, accompanied by the sound of grinding his teeth.

He can't sleep.

I'm so hungry. It feels like there's a hand scratching inside my stomach, and it's burning.

"I want to go home... Mom, I want to eat dumplings..." Meng Jianjun wrapped himself tightly in the sweaty quilt and sobbed silently in the darkness.

What a load of rubbish about being an official, all that prestige! It's all a lie! Gu Changfeng, that heartless scoundrel, is just pushing him into a pit of fire!

Just then, a few soft "clucking" sounds came from outside.

The sound wasn't loud, but in the quiet night, it sounded like heavenly music to Meng Jianjun's ears.

Meng Jianjun suddenly opened his eyes, and in the darkness, his originally cloudy eyes glowed green.

He had glimpsed it while working during the day; Squad Leader Zhu had fenced off a few old hens near the vegetable garden in the backyard, intending to keep them to lay eggs for the wounded soldiers to replenish their bodies.

chicken……

That's meat!

Meng Jianjun swallowed hard. Just catch one, find a secluded spot, and roast it… the taste…

He quietly lifted the covers, enduring the aches and pains all over his body, and like a big black rat, tiptoed out of bed.

"Gu Changfeng, if you're heartless, don't blame me for being ruthless too. If you won't give me meat, I'll take matters into my own hands!"

Meng Jianjun groped his way toward the door, his heart hardening: he couldn't stand this wretched place for another day. After this meal, he had to find a way to escape tomorrow!