Political Commissar Ma saw Zhou Chuan turn and leave, and jogged after him, saying, "Comrade Zhou Chuan, Comrade Zhou Chuan, let's talk this out. Bei Chen just told me that what happened earlier was his fault, and he specifically asked me to plead for him. Hey, hey, Comrade Zhou Chuan, don't be anxious. This, this is all a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding..."

Xiao Beichen glanced at the bedding roll in his arms, then at Zhou Chuan who was walking further and further away, and helplessly followed with the bedding roll in his arms.

Zhou Chuan kept walking: "Forget it, I'll just leave. I misjudged things. I thought the military would be better than civilian life. I figured I'd be all alone, and you soldiers would at least take care of me. Who knew it would be even darker here than outside?"

"Don't even mention taking care of me. I'd be grateful if they treated me like a human being. Forget it, what kind of soldiers are they? They're all bullshit. I'd better hurry up and leave. If I don't leave, I don't know how I'll be bullied to death!"

She shouldn't have stayed here and gotten in the way of others, as an outsider. Luckily, she realized it early, otherwise she would have been tricked by that guy surnamed Ma.

"Oh ho, are you still not done? I admit I misunderstood you earlier, but didn't I apologize to you on the spot?" Xiao Beichen, who was half a step behind, was so angry that his nose was practically steaming as he listened to Zhou Chuan's sarcastic words.

"You've only been here for a couple of days, we all need time to adjust to each other. If there's a misunderstanding, just explain it away, right? Besides, what happened just now wasn't intentional. Why are you so unforgiving when you're in the right?"

Later, Zhou Chuan realized his bedding was in the way, so he just threw it on the ground. Without the bedding, the feeling of Commander Lin returned.

"And another thing, you're a woman, you've got too much of a temper. You make a big fuss over the smallest thing, and you even have the nerve to talk badly about our unit. How have we wronged you? If it weren't for our unit taking you in, you'd probably be starving in some desolate wilderness right now."

Political Commissar Ma noticed Zhou Chuan's face was ashen and quickly went over to pull his partner away: "Say less, she's a woman...you, you should step aside." Is it worth arguing with a woman?

Xiao Beichen slapped Political Commissar Ma's hand away and pointed at Zhou Chuan, saying, "Did you even hear what she just said? Huh? Saying our soldiers bullied you? You? What a nerve! You dare to flatter yourself like that? Do you think you're Chiang Kai-shek?" Xiao Beichen had originally intended to ask Zhou Chuan to leave, but now he hesitated.

"Just say I'm bullying you. Oh, no, I should also bring Sun Jun into it. This military region is so big, just say the two of us are bullying you. Stop beating around the bush and dragging others into it!"

The three of them were standing in what was essentially the middle area of ​​the unit. Although it was training time and there weren't many people around, there were still a few. Commander Xiao had a loud voice, and they could tell from his voice that there was some arguing going on. However, because of Commander Lin's "fierce reputation," they didn't dare to get close.

However, gossiping seems to be human nature, and men are no exception. They either stand a little further away, hide in a corner, or hide behind a tree. In short, they listen at a distance that is neither too close nor too far, and in a relatively respectable manner.

The women, especially those in the family compound, would be even more so. They would pass by here when going in and out to buy groceries. As soon as they noticed something happening here, some would immediately stop to watch, while others would excitedly go home to the family compound to tell their girlfriends.

Zhou Chuan didn't care. She was leaving soon, so why should she care about her reputation?

She stared at him coldly: "What did I say wrong? Your army has wronged me! When you were fighting on the front lines, I helped you a lot back home. I was busy making single-layer shoes in spring and autumn, making straw sandals in summer, and sewing thousand-layer soles in winter. Others made one pair, I made two pairs; others made ten pairs, I made twenty pairs."

It's not that the original owner was particularly enlightened. His hometown was one of the areas that came into contact with communist ideology relatively early. Back then, the village would organize villagers to support the front lines every now and then. Every family had to send someone, sometimes one, sometimes two, and sometimes when the front lines were in dire need, each family might send several.

The original owner did all the work at Sun Gousheng's house by himself. He often did double or even multiple jobs. Xiao Yuan was not exaggerating at all when she said that.

"Later, when I heard that you were short of medicine, I went up the mountain to collect herbs for you. I went into the mountain whenever I had a spare moment, and I wouldn't come down until my basket was full... If you don't believe me, you can go to Sun Gousheng's hometown to ask... I'm a woman, and my abilities are limited. This is all I can do."

When there's a war, besides food shortages, there's also a shortage of medicinal herbs. Back then, the original owner learned to identify herbs from the old man, and she only recognized a few kinds. Among them, the ones she collected most often were for stopping bleeding and reducing inflammation, such as forsythia and blood arrow grass. One is for reducing inflammation and the other for stopping bleeding. These two herbs were the best-selling, and she almost only collected these two kinds.

She had asked the old man to sell all the herbs she had collected. After he passed away, she would still go up the mountain to collect herbs often. She thought that if she met another herb collector, she could at least make some money. However, she was very unlucky and never met another one. So, she had to donate the herbs she collected to the front line. It would be a pity if she didn't donate them and they spoiled.

Regardless of the original owner's purpose in donating the medicinal herbs, it is true that not a single penny was taken. It is believed that those herbs will definitely help the front line. Since they have made contributions, it is not a lie for Zhou Chuan to claim credit now.

"But how did you treat me? I'll put aside my apologies to Sun Gousheng for now. I just want to know how your unit treated me? That Political Commissar Wei accused me of this and that thing without even asking what happened. So many people could have testified for me, but he just wouldn't believe them and insisted that I hit her. Damn it, what kind of crappy unit are you? You can't even tell right from wrong!"

Zhou Chuan is still angry when he thinks about that day.

"And you, Political Commissar Ma, Sun Gousheng is your soldier, and you're protecting him wholeheartedly. He clearly knows he's wronged me, but you still protect him, afraid that I'll go to your commander and ruin his future. So your soldiers are human, and I'm just grass!"

Finally, when it came to Commander Xiao, she was filled with hatred, gritting her teeth. "You know perfectly well what kind of person he is, yet you still sent me to his house. You just wanted him to teach me a lesson!"

Actually, when Political Commissar Ma heard that Zhou Chuan had made shoe soles for them and donated herbs, he felt uneasy. He believed that what Zhou Chuan said was true, because some things cannot be faked.

Now that he's being criticized by those around him, he's too ashamed to defend himself anymore; his unit has indeed let them down.

Seeing that Political Commissar Ma remained silent and pretended to be timid, Zhou Chuan was too lazy to argue with him. Finally, she fixed her gaze on Regiment Commander Xiao:

"And you, surnamed Xiao, what kind of bullshit misunderstanding is this? What misunderstanding? If you had asked me first why I didn't feed your son, would I have not explained? In your heart, you already believed that I must have mistreated your precious son, so you started cursing at me. I'm the one who's being a jerk when I explain to you!"

“You all treat me like this, without even the most basic respect. Today you frame one of you, tomorrow you curse at another. I’ve only been at your house for less than a day and a half, and you’ve told me countless times to get out of here. Do you even remember?”

"I didn't wrong you? I didn't tell a single lie? I've done so much for the army before, and I never thought of speaking out until today, but the actions of your army are so disheartening!"

"You just said your army kindly took me in? Our village took you in too. Back then, we felt incredibly honored to take in a wounded soldier. We pooled the resources of the whole village, bringing out the best food from every household and taking meticulous care of him. But how did you treat me? You only took me in because of Sun Gousheng? We risked our lives to save people back then, but not a single person in the village complained. You guys..." Zhou Chuan shook his head in disappointment.

That was indeed the case back then. The whole village truly did their best for the wounded and sick, and not a single villager complained. Even the Sun family, whom Xiao Yuan disliked the most, contributed several eggs at that time.

"You, surnamed Xiao, still dare to say with your hand on your heart that the army has treated me well? You've let me down, you've let down my thousand-layer soles! And you've let down the medicinal herbs I dug day and night!"

"Heartless!" Xiao Beichen froze, a strange sense of guilt and shame welling up inside him. He knew he had underestimated her, and she knew he had underestimated her too. He hadn't known she had so many stories behind her. He didn't know... This time, he really shouldn't have made that mistake. He desperately wanted to sincerely apologize, but his throat felt blocked, and he just couldn't utter a word...

Zhou Chuan glanced at Xiao Beichen and thought he was nothing special. She suddenly felt disgusted with this place, its atmosphere, and its people.

Because of this group of people, so many women's lives have been ruined...

At this moment, she suddenly felt angry for those poor women who suffered the same fate as the original owner of the body; boundless anger filled her.

She glanced around at the men and women near and far, finally fixing her gaze on Political Commissar Ma and Regiment Commander Lin. But her eyes held no more pleading, fear, or respect; she despised them, she scorned them, she utterly disregarded them.

"You won the battle, and you were all rewarded for your merits. From peasants to officers, you reached the pinnacle of your lives. Ah, how amazing you are! You have risen above others, you are high above others, you are warriors who saved the nation from peril, you are heroes who saved all mankind!"

She saw that the two grown men's faces were flushed red, without any other emotion.

"What am I, an abandoned child bride? What are we, these pitiful widows from unrecognized feudal arranged marriages? Do you all wish we were all dead right now? There's an old saying, 'Promotion and wealth come, but your wives die.' Is that what you really think?"

Xiao Beichen's lips trembled. He wanted to explain, he wanted to say that he wasn't that kind of person, that they weren't that kind of person, but there were many like that in their military region—his comrades, his subordinates, his superiors...

He was ashamed, utterly ashamed! He felt that his honor as a soldier and his pride as a Party member had vanished completely in front of this child bride!

Political Commissar Ma wasn't much better off. Usually so adept at navigating social situations, he was now completely oblivious. He desperately racked his brains for evidence to refute the claims, but he just couldn't find any.

Men and women, near and far, were all experiencing a surge of emotions. Perhaps due to differences in their education levels, the points of their emotions were slightly different, but they all gained a new understanding of the child bride.

The scene was quiet, but Zhou Chuan found it incredibly ironic. They did, after all, know a thing or two about shame.

"When you need us, we're like fish and water; when you don't, it's like a feudal arranged marriage. Aren't you afraid of retribution for being so ungrateful, so treacherous, and so useless?"

"Heaven is watching what people do. Aren't you afraid of retribution?"

These questions struck everyone's heads, reverberating in their hearts. No one spoke. Zhou Chuan felt tired and didn't want to talk anymore. In the silence, a slightly loud female voice came from afar.

"Disperse, everyone! Disperse!"

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