Chapter 39: Now wearing a white robe with scarlet clothes

  Xue Xiang saw the atmosphere ease a bit, his straightened waist slumped again, leaning against the stone table, and smiled: "You praise me for having Gan Luo's wisdom, I am unworthy of it; but you compare me to Yan Shi Fan, this junior is flattered."

  The old general sneered: "You little scoundrel, I'd like to know, even if the old man is ill, how did you come up with the conclusion that there are hidden soldiers and knives in the Xuanwu Gate?"

  Xue Xiang's mind was now completely calm, and the most critical moment had finally passed. He took a sip of tea and said, "As long as Qing Fu is not dead, the troubles in Lu are not yet over."

  "Don't drag me into your literary nonsense, classical poetry and ancient texts. Old man will beat you to a pulp. Hehe, according to you, who is Qing Fu?"

  "I just said that, spouting a couple of crooked poems." Xue didn't expect to be so silly and straightforward, saying it all out loud, pretending to be stupid.

  "Haha, you little rascal is indeed clever, knowing when to stop, and is actually a behind-the-scenes manipulator, truly a guy who smiles in front of people but steals things behind their backs."

  "Isn't it just winning a few games of chess from you? You've always been so negative in your evaluation of me, this isn't the pragmatic style of our party members. Alright, I've already sent the gift, let me declare that this time I absolutely won't 'eat into the rice' with regret, purely to show respect, junior bids farewell." Xue said as he stood up and prepared to leave.

  "Is this place where you can come and go as you please?"

  "You're being too unreasonable, I've accompanied you in playing chess, given you the treasure, and answered all your questions. You've already punished me, as the saying goes, 'punish but don't hit, hit but don't punish', it's not right to both punish and hit."

  "Look at you, little kid, you were just boasting about committing a big massacre with me, and now you're chickening out?"

  Xue Xiang straightened his neck: "Got it, is there anything else? Please instruct."

  "It's nothing, you didn't give me a precious gift for no reason, did you? You want this old man to help with something, but I couldn't even get it done for you. Wouldn't that be a waste of my efforts? How about I promote your uncle instead and make him an official?" The old man smiled at Xue Xiang, his eyes twinkling with countless clever ideas amidst the fine wrinkles at the corners of his eyes.

  Xue Xiang was startled by the old man's kindness, and instantly understood his thoughts. He shrunk his neck, shivered, and stuttered: "Old sir, thank you for your good intentions, I'm still young, don't understand anything, so don't bother yourself."

  The old man chuckled and said: "What's this? You've guessed it, have you? Want to leave? Too late! This matter can't be helped by you, whether you agree or not."

  Xue Xiang said with a bitter face: "Old master, how can you do this? I guarantee that I will keep my mouth tightly shut and not speak recklessly. I know what's at stake, so don't try to put a noose around my neck." Xue Xiang still didn't understand that the old man wanted to give himself an identity as a commoner, making it convenient for him to order Xue Xiang around in the future. After all, he was just a commoner who had left officialdom and wasn't in the military, so what identity could the old man use to command Xue Xiang? Now, giving Xue Xiang the title of "Bai Ma Wen" was similar to the way the Jade Emperor dealt with Sun Wukong.

  The old man laughed so hard that his white eyebrows shook, saying: "You'd better resign yourself to your fate. Who let you run around my place without any restraint and show off your one-sided views? Now, wanting to leave is not possible." After speaking, the old man shouted towards the main hall: "Old Wang, come out and take him down!"

  Lao Wang and An Weihong ran over from the main room together. Lao Wang stepped into the pavilion, stood at attention in front of Hua Shuai, and respectfully said: "Commander, please instruct."

  "Go and get this kid an officer's certificate, the position on the ID card will be written as a special staff member of my office, and the rank will be set at thirteen levels, which is a reward for his treasure." The old general pointed to Xue Xiang.

  "Old Wang got the order and left, but suddenly turned back and said to Xue Xiang: 'Name, age.'"

  Xue Xiang, the Xue of Xue Ren Gui's family, a red heart towards the Party, 17 years old.

  Xue Xiang answered Old Wang's question and glanced at Hua Shuai with dissatisfaction: "Old man, you're being too stingy, I'm a national treasure among national treasures, didn't even exchange for my uncle, how could you only give me a junior rank? This is really not decent."

  In 1965, military ranks below marshal were abolished, and military cadres were converted to administrative levels, but not the thirteen levels of local areas, but rather the 3-27 levels. The old general gave Xue Xiangding's 13th level, which was roughly equivalent to a lieutenant colonel, and seemed to be similar to a section-level cadre in local areas.

  The old man raised an eyebrow: "What? If you want, I can also make you a general?"

  "Haha... don't scare me, I'm still young, gotta leave some room for improvement, right? You've already gotten me to level 7, that's enough." Xue was all smiles, but originally he wasn't this kind of carefree and joking person. How come when arguing with the old man, he suddenly became so energetic, and in his subconscious mind, he urgently wanted to show off himself, speaking a lot of nonsense, and being completely different from his usual self.

  "Seventh rank? Isn't that a junior general? You little brat is really something else - what a big mouth! How old are you, anyway? I've never heard of a 17-year-old junior colonel. Don't give me any nonsense about some Red Army era someone or other, those were special times, and in peacetime this is already breaking the rules twice over. You little brat, hanging my old man's office plaque, don't you dare shame my old man, and don't even think about showing off on the streets." The old man pounded on the stone table, continuing to scold: "Originally I was going to give you an 18th or 19th rank, but then I thought that you also gave me a precious gift, so I couldn't treat you unfairly; secondly, as An Certain Person's special participant, if the rank is too low, it would be embarrassing to mention, wouldn't it?"

  Xue Xiang was actually very satisfied with this treatment, holding the mentality that if he didn't take advantage of a good deal he would be at a loss. He decided to make the most of it: "Alright, alright, I'll just be a lieutenant colonel then. I'll eat a bit of loss, but the military uniform must be made from the material for high-ranking officers."

  "What the heck? In the blink of an eye, the old hen turns into a duck and you become a lieutenant colonel? How old are you, anyway? Grandpa, this is too unfair. I begged you to get me a junior officer rank and you wouldn't even do that. Are you really so pragmatic that you'd do business just because someone gave you a gift?"

  The old man raised his eyelids, glanced at Hua Weihong and scolded: "You little devil knows nothing, you're always flying around with your tail between your legs, and still have the nerve to come to me asking for a promotion. You wear that military uniform outside, it's not like you're going to make me lose face all the way to North Sea. However, this kid you brought back is not bad, he deserves a reward. Alright, I'll arrange for you to go train in a grassroots regiment for a while, then you can go to Qiong Island."

  An Weihong's face lit up with joy as soon as he heard about the reward, eagerly waiting for the old man to continue. However, when he found out that he would be sent to the border to become a soldier, his face immediately fell: "Grandfather, you can't just mix up rewards and punishments like this! I'm supposed to be an officer, not a soldier! I won't go! You can keep your reward!"

  "My old man is stubborn as a mule, won't budge without a fight."

  "Grandpa, who is your dear grandson?"

  …….

  Xue Xiang sat on the bus with his suitcase, which contained the four-season military uniform prepared by Old Wang. The uniform was exactly what he had asked for - a stock of general's uniforms with only the shoulder badges removed. He didn't like the dull gray color of the uniform.

  Xue Xiang still felt a lingering fear in his heart. When he knew that his uncle's comeback was impossible, he said something that risked everything, but he did it to get General An's attention. Fortunately, he won the gamble.

  Xue Xiang knew that without his uncle's comeback, he would become a mere spectator in the future game of power. He had to take risks, not just any risks, but life-threatening ones, to show off his skills.

  As for becoming General An's "special participant", Xue Xiang was more than happy. His initial refusal was just a pretense to hide his true intentions. He couldn't bet on the outcome or buy peripheral shares, but it wasn't bad either.

  Xue Xiang knew that the value of being a "special participant" was negligible, merely a way for General An to keep him in check, with some gratitude thrown in. However, he was thrilled to be tied to the old man.

  Xue Xiang would definitely make the most of his identity as a special participant. He was a butterfly, an Amazonian butterfly about to flap its wings.

  The sun shines brightly outside the window, and the air is fresh. At this time, Beijing is not the city of sandstorms that it will become in later years. It's already past three o'clock, and Xue Xiangsong's No. 5 bus is speeding along Chang'an Avenue. He needs to get off at the terminal stop at Tianqiao. The route that Xue Xiangsong's bus runs on also has a red name called Revolutionary Road. At this time, left-wing thought is prevalent, affecting even public transportation route numbers. All of Beijing's bus routes have not only their normal names but also very revolutionary names. The signs are red, with the route number taking up only about one-fifth of the space on the left side, while the rest of the prominent space is taken up by the revolutionary name, without indicating the starting and ending points. In addition to Revolutionary Road, there's also Long March Road, Red Flag Road, Anti-Capitalist Road, and so on.

  Xue Xiang opened the window to its largest, and leaned his head out to enjoy the view. The rushing cars brought a gust of wind that blew Xue Xiang's hair over his eyes, so he pushed it up, thinking that a buzz cut would be more convenient. However, Xue Xiang didn't like having a buzz cut, feeling that it was too plain, so after growing out his hair, he went to the barber and asked them to give him a stylish haircut, similar to Guo Fu Cheng's "student head". This hairstyle became an instant hit, with everyone admiring its beauty. People's pursuit of beauty is always tireless, and soon, many people in the city were imitating Xue Xiang's hairstyle, even those who normally wore hats or were bald started growing their hair out. The barber who had given Xue Xiang his haircut was overwhelmed with customers, but also benefited greatly from it, taking on five new apprentices and getting a two-level salary raise. Xue Xiang heard that this hairstyle was starting to spread within the school as well, with some teachers' "problem students" being the first to grow out their hair, and surprisingly, they were quite popular among the girls. Even Xiao Di, the king of hat-wearers, was considering changing his hairstyle to Xue Xiang's, while Li Mei Li couldn't stop staring at Zhang Xiao Hua's new haircut, making him very unhappy.

  Although Chang'an Avenue was not at its busiest time, it was still crowded with people and vehicles. Chang'an Street is the most famous street in China and once the widest and longest street in the world. The famous Red Flag Square is located on this street, and major military parades have been held here. Many powerful government agencies are concentrated on both sides of the street, making it the country's political center. Every day, the flow of people and vehicles on Chang'an Avenue was like a vast ocean. Fortunately, the driver was an experienced master, with superb driving skills, who navigated through the crowds and bicycle streams with ease, without any bumps. Xue leaned against the window frame, feeling the warm breeze on his face, and dozed off in a daze, unaware that he had fallen asleep.

  Ps: In 1965, the abolition of military ranks below Da Yuan Shuai had many reasons. The main reason was that at that time, the design of military ranks and medals were directly from or imitated from the Soviet Union's system. At that time, China and the Soviet Union were hostile to each other, so this system also became a thorn in the leader's heart. The leader felt that dividing military ranks and making officers and soldiers equal was contradictory, artificially creating classes. Didn't our own army win against those armies with military ranks? So, when Hu Zi Da Yuan Shuai reported, the leader said "I've been wanting to get rid of those plaques for a long time".

  Another important reason for the cancellation of military ranks was that at the time, there were many cases where high-ranking officials held low-level positions, and military ranks did not match their actual positions. Most army commanders wore lieutenant general epaulets, while most division commanders wore colonel or senior colonel epaulets. Moreover, since 1955, almost all military ranks had not been promoted, which had a very bad impact. After the cancellation of military ranks, all military personnel were converted to administrative levels, and their uniforms naturally needed to be modified. This led to the later introduction of the 65-style uniform, with soldiers having two pockets and officers having four pockets, with no other differences.

  In addition, the administrative level of cadres has been divided many times since the founding of the country. For the convenience of readers, the administrative levels mentioned in the following text are still based on the civil servant ranks and military ranks used later.