Chapter 80 - 80: Xu Zhengyong’s Promotion l
Hearing the sound of footsteps and seeing Wei Ruo arrive, the wet nurse quickly wiped away her tears.
“Ruoruo!” Xu Zhengyong greeted with a radiant smile.
Wei Ruo didn’t reply, instead she gave him a careful once-over from head to toe.
“Stop worrying, Ruoruo, I’m fine, I haven’t been injured. I’m pretty tough, all the fights I had growing up weren’t for nothing, nor was the martial arts training from our master. And the crossbow you gave me, it’s incredibly powerful!”
“Our crossbowmen rained down arrows on them. Before they could even get close, a good number of them had already perished. When the melee started, they were already weakened. Plus, I was so fierce, those short and stubby Japanese couldn’t even touch a hair on my head!”
To prove to Wei Ruo that he was perfectly fine, Xu Zhengyong demonstrated a few moves on the spot and even did a backflip.
“Alright, alright, stop flipping around, lest you get injured at home instead of on the battlefield while showing off!” Xiumei interrupted Xu Zhengyong a little impatiently.
“Hehe…Meimei, you’ll have to call me senior brother in the future, right?” Xu Zhengyong didn’t forget about this.
“In your dreams! You’ve just fought one battle! Don’t you know you need to stay injury-free for at least three to five years to prove your worth?” Xiumei retorted promptly.
“Three to five years? Isn’t that too long?” Xu Zhengyong pouted.
“Too long? You think being a soldier is a two-day affair? When you chose this path, you should have known that this is almost a lifelong commitment, being safe for three to five years is probably even considered a lesser requirement!” “Alright, alright, I won’t fuss with you about it. Three to five years it is. Sooner or later, you will willingly call me ‘senior brother’!”
Xu Zhengyong responded confidently.
Then he began boastfully sharing his thoughts and experiences with Wei Ruo as if he were showing off a trophy.
“Ruoruo, I’m about to get promoted!”
“Really?”
“Of course it’s true, The Seventh Prince promised it personally!” Xu Zhengyong said then whispered, “They don’t let it be known that he is the Seventh Prince. I am telling you guys secretly, don’t let it go further!”
On hearing this, both Wei Ruo and Xiumei rolled their eyes.
“Brother Xiaoyong, don’t share such secrets with us in the future. If it’s not supposed to be known, then don’t say it,” Wei Ruo said.
“But you guys aren’t outsiders! One of you is my sister and the other my junior sister. I don’t have anything I can’t tell you.” Xu Zhengyong didn’t take it seriously.
“No, it’s not appropriate. The army is not like anywhere else. The rules that should be observed must be observed. Military orders are as unyielding as mountains, even if it involves parents, siblings, it doesn’t matter.” Wei Ruo said with a stern expression.
“That’s right, the young lady is correct, you better listen to her!” The wet nurse echoed.
“Alright, alright, I’ll be careful next time.” Xu Zhengyong repeatedly agreed. Even his mother had spoken up. If he didn’t agree, his dad’s fist might land on him.
“What position has the Seventh Prince promised you?” Wei Ruo asked.
“Didn’t you just tell me not to say, Ruoruo?”
“The secret to keep is the identity of the Seventh Prince, not what he promised you, right? You’ve already said the most confidential part, what are you holding back the rest for?”
“Oh, right.” After thinking for a moment, Xu Zhengyong conceded that she had a point and continued, “He said he would promote me to Deputy General!”
A General is equivalent to a company commander, and a Deputy General is a deputy company commander.
From what Wei Mingting had implied last time, he planned to promote Brother Xiaoyong to a General Flag (platoon leader). Unexpectedly, Chu Lan directly promised Xiaoyong a higher position as Deputy General.
Usually, a solider would first be promoted to a small flag (squad leader), then to a General Flag (platoon leader), and then to a Deputy General. Xu Zhengyong had just been promoted three ranks in one go.
Although Xu Zhengyong would still be far from Wei Mingting after his promotion, Xu Zhengyong is just a new recruit. Being able to go directly from ordinary soldier to Deputy General in such a short time is already quite impressive.
“Really? Are you going to be a Deputy General?” Xiumei couldn’t help but cheer.
“Hehe, the prince promised me this. Whether it will come true, I still don’t know.”
“With the prince’s promise, it will definitely happen. For the prince to want someone to be a Deputy General, it’s simply a matter of a spoken word. Besides, Brother Xiaoyong, you really have contributed a lot this time, your promotion is well-deserved, there will be no problem!” Xiumei said, her face full of joy.
“Meimei is right.” Wei Ruo agreed.
If it were only Wei Mingting intending to promote and reward Xu Zhengyong, Wei Ruo wouldn’t be so sure. But now that Chu Lan had made the promise, the odds of success were almost 100%.
Even though she didn’t like Chu Lan, she could confirm he was a man of his word.
The wet nurse said to Xu Zhengyong, “Aren’t you going to thank the young lady fast? If she hadn’t helped you make the crossbow, where would you have gotten your promotion?”
The wet nurse knew very well that her son’s big promotion relied on the crossbow given by the young lady. If it were only for the brave performance on the battlefield, he would at most have been promoted to a small flag. How could he be promoted three ranks all at once?
“Yes indeed!” Xu Zhengyong suddenly became serious, straightened his clothes, and bowed respectfully to Wei Ruo.
“Thank you, Ruoruo.”
He was quite serious at first, but unfortunately, his mischievous and teasing smile gave him away at the end.
“The crossbow I provided is one aspect, but Brother Xiaoyong has also won praise with his own strength. I heard that Brother Xiaoyong is very good at fighting, he can take on several men at once. When the two armies clashed up close, he was at the lead.” Wei Ruo said.
“That’s because of the good master the young lady found for him. It’s all thanks to the young lady’s foresight in finding a master to teach them early on. Otherwise, Xiaoyong wouldn’t have his current ability.” The wet nurse agreed. “Exactly, what my mother said is right. Ruoruo is the best to me! She is so forward-thinking!” Xu Zhengyong laughed merrily.
As he was laughing, Xu Zhengyong suddenly remembered something, “Oh, right, Ruoruo, I’ve used up the golden sore medicine you gave me. Do you have any more?”
“Where did you get hurt?” Wei Ruo asked.
“No, not at all, it’s not me.” Xu Zhengyong hurriedly explained, “It’s not that I got hurt, but my comrades were injured. Medicine is scarce in the barracks. The medicine we do have is given to those who are seriously injured. My two comrades were not severely injured, so they didn’t receive any medicine. So, I gave them your golden sore medicine.”
The wet Nurse slapped Xu Zhengyong, “You stinker, don’t you know the young lady’s medicine is very expensive? It’s supposed to be saved for your sake!”
“It’s okay, wet nurse, I can afford it. It was valuable that it was used on comrades. I’ll make more golden sore medicine for Brother Xiaoyong in the next few days. If this happens again, Brother Xiaoyong, just use it without holding back.” Wei Ruo said..