pjbooks Chapter 147 How much is youth worth? Name your price.
Chapter 147 How much is youth worth? Name your price.
"I... I didn't originally say I was unwilling."
Zhou Zhigang blushed deeply, feeling somewhat ashamed. It was true, but times had changed; with better opportunities available, who would choose to regress?
"Forget it, let's not talk about this anymore. Since the leader is willing to protect you, Uncle Yan doesn't want to argue with you about those irrelevant things anymore. Just make up for the losses that Dafeng suffered over the past five years."
When Bao Ya said that the leaders were intentionally protecting Zhou Zhigang, Political Commissar Gu frowned almost imperceptibly. What did she mean? With just one sentence, she accused them of intentionally covering for him.
Commander Qin's expression softened slightly. He glanced at Political Commissar Gu's stiff expression and thought to himself: This girl is interesting. Old Gu has met his match this time.
"Comrade Xiaolin, don't worry, we will definitely not favor Zhou Zhigang. Feel free to name your conditions, we'll discuss them together, haha."
Commissar Gu's expression stiffened; he sensed something was wrong—this girl was setting a trap for him.
Director Wen glanced at Political Commissar Gu with some concern, then at Wang Xiao beside him, as if to say, "See? The leader isn't much better than me."
Bao Ya ignored what Political Commissar Gu said and continued speaking:
"You've wasted five years of Dafeng's youth. How about this, give me 5,000 yuan as compensation, one thousand yuan a year, and we'll call it even."
Everyone gasped. Five thousand yuan? She really dared to ask for it. The room fell silent instantly.
Five thousand? Is five thousand a dog? You can just shout it out without thinking.
"Aren't you putting me in a difficult position? Where am I supposed to find five thousand yuan to give her?"
Zhou Zhigang was no longer calm. He wouldn't be worth five thousand even if he were sold. Besides, why would he give them five thousand?
"Then you should continue to fulfill the marriage agreement. The Yan family doesn't necessarily want that five thousand yuan."
Bao Ya said indifferently, "This person is indeed shameless, but if you want to succeed, you don't really need to be too shameless. This is probably the only way to succeed."
"You can't force me to marry Yan Dafeng, this is feudal arranged marriage..."
"Hahaha... Feudal arranged marriage? That's a catch-all excuse for you guys, you can use it whenever you want a divorce."
Before he could finish speaking, Bao Ya burst into laughter, completely disregarding the leaders present.
"I remember there was a man surnamed Li in the next village. He used the same reason to divorce his wife, but later married the daughter of a high-ranking official, and his whole family rose to prominence."
Your unit should promote this widely, so that anyone considering a divorce can learn from it, since you have the most successful cases here.
Bao Ya was speaking to the two leaders. Back then, many people in the army used this reason to divorce their wives from the countryside, so they knew it best.
At this moment, Division Commander Qin's face turned extremely ugly, and Political Commissar Gu also put away his smile, giving Zhou Zhigang a hostile look. Everyone around dared not breathe.
Wang Xiao wanted to rush over and cover her mouth. How could she offend someone so badly? If these words reached the ears of the woman surnamed Li, she would be in deep trouble.
He had been to the Nanshan Brigade before and knew who the man surnamed Li was, so he was more nervous than anyone else present.
Everyone else in the room held their breath after hearing her words, when suddenly a voice spoke slowly:
"How about five hundred?"
Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw that it was none other than Commander Qin, who possessed an extraordinary demeanor. The room fell silent once again.
His saying that was even more unacceptable than Bao Ya's demand for five thousand yuan earlier. When did their aloof commander learn to bargain?
Commander Qin ignored the reactions of others, simply raising his chin to signal Bao Ya to continue. He wanted to see how this girl would raise the price.
Bao Ya's words had indeed embarrassed them, but he wasn't angry; what she said was true.
Bao Ya was also baffled by him. She wanted to say, "Big brother, your reaction doesn't match your usual demeanor." She misjudged him this time, but quickly realized her mistake:
"Five hundred is fine, but you have to fire him."
"Don't go too far, what gives you the right to fire me?"
Before anyone could speak, Zhou Zhigang couldn't sit still any longer. Ignoring the presence of his superiors, he slammed his fist on the table. This woman was trying to ruin his future.
Seeing him like this, Captain Yan got angry and was about to argue with him when Bao Ya grabbed him.
"You got your military service spot by cheating. That spot originally belonged to Yan Laosan, and you only got close to Dafeng because of it. Now that you've been promoted, you want to dump her."
The reason I didn't say anything a few years ago was partly because I hoped the Yan family would help take care of your mother and sister, and partly because I thought that if you couldn't get promoted, you could transfer back home and find a job in the commune through Secretary Yan.
Now that you've been promoted, neither of those two conditions are needed anymore, right? You haven't already found someone else, have you? Which leader's daughter are you?"
At that time, not every soldier could find a job after leaving the military. The book described those who were promoted to officer rank and then transferred to civilian life, where they could get a good job. But in reality, only a very small percentage were promoted to officer rank. The vast majority transferred to civilian life without being promoted to officer rank.
Among those who were not promoted, there were also those with urban household registration and those with rural household registration. Those with urban household registration would be assigned jobs based on their actual circumstances.
But the situation is different in rural areas. In fact, most soldiers come from rural areas. After being discharged, it is already quite good if they can join the militia as captains. The rest can only go home to farm.
After Bao Ya finished speaking, she glanced at all the leaders and finally looked at Commander Qin, signaling him to continue.
Everyone was hoping that the leader would say something more, but he simply crossed his arms, raised his chin, looked up at the sky at a 45-degree angle, and remained silent.
Political Commissar Gu glanced helplessly at Division Commander Qin, then patiently continued to discuss the matter with Bao Ya.
"Comrade Xiao Lin, it's not easy for the army to train an officer. To dismiss Zhou Zhigang just because of an engagement is a waste of national resources. Five thousand yuan in compensation is too much. I'm so old and I've never even seen what five thousand yuan looks like, right? Hehe."
"Yes, yes, there are definitely too many."
Director Wen, who hadn't spoken for a while, chimed in, and Xu Guanyan, who wasn't very noticeable, quickly added a few words.
The fact that he didn't mention the 500 yuan condition shows that they wanted to protect Zhou Zhigang. Few military leaders don't protect their own. However, the political commissar's refusal to offer a price put Bao Ya in a difficult position, leaving her with no choice but to continue applying pressure.
"Political Commissar, how much is a girl's five years of youth worth? Name your price. I want to know what the people mean to you."
Bao Ya stared straight at Political Commissar Gu, waiting for him to name a price.
Commissar Gu was speechless, suddenly feeling a headache coming on. Could he really say such a thing? Saying how much a girl's youth is worth could easily be interpreted as a moral issue.
"Zhou Zhigang is so blatantly exploiting the people, and you can all turn a blind eye. We feel there's no need to continue this discussion."
"Uncle Yan, please take Dafeng home. The atmosphere here is terrible. Have Secretary Yan write to the General Military Region, truthfully reporting the situation to the leaders, and let them make a decision."
Bao Ya made a move to pull Captain Yan to his feet, indicating she didn't want to continue the discussion. She couldn't resolve the problem, nor did she want to bleed any money; no wonder the soldiers she trained were all idiots.