"What does Mrs. Fu want to talk to me about?" the colonel asked.
After closing the dressing room door, Lin Nuan"s smile gradually dimmed, her gaze full of sarcasm as she looked at the colonel…
"Colonel, what did you tell me earlier? The main objective is to publicize the army, to tell the public what a soldier is, what the soul of being a soldier is, what guts are! About the belief of soldiers! I very much want to hear from the colonel… What is a soldier? What"s the soul of being a soldier? What are guts? What"s the belief of soldiers?"
Lin Nuan"s smile was a superficial one as she walked back in her high heels and returned to where she was sitting. Her slim and straight legs were crossed, her elbows were on the armrests, and her voice was pleasant-sounding.
Lin Nuan didn"t bother hiding her emotions. The colonel wasn"t daft and could clearly tell that Lin Nuan was insinuating something. The words sounded sharp and sarcastic when coming from her mouth.
The colonel"s eyes were on Lin Nuan as she walked back to her chair and sat down. He asked with a hint of a smile, "Mrs. Fu, are you insinuating something?"
Lin Nuan smiled. "If the colonel doesn"t say things clearly, I"ll think… a so-called soldier is one who knows how to weigh the pros and cons and manipulate one"s emotions to make a deal! The so-called soul of the army is asking a retired soldier to rescue the soldiers in your troop when they"re captured! The so-called guts are you hiding behind someone and looking on as someone else risks his life to rescue your warriors! Your belief… hur, protecting our nation? Colonel… is that what you wish me to convey to our citizens?"
The young army officer"s countenance slightly changed, as if he were trying his best to hold something back.
"Colonel, I"m waiting for your reply! Are they those things?" Lin Nuan asked again, the smile vanis.h.i.+ng from her face.
"Mrs. Fu, if you have something to say, you can just say it directly. Why go one big round to scold someone?"
"Was what I said not the truth?" Lin Nuan"s expression was dark. "You are soldiers. It"s a soldier"s duty to protect its citizens. Fu Huai"an left the military so many years ago and has long become an ordinary person! Back then, during that undercover mission, how many warriors died in the Golden Triangle! Fu Huai"an barely managed to escape death and send the guilty to prison, yet you handed the person to the US government in exchange for your own interests! Now things are great… The person who has just been released wants revenge and has captured your people. Instead of sending your own men to rescue your own warriors, you"re exploiting Fu Huai"an"s feelings of comradery with his ex-comrades, asking him to rescue them single-handedly at the expense of his own life! How did you manage to do something like this? Be it capturing them or releasing them, the benefits… you people took them! What right do you have to ask my man to risk his life!"
As she spoke the last sentence, Lin Nuan"s voice raised by several pitches, her chest violently heaving.
Inside the dressing room, it was deathly quiet.
The young army officer"s countenance didn"t look well. After a long while, while clenching his teeth, he said, "Lin Nuan, your man is a soldier too!"
"He"s a retired soldier!" Lin Nuan was agitated.
"Have you ever heard this saying… If there"s a war, even retired soldiers must be called back to serve!"
"Don"t insult that saying!" Lin Nuan"s chest was heaving up and down violently. "Where"s the war? All I see is you people exploiting a retired soldier"s feelings of comradery to clean your a**es after you reaped all of the benefits!"
"Lin Nuan!" The young army officer stood up, clenching his fists and teeth tightly, his ma.s.seter muscle apparent. Even after several heavy breaths, he didn"t manage to calm his emotions. "What do you think war is? Do you think that collecting intelligence on missions overseas isn"t considered a war?"
Lin Nuan stood up as well, not afraid at all. "If that"s war, then where are all of the active soldiers who get paid from our taxes and are shouting out claims of protecting the civilians? All you soldiers with two stripes and four stars on your shoulders… Is the only thing that you all know how to do sit around in an air-conditioned office while having a retired soldier risk his life for you? Ridiculous… isn"t it easy being a soldier!"
"You think I don"t want to go?" The young army officer"s anger was surging upwards. He was losing control of the emotions he had under control earlier. However, he couldn"t speak of those things that involved personal feelings and confidential military secrets!
He took a deep breath and adjusted himself. Then, after a long exhale, he bent over and picked up his army cap from the table and put it on properly. "You have one hour"s time to go home and pack up your things. My men will be following you, and they"ll take you to the army directly!"
"What"s this? Treating me as a hostage to threaten Huai"an into risking his life to help you rescue those people?" Lin Nuan snickered.
"Never mind if you"re just saying these words before me. However, once you get to the army, I"d advise you to focus on doing your show…"
Before the young army officer could finish, Lin Nuan whipped her phone from her pocket. The timer for the voice recorder was still ticking away. Lin Nuan pressed stop.
"Give that phone to me!" The young army officer"s countenance changed greatly as he walked closer to Lin Nuan and extended his hand.
Lin Nuan raised the phone up high and quickly retreated several steps. She just had to press confirm, and she would successfully send the voice recording out.
"Didn"t you want to publicize the army? Colonel, if this voice recording gets sent out… would it have a good publicity effect for the army?" Lin Nuan smiled.
The young army officer didn"t dare act recklessly. "Lin Nuan, if this voice recording gets sent out, your future will be ruined!"
"Trading my future for the truth, that"s exactly what I want to do! To let the public see the truth behind the army. When so many taxpayers find out their taxes have been used on paying army officers who only know how to sit around in an air-conditioned room, what will they think? I"d like to know!" Lin Nuan smiled and nodded. "Ah… perhaps there will be more people dying to enter the military! After all, the benefits are excellent, they don"t have to do anything, and their livelihood will be taken care of!"
"Lin Nuan!"
The young army officer no longer had tolerance for Lin Nuan"s insolence. But seeing Lin Nuan"s finger hovering above the "Send" b.u.t.ton, he still held back his temper and said, "The reason we"re getting Fu Huai"an to rescue them is because no one else knows the person who captured our soldiers like Fu Huai"an! It"s Fu Huai"an who disdains our people for dragging him down and is refusing reinforcements! It"s not us who insisted on having Fu Huai"an carry out the rescue single-handedly! Moreover… exchanging the person that Fu Huai"an captured with the US government was a political movement… It was done because it would bring our country greater benefits! But I must make things clear, that it was a political movement, not the act of our military! Our military doesn"t interfere in diplomatic matters!"
Seeing that Lin Nuan didn"t have any intentions of setting down her phone, the young army officer straightened his neck and relaxed his body before saying to Lin Nuan, "You think… I don"t want to rescue them myself? My older brother has been captured! Yet I can only be trapped in an office…"