Apocalypse: My Sweetie Is Tough but Cute

Chapter 42: Chapter 042: My Grandson Came to Me in a Dream

“Ah!” Peng Chunlai, delighted, placed two bottles of wine on the table and took a seat beside Grandpa Peng’s bed-stove.

Grandpa Peng glanced at him, said nothing, and then turned to ask Tang Zelin.

“How’s the chief’s health?”

Tang Zelin smiled, “Great, he’s still training me every day.”

“You always come all this way to see this old man, it must interfere with your work.”

“Not at all, I’m on leave. I can’t stand sitting around at home, it’s comforting to chat with you.”

Upon hearing this, Grandpa Peng felt gratified. Tang Zelin was a good lad; anything he said sounded pleasant. His heavy expression from when he first arrived had also cleared up a lot.

Tang Zelin was a cunning one. In his own father Tang Husheng’s words, he was sharper than a monkey covered in fur since he was young, had more tricks up his sleeve than a wasp’s nest, with a keen eye and quick hands. If it weren’t for his exceptionally straight moral compass, Tang Husheng really wouldn’t have known what to do with him.

He was both relieved and worried when he joined the army.

From the moment Village Chief Peng Chunlai entered the room, Tang Zelin sensed the tension between him and Grandpa Peng. He made a mental note of it, planning to ask when the time was right.

Seeing Tang Zelin’s gaze circling between him and the Village Chief, Grandpa Peng knew the young man must have sensed something. Rather than wait for him to ask, it was better to take the initiative.

“Did you come from C-city?”

“Yes.”

“Nothing much going on in the city these days?”

Tang Zelin glanced at Yuan Xiao, momentarily at a loss for words, “Grandpa, why do you ask that?”

Seeing his reaction, Grandpa Peng had his answer and waved his hand, “Nothing.”

The more he said that, the more Tang Zelin felt something was up and asked a few more questions. The Village Chief then spoke up, explaining the recent issue with selling Lake Rice in the village, and in conclusion, sought the opinion of the two young men from the city about whether the village’s development and reforms were in the right direction. @@novelbin@@

Tang Zelin, a soldier, gave a slight smile and casually directed the Village Chief’s question to Yuan Xiao, his brother-in-arms who “did business.”

But he himself distinctly noticed that the issue was much deeper than it appeared from Grandpa Peng’s expression.

Yuan Xiao found the question perfectly suited for him and eagerly discussed the village’s modernized development with the Village Chief at length.

Meanwhile, Tang Zelin saw Grandpa Peng sigh inadvertently, prompting him to ask with concern.

Grandpa Peng looked at his dry pipe, exhaled a couple of times, and said, “Xiaotang.”

“Ah, Grandpa, speak your mind without hesitation. If there’s anything I can do, I will make sure to take care of it for you.”

Grandpa Peng’s grandson was named Peng Xiaojun. He had a simple and honest face and was sincere, down-to-earth, and honorable. He had been Tang Zelin’s comrade in the Special Combat Team. When Peng Xiaojun was a new recruit, Tang Zelin found him interesting—stubborn, yet incredibly patient. Having grown up in the military district where everyone could make waves, Tang Zelin was genuinely challenged training the straightforward Peng Xiaojun.

From the initial skepticism to finally emerging as an Outstanding Member of the Special Combat Team, Peng Xiaojun had truly won Tang Zelin’s admiration.

After many battles side by side, Tang Zelin especially liked this comrade. But in one attack against the enemy, Peng Xiaojun had fallen to the enemy bullets while giving his teammates hope to live.

Tang Zelin still remembered, when he returned the medal to the martyr’s family, how Grandpa Peng had caressed his grandson’s medal with his withered, old hands and said faintly,

“As a soldier, to die on the battlefield is a great honor for my grandson!”

Sometimes, people are like that, no matter how tough on the outside, a single sentence can pierce right through the heart.

Back then, Tang Zelin hadn’t said a word. But ever since, whenever he was on leave, no matter the length, as long as time allowed, he would make sure to visit Grandpa Peng and look after Peng Xiaogang for him.

Grandpa Peng tapped the ashes from his pipe and said, “A few days ago, Xiaogang came to me in a dream.”

Huh?

Tang Zelin: “…”