Chapter 021: How dare you send me to war!

"Hello, my dear son Yersha:

"I'm happy for you to learn that you passed your first month's test with flying colors.

"The old horse that was as old as you was sold by your father. I wasn't willing to sell it, but your father said it would be fine to use the strong horse you bought for our family wagon. I couldn't talk him out of it, and the old horse was sold anyway.

"The other day, Uncle Bogdan and Uncle Boria both sent your five percent commission, and Andrei sent your cut to your father. After they left, I snatched the money and locked it in a locker for your safekeeping. The next day, I realized half the money was gone. Asked your father, he said you are our husband and wife common son, should he help you keep half, I help keep half. I couldn't persuade him.

"We met at the vegetable market, that cabbage seller, Aunty Katja, she is from our neighboring village. Yesterday, she and two girls from their village went to town, passed through the three-way intersection and bought the milk tea I was selling at the entrance of the village. They loved the taste of the milk tea. When I said you invented it, the two girls rushed to get to know you and asked you to choose one of them as your wife. I said, when you come back to visit your family after one year of service, I will introduce you to each other ..."

Papa Yerofei's letter reads:

"Hello, dear Ye Xia. I'm very happy to learn that you successfully passed the first month's examination, and that your results have improved from forty-third place in the fifty-member team at the beginning to thirty-sixth place now, and I believe that you'll make even more progress in the future.

"Bogdan, Boria, and Andrei sent your share of the money, and your mother and I are holding half of it for you.

"I'll sell the old horse and use yours to pull the wagon. In the future, if you come back and are short of horses, we'll just rent or buy them again.

"All is well at home, don't miss ..."

Natasha's letter reads:

"Hello, my dear, best friend Yersha.

"It's been over a month, and Andrei, Tolya and I have missed you.

"The day after your recruits left, Valia returned to the town of Tasco. She came back alone in the official government wagon. She approached me the same day and said that she would have returned two days earlier, but the wagon broke down on the way and delayed her, or she might have been in time to see you off.

"She cried and told me that soon after she went to the Holy Capital with Joseph, she became pregnant, and after a while, Joseph was often out drinking and staying out all night. Varya heard that Joseph had a woman outside, and she later caught him in the act and urged him to repent, but Joseph continued to do as he had done. Varya couldn't stand it and got angry and aborted the baby. Joseph was furious and scolded Varya for not aborting the baby. Varya couldn't stand it either and filed for divorce, which Joseph angrily agreed to.

"Immediately after the divorce, Varya left the Holy Capital. Valia said that she regretted choosing Joseph and rejecting you, and that she was sorry. She knew from the first day she met you that you were in love with her, but she was a bit preoccupied with Joseph in her heart, plus Mona and Karen kept telling her that your family wasn't as rich as Joseph's, so she never said yes to you. Then, on her birthday, she didn't hear from you for a few days, and in contrast, Joseph sent her a big bouquet of roses every day, so she chose Joseph. She regrets it now, she feels sorry for you, she wants to apologize to you, but she is worried that you will ignore her and scold her ..."

Tolya's letter reads, "... That Varya who rejected you is back from her divorce and has been crying and swelling her eyes all day. Natasha brought her to our store and asked Andrei and I if we agreed to let Varya work in our milk tea store. I asked them why Varya didn't go to work in her family's furniture store. Varya said that it was hard for her because her parents criticized her every day. Our store is really busy right now and it would be better if she joined us. Andrei and I told them that Varya had to apologize to Yesha, and that Yesha would just forgive and agree. But Varya has been thinking about it for over a month and doesn't know how to write to you. I don't suppose she has the courage to write to you, alas ..."

Andrei's letter, on the other hand, reads, "... Tolya has often gone to find Martha to play lately, and he also said that Martha has turned eighteen this year, and will graduate in the summer, so there will be no 'misguided' concerns about falling in love with her at that time, huh? After you went off to serve in the army, after this busy period of time, I feel that the milk tea store needs to recruit a person as well. I proposed to hire Masha when she graduates, but Tolya was worried that the peppery-tempered Masha would be in charge of his money in the future, so he didn't agree, haha! By the way, that Varya came back from her divorce and looked quite sad. Natasha wanted us to agree to Varya coming to work at our store so she could relieve her grief. Tolya and I originally disagreed, but Natasha rhetorically asked us both, "What if you agree? Tolya and I were dumbfounded. So, old friend, what do you think? ..."

Yersha put pen to paper and wrote back to her parents and friends, including a letter to Andrei that went like this:

"... I'm outside, I don't know the situation of the store, if you guys think you need to hire people, hire them; if Tolya thinks that Masha is not suitable, don't hire her; if you guys agree to hire Varya, recruit her, there's no need to consult me on these issues. Even if you want to share shares with Varya together, I won't object. Andrei, my friend, I won't hate each other just because I lost my love, I'll still treat Varya as a friend. Since she's in a bad mood right now, she needs us good friends to comfort her even more, if she's willing to come to work at our store, it's better than her being bored at home and sad or even sick. Anyway, I'm outside and don't have to face her, I agree, lol!..."

After a few days, Natasha found Varya with a letter and comforted Varya who was crying with red eyes, "Dear Varya, don't cry, none of your worries exist anymore, in the letter to me, Yershia clipped a small envelope addressed to you, the envelope had a sealing clay, I haven't opened it. I know Ye Xia, he should not write to scold you. Oh, by the way, he agreed that you should work in our store."

Varya broke into a smile and hurriedly reached over for the letter, opening it as she did so, "Natasha, my friend, I'm so grateful to you for helping me get a message to Yesha!"

Varya looked at the letter, first excited, then smiling, then sad, then crying. She handed the letter to Natasha, wrapped her arms around Natasha and cried, "Oooooooooh, Natasha, I now realize that I used to be Ye Xia's favorite person, it was my mistake, I rejected him, I'm sorry for him. I now realize that before Ye Xia was the one who treated me the best, I now realize that the person I really love is Ye Xia, but he ... He doesn't love me now, ooohhhh-"

Natasha wrapped her arms around Varya and patted her back, soothingly saying, "Don't cry, don't cry ..."

Natasha looked through Varya's shoulder and looked at the letter that Ye Xia had written to Varya: "My dear good friend Varya, two years ago, at the age of eighteen, I met you for the first time, and I thought you were beautiful, and fell in love with you at first sight, fell in love with you, fell in love with you. After you left Tasco Town last year, I looked back and realized that the two years I knew you were just unrequited love, and that I actually didn't deserve you. Over the past few months, I've worked hard to try and let go of you from my heart, and time has slowly washed away my sadness.

"When I received my enlistment notice, my heart completely dropped you, but, my friend, don't get me wrong, I don't hate you, on the contrary, I still consider you as my good friend, one of the best friends, and like Natasha, both of you are my best confidants. Natasha is very understanding, you should socialize more with her, with Tolya and Andrei, and slowly, even if you're in a bad mood, you'll gradually get in a better mood as you socialize with these good friends. Believe me, that's how I came to be.

"Stay in touch! Yours sincerely, Yersha." ...

It had been two months since he entered the boot camp, and Ye Xia had yet to leave the camp. When lying in bed at night, Ye Xia always took a long time to fall asleep. Why? Because, after two consecutive months of being encircled in the barracks, the only people he saw every day were male soldiers and officers, and he hadn't seen any female soldiers! Not only have they not seen any female soldiers, they have not seen any female officers, even the entrance to the training camp has not seen any women from the general population pass by!

This was really too boring, too uninteresting, and too tedious for the bloodthirsty twenty-one year old male youth Ye Xia! Sometimes, Ye Xia even thought that when he completed one year of service and went home to visit his family, he would immediately marry Natasha or Varya and cavort night after night. If they don't agree to marry me, I'll just go to the bar with Tolya every night to drink and flirt with girls, and when I'm drunk, I'll ...

But that's just a thought, it's a long way from a full year of service!

It was hard to get through three months of training, and on this Sunday the officers allowed the recruits to take a day's stroll in the big wagon arranged by the barracks to the capital city of Fort Lupo.

Ye Xia happily ran to the wagon with the recruits, singing joyful songs all the way, as excited as a bird out of a cage.

In the morning, Ye Xia and the others first visited the historical places in the capital, at noon, they went to the food street to have lunch, and in the afternoon, they went to the commercial street to hang out.

The big capital is good! The population is large, accordingly, there are many beautiful women; the capital's economy is developed, people are doing well, accordingly, the face value of beautiful women is very high. Ye Xia realized that, originally, the beauty in Tasco Town, compared to the beauty here in the capital city of Fort Lupo, the beauty in Tasco Town had a face value of seventy percent, and the beauty in Fort Lupo was more than ninety percent!

Ye Xia's heart is beautiful, intoxicated by the beauty of the face of the big city, intoxicated by the prosperity of the big city, his heart is no longer thinking of the vacation back to the town of Tasco, rushing to marry Natasha or Varya.

Wandering around until five o'clock in the afternoon, Ye Xia and the recruits came to the city gates on time to gather and take the barracks' large carriage back to the camp.

The next day the officers began announcing the assignments of the new recruits. Basically, new recruits made up one-third of each ten-man squad, and the remaining two-thirds were veterans.

Every day, the captain of the ten-man team was in charge of training the members in sword and shield martial arts, then how to fight together in groups of three, and then how to fight collectively as a ten-man team.

What makes Ye Xia feel frustrated is that after the assignment of new recruits is completed, all the personnel of the whole military camp, except for the cooks who can go out to make purchases, others are not allowed to go out of the camp door, closed for a month of training!

This was different from what the veterans had said earlier. Previously, after three months of training, recruits began to be assigned to various hundred-man teams, but they were allowed to go out of camp every Sunday to play.

"Alas, it's a pity that I can't go to the streets of the capital to see beautiful women!" Ye Xia was so sorry in his heart.

Some of the veterans had the courage to ask the supreme commander of the barracks, the Lord Wannabe: Why is there no more Sunday rest?

Wannabe replied, "No questions asked!"

Some veterans who had fought on the front lines began to speculate, presumably preparing to go to the front.

When he heard this rumor, Ye Xia was a bit nervous and muttered in his heart, "What? I just want to quietly, without fighting, serve in the barracks for two years, and earn the qualification to become a Holy Light Knight before the two years are up. It's only been more than three months since I enlisted in the army, and I'm actually sent to fight?"