After Being Reborn, I became a firefighter again?

Fang Huai, carrying a large guitar case on his back, walked upstairs. Dressed in his camouflage uniform, he looked like he was heading to the rooftop for a stakeout.

Hao Chengbin wore a smile on his face and patted Fang Huai on the shoulder.

"You lad, it’s true that the more skills, the merrier..."

Fang Huai humbly responded with a chuckle, "Heh, just something I picked up playing at home."

The silent Wang Jian behind him was busy with his head down, frantically sending texts to Chief of Staff Huang of his own Detachment.

Wang Jian: Chief of Staff, the solider named Fang Huai I mentioned last time, it seems like he might not make it over to our team later, can you give Staff Officer Yang from the new recruit group a heads up sooner?

Wang Jian cautiously lifted his head to check if anyone was paying attention before he typed the last word, "greeting?", and sent the message.

This Fang Huai was becoming increasingly famous and in-demand. If they waited until after the troop rotation, the Anshun Brigade, which ranked at the bottom in the province, might find the opportunity long gone like day-old yellow chives.

Guizhou was now the poorest province in the country, with nine cities and prefectures, and Anshun’s economy ranked dead last this year.

The Anshun Brigade was disadvantaged by its impoverished background... No, not quite, it was handicapped by it.

Guiyang is the capital and big brother, Zunyi has Moutai and the conference site, Liupanshui and Bijie have mines...

Anshun, Anshun has snakes.

When the Instructor comes back, he’ll probably also contend for Fang Huai.

The Instructor is from the Liupanshui Regiment.

Liupanshui is full of mines, offering welfare benefits even higher than those of the provincial city, with higher risk allowances: they get five hundred, Guiyang gets eight hundred, and Liupanshui gets one thousand...

Half of the company comprised of non-commissioned officers from Liupanshui, who always held their heads high when talking about their benefits.

"Oh, our Detachment keeps handing out money! One moment it’s a job allowance, the next it’s a festival bonus, and at the end of the year, there’s even the non-commissioned officer performance pay! Can’t even spend it all, literally can’t spend it all!"

Non-commissioned officers from the Anshun Brigade: "What? What’s that you call non-commissioned officer performance pay?"

The competitive situation was truly damn tough.

... 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

The arrival of the guitar in the dormitory caused a stir.

A musical instrument, such a rarity in the new recruit group, was nothing short of spiritual sustenance that could liven up life.

Especially on a weekend enveloped by the chanting of regulations.

Yue Tao, acting like Zhao Benshan, circled the half-open guitar case by the bed with his hands clasped behind his back, inspecting it for a good while with his thick upper lip curled into an affirmative nod.

"Hmm... this thing, you guys definitely can’t play it."

Hao Chengbin, unable to bear the clowning fool anymore, retorted, "Nonsense! It’s not here for you guys to play! It’s for Fang Huai!"

Zhao Bing laughed and said, "Squad leader! We all saw Fang Huai playing the guitar downstairs! Everyone around was clapping, we just couldn’t hear it. Let the Deputy Squad Leader show us, huh!"

Hao Chengbin glanced at the time, still 40 minutes to go before dinner, and then looked at Fang Huai with a questioning gaze.

Fang Huai was about to speak when Lu Zexian teased.

"Squad leader, just now Yue Tao saw the guitar and said he could play it too! He was even making gestures over there!"

He said this while cradling his hands in the air and strumming them, imitating the style of a rock star.

"Right, right, right! Yue Tao said so just now!"

The squad loved to watch Yue Tao perform, especially his ’left hand six, right hand seven’, which he had learned to the point of deception.

You couldn’t let him play the fool; he was too convincing at it.

To everyone’s surprise, Yue Tao, looking indignant, shouted, "Do you all think I can’t do it? Do you all think I’m incapable?"

Everyone had been bored all morning, but as soon as the squad leader returned, the mood picked up, and they began to goad collectively, "Give us one, Yue Tao!"

What fun is there in watching someone skilled play the guitar? It’s much more amusing to watch a fool attempt it!

Yue Tao slowly got lost in the chants of the audience.

Hao Chengbin was in a good mood and waved his hand nonchalantly, beginning to rub the leg he had just hurt, pretending to ignore everything.

If you want to play, just play, damn well please yourselves.

With the go-ahead, Yue Tao immediately looked up with clasped hands and shook them at the crowd.

Fang Huai wanted to remind him not to damage the instrument, but when he saw Yue Tao take the guitar out, prop his legs up in the crossed-leg position, and rest his right thumb on the fifth string, he figured out what he was about to do.

And he said nothing more.

Yue Tao struck a pose and exclaimed loudly.

"Here goes nothing!"

5323, 1323, 5323, 1323, 5323...

Yue Tao narrowed his eyes, a look of total immersion on his face, occasionally glancing down to find the strings again.

After going around in circles seven or eight times, everyone began to zone out.

"What song is this?"

Yue Tao confidently replied, "It can be any song!"

Lu Zexian, skeptical, followed the rhythm, howling out.

"Roaming far and wide! Oh, the roads are long, the waters vast..."

His unrestrained singing style was soul-stirring and utterly chaotic.

Caught off guard, Yue Tao’s hands stumbled over the rhythm and he stopped, looking at Lu Zexian with irritation, blaming him for interrupting his musical inspiration.

"Can’t you sing something softer!"

Without missing a beat, Lu Zexian retorted, "If you’re so capable, change the tune then! Sing ’I Really Want to Live Another Five Hundred Years’!"

Fang Huai interjected dryly, "That’s called ’Borrowing Another Five Hundred Years from Heaven’!"

Feeling mocked, Yue Tao ground his teeth, "I’ll borrow a thousand years! I’ll borrow away all your lifespans!"

"Hahaha..." The room erupted in laughter.

"Let’s just have Fang Huai play us a couple of tunes!" the crowd suggested.

Fang Huai didn’t push back and played and sang a song he was quite familiar with, "If You Have Also Heard," by A-mei.

It wasn’t so much that he liked the song, but he had overheard someone humming it on the stairs a couple of days ago. With so many classic songs from the last decade during the era of the hundred-spirit battle between Hong Kong, Taiwan, and mainland artists, he wasn’t sure which had made the cut and didn’t want to sing just any song carelessly.

"It sounds so good..."

"Play another one!"

Everyone was astonished, but that was to be expected. Hao Chengbin suddenly sat up, reinvigorated.

"This song... did you write it?"

Fang Huai’s face showed a trace of awkwardness, "It’s A-Mei’s, Squad Leader... It might be a new song, you haven’t heard it."

"Oh..." Hao Chengbin leaned back against the wall.

"I was even thinking of asking you to write a song for me when I propose to my girlfriend."

Hao Chengbin obviously didn’t understand the value of a song. He mentioned it quite casually.

Fang Huai was stunned.

Really, Hao Chengbin, this blockhead, thinking about proposing?

Fang Huai’s eyes twinkled, he smiled and said, "Even if I wanted to help you, I can’t leave here, Squad Leader."

"No problem, I’ll just propose in our Squadron... all you have to do is—" Hao Chengbin suddenly stopped.

He had given himself away.

The other new recruits also picked up on the implication.

"Squad Leader, you want to take Fang Huai to the Squadron!"

Hao Chengbin laughed it off and didn’t reply. He turned to Fang Huai and said, "Fang Huai, would you like to come with me to our new Squadron?"

Fang Huai certainly wanted to, but he wasn’t sure if Hao Chengbin had the capability to arrange it. He asked, "Squad Leader... can you transfer me there?"

"I can’t." Hao Chengbin was straightforward, "But the Captain of the Special Duty Team can, and I’ve already phoned them."

"Did they agree?" Fang Huai continued.

Hao Chengbin was silent for a moment.

"Let’s wait a couple of days. If you agree, I’ll give you an answer in a few days."

"Of course, I agree!" Fang Huai stood up, demonstrating his sincere attitude.

"Good! Keep it up!" Hao Chengbin immediately showed a reassured smile.

Fang Huai smiled too.

I just wonder if you have the ability. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll have to handle it myself!

They exchanged glances, full of envy. Provincial Special Duty, indeed!

But they also knew that Fang Huai’s capabilities were beyond their reach, and they could only marvel in private.

Hao Chengbin saw the looks of envy and offered a glimmer of hope.

"Don’t be envious, just keep performing well! When it’s time for me to request more soldiers, I’ll ask for a couple more! Whether you can get into Special Duty depends on luck! The Provincial Brigade is not bad either!"

...

Today is the weekend.

It is also the day "Steel Seventh Company" diverges completely from Fang Huai’s memories.

In the course of one afternoon, the story of Fang Huai, the legendary Deputy Squad Leader of Squad Nine, began to spread among the other squad leaders.

Certainly, it was Squad Six Leader Wang Jian who spurred this on. He would prefer it if Fang Huai kept a low profile and was ignored, after all, he didn’t want anyone other than Hao Chengbin from the Liupanshui Regiment to be a competitor for talented new recruits.

The fiery enthusiasm of the Firefighting Regiment for recruiting was far higher than other troops because a Squadron would, at most, have between ten and twenty people, rarely exceeding thirty, and that included three or four cadres. A couple of awesome new recruits, if well cultivated, could propel the entire Squadron’s work to a higher level. That wasn’t impossible.

A jack of all trades like Fang Huai would be a relief to the cadres in any Squadron.

But Squad Six Leader Yang Hui, also known as "Chatterbox Fly," was different from Hao Chengbin. As a first period non-commissioned officer, obviously, he wasn’t akin to old NCOs like Hao Chengbin and Pan Zhaohui, who took pleasure in going home or stepping out. They couldn’t leave, so their entertainment was mainly bragging.

By the afternoon, Fang Huai’s achievements were wildly exaggerated.

His physical fitness received widespread recognition.

He was emotionally intelligent; Squad Nine was well-managed.

Technically skilled, as the Clerk Huang Yi claimed, he was more than sufficient as a mentor, though his actual words were "compared to you guys who only know how to play CS, Red Alert, and StarCraft, you’re nothing but rookies."

A good speaker. His summary of the news broadcast alone was fit for an Instructor.

And damn it, he was talented too, capable with the guitar, able to write songs. The Chief of Staff even said he would commend him!

He was the "Deputy Squad Leader" from someone else’s family.

Yang Hui initiated the idea, and everyone concurred. They eventually concluded that the issue probably lay with the position of "Deputy Squad Leader."

The squad leaders weren’t buying it!

I, too, shoulder the power of a squad leader bestowed by The Party and The People. So why can’t I select a decent Deputy Squad Leader?

It was just that they had failed to properly stimulate the enthusiasm of the new recruits to perform!

A Deputy Squad Leader was necessary. If one couldn’t be selected, then one had to be cultivated.

I’m all in for the Deputy Squad Leader project!

...

On weekend nights, there was a class meeting.

After dinner, each squad was hurriedly rolling out the "Deputy Squad Leader Election" project, notifying their recruits to be ready to showcase all their talents, as the squad leaders would inspect them tonight!

Those with special skills might be promoted to acting Deputy Squad Leader!

To have collective elections for Deputy Squad Leaders within a week of training in any military unit was pretty explosive.

Cao Peng learned the details and went to Squad Nine to inform Fang Huai, asking for advice on becoming a Deputy Squad Leader.

Fang Huai, of course, was eager to offer tips: Take advantage of the weekend when the squad leader is absent and wash his clothes... and his blanket.

Cao Peng looked at him with contempt: I thought we were brothers, but you treat me like a fool.

Fang Huai retorted with a laugh, "You want to be a Deputy Squad Leader with that attitude? You’re treating me like a fool! Your only chance is to go to your uncle’s Detachment and have him appoint you directly. A Deputy Squad Leader appointed by the Regimental commander has more clout than a squad leader."

The jests were jests.

But as Fang Huai passed through the corridor, overhearing two new recruits fresh from the toilet discussing showing their impression of the Yunnan dialect animation "Happy Montage" to their squad leader, he felt a twinge of guilt.

These recruits, how many beatings would they endure after returning!

Damn it, in my previous life, Seventh Company hardly ever had Deputy Squad Leaders. From what I can recall, there were only one or two. This time... it feels like a fantasy novel, doesn’t it?

Before the protagonist becomes a grandmaster, there are hardly any half-step grandmasters across the land. Once the protagonist levels up, half-steps are as common as dogs?

I am Fang Huai, not Fang Ping, okay?