Gu Lu, as a liaison staff officer, could be considered quite knowledgeable. However, when a girl "talked nonsense," the young Staff Officer Gu Lu found it difficult to handle. When the female telephone operator couldn't help but laugh out loud after hearing Gu Lu's words, Gu Lu subconsciously asked, "What's wrong?" The female operator then gave an answer that Gu Lu found completely incomprehensible: "I'm not really sure why I laughed either."

This answer was obviously not the truth, because the operator definitely knew why she "wasn't really sure why she laughed." Whether to press the question or ignore it was a line hard to tread. Gu Lu was in a bad mood, so he didn't want to distract himself with so many considerations. He said, "Connect me to the General Headquarters."

The operator replied, "It's already connected."

Gu Lu felt quite surprised. He picked up the handset and cranked the phone. Soon, the voice of Staff Officer Xu from the General Headquarters came through the receiver, "Hello, who is this?"

Glancing at the operator with slight surprise, Gu Lu then spoke into the microphone, "Is Commander Chai available?"

After listening to Gu Lu's report, Chai Qingguo fell silent for a while before saying, "I heard that you usually sleep at this time?"

"Yes." No one had ever mentioned this to his face, and Gu Lu was even more surprised that even Chai Qingguo knew about his schedule.

"Don't sleep now. Come over here immediately," Chai Qingguo ordered.

Putting down the handset, Gu Lu glanced at the operator again. Although his office was right next to the telephone squad, Gu Lu really rarely came here. Searching the information in his memory, apart from knowing that the operator might be surnamed Lin, everything else was a blank. But this was not the time to investigate the reason for the laughter. Chai Qingguo did things cleanly and efficiently, and he absolutely disliked others dragging their feet. With a lingering feeling of being laughed at by a woman, Gu Lu strode out of the telephone squad.

As soon as he stepped into Chai Qingguo's office, Gu Lu felt a sense of solemnity. Among the commanders of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, Chen Ke's status was god-like. General Political Commissar He Zudao and Commander-in-Chief Hua Xiongmao were relatively distant from everyone. As a platoon leader, the ones he could occasionally come into contact with were the mid-to-high-ranking commanders on the front line. Among these people, Zhang Yu was known as cold and gloomy. Pu Guanshui was known for sticking to the rules. Chai Qingguo's reputation was that he was "too formidable." Few people had ever seen Chai Qingguo smile. Of course, few people had seen him get angry either. Although Gu Lu was not afraid of Chai Qingguo, when facing this commander, he always involuntarily perked up. It was the same now. When Chai Qingguo expressionlessly told Gu Lu to sit down, Gu Lu immediately sat down upright.

"Go to Regiment Commander Lu Kaiwen and find out why he mobilized the troops," Chai Qingguo said.

Facing this request, Gu Lu replied with some hesitation, "This is the work of the Political Security Department, isn't it?"

On the way, he had considered the issue of Lu Kaiwen doing this. Without organizational arrangements, unauthorized mobilization of troops was not allowed. If one were to raise the stakes, this involved political security work. What was the intention behind mobilizing the troops? This was a big problem. After saying this, Gu Lu looked at Chai Qingguo, only to see Chai Qingguo staring at him intently. Gu Lu started to feel a bit nervous, suspecting whether he had mentioned the wrong department to handle this matter.

After staring at each other for a while, Gu Lu heard Chai Qingguo say, "Comrade Gu Lu, if I ask you to temporarily take over the work of this regiment now, how confident are you?"

"Uh..." Gu Lu couldn't help but swallow. No matter what Chai Qingguo said, it wouldn't surprise Gu Lu any more. Finally stabilizing his mind, Gu Lu replied, "I... I will work hard to complete the organization's arrangement."

"En. Then go and prepare. You can probably take office tomorrow," Chai Qingguo said.

"Commander Chai, what exactly happened with Regiment Commander Lu?" Gu Lu asked.

"Unauthorized troop mobilization. No need to ask for reasons; first, he must be dismissed and investigated. You are just temporarily acting in his place. Future arrangements will be discussed later," Chai Qingguo replied.

Gu Lu certainly knew how serious the nature of unauthorized troop mobilization was, especially at a time like this when so many troops were gathered in Xuzhou. All units had to strictly observe discipline. But he never expected that just such a thing would lead to Lu Kaiwen being dismissed and investigated. And the role he was playing in this matter was a bit surprising.

"Do you have any concerns?" Chai Qingguo asked.

"I'm not very clear on my thoughts right now either. I was thinking about whether I can do the job well," Gu Lu replied. Just as he finished speaking, he suddenly felt these words were somewhat familiar. On second thought, he remembered that he had subconsciously imitated Operator Lin's words.

Chai Qingguo didn't care about Gu Lu's thoughts. He said coldly, "It's normal to have concerns. With the troops expanded to this scale, the first thing is to talk about discipline. The next thing is to talk about whether the work can be done well. As for other things, you don't need to consider them at all. Whether you can shoulder the work, everyone sees it very clearly. Not only are we watching, but the comrades are also watching. Today Comrade Lu Kaiwen is dismissed and investigated, so now you are asked to take up this work. If you don't do the job well, tomorrow you might be dismissed and investigated."

This calm attitude did not make Gu Lu feel afraid. On the contrary, what Chai Qingguo said greatly stimulated Gu Lu's spirit. He replied, "Yes. I will work hard to complete the mission."

This attitude clearly exceeded Chai Qingguo's expectations. He looked at Gu Lu for a moment longer before asking, "If you have any thoughts, say them now. Don't wait until after you take office to feel regret."

"Commander Chai, I have no thoughts. If I don't do well, just dismiss me. I'll just work hard," Gu Lu replied.

"Aren't you afraid of people gossiping?" Chai Qingguo asked.

"..., I haven't thought about whether others will gossip. I only think about concentrating on my work," Gu Lu replied.

"If some comrades express doubts about you, what do you plan to do?" Chai Qingguo continued to ask.

"Well, you have to let comrades speak," Gu Lu answered very crisply.

Hearing this answer, Chai Qingguo did not speak again. After another while, Chai Qingguo waved his hand, "Now you hurry up and go about your business. Wait for the organization's notification."

The news that Lu Kaiwen, as well as the regiment political commissar and deputy commander, were all dismissed soon shook the base area. And the ins and outs of this matter were quickly communicated to the whole army. Chairman Chen Ke was originally planning to inspect Lu Kaiwen's regiment. After getting the news in advance, Lu Kaiwen conspired with the political commissar and deputy commander to perform well in front of Chairman Chen Ke. They planned to loosen the soil the night before so that they could have excellent digging performance the next day.

Lu Kaiwen, the political commissar, and the deputy commander all admitted to their actions. Since they behaved relatively honestly, the organization's characterization was also made quickly: "Unauthorized mobilization of troops, violation of military safety discipline. Failure to comply with engineering arrangements, fraud, and soliciting credit. Comrades Lu Kaiwen and others are removed from all posts and sent to the training class for education."

Two days later, Gu Lu took over the command of the troops as the acting political commissar. With the change in job position, the work had to be handed over immediately. Gu Lu bid farewell to the comrades of the Liaison Section and prepared to take office. Before taking office, Gu Lu couldn't hold back the doubt in his heart and found Operator Lin to ask why she had laughed at that time.

Operator Lin really hadn't expected Gu Lu to ask this question, but this time she didn't continue to laugh. "I felt that you handled this matter very decisively. Thinking back to when you first encountered these problems, frowning and looking so troubled, I couldn't help but want to laugh."

"Did I look that troubled at the beginning?" Gu Lu was quite surprised by this answer.

"At the beginning, you were full of desire to do the job well. But obviously, you didn't know what to do. That anxious look was quite interesting," Operator Lin said, and couldn't help but laugh again. Her appearance was very ordinary, hard to leave a deep impression. But although her eyes were not big, they were unusually dark and bright. When she smiled, they attracted special attention. While looking at these dark, bright eyes, Gu Lu recalled his feelings at that time. He couldn't remember at all if he was as troubled as Operator Lin said.

However, having resolved the doubt in his heart, Gu Lu had no intention of pursuing it further. He generously extended his hand, "Comrade Lin, thank you for being so straightforward."

Operator Lin also generously extended her hand, "You're welcome."

After bidding farewell to the comrades of the Liaison Section, Gu Lu went to take up his post. The troop station was not far at all. Led by comrades from the Organization Department, Gu Lu convened the first meeting. The regiment-level cadres had been swept away because of their involvement in this fraud. First Battalion Commander Gao Zhisheng temporarily acted as regiment commander, and the commander of the Second Battalion served as acting deputy regiment commander. Although comrades from the Organization Department participated in the meeting, after suddenly suffering such a great "humiliation," the cadres in the regiment were all as listless as eggplants hit by frost.

This matter was indeed very shameful. Regiment Commander Lu Kaiwen originally wanted to brown-nose, but the brown-nosing ended up kicking the horse's leg. Chai Qingguo's reaction to this action was really excessive, and it was said that Chairman Chen Ke was also quite angry about it. After such an event, the current regiment cadres felt they couldn't lift their heads in front of others. How could they have any spirit in the meeting.

Gu Lu understood this very well. He said to the comrades, "I probably know what everyone is thinking right now. When I worked in the platoon before, the quartermaster comrade in the company had sticky fingers and was taken away. After such a thing happened, wherever we went, people would say things about our company. I think everyone doesn't need to care about this kind of thing."

The comrades from the Organization Department had also said "don't care." But this didn't make the comrades feel any better. Gu Lu looked at the group of dejected comrades. With a *pa*, he suddenly slammed the table hard. This intense action made the comrades subconsciously look up at Gu Lu.

Gu Lu shouted loudly, "Commander Lu and the others shouldn't have practiced fraud, that's correct. But why did Chairman Chen want to inspect our regiment? Isn't it because our regiment's work performance is excellent? Commander Lu and the others thought too much. What's the point of thinking so much when doing revolution? We do whatever work the organization assigns. The one who lost face is Commander Lu; what face have we comrades lost? In the future, if anyone dares to gossip about our regiment, tell me, and I'll lecture them."

This statement, although it failed to dispel the comrades' depression, at least cheered everyone up a little.

"Commissar Gu, you can't just scold people whenever you see them, right?" Acting Commander Gao Zhisheng said in a muffled voice.

"Of course I can't just scold people whenever I see them, but if someone speaks to our faces, I will certainly scold him. What's past is past. Holding onto some old stale grain and rotten sesame seeds, what kind of mindset is that? We absolutely cannot encourage this evil wind," Gu Lu said decisively.

Hearing this, the other comrades also got a bit of spirit. Although they were still a bit listless, when Gu Lu started to arrange work, everyone was at least able to start participating in an organized manner.

Gu Lu slammed the table again, "Don't feel that you have done something wrong. If everyone had done something wrong, the organization would have dismissed everyone long ago. Since the organization hasn't dismissed us, it means the organization hopes we can continue to work well. If you don't want to work well, say so early. The comrades from the Organization Department are right here. If you can't stand it, apply to leave. If you don't want to leave, then perk up and work hard!"