Sweet Nostalgia of the 80s

By the time they finished watching the target shooting, it was already dusk. Political Commissar Liu was also going back to the division headquarters, and he took Ning Chenyang with him.

On the way, Ning Chenyang asked a bunch of questions, talking endlessly until he tired himself out, and finally sat quietly by himself for a while.

Sitting in the back seat, he fell asleep with his eyes closed, his little hands tucked in his pockets, which held small parts he had secretly taken from the firearms.

These small parts would be very useful to him in the future.

When they got back to the division headquarters, it was just in time for dinner. Qin Jian had been busy with work, so he hadn’t had time to eat, and he ate with the soldiers.

After dinner, Political Commissar Liu invited Ning Chenyang to his home to play, but Ning Chenyang declined.

His father had specifically called to tell someone to remind him to go back to his dormitory obediently after eating and wait for him, and not to run around.

Ning Chenyang was very well-behaved and went back to Qin Jian’s dormitory after eating.

He closed the door, took the two small black parts out of his pocket, and examined them in his hand for a while. Then he decided to call Wang Xiaohu’s home.

After a few beeps, the call connected.

The person who answered was none other than Wang Xiaohu.

”Hello! Who’s this?” Wang Xiaohu asked, his words muffled by the large apple he was munching on.

”It’s me, Xiaohu! It’s Chenyang!”

”Commander Ning! What made you think of calling me? How’s it going? I heard from your mom that you went to the barracks with your dad. How was it? Was it fun?” Wang Xiaohu asked.

”It was fun! Absolutely awesome! Wang Xiaohu, you wouldn’t believe it, but I went target shooting today! I got to handle a gun! It was amazing!” Ning Chenyang, being a kid too, had that urge to show off.

Upon hearing this, Wang Xiaohu was green with envy: ”Really? I want to handle a gun too! But I don’t get the chance! My dad would never take me to the barracks!”

”What a pity!” Ning Chenyang clicked his tongue, ”The feel of that gun was just incredible!”

”Okay, okay! Did you call just to make me jealous or what? Do you have anything else to say? If not, I’m hanging up!” Wang Xiaohu said grumpily.

”Wait, wait!” Ning Chenyang quickly stopped Wang Xiaohu, ”I got some good stuff here. If we have this good stuff, we can assemble a gun!”

”What? What stuff?” Upon hearing about assembling a gun, Wang Xiaohu’s eyes lit up, ”You’re not kidding me, are you?”

”Of course not,” Ning Chenyang whispered, lowering his voice, ”You told me about it, don’t you remember? You said there’s an open display case on the first floor of our courtyard’s library with an old broken gun in it, right?”

With Ning Chenyang’s reminder, Wang Xiaohu remembered: ”Of course! My dad said that gun was too broken to use, but it was used by a hero back in the day, so it was put in the library for display. Back then, the library was a source of pride for our courtyard.”

”There you have it,” Ning Chenyang snickered, ”I got a piston and a firing pin from here. When I get back, I’ll find a way to take out that piece of iron in the library that no one looks after, and study it to see if I can assemble a real gun!”

”What for? Why do you want a real gun? Are you planning to steal some bullets too?” Wang Xiaohu asked.