"It was on that day that I realized that the greatness of our country was not the GDP, nor the GDP that had increased again. There were only two words, peace."

Speaking of this, Zhuo Qiang paused, then turned to look at Zhang Kun and said, "You may not understand very well. It is easy to say the word "peace", but only those of us who have experienced it can understand the preciousness of these two words."

"Maybe for you, you will get up at 7 or 8 o'clock every day, wash your face and brush your teeth, think about what breakfast to eat, and then go to work, go to school, and in the afternoon, you will make an appointment with a few friends, drink some wine, grill a skewers, play some small cards, and then go home, watch TV, and wash and sleep. These things are all normal."

"But, where we have seen, there is rarely a safe night for the people of some war-torn countries, and for them, every night falls represents an unknown future."

"Think about what to eat for breakfast? No, for them, having something to fill their stomachs in the morning is a luxury. As for going to school and work, it is something that can only appear in dreams."

"They spend every day tremblingly, getting up early and going to bed late, trying to find ways to get a meager income to keep themselves alive."

"At that moment, my mentality finally changed."

"Why did I join the army? It's no longer just for money or a stable job. At that moment, I finally understood what soldiers should do."

"Actually, from the first day I signed up for the army, there were countless slogans telling me what the responsibilities of soldiers are."

"Defend the country."

"Our duty is to guard this country and this rare peace."

"I want my family, my future wife, my future children, and my descendants to continue to enjoy such peace."

"During that peacekeeping operation, I deeply understood what a country is and what a home is."

"Only a country can a family; if a country is destroyed, a family will die."

"So, in order to defend our families and our loved ones, we must protect our country, and for this, I am willing to give everything."

"After that mission, I stayed in the border army for another three years. Later, I met my current wife, and two years later, we had Junyan again."

"In the eighth year of my army, I left the border army for my wife and children, but I still did not choose to leave the army. I came to the local armed police force and continued to protect this land of China as a soldier."

"It's very tiring to be a soldier. Even if I was already a veteran at that time, I still felt very tiring. But if I had to say why, as I said before, there are some things in this world that must be done by someone."

"In the past, I saw such a story in a book. I don't know if it is real history or just a legend. It was before the founding of the People's Republic of China, during the War of Resistance."

"At that time, in a guerrilla team in Hebei, there was less than twenty people. That day, they had just won a battle. At night, everyone sat together and enjoyed the cans seized from the Japanese devils during the day."

"Everyone eats and chats, and then slowly talks about what a beautiful scene would be like after the Japanese devils were driven out of China. Everyone must eat steamed buns every meal and have meat."

"But as he was talking, a little soldier suddenly started crying. Someone next to him asked, 'Why are you crying'. The little soldier said, 'I don't know if I can see it. If I can't see it, then why am I?"

"Yes, why?"

"The captain in the book said, 'There are many comrades who don't know why we fight the Japanese. Just like Ergou said, we don't know whether we can see the day when the victory of the Anti-Japanese War. If we can't see, why do we still have to work so hard.'"

"The captain asked this question at that time, and then continued, 'We are working with the Japanese! It's not for us! It's not for us to eat steamed buns and pork every meal.'"

"'We are working with the Japanese! It's for our future! The children in the future, ah, can eat, go to school, eat steamed buns and pork every day, everyone says! Is that right?"

"At that time, even themselves, they knew in their hearts that war would kill people, and they were likely not to live until after the war was won, and perhaps tomorrow, they would die on the battlefield."

"But why do they still have to fight against the war? They have to pick up guns, knives and drive the Japanese devils out of China? It is for the sake of future children to be able to eat and go to school safely."

"As I said before, there are some things in this world that must be done by someone."

"If we were not such a group of seniors and ancestors who fought for their own lives, even though we knew that even if the war was victorious, it was likely that they had nothing to do with us and could not enjoy any fruits of victory, then would we still have a peaceful life now?"

"For them at that time, it was already a rare and happy life to be able to eat steamed buns every meal and occasionally have meat. Do you think they can imagine what we are now?"

"No, even they are not completely sure that our country will definitely win the final victory, but they still stood up and won this prosperous era for us, our descendants, with their flesh and blood."

"You can imagine what China would look like now if there were no martyrs, those more than 3.2 million heroes who died in battle, and those 5.6 million soldiers?"

"I dare not compare with those martyrs, but the martyrs tried everything for our descendants, and finally got this hard-won peace. I am willing to give everything to maintain this rare peace."

"Whatever I say for the sake of national justice is the official words. What I really want to maintain in my heart is my family, my wife, and my children."

"I hope that when my child grows up, he can still live in a place where he gets up at 7 or 8 o'clock every day, washes his face and brushes his teeth, thinks about what breakfast to eat, and then goes to work, school, and in the afternoon, he will make appointments for a few friends, drink some wine, grill a skewers, play some cards, and then go home, watch TV, wash and sleep. In such a simple life, that's all."

"Yes, because of this mission, I gave my life and I left my family, my wife, my children."
Chapter completed!