She Only Cares About Cultivation-Chapter 872 - 802: Famine Era 43

After he finished drinking a bowl of fish soup, Ye Huan finally asked the key question, "Do you have any plans for your future?"

He tugged at his lips, revealing two tiger teeth, "Plans? Why would I need plans? They’ve already promoted me,"

Ye Huan’s eyes widened, "Promoted? Why do you not seem sincerely happy? What’s the position?"

"Chief of Staff at the division headquarters. Would you call that a promotion?"

Ye Huan’s brain automatically compared it to later military rank levels, because the military rank system was not well-established at the beginning of the Jianguo era.

A Chief of Staff in a division is equivalent to Deputy Division Level, ranking fifth within the division.

In our country’s army division, the Chief of Staff is typically at the Deputy Division position or Regiment Leader position.

Usually, it is a Major General military rank, though occasionally a Colonel, but generally, they will soon be promoted to Major General.

From pre-Jianguo times to the 1980s, the Chief of Staff was consistently below the same level of deputy positions.

For example, the division Chief of Staff was merely the head of the division command, at the same level as the Political Department Director, and could not be called the division chief.

Currently, the Chief of Staff in the forces has the same level as the deputy positions and the Political Department Director.

However, often when a Chief of Staff is appointed as the military head of the same level deputy position, their status rises.

And Tong Zhan’s former brigade commander role was also a Deputy Division Level officer, typically wearing two bars and four stars as the Major General rank, though sometimes a colonel with two bars and three stars might serve, because military rank and positions in the forces don’t always match.

A brigade commander is the highest military commander at the brigade level composition in the army, with superiors being Divisional Commanders or Division Commanders, and subordinates being Regiment leaders or Battalion leaders.

Comparing this, one couldn’t really say it’s a promotion, since a brigade commander is number one, but a Chief of Staff is only number five.

Most importantly, Tong Zhan’s rank before was already Lieutenant Colonel, he’s considered the kind of brigade leader with a gap between military rank and position because of the age limit on his rank, yet due to experience he got the brigade commander post, this situation, under our newly issued military rank system this year, is a very rare case, given the military rank system was just implemented not long ago, adjustments will soon follow.

Like right now.

"Will you be awarded the rank of Colonel?"

Tong Zhan nodded, "Yes, because Chief of Staff is at a minimum a Colonel; it’s also because of a special commendation for meritorious service, otherwise you wouldn’t be promoted this quickly, at least not considered until after forty."

In memory, most Chiefs of Staff are of Major General rank, though a Colonel isn’t unheard of, so truly speaking, it’s really a promotion.

"Then why aren’t you happy? Chief of Staff isn’t a civilian post?"

"The German Army uses this phrase to describe the role of a staff officer, ’Smart but lazy people should be Commanders, smart and industrious people should be Chiefs of Staff, stupid but industrious people can be commanded, and stupid and lazy people should be told to get lost,’ this phrase essentially indicates that a Commander needs only propose battle plans and general directions, but all specific combat plans, personnel, logistics, materials, and other arrangements need to be decided by the staff, the Chief of Staff is the overall responsible person, all of the Commander’s ideas need the Chief of Staff and his staff to complete. Do you know what this means?"

Seeing Tong Zhan’s distressed look, Ye Huan’s lips curled up, "Do you want me to praise you as smart and industrious?"

Tong Zhan couldn’t help but glare at her, "You’re gloating over my misfortune, aren’t you? During my covert operations, I worried plenty, my brain was exhausted every day, always fearing an accidental exposure, eating walnuts daily couldn’t fend off the crisis of premature graying, I thought being a brigade commander would allow me some rest, to think less, and now look, I’ve come full circle back to it all."

"Do you have any other choices?"

Ye Huan was peeling an apple for him, initially just a casual remark, but unexpectedly Tong Zhan actually nodded, "There is, the Director of the military factory,"

Ye Huan choked on her own saliva, "So, you’d rather stay within the system, you’d rather be this Chief of Staff?"

"Sort of...," Tong Zhan’s voice was somewhat suppressed, "Since they dared to make such a decision, they must know that my leg can’t go to the battlefield, yet I can still stay in the forces, which means, it’s not as bad as I imagined, right?"

Ye Huan paused her peeling hand and looked up, Tong Zhan was staring at her unwaveringly, as if wanting an answer from her to ease his mind.

It seemed this position as Chief of Staff wasn’t his choice, but rather due to unease about his capability to perform, he came to her to feel things out?

In fact, anyone with clear insight could see which of the two positions is better, under normal circumstances, anyone would choose the former as it holds more prospects.

Tong Zhan’s hesitation is an accumulated experience from multiple setbacks due to his injury, he fears they assigned him this position out of sympathy, considering he saved so many lives, which would entitle him to this honor, but this ultimately wasn’t earned on the battlefield, unlike the brigade commander post, which felt more justified?

Ye Huan understood that she couldn’t hide it from him for long, and his ability to bear things was far stronger than she imagined. After all, he had emerged from darkness, and without a strong heart, he couldn’t have completed his undercover role.

He was so clever, clever enough to make her heartache.

She took a deep breath, "Your leg injury was treated by experts from S nationality and R nationality. Through rehabilitation, your muscle layer can reach the state of a normal person. The key issue is that your tendons and nerves prevent you from enduring high-intensity training and front-line tasks. Since your superior mentioned the position of Chief of Staff, you are certainly up to the task. After all, the country is in need of people now. If you find gaps in the future, you can continue to further your studies. These are efforts that can be worked on later, so don’t feel uneasy or belittle yourself. I know what you’re worried about, now I can tell you directly, but can you guarantee that you can calmly accept it?"

Tong Zhan was initially just probing, not expecting there to really be a hidden line he didn’t know about, and his face immediately changed: "Yes, I can."

Ye Huan took a deep breath and looked straight at him: "The real issue is that this injury made you lose the qualification to be a father."

Tong Zhan stared in shock, looking at her incredulously: "What did you say? Say it again!"

"Don’t get excited, the doctor only said the probability is low, but it might be,"

"Ha ha, you fool, a low probability means it’s not going to happen, you don’t need to console me. No wonder those guys look at me with such expressions,"

Tong Zhan muttered a curse, and Ye Huan immediately continued: "Don’t worry, besides the attending doctor and the Military Chief, no one else will know about this. In the future, I will say it’s my issue to the outside world,"

"Wait, why say it’s your responsibility? Nonsense, what’s wrong with speaking the truth? Which regiment or division hasn’t had such accidental injuries? If we say it’s you, would anyone believe it? It would only make others think I’m hypocritical, making my wife bear such rumors and slanders. I’ve already wronged you, how can I let you stand in front of me and be gossiped about?"

"Tong Zhan, it’s okay, I—"

"Alright, don’t worry that I won’t be able to think it through. Compared to being alive, these really aren’t that significant. It’s just, I can’t let you become a mother, would you have regrets?"

Ye Huan shook her head, "The timing back then was my safe period, so there’s no possibility of pregnancy."

This was to let Tong Zhan know that the timing of their last request was wrong, right after her period and not completely clean yet, how could a pregnancy occur?

"There isn’t much regret, they say having a child hurts a lot, I should thank you for saving me from that pain."

She playfully winked at him, and Tong Zhan touched her hair: "Really?"

Ye Huan spread her hands in silence: "What, do you want to divorce me?"

Tong Zhan looked at her seriously: "I did consider it, I don’t want to drag you down, after all, no one can accept the fact of not having children for a lifetime."

"Then we can just adopt, aren’t there plenty of abandoned children in this era? Many more can’t be raised."

In the coming Famine Era, giving birth without raising them, and abandoning them was already considered good, what’s feared are those who sell sons and daughters.

Tong Zhan was shocked by Ye Huan’s bold statement, "Are you serious? Is that really what you think?"

Ye Huan was amused by his words, seeing the feudal traditions deeply embedded in this man’s bones, he probably didn’t even realize it himself.

"Let me ask you, does your family have a throne to inherit?"

Tong Zhan shook his head, and Ye Huan laughed: "Then that’s it, if there’s no throne to inherit, does it matter if we have children or not?"

Tong Zhan nodded seriously, "It does matter, after all, I’m my dad’s only son."

Ye Huan was between laughter and tears: "That’s really unfortunate, maybe there’s a chance to adopt a child with the Liu surname in the future, but definitely no chance to have your dad’s bloodline."

"Huanhuan, you can’t comfort people like that."

"I’m not comforting you, I’m telling the truth. If luck is good, if your body is well-nurtured, there’s still a glimmer of hope. If not, then maybe adopting a child is necessary. I don’t mind on my end, but if you can’t get over it yourself, no one can help you. That’s why I want to say, your dad doesn’t know your descendants, even if you have a son in the future, he won’t see your descendants either. If a girl is born, she’d take her husband’s surname, so, do you think you can come to terms with yourself?"

It made so much sense, he was rendered speechless.

However, he finally saw it, his wife really looked at it openly. Not only wasn’t she sad about descendants, but she seemed a bit delighted? Was she happy she didn’t have to endure the pain of pregnancy?

"Aren’t you worried I might become an eunuch? You’re only 25, so young, not being a mom is one thing, but becoming a nun, is that fair?"

"Please don’t be so pessimistic, okay? The doctor just made a preliminary assessment based on your condition, it might not turn out like that in the future."