What was your most memorable meal?

Dude, you've eaten iced milk and I've eaten overheated instant noodles.

Outpost No.1 answers the author | Li

▲ Photo bag Xinyu

When you are stationed in a deserted place all the year round, surrounded by mountains, no grass, no horses and no people, is your mood open-minded or desolate? Lonely or excited? If you are poor, you will be rich, and if you drink, you will be drunk. Sometimes, you need to overcome not only your own heart, but also the surrounding environment.

I am a soldier from the western regions stationed at the foot of the Karakorum Mountain. Not long ago, I saw an article entitled "Drinking ice for ten years is hard to cool blood", and my heart could not be calm. The picture that touched tens of millions of netizens can't be erased in my memory. A border guard stationed on the plateau chewed iced milk while patrolling. Yes, this is a tough environment. There is nothing difficult to understand, and there is nothing difficult to confuse. Perhaps, our environment is different, so sometimes you don't feel the hardships at all.

Life always needs more experiences to gain more insights. More pain can make you cherish it more. Only by growing up in pain can we stand the sweet aftertaste. I always share the story of eating instant noodles with the soldiers. They say that the story of the old revolution eating apples is far away from us, but the story of eating instant noodles is very close to them. Whenever I tell this story, I always touch others first, and then touch myself. ...

The cold winter of January beat the earth mercilessly, and suddenly, the air was full of silence and serenity. The climate in Xinjiang is too dry, and the cold wind grinds people's faces like a butcher holding a big knife.

That night, I walked back and forth in the snow, and my eyes scanned every corner of the camp. Heavy winter boots crunched in the snow, as if frozen feet sent out an alarm signal. Cold, too cold. Overworked training during the day makes everyone not want to appear on the list of night sentries. And that night, I was one of the people who made me feel nostalgic again. I look at the stars, walk in the snow, and warm my frozen hands with my mouth from time to time. At this time, the breath in my mouth still has a fresh tension, and I can draw various shapes, so that I can quietly fantasize about my instant noodles after the whistle at night.

▲ Photography Wu Jiahong

Perhaps, the so-called instant noodles are just a bucket of things that can only make people feel warm occasionally on the train. But in the army, if you don't go out shopping, instant noodles can sometimes be counted as a good meal. Although the food security in the army was quite good at that time, the overloaded training intensity and tense working conditions sometimes made people want something to eat after three meals, especially after the night whistle. ...

At that time, the company has been circulating the "instant noodle spirit" summarized by the old squad leader. Whenever we check the house, instant noodles are always carefully hidden by us It may be wrapped in a military towel and hidden behind a big hat with other books to highlight our love for learning. Sometimes, the inspector is an old monitor who also knows the spirit of instant noodles, and that instant noodles may be hidden in the washing machine in the water room, which is our last "spiritual shrine". Looking back on that past now always makes me laugh and cry. Because there may be instant noodles and some pairs of smelly shoes hidden in the mixing bucket of the washing machine. At that time, the last hot land was occupied, and the preservation of strength was the key point. Who cares about those smelly shoes! Putting instant noodles under a few pairs of smelly shoes is a trick. Whenever there is a health check, people who hide instant noodles will get together and exchange their instant noodles with others. At that time, I was thinking, there are only a few flavors of instant noodles, what is there to exchange! But then I realized that life is like instant noodles, and you have to experience every flavor to know what life is all about! This is the so-called "instant noodle spirit". After a long time, with the "instant noodle spirit" summarized by the old monitor, I summarized three "instant noodle realms". The first-class realm is to put chicken legs, sausages and mustard tuber in instant noodles. The second-class realm is to put ham and mustard tuber in instant noodles. The third level is instant noodles with pickled mustard tuber or just instant noodles.

No matter what kind of realm, eating a bucket of hot instant noodles after the whistle is a happy thing. After the night whistle, I dragged my tired body into the class and carefully took out the instant noodles hidden behind the big hat from the inner cupboard. Watching my comrades fall asleep, even if there is the sound of grinding their teeth and farting, I feel very warm, because I am hungry and will soon be able to fill my stomach! With a smile on my cheek, I quickly opened the bucket of instant noodles without turning on the flashlight. I squeezed the seasoning into the bucket. Then, quietly lift the kettle, the kettle is empty. I quickly moved my hand to the handle of another kettle, which was still empty. Desperate, I had to go to another dormitory to pour water. But the training intensity of the day was too great, and the kettle was empty after the lights were turned off! I am desperate. I just want to eat a bucket of hot instant noodles after standing guard! Suddenly, hunger, fatigue and cold filled my body. I meditated for a long time and felt like crying. But I was hungry, so I leaned in, took instant noodles and walked into the water room, standing next to the heater.

"Let's eat! Never mind what's toxic. It's not poisonous. It won't die! Now that you are hungry, there is no other way! Remember to leave some hot water for yourself next night. " I turned on the radiator, put the water for a long time, took the water out of the radiator and waited for it to bubble quietly. Soon, the aroma of instant noodles came to the nose.

"Where is the fork?" Where is the fork in the instant noodle bucket? Back in the dormitory, I searched for a long time on the table and on the ground, and found nothing. Is it really God who has come to torture me? My eyes are moist. ...

What are we going to do? I'm going to take the tableware from the combat readiness bag, which may wake up my sleeping comrades. Sometimes, when people are helpless and desperate, they always have great potential. In desperation, I took out my toothbrush from the tooth jar and stirred up instant noodles with the root of my toothbrush.

"I'm hungry, I can't care so much, I can't catch it with my hands!" Muttered in my heart, eating and crying.

"Item!" I finished eating instant noodles and only drank two mouthfuls of soup. That night, the noodles were hot and the scenery was cold. The smell is a little sweet and bitter. I know that I won't become strong without going through something similar. For me, heated water is used for instant noodles and toothbrush is used as a fork, but the water is different and the tools used are different!

A few years later, I grew up from a PLA soldier to an officer. Every time I recalled those past events, I suddenly realized the true meaning of "the struggle between heart and bone". This kind of experience is nothing to many people, but it carries the past of growing up. I think soldiers are by no means synonymous with "hard work". Let every effort be meaningful, and let every effort be rewarded. Soldiers are just limited by time and environment, and it is difficult to be happy with them. As many people say, there are no quiet years, just someone to carry the burden for you.

Nowadays, whenever I am upset, I will go to the supermarket in the yard to see the instant noodles on the shelves. Suddenly, my heart was calm again.

it's over

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Pay attention to sentry post 1 and understand the soldiers in China.