Chapter 23 Deputy Company-Level Zookeeper

The dormitory area, the two-story building where the Second Brigade is located.

The building has a "gate"-shaped layout and is a neat two-story structure where pilots, maintenance personnel, aviation medical personnel, and others live.

Li Lu and Chen Qi shared a dormitory. When he returned, Chen Qi and Xue Shuang were waiting for the results.

Seeing Li Lu's angry expression, Xue Shuang and Chen Qi knew that the outcome was not good.

Subsequently, when Wang Yong and the other two leaders walked in, Xue Shuang and Chen Qi were so frightened that they almost wet themselves.

Wang Yong cleared everyone else out so he could talk to Li Lu alone.

Deputy Chief of Staff Zhang and Deputy Commander Chen whispered to Wang Yong, "Control your temper. Why are you arguing with a child?"

Wang Yong nodded repeatedly.

Li Lu sat there, not even glancing at Wang Yong, like a child who had been scolded and refused to eat.

After everyone else left, Wang Yong pulled up a chair and sat down opposite Li Lu, saying, "Uncle Wang apologizes to you. I misspoke. Captain Li, you are a magnanimous person, please don't hold it against me."

Li Lu chuckled and said, "How could I dare to be angry with you? Who are you, Chief of Staff of the Air Force Command, such a high-ranking leader? I'm just a lowly lieutenant."

Li Lu rolled up his sleeves and got to work, calling Xue Shuang and Chen Qi to assist him.

After a flurry of activity, a pattern the size of two palms appeared on the left side of the fuselage of J-6 Modified No. 101, next to the cockpit—a bottom view of the U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft.

Li Lu looked at the pattern he had drawn himself, let out a long breath, and nodded with great satisfaction.

Only then did the others realize that Li Lu wanted to record this victory.

Xue Shuang said, "Being a zookeeper for a period of time and then exchanging it for an enemy plane is a worthwhile deal."

Chen Qi remarked with emotion, "Who can argue with that? I would have done the same."

What do fighter pilots desire most?

It was shooting down enemy aircraft.

In the entire 7th Air Regiment, Zhang Fei was the only one who had achieved a kill and was still on duty.

Now there's another one, Li Lu.

Whether the cannon fires automatically or Li Lu fires it, it will not affect the unit's assessment of the battle result.

Therefore, Xue Shuang said that it was very worthwhile to be a zookeeper for a period of time in exchange for such a result, as it was extremely cost-effective.

Li Lu called Wang Bicheng and the others over and instructed them, "While I'm away from the team, the Chief of Staff will temporarily be in charge of the tactical experiments. I've already submitted a report outlining the initial ideas; everyone should proceed according to the previous plan."

"The most important thing is to work with radar stations to detect stealth aircraft. If we can't see the targets, there's no point in talking about tactics. I don't believe that stealth aircraft can be completely invisible. There must be a way to 'see' them."

Everyone nodded.

Li Lu looked at Xue Shuang and instructed him, "Old Xue, you were a company commander before, so you need to be in charge of the tactical tests and the training of the Sixth Company."

"Besides the three of us, there are three other pilots, all of whom are new pilots who joined the unit at the beginning of the year. They just got their solo flights and the next step is to undergo aerobatic training. I've already spoken with Director Zhang, and he'll help out."

Director Zhang is Zhang Fei, who holds the title of Director of the Tactical Research Office in preparation for the next step of grounding the aircraft.

Xue Shuang said, "Don't worry. You're not being transferred. I can come to the mess hall to find you anytime if there are any problems."

Li Lu said, "Okay, that's settled then. You guys go do whatever you need to do. I'm going back to the mess hall to take care of the side jobs."

He waved and left gracefully.

It's relatively rare for the 7th Air Regiment to have no sideline businesses. Growing vegetables and raising pigs are traditional, a fine tradition of self-reliance. Typically, each company has its own vegetable garden and pigsty. Some units are even self-sufficient in their vegetable supply.

Some large organizations even have their own farms.

It can be said that during this period when economic development was the central focus, the military's sideline businesses saved the country a lot of money.

The troops are currently facing considerable difficulties. The Su-27 fighter jets of the Ninth Regiment were purchased through barter, and foreign exchange was extremely scarce. There was nothing they could do about it.

Feeding pigs was something Li Lu was very familiar with.

Throughout his life before college, he learned to do farm work when he was five years old, and he helped manage the pigs at home, generation after generation.

After lunch, Li Lu found a slop bucket and a carrying pole, collected the leftover food, and carried the load towards the pigsty.

The soldiers in the mess hall looked at each other in bewilderment. Was this Sixth Brother serious?

The cook quickly told the two soldiers, "Go and help right away."

Peng Fei, standing to the side, stopped them, saying, "None of you should go."

The cookmaster said, "Old sergeant, isn't this inappropriate?"

Peng Fei said, "Old Liu is a zookeeper now, so what's wrong with him? Don't underestimate him, don't worry."

He's right. Li Lu certainly harbors some resentment, but it won't affect his work, no matter what kind of work it is.

He's currently a pig farmer, and his job is to feed the pigs well. In essence, this task is no different from flying a plane on combat patrol.

I feed pigs while you fly airplanes; we're both protecting our country.