“Please stop showing off your affection. We’re at the border.”
Yan Chengyu was driving at the front of the convoy. After he told everyone the news through the earphone, he sighed and rolled down his window. He felt sorry for himself, as he had had enough of them.
“Excuse me, are you Colonel He’s troops?”
A soldier guarding the border went forward and asked, saluting respectfully.
“Yes,” Yan Chengyu showed them his pass.
“Sorry for keeping you waiting. I’ll open the gate for you.”
The soldier scurried to ask his teammates to open the gate, and they got in a line and saluted.
Yan Chengyu rolled up the window and continued to drive forward, glancing at An Yan, who was looking out of the window quietly in the front passenger seat.
He smiled. “Captain An Yan, is this the first time you cross the border?”
An Yan was surprised that Yan Chengyu would talk to him, and he didn’t reply.
Yan Chengyu had been behaving himself along the way, not flirting with him like usual.
However, it was normal. After all, it was not proper for Yan Chengyu to get distracted when he was leading the way.
‘He doesn’t reply, nor does he treat me coldly like before. It’s a good sign.’
“If you’re hungry, there’s some food behind,” Yan Chengyu continued. He wouldn’t shut up just because An Yan ignored him.
An Yan finally replied, “Concentrate on the driving. We are in the territory of Country Z now.”
He didn’t even look at Yan Chengyu, and there was a hint of impatience in his tone.
Yan Chengyu was not angry as An Yan didn’t keep silent.
He smiled and replied, “Okay.” He drove the car across the border wall, but he was shocked by what he saw.
There was a crowd of refugees sitting under the wall. They swarmed up at the sight of the car. It was scary.
The soldiers raised their guns and warned them not to come closer.
However, the refugees did not stop, swarming to them.
The soldiers had no choice but to fire at the sky. “We’ll shoot if you come closer.”
This time it worked. The refugees stopped in a hurry. They stepped back slowly with fear in their eyes.
Yan Chengyu had to stop the car and ask, “Why are there so many people?”
There were people of different ages, and most of them were old people and children.
“They are the citizens from Country Z, where there is a war. They want to cross the border, but they don’t have visas, so we could do nothing but place them by the border wall.”
The soldiers replied awkwardly. They sympathized with these refugees, but they couldn’t help them. After all, they were not their own citizens.
Yan Chengyu and An Yan felt dismayed. These refugees were dirty and starving with pleading eyes, which moved them.
They knew there would be refugees when the war broke out, but they were shocked at the sight of them.
Yan Chengyu wanted to drive away. After all, they were not in the position to step in. However, there was concern in An Yan’s eyes. He had experienced war when he was small, so he knew how the refugees felt and understood their fear and helplessness.
“Let’s go! Don’t waste time.”
In the end, he ignored them. He was not able to help so many people after all.