Twenty-two minutes – as soon as they laid down the moisture-proof mat, their group erupted in cheers. A military tent capable of housing eight people was completely erected, sturdy and orderly, at an astounding speed. Everyone turned to look at them, and their group members jumped with joy, while only Xing Wu crouched in an inconspicuous corner, rolled up his sleeves, and drank mineral water.

The An Zhong students were immediately energized, while the Jin Zhong teachers across from them started shouting at their students to speed up.

Since nobody dared approach Xing Wu, they all gathered around Qing Ye to celebrate. Xing Wu finished an entire bottle of water while watching the scene of her surrounded by admirers, his lips curling into an amused smile as he watched Qing Ye brazenly accepting everyone’s worship.

From the corner of his eye, he spotted Pang Hu’s large rear end sticking up in the air as he held a support frame with a constipated expression. Xing Wu threw his water bottle at him, cursing, “Idiot, that’s the ground frame support, slide it in!”

As if suddenly enlightened, Pang Hu quickly got to work. Due to competition rules, Xing Wu couldn’t help directly, so he crouched not far from Pang Hu’s group, occasionally calling out a word or two. Years of brotherhood with Pang Hu had built enough rapport that with just a slight hint, Pang Hu could quickly understand his meaning and lead his team members into action.

Their group had six boys and was the team the three teachers had placed their hopes in. They had decent fighting power, just lacking leadership earlier, with everyone working independently without coordination. But now they had finally found their rhythm.

However, at that moment, cheers erupted behind them. Xing Wu turned his head to see Jin Zhong had completed one tent, taking forty-one minutes. The most intense moment had arrived, and despite the winter cold, Pang Hu and his team were sweating, their hands becoming unsteady.

Xing Wu turned back, calling out calmly: “Stay steady.”

Unexpectedly, all six boys looked up and responded in unison: “We can win.”

Xing Wu’s lips curled as he stood up, arms crossed, giving measured instructions.

“Six diagonal beams, one missing. Find it.”

“That’s a door post, not a crossbar, are you blind? They’re different lengths.”

“Fatty, get up there and tie the guy ropes.”

“Throw the ground stakes to Qin Wei.”

Xing Wu kicked a hammer from beside his foot over to him.

In the end, Pang Hu’s group finished in fifty-three minutes, just two minutes faster than Jin Zhong’s second group, successfully placing in the top three.

With the outcome decided, the bunch of rascals from An Zhong cockily gave thumbs up to Jin Zhong, then collectively lowered them with a chorus of boos. Little Linglong got carried away, running to the boundary between the two schools, jumping and turning his back to Jin Zhong’s people, wiggling his bottom – looking as obnoxious as possible. Even Qing Ye wanted to slap him when she saw it.

Surprisingly, the display made some Jin Zhong girls cry. After all, this was their home turf, and Jin Zhong had always completely dominated An Zhong in previous years. For An Zhong to win the first competition this year despite being outnumbered completely crushed the Jin Zhong students’ morale. Plus, the An Zhong students weren’t content just winning – they had to provoke them in various ways, making the Jin Zhong school leaders frown and their students increasingly stressed.

The remaining groups mostly took over an hour to finish. After all tents were erected, the boys and girls chose their tents and settled their belongings.

Five girls from Class 2 had come, and they all slept in one tent – specifically, the one Xing Wu’s group had built. The reason was simple: this tent felt secure. Some of the others were crooked, and they worried about collapse during the night.

Teacher Dong called through a megaphone outside the tents: “Those who’ve stored their things, quickly gather and head to the dining hall.”

While others hurried out, Fang Lei grabbed Qing Ye, nervously glancing outside before asking: “Did you bring the stuff?”

It felt like an underground transaction. Qing Ye handed over the items from her bag, advising concernedly: “You should take it easy, there’s plenty of time. Is he even that handsome?”

Fang Lei’s face showed a mix of nervousness and excitement as she told Qing Ye: “I’ll point him out to you during lunch.”

The two were last to leave the tent. The main group had already headed to the dining hall, while Pang Hu and his male friends still sat talking at the edge of the field. As the girls walked past, the boys leisurely stood up.

Qing Ye walked to Xing Wu’s side, smiling: “Were you waiting for me?”

“What were you doing? Took forever to come out.”

“Just… something.”

Xing Wu glanced at Qing Ye’s guilty expression, his eyes crinkling slightly as he said nothing more.

However, when the group entered the dining hall, they were dumbfounded. They had expected prepared food – Pang Hu, who’d skipped breakfast, had been complaining of hunger the whole way – but upon entering the dining hall, where was the prepared food?

Ten people to a large round table, with a big bag of flour, cutting boards, knives, meat, a large Chinese cabbage, and nothing else.

Qing Ye stared at these items in confusion: “What’s this supposed to mean? Are we meant to swallow raw flour and meat?”

Xing Wu glanced at her sideways: “Could you even swallow that?”

Qing Ye gulped, indicating she absolutely could not!

Pang Hu immediately brightened: “Let’s make dumplings!”

Qing Ye’s vision darkened – this wasn’t a winter camp, it was boot camp! They even had to be self-sufficient for lunch. Why had she come to experience such worldly hardship?

After they lined up to wash their hands, Pang Hu immediately entered the meat-chopping mode. His chopping stance truly carried the serious air of a butcher in the market.

Qing Ye immediately thought of Huang Mao: “It’s too bad Huang Mao couldn’t come, he’s good at kneading dough.”

Xing Wu carelessly rolled up his sleeves, revealing taut, flowing forearm muscles, and took the flour, pouring it out. One hand kneaded while the other adjusted the water ratio, his movements experienced. Qing Ye stood beside him, occasionally poking and asking: “Is it ready?”

“No.”

“Can we make dumplings now?”

“Not yet.”

“It must be about done, right?”

“Not ready.”

Finally, Xing Wu couldn’t stand it anymore and dabbed flour on her nose tip, saying: “Shut up.”

Seeing Qing Ye’s cute white-tipped nose, everyone across the table broke into laughter. Angry, Qing Ye got some flour and stood on tiptoe to reach Xing Wu, but he slightly tilted his head and she couldn’t reach him at all. Frustrated, she grabbed his clothes and messily smeared flour on his chin.

Xing Wu looked down at his black hoodie, now pulled down to reveal his clear collarbones, making the girls across the table blush in unison. He curved his lips playfully, his eyes enchanting as he said: “Go ahead, keep pulling. Why not strip it all off?”

Qing Ye quickly withdrew her hand, and at that moment, someone finally said: “You siblings get along well.”

Xing Wu and Qing Ye both froze for a moment, while Pang Hu, still chopping meat, added innocently: “They sure do!”

“…”

Xing Wu and Qing Ye consciously separated, stopping their play. Qing Ye even nervously shuffled away, moving to Xing Wu’s opposite side to stand with Shi Min. She had already wiped the flour from her nose tip, but seeing the white flour still on Xing Wu’s chin, she felt like laughing – how was it possible that his devilishly short hair combined with his sharp eyebrows and eyes, plus the white flour on his chin, still looked so handsome?

Xing Wu raised his eyes almost imperceptibly to glance at her, and though his expression hadn’t changed, Qing Ye just wanted to laugh.

After the dough was ready, Shi Min took charge of rolling the dumpling wrappers, and Qing Ye naturally joined the dumpling-wrapping team.

She had only wrapped dumplings once when she was very young, following her mother back to their hometown for New Year’s. But at that age, it couldn’t be called dumpling wrapping – more like playing with dough – so this skill could be considered nonexistent for her.

To avoid exposing her shortcomings, she properly took up a dumpling wrapper, staring intently at Fang Lei, trying to learn on the spot. Unfortunately, Fang Lei herself was only half-skilled, making dumplings that barely resembled sleeping dumplings. And beside her, Qing Ye, learning by observation, made something that was unidentifiable.

When she set down her dumpling, everyone gathered around to look: “What is this?”

Laughter erupted around the table, and even Teacher Zhu came over laughing: “Qing Ye, are you making xiaolongbao instead?”

Qing Ye’s face reddened as she looked up at Xing Wu. He beckoned to her, and she sheepishly retreated from the crowd to return to his side. He handed her a dumpling wrapper, and when Xing Wu finished his first dumpling, Qing Ye felt like her eyes must be playing tricks – she hadn’t seen how he did it at all, just saw his hands close and a perfect dumpling appear.

She gaped at him in surprise: “Is this your secret technique?”

Xing Wu nodded seriously: “I only teach girls, not boys. Watch carefully.”

Then he began teaching from hand positions. Qing Ye had always been a quick learner, especially with a reliable teacher. The sniper master beside her was very patient, lowering his gaze to tell her which fingers to use and how to shape the wrapper, nearly reaching out to guide her hands directly.

However, halfway through reaching out, he seemed to remember their supposed sibling relationship, so he withdrew his hand, keeping things at a technical exchange level. Qing Ye tried two dumplings and quickly got the hang of it, even Pang Hu praised: “Qing Ye, you learn so fast, so, so clever.”

“Thanks, Fan Fan Tong.”

With everyone’s efforts, the Chinese cabbage dumplings were soon wrapped. Pang Hu and another boy took them to line up for cooking.

The dining hall had over ten tables set up, all bustling with noise. Qing Ye observed that while An Zhong’s students might not excel at other things, they all seemed quite capable of food preparation. Perhaps it was true that children of poor families learned to manage households early.

Other tables had people making noodles or steamed buns, clearly more skilled than the Jin Zhong side. Qing Ye was surprised to find everyone so capable – they were like little Chinese master chefs.

Seeing her looking around, Xing Wu asked: “Hungry?”

Qing Ye didn’t respond but rubbed her stomach. Xing Wu suddenly pulled out a chocolate bar and handed it to her. Qing Ye’s eyes lit up: “Are you a magician? Where did that come from?”

“Worried you’d be hungry, prepared it in advance.”

Qing Ye unwrapped the chocolate, broke off a piece, and put it in her mouth, the sweetness making her smile. Fang Lei was already starving, her eyes fixed on the chocolate. Qing Ye broke off another piece and distributed the rest to everyone else. When she turned back, while others were sharing the chocolate, she tilted her head and held her piece to Xing Wu’s lips.

As his thin lips parted to accept the chocolate, they barely brushed against her fingertips, creating a wonderful flutter that made Qing Ye’s heart race and face flush even in such a chaotic environment.

She lowered her head, not daring to look at anyone, while beside her, Xing Wu curved his lips, turning his head to smile at her.