“I’ll follow Senior Shan’s suggestion.”

How could reverse psychology work on Xia Xiaolan? She wasn’t so thin-skinned as to be manipulated by a few words from Jiang Yan.

Jiang Yan couldn’t force the issue.

Just as soldiers can’t force fleeing enemies to fight, Xia Xiaolan only showed her fierce side when no one was around. Whenever Zhou Cheng was present, Xia Xiaolan became extremely docile.

Xia Xiaolan smiled and held Zhou Cheng’s arm as they walked outside. The resort staff had already prepared the hunting rifles.

Not everyone received a rifle. For instance, Little You had never handled a gun before – at most, Shao Guangrong could guide her hands to fire a couple of shots for the experience. Giving a loaded gun to a novice was risky – missing a pheasant was one thing, but what if they accidentally shot at teammates?

Xia Xiaolan wasn’t competitive. Although she had participated in military training, there was still a difference between training rifles and hunting rifles.

She shared one with Zhou Cheng, as did the other two pairs. Only Jiang Yan requested one for herself.

“Everyone stay close together, don’t get separated, and make sure of your target before shooting. Although this area is remote, there might be villagers on the mountain. Don’t fire carelessly and hurt someone.”

Zhou Cheng and Xia Xiaolan walked slowly at the back while Jiang Yan led the front, explaining to everyone.

Xia Xiaolan thought Jiang Yan’s points were valid. She had seen news reports in her previous life about people being mistaken for prey. When shadows moved or bushes rustled, it was indeed easy to make mistakes – once the trigger was pulled in a moment of tension, regret came too late.

This was just for fun, the enjoyment was in the process. They weren’t trying to exterminate all the pheasants and rabbits in the mountains. Getting something would be nice, but if not, it was still a pleasant outing.

Xia Xiaolan maintained a relaxed attitude, and Zhou Cheng wasn’t competitive either.

Would it mean defeat if Jiang Yan caught three pheasants while he only got two? Such competition was meaningless, and Zhou Cheng had never considered Jiang Yan a rival – though people praised her as being more capable than most men, Zhou Cheng had never truly regarded her as one.

Competing with a female cadre?

Even winning would feel strange.

Jiang Yan demonstrated shooting positions while explaining quietly up front.

Xia Xiaolan lowered her voice, “Jiang Yan is quite charming. There must be many admirers at her workplace, why did she set her sights on you specifically? She’s different from the likes of Gao Fei and Tong Lili. Sometimes I dislike her, sometimes I admire her. If she weren’t trying to steal my man, I might want to be friends with her.”

“She can’t steal me away.”

Where his heart lay didn’t need saying – if he had feelings for Jiang Yan, they would have gotten together during their time on the front line.

It’s hard to explain the feeling of attraction; men don’t fall for every beautiful woman they see.

Jiang Yan was beautiful and often appeared before Zhou Cheng, but he didn’t like her.

Yet when Zhou Cheng first saw Xia Xiaolan in Anqing County, he couldn’t help being moved.

Xia Xiaolan nodded with satisfaction, “Your answer gets 99 points. I’m not giving you full marks to prevent you from getting cocky. Comrade Zhou Cheng, you must maintain this attitude. Any woman approaching you is a sugar-coated bullet trying to corrupt your will – treat them as enemy spies! Once you develop this mindset, I won’t worry even when I can’t see you.”

Zhou Cheng understood what Xia Xiaolan meant.

It was already mid-October, and she would become an exchange student abroad early next year. Foreign countries weren’t like home – even with money for travel, returning would be troublesome.

They would be separated for at least a year – could their relationship withstand the test?

Zhou Cheng was confident, and he hoped Xiaolan would trust him and give him more confidence:

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep my eyes straight ahead no matter how beautiful the female spies trying to seduce me are.”

A person’s heart only has so much space.

Part goes to family and friends, part to studies or careers, and the rest barely suffices for one lover. Zhou Cheng could not care about others.

As they talked, they naturally fell behind.

Jiang Yan, walking in front, felt uncomfortable. Just then, the bushes moved. She held her breath and fired – bang! The gunshot startled nearby birds into flight and made everyone jump.

Jiang Yan kicked apart the bushes and pulled out a grey rabbit.

Its neck was broken by the shot, and after a few twitches, it stopped breathing.

“This gun has quite some power!”

Kang Wei muttered while Shan Yujun led the applause: “Great shot!”

Shan Yujun couldn’t do it herself, so she didn’t hesitate to praise those who could.

There was no point in comparing with Jiang Yan – their areas of expertise were different. If she felt inferior because of Jiang Yan’s marksmanship, Shan Yujun probably wouldn’t have made it into Qinghua.

Seeing Xia Xiaolan’s eyes shine, Zhou Cheng raised his rifle, “Want to try? Hunting is different from shooting at fixed targets – hitting something gives you a real sense of achievement.”

Xia Xiaolan touched the gun, “During field training, do you often hunt?”

Zhou Cheng shook his head, “How could we? We’re not hunters.”

Their marksmanship wasn’t trained for hunting – those who had been on the front line learned far more demanding skills. After mastering the difficulty, wasn’t hunting pheasants and rabbits simple?

Following Jiang Yan’s lead, the other three women who had never hunted before each took two shots.

With her experience shooting fixed targets during military training, Xia Xiaolan nearly hit a pheasant – the bullet grazed its wing. Zhou Cheng took Kang Wei’s gun and fired a follow-up shot, bringing down the pheasant.

Despite Jiang Yan’s presence, everyone enjoyed the afternoon.

They hunted while nurturing their romances, catching several small games. Having seen no large animals along the way, everyone had lowered their guard. Kang Wei even shouted, “I thought we’d see wild boars!”

Zhou Cheng wanted to kick him, “Large wild boars are dangerous. It’s one thing if it’s just us men, but how would the women run if we encountered one? With all the noise we’ve been making, any wild boars would have fled long ago.”

Jiang Yan licked her lips, “Hunting wild boar isn’t impossible. I just saw some droppings – if we follow them, we’ll surely find one. Having come all this way, are we going back with just two rabbits?”

Xia Xiaolan couldn’t fathom Jiang Yan’s intentions.

Little You, whom Shao Guangrong brought, was scared.

Despite her rebellious appearance, Little You was city-raised – she probably hadn’t even seen a live domestic pig, let alone dirty, smelly wild boars.

Kang Wei wiped the sweat from his forehead, “Brother Cheng, we have four guns – surely we can handle a wild boar? I see Jiang Yan isn’t satisfied yet, so let’s track down that boar!”

This Jiang Yan had been showing off the whole way, irritating Kang Wei.

Though both Kang Wei and Shao Guangrong had handled guns before, their marksmanship wasn’t as good as Jiang Yan’s. Kang Wei wanted to see what Jiang Yan was really up to – did she think Brother Cheng would fall for her because of her hunting skills?

Among those present, even Little You wasn’t foolish – everyone could see through Jiang Yan’s intentions.

While Xia Xiaolan remained unperturbed, Kang Wei and the others were more anxious than her. Feeling their protection, Xia Xiaolan felt warmth in her heart:

“Zhou Cheng, since everyone’s interested, let’s go.”