The timing of Zhou Cheng calling away the instructor was just perfect.

Xia Xiaolan sensed she had been about to receive criticism, but was inadvertently saved by Zhou Cheng. Such coincidence made it hard to say there wasn’t some connection between her and Zhou Cheng.

Why was Zhou Cheng ignoring her? Xia Xiaolan decided to remain unchanged in response to his changing attitudes, watching to see what game he was playing.

They say everyone has their flaws – when Zhou Cheng had been constantly sticking to her, Xia Xiaolan thought he was clingy. Yet now that Zhou Cheng hadn’t spoken to her all day, she found her attention drawn to him instead.

After organizing all her bottles and containers, the military training students were assigned to rooms in groups of ten. Xia Xiaolan noticed it looked hastily cleared out, with no beds – just ten single mattresses laid on the floor for sleeping. The room was dusty everywhere, and while the instructor ordered them to organize their quarters, who told them to clean the room thoroughly?

Everyone was quite conscientious about this task.

Although the group of ten had naturally split into two factions, everyone had to do the work, and Ning Xue didn’t slack off either.

It took half an hour to clean, and the stirred-up dust made Xia Xiaolan slightly uncomfortable. She was already known as the “shower enthusiast” among Huaqing students, but here it was impossible to shower whenever she wanted – better not to be fussy. Back when she transported eggs to the county town, dealing with all that dust on the dirt road under the scorching sun, making several trips daily, hadn’t she endured that too? It’s easier to go from frugal to luxurious than the other way around. But dust doesn’t discriminate – everyone was equally dirty, so Xia Xiaolan could bear it.

Cold water from the tap splashed on her arms as she cupped some to wash her face – everyone else was doing the same, so no shower it was.

But not being able to eat was truly difficult to endure.

The instructor’s emergency assembly whistle could sound at any moment. Everyone was still gathered around the tap washing their faces when they had to rush downstairs.

Late?

They didn’t dare be late.

What if they were made to run another ten laps?

During assembly, Xia Xiaolan looked around for information but didn’t see Zhou Cheng.

Wasn’t he the head instructor? Had he gone off to Slack?

The emergency assembly indeed brought nothing good – they were criticized for untidy quarters, used washbasins not returned to their proper places, and towels not hung in designated spots but left carelessly by the sink.

It wasn’t just Xia Xiaolan’s group – almost everyone had made similar mistakes.

They were also picked apart for their loosely folded blankets, with the instructor saying “Blankets reflect their owners,” suggesting they were as slack and spiritless as their bedding. The instructor seemed to want to particularly point out Xia Xiaolan’s mistakes but unexpectedly found her blanket was among the best folded in the group.

Both her and Ning Xue’s blankets were folded into perfect tofu-block squares.

Someone without prior quarters training couldn’t fold blankets this way!

The instructor couldn’t get the words out and seemed a bit frustrated.

“Not bad – Ning Xue’s blanket and Xia Xiaolan’s blanket are well-folded.”

Xia Xiaolan heard this long-awaited praise.

It came from a young instructor who appeared not even twenty, with a round face and short chin… So Xia Xiaolan, what are you getting so excited about? Have some dignity!

Director Xia, now facing setbacks everywhere, was delighted by even the smallest recognition.

She deliberately ignored the fact that this was her second military training, and folding tofu-block squares was a skill she’d practiced in her previous life.

After inspecting the quarters, the instructors found new excuses to train everyone. If the first show of force was running ten laps, and the second was quarters inspection, the third was punishment for untidy quarters – standing at attention!

“Listen up! The key points of standing at attention: are three stretches, three tucks, one stare, one lift! Stretch your neck, chest, and legs! Tuck your chin, stomach, and buttocks! Eyes wide open, looking straight ahead! At the same time, lift your head – no hunching or slouching, no being slack! Watch my demonstration of the key points. Everyone now, everyone… Stretch neck! Stretch chest!”

Standing at attention had to be learned too!

The key points weren’t difficult.

And Huaqing students weren’t stupid.

But while learning was easy, maintaining the position was not!

The instructor’s eyes were as sensitive as radar – if anyone bent their legs slightly, they immediately shouted: “Stand straight! If you can’t pass this little test, how will you forge an iron will!”

Instructor, can you take back that boast from earlier?

An iron will wasn’t possible – they were about to become iron corpses standing stiffly before falling over.

Standing at attention was truly difficult to maintain. Even those with good physical condition felt uncomfortable – this posture looked spirited but completely violated the principles of bodily comfort. Xia Xiaolan saw Lu Yan swaying in front of her; she could hardly hold on either when the instructor finally called for rest.

“One minute break, then continue!”

One minute’s rest was better than none. Not just the women couldn’t handle it – the men couldn’t either. Though men and women trained separately, they were in the same field. This year Huaqing had enrolled over 2,100 undergraduate students – over 1,500 men and over 500 women. The male-to-female ratio was 3:1, with groups of ten forming a squad, and 100 people forming a company under one instructor. How could they compare if men and women didn’t train together?

On the men’s side, the most unbearable taunt was: if the women can do it, why can’t you?

They couldn’t lose to the women!

But standing at attention was truly too grueling – they hadn’t recovered from running ten laps earlier, and this time finally no “feminist warriors” jumped up to say the women didn’t need rest.

With their calves trembling and barely able to stand, there was no energy left to argue about winning or losing.

This time Ning Xue didn’t criticize the instructor either.

At least they could rest for a minute after standing for a while – the men’s side didn’t even get that privilege.

Standing at attention was more tiring than running – with running, you knew where the finish line was, counting the laps one by one, knowing there would be an end.

With standing at attention, just when you thought the instructor would call it quits, they’d mock your swaying and tell you to hold on a bit longer… By the end, one minute felt stretched into ten!

Compared to standing at attention, parade drills like attention, at ease, and right face seemed like mercy from the instructors. No matter how brutally they were trained, at that moment they all thought the round-faced, short-chinned instructor was wonderful! Xia Xiaolan was as tired as a dog, only wanting to find a place to collapse like Ge You.

Oranges, bananas – she didn’t care about any of that anymore!

“Can we eat now?”

Su Jing slouched like she had no bones, taking advantage when the instructor wasn’t looking.

“Eat… you’re too naive!”

Finally, at five-thirty in the afternoon, the instructor said to prepare for dinner. Xia Xiaolan knew the main event was coming – they could smell the food, but the instructor kept saying someone wasn’t standing properly. When they finally got the formation in order, they entered the singing phase.

Learning military songs!

The instructor sang one line, and everyone repeated – how could they eat without learning the song properly?

This wasn’t unreasonable, but couldn’t they please get an instructor who could carry a tune… Xia Xiaolan was exhausted – she wanted to eat! She wanted steamed buns, wanted meat. What was the specialty dish of Zhangjiakou in Hebei Province? Xia Xiaolan could only think of hand-pulled mutton!