How could an impartial head instructor be swayed by beauty?

Especially with so many people watching.

Zhou Cheng stirred the porridge ladle and gave Xia Xiaolan two scoops of medium-consistency porridge.

This was their only interaction for the entire day!

By evening, Su Jing no longer envied the two “fake instructors” punished with kitchen duty. Sneaking food from the stoves didn’t exist – they were sent to work in the vegetable gardens and were responsible for feeding pigs and cleaning pigpens… Why were there vegetable gardens and pigpens here? It would be stranger if there weren’t. The garden’s produce enriched their meals, and the fattened pigs provided meat for special holiday meals.

“Now, everyone will behave during training.”

On the third day, formation training began. Though Xia Xiaolan had done this in her previous life and thought she’d be uninterested, the collective atmosphere drew her in unconsciously. Whether Zhou Cheng appeared or not, she could focus on training.

Marching and standing at attention were preparations for formation training. After two days, the initial laxity was gone – at the whistle’s sound, everyone’s first instinct was to assemble downstairs. Head Instructor Zhou finally started appearing frequently at training.

By the fifth day of training, after he punished two male students with pigpen duty and the first day’s show of force, several male students who had figured out Zhou Cheng’s ways proposed a competition with Instructor Zhou.

This naturally caught everyone’s attention, even the female students clamored to watch.

Zhou Cheng wasn’t much older, and the students were around twenty – without his position as head instructor, they wouldn’t respect him!

They too had fought their way up.

While many had poor physical condition, some were quite fit.

Among this year’s students were participants from Huaqing University’s first “Winter Sports Camp” last winter. Those who passed physical tests and selection, with satisfactory moral character, physical fitness, and professional skills, received extra points when applying to Huaqing… This was Huaqing University’s first bold experiment, aimed at promoting high-level sports teams, developing mass sports activities, enriching campus culture, and achieving students’ all-round development in “morality, intelligence, physical fitness, and aesthetics”!

If there were any backdoor policies for entering Huaqing, some might consider this one.

These “sports specialty students” with bonus points had physical abilities comparable to professional athletes. They weren’t studying “Physical Education” – Huaqing didn’t have that department – but chose their preferred majors.

Ji Jiangyuan led the challenge against Zhou Cheng.

When Xia Xiaolan and Su Jing arrived, they heard Ji Jiangyuan asking with a grin: “Instructor, what would you like to compete in?”

Zhou Cheng countered, “You choose.”

Competing in academics during military training would be unfair – using one’s strengths against another’s weaknesses wasn’t something Ji Jiangyuan would stoop to.

They wanted to compete in Zhou Cheng’s specialties.

Endurance and shooting – these were Zhou Cheng’s strong areas, right?

Ji Jiangyuan’s group only decided on these after asking Zhou Cheng.

“How about a 10-kilometer run and target shooting?”

“No problem! Choose your competitors.”

Zhou Cheng wasn’t particularly concerned. These Huaqing students were clever, but he doubted whether some track team practice and two shooting training sessions qualified them to challenge professionals in physical fitness and marksmanship.

Zhou Cheng intended to teach these youngsters a thorough lesson.

The students weren’t much younger than him, but Zhou Cheng considered himself more mature through experience.

Seeing him set up for competition with the male students, Xia Xiaolan worried, “How did this turn into a competition?”

Military training had yielded results – the previously divided small group had reunited. Close contact with Xia Xiaolan revealed she wasn’t as delicate as she appeared, and even Ning Xue’s attitude toward her had changed, naturally influencing others.

Well, Student Xia Xiaolan just liked showering and paid attention to personal hygiene – not really a fault. The rumors remained unproven.

Previously, when Xia Xiaolan ran in the morning while others memorized vocabulary, they couldn’t understand the feeling of being covered in dust and sweat-soaked clothes after running laps. Now with daily training, everyone felt grimy without showering after sweating.

Who wouldn’t use cold water to clean up when hot showers weren’t available?

Moreover, Xia Xiaolan never complained – often when others felt they couldn’t continue, she kept going.

It didn’t match her delicate appearance.

As others’ attitudes softened, Xia Xiaolan discovered their endearing qualities. Yesterday when she twisted her ankle while getting food, Lu Xiujiao from Room 305 supported her – the same one who’d asked Huang Weiwei about keeping up on the first day of training.

Lu Xiujiao was so embarrassed then, but Xia Xiaolan thanked her with a smile. Lu Xiujiao tried to defend herself:

“Student Xia Xiaolan, I would help any classmate who fell in front of me!”

“Yes, Classmate Xiujiao is right.”

Xia Xiaolan nodded seriously with a smile.

Lu Xiujiao’s face reddened – using her given name without surname showed excessive familiarity with Xia Xiaolan.

Through such small incidents, Xia Xiaolan broke the ice with the Architecture Department girls. Now when she asked questions, responses came from either her close friend Su Jing or Lu Xiujiao: “During break time, someone proposed it, and Demon King Zhou agreed. I want to see these students win and watch the Demon King take a fall!”

Initially, some girls were charmed by Zhou Cheng’s looks, but Huaqing students rarely remained infatuated – handsome or not, every time Zhou Cheng appeared, training intensity increased.

The female students privately called him Demon King Zhou.

This surprised Xia Xiaolan, who had expected Zhou Cheng to cause drama wherever he went.

Like Gao Fei and Tong Lili’s successive pursuits – Xia Xiaolan was tired of such conflicts.

Instead, Zhou Cheng wasn’t even the most popular instructor. The girls favored Instructor Li, who trained Xia Xiaolan’s group – round-faced with a short chin, serious during training but blushing at the slightest teasing during breaks.

And the Demon King?

Demon King Zhou saw no difference between male and female students – all were trainees to be toughened up!

“Competing with Instructor Zhou in endurance and shooting?”

Who came up with that?!

Without question, Zhou Cheng’s professional skills were solid. Xia Xiaolan had witnessed his marksmanship firsthand – hitting the dead center of the knee without the slightest deviation.

Ning Xue explained coolly, “Xiong Baiyan from the School of Economics and Management is a track athlete, and Ji Jiangyuan was an IPSC regional champion in America… Head Instructor Zhou might be in trouble this time.”