Chapter 57: Let’s Start with a Five-Kilometer Run
Zhou Wanfeng jumped off the truck and steadied a girl with weak legs next to her. She then surveyed her surroundings. This was the training base for the new recruits for the next three months. The first thing she saw was a four-story building with a red sign on an iron frame that read, “Raise soldiers for a thousand days, use soldiers for a thousand days.” Next to it was another building with a white wooden sign at the entrance that read, “Indoor Training Hall.”
Before she could get a clear look at the environment, the officer in charge of the truck was already directing the students who had gotten off to their respective barracks.
“Thank you,” the girl who had been helped said, her face yellow, her lips pale. She had short hair that didn’t reach her shoulders and was following closely behind Zhou Wanfeng. There were very few female cadets in the group, a rare sight.
It was written in the registration manual that the male cadets were required to have a buzz cut of 2-3 millimeters. As a result, when they turned around, with the same back of the head and the same camouflage uniform, it was impossible to tell them apart.
It was hot, and many of them started to vomit on the open ground as soon as they got off. They squatted in a long line, one after another, the sound of their retching and coughing quite a spectacle.
The barracks was a three-story building. Looking in from the entrance, each room basically had six bunk beds and a three-drawer wooden table.
A row of buildings was plastered with slogans: “Shed blood and sweat, but not tears; lose skin and flesh, but don’t fall behind.” As far as the eye could see, there was not a single extra item.
When they were assigned to their barracks, a non-commissioned officer was calling out names from a roster to divide them into classes.
“When I call your name, answer,” the non-commissioned officer said, his brow furrowed. He looked at the group behind him, who were not standing properly, slouching, and some were even squatting. His mouth was in a constant downward curve.
“Zhang Xiaolong.”
“Here!” a boy in the back said, leaning against the wall and raising his arm.
“Louder! A soldier must be powerful, crisp, and loud when answering. Answer again, Zhang Xiaolong.”
“Here!” the boy in the back stood up straight, puffed out his chest, and shouted with all his might.
The non-commissioned officer glanced at the boy with satisfaction and continued to call the roll. With the demonstration in the front, everyone behind, no matter how sick they felt, had to shout “here” with all their might.
The male and female students were not completely separated. They were in the same barracks, with the boys living in the next room.
Zhou Wanfeng and eleven other girls were living in the innermost room on the second floor, to the left of the stairs. The girls looked at each other, nodded and smiled. Some who couldn’t hold on any longer just found a bed and sat down to rest.
Just as they sat down, a man in a camouflage training uniform walked in. He was tall and serious, with a dark complexion. His sharp eyes were fixed on the girl who was sitting on the bed.
The girl was so scared that she quickly stood up, at a loss.
The first thing Zhou Wanfeng noticed was his shoulder insignia. She heard the man introduce himself. “I am your squad leader during the training period. My name is Yu Aijun.”
“Hello, squad leader.”
“Hello, Squad Leader Yu.”
“Hello, squad leader.”
“…”
There was a clever girl among them, with a youthful and vibrant apple-shaped face, and a pair of round eyes that made her look lively and a little cute. She took the lead in calling out “hello, squad leader” and even gave a not-so-standard salute.
They all knew that there would be an assessment at the end of the three-month new recruit training period. The squad leader was directly related to their future training and life, so they absolutely could not offend him.
Yu Aijun’s cold and hard eyes were completely unmoved. He pointed at the beds and assigned them to the cadets. After he was done, he said seriously, “You can rest and adjust here for a while. Do not leave this squad. Do not run around. If you want to go out, you have to tell me. Even if you have to go to the restroom, you have to tell me.”
The girls looked at each other, as if surprised that even something like going to the restroom required permission.
But the girl with the apple-shaped face was the first to answer, “Yes, squad leader.” The others then responded one after another, with “yes,” “okay,” and “understood.”
Yu Aijun then said a few other things, such as if the squad leader of another squad came in, they had to stand up immediately, and they could only sit down after the squad leader said so. The general idea was that the hierarchy in the army was strict, and they had to strictly abide by the discipline.
The responses were still sporadic, with “yes,” “okay,” and “understood, squad leader” rising and falling.
Yu Aijun glanced at a cadet next to him and found that from the moment he had come in and given a series of instructions, this cadet had not opened her mouth once. She was very quiet.
Zhou Wanfeng looked up and met his gaze, staring at Yu Aijun with a blank expression.
Seeing this, Yu Aijun frowned, and his voice deepened. “Did you understand?”
Zhou Wanfeng narrowed her eyes and finally realized her problem. She took a deep breath and, gathering her qi in her dantian, said, “Understood, squad leader.”
Only then was Yu Aijun satisfied, but he still took a few more glances at her. He felt that this cadet was different from the others.
Her gaze was deep and steady. The other cadets all had a hint of fatigue, but she did not.
“You can take this time to get to know each other. I’m going to get your supplies,” Yu Aijun said, his voice stiff, without a trace of friendliness. He closed the door and went out.
The moment he left, the twelve girls in the squad let out a sigh of relief.
The girl with the apple-shaped face was the first to stand up. “We’ve all come from all over the country. It’s fate that we’ve gathered in this squad. Let’s all introduce ourselves. Say whatever you want. I’ll start. My name is Hu Yinping. I’m from Southwest City. I’m 160cm tall. My family is in business, and we believe in making money with harmony. I’ve had a dream of being a soldier since I was a child, so I didn’t hesitate to choose this university. Alright, now it’s your turn.”
A girl with two curved, beautiful eyebrows was the second to introduce herself. Her voice was very pleasant, soft, and when she smiled, her eyes were like a crescent moon. “My name is Xia Mengmeng. I’m 163cm tall, from North City. I applied because my family said that if I go to a military academy, I’ll be assigned a job, and it’s a stable job.”
“I like uniforms, especially military uniforms. And ever since I was a child, everyone has said that I’m a tomboy, not like a girl. By the way, my name is Jin Hongjie. I’m 170cm tall. I like to play basketball and run. My physical fitness should be not bad.”
“I’m from Dongshan City. My name is Wei Jiahui. Because of the saying, ‘You’ll regret being a soldier for two years, but you’ll regret not being a soldier for a lifetime,’ I applied to a military academy.”
“My name is Xu Yanqiu…”
“I’m Liu Shupei. The two generations above me in my family were all soldiers. It’s a family thing.”
After they had introduced themselves from left to right, it was the turn of the girl next to Zhou Wanfeng. She was probably not feeling well, and her voice was not loud. “My name is Lin Sha. My home is in Jinnan City.”
“My name is Zhou Wanfeng. I chose to be a soldier to temper myself,” Zhou Wanfeng’s voice was cold and her expression was grim. She stood there, tall and thin, and unconsciously attracted people’s attention. Jin Hongjie was one of them. She immediately went over and asked everyone to compare.
Zhou Wanfeng was still in the same posture. Jin Hongjie’s eyes were excited. “Zhou Wanfeng, you’re clearly over 170cm tall. I’m Jin Hongjie. We can team up and play basketball in the future.”
Zhou Wanfeng could see that this Jin Hongjie’s physical fitness should be not bad. While the others were more or less uncomfortable, she was full of energy. There seemed to be another person with good physical fitness, Liu Shupei. The girl whose grandfather’s generation had been soldiers. She was about 165cm tall, and her eyes were firm and spirited.
A short while later, Yu Aijun came in with the supplies. Basins, washing cups, towels, and so on were distributed in order. He took this opportunity to explain in advance the arrangement of the items in the squad. During the day, they had to be neat and uniform, in lines and blocks. At night, it was even more particular. The clothes that were taken off had to be placed in order from top to bottom, from inside to out. The shoes on the upper and lower bunks also had to be distinguished. The toes of the shoes on the lower bunk had to face out, and the toes of the shoes on the upper bunk had to face in.
“Don’t look at these as trivial and troublesome. You all have to get used to them as soon as possible. If there’s a night drill in the dark, an emergency assembly, you won’t be in a panic. You’ll be able to get downstairs and line up in the fastest time.”
Seeing that there was still some time before dinner, Yu Aijun took the opportunity to teach them how to tidy up their internal affairs, how to fold a wet towel on a basin, and how to fold a quilt.
It looked easy, but it was all delicate work.
Especially the “tofu quilt.”
Hu Yinping volunteered to try once. In front of the squad leader and her teammates, she started according to the essentials that the squad leader had taught. The steps were the same, but the final effect was completely different. It was like a collapsed bridge.
Especially since Hu Yinping and the squad leader were using the same quilt, the difference was huge.
The others also went up to their own beds to try.
Zhou Wanfeng noticed Liu Shupei. The effect she had folded was almost the same as the squad leader’s, which immediately drew the admiration of the others.
A whistle blew outside.
Yu Aijun told everyone to go downstairs. At this moment, the whole building seemed to be shaking. In a short while, all the squads had lined up downstairs.
Just as the squad leader had said, wherever they went, the squad leader would lead the way.
The food in the cafeteria was not bad, with a lot of variety. Perhaps it was because it was the first day and they were taking care of these cadets, but several major cuisines were involved, and the meat and vegetable combination was very reasonable.
Yu Aijun began to explain the rules of eating, telling them that they could not talk while eating, and that they had to eat quickly and quietly.
After eating, they were led back to their squad in a line.
They had thought they would be able to rest, but Yu Aijun sneered. “In the future, you will have endless public duties.”
The general idea was that they would be doing public work during their break time. That was public duty.
Pulling weeds, paving roads, and cleaning.
Especially when Yu Aijun pointed at the weeds outside the camp that were up to their calves. “Here, there, all of this will be your public duty for the next three months.”
Zhou Wanfeng had a good idea. Sun Mulan had found her a lot of information, and it had said that whether it was after graduation and being sent to the grassroots, or as a cadet at the school, every day’s time would be fully arranged, and the time would be very tight. Especially during the three-month training period, it was basically the same standard as the new recruit training.
In order to quickly turn the cadets from local high school students into soldiers, the cultivation of discipline and obedience was a priority. The new recruit training mainly consisted of drill training, interspersed with physical training, combat readiness training, and various ideological and political education.
Sun Mulan had particularly mentioned that there would be a comprehensive field training at the end of the new recruit training. She didn’t know where she had heard it, but she had told her to pay special attention to it. She had said that it was an assessment, involving long-distance raids, camouflage and cover, and basic practical exercises.
Zhou Wanfeng had no time to think about those things at the moment. After eating, everyone had to go out with the squad leader, Yu Aijun, to pull weeds.
Pulling weeds, without any tools, just with their bare hands. Each person had a half-meter wide area, and it was the same for both boys and girls.
The grass here was lush, with well-developed root systems. When you pulled it out, you would leave a pit in the ground. All the squad leaders were participating. When a boy couldn’t help but talk, he was immediately scolded, “No talking! Keep your head down and work!”
Your hands would be stained with grass juice. If you didn’t do a good job, the squad leader would check and if you failed, you would have to do it again.
They had only been at the training base for half a day, but they could already get a taste of what their future life would be like.
It wasn’t that you couldn’t talk. You could. While they were pulling weeds, they were taught to sing. If you sang too softly, you would be scolded.
A squad leader stood up and summarized for the cadets, “It doesn’t matter what you sing or how you sing. What matters is the momentum. A soldier’s singing is like shouting at a mountain. It’s not about the tune or the musicality. It’s about a loud voice, a competitive roar.”
With that, the male cadets were energized, and their weed-pulling movements became faster.
A whistle blew, and everyone was led back in a line.
After the squad leader, Yu Aijun, had sent the cadets back to their dorms, a long and a short whistle blew in the barracks courtyard. It was the signal for the squad leaders to assemble.
The company commander, Qin Zhe, and the political instructor, Chang, watched as the squad leaders reported, saluted, and came in to sit down.
“You’ve been in contact with these cadets for half a day. How do you feel?” Qin Zhe looked at the squad leaders of each squad. They were all soldiers who had been carefully selected from the second year of active service. The camp had requested that the cadets be trained as new recruits, but Qin Zhe felt that the cadets who had reported in the afternoon were a little delicate.
The squad leaders began to report on the situation of the cadets in each squad.
The cadets could finally catch their breath and rest. Zhou Wanfeng was on the lower bunk, seriously fiddling with her quilt. She even took out a pen and made a mark on the quilt, trying all sorts of ways to fold it into a “tofu.”
Liu Shupei, on the other hand, saw the girl on the bed opposite her folding her quilt, and even taking out a pen to make a mark. Her focused look made her have a good impression. She thought that anyone who treated every detail seriously was amazing.
Liu Shupei walked over and stood to the side. She remembered that this tall and slender, cold-faced girl was named Zhou Wanfeng. “If you want to fold the quilt like the instructor’s, you have to press it with your elbow in the beginning. After you fold it, you have to pinch the corners and the lines. The quilt will look good when the edges are sharp.”
Zhou Wanfeng thanked her. “Thank you. I’ll give it a try.”
The squad leaders’ meeting was also over. The company commander, Qin Zhe, decided to change the regular training. “Tomorrow morning, we’ll run. Let’s start with a five-kilometer run to test their foundation, and then we’ll have drill training.”