Chapter 63: You’re Not Suited to Be a Soldier p1
After a long day of drill training and dinner, they had thought they could relax a little.
But when they returned to their dorms, they were told to take their small stools and gather downstairs. All the cadets sat in neat rows, looking up at the broadcast, receiving their ideological education.
For an hour, the ideological education talked about how soldiers must obey orders, follow commands, train hard, and master various skills; to be patriotic, loyal to the country, and to make protecting national security their top priority, and so on.
The squad leaders of each squad had serious expressions and were listening to the broadcast very attentively.
Zhou Wanfeng turned to look at the row of squad leaders. She envied and longed for the spirit they displayed. A person she had respected in her past life had once told her, “Zhou Wanfeng, you are actually a very self-centered person. Compared to the interests of the group, you care more about your own gains and losses. But you are also a very contradictory person. In a critical moment, you make people feel as if you are not afraid of death. Sometimes, you are unreadable, and others will be even more afraid of you, wary of you. People who are greedy for money or afraid of death are the ones who make people feel at ease.”
Later, she had worked hard to accumulate wealth, bought buildings, bought land, and had also secretly donated money to remote areas and anonymously given money to child relief organizations.
However, when someone felt that you were an obstacle, they would also find a way to get rid of you. This had nothing to do with being greedy for money or afraid of death.
Zhou Wanfeng looked at the squad leader, Yu Aijun. Yu Aijun noticed someone looking at him, turned his head, and happened to see Zhou Wanfeng staring at him with a blank expression.
“Yo, yo, your squad’s Zhou Wanfeng is glaring at you. Who told you to confiscate the thing she’s been carrying for three years? Hurry up and give it back to her,” Cao Baoshan said, following his line of sight. Well, I’ll be. She was discovered, but there was not a single ripple of emotion in her eyes.
Yu Aijun frowned and glared, and shushed Zhou Wanfeng, pointing his finger forward, telling her to concentrate and listen to the broadcast.
Zhou Wanfeng saw the squad leader’s lips move and knew that he was calling her name. She slowly turned her head.
Yu Aijun’s brow furrowed. This Zhou Wanfeng was always half a beat late in obeying orders.
“Provocation. A complete provocation,” Cao Baoshan saw it. He lightly touched Yu Aijun’s foot. “You can’t be too hard on this kind of arrogant cadet. Their personalities are all very proud. If you treat them so fiercely, they’ll easily rebel. Old Yu, you have to use softness to overcome hardness. Why don’t I talk to the company commander and the political instructor and have Zhou Wanfeng transferred to my squad? I’ll help you…”
“Get lost,” Yu Aijun said, glaring at Cao Baoshan. He had just discovered a good seedling, and he was already trying to poach her. Did he think he was dead? Even if Zhou Wanfeng were a stubborn donkey, he could still train her.
Seeing that his intentions had been seen through, Cao Baoshan decided to enlighten Old Yu. “Do you still remember what our old squad leader used to say? We came to the army to be soldiers, not pigs. Look at all the rules and regulations in the army. They’re to make you obey discipline, big and small. They’re to make you obey, not to make you lie down. Honest people are a relief, and it’s easy to be a squad leader. But being a soldier is not like that. It’s to make you obedient, to follow orders, and also to train your wolf-like ruthlessness. This kind of soldier is a good soldier.”
“This Zhou Wanfeng is just a cadet. Look at her eyes, and the ruthlessness of her moves this afternoon. If I hadn’t reacted quickly, I would have been injured. What is this? This is a pack leader. Isn’t it this kind of spirit in her that you can’t stand? Don’t train it out of her. The political instructor and the company commander have already taken note of Zhou Wanfeng.”
From the corner of his eye, Yu Aijun glanced at Zhou Wanfeng, who was listening to the broadcast. His brow furrowed slightly. In a squad, in a row, if you compared Zhou Wanfeng to the people in front, behind, and to the sides, you would find the problem.
Her problem was by no means as simple as Cao Baoshan had said.
The problem with Zhou Wanfeng was very big.
A pack leader? She was just a wild wolf, with no organization, no discipline, and on the fringes.
This kind of person would be a big problem in a team operation. Her ability was too strong, and she didn’t lead the team. Once she had a disagreement with the leader, it would be a disaster.
After the broadcast, each squad was led back.
In the dorm, the twelve cadets were standing in a neat line. Zhou Wanfeng was at the very back.
Yu Aijun pulled over a chair and sat down in front of them. “According to the usual practice, you have to write a self-summary of what you heard today and hand it to me tomorrow. You have to have a deep understanding of your own problems and what you need to do in the future.”
“Yes, squad leader,” everyone replied in unison.
Yu Aijun glanced at Zhou Wanfeng. She was shouting along with the others, but her mouth was moving, and her voice was too small to be heard.
“Zhou Wanfeng, did you hear me?”
Zhou Wanfeng took a deep breath. “Reporting, squad leader! I heard you!”
“Your answer should be concise and quick.”
“Yes, squad leader,” Zhou Wanfeng said, looking straight ahead.
Yu Aijun glanced at the internal affairs of the dorm and took a breath. “While there’s still time before bed, let’s practice our internal affairs. I’ll be checking again tomorrow. Now, dismiss and practice tidying up your internal affairs.”
The cadets went to their own beds and started to practice folding their hard-won “tofu quilts” all over again.
Liu Shupei was currently the internal affairs model. She took the initiative to go to the cadets who had not passed in the morning to demonstrate and explain, and had them stand behind her and learn.
Then she had them do it again themselves. If they did it wrong, Liu Shupei would help to adjust it.
Yu Aijun looked at the seriously helping Liu Shupei and nodded with satisfaction. He was very satisfied with Liu Shupei. If, as Cao Baoshan had said, the pack leader should be someone like Liu Shupei.
On the other hand, Zhou Wanfeng did not take the initiative to go forward, nor did she care about the other cadets. While the others were learning to tidy up their internal affairs, she was sitting there, writing her self-summary.
Jin Hongjie turned around, wanting to find someone to guide her. She found that Liu Shupei was helping others and probably wouldn’t be free for a while. The others were training seriously on their own, and there was also Zhou Wanfeng, who was doing something else.
Then she saw the squad leader, Yu Aijun’s, dark face and immediately understood. She grabbed Zhou Wanfeng’s arm. “Zhou Wanfeng, stop writing! Come and help me fold this! It’s always collapsing no matter what I do!”
“Do you still remember what I said this morning? Try it again like that,” Zhou Wanfeng said, looking at the collapsed quilt on Jin Hongjie’s bed with a frown.
Jin Hongjie held onto her and wouldn’t let go. “You teach me step by step again. I don’t remember what you said this morning.”
Zhou Wanfeng’s brow furrowed. “Watch carefully this time. Remember carefully.”
“Wei Jiahui, Xu Yanqiu, come and learn together,” Jin Hongjie called to her companions.
Zhou Wanfeng was suddenly surrounded. She bent down and slowly spread the quilt flat, explaining as she did so, “You can’t skip the basic work. Spend more time on it. To prevent the quilt from wrinkling too much in the morning, I suggest you don’t sleep with your legs between the quilt. Otherwise, you’ll spend a lot of time just straightening out the wrinkles tomorrow.”
This was Zhou Wanfeng’s own summary.
Yu Aijun walked closer and looked for a few moments, then turned and went out.
When it was finally time to wash up and go to bed, Zhou Wanfeng was called for night patrol. It wasn’t just her. There was also Hu Junlan, and from the male cadets, there was He Yunfei, who had played basketball, and another person who had introduced himself as Niu Lidong.
“The main job is to check the surrounding environment, the safety of the facilities, and whether there are any violations of discipline in each dorm. During the new recruit training, someone will be chosen for night patrol every night,” the squad leader on duty tonight was named Fang Xinlu, Squad Leader Fang. The moment he saw Zhou Wanfeng, he knew it was Old Yu’s idea.
Squad Leader Fang led the group, explaining the precautions for night patrol in a low voice, and also the potential hidden dangers.
After a hard day of training, not being able to sleep and rest at night was definitely a test of one’s willpower and physical limits.
Who knew how many times they had yawned, one after another, so sleepy that their eyelids were fighting.
“I wasn’t this sleepy even when I was studying at night in high school.”
“Me too.”
Seeing them chatting, Squad Leader Fang scolded in a low voice, “No chatting! Pull yourselves together!”
They still had to get up early for training tomorrow. The night patrol would end at ten, and the cadets would be sent back.
Zhou Wanfeng quietly returned to her dorm. No one was asleep yet, and they were curious about what the night patrol was like.
She briefly explained.
Seeing this, Liu Shupei quickly interrupted, “We can talk about it tomorrow when we have time. Everyone will probably have a turn. Let’s rest now. Zhou Wanfeng is probably tired too.”
The dorm returned to its quiet.
Zhou Wanfeng lay in bed, thinking about her self-summary. She was planning to get up early tomorrow to write it.
At a little past five, when Yu Aijun came over, he found that everyone was up and had tidied up their internal affairs. A few of them were either sitting on their stools or gathered around the table, writing.
Zhou Wanfeng was the first to get up. After tidying up her internal affairs, she started to write her self-summary.
Someone had written it yesterday but hadn’t finished. They were all still students, and it was the first handwritten assignment from the squad leader. They all took it very seriously.
As they were writing, they were also discussing in a low voice, “This self-summary probably shouldn’t be filled with flowery language. It’s best to just write about your own situation in a simple and direct way.”
“I feel like it’s the same as a self-criticism at school. What kind of code of conduct should I demand of myself in the future, and so on.”
“Listening to you guys, I feel like what I’ve written is too flowery. I’ve even used ancient poems,” she said, and then she laughed, quickly finding another piece of paper and a pen to rewrite it.
“The squad leader will probably frown when he sees it, hahaha.”
So, when Yu Aijun came in, he saw a group of cadets writing furiously.
Their internal affairs had improved a lot. It was clear that they had all learned seriously last night.
It went very smoothly.
The six o’clock wake-up call hadn’t even sounded yet. They had an hour of morning exercises, and then they would line up and go to the cafeteria for breakfast. Breakfast seemed to be the same: steamed buns, buns, flower rolls, white rice congee, and pickles.
The official training in the morning was from 7:45 to 11:45.
It was still drill practice. After a whole morning, Zhou Wanfeng found that she seemed to be being targeted by Yu Aijun.
“Zhou Wanfeng, step out! Do a demonstration!” she said, holding a goose step.
“Zhou Wanfeng, tighten your upper body! Raise your leg higher!”
“Zhou Wanfeng, don’t look sideways…”
She would even be told off for moving her eyebrows.
The lunch break was from 12:30 to 14:10. This was a time that the cadets could freely allocate. They could go back to their dorms to rest and sleep, or they could wash their clothes and take a shower.
There were also some who didn’t rest and went to play ball.
Most of those who went back to their dorms to rest didn’t dare to actually take off their shoes and get on the bed, for fear of wrinkling the quilt and the bedsheet.
They would either lie on their desks or sleep on the side of their beds, with their quilts at the very inside, carefully protected.
To go out and play basketball in the hot sun at noon, apart from those who loved it, or those who were full of energy, like Jin Hongjie.
The afternoon training was from 14:30 to 18:00.
After practicing the drill once, they finally changed it up and learned military skills training.
“Military skills training mainly includes individual tactical training, defense skills, and field application training.”
The whole afternoon was spent on individual tactical training.
If in the morning, Zhou Wanfeng had suspected that she was being intentionally targeted, in the afternoon, she was basically sure that she was being targeted.
“Zhou Wanfeng, step out! The others, sit down on the spot.”