Chapter Ninety-Five: Your Division Commander Calls Me Uncle (1.2)

I finally finished the typing at last. I was afraid I might sleep too late tomorrow, so I’m posting early. It’s only a little past two in the morning, heh heh. For the sake of how hard I’ve worked, everyone please support me a little and add a bookmark.

Standing in a corner of the barracks, Wu Song watched everything between Long Fei and Luo Hongli, and the more he saw, the more puzzled he became. At the same time, his brow furrowed. He truly could not understand how Long Fei seemed to have some connection with his immediate superior. Or had Division Commander Luo been the one looking for trouble with Long Fei just now?

Wu Song, often called a blockhead or a one-track mind, felt uneasy. He was due to be transferred out of the army soon. Although he had earned merit several times and was well known in the unit as a backbone soldier and an outstanding one at that, whether he could remain in the military still depended on a single word from Luo Hongli. He was already worried sick over it and dared not stubbornly handle things according to his own temper anymore. So when he saw Long Fei chatting with Luo Hongli, he grew alarmed and immediately felt that this might be an opportunity. Quietly, he made up his mind.

By the time Long Fei reached the training ground, half the people had already gone back to the barracks and then on to the mess hall for lunch. Quite a few soldiers were still watching the field from afar. Some of the instructors were nowhere to be seen, but everyone suspected those fellows might simply be hiding in some corner, keeping an eye on them. So even those who occasionally wanted to sneak through the training were deterred after seeing the people ahead of them punished with an extra five kilometers for thinking that way, and they all trained obediently.

But in this heat, under the noonday sun, even standing there was unbearable, let alone running with a load. When they were issued their gear, each person was given only a backpack, and they were told they only needed to bring a few changes of underwear. However, since this had not been explicitly written into the rules, many students had packed plenty of other things as well. Now they were truly suffering. Many of them wanted nothing more than to throw away their backpacks, but the instructors had given their orders: whatever they had carried on their backs, they had to keep carrying.

Long Fei finished the training with ease, leaving nearly ten classmates far behind him. Then he led the group of students who had long since been waiting aside and complaining nonstop back to the barracks. The barracks were fairly decent. Though simple, the beds were neatly made, the blankets were all new, and forty boys living together made for quite a lively place.

After that, he led the students to the mess hall. Only when Long Fei had delivered the last few students there could he finally sit down for a bite to eat. He had been hungry for ages, so he decided that after lunch he would go at once to speak with Wu Song about something. He had no intention of continuing as team leader; there was no benefit to be had, only exhaustion. Besides, Long Fei had clearly heard classmates whispering behind his back that his position as team leader had been obtained through connections, which left him both amused and exasperated.

At the mess hall, Long Fei did not see Liu Ruoyi. Just as he came out of the hall and was about to go looking for Wu Song, the latter unexpectedly came to him first.

“Long Fei, come with me for a moment!” Wu Song pulled him to a quiet place.

Long Fei grinned. “Instructor, hello. May I ask what you need me for this time?”

“Oh, nothing much. I just wanted to have a chat with you.” Wu Song found it genuinely hard to begin.

Long Fei smiled. “I was just about to look for the instructor myself.”

Wu Song blinked. “Look for me? What for? Go ahead and say it. You’re the team leader now; there’s no need to be polite with me.”

Long Fei was left a little baffled by Wu Song’s attitude. Judging from Luo Hongli’s words, wasn’t this guy supposed to be rather upright? Why was he suddenly being so courteous to him? He really did not seem like a military man anymore.

“Oh, it’s like this. I’ve thought it over for a long time, and I’m still not doing this team leader job,” Long Fei said seriously.

“Why not? Aren’t you doing perfectly well?” Wu Song was also thrown off. “I think your physical condition is pretty good too. You should be stronger than the others.”

Long Fei replied earnestly, “Anyway, I’m not doing it. Please find someone else. If there’s nothing else, I’m leaving.”

He was just going to walk off like that? How could that be allowed?

“Fine, fine, if you don’t want it, then so be it. Oh, Long Fei, don’t leave yet. Let me ask you something—do you know Division Commander Luo?” Seeing that Long Fei was about to go, Wu Song could no longer care about anything else and hurriedly called out.

Long Fei froze for a moment, then finally understood. So this guy was afraid of that? In that case, Long Fei would not be polite. He turned back and said with a grin, “You mean Luo Hongli? Oh, he’s my nephew. He should be calling me Uncle.”

If you could take advantage of something, then not taking it made you a fool.

Seeing Long Fei vanish in a flash, Wu Song was startled. Good heavens, this fellow was actually Division Commander Luo’s uncle. It was fortunate he had asked, otherwise if he had offended Long Fei without knowing it, who knew what kind of trouble Luo Hongli would make for him?

Wu Song frowned. What he was thinking about now was no longer finding someone to serve as team leader. In this kind of military training, whoever was the team leader made no difference. What concerned him was how he should curry favor with Long Fei during these half a month. He absolutely could not offend him, or he would most likely have to pack up and go back to his hometown to farm.

After lunch, Long Fei returned to the barracks. The conditions were not bad. Although there was no bath in the shower room, there were showers for everyone to use, and the space was fairly large. The only thing that left Long Fei a little depressed was that there were actually three buildings between the male and female barracks. That dashed his original hope of using his night vision to sneak a look at the girls at night.

Seeing everyone eagerly washing up and preparing for a nap, Long Fei almost laughed out loud. These students were really absurdly innocent. They actually thought this was school. This was an army camp. Not even until ten at night had passed, and they were going to shower? Not to mention that washing after afternoon training was a waste of water anyway. Even if you were a cleanliness fanatic and took ten showers a day, going now would most likely get you scolded by the instructors.

Wu Song suddenly came to the barracks for a quick inspection. The classmates who had once had a bit of goodwill toward him were still brooding over the noon training, so their eyes toward Wu Song were no longer as fervent as they had been in the morning. Still, since the instructor had come, everyone greeted him politely. Only Long Fei, without even removing his clothes, lay back on his bed in a long sprawl, showing no intention whatsoever of getting up and making himself familiar with Wu Song.

Wu Song took Long Fei’s behavior in. Under normal circumstances, he would definitely have found a chance to deal with a student like that. But since he already knew Long Fei had a family connection with Luo Hongli, he could only turn a blind eye. In front of everyone, he picked a tall, fairly imposing-looking boy to be the new team leader. As for the classmates’ doubtful looks toward Long Fei, Wu Song could do nothing about that. He merely waved a hand and left, leaving everyone to speculate wildly.

Many assumed that Long Fei had simply not performed well, or that he had somehow offended Wu Song. More people believed that because Long Fei had not stood up to greet the instructor, he had even lost the team leader position. Thus most of the classmates developed yet another layer of wariness toward the instructors. By stripping Long Fei of his post, Wu Song created a false impression in everyone’s minds: anyone who did not respect the instructors would end up terribly miserable.

Sure enough, just as Long Fei had expected, no sooner had Wu Song left than the alarm for an emergency assembly blared. A soldier shouted loudly at the entrance, ordering all the students taking part in military training to assemble on the parade ground within two minutes.

Amid a chorus of complaints and cries, all the students exploded into motion, chattering bitterly as they raced toward the parade ground. The ones who suffered most were those who had already showered and changed into clean T-shirts; they were frantically scrambling about. Even more exasperated were the students who were in the middle of using the toilet or scrubbing their backs in the bathhouse. As soon as the emergency assembly call sounded, and remembering that they had already been punished at noon, some of them did not even have time to rinse the soap off their bodies before bolting outside like madmen, all the while hurriedly pulling the sweat-soaked camouflage uniforms onto themselves.

Long Fei arrived at the parade ground at his own unhurried pace. Behind him, nearly fifteen students had their names recorded by Wu Song. Once more than ten platoons had lined up on the field, Luo Hongli only then ran up to the platform. He glanced toward Long Fei’s side, whether intentionally or not, and then began his speech. He had not given a speech at the university this morning, so why was he suddenly so talkative now? Long Fei finally came to a conclusion: Luo Hongli had probably not prepared a script in the morning, otherwise he would not have been unable to speak.

Half an hour later, Luo Hongli gave Long Fei a somewhat newfound impression. In this sweltering heat, the man really could endure the sun; if he had to suffer, he seemed determined to make everyone suffer together. In truth, Luo Hongli said so much, but if one were to summarize it, it amounted to only a few points: students should hold themselves to the standards of soldiers; they must absolutely obey the instructors’ orders; they should train hard so that when the evaluation came, they could receive a good assessment; and so on.

When Luo Hongli’s speech ended, all the students were already dazed from the heat. Unexpectedly, formal training began immediately after that.

The afternoon’s training was military posture. In plain terms, it was how one stood. Each platoon had an instructor in front serving as a model, standing straight as a spear, and they were required to remain standing for hours at a time. Fortunately, Long Fei did not care in the least. This sort of training posed no challenge for him whatsoever. Not only could he circulate his inner strength to withstand the sun’s roasting, but even if he simply let the blazing sun beat down on him like an ordinary person, he probably could still endure longer than these students.

Of course, every ninety minutes everyone was allowed a five-minute break. By six in the evening, the training ended and all the students began dinner. This time Long Fei ran faster than a rabbit. He waited by the mess hall entrance for a long while before finally seeing Liu Ruoyi. The girl had probably found the afternoon training far too grueling; she looked completely listless, and only when she saw Long Fei did a little spirit return to her.

The two of them had just gotten their food and were about to sit together when a soldier in charge of security stopped them. The soldier pointed at Long Fei and said bluntly, “You, go eat over there!”

Long Fei was a bit baffled and could not help frowning. “Why should I go over there?”

“Can’t you see that this side is all girls and that side is all boys? Why are you asking so many questions? This is the army, not your school. I told you to go over there, so go. Hurry up!” The soldier was getting angry.

Long Fei glanced around and saw that the rows where he was sitting really were all girls. But Long Fei had thick skin and did not think there was anything wrong with sitting there, so he said a little unhappily, “What’s wrong with the barracks? Even where I sit to eat has to be your business? It’s not like I’m sleeping in the girls’ barracks!”

Liu Ruoyi tugged at Long Fei’s sleeve, her small face red with embarrassment, and kept signaling him with her eyes. Her meaning was clear: she was worried Long Fei would offend the soldiers and suffer for it. But Long Fei only smiled faintly at her.

“Don’t be afraid. These soldiers usually only know how to bully new recruits. Maybe he’s a new recruit too. Since he’s usually the one being bullied, he wants to take it out on me today. We don’t need to bother with him. Let’s eat.”

When the soldier heard this, his face actually turned red. Long Fei had guessed it right. He really had only joined the army a few months earlier and was often bullied by the older soldiers. Otherwise, he would not have been assigned to stand guard at the mess hall. Seeing how pretty Liu Ruoyi was, he had been standing there on duty while sneaking looks at her, perhaps even fantasizing about all sorts of things. But then he discovered that the one sitting next to Liu Ruoyi was actually a man, and that made him angry. On the one hand, he was used to being bullied and wanted to bully someone else in return. On the other hand, out of sheer sour grapes, he could not allow Long Fei to sit so close to Liu Ruoyi. Even if the two of them were boyfriend and girlfriend, they at least could not be so openly affectionate in the military camp.

“You, get up!” The soldier was truly angry now. He stepped forward two paces, came up before Long Fei, and barked at him loudly.