Soon, it would be the final selection drill for the square-shaped formation of the military training.

The students of Jifu University must form a proper square-shaped formation as well as listen to the military instructor’s orders to stand straight, go forward, go backward, match others’ strides, perform the goose-step, squat down in place, and march at the same time.

In the beginning, the squads marched superbly after the order to perform goose-steps was made. Suddenly, someone in the front row staggered and plunged forward to the ground. Under ordinary circumstances, everyone would have stopped and burst out laughing but it was now a matter of honor for their entire class. Everyone fell into silence and inwardly despising this person who was humiliating them at this critical moment—Lin Wenxi.

Lin Wenxi knew that when Zhao Yuan, who stood beside him, shoved his toes at him when withdrawing his foot. Unable to react in time, Lin Wenxi immediately collapsed.

However, the grim-faced commander had yet to order for them to stop. Every student that made up the subsequent rows must move forward and trample over him without stopping. Wang Xiang, who stood behind Lin Wenxi, closed his eyes and lifted his leg high up. He was about to step on Lin Wenxi’s body with force. If someone stopped at this moment, it would be deemed an act of defiance of the order. It would cause the entire class to be eliminated.

Zhao Yuan’s plan was to trip Lin Wenxi and make him stagger as it wasn’t something major to the class. What he didn’t expect was that Lin Wenxi had been forcing himself to practice for many days, causing his waist and thighs to be limp and painful. Lin Wenxi had been persisting on the basis of his mind alone. When Lin Wenxi fell, Zhao Yuan couldn’t think of anything else and immediately rushed to his aid.

“Halt!” The ear-splitting, thunderous sound instantly gave everyone relief and they reflectively halted. However, the one who gave the order wasn’t the commander. It was Instructor Zhang Dong, who dared to righteously defy the law of heaven.

Everyone looked at each other in dismay and the atmosphere suddenly became incredibly severe.

“Zhang Dong!”

“Here!”

“Your row is eliminated!” the commander bellowed.

“I request to run fifty laps! I implore you, Senior Official, to give us another chance!” Zhang Dong yelled, as he stood straight and made a salute.

The commander’s expression turned ashen and he left with his hands clasped behind his back. He walked toward the other squad without turning his head around.

Zhang Dong ordered the row of students that he was responsible to stand in place at attention. He himself went off to run under the hot sun.

Lin Wenxi cast Zhao Yuan a quick glance and ran off after Zhang Dong without turning his head. Zhao Yuan swiftly ran past Lin Wenxi and went up to Zhang Dong.

Lin Wenxi hadn’t run for long before he felt like his soul was already leaving his body. When he ran past the girls’ squad, he was no longer able to keep going. He lowered his head as his pace slowed to a stop before raising his head again to continue running. Someone handed him a bottle with a red label. The owner of the bottle had a pair of fair hands that were untouched by the burning sun under the olive-colored long sleeves.

Lin Wenxi barely raised his head to see a person with bright eyes and white teeth grinning widely at him. He waved his hand and continued moving forward. When he ran past the girls’ squad again in his second lap, the girl handed him her bottle of water again. Lin Wenxi once again rejected her offer. This continued in his third lap and Lin Wenxi was once again persistent. However, he felt as if he had tripped over something and fell to the ground with a tumble. He collapsed on the ground, unable to get up for a long time. When he saw the grinning girl withdraw her foot, he felt a moment of confusion rather than a stab of displeasure.

The girl unscrewed the lid, pinched Lin Wenxi’s cheek with one hand, and poured water into his mouth with her other hand. Fuming, she said, “It’s fine if you’re this way, but you even forced me, Shu Xiaoman, to give you water! Do you know that the Instructor would punish me with twenty press-ups each time I come here?! I’ve never done that many press-ups in my entire life! What should I do if my muscles become developed? What should I do if my arms become big?”

Lin Wenxi didn’t know if he should cry or laugh, but he was unable to retort with all the water pouring into his system. It wasn’t until that half of the water poured down his body and the other half entering his stomach that Shu Xiaoman threw the bottle at him and turned around to leave in anger.

The sun hung high overhead and the autumn hot spell wreaked havoc on everyone. It took no more than two laps for Zhang Dong’s neat camouflage uniform to be soaked with sweat. However, he didn’t even make a move to wipe away his sweat. His eyes were burning like fire as he advanced courageously. Zhao Yuan finally caught up to him. He told Zhang Dong what happened while panting heavily.

“Take good care of him when you return,” Zhang Dong said quietly.

Zhao Yuan jumped in fright. He simply couldn’t get used to the Instructor speaking in such a mild manner.

“Hey, why are you being so delicate? You just stumbled a little. Don’t tell me you’re faking it?” Zhao Yuan asked carelessly.

Lin Wenxi didn’t reply.

Zhao Yuan started panicking. He swiftly ran to Lin Wenxi, subconsciously putting a foot in front of him. He turned pale with fright and immediately withdraw his foot. He heard only a quiet snort from Lin Wenxi and saw the latter flying out. Simultaneously, Zhao Yuan’s awkward posture caused him to fall atop Lin Wenxi.

…

“Zhao Yuan!” Underneath him, Lin Wenxi’s nasally voice was basically raging with anger.

“I hurt myself during the fall. I can’t move.” Zhao Yuan faked a groan. He then heard a quiet groan from Lin Wenxi below him and nothing else.

Zhao Yuan immediately climbed to his feet. Below him, Lin Wenxi swiftly stood up and wiped Zhao Yuan’s face with a fistful of sand.

“You wench! You know nothing except to fake death, dizziness, and stupidity!” Zhao Yuan sprang toward Lin Wenxi and picked him up by the waist. He carried Lin Wenxi back to their squad and threw the latter on the field. Lin Wenxi no longer had any strength to climb back up. He lay there and stared blankly at Zhang Dong swiftly running all fifty laps and all twenty kilometers.

Lin Wenxi himself requested to be shifted to the square-shaped military boxing parade. Zhao Yuan told the class what had happened and also requested to be shifted.

The two of them departed amidst sounds of sighing. Their classmates couldn’t help lamenting with regret. To be fair, Lin Wenxi had been catching up to them despite lagging behind in the beginning. No matter which subject, he had been performing to the best standard lately. He wasn’t in any way inferior to the squad leader Zhao Yuan or the “man of steel” Zheng Kai.

In the end, four people, all from Dorm No. 216 were also expelled from the military parade to the military boxing formation. Moreover, two occupants of them also appeared overjoyed.

Zhao Yuan knew very well that Zhang An’an and Chen Wanxin were also expelled to the military boxing squad. Due to the nature of the performance put on by the squad, there would naturally be the mingling between the guys and girls.

“I heard your plan failed?” During their rest tie, Chen Wanxin looked for Zhao Yuan and sat together with him. She carelessly waved her little handkerchief to fan herself and turned the fruit that the older Senior Sister gave Zhao Yuan earlier in her hands from time to time. Then, she peeled the skin of the fruit without giving it much thought and focused on eating as she stood up. She conveniently tossed a few of the fruits to her squad mates. Even though she was dripping with sweat, the indistinct fragrance coming off from her swirled in the air and entered Zhao Yuan’s nostrils. With every movement of her handkerchief, the faint wind would carry the fragrance of jasmine everywhere. Before long, the heads of quite a few guys popped up next to Zhao Yuan. In Zheng Kai’s words, this was the fragrance of earth after returning to the village and open fields of one’s childhood.

“There’s still time,” Zhao Yuan said.

“Don’t let me look down on you.” Chen Wanxin patted Zhao Yuan gently on the shoulder with a bright smile. The flirtatious nature of the exchange was unconcealable.

“It’s not something pressing. It’s already within my grasp; both he and you.” Zhao Yuan’s heroic emotions exploded after Chen Wanxin’s provocation.

Chen Wanxin’s heart stirred ever so slightly. It seemed that Zhao Yuan’s feelings for her were rather sincere.

The end of the military parade of the freshmen finally arrived but unfortunately, the weather refused to cooperate and brought on a heavy downpour. Chen Wanxin had brought her cell phone with a dedicated camera function to the event, full of joy and expectation. She had planned on uploading the photo online and she already had Zhang An’an and Wang Xiang came up with the title: “Unethical leader avoids the rain while smoking and cracking melon seeds; the down-and-out students get drenched in the rain as they march against the wind.”

When Chen Wanxin saw the leader of the army and the group of military instructors standing on the spacious and empty field and getting drenched with the other students without using an umbrella, she immediately felt that the title of the photograph would be libelous. She shoved her cell phone into Zheng Kai’s hands and had him keep it for her. In the past few days, everyone could see how loyal he was to her. It was also the time to test his persistence. Zheng Kai was so happy that he forgot himself and started babbling god knows what. Chen Wanxin didn’t pay attention and merely nodded casually.

Wang Xiang was instantly overjoyed. “Did she really promise to gift you this phone?”

Zheng Kai nodded resolutely. Wang Xiang expressed his desire to borrow this high-quality object for several days and take good photographs of him and Zhang An’an’s daily life. He would then compose poetry and turn the photographs into mini animation as a gift for Zhang An’an’s upcoming birthday. Zheng Kai happily gave his tacit agreement. He got Wang Xiang to keep the phone and hide it properly in his pocket before leaving with a peace of mind.

The night squads for the square-shaped military parade put on a rather uniform performance. The eyes of all the squad leaders were light. There was now very little disparity between them and the square-shaped military parade of the regular army. The way they swung their arms, kicked their legs, shouted the slogans, went forward in unison, and neatly adhered to the official standard didn’t lack in the slightest. They appeared grand and majestic.

Meanwhile, the square-shaped military boxing parade appeared to be in disorder.

The ambitious Zheng Kai carelessly hit Wang Xiang right in the middle of his butt while throwing a punch. Wang Xiang’s eyes widened in shock and he opened his mouth to yell, “Brother Kai! I already have An’an! Shouldn’t we… consider this in another lifetime?”

Zheng Kai couldn’t stop himself from kicking Wang Xiang until he was staggering. Wang Xiang took advantage of the moment to run over to Zhang An’an. In a flash, a burst of clamor arose in the square-shaped military boxing parade. Frowning, Lin Wenxi stared coolly at Zhang An’an who was about to throw herself at him. Zhang An’an was so frightened that she nearly trembled. She stood there, frozen. She then abruptly changed her direction to go over to Zhao Yuan. Only then did the “military heart” stabilized once again.

When the military parade ended, all the guys of the square-shaped military boxing parade were told to practice in the field all day long. They were indifferent as the rain was nice and cold. They put their hands on their hips and began chattering. Unexpectedly, the moment the military instructor finished speaking, the clouds scattered and the rain let up. The sun revealed itself, shining as brightly as the military instructor’s smiling face. The expression of the guys immediately fell in dejection.

Wang Xiang cried out in surprise, “So everyone’s been ‘sunned’ (slang for having sexual relations with a man).” Zheng Kai enclosed Wang Xiang’s forehead, thinking this child had been poisoned too severely, and by Zhang An’an at that. He then stared at Chen Wanxin with rapt attention as well as her slightly protruding butt and the cascading long hair after she took off her cap. Her entire being was like a walking poison that made her irresistible to men whether physiologically or mentally. Moreover, the poison was suddenly approaching him in a leisurely manner. The poison opened her mouth to say, “Where’s my phone?”

“Didn’t… you give it to me as a gift?” Zheng Kai resisted the poison.

“Since when did I say that?”

“Oh… So I misunderstood you. Wang… Wang Xiang, the cell phone…”

Wang Xiang was seated on the ground, looking immersed. The heads of a group of guys were gathered next to his. They were so occupied that no sound could touch them. Chen Wanxin cast a glance at them and immediately saw the screen of her cell phone flickering nonstop. There were photographs that were showing up over and over on the screen.

“Zheng Kai!!!”

“Ah…!” Zheng Kai cried in horror. He held his crotch. “How vicious! What will you do for the second half of your life?”

Wang Xiang and the rest had run so far that not even their shadows could be seen. The cell phone was placed safely atop a cushion. The screen was finally showing the last of the series of photographs. It was none other than the one of Zhao Yuan training Lin Wenxi in matching others’ stride—the anxious and conscientious-looking Zhao Yuan as well as a placid Lin Wenxi. To any onlooker, this was a very harmonious scene. It was up to anyone’s guess how Chen Wanxin managed to photograph this scene at such a close range.

Chen Wanxin’s expression changed ever so slightly. She took light steps to grab her cell phone. With a shallow laugh, she said, “Zheng Kai, you owe me a favor.” Zheng Kai’s spirit was already flying after seeing her sweet smile. Naturally, he didn’t know what she was saying and was just busy nodding nonstop.