Chapter Eighty-four Military Training (Part 2)

  The first day of military training ended, and we were exhausted. I thought it was just five hours a day, but it's not that easy. These are just the first heavy blows, and who knows what will happen next? Today, the instructor's words are still echoing in our minds, and everyone has started counting down with their fingers.

  The next morning, our classmates arrived early at the training ground from yesterday, waiting for Officer Wang to assemble at 8:01. Even I, who always likes to be late, arrived ahead of time. At 8 o'clock, Officer Wang arrived on schedule and shouted "assemble". Everyone ran over faster than rabbits. The officer nodded and said, "Today we will continue with military training. Military training is a must every day. Looking at the weather, I think standing in the morning should be more comfortable than standing in the afternoon, right? You won't disagree, will you?" Then we learned to march in step, walk in step, and run in step. No more nonsense, let's stand at attention for half an hour."

  Eh, our instructor seems to really like standing at attention. He says that standing at attention is the best way to show one's military bearing. As the old saying goes, "standing has its posture, sitting has its posture", but it's exhausting being made to stand all the time. I thought I could sneak in a little relaxation, but before I knew it, I was caught and got scolded.

  After the morning exercise, the instructor gave us a demonstration of marching in step, normal walking and running. He said that we would be training on these contents for the next few days. Everyone thought that marching in step was the easiest and there was nothing much to learn from it, isn't it just like normal walking with arm movements and bigger strides? But the fact is that the instructor got us so angry that we couldn't help but laugh at our own behavior.

  At first, the instructor asked us to line up row by row. Our classmates in the first row heard the instructor's command "one, two, one" and walked forward together, but they didn't walk far before the instructor shouted "halt!" and there were still some students who didn't know what they were thinking and took another step before halting.

  The instructor yelled loudly: "Did you see that, students in the back rows? Do you think the girls in the first row walked well?"

  The students behind, whether boys or girls, all answered loudly that it was not good, and some even burst out laughing. Officer Shang asked us what we thought. We looked around at each other. It really was a mess! Although everyone in the same row was roughly the same height, and we had all started from the same line, our strides were now quite different. Some parts stuck out, while others sank in. Everyone shook their heads and said it wasn't good.

  The instructor said, "Is that not bad? Do you still think marching in step is easy and doesn't need to be learned?" "We don't think so anymore." "And the third girl in the first row, don't you feel awkward? You're doing the same hand and foot movements." As soon as I heard it was the third girl, I looked at the classmate who was third from the left, her expression was normal, no reaction at all. Then I pointed to myself and muttered, "Is he talking about me?" "Yes, that's you." My face turned red instantly, oh my god! The laughter from behind earlier, it turns out they were all laughing at me! Do I really have the same hand and foot movements? This has never happened before during military training, and I thought I was doing pretty well myself. From now on, I need to pay extra attention, but the more I focus, the more mistakes I make.

  The instructor taught us the key points of marching in step, and then had us practice row by row many times. Finally, each row was able to march in sync, but when all five rows came together, it was a bit out of sync again. Although not to the point where each row had its own rhythm, the boys' and girls' rhythms were clearly different. The girls took smaller steps to begin with, and the boys followed closely behind, with varying distances between each row.

  "Alright, stop! You're all rushing forward in rows like a death squad. I'm standing here watching and it's making me uncomfortable. Is it that you won't stop unless I tell you to? Are you going to rush all the way up into the trees? You're really a bunch of blockheads, or are you smart students? I think you're just a bunch of stupid donkeys messing around. Now listen carefully as I give you commands and march in step...". We were all quite displeased with what the instructor said, but we gritted our teeth and tried to do better. Everyone cooperated surprisingly well, and after just a few practices, we were marching in step. The instructor didn't even notice when he stopped giving orders, and we continued marching in step without realizing it. After we finished, the instructor said: "This is good, keep it up like this." We cheered, but he pretended not to see us and left.

  During the break, some of the girls in our class started saying: "This weather is so hot that even with sunscreen, it's useless. I'm going to get dark after military training, what should I do? I finally got pale during summer vacation at home, and now it's all for nothing." Gan Lingling suddenly pulled out a bottle from her bag and said: "I have something, Mo Xiaoyu, look, what is this?" "Sunscreen? Let me see." "Yeah, let me show you, but be careful, this was brought back by my cousin from abroad, it's expensive. But the effect is good too. So I'm not worried about getting dark at all, every time we rest, I apply some, look, I haven't gotten dark, right?" Mo Xiaoyu nodded repeatedly. Many girls curiously gathered around to see what foreign goods looked like, after all, many of them had never seen or used domestic cosmetics before.

  Li Muyu suddenly appeared and said, "This Gan Lingling is acting up again. It's just a bottle of sunscreen, what's the big difference? And she says she hasn't gotten darker, it's only the second day of military training, what can you even tell?" Gan Lingling heard this and after applying her sunscreen, ran to Li Muyu's side and said, "How is it? It's good, right? You're just sour grapes because you've never had fair skin since you were a kid."

  Gan Lingling was about to leave after finishing speaking, Li Muyu said: "Hey, Gan Lingling, by the way, don't forget that my mom said you're coming over for dinner tonight. I wouldn't want to be scolded by my mom again. Remember to walk with me after school." "Got it, as if I could get lost."

  Mo Xiaoyu smiled and said to Gan Lingling, "Lingling, this sunscreen looks great, can I have some too?" "No way, it's very expensive," Li Muyue said from behind. Gan Lingling handed the sunscreen to Mo Xiaoyu, saying, "Who says I'm stingy? You can use it, go ahead." As Mo Xiaoyu was happily applying the sunscreen, I saw Gan Lingling's face filled with reluctance and conflict, and I couldn't help but want to laugh. Ah, these two are really a loving couple! But isn't Li Muyue supposed to like Lian Wuxia? However, when I sneaked a glance at Lian Wuxia, I found that her eyes didn't change expression at all. Okay, I can only say that Li Muyue's path is long and arduous!

  Twenty minutes later, Officer Shang came to assemble us and we continued to practice marching in formation. However, the officer thought our feet weren't lifted high enough, so he made us lift our feet and hold them for five minutes with our toes pointed. We couldn't even last a minute before we started shaking. Officer Shang walked back and forth in front of our first row, suddenly stopping in front of Gan Lingling. He wanted to say something because her feet were basically on the ground. Suddenly, he let out a series of sneezes without stopping, then stepped back from Gan Lingling and said: "What's that smell on you? It's so pungent it's nauseating! What did you do during those twenty minutes of rest time? This is military training, not playing house! Hurry up and go wash yourself, then hand over whatever that thing is. Otherwise, I'll call your parents!"

  Gan Lingling suddenly burst into tears, can you blame her? If Li Muyu hadn't said anything to her earlier, she wouldn't have applied extra sunscreen and been discovered by the instructor. And how was she supposed to know that the instructor was so sensitive to the scent of osmanthus? Mo Xiaoyu had also applied the same sunscreen, fearing she would be discovered too, so she accompanied Gan Lingling to wash it off.

  After washing up, Gan Lingling reluctantly handed over the sunscreen. The instructor said: "I'll take care of it first, don't worry, I'll return it to you according to your performance. Everyone should learn from this student's lesson, don't casually apply powder or lip balm, you're students, not bees." As soon as the instructor finished speaking, most of the boys burst out laughing, and a few girls also giggled. "Don't laugh, I'm not saying anything funny, you bunch of kids are just..." He hadn't even finished when several active boys chimed in with "showing off". "Right, it's showing off, alright, let's continue training."

  This day, Gan Lingling was unusually well-behaved, and she was particularly serious during training, even reducing the number of times she made mistakes. Of course, it was all for that bottle of sunscreen. When the evening ended, Officer Shang called Gan Lingling aside and said: "Gan Lingling, this is your sunscreen, I didn't touch it at all." Gan Lingling naturally believed him, as the officer disliked the smell of sunscreen, how could he possibly use it? "This is the first time, you behaved pretty well today, so I'll return it to you for now. However, don't think that this will set a precedent, if you bring it again tomorrow, I really won't let you have it back. When the time comes, even if you cry and try to find someone to plead on your behalf, it won't work." After saying that, Officer Shang left.

  A girl who witnessed the scene said, "Actually, our instructor is not bad, although he's quite strict, but sometimes he's soft-hearted, just like my mom always says about me, she can't bear to part with me, as my dad says 'a sharp tongue and a soft heart'." "Who says it isn't? I thought the instructor wouldn't easily give things to Gan Lingling, didn't expect Gan Lingling to be so lucky..."