Military training was tedious, dull, nothing more.
The only thing that made the boredom bearable was the daily break, when Xu Ye got a few minutes to chat with Chen Qingqing.
September 1st.
Xu Ye: Our instructor’s a total idiot. Yesterday he made me carry water, today he made me company leader. There’s literally a clown here who actually wants the job — why pick me?
Chen Qingqing: Maybe in his eyes, you’re just the better candidate.
Xu Ye: And in your eyes?
Chen Qingqing: You’re a dumb pig.
September 2nd.
Xu Ye: Started goose-stepping today. Can’t control my kicks — keep nailing the guy in front of me right in the butt.
Chen Qingqing: That guy must hate you by now.
Xu Ye: Nah, it’s fine. He’s basically my adopted son at this point.
Chen Qingqing: Do you guys have training at night too?
Xu Ye: Just talent shows and games. You probably have the same?
Chen Qingqing: Yeah.
Chen Qingqing: Good thing my roommates are all great performers. I just get to sit in the audience.
Xu Ye: If you’re scared to perform in front of people, why’d you even study music?
Chen Qingqing: I don’t know.
Xu Ye: It’s fine. Someday you can just sing for me alone. I’ll be your audience.
September 3rd.
Chen Qingqing: Running is exhausting.
Xu Ye: Drink more water.
Chen Qingqing: I really want to sleep right now.
Xu Ye: Same.
Chen Qingqing: Don’t you dare say “together” again!
Xu Ye: …
September 4th.
Xu Ye: Field march is on the 12th, training wraps up the morning of the 13th, and the 14th’s a weekend. I’ll come see you.
Chen Qingqing: Okay.
Xu Ye: What should we do?
Chen Qingqing: Whatever’s fine.
Xu Ye: Want to invite your roommates?
Chen Qingqing: What do you think?
Xu Ye: Guess not, then. It’s rare enough we get a world to ourselves — I don’t need a bunch of third wheels tagging along.
Chen Qingqing: Shut up!
September 5th.
Xu Ye: Just realized I’ve gone a whole shade darker.
Chen Qingqing: Wear sunscreen.
Xu Ye: If I used sunscreen in the guys’ dorm, my roommates would never let me live it down.
Chen Qingqing: Then you deserve it.
Xu Ye: If I get so tan I end up looking like beef jerky, you won’t dump me, right?
Chen Qingqing: I already can’t stand you as it is.
September 6th.
Xu Ye: Huoxiang zhengqi water is disgusting. [TL: a traditional Chinese herbal remedy used to treat heatstroke, nausea, and stomach upset — infamous for its overpowering medicinal flavor and surprisingly high alcohol content]
Chen Qingqing: What’s it taste like?
Xu Ye: Like I’m being poisoned.
Chen Qingqing: …
Xu Ye: The doctor says affection is the antidote. Quick, come give me some.
Chen Qingqing: This recipient has declined to receive your message. [TL: an actual WeChat system message that pops up when someone has blocked you — she’s joking that she’s tuning him out]
September 7th.
Xu Ye: Found an amazing mala stir-fry place today. Their free sour plum drink’s great too. I’ll take you sometime.
Chen Qingqing: Okay~
September 8th.
Chen Qingqing: I really want ice cream.
Xu Ye: Icecream.jpg [TL: a recurring joke format on Chinese social media — typing out a fake “[item].jpg” caption instead of actually sending a photo]
Xu Ye: Go on, eat up.
Chen Qingqing: I want to delete you.
Xu Ye: You’d really do that to me?
Chen Qingqing: But I’d just add you back again.
September 9th.
Chen Qingqing: I heard someone singing If One Day I Become Very Rich on campus today.
Xu Ye: Did you tell them it’s your song?
Chen Qingqing: I didn’t dare.
Xu Ye: What’s there to be scared of?
Xu Ye: I’ve got a bold idea.
Chen Qingqing: What idea?
Xu Ye: I want to write a love song. We could do a duet.
Chen Qingqing: Hard pass.
September 10th.
Xu Ye: School’s barely been in session ten days and somehow people are adding me on WeChat every single day.
Xu Ye: Is being this good-looking really my fault?
Xu Ye: But don’t worry, I turned them all down with “I already have a girlfriend.”
Chen Qingqing: People have tried adding me too.
Xu Ye: Did you say yes?
Chen Qingqing: No.
September 11th.
Chen Qingqing: Dumb pig, look at this leaf. It’s so pretty.
Chen Qingqing: The clouds today are so white.
Chen Qingqing: This rock is heart-shaped.
Xu Ye: I miss you too.
…
September 12th.
Field march day — a ten-kilometer hike looping all the way around the school.
After more than ten days of training, every girl had slimmed down a little, and the guys had all turned into walking charcoal briquettes. With clothes on it wasn’t too obvious, but the second shirts came off, the difference in skin tone on the face and body was impossible to miss.
Early in the morning, the company assembled.
Since Cheng Yong had personally appointed Xu Ye company leader, he was also on the hook for getting everyone organized.
Ten-plus days together had gotten everyone in Financial Economics Class 1 pretty familiar with one another. Xu Ye could put a name to every face in class by now, and his easygoing, no-filter personality had made him especially popular with the girls.
Zhang Yiyang noticed all of it. It made him angry, made him miserable — and there wasn’t a single thing he could do about it.
“Jesus, Yang Fei, are you out of your mind? You’d think we were going on a picnic with all this food.”
“It’s ten kilometers, man. When I get hungry later, I’ll have something to eat.”
“You’re not worried about lugging around a bag that heavy?”
“I already packed it. What am I supposed to do now?”
“Give me half.”
“Just say you want some food, you ass!”
“Li Tongwen, come grab a few things too — it’s ten kilometers, we might not even make it back by lunch.”
Spotting Cheng Yong approaching from a distance, Xu Ye moved to the front of the formation. “Whole company! Eyes left, dress! Eyes front! Attention!”
“Reporting, sir! Financial Economics Class 1 — forty-five expected, forty-five present. Awaiting your orders!”
“Get back in formation.”
“Yes, sir!”
Truth was, Cheng Yong had grown fond of Xu Ye. The kid was always grinning, seemed to get along with everyone, and the class actually listened to him — every formation he ran left Cheng Yong satisfied.
Cheng Yong stepped to the front of the company and ran through the discipline rules one more time.
Once the other companies were ready too, the freshmen of the Finance School set off from the school in one massive column, beginning the ten-kilometer march.
“One! Two! One!”
“One! Two! One!”
[TL: the cadence uses “yao” instead of the standard word for “one” — a substitution common in Chinese military contexts to avoid mishearing numbers when shouted, similar to saying “niner” instead of “nine” in English military radio communication]
“Listen — the bugle’s calling us to a new journey… ready, sing!”
The recruits broke into a marching song about answering that call and the duty to help build a stronger nation, voices rising together with real fervor, the chorus swelling into something about banners inscribed with iron and glory.
The booming voices echoed for a long while. To avoid disrupting traffic, the march route stuck to back roads and side paths — the scenery, at least, was nice.
But once the sun climbed higher, things got considerably less pleasant.
Xu Ye finished off a Snickers bar, wiped his forehead, and his palm came away soaked.
They’d set out at nine that morning. Ten, eleven, noon — three hours in and still not back at school. By now, anyone with weaker stamina was struggling to keep moving at all.
With the school maybe half a kilometer off, a scream suddenly rang out from the front of the column.
Yang Fei jumped too. “Li Tongwen just passed out!”
The formation halted immediately. Cheng Yong came running over. “What happened?”
“Someone fainted.”
“Get some huoxiang zhengqi water into him, quick.”
Xu Ye pushed through the crowd, squeezed some of the tonic into Li Tongwen’s mouth, and took in how pale he looked. “Sir, Li Tongwen only had two steamed buns and a cup of soy milk this morning. This might not just be heatstroke — could be anemia too.”
Cheng Yong hadn’t expected anyone to go down at this point in the march, and he wasn’t sure what to do.
While he was still weighing whether to halt the whole formation or send for a car to get Li Tongwen to the school infirmary—
Xu Ye called out, “Zhang Xinzhou, Yang Fei, come give me a hand.”
He crouched down. Zhang Xinzhou and Yang Fei rushed over and hoisted Li Tongwen onto his back. Straining, Xu Ye pushed himself upright and broke into a run toward the school.
Zhang Xinzhou and Yang Fei exchanged a glance and took off after him.
Cheng Yong started to say something, then stopped himself.
In the end, he let Xu Ye’s unauthorized call slide.
“Rest of you, catch up with the formation ahead.”
“One! Two! One!”
“One! Two! One!”
(End of Chapter)