Chapter 299: 292: The Last One

“Why didn’t you slap yourself a bit harder, huh?” She yawned and fell into bed, ready to sleep, but the bed above her kept shaking. She was trying to tolerate it, but just as she started to fall asleep again, she’d be jolted awake by the sounds of a shaky bunk bed. At times, it felt as if there was an earthquake, but she was too tired to get up. She thought, if there really was an earthquake, she probably wouldn’t want to run.

Until the sudden sound of a trumpet.

She sat up hurriedly, still somewhat drowsy. What was that sound, it was so noisy. She lay down again, but only after a moment, she sat up once more. Only then did she recall that she was at school, in military training. She quickly grabbed her clothes and got dressed. Her movements were swift despite her muscles feeling sore from the previous day’s training, but it was bearable.

Others started to wake up one after another, except for Sun Yumeng, who was still in a deep sleep.

“Hey…” Lin Yile patted the bed board.

“Sun Yumeng, wake up, it’s time for military training.”

Sun Yumeng cursed without even opening her eyes.

“So annoying, stop disturbing me.”

Lin Yile opened her mouth wide, ready to retort, but realized she didn’t know how to curse anyone.

She turned around and tidied up her bed, folding her quilt neatly.

At this moment, Tang Yuxin entered, carrying two kettles. In other words, she brought four large flasks of boiling water.

Tang Yuxin set down the kettles and helped Ting Yuan, who had just woken up, fold her blanket. She advised Ting Yuan to hurry up and wash up and warned her not to make fun of her physical condition.

“Drink some hot water.”

Ting Yuan’s face turned red and she rubbed her stomach. Unfortunately, she was on her period and hadn’t paid enough attention to that. She thanked Tang Yuxin, picked up her kettle and happily went to wash her face. Their dorm building wasn’t crowded which meant there were several empty faucets. When she returned, Tang Yuxin had already brought breakfast. Dinner was often a rushed affair and many students missed the meal. Tang Yuxin, being an early riser, had fetched water and breakfast for them. By the time they finished eating, it was time for training.

But when it came to dorm inspection, one of them was still asleep, turning their admittedly clean dorm into a mess in minutes. They received criticism in front of the whole school and their dorm ended up ranked last in cleanliness.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Tang Yuxin’s face turned black. She hadn’t been so humiliated before and the rest of the dorm didn’t look happy either. But Sun Yumeng, who just woken up and hadn’t even washed her face or brushed her teeth, acted as if it was none of her concern and looked around casually.

They were all punished by being asked to clean the playground. By evening, when they had to stand in military position, they returned to their dorms almost unable to feel their legs.

They even skipped dinner that night, too tired to wash their faces or brush their teeth before falling asleep.

For the second night in a row. First there was the sound of a door slamming then someone slapping herself, then the creaking sound of the bunk bed being twisted.

Only when those sounds nearly stopped, they didn’t know what time in the middle of the night it was.

Tang Yuxin sat up, she grabbed a watch placed at the side and checked the time. It was just past six in the morning. She dressed up and went out with four kettles. The kettles were almost empty, and she didn’t mind doing an extra chore. After all, fetching water once was the same as fetching water four times.

She held the kettles underneath the hot water faucet, filling them one by one. Unbeknownst to her, several men in military uniforms were standing behind her.

These men, their instructors, didn’t look like students.

Tang Yuxin carried two kettles in each hand and walked ahead.

This display of strength was enough to amaze anyone.

“The young lady’s got quite the strength, she’d make a good soldier.” One instructor joked and then turned to Gu Ning, “Don’t you think so, Gu Ning?”

“Yes,” Gu Ning responded shortly, his voice as cold as a knife cutting through a March breeze, with a hint of December snow. It was a rather chilly sound.

He furrowed his brows at that moment, as if detecting a faint scent.

“Hu Fan, did you smell that?” he asked his colleague.

“No,” replied the instructor named Hu Fan, shaking his head. “I didn’t smell anything other than the youthful energy here. We were young once, too… Now we’re old. The kids in my neighborhood who used to call me ‘Brother’ now call me ‘Uncle’.” He rubbed his chin, feeling the inevitability of aging was tough to swallow, especially when compared to these youthful students.

“Right,” he turned to Gu Ning, “What did you smell? What kind of scent?”

“Cold fragrance,” Gu Ning said with a furrowed brow. Yes, it was a cold fragrance, a familiar scent. He touched the silver chain around his neck – a chain he’d worn for his entire life. He’d given it to someone when he was twelve, but for some inexplicable reason, it returned to him and the scent was tied to it.

“Remember when,” Hu Fan asked Gu Ning, “You had a nice job in security at home, why come here to be an instructor? I thought you detested this kind of stuff.”

“Well, I had some free time recently, and the principal approached me with a unique opportunity to provide military training to these students,” Gu Ning replied tersely, adjusting his uniform sleeve. “Let’s start. Do you want to keep standing here showing off or what? I don’t.”

“Well, you already have a Zhang Xiaomei,” Hu Fan leaned on Gu Ning’s shoulder, “So why not let me try to impress some young ladies?”

“You’re already twenty-six,” Gu Ning retorted with a glance at his comrade, “These girls are only seventeen or eighteen, some aren’t even adults yet. What do you expect, for them to wait for you?”

“And you still criticize me?” Hu Fan crossed his long legs and hugged his chest with his arms.

“At least I am only six years younger. I am not seventy or eighty.”

“At least I’m not the one preying on the young.”