Chapter Twelve: Training in Progress

Not only was Luo Si stunned, but the classmates around me were also shocked by my bold action.

On the very first day of military training, I had already contradicted the chief instructor. Never mind how I was supposed to get through this month—just figuring out how to deal with tonight was already a major problem. One thing was certain: there was no way I’d get off easy. I fully realized that the moment I stepped forward.

Yet I also understood that, given the choice, I would stand up again. This was my principle—or perhaps, my stubborn pride.

“Very well. You’re not wrong,” the chief instructor declared. “Here and now, I reflect upon my own wastefulness and apologize to this student for my disrespect.”

As soon as he finished, everyone was left speechless.

No one had expected the story to unfold this way.

Luo Si was at a loss as well.

But I knew the storm was only just beginning, so I didn’t relax like Luo Si did.

Still, what’s done is done. Whatever the consequences, I brought them on myself. I have no one else to blame.

“You—what’s your name?” Hua Wannian’s gaze landed on me.

“Reporting, Instructor! My name is Yan Ruyu.” I snapped to attention and saluted.

No matter how the chief instructor intended to deal with me, I had to maintain proper decorum. That way, at least, there’d be less for him to nitpick.

“Tell me—what is the highest duty of a soldier?”

As soon as Hua Wannian asked, my heart sank. A soldier’s highest duty is to obey orders. I knew that well enough.

I had walked straight into the line of fire—this was a clear case of insubordination.

“Reporting, Chief Instructor: a soldier’s highest duty is to obey orders.” Though I considered feigning ignorance, I decided against it. Deceiving myself wouldn’t solve anything. Better to be honest and open.

Whether I stick my neck out or shrink back, the knife falls just the same. I might as well present myself as an upright and principled young man.

“Good. Now, go outside and loudly repeat that sentence a thousand times. Your dinner tonight is also cancelled.”

“Yes, sir.” I replied and naturally walked out of the cafeteria, shouting again and again, “A soldier’s highest duty is to obey orders.”

Hua Wannian rescinded Luo Si’s dinner punishment—and I became the lightning rod.

There was nothing I could do about my personality, perhaps because losing my mother at a young age left me incomplete inside.

I lost my mother before I was three, and my father raised me alone. Many so-called friends either mocked me or were curious, calling me a motherless child.

All of that changed when I was eleven, when the old man brought home two girls as beautiful as flowers. They turned out to be my new mother, Ren Xue, and my little sister, Yan Yan.

Boys who grow up in single-parent families tend to mature early. I knew my father had it tough, so when he remarried, I didn’t object and even pretended to welcome them.

It didn’t take long for my stepmother’s selfless love to melt me. For the first time, I truly felt what motherly love was, and realized I wasn’t some wild child. I had a father and a mother, a little sister, and a warm family.

Yan Yan was a crybaby. When she first arrived in this strange home, she cried all the time. Dad put me in charge of looking after her, and I spent a lot of time coaxing her.

Eventually, she kept crying, but no longer because she was scared—now it was because I didn’t take her out to play.

My father punished me many times for that.

Later, Yan Yan learned to cry purposefully—when she wanted my pocket money, when I refused to play with her, when I secretly snacked alone...

I’ve been fighting my way through six years of love and torment.

Perhaps I cherish my mother’s love too much, which is why I always gave in to Yan Yan’s demands, indulging her more than I should.

That’s also why I developed the bad habit of being unable to stand seeing girls cry—a habit I just can’t break.

After shouting the phrase a thousand times, my voice was hoarse. I gratefully downed a bottle of mineral water Ma Liang handed me, finally soothing my burning throat.

“Thanks,” I said sincerely.

He punched me lightly on the shoulder. “We’ll still need you to look after us in high school, Brother Jade.”

“No problem.” I returned the punch.

Sometimes, that’s all there is to friendship between men.

After reporting to the chief instructor that I’d finished my task, I returned to my squad.

“Reporting, Instructor Black, soldier Yan Ruyu requests to rejoin the team.”

“Rejoin!” the dark-hearted instructor barked. No unnecessary words.

Actually, I wasn’t worried about missing dinner tonight—my lovely mother had packed me plenty of food.

I suspected the chief instructor knew that, too, so I had no concerns about going hungry.

The afternoon’s military posture drills passed quickly. Because of my punishment, while others ate in the cafeteria, I sat alone on the field munching on my snacks—silently grateful for my stepmother’s foresight.

When everyone finished eating, we assembled to assign dormitories by gender.

After a quick wash, I collapsed onto my bed.

There’s nothing quite as comfortable as lying in bed. Drowsily, I drifted into sleep.

“Riiiiing!!” Just as I was sleeping soundly, a piercing bell startled everyone in the dormitory awake. We looked up to see the battered old bell hanging above the window, vibrating noisily.

“Assemble on the field in three minutes. Anyone late forfeits breakfast.”

“Attention: three-minute time limit. Countdown begins now.”

The voice outside was clearly one of the instructors.

At that, I hurriedly threw on my clothes and shoes and ran out.

The cafeteria food might not be the best, but it was far more nutritious and filling than snacks. After all, snacks couldn’t fill you up.

This surprise roll call resulted in two hundred latecomers, all of whom lost their breakfast.

This time, I didn’t step forward. First, I didn’t know these people; second, they probably brought food, or their roommates did—no real danger of anyone starving.

“Today’s training is simple: standing at attention!” the chief instructor shouted through a megaphone.

Everyone expected this—if nothing else, standing at attention was unavoidable.

“I’ll teach you how to stand properly. Listen up: heels together and aligned, toes turned out sixty degrees, head up, neck straight, mouth closed...”

“Did you all get that?”

“Yes, sir!”

“Louder! Haven’t you eaten breakfast?”

“Yes, sir!”

Though I shouted along, I couldn’t help but grumble inwardly—some really hadn’t eaten.

As I watched others struggling to stand, I thought of the sanitary pads in my shoes, and couldn’t help but smile.