Chapter 299: Chapter 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.
“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.”