CH 19

Translation checker: Rin

Editor: Junyans

“Have you guys heard?” 

— What?

“Two boys were caught sleeping in the woods last night.”

— Really?

— Fuck, so exciting. 

— Someone from our school?

As soon as the sky turned bright in the wee hours of the morning, the girls’ dormitory was already engaged in chatting in a lively manner.

Ye Xi wasn’t familiar with anyone in the room. To be precise, she was ignored by them. So she couldn’t participate in their conversations and could only prick up her ears and listen quietly.

“They’re from our grade. My boyfriend said that in the morning, he saw the director and the group leader go to the instructor, in order to plead for the two boys.”

— Tsk tsk.

— Huh? Can two men really do it?

— I’ve never seen a gay guy in Ronggang.

Ye Xi eavesdropped while changing her clothes, and used a shirt to block the deeply raised corners of her mouth. 

As a fan of the fictional 2D world, the type of manhua she usually came into contact with the most was “BL”. Because the works in the “Boys Love” genre was very niche at present, she could hardly find people with the same interests as her in real life, but watching two boys fall in love could bring her supreme happiness.

Therefore, when her classmates felt unbelievable about “Two boys meeting in the woods in the middle of the night”, Ye Xi only felt that they were shallow and ignorant. It was just two boys who were in love, what was there to fuss about? A sense of superiority spontaneously arose in her heart.

When she was smiling secretly, a pillow flew over from above with a powerful lethality, and it accurately hit the girl who was talking loudly.

“You’re a group of blabbermouths. Since you guys fucking know how to babble early in the morning, you may as well go out and crow with the chickens!” 

Cui He, whose eyes were still heavy with sleep, suddenly startled everyone when she roared with rage in a husky voice.

After a while, the people below cursed in a low voice but she turned a deaf ear, turned over and continued to sleep.

Half an hour later, the girls who had finished washing lined up at the meeting place under the orders of the instructor. The boys had already been lined up early, and judging from their grim expressions, it seemed that something bad had happened.

The girls came to line up and found that there were two boys in front who were being punished with push-ups. Judging from the fact that their speed was gradually slowing down, the punishment should have been going on for a long time. 

At this moment, one of the boys raised his head to talk to the instructor, and they recognized that it was Yu Ran.

“Just punish me, what does it have to do with him?” Yu Ran’s voice clearly reflected his lack of physical strength, but his tone still remained unruly. “I’d forced him to accompany me out, threatening him that I’d beat him up if he didn’t obey. It’s not like he voluntarily—”

“Yu Ran, stop it,” Chu Mian gently interrupted him from the side, “There are thirty push-ups left.”

The instructor paced up to the two teenagers and sneered: “Not bad, it’s said that you see who your true friends are when you go through tough times together, so you didn’t sleep for nothing.” 

These words surprised the students who were watching. Many people didn’t know what had happened to Chu Mian and Yu Ran. Only a few people in the 206 girls’ dormitory looked at each other and smiled.

The corners of Ye Xi’s mouth froze. She had not expected that they were the two boys who had met in the woods. Although she wasn’t surprised, she couldn’t feel excited either. After all, as soon as she saw them just now, the feeling of embarrassment of dropping her mobile phone yesterday started to spread over her again. The matter concerning her self-dignity was obviously much more important than watching others fall in love.

The push-ups of the two boys became slower and slower, and in the end they were almost lying on the ground. The instructor was lenient and ended today’s punishment ahead of schedule, leaving the rest for tomorrow. Anyway, before the end of the military training, they would each have to complete 500 push-ups.

When Yu Ran got up, he was unsteady on his feet and Chu Mian supported him by putting his hand on the small of his waist. This little action caused the breathing of the “informed” girls to stagnate. Since they knew that the two were hugging and sleeping in the woods in the middle of the night, any simple interaction between them could make their imagination run wild. 

On the way to the dining hall for breakfast, Yu Ran was in good spirits. He was already chatting and laughing with the people around him.

“If it weren’t for you guys snoring as loudly as honking pigs, would the two of us have any need to go out and stay in the middle of the night? Especially the Great God who can’t wake up even after we shouted and screamed, I thought you were pretending to be asleep.”

Yu Ran’s sore arms were hanging on both sides of his body, and his walking was a little wobbly. “Fuck, this dormitory head is giving you an order. You can sleep only after I fall asleep tonight, do you hear?”

Zhou Weixi said: “I can understand going out in the middle of the night, but what’s the matter with you two sleeping outside without coming back?” 

“You ask him,” Yu Ran raised his arm strenuously and patted Chu Mian’s back, “Who told him to fall asleep while talking.”

Chu Mian retorted, “Me falling asleep gave you the reason to fall asleep as well?”

“Damn, I’d have carried you back, but I couldn’t lift you, okay?! Be content, Chu Mian, at least I didn’t leave you there alone.”

Fang Zhao asked curiously: “So what on earth were you two talking about in the middle of the night yesterday, in order for you to get so carried away with the conversation?” 

“Well… it’s a secret between men,” Yu Ran said with a smile.

Sometimes, like a child hiding a beloved toy and refusing to share it, Yu Ran liked to keep his precious memories to himself, so it went without saying why he would refrain from mentioning his dream promise with Chu Mian. From the moment their two fists met, Yu Ran had believed that something known as a “bond” had grown between them.

After a meal and a rest, it was time for training again. Because of the serious mistake made last night, Chu Mian couldn’t stay in the dormitory to rest and had to train outside. The fellow classmates were goose-stepping in the sunlight, while Chu Mian was in the shade, resting his cheeks in his hands in a daze, dozing off from time to time.

“Strict requirements! Study hard! Win glory for the school! One, two, three, four—” 

Marching back and forth, the team shouted slogans in unison, and everyone meticulously completed the command issued by the instructor.

Every time Yu Ran did goose-stepping, his arms could not be raised to the standard height. The instructor knew that he was too tired from the push-ups in the morning, so he turned a blind eye and didn’t give him a hard time. But when the company commander and Chengjun school leaders came to inspect, Yu Ran who was standing on the far right side of the team would undoubtedly stand out, so the instructor had no choice but to show a non-discriminatory attitude and be strict with him.

In front of the leaders, Yu Ran was punished with squatting while holding his head. When the company commander and the others walked away, the instructor hurriedly let him go to the side to rest.

Yu Ran’s legs and joints were very sore and painful and as soon as he walked up to Chu Mian forcibly, he immediately relaxed and fell forward. Chu Mian stood up in advance to hold him firmly, and then helped him sit down. 

“I think my limbs have been severed, just like five horses splitting the body.” Yu Ran fell weakly on Chu Mian’s shoulder, groaned a few times in pain, and suddenly remembered something, “Hey, which parts of the body are the five horses tied to in ‘Five Horses Splitting The Body’? Two arms, two legs, and…”

“It wouldn’t be…” As he said that, Yu Ran lowered his head and stared between his legs, and a chill went down his spine. “Fuck, that’s too cruel!”

Chu Mian sneered: “You really don’t have an IQ, you’re better off without your brain.”

Yu Ran suddenly realized: “Oh, there’s still the head.” 

With Yu Ran accompanying him, Chu Mian’s probation period finally didn’t seem as long anymore. They tacitly didn’t mention last night’s incident, as if they really didn’t have to say anything, but both of them attached importance to the promise they had made under the night sky. As long as they trusted that the other party would go all out to achieve their goal just like they would, it was enough.

The sun was shining brightly, and the morning training was about to come to an end. The instructor whistled for them to join the team and go to the dining hall. Yu Ran stood up with trembling legs, grabbed Chu Mian, and whispered, “My legs are broken, I can’t walk.”

The two exchanged glances, and Chu Mian saw the other party snickering. Yu Ran’s eyes didn’t look like he was suffering at all. After understanding Yu Ran’s meaning, Chu Mian gave him a helpless look, then bent down, and said, “Come up.”

Yu Ran laughed heartily. After his little scheme succeeded, he exhausted his last bit of strength to pounce on Chu Mian’s back and found that the other party’s shoulders were wider than he had thought, so he immersed himself in lying on Chu Mian’s back with peace of mind. When he spoke, he could smell the fragrance of shampoo left between Chu Mian’s hair, and he closed his eyes as if he could see a sweet and fragrant honey peach, which was crunchy and juicy when bitten into. 

“Chu Mian, let me ask you a question.”

“Go on.”

“If there’s a sudden zombie virus outbreak in the military training base, there’s no means of transportation, and the surviving humans doubt and kill each other, then would you be willing to be bitten into a zombie, or keep your sanity and find a way to escape to a safe city?”

Of course Chu Mian would choose the latter, but his first reaction was actually to ask Yu Ran: “Then are you a zombie or a human?” 

Yu Ran answered matter-of-factly: “I’m the protagonist who would save the world. I have antibodies in my blood.”

“…” Chu Mian was silent for a few seconds, and then after serious consideration, he said, “Then I’m a vampire. I’ll bite you first and take a sip of your blood.”

Yu Ran did not expect this kind of setting: “Fuck, who allowed you to add drama without permission?”

The two chuckled and accused each other of having too much of the Protagonist’s Halo. When Chu Mian was walking on the road with Yu Ran on his back, he kept on hearing the movement of someone running a few paces behind him. He didn’t care at first, but after a while, he saw a group of shadows on the ground closely chasing after them. 

He turned around vigilantly with Yu Ran on his back, only to see Cui He holding her mobile phone in one hand and waving her other hand hard in the air. She ran in front of them from behind with an unkempt appearance while laughing wildly. Her slender body leapt to a high platform with agility, like a dedicated war reporter. Even though she was laughing until she trembled, she did not forget to aim her phone’s camera at Chu Mian and Yu Ran.

— Then under Chu Mian’s cold gaze, she slipped and fell from the platform, screaming.

Yu Ran opened his eyes and saw a group of dark and unidentified objects falling from the sky. He was so shocked that he hurriedly shouted in Chu Mian’s ear: “Zombies are here! Escort the Emperor! Escort the Emperor!”

“This is a female ghost.” Chu Mian looked down at Cui He who was lying on the ground. “What do you want?” 

Jel Lf iloafv atf wfrrs tjlg lc ogbca bo tfg ojmf, jcv atf olgra kbgvr rtf rjlv kfgf ab rtlgx gfrqbcrlylilas: “Memx, lrc’a la rb P mjc rtbba sbe uesr!”

Jte Zljc ibbxfv ja tfg tfiqifrris: “…kts jgf sbe rtbbalcu?”

“Tbe jmaejiis tjnf j vjs ktfc sbe mbcvfrmfcv ab mjggs rbwfbcf bc sbeg yjmx.” Jel Lf uba eq jcv rkfqa atf vera ogbw tfg ybvs nlubgberis, yfobgf qlmxlcu eq tfg wbylif qtbcf ab mbcalcef gfmbgvlcu. “Lbk mjc P fjrlis ifa ub bo klacfrrlcu atf clcat kbcvfg bo atf kbgiv?”

“I’m also honored to meet the protagonist of ‘Resident Evil 6′,” Chu Mian said with a nod. 

Cui He’s phone rang, and the system prompted that there was not enough memory, so she turned it off angrily, and followed them to the dining hall. She stroked her hair and said, “You two are really wild. Isn’t it too cold to go to the woods in the middle of the night to have a secret love affair?”

A few certain words she spoke stirred Chu Mian’s nerves, and he immediately frowned and retorted: “I had just accidentally fallen asleep, nothing more.”

Cui He: “Why does your tone sound like you are a little disappointed?”

“…Get lost.” 

When they reached the entrance of the dining hall, Chu Mian slowly bent down to put Yu Ran down.

“Not bad, I’ll appoint you as my exclusive mount today.” Yu Ran patted Chu Mian on the shoulder. “Go ahead, the dining hall is full of my rewards for you.”

Chu Mian, without saying anything, stretched his arms to strangle Yu Ran’s neck and hooked him as they entered the door. The two of them were walking staggeringly, and almost ran into others head-on. Yu Ran was messing around with a soft voice when a masculine and heavy voice suddenly called out to him from behind—

“Yu Ran?” 

He subconsciously turned back and saw a familiar face.

Chu Mian felt Yu Ran’s shoulders tightening, so he couldn’t help but put his arm around him, before asking, “An acquaintance of yours?”

Yu Ran said “En” lightly, his face was as usual and he said: “You go first, I’ll say a few words to him and then find you.”

“Okay.” 

Chu Mian retracted his arm and walked directly to the table where the other boys in the dormitory were sitting. As soon as he left, the smile on Yu Ran’s face immediately faded and he turned to look at the boy who had called him to stop.

“Long time no see, I almost didn’t recognize you just now.” The tall, dark boy grinned, and looked up and down at Yu Ran. “You’ve grown taller, Yu Ran.”

Yu Ran didn’t have the patience to pay attention to his odd way of speaking, nor exchange pleasantries with him, so he said calmly, “What’s up, Huang Feng? I want to have breakfast with my friends.”

“What’s the hurry? We’ve finally met again, so why don’t we come out to reminisce about our old days?” Huang Feng smiled and shook his head. The wrinkles in the corners of his eyes were deep, making him look threatening beyond his age. 

Yu Ran pursed his mouth, “If you have nothing else—”

“Come out.” Huang Feng was still smiling, but his eyes couldn’t hide his hostility.

Yu Ran took a deep breath, followed him out of the dining hall, avoided the crowded road, and turned towards a small road.

When the surrounding environment quieted down, Huang Feng slammed a punch towards Yu Ran’s head without saying a word, but unexpectedly fell through. He shook his arm, nodded, and said, “Not bad, Yu Ran, you’ve made progress. Now you know how to dodge.” 

“I won’t fight during the military training, Huang Feng.” Yu Ran’s face was expressionless. “My homeroom teacher won’t let me. If you want to fight, then you can make an appointment next week.”

Huang Feng mocked while laughing, “Would you fucking die if you stop showing off?”

“I’m indeed a bad student,” Yu Ran said, “but not as much as you.”

Huang Feng clenched his fists and pressed his knuckles, making several clear pops in succession. Yu Ran saw the school uniform shirt exposed at the collar of his camouflage uniform had the school badge of No. 72 Middle School on it. The bad reputation of this school in Ronggang was second only to No. 44 Middle School. 

“I don’t have time to settle accounts with you now, but you still need to remember, as you sow, so shall you reap.” Huang Feng stepped forward. “I’ll make you never dare to act like a pretentious prick again in your whole life, Yu Ran.”

He cast a fierce look, and before leaving, he didn’t forget to hit the opponent’s shoulder hard.

Yu Ran was indifferent, he was only thinking about going back to the dining hall to eat with Chu Mian and the others.

When he went back, everyone had almost finished eating. A few people were washing the dishes, leaving Chu Mian to accompany him. 

Chu Mian kicked him lightly, “Who?”

“Junior high school classmate.”

“It seems like the two of you don’t have a good relationship.”

“Yeah.” Yu Ran put down the soup bowl. “We had a fight, and I fractured a bone.” 

Chu Mian frowned and asked, “For what?”

“A girl.”

Chu Mian was dumbfounded.

This answer was outside his expectations. He always thought that Yu Ran was a guy who was emotionally dull to the opposite sex, and naturally he couldn’t imagine what kind of girl this stupid person would like. 

Chu Mian asked in a deep voice: “Who won?”

“Of course, I won.” Yu Ran took out a tissue from Chu Mian’s pocket and wiped his mouth. “Although I didn’t win by using force, since then… the students in No. 44 Middle School started to listen to me.”

Chu Mian was not interested in the process of Yu Ran dominating the school. What he cared more about was the result of the fight for the girl: “So did you talk to her?”

“Talk about what?” 

Chu Mian wanted to say something but stopped, because he just couldn’t say the word “love” in front of Yu Ran. He always felt that it didn’t match Yu Ran’s temperament at all, and he didn’t want to discuss such silly topics with other boys.

It was just that…

It was just that his impression of Yu Ran had become too different, which made him very curious.

While Chu Mian was still hesitating on how to say it, Yu Ran had already thrown away the tissue and gotten up, “I’m full, let’s go.” 

On the way back to the dormitory, Yu Ran grabbed Chu Mian’s arm with interest, and started the sitcom topic: “If you fall asleep now, and wake up with no one around you, and you go back to the dormitory and find no one there, and your phone doesn’t have a signal, and you search every corner of the base, but can’t see even a trace of people. Then, please listen to the question—”

“Yu Ran,” Chu Mian suddenly interrupted him, then continued the previous topic, “That girl… What was she like?”

“Who?”

“The one you fought for.” 

Yu Ran waved his hand and told him the truth: “I don’t remember what she was like, I even forgot her name.”

This nonchalant appearance stunned Chu Mian, and then his thoughts about the other party became even more complicated.

But if he thought about it, he could understand — which of the students who could live a carefree life in the No. 44 Middle School was not cynical? Perhaps in the eyes of such people, playing with girls’ hearts would give them bragging rights. Chu Mian was quite disgusted with this kind of behavior, but the strange thing was that if this happened to Yu Ran, he felt that the other party just had a bad memory.

After the topic was brought up, Yu Ran began to recall his time in junior high school: “When I was in my first year of junior high school, I thought that anyone who could be the Boss of the school was fucking awesome, but then I found out that they are just like that… For example, the idiot you just met, and Cai Hanchuan from our school, they’re all mentally retarded.” 

Chu Mian chuckled, “Didn’t you say that all the students in the No. 44 Middle School listened to you?”

“Nonsense, can I be the same as them?” Yu Ran rolled up his sleeves. “I became the Boss by virtue of my charisma! I also raised the average score of our grade with my own power!”

Chu Mian didn’t believe his nonsense. “Elaborate.”

Yu Ran whispered: “Actually, I didn’t fight very much in school before, especially in the third year of junior high…” 

This wasn’t a lie, he had been really well-behaved in the year of the senior high school entrance examination. He didn’t arrive late nor leave early, and even did his homework after going home. He wanted to take the senior high school entrance examination, because only then could he be qualified to enter the Central Academy of Fine Arts he yearned for.

There were very few girls in the No. 44 Middle School, but there was one in his class, and she seemed out of place among the boys. She never talked to others, kept away from everyone, always wore a mask, and studied silently.

The first time Yu Ran spoke to her in the three years of junior high was when she begged him to help avoid Huang Feng’s harassment.

There were a few tears on the girl’s delicate face. Although Yu Ran usually did not have a high desire to protect the opposite sex, he had no reason to refuse when he saw someone crying for help. 

Huang Feng was the school’s gang leader at that time. He was probably tired of fighting, and became interested in females in his third year. He saw a girl in the school wearing a mask every day and forced her to take it off. When he found that she looked good, he forced her to date him. The girl didn’t dare to worry her parents, and she couldn’t count on the teachers, so she was forced to find the tallest boy in the class.

Yu Ran went to Huang Feng alone, and then there was no suspense — he was completely suppressed by his opponent’s force.

However, in Ronggang, fighting was not purely about the pursuit of real fighting to the point of losing one’s life. On the contrary, the more hotheaded the people were, the higher the position they occupied. Especially teenagers like Huang Feng, who really wanted to “mix in the society”, subconsciously distinguished themselves from ordinary hooligans, and paid great attention to the so-called “Gangster Rules”.

At that time, half of Yu Ran’s arm was stained with blood, and he had fallen to the ground for a while, before he got up with a struggle and continued to clench his fists. Huang Feng repeatedly knocked him down several times, but at last he got annoyed and let him go, but Yu Ran turned a deaf ear to him, got up and threw a contemptuous sentence in a hoarse voice, “If you have the ability, beat me to death.” 

After he finished saying this, he fell to the ground from exhaustion. He stretched his body and blocked Huang Feng’s path in full view of everyone.

With so many pairs of eyes around him, Huang Feng hesitated.

If he stepped directly over Yu Ran and left, it would mean that he didn’t dare to really beat Yu Ran to death. As a gangster in Ronggang, if he admitted that he was not courageous enough and was guilty of wimping out, it would be far more humiliating than being beaten to a bloody pulp.

Huang Feng knew that he had met a tough opponent. He squatted down, patted Yu Ran’s face, and asked, “Do you have a crush on her too?” 

Yu Ran just shook his head, his injured throat was hoarse: “I promised her that I’ll make you stay away from her…”

“So… I have to keep my promise.”

Huang Feng was immediately annoyed, and he couldn’t tell where the anger in his heart came from. He just knew that he had lost this fight. Unless he really killed Yu Ran, he had no chance of winning from a moral point of view.

“Get lost.” 

After that day, the students in the No. 44 Middle School unanimously determined that Yu Ran was qualified to carry the school’s flag, and they all followed him willingly. On a sunny afternoon, Yu Ran stood on the roof of the school building with a loudspeaker and shouted, “Brothers—”

There were endless cheers downstairs, and everyone was waiting for him to give orders.

“It’s the third year of junior high school! Study hard!”

Immediately, everyone below started scolding him. 

“Hey, Chu Mian, do you think our senior high school entrance examination papers were difficult? After I finished the exam, I heard other students say that they couldn’t solve the questions, but I found them very easy…” Yu Ran stretched his back and walked into the dormitory building. “Is it because I have a talent for learning?”

Chu Mian avoided answering his question, his thoughts were diverted by another matter.

— There was no inconsistency in my perception of Yu Ran. Sure enough, this Muggle and the word “love” don’t match.

After all, he himself hadn’t experienced the feeling of liking others yet. If Yu Ran was ahead of him in this aspect, Chu Mian would have had a strong sense of frustration. 

Of course, he didn’t want to be distracted before the college entrance examination. No matter how good a girl appeared, he believed that he would be able to be indifferent towards her.

In the afternoon training, Yu Ran again had a sore waist and leg pain. He couldn’t concentrate, moved half a beat slower than others, or made wrong movements. In the evening, he sat on the lower bunk, and after careful consideration, proposed to everyone: “Shall we ask for rain?”

Fang Zhao: “How to ask? By throwing dry ice towards the sky?”

Yu Ran picked up his phone, found a photo of Jam Hsiao on the Internet, placed the phone on the table respectfully, and surrounded it with snacks. 

He told everyone: “Come on, let’s kowtow to the Rain God.”

The crowd scoffed at his superstitious behavior, and only one person came over obediently and knelt on the ground with him.

“Look at Zhao Wuli guys, obeying my command.” Yu Ran, the dormitory leader, praised the other person heavily, “Such a collective sense of honor.”

However, when Yu Ran turned around again, he found that Zhao Wuli had already torn open the tribute to the Rain God and started eating it. 

Fang Zhao walked over to get something, and saw that Yu Ran’s suitcase was open, and there was a pot and an induction cooker in it. “You fucking brought these. Aren’t you afraid of getting punished?”

Yu Ran asked him back: “What? Hot pot or punishment, which is more important? Isn’t hot pot worth taking risk for?”

“What about the ingredients? You wouldn’t have brought meat in your suitcase, would you?”

“Meat should of course be eaten fresh ah…” Yu Ran said as he pulled out a knife from the compartment of his suitcase. “Come over here, Diūgē.” 

“Fuck, go away!” Fang Zhao was indignant. “The Great God’s meat is thick, you cut his.”

Yu Ran stopped joking, put away the dangerous weapon, rubbed his shoulders, and said, “Aren’t they studying Agriculture in senior year two? When my legs don’t ache anymore, I’ll go there with Chu Mian to steal some vegetables, and after we come back, we can eat hot pot.”

Chu Mian, who was lying on the bed, immediately refused with a calm expression on his face.

Fang Zhao said solemnly: “You two haven’t finished the push-ups punishment for staying out in the night, so don’t go to steal vegetables first.” 

The next morning, the Rain God’s power didn’t show its effect.

Everyone got up and got dressed in disappointment, and suddenly heard Yu Ran groaning in pain: “Fuck, why does my leg ache even more than yesterday?! Which one of you secretly hit me in the middle of the night!”

“It’s just lactic acid buildup,” Chu Mian explained indifferently, “You can ask for leave from the instructor.”

As long as he didn’t need to bear the mental torture of training, Yu Ran would rather endure the physical pain. In order to show that his legs were too painful to move, he begged Chu Mian to carry him to the instructor. The instructor glanced at them, then quickly closed his eyes, and waved his hand and shook his head, allowing them to stay aside. 

Sitting on a folding stool, Yu Ran kept hitting his sore spots in an attempt to fight poison with poison. Tired from sitting in the same position, he raised one leg and put it on Chu Mian’s knee. Chu Mian didn’t bother to push him away, so Yu Ran became insatiable. Using his identity as the dormitory head, he ordered Chu Mian to massage his legs.

Without saying a word, Chu Mian pinched him hard. Yu Ran immediately wailed, successfully attracting the attention of the people around him.

Only then did they realize that not only the instructor was nearby, but the company commander of the base and the leader of Chengjun School were also walking their way, staring closely at the posture and movements of the two.

Yu Ran realized that the situation was not good, so he quickly put down his legs and sat upright. 

But it was too late. This time, the company commander decided to personally teach the two of them a lesson: “Have you finished the five hundred push-ups?”

Neither of them said a word.

“Then a thousand!” The company commander was furious. “Get up, finish it today!”

Yu Ran bit his lip and got up, but Chu Mian held his shoulders down, and said: “Yu Ran has a muscle strain, he can’t do it.” 

The company commander didn’t show any kindness, and only logically said, “Then you can do his share.”

Chu Mian didn’t hesitate, and directly leaned over on the ground, thinking about the number in his heart.

Seeing the anxious expression on Yu Ran’s eyes, the company commander ordered him: “Don’t you like to stick to him? Go and sit on his back.”

Yu Ran was taken aback, and curses immediately came to his mouth. Fortunately, Chu Mian spoke in time to draw his attention back: “Yu Ran, listen to the company commander.” 

Yu Ran reluctantly stood up and walked to Chu Mian’s side. He didn’t sit down directly, but kept a slight distance from Chu Mian’s back, to avoid putting his weight on the other party.

But his foul play was very obvious to the bystanders. In order to prevent the two of them from being punished more, the instructor simply came over and sternly advised Yu Ran: “If you want to release his burden, you should be well-behaved and listen to your superior. He told you to sit down, so you should just sit down!”

Yu Ran remained silent and straightened his neck. Chu Mian felt his rebellious mood and had to call him softly, “Yu Ran, sit down.”

Only then did the young man’s expression ease. He endured his irritability, and pressed down his body weight. 

Chu Mian usually exercised a lot at home, but since he was afraid of accidents during military training, he didn’t bother to train with everyone. With his arm strength and waist strength, he could do standard push-ups even if he was bearing Yu Ran’s weight, but he knew that Yu Ran was worried about him, so he also became restless.

“Stop!” A few minutes later, the company commander finally gave the order.

Just as Yu Ran was about to get up, Chu Mian propped up on the ground, and reminded him again: “Don’t move, he didn’t tell us to get up.”

The company commander paced around them, warning them loudly and at the same time letting everyone hear: “In the army, discipline is above all else! Military orders must be obeyed and cannot be resisted! Nothing can be accomplished without norms or standards…” 

He admonished all the students present about the importance of discipline articulately. Yu Ran listened absently, his eyes all focused on Chu Mian, and he didn’t even notice that the company commander had already arrived in front of him.

“You,” a loud voice resounded above his head, “You’re a student in the experimental class, and you must play an exemplary role! Don’t let others think that you can only study!”

Yu Ran raised his head in surprise. “I don’t know how to, ah.”

Chu Mian frowned, “Don’t talk back.” 

Yu Ran immediately closed his mouth and looked directly into the company commander’s eyes.

When the company commander finished speaking, his anger subsided, and the two of them were finally able to get off and stand up, but they were punished with writing two thousand words of review. They needed to go back and write it now and hand it in tonight.

After leaving the sight of the leaders, Yu Ran rushed up and asked Chu Mian with concern: “Does your back hurt?”

“It doesn’t.” 

“And does it hurt when you bend over?”

“No.”

“Okay.” Yu Ran put his mind at ease, grabbed Chu Mian’s wrist, and said with a smile on his face, “Then, let’s go steal some vegetables.”

“…” Chu Mian was speechless and turned his head to stare at Yu Ran in surprise. 

“Why are you staring at me? Didn’t I say yesterday that I wanted to eat hot pot?”

“You—” Chu Mian was rendered speechless by his innocent reaction, and nearly collapsed suddenly from weakness in his limbs. “Yu Ran, is it your hobby to court death?”

“My hobby is to eat hot pot.”

“Let’s eat when we go back, I’ll take you to eat.” 

“No,” Yu Ran giggled, “It’s exciting to eat in the dormitory.”

Chu Mian really wanted to punch him right now.

Today, the sky was clear, the wildflowers on the roadside had long decayed, and the withered grass swayed in the wind, waiting for the rebirth of spring.

On the way to the field, Yu Ran chattered endlessly: “Look at you, always like this. Your mouth says no, but your body sure is damn honest. You obviously want to eat hot pot, but I still have to beg you to come along.” 

Chu Mian was no longer in the mood to care about him, and secretly planned to beat up Yu Ran one day, but Yu Ran’s physique was too resistant to being beaten, and it was very likely that Yu Ran would even enjoy getting beaten at the same time.

In short, the other party was a troublesome Muggle.

When they reached the vegetable shed near the base, Yu Ran stopped. He let Chu Mian stay in the same place to act as a lookout, and went in to poke around by himself.

Chu Mian came along because he was worried that Yu Ran would cause trouble if he went by himself, but no matter what he didn’t want to do anything like stealing, so he was okay with helping him by keeping an eye on things. 

After Yu Ran went in, Chu Mian squatted on the ground alone to pick up some stems.

He picked up two stems and linked them like the way chain links were linked together. In one hand, he held both ends of one stem and in the other hand, he did the same with the other stem. Then, he exerted force outwards. When one of them got broken, he went to find a new one, and repeated this again and again, to verify which stem was the most invincible of them all.

After breaking dozens of stems, pressure marks had appeared on his fingers. He looked up and finally saw Yu Ran leisurely walking towards him.

…leading a donkey by the reins. 

Chu Mian put the stems into his pocket, strode forward and slapped Yu Ran’s hand holding the reins, and yelled at him with a cold expression: “Let’s hurry back.”

“Donkey meat is delicious!” Yu Ran deliberately licked his lips.

Seeing Chu Mian’s handsome face gradually showing anger and irritation, Yu Ran was afraid that the other party would be offended, and quickly told the truth: “Oh, don’t be angry, this donkey was lent to me by the vegetable growing uncle. He let it carry meat and vegetables. Look—”

Yu Ran turned around and lifted the cloth on the back of the black donkey. “He also sent me some condiments. Do you eat coriander?” 

Chu Mian turned his face away, and Yu Ran picked up a cabbage and stuffed it into his arms. “Carry this.”

The two hurriedly returned to the vicinity of the dormitory building, and Yu Ran asked Chu Mian to go upstairs with all the ingredients, while he went back by himself to return the donkey.

Chu Mian went up the steps of the building and looked around to check for any instructor or teacher, but suddenly noticed a familiar figure on the other side of the perimeter wall.

This was the male dormitory, and girls were not allowed to enter and leave. Offenders would be punished with at least 50 squats. When Chu Mian saw that Cui He seemed to be arguing with someone, he hesitated for a few seconds before walking over to confirm the situation. 

“At any rate, shouldn’t you at least pay fucking attention to proceeding step by step in a relationship? We confirmed our relationship just yesterday and have yet to hold hands, but you want to use your mouth already?” Cui He stroked her hair impatiently, and squinted at the boy in front of her.

Cai Hanchuan smiled crookedly, grabbed her slender wrist hard, and spoke in a low voice: “You mean like this? Baby, come over and open your mouth.”

“Don’t touch me.” Cui He shook him off. “We’re breaking up, I don’t want to talk to you.”

Cai Hanchuan’s expression turned dark. He clasped Cui He’s jaw with his palm, and forced her to look at him: “Fuck, we’ve only been together for less than 24 hours, are you playing with me?” 

Feeling that he was going to force himself upon her, Cui He was a little out of breath and stared at him with wide eyes: “You, you have to follow a process for falling in love! So much intimacy in the beginning of a relationship, which girl can stand it—”

Before she could finish her sentence, the pain in her jaw abruptly decreased, and Cai Hanchuan’s hand suddenly broke away from her. Something flashed across her eyes, and then she heard a “bang”. When she looked up, she saw Cai Hanchuan’s head being held down and slammed straight into the red brick wall once again.

Debris fell from the wall rapidly, making a rustling sound.

Cai Hanchuan saw stars and couldn’t react to what had happened for a long time, until he heard Cui He calling “Chu Mian” from behind. 

Cai Hanchuan had some impression of this name.

He had also acknowledged many girls in his grade as his younger sisters. From the beginning of school year to the present, they had successively sent confession letters to a boy in senior year one, but all the love letters were like stones dropped into the sea — there was no response at all. Cai Hanchuan had originally wanted to help them teach this kind of pretentious junior a lesson but later, because of a conflict with Yu Ran, a group of teachers stared at him every day. He had no chance to stroll around the first year students, so he had to give up.

“So it’s fucking you.” Cai Hanchuan’s anger had reached its peak, which he tried his best to suppress. He looked up and stared dead at Chu Mian.

“You know me?” Chu Mian didn’t let go of his hand, he just raised an eyebrow at him. 

Cai Hanchuan sneered: “Why wouldn’t I know? You’re in the first year experimental class, a classmate of Yu Ran, that trash.”

He clenched his fists, ready to do his best to smash Chu Mian’s delicate face in the next second. However, before the corners of his mouth were raised, the other party had already pulled his hair and ruthlessly slammed his head against the wall again.

Cai Hanchuan instantly lost his voice.

When his ears were ringing, Cai Hanchuan felt the boy leaning towards his ears and saying slowly: “I don’t have a problem with you calling Yu Ran a trash, but don’t compare him with me.” 

Cui He glanced nervously at Chu Mian’s face from the side, and couldn’t help but persuade him: “Chu Mian, forget it, pay attention to your emotions.”

“It’s okay.” Chu Mian glanced at her. “I’m in a pretty good mood right now, I haven’t vented in a long time.”

Cui He’s heart sank and she sighed deeply.

She knew that Chu Mian was not someone who liked violence, and he was usually well-behaved. Ever since he suffered from narcolepsy, he always forced himself to maintain a peaceful state of mind — he avoided getting angry, and didn’t easily express joy and sorrow, so as not to aggravate the symptoms. 

But being calm on the surface did not mean that he could completely digest his negative emotions. Once these energies accumulated to a critical point in the teenager’s body, they would be ignited and get out of control. Until it got cleared, his state of mind wouldn’t get better.

Today, Chu Mian was angry with Yu Ran many times, and he was worried that he didn’t have a sandbag to vent himself with during military training.

But he didn’t want to hurt Cai Hanchuan too much, so he pulled the other party’s hair, pressed him firmly to the ground, and calmly discussed: “In the future, it’s better not to bully the first years. What do you say, senior?”

Cai Hanchuan felt a chill down his spine. His heart was palpitating, and the pain of his Adam’s apple against the ground made him want to vomit. 

“Yu Ran told me that he didn’t fight back because of his belief. It’s stupid, right? I know you think so, because I think so too.”

Chu Mian looked down at Cai Hanchuan, and added weight to his palms, causing the other party’s face to grind over the rough gravel on the ground. “Obviously there’s only one reason why he didn’t fight back… that is, he can’t beat you.”

Cui He tilted her head to the side, unable to look at the scene, but she could still hear Cai Hanchuan’s groans of pain.

After a while, she said cautiously: “Chu Mian… I think it’s time to stop.” 

“Yeah.” The teenager stood up, took out a tissue to wipe the dirt on his palms, and commented on her boyfriend-selection criteria in passing: “You always have such bad taste.”

Cui He stared at Chu Mian intently, and tentatively asked, “What were you laughing at when you hit him just now?”

Chu Mian paused, and replied in confusion, “I didn’t laugh.”

Cui He was stunned, suspecting that she might have seen it wrong. 

Chu Mian picked up a few plastic bags on the ground, held a cabbage, and said, “I’m going back first. I still have to write a two thousand word review.”

“Oh,” Cui He nodded, “What are you holding in your hand?”

“Hot pot ingredients.”

“Huh?” Cui He was puzzled. “Ea-eating hot pot in the military training dormitory?” 

Chu Mian coughed. “Yu Ran came up with the idea, it has nothing to do with me.”

“…”

Cui He looked at Chu Mian’s clearly expectant expression. She couldn’t believe that he would do such a rebellious thing.

— It was so out of mind that it could be included in the ten wonders of the world.