Chapter 108: Parting Words

  The moment they took the stage, the storm above grew even more violent, and what fell from the sky was no longer raindrops, but bowls of water.

  Ruan Qiang's sharp eyes under the brim of his hat scanned the students in his own formation. Although they were students and he was an instructor, in his heart, they were brothers without any distance between them. Now, he was about to lead these brothers into battle.

  He scanned the surroundings and shouted in a voice that pierced the sky: "Attention, everyone!"

  Classmates heard the command, their spirits tightened, heads crowded together, small steps compacted, and the distance was adjusted neatly.

  They stood up straight, their hearts saying to the pouring rain beating down on them: "Hey, heavy rain! You can pour even harder. No matter how fierce you are, we're not afraid of you. We'll use our youthful spirit and willpower to overcome you."

  None of us is afraid!

  The young and proud hearts of the students, thinking like this. All were excited, generous and heroic, just like real soldiers going to the battlefield to kill the enemy.

  Ruan Qiang patted the raindrops on his military cap, saw that his brother's momentum was just right, turned around and shouted again: "March in step!" The voice was even more intense than the first one.

  Classmates waved their arms, kicked out their toes, and changed legs in an instant, trampling the rainwater underfoot, splashing out beautiful water flowers. The phalanx marched forward in neat rows, with thunderous footsteps echoing throughout the stadium.

  The advancing phalanx of troops attracted everyone's attention. Every person in the team was telling themselves: damn it, this feeling is too good.

  Xiao Xiao walked in the ranks, his face battered by wind and rain, his whole body already soaked through.

  These two days, his clothes have not been wet for the first time. He felt that he could succeed in going through Yue An's punishment and standing here with his classmates to perform military training and enjoy the joy brought by the results of military training, and many people need to be thanked.

  Those familiar people don't need to be mentioned, the classmates who splashed water, the one who gave himself a bright future by the sea, and the brothers with strange clothes from Longcheng. These people, I didn't even know their names, but they helped me.

  Really, thanks to them so much.

  Silently thanking those people in his heart, unintentionally, the team had already walked to the edge of the rostrum.

  "Comrades, you have worked hard!" Tao Qingcheng shouted to everyone on the podium, his voice was quite powerful.

  "Leader is suffering." Classmates' voices were like thunder, tearing open the rain curtain.

  The leaders and instructors on the rostrum smiled satisfactorily at the students.

  "Attention!" Ruan Qiang stood at the front of the team and shouted loudly.

  Xiao Xiao and her classmates flashed their right arms like lightning, their right hands like sharp swords, slanting upwards at the eyebrows.

  "Hundred years of agricultural university, dense and numerous students, hardworking and studying, striving for excellence." The classmates continued to shout slogans while paying their respects.

  But because of human action has a slight delay, the salute action was not done neatly.

  This is an old problem of Xiao Xiao and his team. Since training began, they have never been able to salute in unison.

  Yue An looked at their sloppy salute from the podium with a smile on his face, but felt somewhat regretful in his heart.

  The team marched past the rostrum, under Ruan Qiang's leadership, performing military boxing with fists and feet, displaying their spirit. This military boxing was performed extremely uniformly, worthy of perfection.

  Nature won more applause from the audience.

  Xiao Xiao's team finished their inspection and returned to their original position, where the students' feet trampled on the wet grass.

  "What the f***? How did this happen?" Classmates started complaining that people around them didn't salute in time, resulting in a sloppy military salute and leaving a lifelong regret.

  Those students who did not salute properly hid aside with their heads down and remained silent, also feeling somewhat remorseful.

  The passion is still going on like a heavy rain, and the applause from the classmates in the audience seats is endless.

  The last team of troops returned to the middle of the field after finishing their salute in front of the rostrum when the sudden rain in the sky stopped.

  The sun comes out, the blue sky has been washed, and the blue is intoxicating.

  "Thank you, thank you for the wonderful performance of your military training results." Principal Tao Qingcheng gave the highest evaluation and affirmation to the students' wonderful performance on the rostrum. After applauding the students, he announced: "Next is the last project of the military training, the head instructors of each department will give a farewell speech to the students."

  "Farewell words?" The art college students stood at attention, enduring their wet clothes and the sourness in their hearts, expecting the instructor's farewell words.

  Nature, as the head of the Academy of Arts, is Yue An's farewell speech to everyone.

  After seven days of life together, what will be Yue An's parting words?

  The students of the art school thought that with someone as serious as him, his words would be boring and nothing more than some preaching. It's better to let Hei Zhenzhu Lan Xin or Hong Gun Ruan Qiang come and talk, they are closer to the students and might even make them laugh. Leave a good memory for themselves.

  Yue An stood in front of the crowd of students at the Art Academy, first flashing a smile that carried a hint of mischief and self-mockery.

  Everyone still saw him smile for the first time, but because of what happened before, even if he smiled brightly, his smile would not make people feel close to him, who was like Yan Wang.

  Yue An took off his military cap and held it in his hand, his body relaxed and casual. He said, "We're about to part ways soon. I'm an uneducated man who never attended college, and I don't have as much knowledge as you all do. I'm not good at speaking, and I don't have anything to give you. But I'd like to tell you a story. This is something I've kept hidden in my heart for many years, and I didn't plan on telling it. However, during this military training session, something unexpected happened to one of the students. He hopes that from now on, I won't punish students during military training. So, I have no choice but to share this story with you."

  His relaxed demeanor, which was the opposite of his usual fierce and intimidating image like that of Yan Wang, made it seem as if he were a different person, making everyone feel quite unaccustomed to it. When they heard that he was going to tell a story, their interest was slightly piqued.

  Yue An smiled and said, "More than 20 years ago, when I was in a certain unit in Tianjing, there was a little soldier. He didn't listen to orders or follow the rules, and he loved to sneak out of the barracks at night to play pool on the streets, drink, and pick up girls."

  Everyone wonders who he is talking about in his mouth. I guess eighty percent of it is himself. It turns out that such a serious person also has a mischievous and playful youth. After all, everyone has their young days!

  Yue An continued: "One day, he ran out at night and met a girl on the street. This girl was a student of Nongda, your schoolmate. She had a tall figure and a white face, that's what we call beautiful." Yue An gestured with his hand to describe the girl's figure, and then said proudly: "This little soldier has a wicked mind, he took a liking to this chick at first sight, and vowed to win her over."

  Everyone heard that it was still a love story and suddenly became very interested. Several girls couldn't help but cover their mouths and start laughing.

  Yue An burst out laughing and continued, "At that time, there was a student from the Agricultural University who was a bookworm named Tao Qingcheng. In today's terms, he was actually just a loser. He had wanted to pursue this girl, but unfortunately, that little soldier was really too handsome. You all know, no girl doesn't like a soldier, especially one like me." He spread his hands out, indicating that his own good looks were simply helpless.

  "Haha." The classmates didn't expect that the principal had such an experience and thought that Yue An was making it up, teasing him about his story.

  Yue An pressed his hand down and placed his right index finger in front of his mouth, smiling and asking everyone to be quiet.

  The classmates all quieted down, like waiting for a serial drama, looking forward to the next part of the story.

  Yue An smiled and continued: "Later, that girl married Xiaobing and became a military wife. Meanwhile, the poor but hardworking Tao Qingcheng studied abroad after graduating from college. He was a talented person who eventually became a returnee. After he came back, he surprisingly became the head of a school. This is really shocking."

  "Haha." Everyone heard Yue An tease Tao Qingcheng and was overjoyed. They thought that since the principal was there, he must have been infuriated.

  Yue An smiled for a while, then suddenly his expression turned indifferent and he said: "That year, the Jingjiang River flooded, and Xiao Bing's unit was transferred to Jingjiang for flood control. His wife at home was about to give birth, and he very much wanted to see the child, so he thought of asking for leave to go back home, even thinking of running away. But because the flood control was urgent, he decided to wait until after the flood control was over before going back home."

  The classmates heard this and their expressions turned serious, with tension rising from the bottom of their hearts.

  Yue An said calmly, "After the flood relief efforts ended, a small soldier returned home with joy in his heart, expecting to see his wife and children. But he found out that his wife had passed away due to a difficult childbirth." His voice choked up as he continued, "After her passing, half of her ashes were placed on the western side of Huang Cheng Mountain, and the other half was scattered into the eastern sea. That's where her alma mater is located."

  Classmates at the Academy of Arts heard this and knew that Yue An also had love and family.

  Suddenly a female classmate burst into tears, followed by more classmates crying out loud. In an instant, everyone's eyes welled up with tears, and they all cried together. A few physically weak girls almost fainted from crying.

  Tears, like the storm that just passed.

  Yue An saw everyone crying, but revealed a smile, with tears in his eyes saying: "That little soldier sometimes felt that he was really useless. If the girl had married that person named Tao Qingcheng, she might still be alive now, and her children would be about your age."

  Xiao Xiao only understood at this point why he sang the university anthem by the sea last night. Only then did she understand why Yue An was so strict with his classmates, it turned out that he had already regarded the students of Nongda as his own children.

  Yue An walked into the student's team and went to Li Wei's front, patted his back and said with a smile: "Stand up straight with your shrimp-like figure."

  He walked up to Wang Yong and smiled at him, saying: "You look more handsome without a beard."

  He walked up to Lu Feng's front and smiled at him: "A small tolerance can ruin a great plan."

  He walked up to Liu Yu's front and smiled at him: "Don't just focus on studying, exercise your body properly."

  He walked up to Su Chen and He Yan and said to them: "Smoking has no benefits, quit as soon as possible."

  Yu An walked a circle and smiled at everyone: "You are in the prime of your youth, in this age that will never come again, use your life to do what you like, spend an unforgettable youth."

  He finished speaking, put on his military cap neatly, raised his right arm and saluted the lovely faces in front of him that were filled with tears.

  Applause, tearful applause in the ranks of the Academy of Arts.

  Applause, lasting and resounding.

  Applause, reward for this soldier in front of you.

  The hearts of his classmates were completely conquered by Yue An at this moment.

  "Instructors assemble." Yue An shouted at the four instructors while enduring the pain in his heart amidst the applause.

  Ruan Qiang, Lan Xin, Fan Hao and Liao Gang, the four instructors, also burst into tears after hearing Yue An's story. They quickly formed a line upon receiving the order.

  Yue An turned around and led the way running towards the exit of the new sports stadium where a military bus was parked.

  This bus will take these lovely officers away from Nongda and back to the Army Officer School. After this farewell, will everyone never see each other again?

  Classmates from the art academy stood still on the spot, numb in body and mind, tearfully watching as their instructors boarded the bus one by one, waving goodbye with reluctance.

  In the pale green glass of the big bus, the instructors were all sitting inside and waving goodbye to the reluctant students, only Yue An's face was facing forward, staring at the driver's seat.

  Gazing at Yue An, a hundred emotions welled up in his heart.

  When a person who is strict with themselves suddenly has to leave, they are reluctant to part with themselves. Why? Why do these annoying tears inexplicably well up and swirl in their eyes, refusing to fall for a long time.

  He really wanted to rush up and run to the front of the bus, patting the body of the bus, crying out the instructor's name, not letting them leave. But he didn't move, knowing that the instructor would laugh at him, he had to be strong, standing firmly on the spot, watching the instructor leave with his eyes wide open.

  "Alright! It's time to reward this kid's courage." Yue Anqing took a deep breath, suddenly turned his head, and through the pale green car window, he gave Xiao Xiao two sparkling eyes, raised his right thumb, and mouthed silently, but clearly said: "Awesome."

  Xiao Xiao saw those two words and burst into tears, unable to stop her tears from flowing.

  "To our dearest instructor! Salute." Xiao Xiao suddenly shouted, at the same time using his strong right arm to give a military salute towards the big bus.

  "Whoa!" The classmates around Xiao Xiao heard this shout, and they all instinctively stretched out their right arms to salute the big bus.

  Since the start of military training, Xiao's team has never been so neat in their salute.

  This is their most beautiful intention.