Insufficient balance

  Under Pu Shannai's promotion, we two were soon transferred from the cooking class and became the masters of the tofu workshop.

  Six days later, the equipment for opening a tofu house was delivered to the barracks along with the supplies. We were allocated a workshop of over ten square meters, and in the middle of it stood an extra-large stone mill with a diameter of over 1.5 meters. Adding several wooden frames, a stove, and several large water vats, there was hardly any space left inside. What's more, both of us are careless and tend to put things down randomly, so when Zhang Banlang brought Da Tou, Xiao Yang, and Er Hu Zi to visit, the workshop was almost too crowded to move around. After a warm hug, Da Tou's first words were: "Wow, isn't this bullying? Who made you guys push such a big stone mill by yourselves?"

  Two Tigers' son came up with a silly sentence: "In our village, this kind of stone mill is pulled by donkeys." Er Sun Ting and I could only exchange a bitter smile when we heard this sentence, and I'm sure the look on our faces was quite colorful at that time.

  After seeing off Zhang and his group, Changsun Ting and I again worked on the stone mill's push bar. We wrapped dozens of layers of thick cotton cloth around the handle until it was over a foot in diameter before we considered our task complete.

  Chang Sun Ting grabbed the spoon and winnower, poured a heap of beans into the stone mill, added a scoop of water, and shouted: "Brother, you're lucky today, let you get the first turn on this stone mill!"

  I spat! I ignored his provocation and punched the handle wrapped in cotton cloth with a loud bang. The stone mill didn't budge, so I kicked out fiercely, feeling like I had kicked a rubbery rock, and was almost knocked over by the rebound. The stone mill finally moved forward two inches with a creaking sound.

  Chang Sun Ting shouted repeatedly from the side: "Too light, too slow! If you do it like this, we won't be able to grind out a plate of tofu even after a month! You must use your fastest speed and strongest attack to move this stone mill. Did you hear me? Use the momentum you had when fighting with me!"

  As soon as Zhang Sun Ting's words fell, I rushed over and heavily bumped into the handle with my shoulder. The nearly thousand-jin heavy stone mill was shaken slightly by me, and a sound of beans being crushed came from between the two grinding discs. Without hesitation, my fists pounded down on the cotton handle at a terrifying speed of at least eight punches per second.

  "Alright, just like this, hold on for fifteen minutes and then I'll replace you!"

  The workshop was filled with the sound of sharp objects striking heavily, men's heavy breathing and the dull rumbling sound of stone mills turning.

  "Fu Yuxue, can't you hit any faster and harder?!" Zhang Sun Ting shouted loudly: "I know why you joined the army, you must make yourself stronger as soon as possible. If you're not strong enough, you won't be able to find back your father's love, or even protect the woman you love most. So in every training session, you must use all your strength, fight with your life, fight again and again! How are heroes born? Heroes are also ordinary people, they just have a strong will, can challenge the limits of life time and time again, and stimulate the natural power hidden in their bodies!"

  "Think about the experience you and your sister had, if you had woken up a few days later, if your sister had to agree to that pig's request to raise more medical expenses for you, what kind of bitter consequences would you face? Think about when your most beloved woman, for your sake, lay helpless on a strange bed, allowing a boar to undo her clothes and expose her perfect body, gradually invading the sacred place that originally belonged only to you, and you could only weakly lie there and sigh at the unfairness of fate. What can you do at that moment... If you really want to stop all this, Fu Yinxue, bring out your potential, bring out your fighting spirit, bring out the most fierce flame in your life!!!"

  "Shut up!" I suddenly flung off my clothes, revealing my bare chest. Chang Sun-ting had hit the deepest and most hidden pain in my heart. Wan Ying is mine, mine! I absolutely will not allow anyone to hurt her. For her, I must... become stronger! A man cannot bear his beloved woman lying in another's arms. However, if it's necessary, I would rather she leave me because of a change of heart than force myself to accommodate someone else's advances. If that happens, my heart will shatter into a million pieces!!!

  Suddenly, a loud roar of a beast came from the tofu house. People passing by the tofu house subconsciously avoided it for several steps. Two constables touched their faces and whispered: "Those two perverted mad cows have gone crazy again."

  "Right! Right!! Right!!!!!" Zhang Sun Ting grabbed the steel spoon and slammed it against the water tank, shouting wildly: "That's right, I know Fu Yinxue is a born mad warrior. Your physical strength is not as good as mine, your fighting skills are not as good as mine, and your body shape is at a disadvantage. But you can still fight with me until the last moment, it's because there's crazy blood flowing in your body! Use all your methods to thoroughly stir it up, feel the thrilling taste of power surging in your body, let your body keep getting hurt and strengthening, sooner or later, we two brothers will make all the strong people in the world bow their heads before us!"

  Make all the strong in the world bow their heads before us!!!! What kind of grandeur and arrogance is this?

  Chang Sun Ting is not a good fighting teacher, but he is a leader with super strong charisma. In his repeated loud roars and scolding, I experienced great sorrow, great joy, great madness, and great anger. My fists, legs, shoulders, and head collided with the punching mitts again and again, and my emotions poured out without reserve. Although sweat rained down, my attacks became faster and heavier, until finally, the stone mill was spinning wildly under my blows.

  When I finally lay down on the ground panting, I saw Zhang Sun Ting standing in front of the stone mill with a surprised face holding a broken steel ladle.

  "Hey, brother, it's your turn now, but I'm too exhausted to cheer you on and pump you up. Since you're so good at stirring things up, just take care of it yourself."

  "I'm still on the toilet!" Zhang Sun Ting threw away the broken ladle in his hand: "You've already ground all the beans we prepared for today, what else can I do? You're a freak among freaks, you actually pushed the stone mill for two whole hours! I have to be extremely careful to avoid your crazy bull-like behavior just to add beans to the mill. Next time, even if someone puts a gun to my head, I won't fight with you again when you're like this."

  Chang Sun Ting kicked me hard and shouted: "If you're not dead, get up quickly! Don't think that just grinding the soy milk is nothing, we have to turn them into tofu to complete the great task. After lunch this afternoon, we still need to continue our qigong training!"

  "Great!" Even I myself didn't dare believe I could get back up again.

  After lunch, the two of us came to the playground again. This time was different from before, as each of us held a wooden stick over one foot long in our hands, and at the left chest position, we casually stuffed a book and several pieces of cotton cloth.

  Chang Sun Ting held up the wooden stick in his hand and said loudly, "In close combat on the battlefield, people usually hold a dagger, so our task today is to integrate the familiar knife-drawing and dagger-fighting techniques."

  I gazed at him warily and asked: "You're not going to pull some trick like you did that day, are you?"

  Chang Sun Ting chuckled, "That day was just to give you a theoretical boost. From today on, we two brothers will start practicing our basic skills diligently. In the morning, we'll grind beans to practice endurance and fist speed, in the afternoon, we'll practice internal energy and dagger combat techniques. If we keep this up for a year or so, it's hard not to get stronger... Look at the knife!"

  I was leaning over to listen to his plan, completely off guard, and staring wide-eyed as his "dagger" stabbed into my heart, even with a book and several pieces of cotton padding in the way, it still poked me painfully.

  "It's my fault!" I shouted loudly and swung the "knife" towards Chang Sun Ting, but he grabbed my right elbow with his left hand, took a step forward and wedged himself between my legs. Then, with a burst of strength, he knocked me backwards, and the wooden stick in his hand struck my chest again in the same spot.

  Chang Sun Ting smiled at me and said, "Sorry, you're dead again. Don't worry, after all I'm your master. You won't be able to get close to me if you don't practice hard for a year or two... Ah yo!"

  Taking advantage of his endless chatter, I finally stabbed him with a knife.

  What a load of crap, he thinks I don't know, huh? He stuffed a copy of "Basic Techniques and Training Methods for Aikido" under his pillow, and that thing about drawing the sword and cutting water is actually the first move in the beginner's techniques, with Long Sun Ting's dense notes and comments all over it. It was just basic skills to begin with, but he really came up with a name that's quite... earthy. I have no idea what kind of majestic name he'll come up with when he teaches me the second move tomorrow, will it be something like "Fierce Fire Cold Light Sword"?

  Haha, I'm really looking forward to it!

  It's been a fulfilling day! Bu Shanna has already taken the anti-terrorism squad to Urumqi for a mission, and I'm sure when she returns, she'll be shocked by our progress. Just thinking about this makes me decide to drag Zhang Sun Ting along and run around the military camp ten times. Whoever loses will have to do 500 push-ups as punishment.