Insufficient balance

  "As a revolutionary soldier, we must be like a screw and go wherever our work requires us to go. Do you know the story of Zhang Side burning charcoal? This story says..."

  The platoon leader was worried that we had personal opinions about the distribution, and he had a long talk with us for two hours and five minutes. To sum it up in one sentence, everything he said was... nonsense! If the instructor were to go to the mountains to take charge of grazing sheep to improve the food standards of X Corps now, I estimate that he would submit a resignation application the next day.

  People nowadays no longer have the kind of fanatical enthusiasm like in the 70s. To be honest, we bid farewell to our loved ones and hometown, traveling thousands of miles to come to Xinjiang, a place where even oxygen is scarce. Is it just for burning charcoal, cooking, and waiting until our best years are wasted before returning to our hometown to start over again?

  With this idea and discontent, I and Zhang Ting began our new life in the cooking class. Sergeant Zhang really didn't dare to compliment us on our standard of frying vegetables into charcoal. We could only help everyone with some odd jobs, as a result, on the first day, we two accumulated breaking twenty-seven plates, nineteen bowls, even that super large water vat which had been used for over twenty years and was known as the treasure of the whole battalion, capable of being used by over one hundred people in a day, also got a hole knocked into it by us unintentionally.

  On the second day, we helped Er Hu zi cook porridge and steam buns. When we opened the lid of the pot, I can quote a phrase to describe our masterpiece: Porridge can wash baths, rice can hit birds, buns can blow up Taiwan Island!

  "Alas, you've gotten yourselves into trouble now!" Zhang Bansheng gazed at the results of our two hours of hard work and let out a long sigh: "The soldiers have been training all day and are exhausted. If we could cook some decent food, they'd be able to eat more and recover some energy. But with the kind of meals our cooking team is serving up, everyone's going to go hungry! Alas, Fu Yinxue and Chang Sun Ting are newbies, they don't know any better... but Er Huizi, why didn't you help them out?"

  Er Hu Zi's face turned red with embarrassment, he saw us two working enthusiastically, kneading, slapping, hitting and pounding the dough, a large bowl of hard dough was messed up by us until it became soft and pliable, estimated that it could be used as material for the imperial kitchen, only then did he feel at ease to go help Da Tou Xiao Yang complete his work, but unexpectedly we ended up producing such a pile of hard-as-rock things.

  If Second Tiger knew that we were going to use the noodles as a deadly weapon, I reckon he would rather die than entrust us with the important task of steaming the mantou.

  As for the steamed rice, it was indeed our habitual mistake. It wasn't until the rice was cooked that we realized too little water had been added. To make up for the loss, we hastily poured two large buckets of water into the porridge pot, resulting in the current situation. However, if the two can be combined, hehe, it would actually be just right.

  "The warriors who can't even eat a full meal will definitely have opinions, if it's noisy to Lianzhang, our cooking class will be embarrassed," Zhang Bansheng shook his head repeatedly: "Our small red flag of the best cooking class in the four realms has been passed down for generations, it seems that this time we really have to admit defeat."

  The meal was already prepared, but there was no time to make up for it. The cooks could only move the dishes that I and Zhang Songting had hastily made to the cafeteria. Captain Zhang stood at the entrance of the cafeteria with a smile on his face, like a competent restaurant manager, welcoming the soldiers who had just finished singing military songs into the cafeteria.

  "Wow, what a great smell!"

  As soon as hundreds of people walked into the cafeteria, their noses twitched together. In order to stuff everyone's mouth, Zhang Class Leader had a big bloodletting and added a potato stew with beef for everyone. Don't underestimate this dish, at an altitude of 3-4 thousand meters in the mountains, the supplies that can be delivered are limited. In the cooking class's cellar, there were only dried onions and scallions, which felt like paper soaked in water and then dried again when touched by hand, wrinkled and rough. After soaking in hot water, they became a pulp. What good taste could such things have?

  Potatoes and cabbage, which usually cost only a few cents per catty, are the best delicacies in the eyes of the soldiers. Not to mention that apart from cured meat, they can actually eat fresh beef today.

  "Come, let me try it first!" A class leader quickly picked up his chopsticks and took a piece of beef to his mouth. After chewing for a few mouthfuls, several green lights flashed in his eyes, and he shouted: "Delicious!"

  The brothers of the cooking class stared at him as he grabbed a steamed bun and took a big bite, his smile suddenly froze on his face, stunned for five seconds before spitting out the bun with force and jumping up to shout: "What kind of thing is this?"

  Bang!

  Another person slammed his rice bowl on the table and shouted: "Hey, Zhang Squad Leader, how come the rice you guys made is still all raw inside?"

  A warrior carefully picked up a bun and exclaimed, "Wow, you guys don't look at this bun, it's only half the size of what we usually eat, but the amount is actually twice as much!"

  "But why is the rice in the porridge at least ten times less than usual? Look, it's so thin that my shadow can be seen! Some people are worried that the world will not be chaotic enough, holding a bowl of porridge and carefully counting: "One, two, three, four... Wow, there are only ten grains of rice in this bowl of porridge!"

  "Zhang Class Monitor, what's the meaning of this? If we brothers have done something wrong, just say it out loud, no need to resort to such tactics and make us starve together?"

  Large beads of sweat rolled down from Zhang's forehead, and the situation was already out of control. Coincidentally, today the company commander, political instructor, and platoon leaders all went to attend a meeting, leaving only some young men with excessive yang energy in the military camp. There wasn't even one person in the entire cafeteria who could calm down the situation.

  "Sorry, sorry, really sorry. Our cooking team just got two new recruits yesterday and they're not very good at cooking yet, so that's why the food turned out like this. I, Zhang Baozi, promise you all here that it won't happen again! Next time we'll definitely do better and make the most delicious meals for everyone..."

  "What's next?" The monitor who bit into the bun first threw the bun onto the table, and it made a loud "thud" as it hit the plastic tablecloth. "So what about today? Are we going to let our brothers eat this kind of thing? Call out those two new recruits! If they can each eat five of these buns, even if our brothers go hungry for one meal, we'll accept it!"

  The class monitor's words were echoed by most of the people present, "Right! Let them come out, as long as they eat four buns, let them each have another bowl of rice that they steamed with their own hands!"

  Facing the soldiers of the company who were already in an uproar, Sergeant Zhang's face twitched several times, and he suddenly took off his military cap and slammed it to the ground, shouting: "Since our superiors have assigned them to our cooking squad, they are my men. If such a mistake occurred, it is my dereliction of duty as squad leader. If anyone has any opinions, just look for me, Zhang Baozi!"

  I exchanged a surprised glance with Zhang Sun Ting, unexpectedly this chubby cook team leader was able to stand up and help us out at the critical moment, taking off his apron, the two of us slowly walked into the cafeteria.

  I gently patted Zhang Ban Zhang, and Long Sun Ting and I easily squeezed him behind us. Looking at the entire company of over a hundred people, I said in a cold voice: "The food you're eating was made by my brother and me, it has nothing to do with Zhang Ban Zhang. If anyone is dissatisfied or resentful, come on out, my brother and I will fully accommodate you!"

  "I'm telling you, these two new recruits are really something!" The squad leader slammed his hand on the table and shouted: "I think you two are just asking for trouble, let us teach you a lesson, let you know that once you're in the army, you have to learn to behave yourself!"

  "Stop, stop, stop..." Zhang the class leader stood behind us, getting anxious and jumping up and down. "We're all brothers from the same family, do we need to be like this? They've only been in the army for five or six days and don't understand the rules yet, let's be more tolerant."

  "Hai Han? Alright! However, these two new recruits under your command don't know their place and have already incurred the wrath of everyone. I think we'll let them off with a warning this time - just make them kneel down in front of everyone and apologize, and we'll consider the matter settled!"

  A boy under the knees has gold!

  It's come to this, and there's no turning back between us. I glare fiercely at the class monitor and shout: "Bullshit! I, Fu Yinxue, am a proud and upright man, how could I kneel down to trash like you? Remember, before we both end up on the ground, I'll definitely drag you down as a human shield first! Come on!!!"

  Chang Sun Ting didn't know when he had two more knives in his hand, he casually waved the big kitchen knife used to chop bones from the cooking class, nodded satisfactorily, and handed me a thin and long kitchen knife: "The other side has over a hundred people, even if they just kick us once or punch us once, with our two brothers' bodies that have just crawled out of the hospital, we'll be done for. Why not take up arms together and see how many we can knock down?"

  I nodded vigorously, tore open the first three buttons of my military uniform, revealing my chest muscles as hard as iron, suddenly ripped off the vest I was wearing inside, tearing it into a strip of cloth, and then tightly wrapped it around my right hand holding the kitchen knife.

  Over a hundred old soldiers stared quietly at our movements, and for a moment they were stunned. No one had expected that it was just because of the problem of hard rice balls that it would end up in a life-and-death struggle. Although there were only two people on the other side, they stood shoulder to shoulder, with an invisible aura rising from their bodies, making them fearless and unafraid despite facing hundreds of people.

  Isn't the cooking class a dumping ground for trash and soft eggs? When did these two lunatics join? The class leader, facing our gaze, felt a chill run down his spine. He could clearly sense the astonishing killing intent rising from us. It's imaginable that once the group beating starts, we two would abandon all defense and launch the most ruthless attack on him first. More importantly, even if he managed to escape unscathed, it seemed that taking us down would come at a considerable cost. What awaited everyone was likely a court-martial trial.

  One of the soldiers heard my words and was moved in his heart, quickly ran to the back of that squad leader, attached to his ear and whispered something, the face of that squad leader changed several times, looked at us two carefully again, suddenly shouted loudly: "Good, enough courage, indeed worthy of the title of pervert cow given by everyone! I, Asowan, admire you!"

  A murmur ran through the soldiers in front of us, and I was astonished to find that the hostility in their eyes was gradually replaced by respect.

  "I didn't understand until today what a real man is!" The class leader gave a thumbs up and said: "I was born on the Inner Mongolian grasslands, I also know how to use the horse-riding technique of stimulating potential through bloodletting, but this technique is too cruel. Most fine horses will die from exhaustion after being stimulated by bloodletting, so unless it's a matter of life and death, we would never easily use it, let alone dare to try it on ourselves. I, Asuo Wangan, admire your true fearlessness!"

  Chang Sun Ting gave me a weird look, I shrugged my shoulders. All I knew was that the Mongolians had this horse-riding technique, but I didn't know it was life-threatening to use it.

  He picked up the steamed buns that had been thrown on the table, Asuda took a few big bites and swallowed them, then looked around and shouted: "Brothers, these steamed buns are made by real men, let's eat together!"

  "Alright, let's eat! At worst, we can just soak the mantou in thin congee, and that'll be fine..."

  "That's right, it's really a good idea, and with a few more pieces of beef, it becomes beef bubble rice, haha..."

  Looking at the soldiers in the cafeteria surrounding us with enthusiasm, Zhang class leader hid in a corner and finally let out a long sigh of relief.

  "I, Ah Soo Wong, offer this bowl of congee as wine, a toast to both of you!"

  I and Zhang Sun Ting each picked up a bowl of porridge, "Dry!"

  Three big bowls heavily collided, the three of us tilted our necks up, and simultaneously "pffft" spat out the porridge in our mouths onto each other's bodies... The porridge was too hot right out of the pot!