Article 1 of Chapter 14 Section 1 Ordinance (One)

  "Do what you want to do, do what you should do."

  "Do what you want to do, do what you should do." Xiao Lie muttered to himself, then he seemed to have thought of something and suddenly burst out laughing.

  "Thank you, instructor. I understand now. I know what to do." Then Xiao Lie stood up and took off running towards the dormitory: "Instructor, see you tomorrow."

  "Sigh, what do you want to do?"

  Xiao Lie didn't even hear what the instructor said and ran off.

  After the start of school, Xiao Lie performed well in class. Apart from the assignments given by the instructor, most of his time was spent studying in the library, living a simple life revolving around the classroom, cafeteria, and dormitory.

  In the autumn of 2007, Beijing was already very cold in the morning and evening, but it couldn't stop those students who wanted to go on dates. If elementary school, junior high school, and senior high school were a repressive process for ten years, then college might be a place where people can relax. Many people's first thought when mentioning college is not academic or professional, but that they can start dating freely, and many live together too - otherwise, why do all universities in China have so many small hotels nearby?

  Over the weekend, most of the time, Xiao Lie was alone in the dormitory reading books. He didn't know why Xiao Yang stopped him from enlisting in the military school at first, but now he somewhat understood. There was already one person serving in the army at home, and if both brothers went to serve, who would take care of their mother? Now that his brother was gone and his mother had passed away, if there was anything important left for Xiao Lie to do, it was to fulfill his mother's last wish. After hearing the instructor's words, he suddenly seemed to have found his place.

  So he thought he should join the army and go to the military region in Shaoyang, to be a soldier in the Lanzhou Military Region.

  If there's something more important than studying in college, it would be to have a romantic relationship. It seems that if you haven't had a romance in college, you'd be embarrassed to tell others that you attended university. Every year when new students start school, the seniors pretend to care about their junior sisters and brothers while actually checking out which department has the most girls and who is the prettiest. Under these circumstances, the seniors have an advantage over the freshmen in terms of competition.

  Xiao Lie didn't know why Xiao Yang wanted him to major in finance. In Xiao Yang's words, it was because graduates of this major had more opportunities to make a lot of money and thus improve the family's living conditions.

  Xiao Lie didn't know if studying finance could improve his family's living conditions, but he knew that right now he couldn't concentrate on reading books. Every day, he spent most of his time in the library reading military-related books, and the only reason he read these kinds of books was to prove that Xiao Yang might still be alive in this world.

  When Xiao Lie was reading, he didn't know that behind him, a chubby girl wearing glasses would occasionally stare at his figure. He didn't notice because his mind was fully focused on the book. If he had noticed, he would have definitely recognized her - they were classmates and sat just one seat apart.

  Since the reform of military service, college students can enlist while retaining their student status. This system allows the army to recruit more excellent talents and enables individuals to join at the best time for physical training. Xiao Lie was naturally aware of this system, and when recruitment began in 2007, he was the first to sign up.

  There were two military regions recruiting at the same time in college, one was Beijing Military Region and the other was Lanzhou Military Region. Since Xiao Lie's university was located in Beijing, plus the equipment of Beijing Military Region was considered to be one of the best among the seven major military regions, most new-style equipment was first equipped with the Beijing Military Region, compared to Lanzhou Military Region which was much worse off. As a result, hardly anyone went to sign up for Lanzhou Military Region. When Xiao Lie chose to join the army, it was already unexpected, and he chose Lanzhou Military Region as his first choice, which made people even more surprised.

  "Mom, I promised you and brother that I would take the university exam. Now I have been admitted to university and studied there too. I don't know why one must go to university to make a name for oneself, because from childhood to adulthood, you said that in this world there are two kinds of people: useful people and useless people. I don't know if going to university will make me a useful person or not, but I do know that it's also possible to become a useful person without going to university. A person needs knowledge apart from being inherently kind."

  Mom, now I should go find Xiao Yang and bring him back home. In my heart, I'm thinking if I can find him, but being able to find him and must be two different concepts. But what I promised you is that I will definitely bring him back, I will definitely bring him back.

  So I will find him."

  Registration, physical examination, conversation, political review, passing, these processes take a month, but Xiao Lie's heart is very calm, he never worries that he will not pass, as if all this is natural.

  Every afternoon, he likes to walk around the campus, using a digital camera borrowed from his classmates to take pictures of himself with the school's first corner, even in class. After developing the photos, he went home once and then burned those photos by hand in front of Xiaolan Fang's grave.

  When Xiao Lie showed the lieutenant the medal of merit that Xiao Yang had earned, the lieutenant officer drew a heavy check on one item on the form. The questions that were supposed to be asked were not asked by the lieutenant officer, and the political review was passed on the spot.

  The day he left, at the station there was only Xu Jiadai alone. Xiao Lie's enlistment was not known to many people, and in his heart, he felt it wasn't necessary to notify anyone, but Xu Jiadai was different.

  "Don't be too tired alone, if you can't bear it, come back after two years and then go to school again," said Xu Jiadai.

  "Sister-in-law, I promised mom that we would be together as a family. I don't know where he is, but I will definitely bring him back."

  "If you see him, tell him I'm waiting for him, I want him back, I'm waiting for him."

  Seeing Xǔ Jiādài's expression, Xiāo Liè was a bit stunned. The whole world, except for Xiāo Lánfāng and himself, believed that Xiāo Yáng was still alive. When this idea became known to others, no one didn't laugh at them as fools, thinking it was just Xiāo Lánfāng's deep love for her son that made her unwilling to believe the truth. But now, Xǔ Jiādài's eyes were filled with determination.

  Xiao Lie nodded, and if he was looking for the courage to do so, then Xu Jia Dai's gaze gave Xiao Lie even more conviction. Although this seemed like a laughable and unrealistic dream, Xiao Lie still boarded the train heading north without hesitation.

  He was always in a daze on the train, and he wasn't very interested in the scenery outside the window. When the train passed through the Qinling Mountains, he fell into a deep sleep. In his sleep, he seemed to have returned to his childhood, when life was simple and happy with just the three of them - his parents and him. Even though they were poor, that happiness was something that couldn't be exchanged for anything else. In his dream, he could vividly feel the warmth of Xiao Lanfang's smile, his mother holding his small hand as they walked through the wet fields, and Xiao Yang leading the cow behind them.

  A single drop of clear liquid slowly dripped from his eye corner and trickled down his cheek.

  When Xiao Lie woke up, the train had already arrived at Jiayuguan Station, and four carriages of new recruits had got off.

  "Where are we going?" a little fatty opposite Xiao Lie asked.

  "Xinjiang." Another new recruit said.

  "Ah, my mom said Xinjiang's winters are freezing to death!" Fatso frowned and said.

  "But you won't," said the new recruit.

  "Why?"

  "Because of your thick skin."

  "Hmm, everyone has their own use, and being fat also has its advantages." The fatty said with a furrowed brow, looking thoughtful.

  The new recruit was taken aback by Fatty's words, and he had previously prepared for Fatty's outburst. After all, Fatty hated it the most when others called him fat. He thought for a moment before saying to Fatty:

  "Haha, buddy, we've been on the same bus for so long, and all along the way, I was only thinking about sad things and sleeping. I haven't even introduced myself yet. My name is Liu Ye, from Hebei."

  "My name is Li Yifan, from Hunan." said the fatty.

  After the two introduced themselves, they looked at Xiao Lie. Xiao Lie smiled and said: "My name is Xiao Lie, from Sichuan. How come I didn't see you when I got on the bus?"

  The two of them exchanged a glance and said in unison, "Because you fell asleep as soon as you got on the car, then woke up automatically when it was time to eat, ate and slept again. Tell me, what's your secret?"

  Xiao Lie was speechless.

  Three people were chatting and laughing along the way, in Li Yifan and Liu Ye's eyes, it seemed like they had found a companion. Isn't it said that there are three kinds of relationships that are the most unbreakable? They went through the same window together, carried guns together, and experienced everything together. Obviously, their shared military career would make two people feel friendly, but in Xiao Lie's eyes, there was another scene: those new recruits were just kids who had left home, they still had family members waiting for them at home, while he was alone and lonely.

  A military train arrived at a place in Xinjiang on an afternoon, and the new recruits had no idea where they were. Some of the new recruits who came to Xinjiang for the first time felt strange that although it was already 6 pm in November, the sun was still high in the sky.

  A whistle blew and everyone was brought back to reality. A glance around showed that all the new recruits were dressed in green uniforms, with thick cotton-padded jackets underneath, giving them a puffy appearance. The old soldiers standing at the front of the formation looked at the new recruits' attire and equipment and saw their own past selves. They wondered if they had been just as sloppy when they were new recruits. Some of the old soldiers began to understand why the older soldiers who had received them back then had been so angry.

  "Form up in platoons, tallest at the back!" a loud-voiced junior officer shouted.

  The new recruits who were just shouting and making noise immediately began to find their positions and line up.

  "Captain, you're here. These things still need to be taken care of by the captain." Lieutenant Wu Minghui smiled and said, looking at the entire third battalion, only he dared to speak to Captain Zhao Zhuangjie: "The new recruits nowadays are getting worse and worse, it took them two minutes and sixteen seconds just to line up. This reveals many problems."

  "In those days, you were a new recruit and it took only 21 seconds. This shows that the waves behind the Yangtze River push forward, and the front wave crashes on the beach. After training this batch of new recruits well, we still have high hopes for them."

  Ensure the task is completed.

  When Zhao Zhuangjie finished speaking, Wu Minghui said in a serious tone, "The captain's words are related to the new recruits next year and the Third Battalion."