Article 9 of Chapter 22 Section 1 Ordinance

  After firing nine bullets, Xiao Lie stood up. He didn't know how he did, and the holes outside of 100 couldn't be seen very clearly. When he turned around, he saw Yang Xian's smiling face, as if he had already prepared a big basin of clothes for him there.

  "Don't worry, I'll make you remember the feeling of washing clothes forever. If you surrender to me now, maybe I'll consider being not so ruthless."

  Seo Ryeol walked past three classes when Yang Hyun quietly said to him.

  Xiao Lie smiled and said nothing, then walked towards the team.

  "How come you haven't hit the target yet?" Wu Minghui said.

  At this time, Wu Minghui saw that the soldier who was shooting at the target took down the target and ran straight to his side.

  "Platoon leader, take a look at this target paper. It seems like two bullets hit the same bullet hole." The soldier handed the target paper to Wu Minghui and said.

  There were eight bullet holes on the target paper, but one of them was noticeably larger than the other seven. Upon closer inspection, one side of that hole wasn't even, as if a circle had been added on top, except that the circle overlapped with the hole by more than half. Wu Minghui looked at it and handed the target paper to Zhang Mo.

  "Good fellow, they really are fighting." Zhang Mo said with a smile.

  Wu Minghui nodded at Bao Lingbing.

  "Class 5, Xiao Lie, 90th Ring."

  Although the two words were only composed of two characters, they were no less than two iron hammers that heavily hit Yang Xian's heart. He shook his head, fearing he had misheard.

  "How many rings?"

  Ninety.

  When Xiao Lie was in the 90 ring, Yang Xian had a feeling of suffocation. The difference between the 89 and 90 rings is only one point, and Xiao Lie's first shot missed the target because he didn't adjust his gun properly. In fact, in this round, he was half a point worse than Xiao Lie.

  "Chubby, Liu Ye."

  I could already hear Xiao Lie's voice before I even entered the dorm.

  "Fatty? Who's that?" Li Yifan looked around in all directions to see if there was a big fatty here.

  "Don't look anymore, I'm talking about you." Liu Ye said.

  "My god, I've lost 15 pounds in just two months! I'm no longer fat."

  "Oh, I see, now I hear that pork is over 16 yuan a catty, you've lost 250 yuan in these two months."

  When Li Yifan hadn't even raised his iron sand palm yet, Liu Ye had already dodged far away.

  "Don't say anything more, bring out all your stinky socks, don't affect hygiene anymore." Xiao Lie said.

  "What are you talking about? Do I look like someone who doesn't love cleanliness? I've been very clean since I was a kid, and I take at least two baths a year." Li Yifan heard Xiao Lie say this, as if he had suffered the greatest insult.

  "I made a bet with Yang Xian last time, whoever loses has to wash clothes and socks for a week. Bring out all your stocks." Xiao Lie said with a smile.

  As soon as Xiao Lie said that, the two of them lit up and immediately started opening their cabinets. The dormitory was quickly filled with a nauseating smell.

  When Li Yifan and Liu Yehe took out their own goods with a smile, Xiao Lie couldn't help but think that fortunately, he didn't have the urge to open their personal storage rooms. Otherwise, as soon as they opened it, they would be suffocated to death. It's hard to imagine how these two guys passed the health inspection, which is a great irony with the red flag of sanitation hanging on the wall.

  Three hours later, Yang Xian finally finished washing a big basin of dirty clothes by the sink. Just two hours ago, he was about to go out when he saw Xiao Lie walking towards him from afar with a big pile of things in his arms and a smile on his face as if he had picked up money.

  "What? You want to go out?" Xiao Lie said: "Don't forget our bet that day, now I'm here to fulfill our bet."

  Yang Xian's nose twitched, and the smell was even more unbearable than those yellowish odors. He suddenly regretted making that bet, as it was clear that Xiao Lie would not give up now. Although Xiao Lie was his opponent, Yang Xian thought to himself that he wasn't someone who didn't dare to speak up for himself. But Xiao Lie was too ruthless, and it seemed like he hadn't washed his clothes in a long time, so he brought them over on this sunny day. At this point, several soldiers from the third squad saw the situation and gathered around, thinking that Xiao Lie had come to pick a fight. After Yang Xian and Xiao Lie's last fight, not only did the third squad leader severely punish Yang Xian, but the new recruits also didn't get off easy. Although the third squad leader didn't say anything specific, anyone who wasn't stupid would understand that when Yang Xian was fighting, his fellow soldiers from the third squad hadn't helped him and had instead watched as he got beaten up by someone else. From then on, the collective consciousness of the new recruits in the third squad increased.

  "What? You think you can get away with it just because there are more of you?" Xiao Lie looked at the several soldiers standing behind Yang Xian.

  "A gentleman's word is as good as a swift horse's whip." Yang Xian finished speaking and snatched the basin of clothes from Xiao Lie's hands, heading towards the water pool.

  Everyone who has been a soldier in Xinjiang knows that the water in that place, whether it's from underground or flowing down from the mountains, is icy cold even in summer. In February, washing clothes with water is a special feeling. The soldiers' method of washing clothes was simple: if there was no hot water, they would soak them in cold water for an hour, then scrub them by hand for a few minutes, rinse them with water, and that's it. On average, each piece of clothing wouldn't take more than 40 seconds to finish, and then they would immediately light the stove to warm their hands.

  It just so happened that on that day, while fixing the hot water pipes, Yang Xian didn't get to wash with hot water and could only soak his clothes in cold water. When he saw about ten pairs of smelly socks, he even wondered if Xiao Lie had deliberately not changed his socks for this period of time, just waiting for him to lose.

  Xiao Lie returned to the dormitory and saw Liu Ye collecting smelly socks.

  "What are you doing?"

  "Didn't that Yang Xian kid lose? I reckon, this time our brothers will have to teach him a lesson and make him remember it for a long time." Liu Ye replied.

  "Never mind, let's spare him. Just give him a long memory and that's it. Can't you be more diligent yourself? Don't leave dozens of socks there unwashed."

  In the following days, Yang Xian was waiting for Xiao Lie to bring over dirty clothes. Since he had said so himself, then he should go do it - there was no reason not to. Even Lian Long had said so, hadn't he? No excuses, no reasons. But Xiao Lie didn't come find him again, and everyone either met on the training grounds or in the cafeteria. That afternoon, he saw Xiao Lie washing clothes by the pool himself, and after thinking for a moment, he walked over.

  "How can I wash clothes myself? I said that if I washed clothes for a week, I would lose a week. This, I can still afford to lose." Yang Xian said.

  "You think I'd really make you wash for a whole week? Forget it, that one time just counts as you having already fulfilled your bet, from now on either it's mine or let yourself do it."

  When Yang Xian heard Xiao Lie say that, he suddenly felt a bit strange in his heart. In an instant, he found out that Xiao Lie wasn't so annoying after all. But then again, it seemed like Xiao Lie had never done anything to wrong him before. The reason was because he thought he should be the best here.

  "May I ask a question?"

  "Hmm." Yang Xian said.

  "Have we met before you enlisted?"

  "No."

  "Do we have a grudge?"

  "No."

  "Why are you always comparing yourself with me, as if I owe you something? Why?" Xiao Lie asked.

  "It's nothing, because I can see that you're a worthy opponent. It's only when compared to the strong that it becomes interesting, that's what life is all about." said Yang Xian.

  "Aren't you tired?" Xiao Lie asked.

  Tired? Yang Xian thought for a moment, from childhood to adulthood, his father had always instilled in him an idea: no matter what time or place, never lose to others. This world only has two kinds of people, the strong and the weak. The weak can only be eaten. If you want to be stronger than others, apart from intelligence, it's your own hard work. Those who strive upwards will always encounter various problems, for the sake of their goals, what's tiredness?

  But is that really the case? Yang Xian doesn't know, from childhood to adulthood, although he has worked hard himself, it seems that his father is still not satisfied with him. When he scored 90 points, his father wanted 100 points; when he scored 100 points, his father wanted him to always score 100 points.

  Got used to it and that's it. So, tired? It seems like it's been a long time since I thought about this question, when someone asked me for the first time, he felt a little confused, in his own world, except for opponents and competitors, nothing else seemed important.

  "I also feel tired, training every day, I'm very tired. But I can't stop, I won't stop, not because I have to surpass everyone, but because I just can't stop. If everything could start over again, maybe I wouldn't be here, at least a year ago I never thought of joining the army. But life is unpredictable, even the largest ship will be swallowed by the sea. Thank you, if it weren't for you, I wouldn't have worked so hard." Xiao Lie said.

  It felt as if the person in front of him wasn't his opponent, but an old friend, and he was just sharing his innermost thoughts with that old friend. On Xiao Lie's face flowed a desolate expression that couldn't be deciphered, which didn't match his age at all, as if he had already experienced many years of trials and tribulations. Yang Xian was stunned, for the first time seriously looking at the opponent's true emotional side, he had always thought that someone like Xiao Lie wouldn't have emotions either. But now he discovered that in some aspects, he indeed wasn't a match for Xiao Lie, a feeling of being utterly defeated arose.

  "But we are opponents."

  "Hmm, who says rivals can't be friends? Nice to meet you, I'm Xiao Ran." Xiao Lie extended his right hand.

  When he saw the sincere eyes and the right hand stretched out in front of him, Yang Xian hesitated for the first time, then shook that right hand: "Hello, my name is Yang Xian. But you still need to work hard, next time, I will be the first."

  "Alright, you try it out and see if it works, we'll see on the spot."

  True friendship between men is not necessarily built on money and wine. Sometimes, two opponents can also be friends, they just need a suitable opportunity.