Chapter 45: Seeking Revenge and Venting Hatred

  Zhao Erhuo was flogged thirty times by the company commander Xu in front of everyone on the first day of military training because he couldn't find his military cap. This flogging made Zhao Erhuo's skin crack and flesh burst, and he lay in bed for a whole week before recovering from the injury.

  Afterwards, Zhao Erhu found his missing military cap in a dark corner of the barracks.

  "Who? Who the hell messed with me? Who threw my military cap into the corner? Damn it, you have the guts to mess with people but not to admit it. Don't think I don't know. What are you pretending for? If you have the guts, come out." Zhao Erhu stood in front of his bunk that night before lights out, hands on hips, and shouted at all the new recruits in the room.

  Li Guoting lay on the bed, closed his eyes and rested, a week of military training had left all his joints feeling like they were falling apart. After dinner, he was so lazy that he didn't even wash his feet before crawling onto his own bed and closing his eyes.

  Actually, Li Guoting didn't sleep. He couldn't sleep either. He had never experienced such harsh training before. Especially that Commander Xu and the two instructors under him treated this batch of new recruits like ferocious demons, scolding or beating them at every turn. If one movement wasn't done well, they'd be punished to do it five or six times over.

  That day, a frail new recruit from Henan named Fan Baozhu followed the instructor's orders to run ten laps around the training ground by Lake Ink. After running five laps, he was exhausted and sat down on the ground, unable to continue running.

  The instructor ran over, regardless of the situation, and gave him three lashes in public. He then ordered him that he was not allowed to rest until lunchtime that afternoon and had to run twenty laps. Otherwise, he would be severely punished. All the trainee soldiers stood by and watched until he completed his training task.

  As a result, Fan Baozhu only ran nine laps and couldn't hold on anymore. He knelt down in front of Instructor Zhang and begged: "Instructor Zhang, I really can't run anymore."

  Officer Zhang's expression was as cold as frost, without a hint of sympathy. He ordered Fan Baozhu to continue running while wielding his whip and striking him. A soldier couldn't bear it anymore and stepped forward to plead for Fan Baozhu, but the officer ended up beating him too.

  Later, no one dared to speak up for him anymore. Fan Baozhu was beaten by Instructor Zhang with a whip until he fainted and was carried away. No one knew where he was taken. In the following days, Li Guoting never saw that new recruit from Henan named Fan Baozhu again.

  Later, I heard that Fan Baozhu was beaten too severely and died. His body was hastily buried by the lake.

  "These people are too cruel to us new recruits, if there's a chance, we must teach these two instructors a lesson." Li Guoting said privately to Ma Fei.

  "Never mind, big brother. We're here to be soldiers, not to cause trouble. It's okay outside, but this is the army. Let's just bear with it for now. After we get through boot camp, maybe things will get better." Ma Fei advised Li Guoting.

  "My goodness, I just can't stand bullying. Whoever bullies others makes me feel uncomfortable." Li Guoting said with a scowl.

  "It's all the same. Big brother, I'm a cavalryman on the outside, and I won't eat this set. But this is the army. That soldier dares not to listen. Is that still an army? Right, big brother?" Ma Fei said.

  "Uh, second brother, what you said makes sense. I, Li Guoting, will listen to you. To be honest, on the first day, when Commander Xu whipped third brother, I really wanted to go up and give that guy a punch, but thinking that we had just arrived and were introduced by Captain Ye, it wouldn't be good if things escalated, so I endured it." Li Guoting said.

  "It's not surprising that Third Brother lost his military cap, so many people didn't lose theirs, but he had to go and lose his. You say, if Commander Xu doesn't punish him, who will he punish? Besides, it was Commander Xu's first day facing new recruits, of course he had to show off his authority. So that future new recruits would be afraid of him, it's the same in gangs too. It's just a habit." Ma Fei said.

  After Zhao Erhu was injured, he stayed in the military camp to recover and did not participate in the remaining time of military training. So, how Li Guoting and Ma Fei spent this week, he didn't know. Li Guoting and Ma Fei also didn't tell him.

  Lying in bed, Zhao Erhu touched his battered and bruised buttocks, and after applying some ointment to the wound, that sharp pain still lingered, leaving him feeling particularly resentful. He began to suspect that someone had intentionally framed him from the very start.

  Who wants to frame him? Zhao Erhu looked at the twelve new recruits who slept on the big bed, from head to toe, and placed his suspicious gaze on a Hubei-born new recruit named Tian Xiaoping beside him.

  Tian Xiaoping arrived at the new recruit battalion a month earlier than Zhao Erhu and the other two. In this class, he was the deputy squad leader. Why did Xu Lianzhang propose him as deputy squad leader as soon as he came? There was also Liu Fuguan's credit in it.

  Tian Xiaoping was introduced by Deputy Liu. He has a close relationship with Deputy Liu. So, when he came to report to the new soldier company, Deputy Liu took him to meet Captain Xu in person and asked Captain Xu to take good care of him.

  Xu Lianchang is a turncoat, and since Liu Deputy Officer introduced him and personally instructed him to take good care of him, he naturally appointed a deputy class leader for Tian Xiaoping.

  That day, when Li Guoting, Ma Fei and Zhao Erhu came to this class, Zhao Erhu felt that Tian Xiaoping was not pleasing to the eye. The monitor assigned Zhao Erhu to his side, but he didn't let Zhao Erhu sleep by his side, telling him to find another place. As a result, Zhao Erhu and he got into an argument, and the two almost threw punches at each other. If it weren't for Li Guoting and the new recruit class monitor Tan Xiaowei pulling them apart, they would have probably started fighting already.

  Of course, Tian Xiaoping didn't take Zhao Erhu's tall and strong physique into consideration at all. Firstly, in terms of height, Zhao Erhu was at a disadvantage, as Tian Xiaoping was at least one head taller than him. Secondly, in terms of physical strength, Zhao Erhu was also at a disadvantage, as Tian Xiaoping had a much more robust body than him. If the two were to really fight, Zhao Erhu would absolutely not be a match for Tian Xiaoping.

  Zhao Erhu dared to challenge Tian Xiaoping mainly because he had his sworn brothers Li Guoting and Ma Fei by his side, so he had the guts to call out Tian Xiaoping.

  Two men were persuaded to open up by Li Guoting and Monitor Tan Xiaowei, and they both had a bellyful of anger. Now, Zhao Erhu thought again, he didn't have any grudges with the others in the class. Those people wouldn't harm him, the only one worth suspecting was Tian Xiaoping. This kid would glare at him whenever he saw him, his military cap must have been stolen by him when he was asleep, and thrown into a corner. Damn it, this little bastard, caused Zhao Erhu to be made an example of by the company commander on the first day, and receive thirty lashes. Fortunately, Zhao Erhu had also served time in prison, endured countless beatings, and could still hold on, otherwise, he would have seen his ancestors long ago.

  After his wound healed, Zhao Erhuo couldn't swallow this breath, so he had the matter of standing in front of his bed with his hands on his hips and scolding the street before the whole class went to sleep.

  "Who the hell is so shameless, if you have the guts, come and do it in front of me. Want to be like a rat, sneaking around and doing things secretly. Harming people behind their backs, are you still a man? Are you born by your mother? If you have the courage, stand up and admit it, if not, then you're not born by your mother."

  Zhao Erhu saw that he had shouted, and everyone in the class turned their faces to look at him in surprise. No one dared to make a sound, and they glanced sideways at Tian Xiaoping lying beside him. He found that this kid was lying on the bed with an expression of happiness and complacency on his face, with his legs raised and whistling in his mouth.

  Zhao Erhuo was even more convinced of his judgment, and the person who threw away his military cap must be Tian Xiaoping. So, he said hatefully in his heart: You little devil, don't be smug. I will never forgive you.

  Zhao Erhu thought to himself, looking at Tian Xiaoping's arrogant attitude again, the anger in his heart surged straight up to his brain.

  "You're not even ashamed! You have the nerve to do it, but no guts to admit it. I think you're just a bastard born to your mother and some wild man."

  Zhao Erhu's scolding had not finished when Tian Xiaoping suddenly jumped up from his bed, pointed at Zhao Erhu's nose and said: "You dare to scold again, I won't break your mouth, it was your grandfather who threw you. Your grandfather just doesn't like the look of you, in the future if you see your grandfather, get out of the way quickly, otherwise, every time your grandfather sees you, he will beat you once, do you believe it?"

  Zhao Erhu was really infuriated by Tian Xiaoping at this time. Without saying a word, he rushed over and started fighting with Tian Xiaoping.

  Li Guoting and Ma Fei also felt that Tian Xiaoping was a bit too much, the two of them couldn't bear it anymore, so they got up from their own berths and went to pull the luggage rack.

  "Alright, alright. Squad leader Tian, don't bother with him. Stop fighting, stop fighting." Li Guoting reached out to grab Tian Xiaoping's right arm and said.

  "Yes, yes. Captain Tian, we're all brothers in the same squad, why must you be like this?" Ma Fei grabbed Tian Xiaoping's other arm, not letting him fight back.

  Zhao Erhu, who was at a disadvantage in the fight, saw his two brothers come to help him. They grabbed Tian Xiaoping's arms from both sides, making it impossible for him to fight back. With a surge of excitement, Zhao Erhu took advantage of the situation and started punching Tian Xiaoping fiercely, beating him until his nose was blue and his face was swollen.

  Tian Xiaoping wanted to fight back, but his two arms were tightly held by Li Guoting and Ma Fei, unable to move. Before long, he was beaten by Zhao Erhu so badly that he couldn't even defend himself.

  Tian Xiaoping understood that Li Guoting and Ma Fei were coming to pull him over, so he shouted: "Fine, you two are pulling me over, just wait and see." As he spoke, he struggled free from Li Guoting's and Ma Fei's grasp, jumped off the bed, didn't even have time to put on his shoes, and ran outside barefoot.

  "Don't go, wait for me in the room." Tian Xiaoping shouted to Li Guoting, Ma Fei and Zhao Erhu while running out.