Chapter 27: It's Great to Have Brothers

  Spring has arrived.

  Every year, the cadets of Shimen Military Academy have several major labor tasks that must be completed without fail. In the spring, they plant trees and sometimes grass; in the summer, they maintain the large artillery and tanks in the warehouse; in the autumn, they repair the tactical training grounds on the mountain; and in the winter, they naturally sweep leaves or snow.

  "Let's go, let's go." Class monitor Guo Xiangyang called out as he headed back to class. It was Sunday morning, although it was a rest day, but today they didn't have an outing planned, instead they were required to plant trees.

  To be honest, the people in Class 6 are a bit lazy. Since they received the order, they have to go out on duty, but no one said that using their rest days would make them diligent and enthusiastic. So, with their heads hung low and carrying iron hoes, they set off behind the second district team's tree-planting cart.

  "That's it, right here. From here on, every ten meters a pit, our squad of twelve people, dig twelve pits, just to the front fork in the road." On the newly repaired road at the shooting range, Guo Xiangyang slammed his iron shovel onto the ground and began to repeat the orders he had received from the squad leader that morning.

  "Old Li, you just stay in the first pit."

  Li Dongkuan nodded and grasped the iron shovel, stabbing it into the ground with force.

  "Right! Let me add one more thing, the pit we dig must be a circular shape with a diameter of one meter. I'll set the standard later, the depth is 2.2 meters, and it's required to be straight up and down, don't dig a big mouth and small belly, it won't pass if it's not qualified. Oh, there can't be any stones in the pit either." Guo Xiangyang looked at everyone with a lackluster expression, shook his head and smiled: "Alright, comrades who dig quickly can go back to rest after planting the trees. Those who work quickly can take an early break!"

  After hearing this, everyone was motivated a bit.

  "Right, after the pit is dug, report to me first. I and Vice Squad Leader will inspect it before planting trees, don't try to sneak through on your own." Guo Xiangyang thought for a moment and added another order.

  Qiu Mingjun was assigned to the fourth hole, a number that wasn't too auspicious.

  As expected, after digging for a few strokes according to the circle drawn by the class leader, they hit a big stone underneath.

  Qu Mingjun furrowed his brow and looked around for half a day, tentatively using the iron shovel to search along the edge of the stone. It was quite troublesome. Should he change the location of the pit? If so, either it wouldn't be in line with other trees or the distance between the trees would be uneven.

  Qiu Mingjun looked up and glanced at Class Monitor Guo Xiangyang, who was still over there carefully digging his own hole. Should he go find the class monitor to take a look and resolve it? After thinking for a moment, Qiu Mingjun shook his head - since they said there were rocks that needed to be dug out, he should rely on himself to do his own work.

  Everyone in the class was working enthusiastically, after all, it's a labor-intensive job, and besides, finishing early means resting early. Coincidentally, the class was behind a row of dense, waist-high arborvitae trees along the road, so no one noticed Qu Mingjun digging an obviously irregular but much larger hole.

  Chui Ze swung his arms, took off all the down jackets and wore only a thin autumn shirt. His head was still steaming with heat. Indeed, he was the fastest to dry off. Half an hour later, Chui Ze inserted the iron shovel aside and shouted loudly: "Squad leader, deputy squad leader, come and take a look at my pit!"

  Not only Guo Xiangyang and Li Dongkuan, but also several other curious kids threw down their iron hoes and ran over to see the excitement.

  Choi Jae's digging was smooth and round, and the soil dug out was piled up neatly on one side. The trainees who watched at several places all praised with admiration. Guo Xiangyang and Li Dongkuan took two branches of good length and compared them in the pit. Not bad, absolutely standard.

  Then Li Dongkuan helped Cui Zexian to lay a 50cm thick layer of loose soil, then inserted the seedlings, filled the soil, trampled it, used an iron shovel to pat out the edge of the pit, and poured six basins of water continuously, finishing work!

  Chui Ze didn't rush to leave, instead he ran to the side of the road with a pleased expression, sat down, wrapped his clothes around him, and hummed a tune while smoking.

  The situation on Qu Mingjun's side was getting worse and worse. He had dug up the surface soil along with the size of the stone, but it seemed that the stone was still buried deep in the ground. Qu Mingjun inserted the iron shovel several times to try to pry up the big stone, but he couldn't budge it.

  Had no choice but to continue digging in both directions and deeper.

  An hour later, most people had dug their holes, including the class leaders. Then they found that the water they brought was not enough, so Li Dongkuan led a few people back to fetch more water for irrigation. Meanwhile, Guo Xiangyang continued to inspect the holes dug by others and made necessary repairs or plantings.

  Choi Jae never intended to go back, after all, he was a veteran, at least he should have some awareness, how could he not lend a helping hand to the new recruits.

  Then Cui Ze finished smoking and followed to busy around, such as helping others repair the irregular tree pits, helping to take a photo of the pit edge and watering. When he saw that it was basically idle, he planned to go back. Just taking the first step, he found that Qu Mingjun was still digging over there with all his might.

  It's strange, this kid won't be lazy until now, will he?

  Choi Jae ran over and took a deep breath. Gook Min-joon had already dug an irregular hole with a diameter of more than two meters, but the stone didn't budge. Choi Jae tried to pry it up with his iron shovel, but it wouldn't move either.

  "Lao Guo, Lao Guo, come here for a moment!" Cui Ze signaled Qu Mingjun to stop what he was doing first.

  Guo Xiangyang walked over with the two wooden sticks used as standards, saying: "Finished digging? Qu Mingjun, this time you're going to end up last."

  "Wow! Good guy!" Guo Xiangyang walked through the thicket and saw the stone in the pit at a glance.

  "No, don't dig everywhere, it's not necessary. Just dig in one direction until you reach the bottom of the stone." Guo Xiangyang was still experienced and hastily called over all the people who had finished to come and help.

  "I'll handle it myself, Class Monitor. You all should go back and rest." Qu Mingjun felt that he couldn't solve the problem and lost face, so he was a bit annoyed.

  "What nonsense are you talking about." Cui Ze took the iron shovel and dug along one side, "You can bear it, even if you dig it open, can you move such a big stone?"

  "Qu Mingjun, this place is special. I should have come over earlier to take a look. Later, our class will work together to get rid of this stone tiger. You've been digging for half a day, take a rest first," said Guo Xiangyang.

  "No need, class monitor, this pit is mine." Qu Mingjun licked his somewhat dry lips.

  "Here!" Guo Xiangyang tossed his canteen to Qu Mingjun, "I told you guys to bring your own water bottles. You're all so lazy, now you must be thirsty."

  "Besides, what's with this hole being yours? I'm telling you, Qu Mingjun, these places are all ours in our class!" Guo Xiangyang had an expression of indignant anger.

  "Alright, you little rascal, take a break." Cui Ze came over and pushed Qu Mingjun away. "Didn't you hear what the class leader said? I'm getting fed up with you, are you or aren't you a member of Class 6? You're always so quick to distance yourself from us."

  Wang Jin and Ma Xiaotian both came over, took a look at the big stone, and were shocked for a moment. Then, under the arrangement of the class monitor, they dug together with Cui Ze on one side.

  At this time, Qu Mingjun held the kettle and couldn't pour it into his hand, so he scratched his head and retreated to one side.

  Li Dongkuan and the others pulled back with water, seeing that they left two people to water, and everyone else came over to start gnawing on this hard bone. Soon, under the big stone, half of it was hollowed out.

  "Heave ho! Use force! One, two, three!" Five or six iron crowbars were inserted under the large stone that had been dug open, and everyone got on to start prying with all their might. Qu Mingjun also replaced Ma Xiaotian.

  The thick iron handle creaked and groaned, as if it was about to break under the weight, but the big stone remained unmoved.

  "Damn it!" Cui Ze cursed out loud, "This is simply rooted to the ground! How many iron clubs are there? Damn it."

  Kuo Hsiang-yang gritted his teeth, "Insert all the iron hoes into the ground, I dare you!"

  Twelve iron hoes were inserted overlapping under the stone, and everyone ran to the side of the hoe.

  "Come on, everybody together, one-two-three-heave-ho, don't slack off."

  Twelve faces turned bright red, the iron crowbar made a creaking sound again, and suddenly, the big stone began to loosen. The whole class was overjoyed and started pressing down on the iron crowbar with all their might. The big stone finally moved upwards violently, and several people lost their balance and fell to the ground.

  "Haha... Finally conquered that rock, what an accomplishment! The whole class 6 comrades worked hard to roll the rock to the edge of the mountain, then shouted loudly and pushed it down."

  Qu Mingjun smiled as he watched the brothers of Class 6 digging, filling holes, and carrying water, his heart filled with an indescribable sense of fulfillment.

  Guo Xiangyang walked over, patted Qu Mingjun's shoulder and said: "See? Some things are meant to be done together by brothers. No matter how capable you are, you're still just one person, and no matter how big a role you play, it can't compare to the collective. We're classmates, we're brothers in the same trench when we go into battle, we can't be separated from each other, or why would we call each other comrades? Think about it, what are brothers for?"

  Looking at Qu Mingjun staring at his own eyes, Guo Xiangyang smiled, "Brothers are meant to rely on each other! You remember that, Qu Mingjun!"

  "The sunset glows over the western hills, soldiers return to camp after target practice..."

  "What's with you, Ma Xiaotian? Are we shooting targets or something?"

  "The sunset glows red in the west, soldiers plant trees and return to camp..."

  Hahaha...

  It's great to have brothers!