Chapter 4: The Conflict Erupts

  "Ma Xiaotian, your grades are really poor, aren't they?!" Just after finishing a physical fitness test in the morning, Guo Xiangyang returned to the classroom with a frown on his face, looking at a score sheet in his hand. Next to him stood a slightly chubby guy who looked innocent and was biting his lower lip. To be honest, this guy wasn't really fat, just a bit soft around the waist and had a round face. Of course, in a reconnaissance team that emphasizes physical fitness, he was already a standout figure.

  Li Dongkuan blew the hot air in the unified tea cup and ran over to peek behind the class leader, "Xiao Tian, your grades are... tsk, last place in the whole team? You've never exercised before?"

  "No way, in high school it's all about studying, studying and studying again to get into a good university through the Gaokao, physical education class stopped long ago, who still exercises?" Ma Xiaotian said with an innocent face.

  "What's the point of enrolling in the Reconnaissance Department then?" Guo Xiangyang couldn't help but sigh, "Why not enroll in the Political Commissar Department or even just a regular Infantry Command Department? With your physical condition, you won't be able to keep up with the demands of the Reconnaissance Department. You'll fall behind step by step and won't be able to catch up. Their standards for excellence are only considered passing grades here."

  Li Dongkuan ran to Ma Xiaotian's side and pinched his arm, "This won't do, it's all flab, no strength! I'm saying, is your family's food not good or something, you've just been getting fatter."

  "Uh, starting from high school, my mom did get me a lot of supplements to eat, saying they were good for the brain, convenient for taking the college entrance exams." Ma Xiaotian rubbed the back of his head.

  "I've been saying that something's wrong with the top this time, in previous years, the reconnaissance department was always recruited from the troops, but this year they're so idle that they recruited a bunch of local young masters and dragged us into it." Cui Ze said while playing with his dumbbells without even lifting his head.

  "Lao Cui, don't forget that in previous years the reconnaissance department was only for junior college students, but this year we have undergraduate students." Li Dongkuan said, "I heard some news that they want to strengthen the cultural quality of military officers from the reconnaissance department, so this year they experimentally recruited a batch of mixed students from both the army and local areas to see the effect."

  "Hey, doesn't that mean we're just lab rats in a cage?" Cui Ze switched the dumbbell to his other hand and looked up at Ma Xiao Tian who was grinning foolishly at his own words. He shook his head and laughed, "What are you laughing at? You're definitely not a lab rat, you little fatty, you're just a little white pig!"

  Guo Xiangyang pondered for a moment, thinking to himself that being the class leader wasn't just about having good grades. It was more about how well he could manage the class. If there was someone like Ma Xiaotian, who was always at the bottom of the class and dragging everyone down, then Guo would likely be seen as incompetent by his superiors.

  "Chuan Bang Dai" is an old tradition in the army, and it seems that this trick will have to be used again. There are twelve people in the class, four of whom are old soldiers, except for Jiang Xiaoming who has slightly weaker physical ability, but overall they're not a big problem. The other eight are local-born, Qu Mingjun is an abnormal case, his physical test requires him to put in full effort, and apart from technical subjects where he's not familiar with, he should be able to get first place without much of a problem. Wang Bin, Zhao Bo, Zhang Baoshan, Li Hanying, Wang Jiayi are all fine, the upcoming three months of intense physical training shouldn't be too difficult for them. Liu Menglou isn't doing well and is one of the worst in the team, but this kid's main issue is being skinny, so supplementing should solve the problem. Ma Xiaotian, sigh...this kid needs to lose weight, if these two kids were combined and divided by two it would be much better.

  "Liuliumu, your grades aren't that good either, you need to pay attention too." Guo Xiangyang said after making up his mind.

  "Ah, don't worry, class monitor, I'll work hard." Liu Meng Lou was a bit embarrassed.

  Guo Xiangyang took a look at Liu Menglou's information and found it a bit strange, "I said I looked at your information and your family should be doing business, right?"

  "Yes." Liu Meng Lou didn't know how the class monitor had asked this.

  Li Dongkuan added a sentence: "That's right, when this kid first came, he was wearing all sorts of famous brands, I'm afraid his family has some money."

  "How come you're so skinny? Doesn't your family give you food to eat?" Guo Xiangyang asked with a puzzled expression, immediately making Ma Xiaotian and Wang Jin next to him laugh.

  "Monitor, it's not what you think. I reckon this kid is a picky eater! This morning I saw him give the egg yolk to Zhang Baoshan." Wang Jin smiled and walked over to pat Liu Menglou on the shoulder.

  "This won't do, I'll have to supervise your meals from now on." Guo Xiangyang furrowed his brow and looked at Liu Menglou, who had a sour face. "Don't pretend to be pitiful, how can you keep up with the nutrition if you don't adapt to the high-intensity physical training that's about to start? Not to mention that the intensive training will last for three months, this won't do. You not only can't be picky, but also have to eat more."

  "That Ma Xiao Tian, what are you smiling at? You should eat a bit less, huh, I think you can save some for Liu Meng Lou." Guo Xiang Yang said with a serious face to Ma Xiao Tian who was laughing happily on the side. This kid immediately turned into a sour face.

  "Alright, Old Li and Wang Jin, you two pair up with Liu Meng Lou, help him out, supervise his meals and assist in his training, let's get his performance up as soon as possible." Guo Xiang Yang asked Vice Squad Leader Li Dong Kuan, "Okay?"

  "Alright!" "No problem!" Li Dongkuan and Wang Jin both agreed.

  "As for Ma Xiaotian, let me and Qu Mingjun help him. With strengthened training, there shouldn't be a big problem. Qu Mingjun, will you do it?" Guo Xiangyang raised his voice to ask Qu Mingjun, who was quietly reading a book beside him.

  "Not interested!" The voice wasn't loud, but it startled everyone in the class, and even Wang Jin looked at him with a somewhat incredulous expression, unsure of what to say.

  Guo Xiangyang just meant to assign tasks, and that sentence was just a casual question. In his opinion, as the class leader, he should at least get a quick response from his classmates, if not enthusiastic agreement. But what's wrong with Qu Mingjun? Just now when everyone was chatting and laughing, he was sitting there reading his book like an outsider, what does that mean? Is he still a member of Class 6 or not?

  Guo Xiangyang felt the blue veins on his forehead start to throb, he suppressed the fire burning in his chest and asked: "What did you say?"

  "Didn't you ask me if I was going or not? I said I wasn't interested." Qu Mingjun said matter-of-factly.

  "Why?"

  Qu Mingjun looked at Guo Xiangyang with a strange expression and said, "What does his exercise have to do with me?"

  "We are all comrades in the same squad, what's wrong with helping him?" Guo Xiangyang retorted.

  "If he wants to practice, he will naturally practice by himself; if he doesn't want to practice, what's the use of following him?" Qu Mingjun said calmly, as if he hadn't seen Guo Xiangyang's slightly angry face.

  "But helping our comrades is also for the honor of our class, don't you want our classmates to progress together?" Guo Xiangyang's temples were throbbing faster and faster.

  "That's even more reason, Ma Xiaotian has to practice hard for the honor of our class. This is his responsibility. As for so-called helping him, I don't think it's necessary, with this time, it's better to train yourself." Qu Mingjun said with a smile.

  "Ah..." Guo Xiangyang was choked and couldn't speak for a moment. Qu Mingjun's words were actually correct, exercising one's physical ability is originally an individual matter, if you really want to practice, you don't need others to supervise you, as long as you put in the effort, you can practice well. But Guo Xiangyang was the class monitor, he wanted a 100% guarantee that Ma Xiaotian could practice it out, and proper supervision and teaching of techniques were also correct, although Qu Mingjun's words were also correct, but somehow listening to both people's words made him feel like they were standing on opposing sides.

  "Class... monitor, that, I can practice on my own, it's okay." Ma Xiaotian saw the two of them getting more and more tangled up in their conversation, and somewhat awkwardly opened his mouth.

  "Alright, let's just supervise Ma Xiaotian and Liu Menglou together, shall we? I reckon Qu Mingjun has his own things to attend to as well. Never mind, never mind." Li Dongkuan came out to mediate the situation.

  Kuang Xiangyang let out a heavy hum, but he wasn't the only one who was dissatisfied. Even Wang Jin, who usually had a good relationship with Qu Mingjun, shook his head secretly. They were all comrades in the same class, and they would be spending the next four years together in the same pot, stirring up trouble for each other - what's the point of hurting their camaraderie? Moreover, Qu Mingjun was constantly challenging the class leader's authority, time and time again - did he never realize that he was part of a collective and had to follow leadership? As Kuang Xiangyang would say in his hometown dialect, "How can this guy be so '独' (alone)?"