The First Part China Eastern Point Chapter 7 The Curse of Birthday Night
Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning, there is a team lineup. On Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings, there are 5km cross-country runs. On Sunday mornings, there are hill sprints or mountain climbs. The so-called hill sprint is to go to the small hill at the westernmost part of the entire school, repeatedly running up to the top of the hill at the fastest speed and then running down again until exhaustion. Mountain climbing is not a leisurely climb either. Within the walls of the Stone Gate Military Academy, there are five continuous mountain peaks, with varying heights and sizes. When climbing, everyone is required to run along the northernmost ridge to the foot of the southernmost small hill at the fastest speed. The route chosen by the team leader is rugged, with dense thorns and overgrown vegetation, making it difficult to climb up and down. That's how it is. If you fall behind the last ten, sorry, you won't be resting on Sundays either, go ahead and add another 5km run.
Every Monday to Thursday afternoon, the last two classes are either queue or military training, including 100-meter dash, single bar, double bar, frog jump, handstand, and military boxing. On Fridays and Saturdays afternoons, political education is scheduled. According to the team leader's arrangement, each class must practice single or double bars or run five kilometers in front of the building every evening after watching the news. After lights out, each class member must complete 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, and 100 deep squats on their bed, with the requirement that one person must squat on another's shoulders to complete the deep squats. At the same time, various cultural subjects and political courses are also studied during regular classes in the morning and afternoon. As the team leader said, this is just the beginning, and more will be added gradually. Those who cannot adapt should pack their bags and leave early.
No adaptation period, directly coming is a large amount of exercise and intense study. In these three months, there are no weekends, no rest days, all the students seem to be forced into a fast production line, busy every day without even having the energy to think, as Wang Jin said, can't even breathe. Even Qu Mingjun, who has super strong physical strength, is also sore and tired after a day of training. As for the old soldiers, when they have time, they are seen desperately catching up on cultural courses, long gone is the energy to mock the new recruits' clumsiness in training.
In just ten days, some trainees who slept on the upper bunks had swollen legs and couldn't climb up by themselves; some trainees' hands were shaking so much they couldn't hold their chopsticks while eating. In just ten days, all the trainees could fall asleep within five minutes after lights out, even those who didn't used to snore started snoring, and those who loved to dream at night stopped dreaming. In just ten days, not even Qu Mingjun, who was particularly cleanliness-conscious, would wash his camouflage uniform anymore; anyway, their clothes would be drenched in sweat from the moment they got up in the morning till lights out at night. In just ten days, it was often seen that some trainees were secretly wiping away tears at night, and Wang Jin said that someone in the 4th district team had already started asking about how to drop out of school.
Qiu Mingjun turned over restlessly, the quilt covering his body had been soaked with sweat during his pre-sleep exercises, fortunately it was Sunday and he could still dry the quilt, otherwise the whole room would be filled with nothing but sweat smell. Luckily, those who had body odor were excluded during the physical examination before school started, or else life would be unbearable.
Yesterday was Qu Mingjun's 18th birthday, but he didn't mention it to anyone, not even Wang Bin, who is usually the closest to him. If he were at home, there would probably be a grand birthday party. In the Qu family, an 18-year-old's birthday is also a coming-of-age ceremony, where the young master is officially declared eligible to participate in family affairs and can receive his first personal business start-up fund. He can even move out and live independently. But now that he has joined the army, all of this can be put on hold for the time being. Thinking back to what his father said at the door when he left for school, is it really worth it?
There's also Qiaoqiao, that little girl who used to cling to me when I was a kid, the one who always laughed and said she wanted to be my wife when we grew up. She promised to come back from abroad for my coming-of-age ceremony, but it looks like that won't happen this time. I wonder if she'll still cry like she did when we were kids.
This damn troop, everything is fine, but the feeling of having no freedom is unbearable. Qu Mingjun has been a free-spirited person since childhood, how could he bear this kind of constraint? No wonder Wang Jin said that this place is like a prison. Wang Jin, as the son of a police officer, should have a good understanding of what a prison is like. Although I had already inquired about various situations in the army before enlisting and was somewhat prepared, the actual tangible and intangible constraints are still underestimated.
Think about it, in the dormitory, the quilt is folded into a square, the hat should be placed in the center of the quilt, and the brim should be pressed tightly against the front line of the quilt. The belt should be stuck to the outside of the quilt, and the sheet should be flat like water. The cups on the table should be grouped together in fours, with the handles facing outwards and leaning against the intersection of the table. The books in the drawer of the table should be neatly arranged, and the uniforms in the small cabinet below should also be folded into squares from top to bottom and placed in order according to regulations. The thermos on the windowsill should be placed in the center of the radiator. A rag is placed on top of the gun cabinet, and the rag should also be folded like a quilt and placed in the upper right corner.
There are also toiletries in the washroom, towels must be folded and placed neatly, with uniform spacing. The tooth mug is the same, and the toothbrush must be facing upwards, uniformly inclined to the north side. My god, according to the team leader's words, no matter from which angle you look, things of the same kind must be placed on a straight line. And even in the dining hall, bowls, plates, and even the rags for wiping tables...
These tedious requirements, although not physically exhausting, are mentally draining. Of course, there are also physically demanding tasks, such as the thorough cleaning that starts every Sunday at 3 pm, where all floors must be sprinkled with water and then scrubbed vigorously with sawdust before being swept clean again. The cement floor is indeed much brighter now, and the dirt in the corners has been stuck to the wet sawdust - who knows which genius came up with this method first? And then there's the toilet, where every squatting hole must be wiped down with hydrochloric acid, and the ceramic surfaces must be polished until they're as reflective as a mirror before the task is considered complete.
What am I doing here? Looking at the watch on the table that had just passed 1:30, a fire was quietly rising in Qu Mingjun's heart. Wasn't I supposed to be here to become the strongest soldier? Wasn't I supposed to show those old folks back home that no matter what I do, I'm always the best? But how could the army be like this? How could life be like this? Day after day of basic training, day after day of hard labor, was I, the pride of my family, going to end up becoming a laborer in the troops?
Those old soldiers seem to be very used to this kind of life? It's strange, is the army just like a military school? Is it also all about laboring every day? Is this still an army? The army I imagine should be with golden armor and iron horses, with guns and cannons roaring, with military affairs being the top priority.
And then there's Jiang Anjie, that arrogant guy. I'll make him know one day that I'm stronger than him. But this damn military school life, what can it possibly train me to be?
Damn it, Qu Mingjun silently cursed the army in his heart, but finally couldn't resist the drowsiness after a day of exhaustion and fell into a deep sleep.
