The First Part of China's Eastern Point Chapter 10 A Helping Hand in a Five-Kilometer Cross-Country Run

  Busy, very busy! Tired, very tired!

  This is Qu Mingjun's entire feeling about the three months since he entered school. In the words of the old soldiers, this is called "two eyes open, busy until lights out; two eyes closed, raise vigilance."

  But finally, it has come to the final stage of intensified training. Everyone in the class has changed a lot compared to when they first entered school. Those who were originally pale have turned dark, those who were thin have become fat, and those who were fat have become thinner instead. However, the old soldiers who were originally dark and lean didn't change much, but it's clear that their physical fitness has been further enhanced. But now, the 14th squad is no longer made up of 144 members. Two people from the 4th district team finally dropped out in the second month, I don't know what reason they used, but anyway, they fled in the face of difficulties, which makes everyone talk about them with disdain.

  Today is December 5th, 1996, in the afternoon. All members of the 14th squad are seated inside the military stadium. It's now time to check the results of the 5-kilometer cross-country run. The weather has turned very cold. For convenience and mobility, everyone is only wearing a set of autumn clothes under their camouflage uniforms, but they have all put on their overcoats for warmth.

  Guo Xiangyang was a bit worried about Ma Xiaotian's grades. Everyone in the class had no problem, including Liu Menglou. Several internal tests organized by the team could be passed smoothly, but Ma Xiaotian didn't know what to say. Sometimes he could just pass, but sometimes he was just short of that little bit. To be honest, this kid was also very hardworking normally, and extra practice was a common occurrence at home. However, the standards of the reconnaissance department were relatively high after all. If it were an ordinary command department or political work department, his grades would probably have been above good as well. But in the reconnaissance department... sigh.

  Kuang Xiangyang had a bit of a headache, walked to Li Dongkuan's side, and whispered his concerns. Qu Mingjun was just beside him, listening clearly. To be honest, he still didn't quite understand Kuang Xiangyang's idea of prioritizing the collective. In his opinion, since this was an individual test, Ma Xiaotian had worked very hard, but if he still couldn't meet the standards, then it would be better to just transfer departments. This could only mean that he wasn't suited for the reconnaissance department, and since he wouldn't be able to become an excellent reconnaissance officer in the future, it would be better to leave early and go to another post.

  "I have an idea," said Li Dongkuang, thinking for a moment. "Isn't the whole team going to draw lots later? No matter who it is, you, me, Cui Ze or Jiang Xiaoming, as long as we're in the same group as Ma Xiaotian, we can take him with us and run after leaving the main playground. We'll separate again when we return to the playground. This physical test only cares about whether we pass or not, it doesn't matter if we get excellent grades or not. With this plan, Little Horse will definitely be able to pass, his score is already close enough."

  "This idea is not bad, take him to run the cross-country section, as long as he can improve his score by one to two minutes, he will definitely pass." Guo Xiangyang's eyebrows relaxed, and he hurriedly went to the back to discuss with Cui Ze and Jiang Xiaoming, two old soldiers.

  Qu Mingjun shook his head, what if none of you four are in a group with Ma Xiaotian? What then?

  It turned out to be good and not bad, Qu Mingjun was somewhat impressed by his own ominous words. The four old soldiers in the class drew lots to form groups, and none of them were with Ma Xiaotian. In Class 6, only Qu Mingjun and Ma Xiaotian were assigned to the same group.

  Guo Xiangyang's head started to hurt again. This time, the 5-kilometer cross-country run first circled around the big playground, then entered the second road of the college, ran to the shooting range and back to the military stadium through the first road, which completed the entire route. The first half was all uphill, which was more tiring. From the shooting range down to the military stadium, it was basically all downhill. In the second half, Xiaotian Ma should be able to speed up, but what about the first half uphill? What if this kid had an accident and couldn't pass the test?

  Guo Xiangyang looked at Qu Mingjun and thought to himself that it would be great if he could get Qu's help. With his physical strength, he could easily take care of Ma Xiaotian, even better than the old soldiers. But this kid was too self-centered, and it was unlikely that he would volunteer to help. Even if asked, Guo doubted... but there was no one else to turn to.

  Guo Xiangyang hesitated for half a day and finally walked to Qu Mingjun's side, saying: "Qu Mingjun, I'd like to discuss something with you."

  Qu Mingjun didn't even need to think about it and knew that he must have been asked to take Ma Xiaotian for the first half of the run, so without waiting for Guo Xiangyang to speak, he simply shook his head directly.

  Kuang Xiangyang was taken aback, furrowed his brow, and still spoke up: "I want to ask you to take Ma Xiaotian down the uphill road section! Listen, I'm not giving you orders as a class leader now, I'm asking you as a fellow classmate, how about considering it a favor I owe you?"

  Qu Mingjun was stunned for a moment and hadn't reacted yet, when Li Dongkuan also stood beside Guo Xiangyang and said: "Count me in too, I owe you one favor, okay?"

  Wang Jin saw the situation over here and walked over, "Qu Ge, just help out, you're all classmates in the same class, you don't want to see Ma Xiao Tian get expelled either, do you?"

  Qu Mingjun looked at the three people, sighed and said: "I really can't understand, since Ma Xiaotian doesn't have this ability, why must he stay in the reconnaissance department? Wouldn't it be better for him to go to another department and do things that match his abilities? Must he be forced to do things he can't do just to be good for him?"

  Guo Xiangyang stared tightly at Qu Mingjun's eyes, remained silent for a moment and said: "Since we are in the same class, then we are comrades. In the few years I was in the army, our squad leader only taught me one principle, that is, under any circumstances, never abandon any comrade! From the day I heard it, I have remembered it until now, and I will never dare to forget it. I hope all our classmates can be like this. Qu Mingjun, you should know Ma Xiaotian's efforts? If Ma Xiaotian was the kind of person who didn't strive for progress, got by with mediocrity, and muddled through life, I wouldn't have helped him so much. But since he is willing to stay in this collective, paid his greatest effort, and has a complete hope of passing, I don't want some regrets to ruin the sweat he put out for three months. We can gather from all over the country to Class 6, I hope we can all leave school together after four years."

  Qu Mingjun fell silent, he had never thought that this class leader who usually looked very rustic could actually say such a profound truth. Would you not give up? It's somewhat similar to his own personality, but what he would never give up on was only his own goals. What the class leader would never give up on were his comrades. Qu Mingjun suddenly felt that the class leader's image had become even more respectable at this moment.

  Other classmates in the class discovered the situation and surrounded them. Li Dongkuan waited for Guo Xiangyang to finish speaking, then added: "Qu Mingjun, it's just that on the uphill road you'll be carrying a little horse, and when going downhill, you won't need to take care of him. Of course, it will affect your score, but it shouldn't be a big problem. This test only looks at whether you can pass or not, and doesn't pay much attention to how fast you run or what ranking you get. The little horse isn't definitely going to fail, but just in case there's that one in ten thousand chance, taking him along is like having insurance. Consider it us asking a favor of you!"

  Wang Jin looked at Qu Mingjun and expectedly said: "Brother Qu, just help out."

  Ma Xiaotian's face turned slightly red as he said, "Class leader, class vice president, I will definitely run well and guarantee that I'll pass, so we won't have to trouble Qu Mingjun."

  Choi Ze pushed Ma Xiao Tian away, "Get out of the way, you have to guarantee 100% that you can pass, who the hell wants to bring you. Qu Ming Jun, as a person, you should also talk about brotherly love, after all, everyone has been together for three months, if you don't even mention this little bit of schoolmate sentiment, I'll look down on you."

  Qu Mingjun was speechless, looked at the other few who were also asking their classmates for help, and thought to himself that he would just take it easy in the first half of the race and then speed up in the second half to make up for lost time. Anyway, running like this wouldn't be too tiring for him, and it wouldn't have a big impact on himself either. If he were to openly offend all his classmates, that didn't seem like something a wise person would do. So Qu Mingjun nodded in agreement.

  The whole class was delighted, especially Guo Xiangyang and Li Dongkuan. They were happy to think that Qu Mingjun had finally changed a bit, could listen to advice, and was no longer so individualistic.

  It was finally Qu Mingjun's group's turn. After the start, Ma Xiaotian indeed worked very hard and sprinted as soon as he started. After leaving the playground, he was still running in the central part of the team. Qu Mingjun frowned, if this continued, this kid would be out of energy by halfway, which wouldn't do.

  Qu Mingjun hastily pulled off the armed belt around his waist and threw one end to Ma Xiaotian, shouting: "Pull tight!"

  "I... I can still run." Ma Xiao Tian also had self-respect, although he had long since made up his mind to pass this assessment no matter what, but when Qu Ming Jun really came to help him, he still hesitated.

  "Damn it, do you want to get through this or not? If you keep going like this, you'll start exhausting yourself before we're even halfway done, don't you know?" Qu Mingjun was already somewhat unwilling, but after hearing Ma Xiaotian's words, he became even more furious. "I didn't plan on helping you get through this in the first place, but I promised our whole class that I would, so are you going to make it difficult for me or not?"

  Ma Xiao was panting, feeling his legs start to get a bit tired and float up, looking at Qu Mingjun's fiery eyes again, he was so scared that he didn't dare say much, and quickly reached out to pull him up.

  Qū Míng Jùn pulled Mǎ Xiǎo Tiān along, running forward and backward. As expected, it wasn't easy for him either - Qū Míng Jùn clearly felt himself getting a bit winded even on the uphill run. By the time they had sprinted through the first half of the 5-kilometer cross-country course, Qū Míng Jùn was also starting to breathe heavily.

  Ma Xiaotian saw that the target range was over, and he started to go downhill. He hurriedly unfastened his belt and panted: "Qu Mingjun, thank you...thank you, you...you run quickly, I'm fine, the rest...the rest is definitely no problem."

  Qu Mingjun took a look and found himself still in the middle section of this group, which was not bad. Usually, Ma Xiaotian had already fallen to the back of the team. He didn't say much, buckled his belt, and set off with a burst of speed.

  Ma Xiaotian initially wanted to follow Qu Mingjun, but at Qu Mingjun's speed, Ma Xiaotian was really out of breath and could only run his own fastest speed.

  Finally, Qu Mingjun still ran to an excellent score, basically catching up with the team leader. Ma Xiaotian was not bad either, this time he didn't fall behind and safely passed the 5km cross-country test, it's just that he ran so fast he almost threw up.

  "Hey, hey, sit down, quick!" After returning to the classroom, Guo Xiangyang smiled and stood behind Qu Mingjun, pressing him into his chair. He quickly grabbed Qu Mingjun's cup and pulled out a box of tea leaves from his drawer, saying: "This is this year's new tea sent from my hometown, I haven't even opened it yet. Today, I'll treat you, the hero, haha."

  Qu Mingjun was a bit confused, the class monitor Guo Xiangyang had always been quite serious in class, although he often joked with his classmates, but like today's warmth, and it was towards himself, that was unprecedented.

  Lost in thought, a cigarette was handed over from behind, Qu Mingjun hastily turned his head and saw Li Dongkuan standing behind him with a smile, stunned for a moment before saying: "Deputy chief, I don't smoke, you know that."

  "Not smoking, what kind of man are you? You've worked hard today, the class leader is treating you to new tea, I don't have anything else, so I'll just give you cigarettes. Come on, come on, smoke some, if you're in the army and don't smoke, even a mother pig will go to heaven. I've never seen anyone in the army who doesn't smoke before. Haha." Li Dongkuan gave him a look that said "if you don't smoke, you're not a man", making Qu Mingjun laugh and cry at the same time, so he had no choice but to take it. Fortunately, Li Dongkuan was just pretending to light it for him, didn't actually light it, or else whether he smoked or not would be a real problem."

  Cui Ze took off his camouflage uniform, walked up to Qu Mingjun with a bare torso, and stared at him with narrowed eyes and a sneer on his face without saying a word. Guo Xiangyang brought the tea to Qu Mingjun's front and scolded with a smile: "What the hell are you doing, Cui Ze? What's with this expression?"

  Choi Ze smiled and stretched out his big hand to slap Qu Mingjun's shoulder, saying: "Good kid, today brother admits defeat once." After finishing speaking, he turned around and left. Qu Mingjun cursed in his heart, this smelly old soldier slapped his shoulder with such great force, intentionally or not.

  Ma Xiao Tian walked over with a grateful expression, saying: "Qu Ge, from now on I'll call you Qu Ge too. This time, thank you so much! Really, if there's anything that needs to be done in the future, just let me know."

  Wang Jin smiled and added: "Why don't you just marry me?"

  "Hahaha……" Everyone in the class burst out laughing, and before the laughter had even subsided, they saw Ma Xiaotian pretend to look worried and say with a straight face: "I was thinking, the key person is Brother Qu, he doesn't think much of us, why don't you try, Wang Jin?"

  "Hahaha...…!" Wang Jin's eyes widened in surprise, he didn't expect Ma Xiaotian to have such a talent for making people laugh. This time, the whole class was laughing so hard they were holding their stomachs in pain, especially Li Dongkuan.

  Qu Mingjun smiled wryly, this guy would not know what kind of trouble he would get into if he continued to cause a ruckus, so he quickly retreated and ran to the bathroom to wash up, leaving behind a string of bright laughter.

  Actually, this feeling isn't bad either. Qu Mingjun thought about the enthusiasm his classmates showed him earlier, like brothers. In the past, in his family, siblings were actually rivals, rarely having intimate moments. At least for himself, since he could remember, he hadn't experienced such warmth, and there weren't many friends to talk to about personal matters either. Day after day, it was all about scheming and competing, striving to be the best, making him numb to familial love and losing faith in friendship. Although earlier in class it felt a bit unusual, the genuine kindness and closeness of his classmates warmed his heart. This feeling, this sincere and selfless friendly feeling, really is very good.

  Maybe it's not bad to help them occasionally, Qu Mingjun thought.