Ideological Work Was Done in Vain

When the 2 PM wake-up whistle blew, everyone's reaction was the same.

They got up from where they were lying, wiped the drool from the corners of their mouths, and then walked to their beds to check if it was raining outside.

It wasn't.

"Ah, more training," Chen Zhongqiang grumbled while the squad leader was in the restroom.

Fang Huai also looked outside and said with a smile, "We're lucky. Cherish it. There's still sun these past two days, and the temperature is around ten degrees Celsius. It's not cold. This is the coldest part of Guiyang in winter."

Guiyang has warm winters and cool summers, with pleasant weather. However, the training ground at the training base was a high and open area. Fang Huai remembered that when January arrived, the cold wind would blow fiercely, slapping their faces.

Of course, the temperature was only a few degrees below zero, much better than in the Northeast.

But their gear was thicker!

Northeastern soldiers' winter gear left only their eyes and mouths exposed; everything else was wrapped up.

The new recruits from Guizhou wore ordinary winter training uniforms, camouflage caps, or peaked caps, with nothing to cover their ears. So, the squad leaders invented a new torture—flicking ears.

Frozen ears, when flicked, could bring tears to a person's eyes from the pain.

Actually, even without flicking, the wind alone could cause severe pain.

"Right! It's getting colder and colder now!" Chen Zhongqiang suddenly realized that the more uncomfortable environment hadn't arrived yet, and his face showed some despair.

"Jū~jū!" The whistle blew again.

"Seventh Company, fall in downstairs in 20 minutes for training!"

A wail erupted from the building.

Over the course of the morning, some had already realized the hardship of training. It wasn't just hard; they were often punished.

Hao Chengbin had just come out of the restroom in the middle of the corridor.

Human joys and sorrows are different, but Hao Chengbin only found them noisy.

Immediately, he frowned and said loudly, "What? Don't want to train? Squad leaders of each squad, teach them a good lesson today!"

The wailing stopped instantly, and the voices of the squad leaders from various parts of the corridor could be heard.

"That's right! We'll give them a good session today!"

"Squad Leader Wang, no standing at attention this afternoon; we're doing physical training!"

Yue Tao, standing at the door, rushed in as if his backside were on fire.

"The squad leader is here!"

The recruits, who had been listening intently, hadn't even had time to curse the useless guys yelling at the door earlier before they hurriedly packed up their stools. Liu Yue, on duty, also started cleaning the floor with towels from the shared desk box.

The only cleaning tool commonly used in the squad was a towel. It was used for wiping the floor, desks, beds, and windows... Besides using it, they also had to use waste newspapers from the shared desk box to dry the water.

There was no place to store cleaning tools in the squad. The brooms and dustpans in the public sink area were few, and they could rarely get them. The mops were often taken and misused by others; some had been used to clean toilets, which wasn't safe. What if one mop that had cleaned a toilet was used to mop the squad's area, leaving a smell? They would be in trouble.

This was all valuable experience left by "Squad Leader Yue" and Chen Zhongqiang, who had arrived several days earlier.

When Hao Chengbin entered, he slapped the door twice with the service belt he was holding.

"Were there any noisy ones in our squad just now?"

"No, Squad Leader!" Yue Tao immediately covered everyone's mouths, wearing a sheepish grin.

Hao Chengbin ignored him, walked in, sat on his bed, and took out a cigarette from his pocket.

Click, he started smoking, clouds of smoke billowing.

"I'm telling you, once you join the army, training is your duty, your job! Without training, you are no different from ordinary civilians!

Why should you wear this uniform and earn the respect of society?

Is it because you are all these insignificant young punks? Your current physical fitness can't even match ordinary high school sports students, let alone skills and professional duties!

From now on, if I hear anyone complaining about training, don't blame me for being impolite! Starting now, a new rule! During training, no matter how hard or tiring it is, you are not allowed to wear a sour face!

No matter how difficult, you must smile!

Even if you can't hold on and collapse, you must collapse with a smile! Do you understand?"

"Understood, Squad Leader!" This time, their response was much louder.

Hao Chengbin nodded with satisfaction.

"Who used to smoke?"

Everyone looked at each other.

The squad leader's tone... seemed to be open to discussion.

"Squad Leader, I smoke." The first person to raise his hand was surprisingly the shortest, looking like the most obedient child, Sun Lianhai.

Chen Zhongqiang also quickly raised his hand.

In total, five people raised their hands.

Fang Huai hesitated a little. He had been craving a cigarette for a while, and based on his experience, Hao Chengbin asking this meant he would definitely hand out cigarettes.

Hao Chengbin scanned the room and seemed to understand something.

"Lu Zexian, Fang Huai, you two aren't smoking?"

Lu Zexian had been kicked by Hao Chengbin that morning and was still annoyed, but when he heard Hao Chengbin ask, he nodded and said, "Squad leader, I'll smoke too."

Fang Huai sighed, "Squad leader, I'll smoke too, but I'll have to smoke less. I have too much of a nicotine addiction; I've been feeling terrible these past two days."

As soon as he said that, everyone was a bit disbelieving.

"Fang Huai, you have a nicotine addiction? The day before yesterday you were still trying to get Chen Zhongqiang to quit!" Yue Tao immediately exclaimed loudly.

"Exactly! He talks about wanting to smoke every day, so don't I feel even worse?" Fang Huai said helplessly.

Hao Chengbin nodded, feeling he understood Fang Huai better. This kid was very mature mentally and could control his desires.

"There are many people who smoke in the army, but the primary condition is that you can keep up with training! I'll make this clear now: if you improve in physical fitness and drills, you can regularly take cigarettes from me and smoke openly! But don't hide your cigarettes and smoke in secret!

Chen Zhongqiang, the first squad leader mentioned it to me once. What were you doing in the restroom before the last batch of recruits arrived yesterday? I don't want to call you out on it!

You went just now too, didn't you?

My nose is very sensitive! You can't get rid of the smell of smoke by brushing your teeth! Moreover, you took a toothbrush cup out at noon. Do you think I'm blind? Or do you think I don't understand what you're doing?

If there's a next time, I won't need evidence to deal with you! Don't think you'll have a chance to argue!"

Chen Zhongqiang's expression was as if struck by lightning.

In fact, Yue Tao and Sun Lianhai had known for a while that Chen Zhongqiang had gotten cigarettes from an old acquaintance in the third squad who had arrived earlier. However, Chen Zhongqiang didn't share his cigarettes with them, which made them a little unhappy.

At this, several smokers openly showed their displeasure towards Chen Zhongqiang, looking at him with some resentment.

Chen Zhongqiang, however, was straightforward. He walked directly to his bunk, climbed the ladder, unscrewed a round cap on the inside of the metal frame, and pulled out a pack of cigarettes from the hollow tube of the frame.

There were five cigarettes.

He handed them to Hao Chengbin.

"Squad leader! I promise, there won't be a next time! I'll definitely train hard and strive to smoke openly!"

Hao Chengbin took the cigarettes, glanced at them, and then casually put them into his own cigarette case.

"Alright, damn it, these are pretty good. They're 'Black Leg' (Fu Gui), aren't they? You can't buy these outside, can you? Did you buy them after arriving in Guizhou? Who bought them? How did you buy them?"

Chen Zhongqiang immediately adopted a look of "you can kill me, but you can't take my blood," but when he saw Hao Chengbin glaring at him, he got a little scared.

"Squad leader! I would never betray my comrades! ...But don't worry, we really didn't buy them secretly! He just bought them from a guy from Guizhou on the train! We couldn't go out to buy them ourselves!"

Hao Chengbin stared at him for a while longer. Seeing that he didn't seem to be lying, he finally relaxed.

Smoking was a personal matter, but being able to buy cigarettes was a big deal.

There were people on 24-hour guard duty at the entrance of the new recruit training regiment's building, and even the duty officer had a clerk watching until the dishes were washed and brought back.

The base was large, with many places to go. Moreover, the fire department and other units were different from local ones and had more contact with civilians. The training base didn't just serve one new recruit training; it also housed a fire school, students, and external personnel. Being able to buy cigarettes at the base supermarket about 200 meters away from the new recruit building meant someone could slip away unnoticed.

Once a new recruit gained freedom, suicide or desertion could occur.

If such an incident happened in the new recruit training regiment, there would be accountability. Why could the recruit run away? Was the management too lax? Why did they run away? Were they subjected to verbal abuse or punishment?

Once an incident occurred, there was no chance for rebuttal, because it was like wearing cotton pants over leather pants – there was bound to be a reason. If the higher-ups got angry, it couldn't be hidden.

Let alone squad leaders and company commanders, even the regimental commander would face disciplinary action, and subsequent training would definitely face significant obstacles.

The so-called "death quotas" circulated outside were utter nonsense. If such a thing happened, someone would definitely be held accountable.

Safety responsibility accidents were even more serious. The principal officer would be held accountable, which would at best hinder their promotion and at worst lead to immediate reassignment and transfer to civilian work.

This was the fundamental reason why windows were fitted with protective bars, recruits couldn't leave the squad leader's sight, couldn't go downstairs privately, and even had time limits for using the restroom.

"Alright, this afternoon, I'll take you to try the pull-up bars and test you. Give it your all! If your results satisfy me, I'll let you smoke tonight!"

After saying this, Hao Chengbin glanced at the time and went to the company headquarters with his hands behind his back.

Hope flashed in everyone's eyes.

The smokers immediately instructed Zhao Bing and Fang Huai.

"Big brothers, our hope rests on you!"

Zhao Bing immediately started laughing, showing a cunning side that was inconsistent with his simple appearance for the first time. "Damn it! You guys only think of me when you need something. I don't even smoke! And you want me to go all out for you! I didn't even get a piece of meat during dinner today!"

Everyone looked at Liu Yue.

Sun Lianhai immediately exposed him, "I saw Liu Yue hiding several pieces of meat at the bottom of his bowl!"

Liu Yue spread his hands and feigned ignorance, "I didn't! I really didn't hide any! You can check the bottom of my bowl this afternoon!"

Lu Zexian also felt a bit more cheerful at this moment and shouted, "Damn it! Who stole our Brother Bing's meat! Don't worry, Brother Bing, just pull hard, get first place in the whole company, and I'll help you grab some meat later!"

Fang Huai opened his belt, unfastened it from the back of his neck, and stretched his hands. "Alright, you guys should hope that most of you can manage at least a couple. It's the effect of the shortest board in a barrel; you can't just rely on the longest board. If a few people get a score of 0, the squad leader will definitely lose face.

Lu Zexian, Peng Yingqirui, Sun Lianhai, you guys should try harder and at least break your cherry."

Lu Zexian made a pained face and ran his hand from his head to his feet. "Brother, with my height, doing pull-ups is strenuous! I heard that in the army, you have to pull up past your chin. With my long arms, how high do I have to pull to do one?"

Fang Huai knew that to gain something, one had to pay. To become a deputy squad leader, he had to perform.

He instructed Lu Zexian, "That pull-up bar is quite low, but the recruit test isn't very strict. You can learn to kip later. As long as you can grip the bar firmly, hook your feet and kip twice, or pull up once as you swing up, you'll be fine with your height."

"Okay, I'll try!" Lu Zexian didn't want to be the weak link.

Sun Lianhai wanted to smoke, so he immediately said, "Okay, I'll try my best! But no promises!"

Now the pressure was on Peng Yingqirui.

"Little guy, what do you say?" Jiang Peng slung an arm around Peng Yingqirui's shoulders, grinning.

For some reason, in just half a day, Jiang Peng and Peng Yingqirui had become quite friendly.

Peng Yingqirui's eyes widened, and he waved his hands repeatedly.

"I won't pull! I can't pull! I can't eat, I'll give you all my meat! I don't smoke either! You guys just try your best!"

His main strategy was to slack off.

Fang Huai also found this fan of lying flat a bit helpless, so he said, "If you practice properly and can pull up even one, when you're particularly sleepy one day, I can help you fold your quilt."

The little guy thought about it and immediately gave a thumbs-up. "OK!"

He was also smart. Since there was no penalty for not being able to pull up, and training was something the squad leader had said couldn't be avoided, he figured he might as well try.

Although everyone was shirking responsibility, they seemed to have developed a sense of collective consciousness, starting to understand that their actions would bring honor or shame to the squad.

Before gathering to go downstairs, they had already started communicating with each other, and small cliques began to form.

Zhao Bing and Hu Deli, who was also a rural soldier and even more taciturn; Jiang Peng and Peng Yingqirui, the little guy who got his nickname just because Hao Chengbin casually called him that; Yue Tao and his fellow Fujian native Chen Zhongqiang; Fang Huai took the initiative to communicate with the more solitary Lu Zexian, Liu Yue, and Sun Lianhai.

Fang Huai, the future deputy squad leader, decided: the work of uniting comrades starts with himself.

Training ground.

The Seventh Company was led to the pull-up bars and parallel bars. Company Commander Wang Jian gave the order.

"Thirty centimeters interval left and right, seventy-five centimeters interval front and back, look to the right!"

The formation immediately spread out, with squad leaders shouting reminders from the side.

"Seventy-five centimeters! Why are you so close? Want to smell the butt in front of you? Look to the right! Tuck your butt in! Take small steps! Don't stomp your feet! Maintain your posture, don't hunch over!"

"Fifth man in the third row! Why are you looking ahead with your head down? Just align yourself with the person next to you!"

"Still looking! What the hell are you looking at!"

"Look forward!"

After two rounds of formation adjustments, the group finally started to look like a proper unit.

However, Squad Leader Pan Zhaohui of the Eighth Squad, with his hands behind his back and speaking in a Guizhou accent, expressed his dissatisfaction. "With these guys looking like that, how can they do pull-ups? We might as well just do push-ups all afternoon!"

Squad Leader Sun Yi of the First Squad, standing nearby, also looked disgusted. "Exactly! It's a waste of training time. Running is fine, why do a three-kilometer run? There are no three-kilometer runs after you're assigned to a unit. Let's just do five kilometers!"

The new recruits below couldn't help but swallow. Their legs had gone soft with fear.

Just a day ago, they were all civilians. Five kilometers, an entire afternoon of push-ups?

They would die!

Were these squad leaders going to kill a few people on the very first day of basic training as a sacrifice?

Wang Jian finally smiled and opened his mouth. "The Regimental Headquarters didn't schedule any unified physical training today, and there are still two companies practicing formations on the track. How can we run?

How about this, we'll do a warm-up first, then I'll teach them the kipping technique, and they can do two sets in rotation. Anyone who can't do a single pull-up will do push-ups here instead. Those who can do them can rest."

"Fine, anyone who can't do one, I'll take them. I'll arrange their afternoon today!" The Fourth Squad Leader showed a slightly perverted and excited smile.

The new recruits had already started whispering amongst themselves.

"Holy crap... we're screwed, we can't do it..."

"Don't be scared, you can kip! Our squad leader said many people can do two kipping pull-ups!"

"If I can't do it on the pull-up bar, can I do it on the parallel bars?"

Fang Huai felt like his previous pep talk had been in vain. The veterans' scare tactics had somehow turned the pull-up and parallel bar area, which the new recruits feared the most after being assigned to a unit, into the place they most wanted to be.

With that Fourth Squad Leader's smile, they would have to do at least one pull-up, even if their pants ripped!

(An update will be posted on the recommendation list at 12 AM tonight. Once the new recruit recommendations are finished, I'll start releasing more chapters.)