A Bloody Incident Caused by a Stumble

The next day.

It was bitterly cold outside.

But Squad Leader Hao had given orders: the lights could only be turned on at five-thirty. Before dawn properly broke, the new recruits could only fold their quilts out in the hallway.

When the nearby roosters crowed, the lights came on in the barracks. The recruits hurriedly carried their quilts inside to tidy them up.

"Fuck!"

A loud shout came from the hallway.

Less than half a minute later, the door to Ninth Squad was pushed open.

Wang Jian stood in the doorway, holding a military overcoat. Beside him was Yue Tao, wearing a thoroughly foolish expression.

"Old Hao, it's one thing for the recruits in your squad to sleep in the hallway, but this guy wrapped himself into a ball and slept at the stairwell landing. If someone trips over him and falls, whose fault is that?"

Wang Jian had taken a tumble and was boiling with anger, but as a cadre, he could not exactly beat or punish the recruit himself. He could only hand him over to Hao Chengbin.

Hao Chengbin had been leaning against his bed, supervising the recruits as they folded their quilts. He was startled by this.

He knew that two recruits who had gone out to fold their quilts had not returned yet, but he had not expected Yue Tao to have gone out there to sleep.

Hao Chengbin did not respond to Wang Jian. He merely snorted coldly, rose to his feet, grabbed Yue Tao by the collar, and gave him a fierce shove, tossing him into the room.

He had truly tossed him in.

Hao Chengbin had put plenty of strength into it. Yue Tao staggered several times, slammed into two bedframes, then crashed into Zhao Bing, who was sitting on a small stool. Zhao Bing raised a hand to block him, and Yue Tao tripped and fell to the floor.

Seeing Hao Chengbin lose his temper, Wang Jian said nothing more. He turned and left, closing the door behind him.

It was the first time the recruits had seen such a scene. None of them even dared breathe too loudly. They all stood up from their stools and moved aside.

Fang Huai quickly stepped back as well, not daring to provoke him.

No matter how much the squad leader favored him, speaking up now would be suicidal.

"Squad Leader, I know I was wrong!" Yue Tao reacted quickly, curling up on the floor and covering his head.

"Heh heh, you did nothing wrong. I was the one who was wrong. I've let you all off too easy. Wrapping yourselves in military overcoats and sleeping outside? Looks like you all think you're about to fly to heaven!"

After speaking, Hao Chengbin swept his gaze around the room and noticed that Peng Yingqirui had not returned either. Without another word, he turned and headed out.

Fang Huai silently shook his head.

Peng Yingqirui was doomed.

Less than two minutes later, Peng Yingqirui came into the room with one hand covering his flushed-red face and the other holding a messy quilt.

He looked even more aggrieved than Yue Tao had moments earlier.

Hao Chengbin appeared behind him and raised a foot.

Peng Yingqirui let out an "Aow!" and lurched forward, finally landing right on top of Yue Tao.

Hao Chengbin held Yue Tao's quilt in his arms and pointed at Peng Yingqirui on the floor.

"You're even better at sleeping than Yue Tao, huh? At least Yue Tao folded his quilt. Yours? You wrapped it around yourself!"

Hao Chengbin casually tossed Yue Tao's quilt onto an upper bunk, sat on his own bed, and pointed in front of him.

"All of you, line up here! One row!"

The recruits' worldview had already shattered and been rebuilt once. Now they once again realized just how vast the gap was between them and their squad leader.

He really hit people!

There were still two people sprawled on the floor. The room was thick with the atmosphere of an impending beating.

Looking at Yue Tao's condition, Lu Zexian gave a faint chuckle.

That guy had always been unruly. He had finally gotten himself into trouble.

Jiang Peng, meanwhile, turned to look at his own quilt. He had folded it so well that surely he would not get dragged into this.

The two men on the floor climbed to their feet, thoroughly uneasy.

After dawdling for over a minute, the ten recruits finally formed a line according to height.

Hao Chengbin got up and started with the shortest, Sun Lianhai.

A backhanded slap.

One broad, equal-opportunity smack across every face.

Peng Yingqirui, one of the two frailest in the class, had already been hit outside. Now the two of them had matching faces, while Sun Lianhai's eyes brimmed with tears.

Everyone else moved in perfect unison, each covering his face with one hand.

Their silence was deafening, mixed with a little dizziness.

Fang Huai felt that the blow had not been hard. Hao Chengbin had probably held back on him. He quickly lowered his hand and stood straight.

This was nothing, really.

The company Fang Huai had been assigned to in his previous life was said to be able to turn murderers into obedient little lambs. Every weekend, all the recruits gathered at the equipment depot. Once the door was shut, it was so dark they could not see their fingers. All they could see were a few glowing cigarette tips and several indistinct faces.

The squad leaders would question them one by one, asking whether they knew what they had done wrong.

They would not tell them what the mistake was. They had to figure it out themselves. In any case, the squad leaders had a long list of everything they had done wrong that week.

Hiding in the Training Tower to smoke, finding a place to curl up and sleep in the morning, being late for assembly, washing vegetables poorly, fighting with fellow recruits...

They did not explode during the week. They settled the whole score on the weekend.

If you failed to confess, just wait. By the time you came out, you would not even know whose size-42 shoeprints were all over your body.

Of course, even if you confessed, there was no such thing as leniency.

Afterward, the squad leader would come find you with a smile and have a heart-to-heart talk.

The whole approach was to win people over with virtue.

If someone had committed a particularly serious mistake, it might also be: winning people over with virtue.

A bird that stuck its head out, a wolf good at fighting? They were all chickens used to scare monkeys.

"What are you crying for? You lot are the worst recruits I've ever led!"

Hao Chengbin stood with his hands behind his back, his gaze moving across their faces as he searched for anyone unconvinced.

A bird that stuck its head out quickly appeared.

"Squad Leader, I got up at four-thirty this morning to fold my quilt..."

Smack.

From within three meters, fast and accurate, Hao Chengbin took one step forward and struck with pinpoint precision.

Jiang Peng received two broad slaps.

"Who gave you permission to speak?! Did you forget what I said yesterday? One person makes a mistake, the whole squad gets punished!"

Hao Chengbin turned and sat at the edge of his bed, crossing one leg over the other.

"Yesterday, we trained your arms. Today, we'll train your legs. One hundred squats each. Shout while you do them: 'Squad Leader, I was wrong!' Whoever is slowest gets fifty extra!"

"Report, Squad Leader! I did nothing wrong! I don't want to be punished for him!" Lu Zexian, the second tough guy, appeared.

Lu Zexian had been feeling quite pleased with himself, but after getting slapped and then being made to do squats as punishment, his mood was immediately drenched.

"Heh." Hao Chengbin chuckled. "Fang Huai, bring me your pack rope."

"Yes!" Fang Huai stepped out of line, went to the backpack on his upper bunk, found the rope, and handed it to Hao Chengbin.

Hao Chengbin pointed at Yue Tao. "Stand next to Lu Zexian!"

Yue Tao immediately obeyed.

Holding the pack rope, Hao Chengbin wound it around several times, binding Lu Zexian's right hand to Yue Tao's left hand, with a gap of around twenty centimeters between them.

"Starting today, the two of you will eat, drink, shit, piss, and train together! The rest of you will keep watch! If they dare untie that rope, all of you will be punished together! Fine, you two don't need to do squats. Everyone else, start! Anyone else unwilling to accept punishment?"

Eight silent mules.

Yue Tao, that lump of mud, showed a bit of backbone at that moment.

"Report, Squad Leader! I made a mistake, so I should be punished! If he doesn't do them, I'll do them!"

"Sure. Then ask him if he wants to do them. Or do you want to drag him along with you?" Hao Chengbin said with a smile.

Yue Tao turned his head, challenging him. "Are you doing them or not?"

Lu Zexian ignored him.

Yue Tao was stubborn too. He immediately squatted down and began doing squat after squat, constantly tugging at Lu Zexian with his hand.

"Squad Leader, I was wrong!"

This time, Fang Huai did not lead everyone in doing the squats. He waited. What Hao Chengbin wanted now was not for them to blindly follow rules, but for them to understand for themselves what they would face after joining the army.

Soon, the others began moving one after another, and Fang Huai joined in as well.

"Squad Leader, I was wrong!"

Lu Zexian gritted his teeth and refused to squat. He did not think he was a troublemaker. He just felt that the world owed him justice.

Seeing this, Hao Chengbin turned around and began straightening his own bed.

Sun Lianhai, with a trace of dried-up grievance still on his face, kindly tugged at Lu Zexian and whispered.

"Do them! We're all doing them!"

Lu Zexian muttered softly, "Why should I? Why should I pay for his mistake? When I get assigned to a unit later, if I run into comrades who always drag me down like this, I won't go easy on them either!"

Hao Chengbin turned around, narrowing his eyes.

"Lu Zexian, are you so confident that you've never dragged anyone down? How many did you do on the Parallel Bars and Horizontal Bar? How many did Yue Tao do? Who dragged down whom? Who was the one holding everyone back?"

Lu Zexian was speechless. After taking several breaths, he suddenly shouted.

"At worst, I just won't be a soldier anymore! I won't compete on the Parallel Bars and Horizontal Bar anymore. What else can he possibly be better at than me?"

Hao Chengbin turned around with a dark expression, opened the door, and pointed toward company headquarters.

"Then go! We don't have a precedent for letting recruits quit! Let me point you down a clear path! Go make trouble! Refuse training! Get expelled from the rolls! Make an even bigger fuss, and get discharged from military service! Become an unregistered person afterward! Get sent back home! Carry that record for the rest of your life, and your future children won't even be able to take civil service exams. Let them know their father was a deserter!

Fang Huai, untie him and let him go!

I tied him to Yue Tao because I was worried he'd influence Yue Tao! I think Yue Tao will have far more prospects than him in the future!

I refuse to believe that with your mindset, you can survive in society! You'll still be trash!"

Everyone stopped moving and began thinking back.

The big talk they had given their families before coming, the favors their families had called in everywhere to get them enlisted, the bragging they had done to their friends before departure...

Only deserters could be driven out of the army and sent home, carrying a disciplinary record for life, becoming unregistered persons, and even affecting their descendants...

It was not as though no one present had thought about how to go home. Most of them had thought about quitting the army. But after hearing the squad leader's words, they were all somewhat afraid.

Fang Huai walked over to Lu Zexian and began untying the pack rope painfully slowly, letting out a long sigh.

"Ah..."

"Take a step back, and the sea will be wide and the sky limitless..."

"Apologize properly to the squad leader and accept the punishment... Aren't all of us doing it? What do you have to complain about? Can you guarantee you'll never make a mistake... and drag us down?"

"Leave others a way out, and you leave yourself a way out."

To dissuade him, Fang Huai had no choice but to bring out the PUA tactics from his previous life.

Hao Chengbin heard every word Fang Huai said, but remained silent, pretending he had not heard.

In truth, even if this matter reached the company or Regimental Headquarters, Lu Zexian would not be able to leave. At most, someone of a higher rank would come talk to him. But word of it would spread internally, eventually reaching the ears of the leaders in the unit he was assigned to, and he would only receive more cold looks afterward.

If he got into a fight, some leaders might even appreciate him and think he had a strong, straightforward personality.

But someone who wanted to run away at the slightest provocation would definitely not be well liked. To put it bluntly, in other people's eyes, that meant trouble.

Finally, Lu Zexian grabbed hold of the rope.

"Squad Leader... I know I was wrong."

Lu Zexian was rather lucky.

He was facing a veteran with nearly ten years of service, and Hao Chengbin had no intention of ruining his own prospects over a green recruit. If it had been one of the neighboring squad leaders with only three or four years under their belts and their violent tempers still unchecked, Lu Zexian would not have escaped a round of physical persuasion today.

The entire squad would have suffered along with him.

Which veteran had not endured this kind of thing?

Hao Chengbin resumed his stern expression. "I'll give you one last chance. One hundred squats... no, you'll do one hundred and fifty! Starting today, whenever anyone makes a mistake, whatever punishment the others receive, you will do half again as much!

When you reach the squad's average physical standard, you'll receive equal treatment!

Didn't you want fairness? There is no absolute fairness in this world. Fairness is something you fight for yourself!"

Lu Zexian wanted to speak again, but Fang Huai pinched him once more.

If he said another word, it would double again.

"Yes... Squad Leader." Lu Zexian deflated.

"Louder!"

"Yes! Squad Leader!"

Only then did Hao Chengbin look at his watch. "Hurry up! It's 5:49 now! In forty-one minutes, I'll inspect your bedding! Any quilt that fails inspection, heh heh, just wait!"

"Motherfucker!"

Seeing that Hao Chengbin had casually tossed his quilt onto the upper bunk by the entrance, where it had nearly come completely undone, Yue Tao hurriedly sped up. Fang Huai and the other recruits also quickly continued their squats.

"Slow down!" Lu Zexian's hand was suddenly yanked hard, and he cried out in pain.

Yue Tao finally remembered something: no matter how fast he moved, Lu Zexian was tied to him.

He immediately looked miserable. "Squad Leader! Can you untie the rope? My quilt's come undone!"

Hao Chengbin folded his own quilt in a few swift motions, then turned around. "Weren't you two arguing? Why untie it? Stay tied! Get more familiar with each other!

If you still aren't familiar enough by noon, I'll arrange for you to clean the toilets together! When you're willing to apologize to each other, come find me!"

Yue Tao pulled a long face. "I wasn't arguing with him! He was the one arguing!"

Then he turned his head. "Lu Zexian! You might not want to be a soldier, but I do!"

Lu Zexian was still somewhat unconvinced, but he did not dare open his mouth.

Yue Tao immediately relaxed and shamelessly said, "Brother Lu! I apologize. Sorry, all right? I dragged you down!"

Lu Zexian was stunned, and Hao Chengbin quietly smiled as well.

"What did you just call me?" Lu Zexian asked again to make sure.

"Lu Zexian, don't push it. I already said sorry!" Yue Tao said with an annoyed expression.

Lu Zexian suddenly felt that all the anger he had been nursing had landed on cotton. Yue Tao, whom he saw as nothing more than a little brat, had naturally let it go, while he alone was still dwelling on it.

He had nearly taken that anger all the way to company headquarters.

It was a lie that he did not want to be a soldier. He was a high school student with no skills to speak of. What could he do after entering society?

His father had told him that only by serving as a soldier could he return home and ask his youngest maternal uncle to use his connections to get him into a public institution that relaxed education requirements for veterans.

Of course, if Fang Huai had to say it, with Lu Zexian's height and a bit more work on his physique, he would definitely have a place in the rich older woman market someday.

Find himself an old sugar mama and rise to the top in one step—wasn't impossible either.

"Ahem." Lu Zexian looked a little embarrassed.

"I wronged you, Yue Tao. I misunderstood you. You're better than me... Class monitor, I'm sorry. I won't badmouth him again. I'm the one holding everyone back. I accept the punishment."

"You can be taught. Untie him!"

Hao Chengbin looked pleased, though he had actually felt a little guilty just now.

If they went to the training ground tied up like this and a superior asked about it, he really would not know how to explain.

Teaching new recruits was like beating your wife behind closed doors—as long as the matter was settled before stepping outside, it did not matter how much of a commotion there had been. But it could not be brought into an official setting.

Of course, given how fierce the women in the Southwest were, comparing it to beating a luckless husband behind closed doors would have been more fitting.

After Hao Chengbin straightened his bedding, he walked out. The moment the door opened, everyone let out a sigh of relief.

The scolding was finally over.

But Hao Chengbin seemed to remember something. He turned back with a dark expression.

"Peng Yingqirui, I forgot about you. I'm warning you one more time! If I catch you hiding under an unfolded blanket and sleeping again, no one will be punished alongside you next time!"

Peng Yingqirui nodded miserably, his face full of grief and indignation.

Everyone else was showing off, while I was the only one getting beaten!

Then he looked at his own pathetic excuse for a blanket.

"Brother Fang, save me!"

Fang Huai sat leisurely at the edge of the bed with a bamboo strip in hand, raising an eyebrow.

"The Buddha said: those who save others must first save themselves... I'm busy!"