A Grand Exhibition of Bewildering Male Behaviors

Although Fang Huai had "sternly refused," he was genuinely stunned by Grandpa Han's ostentatious display of wealth.

While it was usually frowned upon for new recruits to flaunt their wealth, if you could casually give away watches worth tens of thousands...

Someone from our side would reluctantly agree to be friends with you!

Besides, the Chief of Staff definitely didn't transfer this squad because of Jiang Peng today; it was because of Han Yong.

Looking at the Chief of Staff's conflicted expression, Han Yong's background must be quite significant.

"Here, Han Yong, have some water!" Fang Huai walked over to the hot water dispenser, picked up his small kettle, opened the lid, and poured him a cup of water.

Each of them had been issued a small metal kettle this year, with a lid that flipped over to become a cup.

"Thank you, Assistant Squad Leader!" Han Yong was quite polite and clearly understood the internal conflicts within Squad Nine from before.

"My name is Fang Huai! Don't call me that, just call me by my name from now on!"

"Fang Huai... Did Jiang Peng really go to Squad Eight?" Yue Tao, seeing the squad leader leave, also started asking questions.

Everyone had been curious earlier, but the incident today had escalated significantly. The squad leader had only said, "Han Yong has been transferred to our squad," and nothing else. No one dared to speak up.

"Isn't Mr. Han here now?" Fang Huai smiled.

Han Yong smiled sheepishly and placed his bag on the bed frame.

Peng Yingqirui leaned in, sounding somewhat excited.

"Han Yong, can you pull yourself up on the horizontal bar?"

Han Yong shook his head.

"What about the Regulations and Ordinances? Can you recite them?"

Han Yong shook his head.

"The drill..."

Han Yong directly shook his head, saying with difficulty, "I really can't do anything! I'm useless at everything!"

"Hahahaha..." Peng Yingqirui burst into laughter.

"Great! I won't be last place anymore!"

Fang Huai couldn't help but smile, took Han Yong's bag, and gently placed it on the ground.

"Here, Little Dot, take Han Yong's bag and, like he just did, place it on the upper bunk with one hand."

Little Dot walked over with some confusion and reached out.

His face instantly turned red. As soon as he lifted it, his other hand also went up.

"Holy crap, what is this!"

Han Yong chuckled, "It's the dumbbells my mom bought for me, 7.5 kilograms each."

Fang Huai stood with his hands behind his back, "This bag has dumbbells weighing 30 jin, plus various protective gear, ankle weights, sandbags, and the like. It's at least close to 50 jin. I struggled immensely just lifting it with one hand earlier. Who wants to try?"

Everyone was stunned. Zhao Bing, not believing it, stepped forward and tried to lift it.

"Damn, it's really heavy. Han Yong, with your strength, why can't you do the horizontal or parallel bars?"

Han Yong scratched his head, looking a bit troubled, "I'm too fat! I'm over 190 jin. My family sent me here to lose weight!"

Sigh!

Everyone else was here to advance their careers, while he treated this place like a weight-loss boot camp.

Following that, Squad Nine initiated a rather boring "prove you're a real man" competition.

They took turns taking Han Yong's bag down and placing it back up with one hand.

Men's happiness and pride were that simple and unpretentious.

Walking along and suddenly dribbling a ball with empty hands, then jumping up to shoot a basket, made one feel like a basketball superstar; seeing a high tree branch on the road and jumping to touch its leaves felt like touching the entire world.

After one round of competition, only half of the men remained in Squad Nine: Fang Huai, Zhao Bing, Chen Zhongqiang, Yue Tao, and Han Yong.

Even Lu Zexian, the tall guy, couldn't heave the bag up despite mustering all his strength.

Han Yong earned everyone's respect.

But seeing the stubborn looks in the eyes of the other five, Fang Huai knew: Han Yong's bag would likely be taken down to be practiced with every few days.

In the evening, the entire company recited the Regulations and Ordinances.

To Hao Chengbin's surprise, Chen Zhongqiang not only got cigarettes but also had a late-night snack.

Fang Huai worked as a laborer in the company headquarters all night, his efficiency astonishingly high. He finished the work that was scheduled for overtime in an hour and a half. His familiarity with the software left the observing company commander and Squad Leader Huang dumbfounded. Furthermore, he typed using Wubi, which neither the company commander nor Squad Leader Huang understood.

Both of them remarked that tonight was like a small knife stabbing the backside – eye-opening.

By 8 o'clock, they needed to print and bind new recruit study materials, including the Firefighter Military Song and some essential regulations. Each document was five pages long, with one copy for each person.

Fang Huai arranged the layout of the materials on the computer and made a suggestion: "Squad Leader Huang, you don't need to overexert yourself. Call Chen Zhongqiang from our squad. We can print and bind together, and finish it in an hour."

Squad Leader Huang didn't say a word and ran to the squad to fetch him. Squad Leader Hao didn't make things difficult either and let him go.

Chen Zhongqiang was freed from the sea of suffering of reciting regulations.

After finishing his work, Fang Huai didn't smoke a single cigarette and barely ate any meat; it was all for Chen Zhongqiang to enjoy.

Before washing up, Chen Zhongqiang, completely satisfied, followed Fang Huai back to Squad Nine.

Following Deputy Squad Leader Fang around meant the company commander treated them to meat and Squad Leader Huang handed out cigarettes! What kind of life was this?

The others hadn't eaten or smoked, and they'd given it all to him.

There were only two words for it: reliable!

After Fang Huai returned, while the new recruits were washing up, he privately apologized to Hao Chengbin. He frankly admitted he shouldn't have made Chen Zhongqiang go smoke and eat a late-night snack, but he had promised, so there was nothing he could do. He vowed to supervise Chen Zhongqiang's training.

Hao Chengbin showed the utmost leniency in this matter. After all, Fang Huai hadn't done it for himself. Fang Huai and Chen Zhongqiang weren't exactly close, and tricking him into skipping late training was purely for the squad's training results.

Without any personal agenda, Hao Chengbin couldn't really get angry. He just told Fang Huai that smoking and eating a late-night snack weren't a big deal, as long as he supervised everyone else to perform well and make fewer mistakes.

Fang Huai patted his chest and guaranteed Hao Chengbin, "I'll definitely bring you honor!"

The prestige of a junior leader is built upon the small acts of daring to seek real benefits for their subordinates in front of higher-ranking leaders.

Chen Zhongqiang, who had always been self-centered, became Fang Huai's staunch supporter after that night.

On Saturday, the wake-up whistle was delayed by half an hour, and the new recruits didn't get up until five.

Hao Chengbin had gone out last night and returned very late, so he decided not to get up either. He just called out to Fang Huai, asking him to keep an eye on the squad members, then rolled over and went back to sleep.

Everyone was sensible and didn't turn on the lights. They all went to the hallway to fold their blankets.

With the squad leader's order, Fang Huai finally found his footing as a deputy squad leader. He went out for a patrol, observing where his squad members were folding their blankets and if anyone was slacking off and sleeping.

Seeing a corridor full of new recruits squatting on the ground, rubbing their blankets with their elbows, he finally remembered something.

Sigh, all these years of experience have been eaten by dogs.

What's the biggest difference between humans and animals?

The use of tools!

He spread his blanket outside the door, then went back to the squad room to get his stool. He called out to his squad members.

"Zhao Bing! Chen Zhongqiang, you two stop rubbing. Help me hold the corners of the blanket! I'll teach you how to rub!"

Zhao Bing and Chen Zhongqiang skeptically helped him stretch the blanket. Fang Huai took off his shoes and stepped on the blanket, pressing down on the stool with his hands and slowly moving forward.

In two minutes, the blanket was pressed around once.

Then another circle.

After the blanket was firm, he folded it into four neat sections along the lines. This time the blanket was narrower, so it was simpler. He used the stool to press it several times.

The two of them watched with growing admiration.

"Rubbing it like this is much faster than using your hands! Can we rub it a few more times before folding?" Zhao Bing asked, squatting beside him in surprise.

Fang Huai rolled his eyes, "Isn't that obvious? It's best to rub it for half an hour before folding! But at this stage, one person is enough. Alright, I'll leave my blanket here. Bring yours over, and we'll rub them together."

The reason Fang Huai called them over was to achieve immediate results.

Zhao Bing and Chen Zhongqiang's blankets were already the best in the squad. With a little tidying up, they could easily become exemplary blankets for the recruit company.

If three exemplary blankets came out of a squad of ten people, and the rest were passable, the entire squad's standard would immediately rise.

How could the squad possibly win first place relying on him alone?

It was just that the recruit regiment was a temporary unit, and the squad leader and company commander had limited resources. Otherwise, he really wanted to borrow an electric iron.

Nowadays, the methods for tidying blankets were too simple. In the following years, they became incredibly varied.

When Fang Huai was a non-commissioned officer, they even used boards to press down the blankets and drove fire trucks over them.

Those blankets, once pressed, were truly impressive. It saved at least two months of work.

After mobile Taobao became popular, it was even more ridiculous. People just bought a blanket that was perfectly done and had it delivered.

Model blankets were hard and thin, very easy to fold, but uncomfortable to sleep under. They felt rock hard to the touch, a gamble that the inspecting officers would never actually touch them.

Old soldiers all had a blanket that was never taken apart, with a thin wooden board underneath to prevent it from coming undone when standing it up. Every day when making the bed, they would respectfully place it under the bed, and after sleeping, they would invite it back up.

That blanket was like the Guan Erye of the army.

However, this was the recruit regiment, and even after joining a unit, it was best for first-year recruits not to play such tricks.

Rubbing and folding blankets, in essence, was meant to temper the new recruits' temperaments. Taking shortcuts meant old soldiers would at most get reprimanded if caught, but new recruits would genuinely get a beating.

Fang Huai rubbed and felt as he spoke.

"Chen Zhongqiang's blanket is clearly pressed better than Zhao Bing's. Look, the edges are tighter, but not quite even. Your blanket, when folded, has nice corners, but the middle tends to be too high."

"Zhao Bing's edges are neater than Chen Zhongqiang's. You two should find a balance. We'll fold them here. After we finish folding the blankets, I'll tell you some small tricks for tidying the edges."

Fang Huai patiently and quietly instructed the two in the area near the corridor.

Soon, Yue Tao, who was secretly learning, arrived. He watched and followed along as they folded.

When Fang Huai finished folding his own blanket, he realized that the traditional skills that the army had been testing people with for so many years were truly not just for show.

"Yue Tao, I've noticed that sometimes a person's personality can really be reflected in their comforter."

Yue Tao carefully straightened his comforter again, then spread his hands with a smug look.

"So, what kind of personality does my comforter show?"

Fang Huai observed it from several different angles, stroking his chin thoughtfully.

"Looking at your comforter from afar, it's like Zhang Fei, but up close, it's Li Kui. Depending on the angle... it's uniquely ugly, so ugly it makes me want to throw a punch."

With that, under Yue Tao's astonished gaze, he calmly and slowly unfolded his comforter again.

"Let's start over, buddy. From the part where you rub the comforter and draw the lines. The harder you try with this comforter, the less fortunate you'll be."