A Guitar Worth Over a Thousand Yuan?

"Today, the regiment commander said that ideological education needed to be strengthened from now on..."

"So next week's evening training is canceled. The regiment won't approve it either. From now on, apart from running, Physical Training will be organized by squad. I'll set the workload according to your abilities..."

"The New Recruit Regiment will be strengthening your Daily Life System..."

"From now on, every weekend, each company will hold recreational activities. On the third Friday of December, which is the Friday after next, the entire regiment will hold a Regulations and Ordinances knowledge competition. Every squad must enter one person! Everyone else must take a written assessment!"

Hao Chengbin kept explaining the general contents of today's meeting. As he spoke, he pulled a notebook from the inner pocket of his uniform, checking it as he talked and organizing his notes with a pen.

That gesture made quite a few people sigh inwardly.

Good lord, it was bad enough that recruits had to memorize Regulations and Ordinances. Even a veteran in his tenth year had to take notes!

"Squad Leader... are you saying... we're going to become Cultural Soldiers from now on?" Zhao Bing could not help asking.

Hao Chengbin silently cursed before saying, "Bullshit! What Cultural Soldiers does the fire department have? Even if there are any, they're officers. It's not your turn! Right now, it's just increasing the weight given to evaluations of drill training, barracks upkeep, and ordinance knowledge! As for physical fitness, the three Physical Training classes per week will become two. But once you're assigned to your units, you'll definitely suffer more! Recruits assigned to units focus mainly on Physical Training, so I suggest you all be more self-disciplined!"

The moment he said that, the smile on Fat Han's face could no longer be contained.

The New Recruit Regiment still had three whole months!

My world had no future, only the present!

Fang Huai, on the other hand, said somewhat helplessly, "Hey, Squad Leader, I only just convinced Han Yong to join us for evening training today! And now it's been canceled?"

He had never expected evening training to be outright prohibited.

He had been planning to overtake everyone on the curve with that half hour every day!

Ah, life was unpredictable, like nine-turn intestines.

Squad Leader Hao seemed to accept new ideas quickly. Hearing Fang Huai's words, he said with a stern expression, "Revolution depends on self-discipline! Accept more ideological reform; it'll benefit you too! The military of the future will become more and more different from what it is now! In fact, I realized what the regiment commander talked about today a long time ago! Fang Huai, I have quite a bit of confidence in you on this point. You have a foundation in education, ideology, and physical fitness. From now on, talk more with your Fellow Recruits about study methods and urge everyone to develop in all areas! And Han Yong, don't laugh. Even if you only stay for two years, after one year, you'll still be an old soldier! There will be recruits calling you squad leader too! Think carefully. When recruits are assigned to your unit and call you squad leader, what will you have to teach them? Do you want to coast through two years with your eyes closed, using the Second-Year Soldier shoulder insignia issued by the military to suppress recruits while they call you a loser behind your back, or do you want them to sincerely call you Squad Leader Han? Even if you go home and start a company or do business, the principle is the same! A capable boss can at least make people respect him whether they want to or not. An incapable one can only make up random excuses even when scolding people!"

Han Yong stood up. After listening for a long while, he silently nodded.

"Squad Leader, I understand."

Fang Huai rolled his eyes inwardly.

A loser? I was one for five years. How was I supposed to feel hearing that?

Besides, although Hao Chengbin understood quite a few life lessons, his social experience was still too shallow.

That approach simply did not apply to someone from a family like Han Yong's.

When a family was rich to that extent, as long as he did not gamble, the family business his parents left him would basically be impossible to spend away.

It was not spending money that people feared from rich heirs. What they feared was rich heirs thinking they had some talent and insisting on proving themselves.

"Oh, Fang Huai, that song of yours... how's it coming along?" Hao Chengbin suddenly asked when he spotted a line of small writing in his notebook.

Fang Huai's eyes lit up.

"Not bad. It's more or less finished."

Hao Chengbin asked suspiciously, "Tell me the truth. Did you really write it yourself?"

"I did," Fang Huai answered firmly.

"But it's an adaptation. The original was a Mongolian folk song. I started adapting it before joining the military, and it was actually finished a long time ago."

Hao Chengbin nodded. "Before the New Year, we're going to the provincial capital's opera house to watch an evening performance. It's being organized by the Public Security Department together with several other organizations. For our fire department, only the training base is taking the New Recruit Regiment. The regiment has a fixed choir, which is made up of officers, but individuals can also submit three programs. Officers and soldiers are both eligible. But there'll be a preliminary audition. If you're really good, I'll register you for it. If it goes well, it won't just bring glory to our squad—it'll bring glory to the fire department."

"Squad Leader! There's a performance?!" Yue Tao charged forward again.

But this time, Hao Chengbin had no interest in explaining anything to him. He stared directly at Fang Huai.

"State your position. Do you have confidence? If you do, I'll find time to borrow a good guitar for you!"

"I do!" Fang Huai stood up and answered loudly.

He had been waiting for this day.

Without this channel, where was a literary plagiarist like him supposed to find media to spread his work?

"But, Squad Leader... don't get me some beginner's guitar. It has to have better tone! At least find one worth over a thousand!"

Even Hao Chengbin was stunned.

"I remember when I was learning a few years ago, I bought one for seventy or eighty yuan, and that was after picking carefully! More than a thousand... are they really that expensive?"

Fang Huai could only express his contempt with a speechless look.

If you had enough money, there were even ones with ten thousand added after that thousand.

Seeing that look in Fang Huai's eyes, Hao Chengbin felt challenged again. Gritting his teeth, he said, "Fine! Just wait! I'll get someone to borrow one for you! I want to see whether your song is worthy of a guitar worth over a thousand yuan!"

The next day, the atmosphere throughout the entire company had changed.

No, it should have been the entire regiment.

Though it was clearly the weekend, recruits from some squads got up half an hour early. When Fang Huai got up at five and came out, some quilts had already been folded.

As Fang Huai walked past two recruits chatting nearby, he roughly figured out what had happened.

One of them was sitting on the ground, shaking his head and pointing theatrically at the air as he mockingly imitated his squad leader's speech.

"I'm telling you! Don't think life will get easier just because there's less Physical Training! Tomorrow, there'll be an inspection of barracks upkeep! Whoever's quilt doesn't pass inspection will sit there and fold it all day! Once you've folded it properly, you'll memorize materials! There'll be spot checks Monday night. Whoever doesn't pass, just wait!... What did he say after that again?"

The other recruit immediately picked it up.

"He said there'd be extra drills just for them! Hey, we didn't start eating early on our own yesterday! The regiment officers told us to eat! He's just a coward! If he has the guts, he should take it up with the regiment officers!"

Fang Huai could not help laughing.

Clearly, not every squad leader had patiently explained the meeting contents to the recruits like Hao Chengbin had yesterday.

The squad leaders had nowhere to vent their anger, so they could only express their dissatisfaction by excessively enforcing the meeting's orders. This morning's wake-up time was proof enough.

Fang Huai was the first to carry his quilt and stool to the stairway landing. The recruits from his squad soon gathered around, and the Ninth Squad recruits gradually occupied the whole area.

They were waiting to finish folding their quilts so Fang Huai could inspect them first. If Fang Huai thought something was wrong, he would tell them how to fix it.

"Hey, Fang Huai, you really called it! Those guys who ate early all seem to have gotten hammered!"

Yue Tao was especially excited. With Fang Huai around these past few days, he had discovered that they were living quite happily. The experiences described by recruits from other squads seemed like they belonged to a different world.

From that gloating expression, the guy seemed to have completely forgotten that he had been the first one wanting to start eating yesterday.

Fang Huai smiled as he worked his quilt.

"Yue Tao, how did you end up with a personality like this? You don't think things through, but you're optimistic... Let me ask you something. If your girlfriend ran off with someone else, how many days could you stay sad?"

Yue Tao immediately frowned and said indignantly, "Then I'd definitely beat that guy up!"

"And after beating him up?" Fang Huai continued.

Yue Tao's brain seemed to crash. He thought for a long time.

"...After beating him up, I'd have gotten my revenge!"

"Holy shit..." Fang Huai marveled. "If all Jin Yong martial arts novels had people like you, every TV series would have to be turned into a short film."

"What's a short film?"

"It's... I can't explain this shit to you."

For the first time, Fang Huai understood the helplessness squad leaders felt when coaxing recruits.

It was still easier to just beat them up.

They would obey, and they would talk less.

Fang Huai stopped talking to Yue Tao and turned his head.

"Han Yong! Rub it first, then fold it! Take out your little stool!"

Han Yong looked bewildered. "Take out my stool... so I can sit and fold it? No need. I can just sit on the ground!"

Fuck me.

Fang Huai wanted to hit someone.

But remembering that Han Yong had only just arrived, he felt deeply helpless. He could only point to his own quilt, then rub it with his little stool.

"Rub it like I do! Sit and fold it, my ass... If the squad leader sees you later, he'll hang you from the ceiling with a pack strap and make you fold it!"

Han Yong finally understood. He got up and ran back to the squad room, then came out carrying his small stool and started rubbing the quilt as Fang Huai did.

After folding his own quilt, Fang Huai used it as an example and taught several hopeless cases how to straighten theirs out.

Half an hour later.

Someone carrying a quilt walked toward the Ninth Squad from the distance.

Jiang Peng.

Without greeting anyone, he walked straight up to Fang Huai and said,

"Fang Huai, I want to talk to you."

Everyone thought he was about to cause trouble. They immediately stood and surrounded him. Zhao Bing no longer wore his usual cheerful smile, instead watching him with a serious expression.

"Jiang Peng, don't start anything."

Jiang Peng glanced at Han Yong, who was squatting on the ground folding his quilt, then stared at Fang Huai. "What am I starting? I just want to talk to him. I've got something to say!"

"What the fuck could you possibly have to say?" Lu Zexian was also unhappy with him and directly cursed.

The Ninth Squad had now become a completely united collective. Everything had changed after Jiang Peng left, and everyone had deeply learned what it meant for one rotten apple to spoil the barrel.

Fang Huai did not mind. He clapped his hands and stood up.

If it really came to a fight, with his reflexes, he could give Jiang Peng one hand and still win.

"What do you want to say? Just say it. We're not close enough to whisper secrets to each other."

Jiang Peng glanced at Han Yong again.

"I can't say it here. Just one sentence. I'll leave after I say it."

Han Yong seemed to realize something too. His hands paused for a moment.

Fang Huai noticed it and grew curious as well, so he pointed toward the restroom.

"We'll talk over there. One minute. I'm busy. But if you really want to fight, we can do it here. I'll have them clear space for us. I guarantee no one will interfere. But if I beat you up, don't go tattling afterward. They're all witnesses—you were the one who provoked me first."

Fang Huai's words made Jiang Peng's face flush red. Then, as if remembering something, his expression changed and his tone softened.

"I really have something to say."

"Then let's go."

Fang Huai did not waste words and headed toward the restroom.