However, he was still a very considerate person. After fiddling with it a couple more times, he finally got it working.
The only problem was that the restroom might smell a little strong now.
A recruit had been standing near the restroom, wondering why someone was taking so long.
But the instant Lü Qinglong came out, a strong whiff of Oli Ge hit him, and a powerful urge to vomit surged up.
He immediately rushed to the next car and threw up while clutching the sink.
Lü Qinglong watched the recruit's retreating figure and scratched his head, looking a little sheepish.
He hadn't done it on purpose. The food he'd eaten that morning must have been the problem. He usually didn't stink after using the toilet.
But in the next car, he spotted a familiar face.
"Huh? Wasn't that Cheng Liang? Was he in the same unit as me?"
Cheng Liang seemed to be chatting and laughing with the recruits beside him, so Lü Qinglong didn't go over to bother him.
He stood for a while at the junction between the cars, letting the draft carry away some of the smell on him, then returned to his seat.
What surprised him, though, was that the three recruits sitting across from him seemed to have already become quite familiar with one another.
One of them had brought a tablet and set it on the table in the middle. An anime was playing on it out loud.
As it happened, Lü Qinglong had seen that anime too.
This made Lü Qinglong cough excitedly a couple of times.
Although he was over two meters tall and weighed a hefty three hundred kilograms, he was still only eighteen in terms of mental age!
He was just about to ask the three recruits across from him if he could watch with them, when they immediately shut off the tablet and put it away.
That gesture definitely hurt Lü Qinglong's feelings a little.
He hadn't done anything. Why had they put the tablet away as soon as they saw him? Was this some kind of indirect bullying?
It reminded him of when he was little, and the kindergarten security guard had desperately tried to stop him from going inside.
Wasn't this blatant bullying?
Thinking of that, Lü Qinglong got a little angry and turned to look out the window.
"Uh... why does that big guy look like he's angry???"
"But I clearly turned off the anime so the sound from the tablet wouldn't bother him?"
The three recruits frantically discussed it on the QQ accounts they'd just added each other on.
In the end, they concluded that the big guy must have a bad temper, and it would be best not to provoke him.
With that in mind, they even used QQ for the simplest conversation, afraid that something they said might make him angry again.
After an unknown amount of time, the evening sunlight streamed into the car.
The old green train raced along the tracks like a mighty beast.
Lü Qinglong quietly gazed at the scenery rolling past outside. Golden rice fields swayed in the sunlight, and mountain ranges undulated in the distance like a vast ink painting.
The three recruits sitting across from him had gone from being excited when they first boarded to leaning against one another, fast asleep.
After roughly another two hours of travel, the voice of Chen Tianjian, the cadre in charge of the recruits, rang out from the end of the car:
"Everyone, wake up! Wake up anyone beside you who's still asleep. We're almost at the station!"
His voice wasn't loud, but it carried well. That one shout woke most of the recruits on the train.
They looked sleepily out the windows and saw that it had grown dark at some point.
Clearly, they were full of curiosity about the unknown destination that awaited them.
"Sir, where are we going?"
A recruit nearby, who looked about twenty-three or twenty-four, asked Chen Tianjian, cheerfully offering him a cigarette as he spoke.
Chen Tianjian didn't take it. He only glanced at him before replying:
"You sure know how to work the room. I don't smoke."
"The 82nd Group Army is based in Hebei. Most of you will end up serving in Hebei too."
After Chen Tianjian said that, the recruits in the car looked a little excited.
They weren't excited because they'd heard Hebei. They were excited because they were about to arrive somewhere new.
As the old green train slowly came to a stop, the recruits began getting up from their seats and picking up their own black duffel bags.
Lü Qinglong was the last to get off. He carried his black duffel bag in one hand. It was enormous, but in his grip it looked like a little women's handbag.
The recruits followed Chen Tianjian, who was leading from the front. Once they left the station, they froze at the sight before them.
Just outside the station, more than ten Flat-head truck troop carriers were lined up neatly on the open ground ahead.
Beside every Flat-head truck troop carrier stood a veteran with a rank insignia on his shoulder.
New recruits weren't normally issued ranks when they first enlisted.
They had to wait until they finished the three-month New Recruit Company before they would be given the rank of private.
"Take your luggage and get ready to board."
Chen Tianjian led the recruits over to the first few military trucks, and they awkwardly began climbing onto the Flat-head truck troop carriers.
At the veterans' direction, they put their luggage beneath their bottoms.
Sitting on it not only saved space, but also made things more comfortable.
After all, the steel floor in the back of a Flat-head truck troop carrier had no such thing as suspension. Even a slight bump could make your backside feel like it was splitting open.
Especially with the veterans from the motor transport platoon driving. If the truck bed was carrying cabbages or pigs, they'd brake when they needed to.
After all, cabbages could get crushed, and pigs could get carsick.
But if it was their comrades sitting in the back...
Well, sorry about that.
And my comrade, you have an indomitable will and a body of steel!!!
They'd floor the gas pedal and show off every trick in the book, including drifting.
It was hardly unusual for a comrade to get flung right out of the back of the truck.
Lü Qinglong was assigned to the last of the three trucks. It had the fewest people, so there were plenty of empty seats.
After putting his black duffel bag beneath him, he felt much more comfortable.
There were other recruits on the truck who had noticed Lü Qinglong on the train.
After all, who the hell was built like that? He couldn't help but attract attention.
The recruits near Lü Qinglong very considerately shifted over, leaving him a large space.
Once everyone had boarded, Chen Tianjian called over the radio, and the vehicles slowly headed toward the mountains.
Perhaps because everyone in the back was a brand-new recruit, the veterans from the motor transport platoon drove unusually gently.
They slowed down for turns and kept a steady speed, following the convoy's formation.
Before long, with the vehicles rocking gently, most of the recruits gradually drifted off to sleep.
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