"Oh! Brother Long, I get it! Then we fold the other side over the same way, right?"
"Then we fold the two sides together, and there you have a perfect tofu block!"
The other new recruits in the squad weren't slow, either. They immediately said they understood what to do.
"Yeah, more or less. But folding the middle crosswise, then pinching the edges and corners into shape, takes a bit of effort."
"We also need to press a crease about a hand's width from the middle. That'll form the back wall of the quilt."
(Image 1)
"Then we fold the quilt in half along the back wall. That gives us the basic shape of a tofu block."
"Last, we tidy up the edges. We follow the crease and use both hands to pinch a straight line."
"And finally, it turns into a perfect tofu block!"
(Image 2)
"I understand it in my head! I'm going to try it right now!"
"Same here! I feel like I'm a pro already—the king of folding tofu blocks!"
"Come on, my Little Quilt Princess! Let your big brother show you some love!"
After watching Lü Qinglong fold a tofu block with his own hands, the new recruits suddenly felt they could do it, too!
They eagerly got to work folding their own military quilts.
But that enthusiasm lasted less than five minutes. They realized the quilts they'd folded and the one Lü Qinglong had folded were worlds apart.
"This isn't working, Brother Long. Do you have some trick you can teach us? Why does mine still look like a cannon barrel?"
"Yeah, Brother Long, I get it in my head, but my hands just can't do it! No matter how I fold it, I can't get the result I want."
Looking dejected, the new recruits returned to the open space in the middle, hoping Lü Qinglong could teach them something they'd missed.
Meanwhile, Xue Daochao's quilt was already starting to take shape.
He'd pulled well ahead of the other new recruits, all thanks to Lü Qinglong having pressed his quilt down hard at the start.
Ji Baichang was kicking himself. If only he'd let Lü Qinglong use his quilt, he wouldn't have to work so hard pressing down the cotton now.
"Xue Daochao's really got it. He laid his quilt right on the ground and doesn't even mind getting it dirty."
Ji Baichang shook his head. Xue Daochao had clearly seen things more clearly than he had. That guy was definitely at least as smart as him!
"There really aren't any shortcuts. First, press the cotton inside your quilts until it's firm. They'll be easier to fold once the cotton's packed down."
Lü Qinglong explained patiently.
"All right, Brother Long."
The new recruits turned back, unfolded their quilts, and carefully began pressing down the cotton inside them with their little stools.
A while later, Squad Leader Chen Ting returned to the barracks. Seeing the new recruits working hard to press their quilts, he said nothing, sat back down on his bed, and started fiddling with his phone.
As Lü Qinglong walked past, he accidentally glanced at Squad Leader Chen Ting's phone. It looked like he was shopping on Pinduoduo, buying children's toys.
The new recruits spent the entire morning folding their quilts, right up until lunch.
It seemed the Cookhouse Squad had heard that one of the newcomers was a monster who could eat half a company's worth of food in one meal. They'd doubled the portions and cooked quite a bit extra.
"Squad leader, can I just take a whole tray of rice?"
Lü Qinglong blinked his big, sparkling eyes twice and looked toward the duty officer.
The duty officer's mouth twitched. He nodded stiffly.
"Go ahead. The Cookhouse Squad made plenty of rice. There's enough for you."
"Great! Thanks, squad leader!"
Lü Qinglong was overjoyed. He carried a huge metal tray of white rice in one hand and a large metal basin in the other. The basin was full of mixed dishes.
He happily returned to his seat.
"That's a whole tray of rice, enough for more than thirty people. He took it all by himself. Can he really eat that much?"
The duty officer was baffled. In the end, he simply turned to look at Lü Qinglong.
After sitting down, Lü Qinglong set the tray of rice on the table, then picked up the basin of mixed dishes with both hands and poured them over the rice.
His lips moved as if he were murmuring something:
"Soul Juice! Pour it on~"
The mixed dishes and their piping-hot sauce cascaded over the rice, coating it evenly.
The duty officer then watched Lü Qinglong open his enormous mouth. Using the plate ordinary new recruits ate from as a spoon, he scooped up a huge mouthful of rice and sauce and shoved it into his mouth.
Watching him devour his food like that made the duty officer swallow hard.
And he ate at a terrifying speed. Every bite he took was worth ten bites from another new recruit.
"Fifth Squad, come get your food."
"Reporting in."
The duty officer had just called for the new recruits in Fifth Squad to get up and collect their food when Lü Qinglong's voice suddenly rang out.
"What is it?"
The duty officer turned toward Lü Qinglong and saw that, at some point, he'd polished off every last grain of rice and every bit of mixed dish from his metal tray.
"Squad leader, can I have another tray? I'm only six-tenths full."
Lü Qinglong spoke earnestly.
Though he looked perfectly sincere, his eyes were fixed on the tray of rice behind the duty officer.
"Uh... wait until everyone else has gotten their food. If you're still hungry after that, you can have some more."
The duty officer didn't quite know what to say.
No matter how much Lü Qinglong could eat, he still had to wait until everyone else was done before going back for more.
Otherwise, everyone else might end up with nothing to eat.
That would be a bit much.
"Okay, squad leader."
Lü Qinglong nodded and patiently waited until Tenth Squad had gotten their food. Only then did he get up and polish off all the dishes on the table in the middle.
"Now that hits the spot."
Lü Qinglong let out a satisfied burp, carried his empty metal trays to the faucet behind the dining hall, gave them a quick wash, and headed into the Cookhouse Squad's kitchen.
Inside, several veteran soldiers with the rank of corporal were sitting together, playing on their phones and complaining.
"What's with First Company pulling this weird stunt? We cooked so much this morning, it was almost enough to feed two companies."
"Then, halfway through the meal, they came over and said they didn't have enough to eat, and took all our steamed buns."
"If that were all, fine. But now they've told us to cook extra for lunch, too. Aren't they just piling more work on us?"
"Yeah! I don't get it either. Has First Company gone crazy? They say there's a new recruit who can eat like a horse. It's ridiculous—how can all the food we cooked still not be enough?!"
The veterans in the Cookhouse Squad were a makeshift crew, cobbled together from soldiers in various battalions who didn't want to train.
All they wanted was to coast through the day, so they were unanimously unhappy about the sudden increase in their workload.
"Relax. I already talked to their duty officer and told him to have that big eater bring us the trays after he washes them. I want to see what kind of glutton he is to eat this damn much!"
One of the veterans grumbled.
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