"That won't do. You only just moved up to the next pay grade this year, so you're making six thousand a month, right? You can't spend it all. You need to find a way to save some—three thousand a month, even. Make sure you don't blow it all."
"Got it, Squad Leader. I'll do whatever you say."
Wang Yuan nodded with a cheerful smile. Only after Chen Ting had walked over to a corner with his hands behind his back and begun sipping tea did Wang Yuan step in front of the First Squad recruits.
His gaze swept over the faces of the First Squad recruits one by one.
Most of them looked at the Second Squad leader with curiosity.
Only Ji Baichang's eyes were filled with fear.
When Wang Yuan's gaze landed on Lü Qinglong, he looked up sharply and got a good look at him.
The corner of his eye twitched involuntarily. That guy looked downright terrifying. Just standing there was like a full-on horror attack on every new and old soldier present.
Only Squad Leader Chen Ting could teach without discrimination like this. You had to hand it to the old squad leader!
Wang Yuan turned his gaze away and directed the Second Squad recruits to stand behind the First Squad, leaving a one-arm's-length gap.
Then he began the most basic drills: military posture, at ease, and attention.
Most of the recruits had practiced these drills during middle and high school military training. They just lacked a lot of the finer details compared with proper formation training in the military.
"When you hear the command 'Attention,' bring your heels together and turn your feet out about sixty degrees."
(Figure 1)
"Keep your legs straight, draw in your lower abdomen, let your chest rise naturally, and keep your upper body upright, leaning slightly forward. Keep your shoulders level and draw them back a little. Let your arms hang down naturally and straighten them."
"Keep your fingers together and slightly curved. Place the tip of your thumb against the second knuckle of your index finger, and your middle finger against the trouser seam!"
(Figure 2)
"Keep your head level and your neck straight. Close your mouth, tuck your chin in slightly, and look straight ahead!"
Wang Yuan rattled off a string of terms like he was reciting a tongue twister. The recruits could only stare at him blankly.
"Forget it. You wouldn't understand even if I explained all that. Get into military posture, and I'll correct you."
"Everyone, at ease! Attention!"
The recruits immediately straightened their backs, and Second Squad leader Wang Yuan went down the line, adjusting each of their postures.
Ji Baichang had been afraid the squad leader would get rough with them, but it seemed this veteran named Wang Yuan was actually quite patient on the training field.
At least with him, there were plenty of things he was doing wrong, but Wang Yuan merely pointed them out and told him how to correct them.
He treated the recruits from both the First and Second Squads the same way.
This even gave Ji Baichang the strange impression that Wang Yuan was a completely different person from the squad leader who had grabbed a recruit and beaten him up at noon!
"Your legs need to be together and straight. Otherwise, you'll have a really awkward time standing at attention."
Second Squad leader Wang Yuan patiently explained this to Ji Baichang.
He reached out, apparently intending to straighten Ji Baichang's legs, but soon realized the guy was bowlegged. Even with his heels together, his knees couldn't touch.
Wang Yuan gave up on correcting him and turned to the next person: Lü Qinglong.
"Phew..."
Wang Yuan sucked in a breath. This recruit looked like a monster. No matter when Wang Yuan looked at him, he found him terrifying!
Suppressing his discomfort, Wang Yuan looked at the thighs that were several times thicker than anyone else's, and the gap between them. Unable to hide his confusion, he asked:
"Are your legs bowlegged too?"
"Reporting to Squad Leader, I'm not bowlegged. My thigh muscles are just so developed that there's a gap between my knees."
Lü Qinglong answered in a forceful voice.
He spoke so loudly that the other recruits nearby jumped.
"Huh? Your muscles are too developed?"
Wang Yuan's mouth twitched. He'd never heard of anything like that—muscles so developed you couldn't bring your knees together.
Bowlegged was bowlegged. There was no need to make up an excuse like that.
With that thought, Wang Yuan reached out without thinking and touched the muscles on Lü Qinglong's thigh.
The moment his hand touched Lü Qinglong's thigh, it felt like he was touching a block of steel!
It didn't feel like muscle fibers at all. It felt almost like granite.
His camouflage trousers were stretched so tight they looked ready to burst. He really wasn't bowlegged; it was because his thigh muscles were too developed.
"Uh... you... you've got pretty good military posture."
In the end, Wang Yuan could only give Lü Qinglong a rather forced thumbs-up before turning to adjust the other recruits' postures.
For the rest of the time, Wang Yuan worked on the military posture of the recruits from both squads. He taught them seriously, and nothing like what Ji Baichang had imagined happened.
"Tweet!"
"All squads, take a ten-minute break!"
The duty officer blew his whistle and shouted the order.
During military training, rest periods were scheduled appropriately. They didn't just train people to death.
It was the twenty-first century, after all. The military paid attention to planning time sensibly: train when it was time to train, rest when it was time to rest.
"All right, sit on the little stools you brought and have some water. Take a good rest. If you need to use the bathroom, report to me."
After saying that, Wang Yuan walked over to Chen Ting, plopped down on a small stool, and happily started chatting with him.
None of the recruits needed to use the bathroom. They'd just been baking in the sun, and their clothes were so soaked they could wring water out of them. Their urine had long since turned to sweat and evaporated.
They sat in their places, clutching their canteens and guzzling water.
"What's going on? Your squad leader's acting weird, isn't he?"
"I walked past your squad at noon. I clearly saw your squad leader grab a recruit and beat him up. How come he's so patient when someone messes up a movement on the training field?"
After finishing his water, Ji Baichang asked the Second Squad recruit beside him in a low voice, clearly confused.
"Huh? You saw what happened in our squad at noon?"
The recruit Ji Baichang had asked was also a little confused. Their squad leader had said not to air dirty laundry in public. How had a First Squad recruit already found out?
"Yeah. Didn't your squad get punished because you went to bed at noon and then talked back to your squad leader? Didn't he grab you and beat you up?"
Ji Baichang wore an expression that said, "I knew it."
"No. After we squatted for a while at noon, our squad leader let us go to bed and sleep."
"What?!"
He'd thought the Second Squad had been squatting there all afternoon! How had they managed to sleep in their beds?
"Then why did your squad leader grab that recruit and beat him up? That guy looks pretty sharp to me."
Ji Baichang glanced at the recruit from the other squad who had been grabbed and beaten by Wang Yuan, then asked in a hushed voice.
"Oh, that? I'm not sure either."
"Anyway, he seems pretty capable. After lunch, he thoughtfully took our squad leader's quilt to wash it."
"Once the squad leader found out, he punished us by making us squat for half an hour, then grabbed him and beat him up too."
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