Song Si the Clown

Song Si the Clown

Song Si sat on a little stool, pressing his phone to his right ear while covering his mouth with his left hand, as if trying his hardest to keep his voice down.

Even so, the three of them could hear the tremble in Song Si's voice. He sounded as though he was about to burst into tears.

"What's going on?"

Lü Qinglong asked the other two in surprise.

Xue Daochao and Ji Baichang both shook their heads. It was clear that neither of them knew what had happened.

But from what Song Si was saying, Ji Baichang could just about guess that the guy was about to get dumped.

"Baby, do you remember? You wanted to wear a wedding dress to a concert, so I worked for two whole months to buy you the tickets and the dress!"

"You can't do this to me!"

"Beep, beep!"

Song Si tried to bring up the touching things he had done for her, hoping to win her back. But all he got in response was the sound of the call ending.

The three of them clearly saw Song Si immediately type out a long message and send it to her.

But all he got was a red exclamation mark.

The three exchanged a look. They already knew exactly what the other two were thinking:

So the clown had been right beside me all along!

"I can't take this anymore. You've got every single clown trait imaginable!"

"We're all grown men. Don't let a good girl down, and don't waste a bad one! Are you even a man acting like this?!"

Ji Baichang strode over to Song Si in a fury and patted him on the shoulder, trying to cheer him up.

Song Si suddenly looked up and saw that Xue Daochao and Lü Qinglong were watching him too.

Clearly, they'd seen the pathetic way he'd just acted.

"Xue-Xue Daochao! You know how to read fortunes, right? I'm begging you, man. Tell me how much longer my girlfriend and I have together!"

"Or at least tell me what she's doing right now!"

Song Si jumped up and hurried over to Xue Daochao, as if he'd found his last lifeline. He grabbed Xue Daochao's arm and held on tight.

"Huh? I don't think there's any point in telling your fortune."

Xue Daochao shook his head. He had three rules for fortune-telling.

First, he didn't read fortunes for the elderly or children.

Second, he didn't read fortunes for people seeking wealth, power, or sex.

And third...

He didn't read fortunes for hopeless romantics or dogs.

"Bro! Can you help me out? I just want an answer!"

"I only came to enlist because my girlfriend asked me to!"

"If we break up because I came to the army, then what's the point of serving?"

Tears slipped from the corners of Song Si's eyes. He looked so miserable that Xue Daochao might as well have been the only one who could save his life.

"Get up, get up. Fine, I'll read your palm, okay?"

Xue Daochao sighed helplessly.

"Great! Thanks, bro! Whatever you ask me to do from now on, I'll do it! I'll listen to you!"

Song Si was incredibly excited and quickly held out his right hand.

"Men use their left. Women use their right."

"Oh, right! Okay!"

Song Si offered his left hand.

Xue Daochao glanced at it briefly. His face showed no emotion as he said calmly,

"I've read your palm. At least for the next two years, no woman will come near you."

"But two years from now, you'll have six months of good luck in love. Make the most of it. I can't tell you anything more."

As Song Si listened, he froze for a moment. Then the tears that had been streaming down his face suddenly stopped.

Instead, his face lit up with delight.

"Really?!"

"My baby must regret breaking up with me! After regretting it for two years, she'll come back to me as soon as I leave the army!"

"That has to be it!"

At the thought, Song Si's lips curled up, and a smile returned to his face.

"Fuck! If I ever read the palm of another hopeless romantic, I'll be a goddamn dog!"

The usually composed Xue Daochao rarely swore, but now he was furious.

What kind of logic was that?

Was this guy the number-one simp in the country or what?

"Come on! How did you even get that from what I said? What if you go home after two years of service and she scams you out of your discharge pay?!"

Even Ji Baichang couldn't stand it anymore. Who would've thought Song Si could be so easily played when it came to love?

It was obvious his girlfriend wanted to find someone new but thought Song Si was in the way, so she'd sent him off to the army. Out of sight, out of mind.

Case closed!

"No way! My baby would never cheat me!"

Song Si refused to believe it and decided Ji Baichang was a terrible person.

"Are you planning to delete the stuff with your mouth?"

Squad Leader Chen Ting came in just then, carrying two Type 95 Assault Rifle models with green shoulder straps.

As soon as they saw Chen Ting return, Ji Baichang and Xue Daochao obediently sat back down by their beds. Their eyes, however, stayed fixed on the rifles in Chen Ting's hands.

Those were real guns!

They'd never seen anything like them back home. You only got to see them in the army!

They hadn't even been in the army for two days, and already they were getting to see real guns!

Noticing their gaze, Squad Leader Chen Ting said casually,

"These are training models. You won't be allowed to use real guns except during marksmanship practice."

With that, he tucked the two model rifles under his bed.

"Have you all finished deleting the stuff from your phones?"

"Squad Leader, I'm done. You can check mine."

Xue Daochao handed his phone to Chen Ting for inspection.

After checking that everything was in order, Chen Ting put the phone into the phone pouch.

One by one, the other recruits finished deleting their photos and reluctantly handed their phones to Squad Leader Chen Ting to check.

"All right, nine phones in total."

After counting all the phones, Chen Ting beckoned Ji Baichang over and told him to take them to the Squad Office.

"You're taking that yellow washbasin to go wash up?"

Chen Ting called out to stop Song Si, who was about to take the basin outside to wash up.

"Huh, Squad Leader? The duty officer just said we could go wash."

"I forgot to tell you. From now on, before bed every night, we'll be following the army's tradition: three sets of a hundred."

"One hundred push-ups, one hundred sit-ups, and one hundred squats."

"You can go to bed once you're done."

At Chen Ting's words, the recruits all stopped what they were doing.

Why did they have to put them through this before washing up and going to bed?

Was serving in the army really this exhausting? They'd already done physical training that afternoon. Why did they have to work out again at night?

But they couldn't voice their complaints. They obediently started the extra exercises Chen Ting had assigned.

By the time Ji Baichang returned to the room after dropping off the phones, the recruits were already working up a storm. He rubbed his eyes, hardly able to believe it.

Were they really this competitive? He hadn't even noticed that they were in such good shape!