Du Wenlong could not help wanting to laugh at the way Li Qiang looked. He covered his mouth twice, but finally burst out laughing anyway.
Wrapped in an overcoat, Li Qiang sat on the sofa in his sweater and woolen long johns and said irritably, "Go on, laugh. Laugh yourself to death."
Du Wenlong waved his hands. "I'm not the culprit, so don't take it out on me. You agreed readily enough when they asked."
Li Qiang shook his head. "Could I have refused? It wasn't just one or two people. There was a whole bunch of them."
Then he asked Du Wenlong, "Aren't you going to have your picture taken?"
Du Wenlong shook his head. "No, no. I'm so much fatter than you. Those clothes would look awful on me. Besides, we might have military training next semester too. They'll issue us camouflage uniforms then."
After Li Qiang and his classmates finished paying their New Year's respects to their teacher, they headed for another classmate's home, as they had arranged. On the way, several female classmates remarked that Li Qiang looked particularly sharp in his camouflage uniform. One asked whether she could borrow it for a photograph.
Li Qiang could hardly refuse, so they stopped at a photo studio along the way, leading to the scene just described.
University military training in those days did not always begin as soon as freshmen enrolled, as it would in later years. Some universities simplified their training and did not require camouflage uniforms; others waited until six months or a year after enrollment before holding it.
Among these young women, some of whom were in college and others repeating their final year, one had applied to a military academy but failed to qualify. Others longed for military life but could not apply