During the last week of military training, the instructors of each class began selecting the students who would take part in the assessment. Even though the selection was made based on performance, the students had a choice whether to participate or not.
Only thirteen students from the traditional chinese medicine department met the selection criteria, which was exactly the number of people required. Tang Xiaoxiao and Zheng Miao were one of the thirteen students who made the cut, so they registered themselves for the assessment.
Seeing Gu Mang made Li Mu feel that he had failed as her instructor. As he helplessly turned around and left the dorm, Tang Xiaoxiao shouted “bye” at him, then proceeded to shut the door. Thereafter, she returned to her bed, where she took two packets of fruit gummies and tossed one to each of her roommates before opening a packet for herself. She put a gummy into her mouth and said jovially, “Military training is finally going to be over! Even though I’ve learned a lot and am capable of beating up the baddies now, it’s so tiring!”
“My skin has become so dark,” Zheng Miao lamented as she picked up a hand mirror to examine her sunburned face, only to hear the other girl laughing optimistically at that.
“Same here. I’ve never been this tan in my entire life!”
Zheng Miao nodded in agreement, then added, “We need to put in more effort into our training for the last run. We can’t be a disgrace to our class during the competition.”
Tang Xiaoxiao turned to look at Gu Mang, who was playing a game on her phone. “Gu Mang, please cheer us on from the audience stand when that time comes.”
“Okay,” Gu Mang lazily responded.
Picking up the assessment list Li Mu had passed to them earlier, Zheng Miao scanned through the contents before reading it aloud to the two other girls. “It’s just like Sports Day. There will be a 400m obstacle race, shooting, rock climbing, abseiling, and fighting—no, wait…” Her eyes suddenly bulged as she took a closer look at the sheet of paper.
“What’s wrong?” asked Tang Xiaoxiao.
Zheng Miao swallowed her saliva as she looked at her roommates in disbelief. “Believe it or not, but the instructors of each class must also participate in all the activities. Their results will also be included.”
That made Tang Xiaoxiao widen her eyes in shock too. She immediately went over to Zheng Miao’s side and when she saw the last competition requirement, she swore. “Isn’t that overdoing it?! Won’t the losing instructor be embarrassed in front of us all?”
With a deep inhale, Zheng Miao said, “We’re doomed. The instructors will definitely step up our training.”
Lying sprawled on Gu Mang’s bed in defeat, Tang Xiaoxiao cried, “Help!”
“Although Gu Mang is excluded from the assessment, she’ll most likely need to continue to train with us. Argh, what a tough life!” said Zheng Miao while feeling a headache coming on.
…
Zheng Miao’s prediction was right. When they showed up for training the next day, they realized that all the instructors had become fiercer and stricter than before. The training ground was filled with whistles and shouts coming from the instructors. The high-intensity training lasted for five whole days, which was a miserable time for the students. They crashed onto their beds as soon as they made it back to their dorms.
Finally, it came to the last day of training. During a ten-minute break, Tang Xiaoxiao sat down on the ground and examined the cut on her palm made by a wire during the training. When she tried touching it lightly with a finger, she hissed in pain, which got both her roommates’ attention. Both turned their heads toward her and saw the festering wound on her palm.
“How did you hurt yourself?” asked Zheng Miao with a concerned look.
“Yesterday, while crawling through wire netting during the obstacle race…” Tang Xiaoxiao looked at her injured hand. “I accidentally slipped and fell. That’s how I got this cut.”
“Then how did it get so serious?” Zheng Miao pulled her hand over to take a closer look at the wound.
Tang Xiaoxiao eked out a smile. “I thought nothing of it at first, but it became inflamed due to the sweat during training.”
The hot weather had caused the wound to be infected.
Rising to her feet, Gu Mang called, “Instructor!”
Li Mu, who was having a conversation with the instructor of another class, looked over when he heard his name. “What’s the matter?”
“Tang Xiaoxiao hurt her hand. She needs to go to the infirmary,” Gu Mang told him.
