At two in the afternoon, Miss Mu took the freshmen on a tour around the training ground so that they could get to know more about the environment and familiarize themselves with the place.
They ran into Xu Zhenyu at the parade square. Miss Mu tactfully coerced Xu Zhenyu into showing the freshmen around the training ground. Hence, they stood in a single file excitedly, especially the girls who were swooning endlessly.
Xu Zhenyu looked rather stern and aloof, carrying the aura of a true blue major. However, he would occasionally steal a glance at Wen Xinya, who belonged to the first batch of freshmen.
Wen Xinya stuck her tongue out at him as a form of greeting while no one was noticing.
Xu Zhenyu led them to a training area where a group of soldiers had just finished training. They were all seated on the ground sluggishly and chatting mindlessly.
Upon sight of Xu Zhenyu, the soldiers immediately stood up from the ground and kept their backs straight. One of them greeted him politely. “Major Xu.”
The freshmen were dumbfounded and hurriedly stood up to greet him in a similar manner. They seemed to have completed the actions within a split second. How did that happen?
Xu Zhenyu saluted and said sternly in a loud and crisp voice, “Tell the freshmen here about our army’s history.”
The soldier answered firmly, after which he turned around to face the freshmen. “Dear students…”
The freshmen and teachers of Capital University stared at the red military flag while listening to the soldier talk about the history of China, feeling as if they had been transported back to the time of war.
The students, living in the era of peace, suddenly had much more respect for the soldiers.
After getting familiar with the basics of the training ground, the freshmen were brought back to the camp area in their respective classes, led by the commanders and counselors. They were then shown around the rooms that the soldiers lived in, all of which were astonishingly neat and organized. The corridors were clean and sanitary as well.
The bunk beds were arranged neatly and the clean, white bedsheets seemed to have been ironed before. The military blankets were also folded neatly and stacked on top of each other.
Ye Feiyu swallowed her saliva and said, “If my blankets were this neat, I wouldn’t bear to use them at night.”
Wen Xinya snorted with laughter.
She did not sound too loud because she had been suppressing her laughter and trying her best to keep her volume down. However, she still managed to catch Xu Zhenyu’s attention. He glanced at Wen Xinya. It was his first time making eye contact with Wen Xinya openly, ever since he first saw her at the auditorium.
Wen Xinya blinked at him in shock.
Xu Zhenyu smiled faintly and said, “Household chores are the most basic requirements of the military training, and there will be soldiers checking on your room each night. Those who fail to pass the checks will have to be punished.”
Xu Zhenyu then demonstrated how to fold the blankets neatly. He was slow with his actions and even explained in detail.
The boy-crazy Ye Feiyu could not help herself at all. She complimented. “Commander, you’re really impressive.”
Xu Zhenyu glanced at Ye Feiyu before saying aloofly, “Soon, you guys can be just as impressive as I am.” He then shifted his gaze onto Wen Xinya and said, “Now, I shall invite this student to come forth and demonstrate what I have just taught you.”
Wen Xinya gritted her teeth and glared at Xu Zhenyu in a threatening manner. She had no choice but to stand out from the crowd and said, “Commander, I didn’t manage to see clearly what you did just now, so I don’t know how to do it.”
She had always been terrible at household chores. Folding the blankets into a rectangle would be the death of her.
This vicious Xu Zhenyu is obviously out to make me embarrass myself.
I shall remember this!
At this moment, Xu Zhenyu still did not understand why he should never offend women. He insisted. “I just want you to try.”
At last, she stepped forth and messed up the neatly folded blankets before trying her best to recall how Xu Zhenyu had folded them previously. She decided to follow the creases made on the blanket and folded them.
However, she did not do a good job. The edges were not aligned and the blanket was not flattened enough.
Xu Zhenyu said sternly, “You’ve failed.”
Wen Xinya immediately turned red and glared at Xu Zhenyu menacingly when no one was noticing.
After taking a glance at her, Xu Zhenyu said, “Let’s practice household chores this afternoon. I’ll be conducting a check tomorrow morning. Those who fail will be punished and made to stand for two hours.”
Miss Mu brought them back to the hostel after the tour was almost completed.
Wen Xinya, who had intentionally lagged behind, ran into Xu Zhenyu at the stairwell.
Upon sight of Wen Xinya, Xu Zhenyu smiled and instantly looked less aloof than before. “Hahahaha, it’s been so many years but you’re still so terrible at household chores. You can’t even fold a blanket nicely.”
Half a year passed in the blink of an eye and she seemed to have become much prettier. During the briefing, he dared not gawk at her openly, for fear that he would be caught staring at her. Hence, he hurriedly looked away, but soon stole another glance at her because he couldn’t stop himself…
Wen Xinya kicked him and retorted. “Heck, you knew I was bad at household chores and you still insisted that I demonstrate. You just wanted to make me embarrass myself, didn’t you? Xu-er, how did I ever offend you?”
Wen Xinya sounded extremely begrudged as she glowered at Xu Zhenyu.
Xu Zhenyu chuckled and said, “How can that be? I just thought that there was no harm in making you give it a try. Surely you can’t be angry!”
Actually, he had done that because that was the only way he could openly keep his eyes fixed on her without having to worry about getting caught.
Although Wen Xinya was angry, she was not petty and just took it as a harmless joke. “Sure, you can appease me by telling me when you came back. How dare you keep me in the dark? You even mysteriously became our commander. Did you plan this beforehand?”
He would often give her vague replies whenever she asked him questions. Seeing how familiar he was with the camp and training ground, she reckoned that he must have been back for more than ten days.
Xu Zhenyu chuckled and said, “I was back since two weeks ago. No one else knows about my return other than my grandfather. I came to the base camp as soon as I returned, so as to get familiar with the environment. I just returned from Northwest Military Camp, so the higher-ups haven’t assigned me to any mission. Hence, I decided to take on the task of training you guys.”
However, Xu Zhenyu obviously wouldn’t tell Wen Xinya that he had begged his grandfather to change the training ground venue for Capital University’s military training program to let him take over the training.
It was a rare opportunity for him to interact with her for a month since she had to be confined to the camp!
Wen Xinya nodded and exclaimed, “Oh, I see!”
