“10km jog starts now.”
Many grind their teeth in silent anger at his command, but no one uttered objections. The first rule to being a soldier is to obey with unconditional obedience.
A 10km jog was nothing to sneeze at, despite it being an hour’s matter to the female recruits. The tough part was running with weights—rocks tied to their backs. By the end of it, they would likely be ready to drop.
And so the soldiers pushed off. Yan Huan was content enough with being able to rest. She pulled up the blanket and prepared to sleep.
Anyway, she wouldn’t even last 3 km in her current state, much less ten. Snug in her blanket, she shut her eyes. Why not sleep, she thought, I earned it.
The break had come at the expense of her blood, so she might as well sleep.
While everyone else was sweating out there, she had the privilege of taking things easy. How great.
She snuggled up against the blanket and breathed in the smell of the sun. The blanket had been under the sun the day before, and the lingering heat felt comfortable. It was nothing compared to being at home, but she had not come to the army for comfort.
Soon, she dozed off. She was sound asleep when a man walked inside.
The female recruits’ hostel was kept tidy, with standardized blankets folded like tofu cubes, the first thing they were taught in the army. There wasn’t anything fancy in the hostel—pillows atop neatly-folded blankets, basins that came in all sizes, toothbrush and toothpaste facing one direction. Lu Jin had thrown Lu Yi into the military since he was little, so he essentially grew up in the army. The nostalgia at the familiar sight made him lose himself for a second.
In a single glance, he noticed Yan Huan sleeping. She slept on the lower level of the bunk bed. Sleeping on which level mattered little to a soldier, but he still arranged for her to be in the lower level, so that she could avoid the hassle of going up and down.
He went beside her and sat down, then adjusted her blanket.
“Still so headstrong, still the girl I know.”
Lu Yi placed his hand on her forehead gently. Color had been returning to her face for the past few days, a fact that relieved him to no end. Who would take care of her if he’s not here?
Therefore he came. He had to keep his stubborn girl in check.
It’s not as if no one cared for her—they were worried—but Yan Huan had shut herself off. To her, the whole world has forsaken her.
He sighed, adjusted her blanket again, and left.
Yan Huan, still sound asleep, rolled over. She hasn’t been doing that as often after coming to the army. The exhaustion from the day also made it easier for her to enter a deep slumber at night. She was still afraid of the dark, but not as bad as before.
The army is truly a good place, one that puts all hospitals to shame—it cures all illnesses, including the ones doctors could do nothing about.
Laziness, fear of the dark, or even fear itself. None of that exists here.
They were as much soldiers as they were women.
Lu Yi consulted his watch. The recruits won’t be back so soon, so he made a trip to the military hospital.
“How is it?” Lu Yi asked the doctor. “Is she doing okay?”
“She’s fine,” answered the doctor, flipping through her records. He lifted his eyes. “You came all the way here for her, didn’t you? I knew there was something strange about you volunteering to be an instructor. I mean, we have invited you dozens of times in the past, but you turned us down every single time.”
Lu Yi said nothing and took the records from his hand, flipping through them page by page. He wasn’t a doctor, so he found many technical terms difficult to understand.
Still, he could make out that there wasn’t anything seriously wrong with her.
“Is there anything she should avoid doing?” Lu Yi asked the army doctor, who used to be his classmate in command school. He came to become an Inspector, while his friend remained in the army and became a doctor.
Of course, his lips were sealed tight.
They all knew what to ask or say. No one around there was foolish enough to ask the things that should not be asked.
“Nothing in particular,” said the doctor, sprucing up his white coat. “One thing she should avoid is doing such a dangerous thing again. Her blood type is special, so she might lose her life if she drains herself of too much blood.”
“Does she need a transfusion?” asked Lu Yi, clutching his elbow.
“No,” answered the doctor. He knew the meaning behind his words. “I know you two have the same blood type, but it’s only a matter of time before she recovers. You should be the one staying in the hospital. You haven’t recovered fully yet.”
“I’m fine,” said Lu Yi. He wasn’t worried about himself. He knew his own body better than anyone else. He had often been injured before this ordeal and managed to pull through every single time. More importantly, despite losing a good amount of blood, he didn’t suffer from anything like ruptured organs, so his recovery would be faster than usual too.
And how could he be at ease with Yan Huan in her current state?
He could only rest easy when she recovers thoroughly. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have set everything aside just to become a recruit instructor here. This wasn’t something the past him would have done, but things were different now.
He did not know what length he would go to for his girl. For her, it felt as though there wasn’t a limit at all. Once again, Yan Huan found herself in the military medical center. The instructor had ordered her to have another check-up. She had come once to get medical leave. Her life wasn’t something she messed around with. She was headstrong, but she knew her limits. Crossing those limits would be an act of courting death, not determination.
The doctor handed her a slip after the inspection.
“Take another 2 weeks off.”
