CH 30.2

Chapter 30.2 – Tanned Person

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The instructor revealed an initial display of authority and it was inevitably a ‘100 push-ups’ when he opened his mouth. But when it was time to do it, as long as the students did the first twenty seriously, he still let the students cheat with various methods later.

Without doubt, Meng Sisi is the most bizarre existence in the class. Before the military training is over, she gains the title ‘Brother Si’.

After the past few days of military training, the revolutionary friendship between Class 1 and Class 12 was profound, and the students who didn’t get along at the beginning became good friends unexpectedly.

Xu Hang was relatively strict with the students. In addition to goose-step and square formation practices, he also taught fistfight, and the seizing-and-grappling tactics.

The girls in the class were all delicate, so Xu Hang often called Meng Sisi to the stage and asked her to demonstrate self-defense techniques to the female students with him.

The girls learned two moves and started to practice against each other, but because they were too ‘menacing’, the boys liked to complain to the instructor, “Instructor Xu, aren’t the skills you teach too menacing? What if the girls in our class use this against us in the future?”

Xu Hang spoke with a serious face, “These are self-defense skills, boys should not slack off too, do you think bad guys will only attack the girls? Think too much. Boys are not allowed to watch from the side, learn together!”

************

The students were always woken up by the whistle in the middle of the night and had to go downstairs for an emergency gathering.

In half a month’s time, both boys and girls have all tanned by a degree.

At the beginning of the military training, the class beauty, Yu Wen, would comb and dab her hair nicely every day. But when the military training was almost over, she just tied her hair with a rubber band and was so tired that she didn’t even want to apply sunscreen.

Su Qin was also tired and felt that the military training was more painstaking and tiring than her studies and work.

Every night after she talked to her mother on the phone, she would also make a phone call to Li Chuan. She would always fall sound asleep after saying just a few words.

Listening to the girl’s breathing on the other end of the phone, Li Chuan would take the initiative to hang up.

It’s good to hear the young girl’s voice every day and he doesn’t ask for much.

Military training was hard and gradually, the students felt that there was joy in suffering.

On the day of graduation, the heat subsided and the sky was overcast with drizzling rain. The students in the squad stood like pines, as still as stone tablets.

After the flag-raising ceremony, the freshmen of high-school-year-one began the military training parade. They marched neatly across the podium and accepted the leaders’ inspections.

After the end of the parade, the instructors’ vehicle had parked at the entrance and the instructors stood in line at the school gate with bags behind their backs, ready to get on the vehicle.

These past ten days or more, Su Qin was also very tired. She intends to go home to take a good bath and checks her mother’s ‘assignment’ for the past two weeks.

After the team disbanded, Su Qin walked towards the dormitory building and found that she had become solitary, as she was the only one walking towards the dormitory. Other students were gathering in a large group to go to the school entrance.

Su Qin followed and found her three roommates choking with sobs around the instructors. She suddenly felt if she was too heartless?

She has lived a lifetime and knows that some people are just passers-by in life. Even if you are all tears now, after a few years or a decade, these people will fade away in your life.

She liked this instructor, Xu Hang, very much, but when faced with this kind of separation, she couldn’t cry out.

Su Qin turned to look at Yun Fei, and even this lad was secretly wiping his tears too.

Reaching over, she patted his shoulder and comforted, “You’ll meet again in the future, don’t be so emotional.”

Yun Fei bit his lips, “Not emotional.”

Su Qin was amused by his duplicitous appearance and continued to watch her classmates send the instructors off.

Yu Wen and Yan Yixiao stuffed apples and gifts into the instructor’ hands, red-eyed and biting their lips without uttering a word.

Xu Hang comforted the two girls, “What’s there to cry about? Forgot how I punished you all at first?”

The two young girls didn’t forget his stern appearance at that time, but they also didn’t forget the instructor’s partiality towards his students and the way he let them cheat.

This man who always takes ‘100 push-ups’ as his mantra, also provided them with lots of positivity.

Just as the students each said something and stuffed gifts into the instructors’ hands, Meng Sisi hugged the man and cried tearfully.

Her voice stammered, “Instructor Xu, what you said to me last night, I will not forget, never will. As long as the hurdle in life is a hurdle, it certainly will pass. Instructor Xu, wait for me.”

Feeling that ‘Brother Si’ dominated the instructor too much, the male students pushed Meng Sisi aside and scrambled to hug Instructor Xu, each crying like the little daughter-in-laws.

The boys’ hugs were not as gentle as the girls’, and Xu Hang was almost suffocated by the boys’ embraces.

Looking at these children, Su Qin couldn’t help laughing and the corners of her lips hooked up genuinely at ease.

This is the group of children’s youth, as if, she doesn’t remember she is already an ‘old woman’. Compared to the ups and downs of her previous lifetime, her chest was full of sadness at this moment.

This kind of youth is really good.

Xu Hang waved goodbye to his students, got on the vehicle, then met the gaze of the instructor sitting opposite him, he turned his face away and the rims of his eyes slightly reddened.

In front of the students, the instructors dared not be too sentimental, but once they got on the vehicle, the atmosphere quietened down and the instructors began to secretly wipe their tears.

The military vehicle drove out of the campus and gradually got further away.

Through the iron door, Xu Hang looked at the girl who climbed on the gate trying to wave at him. He couldn’t help but curl up the corners of his lips and waved goodbye to her.

The little mischievous students.

This group of students are probably his fondest memories of the past twenty-five years?

Back in the dormitory, Su Qin glanced at the time and hurriedly stuffed dirty clothes into her bag as she bid farewell to the several other girls, “Girls, I’ll go first. See you once school starts.”

Yu Wen, who was looking in the mirror, called out to her, “We intend to dine together, won’t you join us?”

“Nah! Someone is waiting for me, I’ll go first!” Su Qin flung the backpack over her shoulder, waved at them without looking back as she ran out of the dormitory.

Meng Sisi was still sitting on the bed crying. Staring at the bullet necklace spread out in her hand, she was choking with sobs.

Seeing her crying so sadly, Yan Yixiao jumped up, knocked on the bed and said to her, “Brother Si, don’t cry. If you really like Instructor Xu, go after him in the future ah.”

She understood this reasoning, but Instructor Xu didn’t even leave her any contact details.

Sitting cross-legged on the bed, Yu Wen stared at her tanned self in the mirror and cried out, “Heavens, how did my face become like this? I’m going to die, I don’t want to live anymore!”

Yan Yixiao turned around and comforted her, “Don’t be sad, you are still fine. Look at Su Qin, tanned like a piece of charcoal and she didn’t even utter a word!”

Thinking about that piece of ‘charcoal’ Su Qin, Yu Wen felt slightly better.

**********

Outside the school, there were mountains of people and waves of cars.

The long queue of cars lined up from the top to the bottom of the hill. The traffic jam was spectacular and parents who came to pick up the students had directly caused the traffic to standstill.

Standing in front of the school gate, Su Qin looked around but didn’t see Li Chuan.

He agreed to pick her up to have a meal together, why couldn’t she see him for a long while? Su Qin was about to take out her handphone to call Li Chuan, but saw the man standing ten meters away from her and was looking around.

Dressed in a white shirt and black trousers, Li Chuan seemed to have just gotten off work and didn’t have time to go back to change his clothes. In the stream of people, he was solemnly aloof.

Su Qin jumped up and waved to the man, but the other party was as if she didn’t exist.

She walked over and slapped the man on the shoulder.

The man’s cold, sharp gaze shifted to her face, and was obviously stunned for a moment, before his expression resumed its gentleness.

Li Chuan sized up the tanned girl with short ear-length hair in front of him. After a while, he frowned and said, “Su Qin?”

Why …. so tanned? He almost couldn’t recognize her.