Chapter 71: Chapter 69: No Special Talents Either
"Zhou Li, what’s a self-criticism paper?"
"A Confession Letter, I guess."
"A Confession Letter! I’ll write it!"
"You?"
"Yeah!" Huai Xu nodded firmly, feeling he should be the one to deal with the trouble he had caused.
"You don’t know how to write one," Zhou Li said.
"I do!" Huai Xu objected. "When I went to school last year, the teacher asked us to write an essay. I secretly wrote one and handed it in. The next day, the teacher even asked who wrote it, saying it was well-written!"
"Then you write it."
Considering Huai Xu’s excellent primary school-level essay writing skills, Zhou Li, afraid he would struggle, added, "Don’t take it too seriously. Just scribble three to five hundred words. Nobody’s going to read it anyway."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Then you go to military training, and I’ll go back and write!"
"Okay."
The human and the Demon went their separate ways.
The soccer field was not far from Qiu Yuan and the commercial street. The campus was still very quiet in the morning, and Zhou Li could faintly hear the sound of shouted slogans. Walking alone in his military training uniform, he felt somewhat out of step with the rest of the school.
Has it already started?
Zhou Li was not in a hurry; he even went to the commercial street to sit and drink a cup of milk tea, killing half an hour.
He strolled leisurely after leaving the milk tea shop.
It was only when he was nearly at the entrance of the soccer field that he picked up his pace.
It happened to be break time, a period for rest and fun.
This was an excellent opportunity for mutual understanding—
Some squads sat quietly, enjoying the relatively gentle morning sun, with instructors standing in front chatting with them. Others had two or three squads gathered, clearing an open space to play games or take turns performing.
Students who were good-looking, outgoing, dared to perform, or had talent easily became memorable during this activity. Many campus heartthrobs and beauties were born from this moment.
Zhou Li felt a bit lonely walking into the soccer field by himself.
He suddenly realized how large the field was, how small he was, and how small the people in the squads were. The problem was—he couldn’t find his own squad.
To avoid looking foolish, he casually approached a squad to ask the instructor and received a scolding before getting an answer.
Fifth Camp Fourth Company was sitting opposite a girls’ squad. Zhou Li, with his keen eyes, spotted Baozi among the girls but didn’t see Brother Nan. A fair-skinned girl stood between the two squads, singing.
He walked to the side and waited. After the girl finished singing, he approached the instructor and shouted, "Report, requesting to join the ranks!"
The instructor was the same tall one. There was a raw scrape on his face, not covered with a bandage and just exposed; he didn’t look embarrassed about it at all.
"Why are you only here now?"
"Report, I was called to the Academic Affairs Office."
"I thought you didn’t dare to come! Get in line!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Wait a minute!" the instructor called out as Zhou Li turned. "Let me inform you, from now on, you’re the class leader of our company! If you keep stirring up trouble like this, and our company isn’t rated ’advanced’ by the end of military training, I won’t issue your completion certificate!"
"What does a class leader do?"
"What do you do? During training, you lead everyone and set a good example! During breaks, you’re responsible for organizing social activities. If the company wants to hang out with another company, you have to communicate with that company’s class leader. I think you’re quite suited to communicate with the class leader of the girls’ company, eh! As for rest periods..."
The instructor said, looking around the training ground, "See all these companies on the field? The afternoon sun is scorching, and there’s very little shade. You have to figure something out, or everyone will be baking!"
"Understood."
Zhou Li decided to let Huai Xu clean up his own mess.
He walked back to his spot and sat down. Looking up, he saw Brother Nan strolling leisurely from a distance, an ice cream in hand.
Chen Yang nudged his shoulder and asked in a low voice, "Just now, the temporary female class leader of Class Two asked for your contact info. Should I give it to her?"
"Decline politely."
"Why?" Chang Xiaoxiang, sitting in front, turned his head. "That temporary class leader is quite pretty, considered very good-looking in our department. If only a girl like that would ask for my contact info, how great would that be..."
"I don’t want to."
"Sigh..."
Chang Xiaoxiang and Chen Yang exchanged glances, feeling a little wistful.
Seeing no one else was coming up to perform, the Female Instructor of Third Company let everyone have free time, so many people went to buy water.
Zhou Li, however, walked over to a shaded area.
Before long, Brother Nan arrived beside him, a satisfied expression on her face. "Not bad, Zhou Li! You didn’t embarrass me!"
Far from embarrassing her, he had actually brought her credit!
"Hi, Brother Nan."
"Hey. Heard you became a class leader?"
"Yes."
"So now you’re on equal footing with me! Not bad, not bad. In the future, our two companies should hang out more, help each other snag shady spots, and if any guys and girls in our companies hit it off, we can help play matchmaker!"
"Weren’t you going to decline?"
"What could I do? The instructor singled me out and insisted I take the role!" Brother Nan yawned.
"Did you pull an all-nighter again last night?"
"No..."
Brother Nan waved her hand dismissively. I only stayed up until midnight. Does that even count as an all-nighter?
After a pause, she added, "By the way, there’s a pretty girl in my company who asked for your WeChat. Want to give it to her?"
"I don’t have WeChat."
"Oh, I see. Speaking of which, we haven’t added each other on WeChat yet. What’s your WeChat ID?"
"It’s just my phone number."
"Okay." Brother Nan took out her phone and fiddled with it for a moment, then tucked it back into her pocket. "I think you’re attracting a lot of jealousy. Our department is already a case of too many wolves for too little porridge, and now a Monster like you shows up. There’s no telling how many innocent girls you’ll charm... In middle and high school, good-looking people who weren’t good at socializing often ended up being resented. Maybe it won’t happen in college, though."
"Too many wolves for too little porridge?"
"Yeah, it means there are few girls. Even with yours truly, Brother Nan, here, the average attractiveness is still... Hmm, that phrase doesn’t seem quite right, does it?"
"Too many monks, not enough meat."
"Oh, right, right! Too many monks, not enough meat, too many monks, not enough meat..." Brother Nan muttered, repeating it unconsciously, and then it suddenly dawned on her—
THWACK!
Zhou Li’s shoulder took another punch.
Brother Nan glared at him. "You’re teasing me!"
Zhou Li rubbed his shoulder, his expression unchanged. "I’ve been thinking, Brother Nan, you’re also so pretty. Because of that, many guys probably don’t even pay attention to other girls."
Brother Nan froze for a moment.
Huh? My anger just vanished? What just happened?!
She pursed her lips tightly and coughed twice, momentarily unsure what to say. "Well... can you call that ’pretty’? The word is ’dashing.’"
"Right, dashing."
"I’m heading off."
"Take care."
"Even though you hit the instructor, remember, I’m still your Brother Nan. Once Brother Nan, always Brother Nan. Got it?"
"Mhm."
Brother Nan returned to her squad.
But two minutes later, she returned with a bottle of water, saying a bit awkwardly, "Your Little Cousin bought this for you."
"Ji Ran?"
"Do you have a second Little Cousin?"
"Why didn’t she bring it over herself?"
"She’s shy, obviously!"
"Perhaps."
"Exactly!" Brother Nan insisted, frowning. She also sensed something was off, but she’d already picked up the water and taken a few steps. Wouldn’t taking it back now make her seem indecisive and overly sensitive? That must be the only reason! She quickly convinced herself and became thoroughly certain.
"You’re probably right," Zhou Li said.
A piercing whistle blast cut through the air.
The two of them hurried to assemble.
The instructor gave a brief reprimand, then had Zhou Li take his place leading the drills while he himself snuck into the shade to slack off.
This put Zhou Li in an incredibly awkward position.
He’d never done anything so extroverted in his life. Most of the time, he was practically invisible; the last time so many eyes had been fixed on him was during a long-distance race.
Moreover, he was a man of few words and had a soft voice. Forcing him to belt out commands at the top of his lungs was truly asking too much.
There was no way out of it; he could only brace himself and shout.
To top it all off, Brother Nan in the neighboring squad was laughing at him.
The sun grew fiercer, quickly dispelling any coolness. In just a few hours, the city transitioned from the mildness of spring and autumn to stifling summer heat. Today was the third day of military training; everyone’s energy was depleted, and they hadn’t yet adapted to the routine, making it the most agonizing period.
Zhou Li was also getting irritable. When he saw the girls from Third Company starting to rest, he said to the instructor, "Report, requesting a break."
Surprisingly, the instructor nodded. "Go find a squad to hang out with."
At that, Fourth Company’s squad immediately erupted in discussion—should they socialize with the girls from their own department, or was the grass greener elsewhere?
"A rabbit doesn’t eat the grass by its own burrow!"
"Nah, let’s at least show some consideration for our own department’s girls!"
"The girls in our department aren’t that good-looking."
"Isn’t Brother Nan good-looking?"
"Well, there’s Brother Nan, and our class leader..."
"Besides Brother Nan, there are other pretty ones too!"
"We’ll have plenty of time to look at them later, until we’re sick of it! The School of Economics over there is full of beauties. I’ve seen their female class leader; she’s almost as attractive as Brother Nan. Let’s get our class leader to go chat them up!"
"..."
Zhou Li listened in silence as their discussion eventually converged on one choice:
The School of Economics.
So, he first directed everyone to claim a shady spot, then headed towards the School of Economics’ squad. Surprisingly, things went smoothly; their female class leader readily agreed.
And so, the two companies sat facing each other.
The atmosphere was infectious; everyone became more cheerful, braver, and more eager to showcase themselves than usual.
Some sang, some danced.
Some told jokes.
There were even people performing crosstalk.
Some guys flirted with the girls.
And some girls flirted with Zhou Li.
Some students teased the instructors, who merely smiled in response.
Zhou Li suddenly felt this military training was actually quite fun. It was just a shame he had no particular talents to show. Their female class leader sang and danced, but when it was his turn, he could only shake his head in embarrassment. It’s quite a pity, really.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that the "grass by the burrow" squad—their own department’s girls—had teamed up with the School of Physical Education, known for its many handsome guys. Brother Nan was currently performing.
Continuous backflips.
The cheers from that direction were deafening.
Zhou Li averted his gaze and listened intently to Chang Xiaoxiang’s rather flat singing. After Chang Xiaoxiang finished, the crowd clapped enthusiastically and then started to egg Zhou Li on, saying that as a class leader, it was unacceptable for him not to perform anything.
The girls catcalled, and the boys joined the ruckus.
The female class leader from the opposing squad chimed in, "If you really can’t think of anything, ’Two Tigers,’ ’Only Mom is Good in This World,’ or even ’Counting Ducks’ will do!"
Zhou Li was extremely embarrassed.
Sing? Impossible. I’m not going to sing, not in this lifetime. If they’re going to make me sing, I’d rather... do continuous front flips?