Chapter 416: Yan Zhiming Retired, New Recruit Fury! (2)
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
“Little brother!”
At the doorway, a woman gently pushed the door open and called out softly.
It had been a long time, and Yan Zhiming wasn’t ready yet.
Quickly wiping away his tears, Yan Zhiming turned around. “Oh, sis, please wait a moment. I’ll change my clothes right away.”
Gao Sisi had already left.
Once he confirmed his discharge date, the military said they would contact his family to pick him up. Gao Sisi, who was just in her sophomore year, didn’t feel prepared to face Yan Zhiming’s parents and relatives yet.
At this moment, Yan Zhiming stood in the room and swiftly took off the sickbed clothes he had been wearing for over two months.
He put on his military uniform, then carefully checked his appearance before heading towards the door.
“I’m ready now…”
Wang Ye learned about Yan Zhiming’s discharge from the army the next day when he was reading the regimental report.
Holding the report and looking at the photo of Yan Zhiming in military uniform with the Second-Class Merit Medal pinned on it, he couldn’t help but sigh.
Old Yan didn’t tell him when Yan Zhiming would be discharged.
Even a few days ago, Wang Ye had taken the time to call and ask him, but Yan Zhiming had told him it hadn’t been decided yet.
But now he saw it in the regimental report.
Wang Ye knew that Yan Zhiming probably didn’t want him to go and see him off, potentially delaying his own work.
So, he chose to keep it a secret from him.
“Do you guys feel like the class leader looked a bit off after reading the newspaper just now?”
In the water room, several new recruits from Class Five were gathered under their blankets.
While they were busy with their tasks, some of them couldn’t help but speak softly to their comrades nearby.
“Yeah, I noticed that too!” someone nodded.
“Do you think it’s because of what he saw in the newspaper?”
“It’s very likely. That headline today was about a soldier from ’09, right? And he’s from Xiangnan. I have a feeling he might be our Class leader’s comrade, or maybe even a fellow villager.”
“That’s quite possible. Otherwise, it doesn’t explain why the Class leader changed like this after reading the newspaper.”
“All, I never thought that even in peacetime, something like this could happen. But it just strengthens my resolve to be a soldier. I joined the army hoping to see the battlefield, and I thought I might never get the chance, but with things like this happening…”
“Be careful you don’t end up in a situation like that yourself!” someone joked.
“Well, that would be my honor!”
Li Jun looked at his fellow soldiers, full of determination, and continued, “A soldier dies on the borderlands; there’s no need for a hero’s burial!”
“That sounds great, but 1 hope that if you ever encounter something like this, you won’t wet your pants.”
Suddenly, a voice came from the door, interrupting their conversation.
At the next moment, with a guilty look on their faces as if they had been caught slacking off by a teacher, Wang Ye appeared at the doorway of the water room.
Looking at Li Jun, Wang Ye spoke again in a calm tone, “Anyone can boast, but based on you, or rather your current performance, even if you do get a chance to encounter those lawbreakers, 1 don’t think you’ll be going to kill enemies, but to deliver your own heads.”
“Report, Class leader, we’ve only been inducted for a short time. We’ll definitely improve in the future!” Li Jun raised his head and retorted, clearly not convinced.
“Hmm!” Wang Ye chuckled, “Is that your excuse?
War doesn’t give you extra time to learn and prepare just because you joined later. Besides, if we talk about the basics, like how neatly you fold your blankets, has your time been short for that?
Go ask the leader of the sixth platoon how long it took me to achieve the internal standard for folding blankets.”
Wang Ye’s words left Li Jun speechless.
By now, some of the things that happened during last year’s new recruit training weren’t exactly secrets anymore. Wang Ye didn’t talk about it much himself, but the sixth platoon leader, Zhou Qi, had shared quite a bit of it.
It was used to motivate and challenge the new recruits in their platoon.
Of course, because they belonged to the same company, Wang Ye, as a platoon leader, often trained with the entire company. In such situations, the things Zhou Qi told the new recruits in the sixth platoon had also reached their ears.
In three days, he had folded the blankets so perfectly that it astonished all the platoon leaders in the entire company. In ten days, he had turned folding blankets into a standard art form and earned the title of” Internal Affairs Model.”
Listen, can anyone achieve such a feat?
Now, they had been inducted for over half a month, and with Wang Ye’s guidance and hands-on training, their folded blankets still had flaws pointed out by Wang Ye every time.
The key was that after Wang Ye pointed out their mistakes, they had nothing to say. This was because when Wang Ye had started the new recruits training, he had also swapped his old blanket for a new one just like theirs.
From day one, he had been folding blankets alongside them. From day one, they could clearly see the vast difference between their folded blankets and the ones Wang Ye folded.
“Let me tell you, when you enter the army, if you want to be a good soldier, you must be strict with yourself. Don’t always use the excuse of being a newcomer. Are you going to be rookies forever?” Wang Ye continued, “Remember one thing, you are my soldiers, and you must measure up to me!”
This last sentence was something Wang Ye had been telling them all along. Although he knew it was impossible for them to catch up to him, considering they didn’t start as recruits, he trained with them day in and day out, using himself as a demonstration and a goal to stimulate them.
He didn’t expect them to surpass him. As long as they aimed to continually improve with him as their benchmark, it would serve as a demoralizing factor for others.
For example, folding military blankets; the Moving Red Flag was already hanging on the wall of Class Five.
“All! I’ve had enough of you!”
Out of nowhere, while Wang Ye was in the water room serving his platoon’s new recruits, there was a sudden burst of shouting not far from Class Seven’s quarters.
Wang Ye’s face changed instantly, and he turned around, rushing towards Class Seven.
“Do you have the guts to say that again!”
The water room was close to Class Seven’s area, and Wang Ye quickly reached the entrance to their quarters.
Right away, he spotted Class Seven leader, with a grim expression, standing by a bed.
In addition to him, there was a new recruit in the dormitory, his face flushed red, locking eyes with the platoon leader.
“What’s going on!”
Wang Ye walked in with a stern face.
He noticed the mess of blankets on the floor.
“Platoon leader, it’s fine, this guy just thinks I’m too nagging. 1 can handle it right away!” Class Seven leader replied with a dark expression.
He was furious inside. This guy had dared to resist him and had shouted so loudly that it had attracted Wang Ye and probably the entire company in the middle of the day.
Embarrassing!
“What do you mean, I think you’re too nagging? I just can’t stand you. Platoon Leader Wang has the ability; he dares to use new blankets and start over with the soldiers in his platoon, folding them anew. But what are you? You keep mentioning Platoon Leader Wang and even punish us from time to time. Can you fold new blankets as well as Platoon Leader Wang? You keep running your mouth…”
“Shut up!” Wang Ye turned and reprimanded him with a stern face.
Immediately, the new recruit fell silent at his words.
But then, he spoke up again, “1 know you’re amazing, Platoon Leader Wang, but what about him? I won’t tolerate this nonsense today. If 1 can be a soldier, I’ll be one.. If I can’t, I’ll just go home!”