Chapter 1: Are you sick?

  Officer Li Tieshu appeared in the military training class on the second day, without apologizing or explaining, as if nothing had happened yesterday.

  He still yelled loudly with a hoarse voice, shouting various training slogans, mercilessly pointing out the numbers of students who made mistakes or did not standardize their movements and letting them re-do the exercise, punishing male students severely.

  He is like an iron tree, which cannot be cut open with a knife or moved with an axe, and even rainwater cannot penetrate.

  A group of students were secretly worried, they knew that Instructor Li Tieshu would definitely remember yesterday's incident and would double his revenge on them in the following military training process.

  As everyone was guessing in their hearts what kind of rigorous training they would receive, the noon military training course was about to end.

  "Attention!" Instructor Li Tieshu shouted out the order. Having yelled orders for so many days, his throat had long since become hoarse.

  Upon hearing his words, a group of boys immediately stood up straight, their eyes fixed directly in front of them.

  "Take a short rest." he shouted.

  Everyone's body is a little more relaxed, but they still don't dare to relax completely.

  Li Tieshu scanned the whole class of students one by one, from Li Yu, who was the shortest, to Zhang Quanwei, who was the tallest, not missing a single face.

  Then he grinned from ear to ear.

  His face was thin and dark, so when he smiled, the exposed teeth seemed particularly white.

  Everyone was shocked!

  Li Tieshu is always secretly called 'Black Face God' by them, with a tough style and never smiling. What's going on today?

  "I want to apologize for what happened yesterday." Li Tieshu said in a gentle voice. Everyone only then realized that he had such a tender side, as they all thought his voice was loud and coarse. "The weather has been quite hot these past few days, and I've also caught a bit of a cold, so I haven't had much appetite for food - didn't expect to suddenly get stomach disease."

  "I've been lying in the hospital with a few bottles of IV fluids, and I've also given you all a hard time. This is my fault, I should have let other instructors help me lead for a while or had them shout 'dismiss' for me - sorry."

  Li Tieshu bowed deeply to the boys.

  "Coach, don't be like this. We can't take it."

  "I mean, I also had acute gastritis. The pain was so severe that I was rolling around in bed, how could I have the energy to think about other things?"

  "Coach, you'll be fine if you just smile more often. You look quite lovely when you smile."

  Students are so simple-minded. If you scold them, they will shun you. But if you suddenly become gentle with them, they themselves will feel uneasy instead.

  Li Tieshu nodded and said: "I'm afraid there's no chance anymore. I have to go."

  The whole audience was in an uproar.

  Because Li Tieshu's military training style is strict and his punishment methods are harsh, many boys think he is a brutal and tyrannical pervert.

  But when he said he was leaving, the boys couldn't accept it.

  Feeling down in the dumps, as if something had been cut away from me.

  "Teacher, why are you leaving? Is your illness very serious?"

  "Instructor, you can't leave yet. Our military training hasn't ended."

  "Coach, stay here. We all want you to stay-----"

  The boys all chimed in, trying to persuade him to stay.

  "This is an order." Li Tieshu said with a smile. "As I taught you on the first day, it's a soldier's duty to obey orders. The superior's order, I have no right to change. Originally, we should have left today, but I actively applied to the leader for some time to come and say goodbye to everyone."

  "I know you may not like me. Because my voice is too loud, the execution of actions requires a high standard, and I often make you run twenty laps around the playground----but this is exactly what I want to teach you. Some things cannot be bargained for. Some people also cannot be bargained for. Understanding this principle earlier, I think it will be beneficial for you."

  "Anyway, it's nice to have met you all. I appreciate your cooperation and also for calling me instructor - originally, this gift was something I had planned to give to you after the military training performance ended. Now, it can only be given in advance."

  Li Tieshu looked a bit embarrassed and swept his eyes over everyone, saying: "Teach you all a song. Hope you like it. I'll sing it first, then you follow me."

  Li Tieshu cleared his throat, brewed his emotions for a moment, and then sang in a soft voice:

  "Cold wind blows and leaves fall"

  The army is a green flower

  Dear comrade, don't think of home

  Don't think about mom

  Time and again I call out day and night, how many words are in my heart

  Don't let tears well up in your eyes when we part ways

  The barracks is our warm home

  Mom, don't worry about me

  Li Tieshu's voice is hoarse and belongs to the kind of person who can't sing in five tones. However, it's unclear whether it's due to a change in mood or Li Tieshu really infused emotions into his singing. Everyone listened with rapt attention, and some boys who could sing hummed along softly.

  "This song is called 'Green Flowers in the Army'. It was the first song I learned when I entered the army. I loved it very much. Come, let's sing it together again now." Li Tieshu said with a smile.

  "There's a good girl in my hometown" Li Tieshu led the way in front.

  "There is a good girl in my hometown" A group of students followed behind.

  "I often dream of her" Li Tieshu's tone was very steady.

  The students in "I often dream of her" class raised their voices a lot, as if they had a bellyful of anger to vent.

  "Even heroes have feelings"

  "Even heroes have feelings"

  "Also willing to accompany you to the ends of the earth"

  "Also willing to accompany you to the ends of the earth"

  ——————

  Coach Li Tieshu has left.

  When the song "Green Flowers in the Army" ended, he saluted everyone with a solemn face, and many boys cried out loud.

  They only then realized how much they respected and admired this dark-faced, hoarse-voiced, violent-tempered man with his endless punishments.

  Third Canteen.

  Tang Zhong buried his head in eating buns, but the fried chicken wings on the plate had never been touched.

  "Second brother, what's wrong? No appetite?" Hua Ming asked with a smile, grabbing one of Tang Chong's chicken wings and feeding it to himself.

  Tang Zhong looked up at him and put down his chopsticks, saying: "The instructor left in a hurry."

  "That's right." Liang Tao echoed. "Lu Yifei is really a scoundrel. He wants to show off, but ends up getting the instructor into trouble for his own mistakes."

  "This is not the most important thing," said Tang Chong. "Those who are selected to train new recruits are generally excellent soldiers from various troops. As long as this mission is successfully completed, it will be beneficial for their promotion or reassignment in the troops."

  "What do you mean?" Hua Ming furrowed his brow.

  From Li Tieshu's words, we can tell that he is the son of a peasant and has no background. The fact that such a person could become a military training instructor at Nanjing University proves that he made more efforts than others ----- originally this was a good thing for him. However, unexpectedly, due to the collapse of several students, his mission was revoked halfway through the military training.

  The impact of such an event would be extremely severe, and it's possible that his file would be marked. Tang Zhong sighed softly. In the Hate Mountain Prison, there was a prison guard who was a retired soldier, and he had been a skilled fighter in the army back then. However, due to a small incident, he had been marked on his file by the army. After being discharged, he couldn't find a good unit to join, so he ended up working in the prison just to make ends meet.

  Whether it's the prisoner or the prison guard, for a young person to enter prison means his life is ruined. It's rare to see someone like Da Dangjia who takes prison as their home.

  "Is it that serious?" Liang Tao furrowed his brow. "Then Instructor Li Tieshu's whole life won't be able to get out of this mess?"

  "Is there any way to keep him here?" Li Yu asked. Although Li Yu was also one of the four members of 307, he rarely spoke and would not express his own views on anything. Today, he took the initiative to ask, proving that he too did not want Li Tieshu to leave.

  Tang Chong shook his head. "Didn't Captain Li just say that? This is a military order. He can only execute it. We can't help with anything else."

  "What? Second Brother wants to keep Instructor Li here?" Hua Ming asked, picking his teeth with a chopstick.

  "What's the use?" Tang Chong sighed bitterly. "I'm not the commander of the troops."

  "Hey, although you're not the captain of the team, what you say is more useful than what the captain says."

  "Whatever." Tang Zhong waved his hand and stood up, saying: "It seems you all don't have much of an appetite either. Go back to sleep."

  Liang Tao also put down his chopsticks and said: "I don't even know what the new instructor looks like..."

  "You guys go ahead. I need to pee. I'll be right back after using the restroom." Hua Ming said, then got up and ran towards the bathroom of the third cafeteria.

  Arrived at the entrance of the bathroom, but did not go in, instead turned into a garden behind.

  Glancing around and finding no one paying attention to himself, he then pulled out his phone from his pocket, rummaged through it for a moment, and dialed a number.

  The phone was answered quickly.

  "Is that Flower Bright?" A man's calm voice came from the receiver. Although they were separated by mountains and rivers, Flower Bright could imagine him sitting there with a straight face.

  "Uncle, it's me." Hua Ming put away his usual playful and mischievous expression, speaking with a serious face.

  "Hmm? What's up?" The man asked, his voice also softened a bit.

  "Uncle, I have something to trouble you with," said Hua Ming with a smile. "The 135 troops that come to our school for training are under your jurisdiction, right? When I came to Mingzhu, you even asked me to visit him."

  "Not bad," the man said.

  "Can you give him a call?"

  "Why?"

  "It's like this, I had an instructor who got into some trouble during military training and was relieved of his duties by the person in charge ahead of schedule. We were worried that this would affect his future prospects," Huaming explained in detail.

  The person on the other end of the phone remained silent and didn't respond.

  Hua Ming waited for a while and then asked proactively: "Uncle? What's your opinion?"

  "Do you know what it means if I make this call?" the man said in a steady voice.

  "I know." Hua Ming let out a soft sigh. Of course, he knew what this phone call from his uncle meant for Li Tieshu. With his uncle's current status, making a phone call to the main leader of the 135th division just for a small soldier like him was enough to show how much his family valued this person-----

  As for what happened later, there's no need to say that those people also knew how to support and cultivate Li Tieshu.

  "This is what Tang Zhong meant," said Hua Ming.

  "Did he tell you to come find me?" The man on the other end of the line was still speaking in the same tone, but his voice was now filled with a sense of suppressed deadliness.

  "It's not," Hua Ming explained. "He wanted to keep the instructor here, but he couldn't. I said I was going to the bathroom and snuck out to make this call to you."

  "So ---- what's your meaning?"

  "He wants to keep him here. He can't leave." Hua Ming said in a low voice, his usual playful and teasing expression when facing his roommate and gentle and kind face when facing the rabbit becoming so serious and determined.

  (PS: Old Willow wants votes, you can't not vote!)