Fine ingredients often only require the simplest cooking thods. After bustling about for a good half an hour, Chef Fang finally managed to guide Yue Tao in fixing up a bedspread that was barely acceptable to the eye.
When he entered the squad, the whistle just blew.
Yue Tao excitedly followed behind Fang Huai.
"Fang Huai, my bedspread today is definitely the best-looking one!"
The lights in the squad room were already on, and Squad Leader Hao was sitting on the bed, groggily coming to his senses. Hearing Yue Tao’s words, he fixed his gaze and took a look.
"Yue Tao, why did you bring in another lump of shit?"
The new recruits burst into laughter.
Yue Tao fell from heaven to hell and stood there, stunned.
Fang Huai turned around and gave a light cough.
"Ahem... Squad Leader, it’s not pretty, but I’ve reworked his lines, so now they make sense."
Hao Chengbin stood up, took a look at his bedspread, and then casually tweaked it a bit.
"Hmm... it’s short, but from now on, fold it this high. Let the Deputy Squad Leader teach you properly."
As he spoke, he turned his head and saw that everyone was seriously pinching their bedspreads. After inspecting a few, his eyes lit up.
"Hey, there’s improvent in these bedspreads today! Fang Huai, did you guide them?
Fang Huai carefully placed his bedspread on his bed and turned around.
"Report, Squad Leader! I told them to rub it with a stool! And also, I borrowed a ruler from the Brigade Departnt and had them redraw the lines. From now on, our squad’s standards will be unified; it’ll look neat!"
"Hmm..." Hao Chengbin’s tone also returned to clarity, and with his hands behind his back, he looked around again.
"You all still need to rub it properly, rub it for a few days. The cotton is too fluffy. It looks alright now, but wait until the sun cos out, it’ll puff up inside, and it’ll need to be beaten down. You could even use a bench to rub it... You’ve just arrived, I didn’t teach you these thods so you could get more familiar with your bedspreads.
Let’s see Han Yong’s bedspread..."
Hao Chengbin turned his head and took a glance, his mouth imdiately half-open, but rembering that it was Han Yong’s first day in Squad Nine, he held back his urge to scold and just shook his head, then took his washbowl and left.
"Oh my god, Fang Huai! Didn’t the squad leader praise your bedspread?" Chen Zhongqiang asked with so amazent.
"Yeah! Fang Huai, your bedspread is so well-folded!"
"Yeah! I feel it’s almost the sa as the Squad Leader’s! But his bedspread is white!"
Fang Huai smiled and shook his head.
He had indeed managed his bedspread quite attentively today. After rubbing it repeatedly for a long ti, feeling it firm up, he then started his work and ticulously finished it, making sure each line was taken care of. He could say that he had never been so serious about housekeeping in his past life.
But it didn’t dazzle Hao Chengbin much, because Hao Chengbin clearly had higher standards for him.
How excellent Fang Huai really was depended entirely on the contrast with his sa year soldiers. If thrown among the old soldiers, he would be just so-so.
But Fang Huai’s bedspread was against the wall, right in sight when you entered, so everyone who entered the squad saw it.
As soon as that bedspread was laid out, the new recruits were all impressed.
...
This morning, the Regint Departnt didn’t inspect the Internal Affairs.
Before alti, leading everyone to tidy up and clean the interior, he even cleaned the windows again himself, which took over two hours.
Another day of bustling about for nothing.
The Deputy Squad Leader Fang, who had a strong utilitarian mindset, felt a sense of dissatisfaction as he watched the squad room clean and the bedspreads tidier than ever, and quietly clocked it in his mind.
Justice may be late, but it will never be absent.
Reversed, this saying better reflects reality.
Justice may not be absent, but it will definitely be late.
And when it does arrive, it is often unnecessary.
An inspection of Internal Affairs is precisely this sort of thing. The Regint Departnt usually starts the inspection after everyone’s enthusiasm has worn off and they’ve beco slothful.
The grumbling psychology of the crafty people cos into play.
Fang Huai took a mont to control himself.
"Beep—beep." The sound was distant; it was the whistle from the third-floor Regint Departnt.
"Each Company, lead your troops in turn to the bathhouse to bathe! First Company starts, the other companies arrange to morize regulations on their own!"
Everyone was in high spirits, unclear what they were looking forward to.
Seeing Peng Yingqirui pour so shampoo onto his head, Fang Huai couldn’t help but make a snide comnt.
"Little one, didn’t you hear? First Company starts...we’re in Seventh Company!"
Peng Yingqirui replied impatiently, "I know! I’m just afraid when it’s our turn, I won’t be able to open it!"
Fang Huai curled his lip.
"You’re taking way too long with the foreplay. You applied the lube too early. Just wait patiently."
Those in the know all started laughing.
Fang Huai turned around, watching the new recruits rummage through their camouflage bags for toiletries, and sighed, choosing not to dampen everyone’s enthusiasm.
He wondered if they would still love bathing so much after they returned. Anyway, he had only prepared a bar of soap for himself and could wait to wash his hair after returning, slowly taking his ti in the evening.
Within a couple of minutes, the door opened.
Hao Chengbin ca in with a stack of papers, his eyes still heavy with sleep. Seeing the new recruits holding shampoo and body wash, with Lu Zexian even having a bottle of exfoliating scrub for mud baths, he was taken aback.
"What are you doing?"
"Squad Leader, we’re putting our things in the basin!" Lu Zexian answered.
"Why the rush? Seventh Company isn’t due to bathe until this afternoon!"
After saying this, Hao Chengbin glared, handed Fang Huai the docunts, and said,
"Distribute these, everyone must morize the orders and regulations on the docunts! By next Friday, there will be a check on reciting the regulations!
There are only three pages, we’ve already lightened the load! This is a must-morize! Later on, the Regint Departnt will organize a competition on regulations. Those of you who can morize more, feel free to sign up! This will bring honor to our squad and company, so try your best to achieve that!
There are also two pages with three military songs, "Red Camp," "When That Day Cos," "The Motherland Will Not Forget." You’ve been taught these songs over the last few evenings, right?
Fang Huai can play the guitar, right? Sing them a few tis with Fang Huai later. I’m tone-deaf, so I won’t sing and make a fool of myself!"
"Oh my God, that’s a lot!" Yue Tao glimpsed the dense words on the docunts and covered his face with his hands.
Although there were only three pages, when printing them out yesterday, Wang Jian reminded Fang Huai three tis to "format them more compactly to save paper."
The line spacing was changed from 1.5 to 1.2, the font from Song size four to size five, then to small size five.
Fang Huai knew best how much was on these small three pages.
About 1500 words per page.
Once the docunts were handed out, even the usually honest Hu Deli began to wail.
"Squad Leader, I can’t read!"
Hao Chengbin twisted his mouth into a smile, "Should I recite it to you every night before bed, or should we buy a new Xinhua dictionary now and teach you to recognize the characters?"
"No... no need."
Now in the squad, new recruits say that Squad Leader Hao has two states, one is his usual affable state, where he jokes around and asks questions.
But when he smirks and sneers, there’s no room for bargaining, and any further back talk would unleash his fury.
As for Deputy Squad Leader Fang, his authority mainly manifests in his support of Squad Leader Hao, and Fang Huai has not snitched on anyone so far, which everyone is quite satisfied with.
...
o’clock.
Ten new recruits pulled out the hidden tabletops from their stools, sitting quietly in pairs.
The base loudspeaker sounded, starting to play "The Motherland Will Not Forget," the song they must learn.
"You don’t need to recognize , nor do you need to know
I blend my youth into the rivers and mountains of the motherland
The mountains know , the rivers know
The motherland will not forget, will not forget ..."
Military songs played softly and loudly are completely different concepts.
The high volu emitted from a nearby loudspeaker was as thunderous as rolling thunder, stirring and moving, and as gentle as a drizzle, touching the heart and the scene.
Especially this song, which is said to make even dogs want to jump up and beco military dogs, the exclusive anthem for the Three-Army Guard of Honor.
Zhao Bing stood by the window, holding so docunts, yet looked up into the distance, his silhouette seeming to linger in thought.
As if inspired to write poetry, he mused softly,
"This song... it’s really good, ’the mountains know , the rivers know .’
Fang Huai put down the docunts and said irritably, "Just morize it, you’re not dead yet."
Lu Zexian was also devoid of sentint, chiming in with laughter,
"Exactly! If you can’t recite it by next week, you’ll really be sacrificed!"
"Hey, Fang Huai, this Article 105 of the ’Internal Affairs Regulations,’ it says that the brim of the hat must not be more than 1.5 centiters from the brow, how long is 1.5 centiters?" Yue Tao patted Fang Huai and asked.
Fang Huai turned around.
"Just a bit more than a finger’s width, use your finger to gauge it, and you need to trim off anything that sticks out..."
While speaking, he noticed Han Yong and Peng Yingqirui, fast asleep on the last row atop the bench tables.
"Hey, hey! General Han, General Peng, ti to wake up!"
Liu Yue turned around and gave them both a pat.
"Ah... Is it ti to eat?" Han Yong woke up groggy, standing up ready to eat.
Peng Yingqirui was even more aweso, seemingly having gone ho in his dream, and without raising his head, he waved his hand.
"I’m not eating, you guys go ahead..."
Fang Huai twitched his mouth in response.
This series of dream-talk could only score 82 points, the remaining 18 points would be delivered to them in a 666 manner.
...The Company Leader would co to check the squad in the morning, and if he saw anyone sleeping with the squad leader absent, it would be his responsibility as the deputy squad leader.
There was no other option.
Fang Huai stood up with a smile and shouted,
"Hello, Squad Leader!"
"Wo... Hello, Squad Leader!"
At this, four of them were shot up!
The others laughed.
It was only then that Fang Huai realized these guys really had aweso skills for sleeping; Sun Lianhai and Chen Zhongqiang could even sleep with their eyes half-open, and from such a close observation just now, he almost thought these two were reciting sothing.
With such a skill at hand, no wonder they were fit to be soldiers.
The ones who stood up were now fully awake and, noticing Fang Huai’s half-smiling gaze, didn’t dare to complain and sheepishly sat down.
After a while, Zhao Bing, feeling sowhat elated after listening to a couple of military songs by the window, returned to his spot and reached out to pat Fang Huai,
"Hey, hey, Squad Leader Fang, they were all dozing off, how about you teach us a military song to wake us up? It’s the perfect mont!"
"Wait a minute, first morize the materials, and I’ll take so ti before dinner to lead you in singing," Fang Huai said.
"Teach us anyway, I want to learn!" insisted Zhao Bing.
Fang Huai turned around, sowhat puzzled, "What’s with the rush? Can’t you wait to learn later?"
Zhao Bing seed to have never discussed this topic with anyone before, at first excited and loud,
"Do you know why I beca a firefighter? In the past, a landslide happened near our ho, and several families in our village were rescued by firefighters!
Since I was little, the elders in our village always said that being a soldier and a firefighter was good, so my brother and I both enlisted this year and chose to beco firefighters.
But ever since I arrived, there are no guns, no training for firefighting skills, we’re just suppressed every day! It’s like being in prison!
But just now, that song... it really moved !
I feel that being a soldier is very noble! Do you get it?"
Fang Huai fell silent for a mont after hearing this.
Perhaps it was a matter of heartfelt honesty. Zhao Bing had spoken his true feelings without pretense, and Fang Huai was reminded of many stories.
Then, he spoke rather seriously,
"Zhao Bing, let tell you the truth, this feeling you have, it’s not real.
It’s the result of hormone secretion by your hypothalamus.
If soday you enter a fire scene or a dangerous situation and still need this song to push you forward, then I suggest you don’t go because that’s just your impulse.
I’m not saying soldiers can’t be passionate or impulsive.
But firefighting patrols are rife with danger, and impulsiveness isn’t permitted; every judgnt must be made in a state of absolute calm.
Complete the task, die, and you’re a martyr.
Complete the task and survive, that’s even more precious, understand?
A real soldier doesn’t need military songs."
Fang Huai’s speech, devoid of grandiosity, even left the usually cynical Lu Zexian breathless.
The door opened.
A group of cadres stood at the door, and among them, an officer with half-white short hair clapped and smiled,
"Well said, young comrade!"
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