Mule cart, tractor, upon reaching the county town, they switched to a big Liberation truck with a rain canopy.
Zhang Hanchao sat in the cab, while Li Haiyang and a group of competing militian got into the rear compartnt, all wearing the sa military cotton jackets. These were new military supplies issued by the county to the participating militian just before boarding, much to the delight of everyone.
The truck jolted like a sieve, but none of the young people seed to mind, full of excitent and anticipation, eagerly awaiting their efforts to shine at the regional contest and hopefully win a special county prize.
By the ti they reached the area, the sky was already faintly light. Li Haiyang raised his wrist almost to his eyes to make out the hands and said, "It’s not yet seven o’clock. Everyone get off the truck, do so activities on the spot, and I’ll go buy so food coupons. Later, we’ll head to the canteen for breakfast."
Getting off the truck, Ling Chengyan surveyed the surroundings, noting that it wasn’t much different from the county’s compound, with rows of red brick and red tile houses, main roads paved with asphalt, trees, flowers, and clean, orderly greenery.
After scanning the area, Ling Chengyan turned back to help Li Huaihua get off the truck, seeing her pale face, he assisted her to sit down by a brick flowerbed.
"It’s just motion sickness, right? Nothing serious, rest a while and drink so water, it’ll be fine." The driver dismounted with a large tea kettle to fetch water and said as he saw them.
Ling Chengyan thanked him, took off the kettle from Li Huaihua’s backpack, and said, "Stay here for a bit, I’ll go get so hot water for you."
Following the driver who hadn’t gone far, Ling Chengyan easily found the boiler room for hot water. He filled the kettle twice, washed his face under the cold tap, and cleaned the towel he brought, then returned.
Li Huaihua was already feeling better, wiped her face with a cold towel, and regained so spirit, allowing Ling Chengyan to hand her the hot water kettle, cautioning her to sip slowly.
Even before the water could cool, Li Haiyang returned, calling everyone to line up and head to the canteen.
Just before entering, Li Haiyang distributed food coupons to everyone, covering breakfast and lunch.
Ling Chengyan glanced at them; coarse grain, fine grain, and vegetable coupons were included.
Li Haiyang reminded them, "The window over there sells corn porridge and millet porridge, needing coarse grain coupons. This side sells stead buns, noodles, and small dishes, with buns and noodles requiring fine grain coupons, and small dishes needing vegetable coupons."
The canteen was similar to the one at the county compound but slightly larger, with cleaner round tables. Additionally, there was a dark red curtain hanging on the stage at the other end.
Li Huaihua, feeling much better, volunteered, "I’ll get the porridge, you get the stead buns, okay?"
Ling Chengyan nodded, queued at the stead bun window.
When her turn ca, she saw two types of stead buns: white flour buns and light yellow mixed flour buns. Ling Chengyan bought two mixed flour buns. Turning to look at the small dish options, she saw shredded mustard root and bright red fernted bean curd.
This was her first ti seeing these here; her mouth curled into a smile as she spent a di on two pieces of fernted bean curd, and two cents on shredded pickles.
Finding her county’s table, Ling Chengyan placed the stead buns and pickles down, then went back to fetch Li Huaihua, only to find one piece of her fernted bean curd missing, and the stead buns of a few others at the table showing red marks from the bean curd.
Zheng Hongwei, the sharpshooter from Fujiao Team, chuckled, "Everyone wanted to taste the fernted bean curd’s flavor..."
Ling Chengyan slowly raised her eyebrow expressionlessly, picked up chopsticks, took so shredded pickles from Zheng Hongwei’s dish, and transferred them to Zhang Wanxiang and Wu Qingyun’s plates.
Clapping her hands, she sat down calmly, picked up her stead bun, and began eating.
Zheng Hongwei chuckled belatedly, "You ate my pickles, so we’re even!"
Ling Chengyan glanced sideways at him without speaking, yet the atmosphere at the table shifted from stagnant to lively again, with everyone joining in laughter, especially those who had eaten the fernted bean curd, realizing that Ling Chengyan wasn’t truly angry, and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Hurriedly finishing breakfast, the counties ford columns and headed to the competition venue.
The venue was two streets away from the compound, and Ling Chengyan and her group walked in line, taking the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the scenery and street layout.
It was, after all, a regional base, equivalent to a provincial city, with a city scale much larger than a county town. Willow trees lined both sides of the street. In this season, the willows had sprouted and shed fuzzy buds, half-inch long tender green leaves, fresh and lovely, adding a touch of brightness to the grayed-out buildings and streets.
Not far from the compound exit, at the intersection, there stood a prominent three-storey building with large letters on the door: Hu yuan Regional Departnt Store.
People in the ranks were quite excited, pointing and discussing the building.
"So this is the regional departnt store, much bigger than the county’s supply and marketing cooperative."
"Isn’t the building too tall..."
"It’s a store building, three-storeys high, practically three roofs tall, wouldn’t you say that’s high..."
"After lunch, let’s go for a walk together?"
Ling Chengyan’s arm was tugged; she turned to see Li Huaihua’s excited, shining eyes, nodded, and agreed, "Sure."
Unexpectedly, as soon as she spoke, soone next to her said, "No way, Ling Chengyan has a match in the afternoon, needs a good rest during lunch. I’ve already booked a room at the guesthouse, those participating in the shooting match should familiarize themselves with the venue and then rest at the guesthouse, conserve energy for better results in the afternoon."
Li Huaihua awkwardly tugged at Ling Chengyan’s clothes, softly apologizing, "Sis Yan, I was just caught up in the excitent, forgot you have a match in the afternoon, I didn’t an to drag you back."
Laughing, Ling Chengyan patted her, "It’s okay, I know. After the match in the afternoon, we’ll tell Captain Zhang and go shopping at the departnt store."
The regional match was scheduled similarly to the county’s, with two events in the morning and only shooting in the afternoon.
Ling Chengyan and the others arrived at the competition venue and took part in a brief opening ceremony.
Once the ceremony was over, those in the first event, the throwing competition, went to sign in and prepare, while those in the second event, the bayonet competition, retreated to the concrete step stands at the edge of the field, watching the match and awaiting their turn.
Zhang Hanchao, leading five shooting match participants, gestured toward the shooting range, where white lines were drawn, shooting positions set, but the targets hadn’t been set up yet.
"You should rest at the guesthouse; we’ll have lunch together at the canteen. Rest well and perform well in the afternoon match," Zhang Hanchao said, calling Li Haiyang to guide them to the guesthouse.
Ling Chengyan had already greeted Zhang Wanxiang and Wu Qingyun and followed the group out.
Unexpectedly, before they could leave the venue, whistles sounded, signaling the start of the first round of preliminary throwing matches.
Several people craned their necks to look into the field, Ling Chengyan glanced over, then turned away, knowing their county’s competitors weren’t in the first round. Zhang Wanxiang was actually in the last group.
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