There were actually quite a few female soldiers exercising on the training field, but the three of them attracted far more attention than the others. Wen Jiaojiao, in particular, was hard to ignore wherever she went because of her striking beauty. It wasn’t just the male soldiers who couldn’t help looking at her—even the female soldiers found their gazes drawn to her.
Some were envious, while others were jealous.
“What good is being pretty? If she doesn’t have the ability, the army won’t keep her anyway!” Tao Meiyu snorted coldly before walking away.
The three girls continued running, completely unaware that this morning’s run had already made them the subject of conversation.
Wen Jiaojiao and Wu Qin’s stamina was nowhere near as good as Zhang Shaoying’s. After two laps, they were already exhausted.
Zhang Shaoying looked at them disdainfully. “With physical fitness like yours, you still came here to join the army?”
Wu Qin immediately retorted, unwilling to accept the criticism. “I’m not going to the battlefield to fight the enemy. I’m a literary and arts soldier. I’ll be assigned to a drama troupe in the future.”
“What about you, Jiaojiao?”
Wen Jiaojiao had honestly never thought about it. After pondering for a moment, she replied, “Probably a song-and-dance troupe. I’m good at singing and dancing.”
Wu Qin’s eyes lit up. “A song-and-dance troupe? Jiaojiao, with your looks, you’ll definitely become the beauty of the Cultural and Performing Arts Troupe!”
The Cultural and Performing Arts Troupe gathered the prettiest female soldiers in the army. They were also the women many male soldiers dreamed of marrying.
Zhang Shaoying, who had been listening from the side, rolled her eyes. “I knew it. The women in the arts troupe are all just pretty vases.”
Wu Qin didn’t like hearing that. “Shaoying, how can you say that? Their dancing is beautiful!”
“Tch.”
Zhang Shaoying didn’t bother arguing with her. Her actions and attitude made her disdain perfectly clear.
She sped up and ran ahead, while Wu Qin muttered behind her, “Why is she like that?”
Wen Jiaojiao gently patted her. “Don’t take it to heart. Our physical fitness really is lacking. We need to train harder from now on.”
Wu Qin nodded. “You’re right.”
After finishing their training, both girls were panting heavily. Zhang Shaoying had disappeared somewhere, so they decided not to wait for her and headed to the dining hall first.
The dining hall was behind the dormitories. On the way there, they saw many unfamiliar faces. Apparently, quite a few new recruits had arrived today as well.
Wen Lili was carrying her luggage on her back while affectionately linking arms with Liu Xiaocui. The two looked like close friends.
As they chatted, Liu Xiaocui suddenly spotted a familiar figure ahead.
“Lili, look. Doesn’t that look like Jiaojiao?”
Wen Lili followed the direction of her finger. Her expression twisted almost imperceptibly, and without thinking, she shouted loudly, “Wen Jiaojiao!”
Hearing her name, Wen Jiaojiao instinctively turned around and saw Wen Lili and Liu Xiaocui behind her.
She genuinely didn’t even want to acknowledge Wen Lili, but she couldn’t pretend not to see Liu Xiaocui. Liu Xiaocui’s aunt had been the one who provided her letter of introduction, and Wen Jiaojiao owed her a favor she couldn’t ignore.
“Wu Qin and the others are friends from my hometown. You go ahead to the dining hall. Don’t wait for me.”
Wu Qin nodded. “Okay, I’ll go eat first.”
Wu Qin headed toward the dining hall, while Wen Jiaojiao walked toward Liu Xiaocui and Wen Lili.
Wen Lili immediately began questioning her.
“Jiaojiao, how can you be so thoughtless? Do you know how desperately Third Uncle and Third Aunt have been looking for you?”
Liu Xiaocui looked at her strangely. “Jiaojiao, is what Lili said true?”
“…”
Wen Jiaojiao suppressed her impatience.
“No, it isn’t true. That’s not important. You two just finished registering, right? Go put your luggage in your dormitory first. After you’ve settled in, remember to go to the dining hall and eat.”
“My roommates are waiting for me in the dining hall, so I won’t stay.”
She had originally wanted to talk to Liu Xiaocui a little longer, but with Wen Lili standing beside her, she really couldn’t stand it. She would have to find another opportunity later.
Liu Xiaocui had been her best friend during childhood. After Wen Jiaojiao had run away from her arranged marriage, the two had lost contact. She only knew that after joining the army, Liu Xiaocui had married an officer and had become the most successful woman of their generation in the village.
They hadn’t had a chance to meet properly before, and now that they had unexpectedly encountered each other in the army, perhaps because so many years had passed, there was an unavoidable sense of unfamiliarity between them.
Wen Jiaojiao had only come over to exchange a few words and hadn’t even offered to help carry her luggage. Wen Lili felt extremely displeased.
So she deliberately raised her voice.
“Jiaojiao has changed. She stole all the money from her family just so she could join the army. Third Uncle and Third Aunt were so furious that they were bedridden for several days!”
Liu Xiaocui was shocked. “Really? How did Jiaojiao become like this?”
Wen Lili sighed. “Who knows? She’s always hanging around with some hooligans in the woods to the north of the village. Who knows what they’re doing there.”
Liu Xiaocui covered her mouth. “Ah! She even goes into the woods with men?”
“Exactly.”
Wen Lili sounded regretful, but there was unmistakable delight in her eyes.
The two deliberately spoke loudly, and everyone nearby heard them. People who had already had a poor impression of Wen Jiaojiao now viewed her even more negatively.
Completely unaware of what was being said behind her back, Wen Jiaojiao went to the dining hall to get her food.
Wu Qin happened to have finished eating and was coming out. Wen Jiaojiao knew she wanted to go back and study, so she didn’t ask her to wait.
She sat down alone and began eating.
Quiet whispers came from behind her. Wen Jiaojiao couldn’t make out what they were saying, so she assumed they had nothing to do with her.
She hadn’t even finished half her meal when a shadow suddenly fell over her.
She looked up and saw an unfamiliar man in a military uniform standing in front of her.
She couldn’t understand the insignia on his shoulders and had no idea what rank he held.
“Um… hello.”
Meng Weiguo placed his mess tin on the table and smiled.
“Do you mind if I join you?”
Wen Jiaojiao shook her head. “Not at all.”
“What is your name?”
“I’m a new recruit this year. My name is Wen Jiaojiao. May I ask who you are?”
Meng Weiguo gave an amused smile. “You? Do I really look that old?”
Wen Jiaojiao: “…”
Well, he certainly looked older than her.
The man looked quite young, with refined and elegant features and an exceptional air about him. He was obviously not an ordinary soldier.
“I’m Meng Weiguo. Eat your meal.”
“Yes.”
Wen Jiaojiao answered obediently before lowering her head and continuing to eat.
The whispers behind her had continued earlier, but the moment the man sat down, they disappeared as if someone had pressed a switch.
Only after the two finished eating and left did the whispers behind them become even louder.
Meng Weiguo watched as Wen Jiaojiao’s graceful figure disappeared toward the female soldiers’ dormitory.
At that moment, another man in a military uniform approached him and teased, “Commander Meng, who caught your eye?”
Meng Weiguo shook his head. “Don’t talk nonsense. Let’s go. I need to report to Division Commander Meng.”
Li Liang’s mouth twitched.
…
After getting out of the vehicle, Meng Weiguo straightened his military uniform before walking toward the division commander’s office.
“Reporting! Commander of the 233rd Regiment, Meng Weiguo, reporting for duty!”
Meng Weiguo saluted the man sitting behind the desk.
Meng Mingyuan looked his son over and nodded slightly.
“If you’ve come to request that the order be withdrawn, you can go back now.”
Meng Weiguo shook his head.
“Commander, you’ve misunderstood. I’m here to report for duty. Our regiment will be responsible for the new recruits’ physical training over the next month.”
Hearing this, Meng Mingyuan couldn’t help looking surprised.
When they had spoken on the phone earlier, his son had adamantly refused. Why had he suddenly changed his mind?
“You—”
“Commander of the Elite Blade Regiment, Jiang Ting, reporting for duty.”
Jiang Ting’s deep voice carried a powerful resonance, the result of years of training on the battlefield.
Meng Mingyuan immediately changed what he was about to say.
“Come in.”