In the end, the town chief’s son got impatient with his father and directly settled on a bride price of 200 yuan.
The two families had already agreed that as soon as Wen Jiaojiao returned from the military, the two of them would get married. The town chief’s son was so excited that he immediately found people to help prepare the wedding room.
Meanwhile, Wen Jiaojiao, who knew nothing about any of this, had already completed her registration and was busy arranging her dormitory.
The military provided the bedding, so she only needed to buy some daily necessities.
She was the first to arrive at the dormitory. After she finished organizing her things, her roommates began arriving one after another.
“309? This must be it.”
A short-haired, rather heroic-looking girl checked the dormitory number before carrying her luggage inside.
She immediately noticed Wen Jiaojiao and gave her a slight nod before choosing a bed.
The best spot, next to the window, had already been taken by Wen Jiaojiao.
The girl frowned and muttered, “I still came too late.”
She then spread the bedding she had been issued on the bed opposite Wen Jiaojiao. Throughout the entire process, she didn’t say a single word to Wen Jiaojiao.
Only after the girl had finished arranging her things did Wen Jiaojiao introduce herself.
“Hello, my name is Wen Jiaojiao.”
The girl straightened up.
Wen Jiaojiao was 165 centimeters tall, but when the other girl stood up, she was still half a head taller than her—at least 170 centimeters.
A trace of surprise flashed through Zhang Shaoying’s eyes when she saw Wen Jiaojiao’s appearance, but inwardly, she was quite disdainful.
She’s not going to be one of those pretty but useless girls, is she?
“Zhang Shaoying.”
Her tone was neither warm nor cold, and she carried herself with an almost arrogant air.
When Wen Jiaojiao heard her name, she raised an eyebrow.
“Do you know someone named Zhang Shaobing?”
Zhang Shaoying looked at her strangely.
“You know him?”
Wen Jiaojiao nodded. “Yes. He helped me a couple of days ago.”
“Oh. I don’t know him.”
Zhang Shaoying responded casually before turning away.
“…”
The corners of Wen Jiaojiao’s mouth twitched.
She suspected that the two were probably siblings, but the fact that Zhang Shaoying had flat-out denied knowing him was rather amusing.
Besides, it was obvious that Zhang Shaoying didn’t particularly like her. Wen Jiaojiao wasn’t the type to force herself on someone either.
Soon, the third roommate arrived.
She was wearing a floral dress, with her hair gently falling down her back and held in place by a red hair clip. She was also carrying a book in her arms. Her first impression was that of a quiet and gentle girl.
As soon as she entered, she greeted her roommates.
“Are you my roommates? Hello, everyone. My name is Wu Qin.”
Wen Jiaojiao smiled.
“Hello, Wu Qin. My name is Wen Jiaojiao.”
Zhang Shaoying still had that cool expression.
“Zhang Shaoying.”
Zhang Shaoying was tall, and her skin was not fair, roughly the same complexion as a man’s. Wu Qin instinctively felt that she wasn’t someone to be trifled with.
After awkwardly introducing herself, Wu Qin spent most of her time chatting with Wen Jiaojiao.
Wen Jiaojiao was warm toward friendly people. She helped Wu Qin arrange her bed, and Wu Qin chose the bunk above hers.
By the afternoon, almost all the roommates had arrived.
There were eight people in the dormitory in total.
The last girl to arrive was dressed much like Wen Jiaojiao. Both of them had come from the countryside.
Looking nervous and reserved, she greeted everyone.
“Hello, roommates. My name is Wang Xiaomei.”
She blushed throughout the entire process of making her bed, looking rather timid and unsophisticated.
Aside from Wen Jiaojiao, everyone else was from the city, and they looked down on her somewhat.
Although Wen Jiaojiao was wearing equally plain, rustic clothes, the difference between the way those clothes looked on her and on Wang Xiaomei was like heaven and earth.
When it was time for dinner, Zhang Shaoying went out alone.
When girls arrived in an unfamiliar environment, they naturally tended to stick with the first friendly roommate they met.
That was exactly what happened with Wu Qin and Wen Jiaojiao. The two went to the cafeteria together.
After arriving at the cafeteria, Wen Jiaojiao became increasingly convinced that her future life was going to be wonderful.
The military provided food and accommodation, and even paid them a salary.
From now on, the military is basically my home!
New recruits had two days to complete their registration. Formal training and assignments would only begin after those two days.
For now, everyone was free and could walk around the military base.
After dinner, Wu Qin and Wen Jiaojiao decided to take a walk around the training field.
From a distance, they saw a figure running alone on the field, completely oblivious to everything around her.
When they got closer, they realized it was Zhang Shaoying.
After running several laps, Zhang Shaoying went on to practice the parallel bars, horizontal bar, pull-ups, and other exercises.
The two watched for a while.
“Zhang Shaoying works so hard,” Wu Qin whispered. “But do female soldiers need to train physically too?”
Wen Jiaojiao wasn’t sure, but she figured that if you were joining the military, of course you had to train.
“We definitely have to train. Let’s train with Zhang Shaoying tomorrow.”
Wen Jiaojiao understood her situation very well.
This opportunity had not come easily. She had to work twice as hard to make the most of it.
Seeing how motivated Wen Jiaojiao was, Wu Qin became eager to train as well.
The two agreed to train together the next day.
By the following morning, three striking figures had appeared on the training field.
Zhang Shaoying glanced at the two girls running beside her, who were moving at a practically “snail’s pace.”
A look of obvious disdain appeared in her eyes.
“Training hasn’t even officially started yet. Why are you two following me around?”
Her gaze was especially unfriendly toward Wen Jiaojiao.
Because of Wen Jiaojiao’s arrival, a large number of male and female soldiers had gathered around the training field. Their eager gazes were seriously disrupting Zhang Shaoying’s training.
Wen Jiaojiao was frustrated too.
But what could she do? She couldn’t exactly wrap a cloth around her face.
“The training field is huge. You can run yours, and we’ll run ours.”
“Exactly. Zhang Shaoying, we’re roommates. Why are you so against us?” Wu Qin chimed in.
Her little face was flushed.
Part of it was from running, but another part was because so many people were watching.
Jiaojiao was simply too beautiful. Wherever she went, she became the center of attention.
Most of the male soldiers watching from the sidelines were instructors assigned to train the female recruits. They had come over today to report for duty.
Female soldiers were rare, and this was a precious opportunity to interact with them, so everyone was eager to get involved.
When the lucky male soldiers who had managed to get the assignment spotted the most beautiful female recruit on the training field, they all grinned, revealing rows of bright white teeth.
They rubbed their hands together eagerly, already planning to show off their abilities once training officially began.
With so many people gathered around, someone must have reported the situation.
A furious shout suddenly rang out, and the male soldiers immediately scattered like frightened rabbits.
A young man dressed in a military uniform kicked one of the slower soldiers as he ran past and laughed as he scolded them.
“You guys have no shame at all!”
His gaze then shifted toward the three striking figures on the training field.
When he saw the tallest girl among them, a trace of surprise flashed through his eyes.
Before he could react, however, another dazzling figure suddenly entered his line of sight.
He stared for quite a while before finally turning around and walking away.
After he left, the female soldiers nearby finally spoke angrily.
“Meiyu, there’s a new recruit this year who knows how to seduce men. Look at her! It’s only her first day, and she’s already attracted so many male soldiers. Even Commander Meng looked at her several times!”
Meng Weiguo was the only son of the commander of the Forty-Second Division.
Of course, he was also an outstanding soldier in his own right. Before the age of thirty, he had already become a regiment commander, making him the dream man of many female soldiers.
Being beautiful isn’t your fault, but trying to seduce Commander Meng is.
Tao Meiyu glanced at Wen Jiaojiao on the training field and gave a disdainful snort.
She already had an extremely poor impression of the new recruits.
In her opinion, the three girls were deliberately putting themselves on display to attract attention.