The car stopped abruptly. Le Luo, confused, called out: “Brother Zhou, what’s wrong?”
Zhou Ran’s tone was cold: “Nothing. Get out — we’re eating breakfast.”
“Huh?”
Le Luo paused, looked around, and realized — they were right in front of a breakfast shop.
The three got out of the car. The topic was interrupted, and Le Luo completely forgot where he’d left off. Instead, he excitedly started sharing school stories with Zhou Ran.
Le Ning listened from the side, wishing she could smack him awake.
—Can’t you read the room at all? Can’t you see your Brother Zhou doesn’t want to talk to you right now?
Unfortunately, Le Luo had zero emotional intelligence.
Le Ning rubbed her temples and followed them into the breakfast shop.
Zhou Ran didn’t take them anywhere fancy — just a roadside place with simple decor, but it was packed with people.
Inside, they found a four-person table.
Le Ning and Le Luo sat on one side; Zhou Ran sat across from her.
She glanced over, grabbed a paper napkin from the side, and wiped the table without saying a single word to Zhou Ran the whole time.
“Sis, what do you want to eat?”
“Century egg and lean pork congee.”
Le Luo passed the menu to Zhou Ran. Zhou Ran got up to order.
While he was gone, Le Ning gave Le Luo a hard eye-roll.
“Sis, what’s that for?”
Le Ning let out two sarcastic “heh”s and said disdainfully: “How did you know someone’s chasing me?”
Le Luo’s eyes widened: “Last night you were downstairs packing stuff and on the phone with Sister Ruan Qiu — you don’t remember?”
Le Ning: “…”
She frowned, thinking back: “Weren’t you doing homework at the time?”
Le Luo: “…I just zoned out for a bit.”
Le Ning sneered and glared at him: “If your grades drop next monthly exam, you can pack your bags and come live at home.”
Le Luo: “…”
The three of them ate breakfast in relative silence.
Le Ning wasn’t in the habit of eating breakfast. She was too sleepy and not very hungry. After two spoonfuls, she pushed the congee aside.
Le Luo was used to it. Zhou Ran, however, glanced over.
“There are no shops at the training ground.”
The sudden voice from across the table made Le Ning’s hand jerk. She looked up.
Zhou Ran met her eyes: “Lunch isn’t until twelve.”
Le Ning paused, realized what he meant, and silently glanced at the congee beside her.
“Oh. It’s fine.”
Zhou Ran frowned slightly, about to say something more, but Le Ning cut in bluntly: “Don’t worry — even if I get hungry, I won’t bother you.”
“…”
The little idiot finally sensed something was off. When Zhou Ran went to pay the bill, Le Luo tugged at Le Ning’s sleeve: “Sis.”
“What?”
Le Ning wasn’t in the best mood right now.
Le Luo swallowed: “Weren’t you a little too harsh with Brother Zhou just now?”
Le Ning shot him a look: “Kids shouldn’t meddle in adult stuff. You’re in for it later.”
Le Luo: “…”
Once back in the car, Le Luo stopped gossiping.
Le Ning pulled an eye mask out of her bag, put it on, and fell asleep immediately.
She was exhausted.
She only woke up when they were almost at the training ground.
She took off the eye mask and looked out the window.
There were hardly any buildings around. All she could see was a vast open area. On both sides were lush, green trees and branches — thick and verdant, unaffected by the change of seasons.
Gradually, buildings appeared ahead.
Chapter 10: Exclusive (continued)
She rubbed her eyes and asked softly: “We’re here?”
Zhou Ran’s hand rested loosely on the steering wheel. He glanced sideways at her: “Mm.”
Le Ning: “…”
Would it kill him to say one more word?
Zhou Ran parked the car at the entrance, got out, and had the two of them go through registration and inspection before heading inside.
Besides the vast open grounds, what met the eye were training fields like those seen on TV, simple buildings, and specially designated training areas.
The place Zhou Ran had brought them to was a proper, official military training ground.
Le Ning turned to look at Le Luo, who was still inside the entrance building going through procedures. She was a little surprised.
“Sis, this really is a real training ground, right? How did Brother Zhou manage to get us in?”
Le Ning pressed her lips together: “No idea.”
Le Luo looked at her, about to say something more, when Zhou Ran came back out.
“Let’s go. I’ll take you over.”
Le Ning had no clue where Zhou Ran got the connections for this, but she wasn’t the type to ask questions like that outright.
Zhou Ran walked side by side with Le Luo; Le Ning trailed behind, lost in her own thoughts.
Suddenly, a voice came from ahead.
“Le Ning.”
“Huh?”
She looked up. Not far away, two people in olive-green uniforms appeared. When they saw Le Ning, they raised their eyebrows in surprise, then gave Zhou Ran a half-smiling, half-teasing look.
“Let me introduce you — this is Peng Jingshan, Captain Peng.”
Peng Jingshan gave a faint smile and looked at Le Ning: “Hello.”
Le Ning returned a light smile: “Le Ning.”
Peng Jingshan pointed to the person beside him: “This is Little Six. He’ll take you to change clothes first.”
Le Ning froze: “Us?”
Peng Jingshan nodded: “Weren’t you here to experience training life?”
Le Ning choked, then looked toward Zhou Ran.
Zhou Ran’s expression remained calm: “When I applied, I put two names down. A little extra training won’t hurt.”
Le Ning: “???”
After being dazedly led off to change clothes, Le Ning realized there really weren’t many women in the unit.
Looking around, it was all male comrades.
She and Le Luo came out after changing. Little Six gave them a quick rundown of the rules.
Once here, they had to follow orders. They would train together with everyone else later, and the instructors wouldn’t go easy on them.
Luckily, though, the soldiers training with them and Le Ning today were also new recruits who had just been selected — so the intensity wouldn’t be too extreme.
Le Ning nodded to show she understood: “Thanks.”
Little Six smiled: “Captain Peng and Captain Zhou went to the office. I’ll take you over.”
“Appreciate it.”
The moment Le Ning and Le Luo arrived, they drew quite a few stares.
Le Luo was fine, but most eyes landed on Le Ning. She had a great figure — even the loose training uniform couldn’t hide it.
More importantly, the small stretch of neck that showed was blindingly white, and her delicate features made people blush just looking at her.
Everyone stole glances, then quickly looked away. No one dared come up to say hello.
Le Ning actually found it kind of amusing.
She’d always heard that soldiers were tough on the outside but shy inside. Now she was finally seeing it for herself.
But soon enough, she couldn’t laugh anymore.
After assembly, the first thing… was a 5-kilometer run.
Le Ning: …
She strongly suspected Zhou Ran was doing this on purpose as revenge.
In the office.
Zhou Ran really did have some business to handle — though of course… the main reason was to bring Le Ning and Le Luo here.
After finishing the official talk, Peng Jingshan gave him a teasing look: “What’s going on?”
Zhou Ran pretended not to understand: “What do you mean?”
“Le Ning.”
Peng Jingshan scoffed: “You think I’m blind? This is the first time you’ve ever asked me for a favor.”
Zhou Ran took a sip of tea, his expression indifferent: “It’s for Le Luo.”
Peng Jingshan let out two mocking “heh”s: “If Le Luo’s sister wasn’t Le Ning, would you be this enthusiastic?”
Zhou Ran stayed silent.
Of course not.
Who was Zhou Ran? Captain Zhou — iron-faced and impartial. Plenty of people had asked him for favors before, and he’d never agreed.
Let alone coming to a training ground and needing someone else’s help to arrange it.
Peng Jingshan stood by the window and looked outside: “You really made Le Ning join the training — can she handle it?”
Zhou Ran followed his gaze. From this spot, the training ground wasn’t far; he could vaguely make out a slim figure in the distance.
After staring for a moment, Zhou Ran said: “No idea.”
Peng Jingshan choked, then turned back to tease him: “Captain Zhou, this isn’t how you chase a girl.”
…
Just as Le Ning was running until her head spun and her vision blurred, she suddenly caught a clear, crisp scent of cedar.
The smell was very familiar — it belonged to… a certain someone.
Sure enough, when she turned her head, she saw Zhou Ran’s cold, hard face.
He had also changed into the same training uniform as hers.
Le Ning instinctively looked down. The man’s voice was very calm: “What are you looking at?”
Le Ning: “…You’re training too?”
Zhou Ran gave her a look: “Mm.”
Le Ning let out an “Oh” and didn’t ask any more questions.
When she looked up again, she realized her group had already run several hundred meters ahead.
Le Ning let out a miserable wail, ignored Zhou Ran completely, and poured all her energy into catching up.
Thank goodness she occasionally went running — otherwise Zhou Ran’s petty revenge might have actually killed her here on the training ground.
After the 5 kilometers ended, Le Ning was still alive, but her face was deathly pale.
The instructor glanced over at the extra person, recognized Zhou Ran as an acquaintance, and didn’t ask questions. He just gave them five minutes to rest before continuing with the next round of training.
Zhou Ran stood up. Le Ning and Le Luo huddled together.
“Sis, let’s sit for a bit.”
Before Le Ning could sit down, two young guys with dark skin in front of her looked at her and smiled: “Where are you guys from?”
Le Ning gave a faint smile: “Where are you guys from? New recruits this year?”
“Yeah.”
They were all still pretty young. Le Ning nodded: “I came with my little brother to check it out.”
By the time Zhou Ran came back with a bottle of water, Le Ning was already surrounded by the new recruits.
They crowded around her, eyes sparkling. Le Ning had a smile on her face — the kind she never showed Zhou Ran. The sunlight hit her, making her look soft and beautiful.
Further down, she already had a bottle of water in her hand.
Zhou Ran’s lips tugged slightly. He didn’t walk over.
Peng Jingshan appeared out of nowhere and tsk-tsked: “Honestly, Le Ning’s only been here less than half a day and all these little brats are already swarming her. She’s really popular.”
Zhou Ran gave him a cold glance.
Peng Jingshan eyed the mineral water in Zhou Ran’s hand: “Yo, Captain Zhou, where’d you get that water? I’m kinda thirsty too — can I have a sip?”
As he spoke, he reached for it.
Zhou Ran said coldly: “Get lost.”
Peng Jingshan watched his retreating back and let out a soft laugh.
Heh, finally someone who can handle you.
Training started. Le Ning felt the person standing beside her radiating displeasure from head to toe.
Completely inexplicable.
In the following training sessions, Le Ning didn’t speak to Zhou Ran at all.
As they trained, her stomach growled several times.
But she had no idea what time it was. Only when the instructor announced the last training item of the morning did Le Ning breathe a genuine sigh of relief from the bottom of her heart.
If they didn’t dismiss soon, she was going to faint.
However — after hearing what the final training item was, Le Ning also wanted to faint.
Weighted run.
Which meant it wasn’t just running — they had to tie sandbags to their legs too.
Le Ning watched the instructor demonstrate, then took the sandbag handed to her and started tying it on.
But she was probably too hungry; her whole body felt dizzy, and her movements were extremely slow.
Suddenly, a pair of hands reached over from the side.
Le Ning froze. Zhou Ran half-squatted expressionlessly in front of her. His rough hands touched her through the fabric of her pants.
He gripped her ankle. His palm was hot, scorching her skin.
At first, Le Ning didn’t feel much.
Gradually, the heat spreading from her foot, the way his rough palm cradled it — she instinctively wanted to pull away.
Suddenly, she kicked Zhou Ran.
Zhou Ran glanced at her, not angry at all. He held her ankle firmly, his voice low and hoarse: “Don’t move.”
Le Ning: “…I’ll do it myself.”
Zhou Ran gave her a calm look. The meaning in his eyes was clear.
Can you even manage?
They were too close. Their breaths tangled together.
Looking at the face so near hers, Le Ning suddenly felt her heart race.
Foul play.
This had to be another layer of Zhou Ran’s revenge against her.
Author’s note:
Captain Zhou: If hard doesn’t work, try soft.
Author: No, you should just go hard on Lemon instead.
Lemon: …I suspect you’re driving and I have evidence.
Captain Zhou: Like it?
Lemon: …Reporting! There’s a pervert here!