by A Sick Frog
At hearing that, Yin Xu Dong shot up and asked anxiously: “How do you know that?”
He Yi frowned. “Did NCEE fry your brains? The letter of admission is out so the school has got the list of top students up. It’s written clearly up there, she’s going to military school, I think it’s in the same city as your military doctor school in, G City.”
Yin Xu Dong froze for a moment, before laughing out loud. He’d thought he would be separated from Xuan Xuan for the entire four years of college, this arrangement was too awesome!
He Yi watched, completely speechless, as Yin Xu Dong suddenly changed from being all silent into laughing out loud. He’s possessed, definitely possessed! So the moral of the story was that one should never mug so desperately, or else you’ll go wonky sooner or later. Just look at him, his personality’s already splitting. Aye, how many children did NCEE ruin!
And so, Yin Xu Dong waited and waited, but he didn’t manage to greet Xuan Xuan’s surprise room-invasion even when the start of school was just round the corner.
When it was a day before the term started, he still refused to leave. No longer able to stand him, his father and mother each lugged his luggage and him before sending him to the train station, chasing him to school with their actions.
Yin Xu Dong lied on the bed in the train and looked at his phone, at loss and very aggrieved. He didn’t know her number so he can forget about contacting her, but she obviously knew his, so why wasn’t she giving him a call, even a text was better than nothing!
Chapter 56 - Military Intelligence
* * *
When Yin Xu Dong was playing with his phone, he suddenly felt a ball of something hurtling in his direction. He immediately shot up and turned to dodge the item sent his way, but hissed in pain however when his head slammed into the bed board of the upper bunk as he got up. A hand cupping his smarting head, he turned to the door in rage. The anger however shortly evolved into elation.
“Xuan Xuan!”
“Enh, your reaction’s not bad.” Zhuo Xiao Xuan lifted the luggage in and placed it under the bunkbed.
Yin Xu Dong sat cross-legged on the bunkbed, all smiles, and he patted the space beside him in a gesture for Zhuo Xiao Xuan to sit down. “What a coincidence! You’re reporting to school today as well?! That’s awesome! Oh, right, what’s your mobile number? Hurry tell!”
Zhuo Xiao Xuan sat down on Yin Xu Dong’s bed, and Yin Xu Dong immediately stretched to circle her into his embrace, beamingly widely. She grabbed his hand and give it a pinch. “Behave yourself, don’t paw me.”
Yin Xu Dong released his hold howling in pain, before saying, very wronged: “It’s been two months since we last saw each other, but you throw something at me the minute we do see each other, and even pinch my hand!”
Zhuo Xiao Xuan rolled her eyes. She didn’t even put in much force into that pinch okay? She removed her shoes, gripped the edge of the upper deck before flipping onto the bunkbed on top.
Yin Xu Dong quickly stood and climbed onto Zhuo Xiao Xuan’s bed, asking in concern: “What’s wrong?”
“I’m tired, let’s talk after I sleep.” At that, Zhuo Xiao Xuan closed her eyes, ready to sleep. Her life for the past two months hadn’t been as lively as Yin Xu Dong’s; all she’d done from morning to night was to train, and it was at an intensity several multiple times of the training back when she was an SF. On top of that, she’d rushed over from her training centre via train! All her training regimes, complete with live-ammo and everything, were Zhuo lao ye’zi’s arrangement, so her mental alertness had been taut throughout; the slightest lowering of guards would result in her eating a bullet. After over two months worth of such training, even someone as doughty as her could no longer stand it.
Yin Xu Dong stared at her dark eye circles and figured that she must have been extremely busy during the two weeks. Heart aching for her, he tucked her blankets for her. “Then rest well, I’ll wake you later when it’s time for dinner.” After that, he laid on her bed to play with his phone.
Even though she was very tired, Zhuo Xiao Xuan’d still got her basic alertness in place. Hence when someone neared her bed, she woke up. After distinguishing the presence as Yin Xu Dong’s, she relaxed her muscles that had tightened on reflex. When she heard a clicking sound however, she slowly opened her eyes: “What are you doing?”
When Yin Xu Dong saw that Zhuo Xiao Xuan had awoken, he immediately kept his phone, smiling as though in concealment before saying: “No, nothing. Are you hungry? Let’s get something to eat then.”
“Hand your phone over.”
Yin Xu Dong pursed his lips and mutter to himself in a show of reluctance before handing over the phone to Zhuo Xiao Xuan, drawling. When Zhuo Xiao Xuan took the phone and looked at the screen, the image she saw on the screen was a picture of her quiet appearance of herself asleep. Yin Xu Dong however quickly reached over to snatch his phone away when she wanted to give it a few more looks.
“Cough cough, I only took a single picture, really! I promise I only took one! You can’t delete this!” Yin Xu Dong stuffed his phone into his pocket and looked at Zhuo Xiao Xuan anxiously.
Zhuo Xiao Xuan flipped down from the bunkbed. “I didn’t say you need to delete it. I’m hungry, let’s get something to eat.”
“Okay, buy an extra set for me when you’re in the canteen.”
“You’re not going?”
“Aye? If the both of us go, who’ll look after the luggage?”
“You have something important inside?”
“Not really, but the thief won’t know that.”
“Okay, got it.”
Yin Xu Dong sat, half lying on his bed, and flipped a magazine while waiting for Zhuo Xiao Xuan to return with the food.
“Heh, you Year One?” The guy in the bunk opposite to Yin Xu Dong’s asked.
Yin Xu Dong was bored looking at the magazine so he started chatting with him enthusiastically. After a while. Zhuo Xiao Xuan returned with two boxes of fast food.
Yin Xu Dong introduced his new friend to Zhuo Xiao Xuan in buoyant spirits: “Zhang Cheng, this is Qin… I mean Zhuo Xiao Xuan. Xuan Xuan, he’s Zhang Cheng, Year One. Oh and he’s from your school, your schoolmate!”
Zhuo Xiao Xuan nodded at Zhang Cheng blandly, placing the fast food on the table and said to Yin Xu Dong. “Eat.”
Zhang Cheng was completely unaffected by Zhuo Xiao Xuan’s blandness. “Hi beautiful girl, I see you’ve got some moves going there. I saw you climb up and down the double-decker bed just now, your movements were pretty smooth, you’ve trained before? Oh yeah, I major in Aerospace Engineering, you? What’s your major?”
“Military Intelligence (MI).”
“Woah! You wanna be an agent? That’s too OP!” The gaze Zhang Cheng looked at Zhuo Xiao Xuan with was filled with admiration.
At hearing Zhang Cheng’s words, Yin Xu Dong immediately threw the box of fast food in his hands down and zipped over to where Zhuo Xiao Xuan was, asking lowly: “Xuan Xuan, you want to be an agent? Are you seeking death? No way! No way! You need to change a major! Is it bad to just be a normal soldier?”
Zhuo Xiao Xuan rolled her eyes. “Who said you need to be an agent if you study MI? And, do you think you can be an agent just cuz you want to?” After finishing her piece, she slanted a glare at the Zhang Cheng who spoke out of turn. The latter got such a scare from the chillness of her glare he immediately zipped his mouth and slid into his blankets to hide.
They still hade several hours before reaching City J. Yin Xu Dong pulled Zhuo Xiao Xuan to join him and Zhang Cheng to play cards. There was someone else in the bunk above Zhang Cheng, but that person laid on the bed ever since he boarded the train. No matter how loudly Yin Xu Dong and Zhang Cheng howl around while playing their cards, that person didn’t seem to have heard them; it was as though he was asleep. It was only when the train reached City J did he climb down from his bunk to collect his luggage and alight the train after Zhuo Xiao Xuan and company.
The bases of
current students welcoming new students littered the outside of the train station. Among them, the group from Military College and Military Meds College were especially conspicuous; the students and teachers from both colleges welcoming the new students were donned in green military uniform.
Yin Xu Dong followed Zhuo Xiao Xuan and Zhang Cheng to where the Military College group was stationed at. After which, two male students came forward to ask: “You guys are our college’s new Year Ones?”
Yin Xu Dong: “The two of them are, but I’m not. I’m from the Military Meds College next door, I’m… I’m here to accompanying my mei mei to report.”
“There will be a bus to send the new students to school. After you reach, there will be seniors to bring you to report. Let me help you guys bring your luggage to the bus.” One of the male students said, before reaching to grab Zhuo Xiao Xuan’s luggage first. The other male senior could only take Zhang Cheng’s luggage that was left and led the way.
“Xuan Xuan, you go report first. I’ll come look for you after I’ve reported in mine!” Yin Xu Dong turned to Zhang Cheng to say: “Help me look after Xuan Xuan, thanks bro!”
Zhang Chu nodded and waved in farewell before following after their seniors.
Zhuo Xiao Xuan: “I’m going, call me if there’s anything.”
After Zhuo Xiao Xuan boarded the bus, she picked an empty seat at the back. Before long however, someone plopped down beside her. At that, her brows pulled together slightly, but she remained silent and continued looking out the window. Yin Xu Dong was greeting his seniors from his school. He was the kind of person who was instantly able to make friends with people. Just looking at the radiant smiles on his female seniors told her how welcomed his presence was. When she saw a similarly radiant smile hanging on his face however, she suddenly felt a surge of annoyance. At that, she drew the curtains with a swoosh; out of sight, out of mind.
“Your boyfriend?” A guy sitting beside her asked.
Zhuo Xiao Xuan swept him a glance; he was the one that’d slept dead like a log in that upper bunk in their train cabin. She retracted her gaze and ignored him. Zhang Cheng sitting in front of them turned his head to introduce himself. “Hi, so you’re from our school as well? I’m Zhang Cheng. What’s your name?”
“Xie Sheng Ya, Military Intelligence.”
“Aye! Zhuo Xiao Xuan, you guys are from the same major! And maybe classmates even!”
“I’m in MI Class One, you?” Xie Sheng Ya asked Zhuo Xiao Xuan.
“Class One.”
After Zhuo Xiao Xuan went to report, she realised that there were a total of two classes, each of thirty students, in MI. There were five other girls in the other class, but she was the only girl in her class; she dormed with the five other girls from MI Class Two.
After everyone put away their things, the Xiao Chen lying splat on the bed opposite to Zhuo Xiao Xuan’s said, indignant: “Aye, why did they place Xiao Xuan in Class One alone? Won’t it be super lonely just Xiao Xuan on her own? If only she came to our class as well, then the six of us can go on missions together! Hey, why don’t we talk to the instructor and have Xiao Xuan transfer into our class?”
“Even if the instructor allowed, the guys in Class One sure aren’t gonna say yes. Xiao Xuan is the only girl in their class, and a jaw-dropping beauty at that, you think they’d let her transfer?” Xiao Yang in the bunk above Xiao Chen popped her head out, rebutting.
“That’s true, we’ll definitely be dead meat if they discover that we’re urging Xiao Xuan to transfer classes!”
“Phuu! They definitely ain’t going last in the school if they make a move on us girls.”
“Haha, that’s the best thing about going to a military school, we girls are carefully and delicately cherished!”
The bunch of them bantered around laughing. Zhuo Xiao Xuan replied them tepidly once in a while, not coming off too enthusiastic, neither appearing out of place.
As it was the reporting day for new students, the administration was slightly more lax than usual. Hence when Yin Xu Dong came to Military College, registered at the guardhouse and flashed his Military Meds College ID he’d just received, he was able to enter easily. When military school students enroll in their school, they automatically enlist in the military as well. Now that he’s thought of that, it seemed like he was starting to serve in the military now.
He gave Zhuo Xiao Xuan a call and told her he was already in Military College.
Zhuo Xiao Xuan hung up and told her dormmates who were still chatting away: “I’m going to eat.”
“Wait, let’s go together, let’s treat this meal as a celebration of all of us becoming dormmates!”
In the end, Yin Xu Dong’s idea of a candlelight dinner, upon being greeted with a bunch of girls, went down the drain before he could even implement it.
After dinner, Yin Xu Dong bid Zhuo Xiao Xuan his farewell before leaving very reluctantly.
The moment they returned to their 312 dorm, the girls immediately bombarded and extorted Zhuo Xiao Xuan with questions…. not. No matter how they questioned, Zhuo Xiao Xuan would only reply blandly, saying that Yin Xu Dong was her “ge ge”.
Of course none of the girl believed her. Why would ge ge and mei mei have different surnames? Even if they did have different surnames, their 24k sparkling gold vision and spicy-sharp and sensitive senses told them otherwise; they could distinctively feel the faint JQ* going on between them. However, no matter how they questioned her, Zhuo Xiao Xuan would reply them with the same tone, so they were completely unable to fish out any confirmation to this JQ.
* 奸情 = jian qing (JQ); when referring to two people having JQ, it means they have something going on between them, usually a romantic relationship
In the end when Xiao Chen chomped on an apple, saying, her words blurred: “But your ge ge sure is hot. Benefits should only be kept for one’s own people, Xiao Xuan, I’ll take your ge ge then!”
Just as she finished talking, Xiao Chen saw Zhuo Xiao Xuan opposite her squinting her eyes. At that, Xiao Chen suddenly shivered slightly, before she swallowed her apple with difficulty. “Hehe, joke, it’s a joke, I was just joking, I’m already attached, why would I covet another guy, right? Hehe…”
Everyone sighed collectively in their heads. There was some kind of JQ between the two of them as expected…
The miserable military training life began the second day. All the new students donned in camouflage uniform and gathered in their classes stood in the field listening to their principal giving an admonitory talk. After which, the females and males were separated during training as the gender ratio disparity was too large. The females students across all the classes were split into squads after they gathered. Zhuo Xiao Xuan and the girls from dorm 312 were allocated into the same squad. The sergeant in charge of each squad’s training was a Year Two senior. However, a large majority of them were males; having a female senior taking up the role of a sergeant was very rare.
Chapter 57 - Belle Of The Department And Confession
* * *
A military college was different from a normal college; their training was not the simple synchronised marching, running and turning in all directions, and their training intensity too was more than just a few times higher. After an entire day of training, everyone was dead beat. Some of the girls who started to regret coming to a military school even started secretly tearing.
Someone in dorm 312 cried. Everyone surrounded Xiao Li’s bed comforting her. The more they comforted her though, the harder she cried, so everyone was a little at loss with what to do. Xiao Dong tugged the Zhuo Xiao Xuan seated on her own bed reading a book, saying softly: “Help us comfort her too. There’s still training tomorrow, how is she going to hold up in this state?”
Zhuo Xiao Xuan placed the book in her hand down, stood and walked over to the bunk encircle by the other girls. “You should’ve known it would be this tiring coming to a military school. Since it was your choice, don’t complain about it! You have two c
hoices now: one, pack up immediately and leave.” At hearing her words, Xiao Chen secretly tugged her sleeve, but Zhuo Xiao Xuan brushed it off, continuing, “two, shut up, off the lights, sleep, and continue the training tomorrow.”
After Zhuo Xiao Xuan finished, she returned to her bed to continue reading her book, mindless of their reaction. The female MC in the book tried every possible means to transmigrate into the ancient times. When she finally realised her dream and transmigrated into the ancient times, she then started racking her brains trying to figure out how to return to the modern world. A contemporary phrase to describe her would be seeking unnecessary trouble! If it weren’t for the fact that she wanted to draw from the female MC’s lessons learnt from all her transmigrating methods, Zhuo Xiao Xuan’d have long burnt this book! She’d never seen such a senseless female before!
Though Zhuo Xiao Xuan was a little sharp with her words, they, in the end, were still effective. Xiao Li stopped crying afterwards, and everyone dispersed, going about bathing or tidying their things.
Xiao Ya on the bunk above Zhuo Xiao Xuan after returning from her bath saw Zhuo Xiao Xuan with her forehead scrunched up, reading the book extremely conscientiously. And so, she plopped down beside her. “Gurl! Aren’t you too working too hard! Why are you still studying after such tiring training! What book are you reading…” When she saw the title of the book though, she was struck extremely speechless. A Hundred Thousand Transmigrations: I Love Ikemen*… can you not read such a book with such diligence? (A/N: Should the book title mirrors another work, it is purely my fault…)
* 美男子 = mei nan zi; beautiful/good-looking guys, i.e. ikemen (jap)
“Xiao Xuan, you like reading… transmigration novels as well?”
“Enh, it’s not too bad.” But why was it that the female MC in this transmigration novel always ended up hooking up with the Emperor or the Prince though? Were Emperors and Princes so easily found? And why was it that they synonymous-ly fall for her so frantically? And that they’d rather choose a beauty over their kingdom? She sure hadn’t seen such an Emperor or Prince.