55 Team Building

As expected, before the class started the next day, the selection supervisor came to announce to the trainees their plans to go out. However, it was not to go out for fun as Xia Wentao and the others had guessed, but rather -

"on foot??!!"

There was a small commotion among the girls' group, and Xia Wentao subconsciously turned to look at her roommate. Sure enough, Mo Shuangzhu had an expression as if the sky had fallen and looked like she could faint at any moment.

Hiking 13 miles in the suburbs of Beijing, carrying your own water and dry food, the intensity is comparable to a march. Beijing is already very cold in November, and it is estimated that less than one-third of the girls can complete the entire journey.

When Yuan Xiao first proposed this idea, even the departments in charge of trainees couldn't understand it. The boys at the beginning of the year had never had such a hard training plan, and no one knew what Yuan Xiao wanted to do.

But she really wanted to let the girls suffer for once.

In fact, this idea was not new. When the boys were training, Yuan Xiao really wanted to send them to military training, but the first season of the variety show had to be scheduled during the summer vacation, so she had to put this plan on hold temporarily.

She will make it up to Stary when she finds a chance later.

People always have to do something that they always think they can't do in order to truly feel the brilliance of human nature. Yuan Xiao wanted to cultivate the girls' team spirit, so she planned to start by artificially creating some difficulties.

In the end, she couldn't bear to let the girls suffer too much, so Yuan Xiao had taken people to scout the hiking route. The scenery was beautiful and the trail was flat. There was a team doctor accompanying them throughout the hike. Even if the unity effect that Yuan Xiao wanted couldn't be achieved, it was good for them to improve their physical fitness.

The average physical fitness of girls is not much different from that of boys, but the gap between the upper and lower limits is still quite large. If you want to be in a girl group, you can't be out of breath after just two jumps.

Of course girl groups can fool their fans by just using their pretty faces to strike a few poses on stage, but that is definitely not what Yuan Xiao wants. Yuan Xin’s top boy group and girl group must also be top-notch. Who says female idols can’t do hard dances?

The 13-kilometer hike did arouse some complaints among the trainees, but this little resistance did not have any effect. Early in the morning of November 20th, more than 90 female trainees changed into comfortable, lightweight and warm clothes and shoes, took the supply backpacks prepared by the company, and boarded the bus to the suburbs of Beijing.

The team leader was a professional hiking guide hired from outside. She was responsible for walking in the front of the team and controlling the speed. A few election officers in charge of the girls' side also came along, just enough to fill up two buses.

The weather in Beijing in the mornings in late autumn was already very cold. Before departure, the election officials checked the trainees' clothes one by one at the boarding point, making sure they were wearing warm and thick clothes.

It is the time to appreciate the leaves in the forest now. As the vehicle drives into the mountain road, the golden and red colors all over the mountains outside the window come into view.

Xia Wentao whispered to her roommate: "The weather is very good today. It's nice to go out for a walk. It's so beautiful outside."

Mo Shuangzhu nodded weakly. She would not waste any energy on other things until the hike was over.

Although the election supervisor said that if they really couldn't hold on any longer, they could tell them and someone would come and take them out of the trail, Mo Shuangzhu still hoped that she would try not to look so embarrassing today.

Who would understand? She was already tired when she got to the car from the Yuanxin Company building carrying the bag filled with sugar, salt water and energy bars.

"It's okay." Xia Wentao comforted her, "You can leave some of the things in your backpack with me when the time comes. Just keep following me and don't think about how far we have to go. You won't get tired."

A little head popped out from the front seat. Song Lianqing turned around and looked at Xia Wentao pitifully: "If I'm tired, can you help me carry it? Ah Tao——"

"I'll carry you two for now."

Although Yuan Xiao did not come this time, the route she chose is very beautiful. It was not a weekend, so there were not many people. Looking around, there was only their tour group. The trail is a total of 13.8 kilometers from the beginning to the end. They can rest several times in the middle, and it is expected to complete the whole journey in six hours.

Mo Shuangzhu was already tired after walking from the parking lot to the trail entrance. He was not in the mood to see the mountain scenery. He just followed Xia Wentao and walked with his head down from the moment he stepped into the trail.

The task was arduous and the girls were no longer in the mood to talk and laugh as usual. The queue on the wooden plank road in the mountains was very long but unusually quiet.

After walking for an hour and a half, they successfully arrived at the first rest stop. Mo Shuangzhu didn't care about whether there were seats or not. He sat down on the ground and took out some water from his bag and poured it into his mouth.

Now Xia Wentao was the only one who seemed to be in particularly good condition among the group of people. She reminded her friends next to her: "Drink water in small sips. Don't drink too fast. Drink slowly."

The first hour is the one in which we walk the most, having already covered a quarter of the distance. As time goes on, our physical strength becomes increasingly insufficient and our speed gradually slows down. In the end, it becomes a test of our physical strength and willpower.

By the time of the second break, Mo Shuangzhu had almost fallen to the ground. Xia Wentao was also very tired, but she was more worried about her roommate, "Are you okay?"

"Let me help you carry the backpack." Some of the water in the bag had been consumed during the journey, but it was still very heavy. Xia Wentao reached out to take the backpack strap of Mo Shuangzhu, but her roommate shook her head and refused to let her help.

They were halfway through the journey and everyone was very tired. Xia Wentao should not be made to bear the trouble she had caused.

"It's okay, no need. Can you help me talk to the leader to walk slower from now on? Or I can follow the team and walk slowly." When she stopped, she felt that her legs were not her own, but she couldn't see the end of the road ahead.

Xia Wentao nodded. When she walked towards the front row, she happened to see Leng Ci standing next to the team leader, and was also talking to the team leader sister.

Seeing her coming, Leng Ci and the team leader turned their heads together: "What's wrong?"

"Sister Ci, leader, we are a little behind. I would like to ask if we can slow down from now on."

Leng Ci nodded at her and said, "I was talking about that as well. There is a difference in physical strength between us. Many of you may be a little tired now. We need to slow down the pace in the second half of the journey and adjust the weight. The same goes for you. You can rebalance the contents of your backpacks."

"This way the load will be lighter and we can rest a bit. We can all take turns carrying the supplies. After a while, the supplies will be used up and the last section will be much easier to walk."

She had taken the water from the backpacks of several girls in the front row during the break. Leng Ci had also been dancing since she was young, so her physical strength was considered above average among everyone. The girls with the same physical strength as her were also helping each other. At this moment, it was all about emergency, and they didn't care about who they were close to, and they all helped the trainees who were exhausted first.

The things in Mo Shuangzhu's backpack were taken away by several girls. She felt very embarrassed. She tried to calm down and promised: "I will treat you sisters to a meal after the training."

"Okay, that's all for later. I'll pull you up."

Mo Shuangzhu's legs were already weak, and every step in the second half was painful. She felt that her feet must have blisters. Just like the little mermaid coming ashore, every step was like walking on the edge of a knife.

The thought of giving up was like a bait in the water, constantly turning around in her mind. If someone were to suggest giving up, Mo Shuangzhu dared to say that she would follow suit.

There are many girls in similar situations as her. They are all gritting their teeth and persevering, moving forward step by step.

The trail seemed to have no end, and the team gradually became loose. Xia Wentao had already taken away Mo Shuangzhu's entire bag, and the bag was also stuffed with another girl's things. She was also very tired, but she was still persevering.

The frequency of resting in the second half also became higher. Basically, he would take a brief rest after walking one kilometer. By the time he was three-quarters of the way there, Mo Shuangzhu's feet were already worn out.

Xia Wentao saw blood seeping out of her socks and hurriedly got up from the ground: "Let's contact the election supervisor sister. You definitely can't leave like this."

But... Mo Shuangzhu looked back and the starting point was just as far away. She had never thought that she could really walk such a long way. Now that the end was approaching, should she really give up here?

"It's okay," she said. "It's just a little scrape. It's nothing serious."

Maybe being in a group makes it easy to be infected. No one has given up, and she doesn't want to give up either.

Leng Ci called out from a distance, and the girls looked up at her and readjusted the distribution again under her command.

"We came here together, so let's go together."

The backpacks of Xia Wentao and her friends were transferred to other people, who then carried the exhausted and injured girls on their shoulders and arms. After resting, Song Lianqing and her friends, who felt a little better, picked up their empty backpacks and walked forward a little bit at a time, holding onto the railings of the trail.

When there were still three kilometers to go, Leng Ci put down his backpack and coat, and carried on his back a trainee who had fallen to her knees completely exhausted. Fortunately, the girls were all very thin, so it was relatively easy to carry them.

With two kilometers to go, Mo Shuangzhu took his backpack back from Xia Wentao, while Xia Wentao helped up another girl. She had just fallen heavily to the ground because she had no strength left and had a bruise on her knee. But after the team doctor came and gave her a simple treatment, she was unwilling to leave the team no matter what.

In the last kilometer, the girl on Leng Ci's back was replaced by someone else. When the weight on her shoulders was taken away, her eyes went dark and her body swayed. She was supported by the girl next to her.

Everyone leaned on each other and supported each other. When the end of the trail finally appeared in sight, many people burst into tears and their tears could not stop flowing.

Finally...Finally...

Xia Wentao held one of them in each hand, neither of them having a free hand to wipe their face. Mo Shuangzhu raised his hand and wiped her face, wiping away the tears that had slid down her chin, and smiled at her.

It's not just because of the tiredness, but more because of the touching feeling. On the long journey, only the companions around me can rely on each other. After going through such an experience, it seems like a life-long friendship.

They finished much later than expected, taking nearly eight hours to complete the entire journey, but their completion rate was beyond everyone's expectations. The entire journey was 13 kilometers, going up and down the mountain, and the trail was winding, but there was more than 90 people, but no one fell behind.

The staff who had been waiting at the terminal quickly took away the girls who were in the worst condition and took them to the accompanying medical vehicle for examination. Then they took off the backpacks of the girls who had rubbed each other's faces into little cats and sent them to the car. Most of them were so tired that they fell asleep the moment they touched the soft seats.

Yang Cheng, the director of the election management department who was transferred to the female trainees' side, called Yuan Xiao and said, "Boss Yuan, you may not imagine..."

"Are they all done?"

"Yes." Yang Cheng sighed: "It's such a long way, and they are only in their teens and twenties, but they all walked all the way. Even though their feet were worn out, they didn't want to fall behind, and they didn't let anyone fall behind."

"When they came out, they all supported each other. Even I was moved. I saw many staff members secretly wiping away tears."

"Boss Yuan." Yang Cheng now fully understood why Yuan Xiao organized this event, and admired her from the bottom of his heart, "Your goal should have been fully achieved."

This experience will definitely become the most profound one in their memory. No matter how they develop in the entertainment industry in the future, with the solid friendship that has laid the foundation today, they can help each other and move forward together. This is the best result that Yuan Xiao wants to see.

"My girls are all great." Hearing Yang Cheng's words, Yuan Xiao on the other end of the phone smiled softly, "Each of them is the best girl in the world."

"Remember to tell them that classes will be suspended tomorrow to give them a day off so that they can have a good rest."