The next morning.

Gu Xichen habitually wakes up at five o'clock.

Hearing a noise in the yard, he covered Jiang Jinxiu with a blanket and then went outside.

Jiang Jinhua and Gu Xiliang were washing up in the yard at that moment.

Hearing the commotion, Zhao Guoan rubbed his eyes and came out.

"Xiao Hua, what's wrong with you guys? Why are you up so early in this cold weather?"

Jiang Jinhua rolled her eyes at him: "Why do you think I can beat you right now?"

"You, you guys aren't going to exercise now, are you?"

"What do you think? Do you want to come along? It won't just be the two of us. When we go out later, you'll see lots of people exercising. It'll be quite a scene!"

"It's still so dark, are you sure you're not trying to trick me?"

Zhao Guoan looked on with disbelief.

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

"Hua Zi, Hua Zi, are you done yet?" Gu Xiliang's voice rang out from outside the door.

At this moment, Gu Dashan also came out of the room.

Seeing Zhao Guoan and Jiang Jinhua standing together, he asked with some surprise, "Guoan, are you going to train with us too?"

Gu Xilan also came out of the room.

She put the toothbrush in her mouth and handed the cup to Jiang Jinhua: "Pour me a glass of warm water."

Jiang Jinhua readily helped her pour the water and told her to hurry up.

There was no trace of the tense standoff between the two yesterday.

Zhao Guoan opened his mouth, and it took him a while to find his voice.

"Uncle Gu, you, you guys didn't all go there to exercise, did you?"

Gu Dashan nodded.

Jiang Jinhua had already finished washing up.

"Crazy An, do you want to come with us? If not, we're leaving!"

Xiao Liu, wearing a military overcoat, also came out of the house.

Where are you all headed?

When Gu Dashan saw Xiao Liu come out, he said with a smile, "We're going to exercise, do you want to come along?"

Xiao Liu was a little confused. Why was he exercising so early? It wasn't a military camp. Had he come to the wrong place?

Gu Dashan noticed his confusion and explained directly, "Our family has gotten into the habit of getting up early to exercise. In the past few months, some people in the village have also started to get up and exercise together. The village chief also encourages us to do so."

What he didn't mention was that the village chief had also given them special permission to build a training ground on the mountain, something even Gu Xichen didn't know about; it had only been completed not long ago.

Gu Xiliang seemed to have been waiting for a long time, and knocked on the door again.

Gu Xichen went to open the door wearing only a short-sleeved shirt.

It was only then that Zhao Guoan realized that the Gu family members all wore very few clothes, usually just one piece of clothing.

Gu Xilan was wearing two pieces.

He seriously doubted whether they were cold.

Seeing that Zhao Guoan still hadn't replied, Jiang Jinhua, who was now ready, headed towards the door.

"Wait for me!" Zhao Guoan threw his coat back into the room and quickly followed after him.

Driven by curiosity, Xiao Liu followed them out.

As soon as they went outside, they saw the other men and two girls from the Gu family.

He had seen the two girls over for dinner last night; they were said to be the eldest and second daughters of Old Master Gu.

He had never met the two eldest members of the Gu family who worked at the factory.

He guessed the other two men must be Gu Lao Da and Gu Lao Er.

The eldest and second eldest brothers of the Gu family returned late yesterday and did not go to the third branch of the family.

They still insisted on exercising before going to the factory to report for duty.

Once they met and introduced themselves, they started running around the village.

As they ran, Zhao Guoan and Xiao Liu noticed that many households were also coming out to run with them.

There are big ones and small ones, and there are male ones and female ones.

Their ranks were constantly growing, and Gu Xichen noticed this, but he said nothing.

He was pleased to see that the villagers were conscious of exercising.

After all, if you can stick to exercising, you'll only benefit yourself.

Judging from the current situation, he suspects that there will be a large number of recruits here in the near future.

We're all from the same village, and he just wants everyone to be well.

Everyone would greet him warmly when they met him, but soon they all realized that Gu Xichen had left them far behind.

Zhao Guoan and Xiao Liu, in particular, considered themselves to be in good physical condition, but when running with the people from Gujia Village, they found themselves struggling to keep up with the main group.

I feel a bit frustrated!

What he found most unacceptable was that Gu Xilan and several children could run faster than him.

They didn't say anything to him, but they would call out to him every time they passed by.

In his view, this was nothing short of a blatant insult!

"An Fengzi, you're not good enough anymore. Hurry up and go crazy. Weren't you very powerful back in Beijing?"

Jiang Jinhua said as she passed by him again.

"You just wait, kid, I'll definitely surpass you!"

He actually dared to say he couldn't do it; he just hadn't been exercising much in the last six months.

We really can't afford to slack off.

Before you know it, someone who was once weaker than you can become stronger!

Zhao Guoan secretly vowed that from today onwards, he would train hard and next time, he would definitely beat that stinky Hua Zi to a pulp and see how arrogant he could be!

He shouldn't have given in to him before!

Seeing this, Xiao Liu felt happy for Zhao Guoan.

In the past six months, he has finally seen some changes in him.

People should spend more time with outstanding people, as this can inspire them to become even more outstanding.

Feeling he had run enough, he went back on his own. He didn't run with them anymore, as he needed to drive back to Beijing today, and getting some sleep was the most important thing for him.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!