As night fell, Zhang Jie lay quietly on the bed in the medical room and slowly opened his eyes.

The light in the ward was dim, reflecting his pale face.

Although he had woken up, his body seemed to be hollowed out. The deep feeling of powerlessness lingered around him tightly, filling him with disgust.

Zhang Jie gritted his teeth and used the last bit of strength in his body to try to sit up.

"Hey, what are you doing?" As soon as he stood up a little, the nurse ran over and said sharply.

"No, I don't need to rest." Zhang Jie's eyes revealed determination. He didn't want to lie like this. He felt that he could not be defeated by this setback.

"You......" The nurse shook her head helplessly when she saw that he was so stubborn, "Go find your platoon leader, you are asking for your life." With that, the nurse quickly ran out to find Liu Xiaoli.

Zhang Jie forced himself to sit on the bed. He was exhausted at this time. The high-intensity physical overdraft could not be recovered in a short time.

He slowly moved to the bedside and tried to stand up, but just as he stood up, his legs fell down heavily due to weakness. Zhang Jie was discouraged and tried again and again, but the result was always the same.

He sat on the edge of the bed, feeling frustrated and guilty, beating his legs hard, crying, "You are a worthless person, a piece of trash."

He hated himself for being incompetent, hated himself for dragging down his platoon, and hated himself for dragging down his comrades even more.

Whenever he thought of the disdainful looks from his comrades, he felt ashamed. He had worked hard in the recruit camp, eager to make himself stronger, but he didn't expect to end up being the most useless one in the whole platoon.

This huge contrast made him realize very clearly that he was weak. He longed to become stronger and to be recognized and respected by his comrades.

Just as Zhang Jie was getting angry at himself for being weak, Liu Xiaoli pushed the door open.

When Zhang Jie saw the platoon leader coming, he wiped away his tears and called softly, "Platoon leader."

Liu Xiaoli looked at him seriously and asked, "Why? Are you still crying?"

"Platoon leader..." Zhang Jie lowered his head even more, feeling more ashamed.

Liu Xiaoli moved a stool, sat down opposite him, and said earnestly: "Tell you why you are crying?"

Zhang Jie said with a trembling voice: "Platoon leader, I'm sorry for you, and even more sorry for my comrades. You caused our platoon not to be ranked advanced, and you caused our platoon to be at the bottom."

"Haha." Liu Xiaoli laughed heartily upon hearing this, "Nonsense, it's none of your business. Besides, what's wrong with losing the ranking? As long as we work hard, we will be able to get the first place sooner or later."

“녦놆…” Zhang Jie wanted to explain.

"No, if there's anything to blame, it's the platoon leader. Besides, I don't care about the ranking at all."

Liu Xiaoli's words made Zhang Jie's eyes moist. He knew in his heart that this ranking was crucial to Liu Xiaoli. In the army, this was an important basis for selection and promotion.

Liu Xiaoli patted Zhang Jie's shoulder gently and encouraged him, "Xiao Jie, you must stand up from where you fell. This is what a true warrior is. No one is excellent at the beginning, and they all grow up through thousands of trials and tribulations. You can't think that you are worse than others because of a failure. You can't blame yourself for all the mistakes because of a failure. I believe in you, and you will pass the next assessment. So, you have to believe in yourself too."

Zhang Jie listened to what the platoon leader said, nodded heavily, and said, "Platoon leader."

"Have a good rest. Only when you are in good health can you continue training. Don't think too much. No one blames you, and you can't blame yourself." Liu Xiaoli stood up and said seriously.

"Yeah," Zhang Jie responded.

Liu Xiaoli then said, "Zhang Jie."

"Here." Zhang Jie didn't know where he got the strength from, and he stood up from the bed all of a sudden. With sharp eyes, he stood steadily in front of Liu Xiaoli.

"You are now ordered to rest well and return to the team immediately after resting well."

"You are the platoon leader." Zhang Jie answered firmly. Liu Li nodded and turned to leave the ward.

Zhang Jie finally felt better after the platoon leader admitted his mistake. He watched the platoon leader leave, then lay back on the bed, making up his mind that he must not let the platoon leader down for his kindness.

However, Zhang Jie lay in bed, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep.

Whenever it was late at night, the girl he loved deep in his heart, Han Xiaoyu, would always appear in his mind involuntarily.

Han Xiaoyu is the source of all his motivation. All his efforts are just to be able to return to her one day and prove himself to her.

Zhang Jie is just the problem boy in Nanhai back then. He has always liked Han Xiaoyu silently, and he is also well aware of the gap between himself and Han Xiaoyu.

Han Xiaoyu is so beautiful and outstanding that there are many people who have a crush on her, but she is just an ordinary one among them.

He never expected that he would have the chance to be with Han Xiaoyu one day, so he kept this love deep in his heart and never thought about expressing it.

When he was expelled from school, he thought he and Han Xiaoyu would never meet again.

Fate is so wonderful, it is because of being expelled that he has the opportunity to get close to Han Xiaoyu. Han Xiaoyu is depressed because of Han Chong's sacrifice, and she gives up on herself. She finds Zhang Jie who also gives up on himself.

During that time, Han Xiaoyu often took the initiative to find Zhang Jie and asked him to take her out to have fun.

Those were Zhang Jie's happiest days. He could be with the person he loved every day. He didn't want to think about anything else but just wanted to enjoy this short and beautiful time to the fullest.

It was not until Chen Ping appeared that Zhang Jie woke up from this dream.

He knew that he could no longer be so selfish and could not hurt Han Xiaoyu.

When Han Xiaoyu returned to campus, Zhang Jie also knew clearly that the experience between him and Han Xiaoyu was just an unrealistic dream. Han Xiaoyu might never really like him. She just vented to him when she was in the worst mood.

Even so, Zhang Jie was still unwilling to give up his beloved girl.

He knew that only if he was good enough could he be qualified to like her. During the half month he was injured and lying in the hospital, he secretly made up his mind to join the army.

He longed to be as good as Chen Ping, as strong as Chen Ping, and to be able to protect his beloved girl all his life.

After making up his mind, Zhang Jie joined the army regardless of everything. Fortunately, he successfully became an ordinary soldier. He shared the good news with Han Xiaoyu as soon as possible. Han Xiaoyu was also very happy and sent her blessings.

On the day of departure, Zhang Jie knew that Han Xiaoyu was in class, so he left silently without saying anything.

After arriving at the recruit camp, he worked harder than anyone else. He didn't want to disappoint the girl he liked, so he constantly challenged himself and longed to become stronger.

In the recruit camp, Zhang Jie performed very well in all aspects. With his outstanding performance, he was fortunately assigned to the best company of the unit.

He thought everything would go smoothly, but in the assessment a few days ago, the top company's higher intensity assessment made him clearly realize that he was still very weak.

Moreover, because he failed the assessment, he was ranked in the advanced ranking for three consecutive years.

This huge gap hit Zhang Jie hard. He felt that he was sorry for everyone, especially his beloved Han Xiaoyu.