Chapter 479 A merciful general cannot command an army, and eagles return to their nests. A week later, at the end of the dirt road leading to the outside world from Battalion No. 3.
A green Jiefang brand truck was parked there, its engine chugging and emitting wisps of black smoke. The autumn wind swirled up the yellow leaves on the ground, making people's clothes flutter, adding a touch of desolate farewell.
Chen Xiaocao had changed into clean casual clothes. She was still thin, but her eyes shone brightly. She clutched a manila envelope tightly in her hand, inside which was a letter of recommendation that could change her life and the "martial arts manual" that Sister Su An had tailored for her.
"Sister Su An, Sister Lan Di, you should go back, it's windy." Chen Xiaocao's eyes were red, but she tried to straighten her back to keep the tears from falling.
Liu Landi's tears were already streaming down her face like a broken string of pearls. She hugged Chen Xiaocao tightly, choking back sobs, "You silly girl, you've gone to such a faraway place in Tibet, where you don't know anyone. You must take good care of yourself! Remember to write to us, do you hear me!"
"Yes! I will definitely write! I will write for you every single meal!" Chen Xiaocao nodded vigorously, and finally couldn't hold back her tears, which slid down her cheeks.
Su Tang stood to the side, saying nothing, just watching quietly.
Gao Kai and Jiang Yan also came. As representatives of the top ten male soldiers, they came to see off their young comrade-in-arms who had displayed the fighting spirit of the Third Battalion in the combat arena.
Even Gao Kai, a man as strong as an iron tower, had tears in his eyes. He rummaged in his pocket for a while and pulled out two fruit candies wrapped in oil paper, which he stuffed into Chen Xiaocao's hand: "Little Xiaocao, eat these on the way! When you get there, if anyone dares to bully you, write back and tell your brother, and your brother will find a way to get revenge for you!"
Chen Xiaocao smiled through her tears, clutching the candy tightly: "Thank you, Comrade Gao Kai."
Jiang Yan silently handed over a military water bottle: "It's hot water inside, mixed with brown sugar. It'll be cold on the road, drink some to warm yourself up." He didn't say much, but he was always so thoughtful and considerate.
Chen Xiaocao's gaze swept across everyone's faces, finally landing on Su Tang. She took a step back, brought her feet together, and bowed solemnly.
"Thank you so much... I, Chen Xiaocao, have no way to repay you..."
Su Tang looked at her, at that young face soaked with tears and determination, and felt a slight warmth in her heart. She didn't return the greeting, but simply stepped forward and reached out to straighten her slightly crooked collar.
"Go." Her voice was soft, yet carried an undeniable force. "Don't look back."
"Get in! Let's go!" The driver leaned out of the truck cab and shouted impatiently.
Chen Xiaocao took one last deep look at Su Tang, sniffed, resolutely turned around, and climbed onto the high back of the truck.
The car started with a clang and slowly drove forward.
As the truck drove further and further away, Chen Xiaocao stood in the truck bed, leaning out most of her body, frantically waving a small handkerchief in her hand. It was a clean checkered handkerchief that Su Tang had given her, sent by Qin Ye from Beijing.
The wind carried her shouts back, intermittent yet incredibly clear.
"Sister Su An—wait for me—"
Liu Landi's eyes reddened.
As Gao Kai watched the truck drive away, this seven-foot-tall man felt a lump in his throat and couldn't utter a single word.
Jiang Yan's gaze was deep as he watched the thin figure waving a handkerchief in the wind until it became a tiny black dot.
Only Su Tang remained calm throughout. She stood there like a poplar tree rooted by the roadside, unmoved by the autumn wind.
"Su An...you...how come you're not sad at all?" Gao Kai turned to ask Su Tang.
Su Tang turned her gaze from the distance and landed on Gao Kai's face.
She didn't explain much, only saying lightly, "A kind heart cannot command an army."
Liu Landi and Gao Kai were both stunned.
Su Tang turned around and walked towards the camp, her voice calmly drifting over: "She wasn't eliminated, she went to a place that suits her better, to shine. We should be happy for her."
Jiang Yan watched Su Tang's retreating figure, a complex light flashing in his eyes.
"A kind heart cannot command an army..." He pondered these four words, feeling that Su An always saw further than others.
Gao Kai suddenly understood, as if struck by a thunderbolt. He slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "That's right! Teacher Su is right! Little Grass is going to be a special reconnaissance soldier, that's a fantastic thing! Why are we crying? Let's go, let's go back to training!"
He strode quickly to catch up with Su Tang.
Jiang Yan lagged behind. He glanced at Su Tang, then at the boisterous Gao Kai, a barely perceptible smile playing on his lips, and followed.
...
After the farewell ceremony, the top ten who advanced officially began their week-long "rest period".
It was supposed to be a rest period, but the training volume didn't decrease at all. It just changed from the previous life-or-death extreme competition to monotonous basic physical fitness and drill training. Every day was just weighted running, obstacle course, and marching in formation, over and over again, as if to push them back to the state of raw recruits.
Instructor Lei Kuan seemed like a different person. He stopped yelling and cursing. Every day, he would just hold an enamel mug and watch them practice with a blank expression.
Qin Ye, on the other hand, was like a ghost, always appearing in some corner of the training ground at the most unexpected times. He might be on the watchtower, behind the obstacle wall, or standing at the very back of the team.
He said nothing, just stared. His gaze was colder than the Siberian chill, sweeping over everyone and sending a chill down their spines.
The atmosphere in the entire Battalion No. 3 became unusually eerie.
That afternoon, after finishing the five-kilometer weighted cross-country run, the ten men lay on the grass like dead dogs, panting heavily.
"Damn it... what does this mean?" Zhuoyue was the first to lose his temper, throwing his belt on the ground and scratching his head in frustration. "It's been a week, all we do is run, run, run. Are they treating us like donkeys? They haven't revealed a single word about what the final assessment is. What is Instructor Qin up to?"
Xu Gaogui adjusted his glasses and, panting, analyzed, "I guess this might be a psychological test. After going through a high-intensity elimination round, suddenly entering this monotonous and repetitive training mode is to wear down our sharpness and impetuosity, and to test our patience and obedience."
"Bullshit obedience!" Gao Kai sat up abruptly, wiping the sweat from his face, but his gaze unconsciously drifted to Su Tang, who was sitting quietly under a tree drinking water not far away. "I always feel that Instructor Qin is deliberately making things difficult for us. Especially... he seems to dislike certain people."
As he said this, he rubbed his aching shoulder meaningfully.
Just yesterday, all he did was offer to help Su Tang pick up her water bottle when it fell during training, but Qin Ye on the watchtower called his name through a loudspeaker and punished him by making him run five extra laps carrying a log. The reason given was "during training, he was not concentrating and was looking around."
The whole battalion heard it.
This left Gao Kai feeling depressed all day. He couldn't understand what he had done to offend this living devil.
Upon hearing this, Xu Gaogui immediately chimed in, "Exactly! Instructor Qin is too strict! Yesterday, Su An's shoelace came undone, and he squatted down to tie it, taking half a second too long, and he was punished by having to clean guns all afternoon!"
He should have kept quiet about it; the moment he did, Gao Kai got even more excited.
"What? Is that so?" He looked at Su Tang abruptly. "Teacher Su, he punished you? Your wrist injury hasn't fully healed yet, and he made you clean guns all afternoon?"
Su Tang screwed on the water bottle cap and glanced at him indifferently: "He didn't punish me; I applied for it myself. The rifling of those Type 56 semi-automatic rifles in the armory was severely worn, so I applied for a full maintenance."
But what Su Tang wouldn't tell them was that Qin Ye had deliberately arranged this so that the two of them could meet in the armory.
Gao Kai: "..."
On the other side, Jiang Yan, who had been silent all along, also turned his gaze to Su Tang.
He wasn't as boisterous as Gao Kai, but he saw things more deeply. He discovered that Instructor Qin's "strictness" always seemed to revolve around Su An, whether intentionally or unintentionally.
Either punish those who try to get close to Su An, like Gao Kai, or "instruct" Su An himself in a harsh manner.
For example, during the last drill, everyone was walking properly when Qin Ye suddenly stopped them, walked up to Su An, and said that her arm swing angle was three degrees off.
Three times!
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