Chapter 73 So beautiful, he thought he saw a fairy.
The soldier trembled at the menacing aura emanating from him, shrinking back and whispering, "Reporting...reporting to the battalion commander...they...they've all gone to watch the cultural troupe's rehearsal..."
"A performing arts troupe?"
Zhao Wenchang's face instantly turned as black as the bottom of a pot.
These little rascals can't be let down for a moment!
He strode forward, almost like a gust of wind, towards the military district's open-air auditorium.
Before the person even arrived, the high-pitched and melodious singing could be heard from afar, along with bursts of enthusiastic cheers.
On a makeshift stage, the performing arts troupe was rehearsing the classic play "The White-Haired Girl".
In the center of the stage, the actress playing "Xi'er" wore a tattered cotton-padded jacket, but her singing voice was mournful and moving, and her dance moves were impeccable, with every move revealing her professional skills.
She portrayed Xi'er's grief and despair so vividly that the soldiers watching from below the stage craned their necks, staring wide-eyed, completely mesmerized.
The actress was Bai Weiwei.
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of that tall, imposing figure in the dense crowd.
It's him!
Zhao Wenchang is here!
Bai Weiwei felt a surge of joy that she could hardly contain.
She knew Zhao Wenchang was here to see her! It was worth all the effort she put into deliberately spreading the news that the performing arts troupe was rehearsing here today.
She suppressed her excitement and poured all her emotions into the performance.
After a difficult spin in place, she came to a steady stop amidst the swirling "snowflakes," casting a tearful yet determined and hopeful glance at Zhao Wenchang.
Thunderous applause erupted from the audience.
However, Zhao Wenchang's face darkened even more upon hearing this voice.
His deep black eyes seemed frozen, and only four words echoed in his mind: lax military discipline.
Before the applause had even subsided, he roared from the back of the crowd with a powerful voice, like a thunderclap from a clear sky, instantly silencing all the cheers—
"First Battalion! All of you! Get back to the training ground!"
The voice startled the soldiers who were watching intently. When they saw that the person was Zhao Wenchang, known in the camp as the "Living Yama," their romantic thoughts vanished instantly. They scattered like birds and beasts, running towards the camp's training ground as if they had seen a ghost.
Seeing Zhao Wenchang's cold face and his turn to leave, Bai Weiwei, who had just finished her performance, felt anxious and quickly stepped off the stage to block his way.
She forced a smile, her beautiful eyes still streaked with tears: "Wenchang, what... do you think of my acting just now?"
A hopeful light shone in her eyes; even a polite word of affirmation would have been enough to satisfy her.
Zhao Wenchang didn't even glance at her. His gaze passed over her and went to the soldiers who were stumbling towards the training ground. His voice was extremely cold and hard: "Don't come and disrupt the troops' training. I won't comment on anything else."
The enemy has already reached our doorstep, and these bastards still have the mind to watch young girls dance! They're utterly disorganized and undisciplined!
Bai Weiwei's smile froze.
Zhao Wenchang bypassed her and prepared to go to the training ground to give these brats a good workout.
Seeing this, Gao Jianjun, the logistics officer who had always secretly admired her, hurriedly came over and took off his coat to put it on her: "Weiwei, don't be sad. Battalion Commander Zhao is just a blockhead who doesn't understand romance! I think you dance the best in the world!"
"Stop bothering me!"
Bai Weiwei wouldn't listen to him at all. She pushed him away and chased after Zhao Wenchang in the direction he had left.
Just then, a figure rushed over and immediately spotted a man in the crowd who was still craning his neck, seemingly unsatisfied.
"Chen Qiangguo, you son of a bitch!"
Without a word, Li Yanhong darted forward, grabbed her husband Chen Qiangguo's ear with precision, and yanked it hard, yelling, "I'm at home making you soup, and what are you doing here watching that vixen dance?!"
"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! My ear is going to fall off, let go!" Chen Qiangguo cried out in pain, and the people around him laughed and teased the two of them.
A young soldier, dressed in a cultural troupe uniform and looking only seventeen or eighteen years old with a youthful and handsome face, instinctively wanted to step in and mediate: "Comrade, comrade, let's talk this out, don't fight..."
Li Yanhong was furious and didn't care who he was. She shoved him aside and said, "Go away! It's none of your business!"
The soldier's feet landed on the snow, which had been trampled smooth and firm by the crowd. He lost his balance, cried out in surprise, and slipped backward, about to fall flat on his face.
In the blink of an eye, a slender but strong hand firmly supported his arm.
The young soldier, named Le Bai, looked up in shock and met a pair of smiling eyes.
The afternoon sun in winter wasn't too harsh; it lazily shone down and fell on the woman's face.
Her skin was as white as snow, her eyebrows were curved, and she had a smiling face that made Le Bai instantly stunned. In a daze, he thought he was seeing a fairy.
His cheeks flushed bright red, and he stammered as he straightened up, giving a rather imperfect military salute: "Sir...Sir, good morning!"
With a chuckle, Jiang Wanqiu was amused by his embarrassed appearance, a mischievous glint in her eyes: "I'm not an officer, you've mistaken me for someone else. Do I look like an official?"
When she smiled at him like that, Le Bai's face turned even redder, like a boiled shrimp. He didn't know where to put his hands and feet, and was so embarrassed that he wished he could dig a hole in the snow and bury himself.
Meanwhile, Zhao Wenchang was getting annoyed by Bai Weiwei's entanglement and was trying to figure out how to get away when he looked up and saw his woman smiling at a handsome young man with red lips and white teeth, who was staring at her with a lovestruck expression.
Without a second thought, Zhao Wenchang frowned, took long strides, shook off Bai Weiwei, and strode over to her in a few steps.
His tall figure exuded an imposing aura, casting a large shadow like a mountain, completely enveloping Le Bai.
Le Bai shuddered at the menacing aura emanating from him. Upon seeing the two bars and one star on his shoulder, he instinctively stood at attention and saluted again, his voice trembling as he said, "Battalion...Battalion Commander, greetings!"
Zhao Wenchang returned the greeting expressionlessly, but his eyes were fixed on Jiang Wanqiu: "Why did you come here?"
Jiang Wanqiu sensed the intense jealousy in his words, but instead of being afraid, she found it amusing.
She deliberately mimicked Li Yanhong's sour tone, slowly surveying the chaotic scene before finally fixing her gaze on him with a snort of a laugh:
"Of course I was curious and wanted to come and see what kind of 'good stuff' was so attractive that it made our famous Battalion Commander Zhao not want to go home."
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