University extra (3)
The first day of military training was relatively basic. After a mobilization meeting on the playground in the morning, the freshmen of Capital University were taken by the instructors to stand at attention under the scorching sun for the whole morning.
After a short rest at noon, we started practicing marching in formation again in the afternoon. At first, the whole formation marched together, and then we marched in single rows. The coach would hold each person's toes and arm angles one by one, and if the movement was slightly off, they would be pulled to the front of the formation to "demonstrate" it.
During the afternoon break, Wen Sheng found a shady spot, plopped down, grabbed the water bottle next to her, and gulped down water. Only after the cold water entered her stomach did she feel alive again.
She remembered what Xu Jianing had said to her last night when he came downstairs to talk to her:
"Make sure you wear the sunscreen I bought for you during military training tomorrow."
"Make sure to wipe your arms and face, and don't forget your neck."
"Also, bring an extra towel. I heard on the radio that the sun has been particularly strong these past few days."
Wen Sheng rubbed her ears: "I know, you've said it so many times."
Xu Jianing ignored her disgust, glanced at the time, and said half-jokingly, "Then give me a kiss, and I won't say anything."
"Have you forgotten what I told you a few days ago?"
"What is it?" he asked, feigning ignorance.
Wen Sheng kindly reminded him, "You should keep a low profile at school, and it's best to pretend you don't know me."
Xu Jianing raised an eyebrow and said with a smile, "Don't you recognize her? Then who was the person who sat on my lap and kissed me yesterday?"
She hurriedly covered his mouth with her hand, but he was still saying intermittently, "Mmm... Wen doesn't recognize people after kissing me... mmm..."
In a moment of panic, Wen Sheng silenced him with her mouth, biting his lower lip fiercely and threateningly muttering, "Don't talk about yesterday anymore!"
She was a little too forward that day...
Because she loved his flushed face and dreamy eyes, she kept teasing him, leaving red marks on his neck with her kisses. But after he said that, she felt like she wanted to disappear into the ground.
Xu Jianing laughed even harder, "So that's what Wen meant by 'stranger'..."
Before parting, he still remembered his original purpose for finding her and reminded her again: "Make sure to eat breakfast before military training tomorrow, don't skip it just to sleep a few more minutes; make sure your water bottle is full."
Thinking of this, Wen Sheng gulped down another mouthful of water and took off her hat to fan herself.
It must be admitted that his predictions were all correct.
I almost skipped breakfast this morning because I overslept. If my roommate hadn't dragged me downstairs, I probably would have fainted from hunger at the mobilization meeting.
Just as I was lost in thought, a whistle suddenly sounded in the center of the playground, carrying the head instructor's voice:
"Everyone's here, assemble on the playground!"
Wen Sheng quickly put on her hat, picked up her water bottle, and jogged back to the ranks to continue standing at attention and practicing marching.
They finally made it to dinner time, but their head instructor refused to let them go. Instead, he got excited and shouted through a megaphone, "Let's have a competition today! Whichever formation shouts the loudest gets to go to the cafeteria first!"
"Attention! At ease! Attention!"
"Right dress!"
Look ahead!
In order to eat earlier, everyone was practically shouting at the top of their lungs:
"We'll bleed and sweat, but we won't shed tears!"
"We'll get through this, but we won't fall behind!"
"To bring glory to our school!"
The shouts echoed across the playground, one wave higher than the next, making our eardrums buzz. Every class was giving it their all, their throats practically burning from shouting, all so they could eat early.
The head instructor, not content with just chanting slogans, shouted through a megaphone, "Singing slogans isn't enough! Next, we'll sing! The class that sings the loudest will be the first to go to lunch!"
Wen Sheng rolled her eyes at the instructor silently, thinking, "If you don't want to let people go to eat, just say so."
Despite her complaints, her stomach was growling with hunger, so she had no choice but to grit her teeth and shout along.
"Unity is strength! Unity is strength! This strength is iron, this strength is steel, harder than iron and stronger than steel!"
When the results were announced, her group was unsurprisingly the last to leave.
Their formation was the last to arrive at the cafeteria, not because their voices weren't loud enough, but because they had the fewest people. Other classes had neat rows of seven or eight students; their shouts shook the entire school building. But their formation was significantly shorter, naturally overshadowing their earlier presence.
Wen Sheng followed the procession slowly forward. Since she was the last one to arrive at the cafeteria anyway, most of the good food would have already been snatched up by those ahead of her. She planned to just eat a little something, go back to her dorm, take a shower, and then go to sleep.
But just as the group turned a corner at a school road intersection, a loud shout suddenly came from ahead: "Hello, senior!"
As soon as the front formation finished shouting "Hello, seniors!", their platoon of instructors immediately followed up and gave the order: "Second Battalion, Third Company, Fifth Platoon!"
Wen Sheng mechanically followed along, only realizing afterward that the senior looked somewhat familiar.
Upon closer inspection, wasn't that her handsome boyfriend? She quickly pulled down her hat brim and shrank into the line, not wanting him to see her.
Unlike Wen Sheng's nervousness, Xu Jianing, carrying a bag, stood at the entrance of the school path, looking at each row as if searching for someone. His scanning gaze was highly targeted, not missing any row.
After the group disbanded, Wen Sheng prepared to walk towards the dormitory and was about to slip away into the crowd when her wrist was suddenly grabbed.
"Where are you going?" A familiar voice sounded from behind, tinged with amusement. "Aren't you planning to eat?"
Wen Sheng was caught off guard and retorted guiltily, "Who said that? I'm on my way to the cafeteria."
"Is that so?" Xu Jianing nodded, shook the bag in her hand, and said regretfully, "Then I'll have to eat all the beef and braised pork at the stir-fry window on the second floor of the second canteen by myself."
"And... I specially queued up to buy this before the freshmen were dismissed." He loosened the bag slightly, then held it up and waved it near her nose.
Wen Sheng smelled the fragrance and her eyes immediately followed the bag.
She initially thought she wouldn't be able to get any food at this window, so she planned to go back to her dorm without eating. But then the delicious food was right in front of her, and her mouth watered. She hurriedly wiped it away with her hand.
"You only bought one?" she asked.
“I bought two portions. Let’s go eat over there.” Xu Jianing skillfully took her hand and led her around the back door to the small pavilion behind the cafeteria.
The small pavilion stands in the middle of the lake and is called "Lake Heart Pavilion". The pavilion has been built for a long time, and the stone steps have been worn smooth by time. During the day, almost no one comes here, but occasionally people come here to chat in the evening.
It was evening, and the sunset reflected on the lake, making the water ripple with golden light; two swans were also playing on the lake.
Xu Jianing first placed the bag on the stone table, took out a wet tissue from his pocket, bent down and carefully wiped the stone bench, not even sparing the table. Only after he felt it was clean did the two of them sit down.
When he opened the lunchbox, he suddenly felt a heaviness on his shoulder. Looking down, he saw that Wen Sheng had fallen asleep, leaning on his shoulder.
After a day of military training, her wisps of hair were damp with sweat, clinging tightly to her cheeks, and her lips were slightly parted.
Xu Jianing softened her movements, gently brushed the stray hairs from her cheek behind her ear, then closed the lunchbox and pushed it aside.
The lake beside us shimmered with golden light, the sunset glow on the horizon was fading away, and night was slowly falling.
Xu Jianing looked at Wen Sheng's profile. She was sleeping very peacefully, only occasionally frowning.
He originally thought he would have to wait a long time for such an opportunity, but unexpectedly, the scene he had planned and imagined countless times came true so quickly.
*
When Wen Sheng woke up, it was already dark. There was a yellow lamp in the center of the table in the lakeside pavilion, illuminating the entire pavilion.
She stretched and noticed that Xu Jianing was looking down at her.
"Are you hungry? Let's eat first."
What time is it?
It's almost seven o'clock.
Wen Sheng stretched her neck, which still felt a little sore and numb. She looked down at his awkward movements as he opened the lunchbox and suddenly realized that she had been sleeping on his shoulder for half an hour, and immediately felt guilty.
Oh no, his shoulder must be numb!
Wen Sheng quickly stood up, went behind Xu Jianing, placed her hands on his shoulders, and clumsily massaged him.
"Is your head numb? I'm sorry, I'm too tired today and I accidentally fell asleep. You don't need to come tomorrow, I'll just go back to my dorm and sleep."
Xu Jianing, who had been eating with her head down, stopped mid-air with her chopsticks when she heard this, her eyes darkening: "You don't want to see me."
Wen Sheng sensed something was wrong and leaned forward to look. To his surprise, Wen Sheng immediately put on a pitiful expression, looking exactly like a puppy that had been abandoned by its owner.
She was amused by his expression and reached out to poke his cheek: "Stop pretending, your expression just now clearly scared me."
I wanted to say, "We can't be so lovey-dovey," but when I saw his pitiful expression, I couldn't bring myself to say it.
Xu Jianing turned to look at her, "Can I ask for some compensation?"
Do you still want me to sit up there?
Wen Sheng froze, her internal alarm bells ringing again!
She clearly wanted to say something serious, but her mouth beat her brain and she blurted out the embarrassing scene from that day.
"Is that okay?" Xu Jianing asked.
"Let's eat first, I'm hungry." She sat back down and said casually, "It's delicious, you should eat too!"
When Wen Sheng returned to her dormitory, she was still confused. She couldn't understand why Xu Jianing had acted so strangely after she woke up in the lakeside pavilion.
After dinner, she kept her promise and, just like the night before, sat on his lap, kissed him, and their breaths mingled.
Reason held her back at the last moment, preventing her from losing too much control. But at his prompting, she still reached out and unbuttoned two or three buttons on his shirt, leaned down, and kissed a noticeable red mark on his fair skin.
After Wen Sheng bent down and left that red mark on his chest, she prepared to leave and stand up, but Xu Jianing grabbed her waist, forcing her to continue sitting on his lap.
He glanced down at the mark, his eyes narrowed, and he smiled with satisfaction. Then he buried his face in her neck, his chin rubbing against her delicate skin.
"I like you so much, Wen Sheng, I like you so much, I like you so much..."
“Yes, I like you too,” Wen Sheng replied.
After saying this, she could clearly feel the person buried in the crook of her neck catch their breath, and the hand around her waist suddenly tightened, as if trying to pull her into their body.
"Stay with me a little longer... I can't leave now." Xu Jianing slowly raised his head, looked at her with moist eyes, and pleaded.
"good."
Ignite, then extinguish, then ignite again, then extinguish again...
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