Chapter 17

Standing at attention, marching, standing at ease, turning left and right, sitting in a circle to sing, as he went through it all again, Bian Xuedao found it more interesting than tiring.

It was time to sing again.

From "Unity is Strength" to "Returning from Target Practice," from "We Are Soldiers" to "One Two Three Four Song," from "The Girl Across the Way" to "Sister, Walk Forward Boldly," from "True Hero" to "Northeasterners Are All Living Lei Fengs," all kinds of provocations.

Then they all shouted together: "One Company, come on! One Company, come on!"

Seeing the other side not responding, the Third Company, where Bian Xuedao was, started to play by themselves. Apart from a few freshmen who liked to show off and sang voluntarily, no one came forward after several mobilizations by the instructor. Fine, let's play a game.

Pass the flower.

The game became fun. The talents of the students who were caught were truly varied. Poem recitation, Tai Chi, magic, Xinjiang dance, moonwalk, Ai Feng even knew how to do ventriloquism, completely defeating Bian Xuedao.

On the second day of playing pass the flower, Bian Xuedao was caught. Because he couldn't find Xu Shangxiu, he was a bit upset and his throat hurt. Bian Xuedao asked the instructor if he could do push-ups. The instructor said less than 40 would mean changing to another performance, so Bian Xuedao did 50.

On the third day of playing pass the flower, Li Yu was caught. This guy's song "I Have No Money, I Don't Care" shocked the three nearby formations. Usually, it wasn't obvious from his speaking, but once he started singing, Bian Xuedao realized Li Yu's voice was very similar to Wu Qixian, with a full breath and high notes, clearly trained. Moreover, Li Yu sang without any restraint, like someone who had been on stage before, with a special kind of感染力.

The military training continued.

Bian Xuedao had prepared three pairs of insoles, but on the second day of training, Li Yu and Yang Hao took two pairs. When he wanted to buy more, the insoles near the school were already out of stock.

With no choice, he had to resort to drastic measures.

Not wanting to walk far, Bian Xuedao wandered around the campus supermarket for a long time. Seizing the moment when no one was nearby, he quickly grabbed two packs of sanitary pads, put them in the shopping basket, and covered them with a new towel. Seeing fewer people at the checkout, he moved forward at the end of the line.

In the end, he was still surrounded at the door. Bian Xuedao smiled and paid, bagged the items, and turned his head to see an unexpected acquaintance.

Song Jia, Dong Xue's good friend, one of the six people who took turns treating each other before the college entrance exam. Bian Xuedao really didn't expect to see Song Jia here.

In his previous life, Bian Xuedao also attended Dongsen University, and he had eaten a few meals with his high school classmates who also got in. He remembered that Song Jia wasn't there.

"Did you also get into Dongsen?" Bian Xuedao asked.

"Uh-huh."

"Which department?"

"International Trade."

Seeing Bian Xuedao's surprise, Song Jia continued, "I originally wanted to apply to a school out of town. After the head teacher, Mr. Chen, saw your application, he said this school and this department were both good, so he suggested I apply too. To be safe, I changed my application at the last minute."

The two walked together to the entrance of Bian Xuedao's dormitory. Bian Xuedao asked Song Jia, "Is there a girl surnamed Xu in your dorm?"

Song Jia shook her head.

"Can you help me look for a girl surnamed Xu in our department this year?"

"What's her name?" Song Jia asked.

Bian Xuedao shook his head, "I only know she's surnamed Xu."

Song Jia looked at Bian Xuedao and said, "You're already making a move after just a few days of school?"

Bian Xuedao smiled but didn't say anything.

Back in the dorm, Yu Jin, with his sharp eyes, saw the sanitary pads in the bag Bian Xuedao brought back and shouted, "Damn!"

Bian Xuedao ignored him and neatly put the sanitary pads in his shoes, put on the shoes, and stepped on them, feeling quite good.

The others, who had figured it out, rushed over to grab the remaining sanitary pads. Afraid these guys would touch his military quilt, Bian Xuedao immediately hid in the bathroom, locked the door, and ignored the pounding outside. Until Chen Jian suggested that if Bian Xuedao didn't come out, they would dismantle his military quilt. Bian Xuedao shouted from inside the bathroom, "When these two packs are used up, someone else should go buy more."

After closing the door, the guys each took a sanitary pad to study.

Chen Jian said, "It's not easy for female students. They have this fixed monthly expense, enough to improve their meals twice in the fourth canteen."

Tong Chao flipped the sanitary pad in his hand, "Which side goes up when you put this in your shoes?"

Yu Jin looked at it for a long time, peeled off the adhesive, and said seriously, "Imagine how uncomfortable it would be to stick this on your butt..."

Kong Weize had been on the phone on the balcony and, hearing Yu Jin's words, laughed and said, "Bro, who said it's stuck on the butt? You should find a girlfriend to learn how to use it!"

Yu Jin rolled his eyes, "If not on the butt, where then?"

Bian Xuedao knew how to use it but didn't say anything, afraid these guys would take off their pants to demonstrate. Sitting on the bed, he recalled that he didn't know how to use sanitary pads when he first started college either.

Yu Jin's military shoes were a bit big, and he already had three blisters on his feet. With the sanitary pads, he had three layers in his shoes. The next day during training, after walking in the morning, by the afternoon, the sanitary pad in his right shoe had poked out from the back. It just so happened that the instructor was having the formations march in rows. In the formation, it was easier to bluff, but when marching in rows, everyone was watching, so everyone was extra careful, and Yu Jin was especially diligent, stomping and swinging his legs hard.

After Yu Jin's row passed, the instructor didn't shout "Turn around" for a long time. He just noticed that the expressions of the guys in the front row facing them were very strange.

Finally, the instructor shouted, "Turn around."

Yu Jin, like everyone else, saw a white sanitary pad lying in the middle of the training area, which had been clean just a moment ago.

Where did this come from? The instructor, who was about the same age as the freshmen, was completely baffled.

There was even a red dot on the sanitary pad, looking like a plum blossom embroidered on a white silk handkerchief, and the entire formation was silent.

The instructor wanted to pick up the sanitary pad and throw it away but thought it might have fallen from a girl and felt it was inappropriate. So he shouted in the usual command tone, "Whose sanitary pad fell out? Come and pick it up."

Yu Jin's neck broke out in a sweat. The girls in the adjacent formation were just starting to march in rows, and the guys facing them were staring intently. Already feeling uncomfortable, he was even more so with this powerful statement. His movements immediately became distorted.

Yu Jin, drenched in cold sweat, tried hard to control his facial expression. Absolutely cannot admit it, absolutely cannot admit it! As a guy, admitting in front of everyone that he had a sanitary pad, even if he said it was for insoles, who would believe it? If he got a reputation as a pervert, how would he find a girlfriend in college?

The incident ended with the instructor picking up the sanitary pad. But actually, except for the guys in Room 717, the guys around Yu Jin knew it was from his shoes, just didn't say anything. This incident directly led to Yu Jin's name being maliciously changed to "Yu Jin," and especially in front of girls, everyone loved calling him "Bro Jin." Later, Yu Jin's actions proved he lived up to the name "Bro Jin."

From that day on, after dinner, Bian Xuedao would go to the opposite side of the 11A dormitory building, where there were a few senior girls and many freshmen girls, to look for Xu Shangxiu among the girls carrying food bowls and water bottles.

Rumors quickly spread in the girls' dormitory: A freshman boy was waiting for a girl at the dormitory entrance every evening.

The girls reacted differently.

"Really? It's only been a few days of school. Isn't that too eager?"

"Really? What does he look like? Is he handsome?"

"Is he waiting for his high school girlfriend?"

"Remind me if he comes again tomorrow. I'll look out the window."

Bian Xuedao also realized that standing in his green uniform at the girls' dormitory entrance was too conspicuous and too flashy. So he went back to the dorm to change clothes after dinner.

In no time, the guys in Room 717 all heard about Bian Xuedao's daily visits to the girls' dormitory. They asked him every day who he liked and where he had fallen in love, but Bian Xuedao wouldn't say.

In the evening, some bold and outgoing girls would take a detour to walk past Bian Xuedao, deliberately looking at him. As for the girls pointing and whispering from the windows, he couldn't keep track of them all.

The guys in Room 717 noticed that Bian Xuedao had become less talkative recently. Although he still smiled most of the time, his whole body exuded a "do not disturb" aura.

The information from Song Jia was that she had almost asked every dorm on the floor and only found two girls surnamed Xu, but when Bian Xuedao asked about their height and other details, he immediately determined they weren't Xu Shangxiu.

As the military training was about to end, through various connections, Bian Xuedao saw the list of freshmen in the International Trade department, including the preparatory class, and there was no Xu Shangxiu in any of the seven classes.

Like a traveler chasing an oasis in the desert, only to find it was just a mirage, Bian Xuedao repeatedly asked himself: Why? How could this be? Why is it different from my previous life?

After thinking for a few nights, Bian Xuedao came up with a possibility.

He and Song Jia were not in this major in their previous lives, but now they were. Each major had a fixed number of admissions in each province. If Xu Shangxiu's score was right at the admission line, it was very likely that she was squeezed out by him or Song Jia.

On September 29th, all freshmen went on a military training exercise, with the destination being the Tiger Regiment near the city.

Upon arrival, they visited the barracks and the living quarters, saw the soldiers' activity room, and the teacher in charge called everyone to gather and go to the shooting range on the other side.

The students immediately split into two camps, half excited, half nervous.

Shooting? Bian Xuedao remembered there was no such activity in the previous life's training. But it didn't matter now; it was still good to touch a gun, just didn't know how many bullets each person would get.

Seeing their company's instructor in front, Kong Weize loudly asked, "Instructor, how many shots does each person get?"

Li Yu added, "Are we getting bulletproof vests?"

The whole place fell silent.