Lu Jingcheng: …
Ye Qingyang clapped his hands and stood up. “Finished.”
“You should be finished,” the instructor said. “Look how fast you were before. The moment Student Lu stands here, your pace slows way down.”
Ye Qingyang didn’t feel embarrassed at all. He just smiled. “Well, we were enjoying our little two-person world.”
Lu Jingcheng: How are you still shameless enough to say that?!
The classmates burst into laughter. Some girls’ eyes even lit up, practically sparkling.
“Alright, alright, enough joking. Go back to the line.”
Ye Qingyang didn’t really want to go back. “Still have to go back, Instructor? If I go back, I’ll probably be called out again soon.”
The instructor laughed at that. “You can’t just stand here forever either.”
He checked his watch. “Go back. It’s time for breakfast anyway. Eat first.”
Only then did Ye Qingyang happily return to the formation.
Just like before, they collected their lunch boxes first and then went to eat. Breakfast was simple: fried dough sticks, eggs, and soy milk.
This time Lu Jingcheng didn’t complain about the food. He ate with Ye Qingyang and the others before heading back to the dorm.
Morning assembly after breakfast was set for 8:30, so everyone rested briefly before going downstairs again.
“Today we’ll start with standing at attention. Head up, chest out, hands close to the seams of your pants…”
Listening to the instructions, Ye Qingyang stood as straight as a pine tree.
Instructor Xu looked at the students and started a timer. “Five minutes. Hold that posture for five minutes. Anyone moves—boys do push-ups, girls do squats.”
Someone groaned “Ah—” and was immediately dragged out to do push-ups.
Five minutes wasn’t long or short—but for students standing at attention, it felt endless.
Before long, several people had been pulled out.
Instructor Xu walked around with his hands behind his back, inspecting them one by one.
When he passed Ye Qingyang and Lu Jingcheng, he smiled. “Our sunflower pair is doing pretty well. Standing nice and straight.”
Sunflower pair?
Ye Qingyang looked at him, confused.
Instructor Xu laughed. “Looking at you two, good height, good appearance—you’d make great flag bearers.”
Ye Qingyang: …
A flag bearer again?
Before he was reborn, during military training he had been a flag bearer. Now even after rebirth he still had to be one?
He forced a smile.
Lu Jingcheng wasn’t interested in being a flag bearer at all. He glanced at the instructor but said nothing.
After the five minutes ended, the punished students finished their push-ups and squats and returned to the formation, and the next round of training began.
Morning training was standing at attention. Afternoon training was marching.
Instructor Xu emphasized, “Swing your arms straight, keep your waist upright, march in step. Forward march!”
Everyone started swinging their arms and walking.
Xu hurried around correcting them—and while doing so, he noticed Ye Qingyang.
“You there—Ye Qingyang, step out.”
Ye Qingyang stepped forward, confused. “What’s wrong, Instructor?”
“Walk once for everyone to see.”
Ye Qingyang: …
He should’ve guessed. From middle school to high school to now—even after being reborn—every military training somehow turned him into the demonstration student.
Helpless, he swung his arms seriously and followed the instructor’s rhythm as he marched forward.
“One-two-one, one-two-one,” Instructor Xu called the cadence. “Halt.”
Ye Qingyang stopped cleanly.
“Right turn.”
Ye Qingyang turned his head to look at him helplessly.
Instructor Xu looked delighted, as if he had discovered treasure, and continued testing him. “At ease. Attention.”
“Not bad, not bad.” Xu pointed at him. “See that? Ye Qingyang’s movements are very standard. You should learn from him.”
The classmates who had been watching all morning suddenly looked at him with admiration.
The gap between people was ridiculous.
Training had just started, and Ye Qingyang already looked like he belonged in the army.
“Alright, Ye Qingyang. From now on you’re the squad leader of our company. You’ll supervise the others’ progress.”
Ye Qingyang: ???
He was supposed to be the class’s “bad student,” so why was he supervising everyone now?
“Instructor… maybe pick someone else?”
He really didn’t want to be the military training squad leader again. Every time it was him. Couldn’t he just be an ordinary soldier once?
“My grades are terrible. I’m a bad student. I’m not suitable.”
“That’s fine. This is military training—we’re not judging your school grades,” the instructor said casually.
“The others won’t agree either,” Ye Qingyang said, looking at his classmates. “Right?”
The classmates grinned. “Nope, we think it’s great.”
Ye Qingyang: …
So much for being their little angel!
Instructor Xu laughed. “Then it’s settled. Ye Qingyang, you’re our squad leader.”
And just like that, he was shoved into the position.
After more marching practice, the instructor checked the time and decided to start dorm inspections.
“You have forty minutes to clean up. I’ll inspect after that. Anyone who fails runs two laps before dinner.”
The students instantly groaned.
Chen Wei and the others unconsciously looked at Ye Qingyang like he was their savior.
When they reached the dorm, Ye Qingyang hadn’t even had time to drink water before Li Lan wrapped his arms around his waist.
“Dad! My dear father! Save your child!!!”
Click.
Lu Jingcheng snapped open his folding fruit knife. This time he didn’t need to look for one—the knife was already in his hand, ready to chop pig trotters.
“Let go,” Lu Jingcheng said coldly.
Seeing the gleam of the blade, Li Lan immediately let go. “Boss, let’s talk calmly… maybe put the knife away?”
Lu Jingcheng grabbed an apple from the table and started peeling it slowly while staring at him.
Li Lan felt like he was sitting on needles—like fish on the chopping block.
That wasn’t apple peel. That was clearly his skin.
When everyone finally quieted down, Ye Qingyang spoke.
“Folding quilts, right? Easy. One quilt per inspection—one yuan each. Sound fair?”
Everyone nodded rapidly. “Fair, fair!”
Ye Qingyang smiled. “Alright. Add my WeChat in the class group, then I’ll help fold them.”
Then he noticed Lu Jingcheng’s apple peeling had turned into a mess and walked over, taking it from him.
“Lu Ge, I’ll peel it.”
Lu Jingcheng looked at him and thought, Now you remember me?
When Li Lan hugged you earlier, why didn’t you push him away?
I had to reject him for you!
You’re just too nice.
You have to learn to refuse people.
He shook his head, thinking how lucky it was he had dragged Ye Qingyang into this dorm.
Otherwise this silly guy would be bullied by who knows how many people.
Luckily, he was here.
Thinking this, Lu Jingcheng suddenly understood why Ye Qingyang liked him so much.
Someone poor and weak like him would naturally admire someone strong like himself.
Maybe he was exactly the kind of person Ye Qingyang envied and wanted to become.
Lu Jingcheng sighed. That was impossible, of course.
But it didn’t matter.
He could protect Ye Qingyang.
At least no one would dare bully him then.
Thinking that, he handed over the apple.
Ye Qingyang had no idea about the complicated thoughts running through his mind. He peeled the apple while telling him to tidy up his other things first.
Lu Jingcheng finished quickly—he hadn’t brought much anyway.
Ye Qingyang handed him the peeled apple, wiped his hands with a wet wipe, and started organizing his own bed and belongings.
Then he began folding the quilt.
One flip, one fold—quick and clean.
The roommates watching were stunned.
“Slow down, master! I didn’t even see what you did!” Zhang Feng shouted.
After finishing his own perfectly square tofu-block quilt, Ye Qingyang moved to Lu Jingcheng’s bed.
Again—two minutes.
Another perfectly square tofu block.
The roommates’ eyes filled with reverence.
There were two kinds of hands in the world: real hands and fake hands.
Theirs were definitely fake.
Following the order of the red envelopes he’d received, Ye Qingyang folded quilts one by one.
When he reached Chen Wei’s bed, he glanced at Lu Jingcheng.
“Lu Ge, should I fold Brother Chen’s?”
Chen Wei: …
He really felt miserable.
He grabbed Lu Jingcheng’s fruit knife and held it to his wrist.
“Either you fold it or I die! Lu Jingcheng, be a human being!”
Lu Jingcheng grinned. “Go ahead, die. Let me see.”
Chen Wei: …
Lu Jingcheng snorted, took the knife back, and put it away. “Threatening me.”
Then he turned to Ye Qingyang and said with great collective honor, “Fold it. Otherwise he’ll be the only one failing and drag down our dorm’s score.”
“Exactly,” the others chimed in.
Chen Wei: ???
What do you mean “exactly”?
As if any of you folded your own quilts!
Forty minutes passed quickly.
Instructor Xu began inspecting dorms one by one from the first floor.
“What is this?” he said upon entering one room, staring at the quilt on the bed facing the door.
He walked over and studied it carefully. “Who folded this? Claim it.”
A girl stepped forward nervously. “I did.”
“What is this supposed to be?” Xu patted the quilt. “Bread?”
The girl sighed quietly. “Maybe… old tofu?”
“Too old. Doesn’t pass.” He flattened it immediately.
Her expression darkened instantly.
“And what’s this one?” Xu asked, pointing at another quilt.
“Maybe… soft tofu?” the owner said nervously.
“Too soft. Also doesn’t pass.”
“And this—what is it, tofu scraps?” Xu sighed. “None of you passed. Planning to run laps together holding hands? Friends walk together for life—anyone who doesn’t run is a dog.”
The girls groaned loudly.
Students from other dorms laughed—until their own quilts were inspected and the laughter stopped.
Xu continued flipping quilts as he walked.
“I told you to watch carefully and practice, but you didn’t watch or practice. I already lowered the standard to sixty points and you still can’t pass. There’ll be an evaluation later—how will you manage?”
The students sighed.
“It’s not that we don’t want to learn—it’s just too hard. You need real hands for this. Ours are fake.”
“Yeah. Like the emperor’s new hands.”
Xu laughed. “If your hands worked as well as your mouths, you’d be fine.”
Then he arrived at Ye Qingyang’s dorm.
Ye Qingyang, closest to the door, unlocked it.
Seeing him, Xu’s interest rose immediately. “Let’s see how our squad leader folded his.”
“Our squad leader folded them amazingly!” Li Lan shouted in support.
“Exactly, the squad leader is awesome!” Liu Ning added.
“Not only did he fold his own well, he led us all to fold ours!” Zhang Feng joined the praise squad.
Ye Qingyang said modestly, “Everyone just learned enthusiastically.”
Hearing the chorus, Xu became even more curious and stepped inside.
Then he froze.
The dorm was spotless. Everything was neatly arranged.
And on every bed sat a perfectly square tofu-block quilt.
The watching students were stunned.
“Holy crap! Where did you steal those quilts from?!”
“Did the instructor secretly come fold them for you earlier?!”
“How did you even do that?!”
Everyone turned to look at Ye Qingyang and Lu Jingcheng.
Lu Jingcheng stayed expressionless, glaring back when people stared too long.
Meanwhile Li Lan proudly explained, “It’s mainly thanks to Squad Leader Ye. After watching Instructor Xu yesterday, he practiced over and over and even led us to practice together. You don’t know—during lunch break we didn’t even sleep, we were all practicing folding quilts!”
“Yeah! Hard work pays off. Through our tireless effort, we finally mastered it!” Liu Ning said with a perfectly straight face.
Instructor Xu: …
Did they think he believed that?
His 5.2 vision wasn’t decorative.
The entire class failed except these eight—and all eight quilts looked copy-pasted. Was he blind?
He didn’t say anything. Instead he looked at Ye Qingyang—three parts curiosity, seven parts delight.
Impressive.
Good at training, good at housekeeping.
If he didn’t know better, he’d think this kid came straight from the army.
He had really underestimated this squad leader.
“See this?” Xu said, patting Ye Qingyang’s shoulder and turning to the others. “This is your role model.”
“Student Ye not only demands strict discipline from himself, he also actively encourages his roommates. Folding one quilt well means nothing—but leading an entire dorm to fold them perfectly shows a truly responsible attitude. You should all learn from him.”
“Exactly!” Li Lan said. “The squad leader is our model!”
Everyone knew what was going on, so they all looked at Ye Qingyang meaningfully.
Ye Qingyang smiled slightly. “Instructor flatters me. If everyone is willing, I can supervise the whole company just like I did our dorm. We’ll all improve together and build a model unit.”
The students exchanged knowing looks.
“Sounds great. We’ll rely on you, Squad Leader.”
Ye Qingyang smiled back. “Of course.”
Sometimes making money was just that simple.
With this, Ye Qingyang became famous in one battle.
Before dinner that evening, most of the company was running laps on the training field.
Only the eight people from their dorm—and six others who barely passed—were sitting under the shade of a tree watching their classmates sweat it out.
The feeling was… extremely satisfying.
A few of the barely-passing students came over curiously.
“What’s going on with you guys? Ye Qingyang, did you fold those quilts?”