Ye Qingyang had everyone practicing the goose-step for quite a while. Eventually people got tired and started pleading, “Class monitor, can we take a break?”
“Alright,” Ye Qingyang said. “Five minutes. Sit down where you are.”
Everyone cheered and plopped onto the ground. Taking advantage of the moment, Ye Qingyang brought up the issue of folding blankets.
After a noisy round of discussion, they finally decided to take turns. There was no other way—there simply weren’t enough “chosen by luck” types around, and no one dared guarantee they were the lucky one.
Ye Qingyang had no objections. As soon as the time was up, he had them get back on their feet and resume training.
Lu Jingcheng thought marching in goose-step over and over was pretty boring, so he asked, “If we’ve already got it down, do we still have to keep practicing?”
Hearing that, Ye Qingyang walked over and checked his form. Seeing that Lu Jingcheng was indeed doing it quite well, he told him to go sit on the steps and rest.
Seeing this, everyone else instantly became enthusiastic about training. Before long, a boy raised his hand.
“Class monitor, I’ve got it.”
Ye Qingyang went over to check.
The boy proudly goose-stepped forward. “Pretty standard, right? Can I rest now?”
Ye Qingyang smiled. “Keep practicing.”
Boy: …
Soon, others also claimed they had mastered it.
Ye Qingyang looked them over and repeated the same sentence. “Keep practicing.”
After handing out several red cards in a row, someone finally couldn’t hold it in anymore. “Why does Lu Jingcheng get to rest but we don’t?”
Good question.
Ye Qingyang explained, “First, he really does do it well. Better than all of you.”
“There’s a second reason?” everyone asked curiously.
“Of course.” Ye Qingyang smiled. “Instructor Xu personally appointed us as the Sunflower Duo. When he comes back and sees him resting, I have a reason and an excuse. If he sees you resting, what am I supposed to use to save you, my dear classmates?”
The classmates: …
“Alright, keep practicing.”
Ye Qingyang clapped his hands and had everyone stand straight again. “Follow the rhythm. One movement at a time. We’ll check you one by one.”
“One!” he shouted. “Hold it. Don’t move.”
After giving the command, he started checking row by row to see if everyone was aligned.
Seeing how seriously he was inspecting them, Lu Jingcheng stood up and began checking the class along with him.
Chen Wei rolled his eyes. “What are you looking at? Who gave you the right?”
“You looking for a beating?” Lu Jingcheng shot back. “Careful, or I’ll make you fold your own blanket.”
Chen Wei: …
Chen Wei: I hate this.
Lu Jingcheng moved row by row. Whenever he spotted someone with the wrong posture, he went over to correct them.
If Ye Qingyang at least had a feather to wield like an imperial arrow of authority, then Lu Jingcheng was someone barging in without even the feather.
But with his reputation as both school bully and school heartthrob, the boys were afraid of him and the girls admired him. No one stopped him.
When Instructor Xu returned, stopwatch in hand, he saw the Sunflower Duo leading the class in an orderly practice session.
Lu Jingcheng handled the overall instruction, while Ye Qingyang provided one-on-one “private tutoring” to a few students whose movements kept going wrong.
“Well, well. Not bad. Looks pretty professional,” Instructor Xu said.
“It’s alright,” Ye Qingyang replied, sending everyone back into formation.
Instructor Xu glanced at Lu Jingcheng. “Class monitor, care to explain what’s going on with Student Lu?”
Hearing that, Ye Qingyang said emotionally, “Student Lu is united, friendly, and always willing to help others. He has a strong sense of serving the people. After mastering the goose-step himself, he voluntarily took on the responsibility of supervising others and helping his classmates improve together. Truly an outstanding student—a model for us all!”
Outstanding Student Lu: …
The rest of the class: …
Instructor Xu: …
Instructor Xu chuckled. “Makes sense. In that case, from now on Student Lu will be our class vice-monitor, assisting the class monitor in managing the class.”
Lu Jingcheng, becoming an official for the first time in his life: …
The rest of the class, who never imagined the school bully becoming vice-monitor: …
Ye Qingyang turned to Lu Jingcheng. “So, Student Lu, are you willing?”
Of course Lu Jingcheng was willing. He had never been a class monitor before—even if this was just the vice position.
But it was still a class officer!
Even if it was temporary for military training.
Still, Lu Jingcheng was very happy about it.
However, as a school bully and academic underachiever, how could he show enthusiasm for fame and status? So he scoffed disdainfully. “What do you think?”
Which meant he agreed.
Ye Qingyang knew him too well. The king of tsundere.
“Even though it’s a bit troublesome, for the sake of the class and our shared honor, Brother Lu, please accept it. You’re the person the whole class trusts the most!”
The whole class: Nonsense! You’re the person we’re most powerless against!
Lu Jingcheng glanced at him smugly. “Are you begging me?”
Ye Qingyang replied, “The whole class and I are begging you.”
The whole class: ??? We are not!
Only then did Lu Jingcheng reluctantly say, “Fine. I’ll reluctantly agree.”
“Thank you, Brother Lu.” Ye Qingyang smoothly delivered the final step of the staircase.
Lu Jingcheng returned to the formation in a good mood.
Instructor Xu, who had just watched the whole performance, almost burst out laughing. He had figured it out—their class monitor was a real talent. Everything he said came in neat little sets, and every set hit the mark.
This wasn’t a sunflower at all. This was the Earth.
The Earth circles the Sun, drawing a circle that traps the Sun inside.
And the Sun inside still thinks it hasn’t moved at all—that the Earth is the one circling around it.
These two were simply too amusing.
Instructor Xu got a free youth comedy show and didn’t expose anything. He organized the formation and led them toward the dormitory building—it was almost time for breakfast.
Since they had learned a song the night before, Instructor Xu followed the usual routine and had them sing a military song before eating.
While Ye Qingyang was singing, he noticed students from another class approaching in the distance.
At first he didn’t pay much attention. But when his eyes landed on a ponytailed girl, two words instantly flashed through his mind—
Yu Wan.
The female lead of the novel. Lu Jingcheng’s official love interest.
Ye Qingyang immediately excitedly nudged Lu Jingcheng and gestured for him to look. “See her?”
Your wife!
Lu Jingcheng glanced lazily and said, puzzled, “Why would I look at her?”
“Do you think she’s pretty?” Ye Qingyang asked.
Lu Jingcheng said critically, “Average.”
Ye Qingyang looked like he wanted to smack some sense into him. How could you say average?! That’s your wife! You should praise her as a heavenly beauty!
Defending Yu Wan, Ye Qingyang said, “She’s obviously pretty. And the kind that grows on you.”
Lu Jingcheng: ?????
He stared at Ye Qingyang in shock. Who did he just say was pretty?
In his eyes, shouldn’t he himself be the most handsome person in the world, with no one even close to comparing?
Lu Jingcheng snorted angrily. “Are you blind?”
The most good-looking person in the world is standing right in front of you, okay?!
Ye Qingyang: …
He felt that whether he himself was blind or not was debatable, but Lu Jingcheng definitely was. Not only blind—he was going to get slapped in the face by reality later.
—Oh my god, my wife is so pretty. True love!
Ye Qingyang sighed and asked indirectly, “Brother Lu, what kind of girl do you like?”
Lu Jingcheng gave him a meaningful look. Ah, so this was the setup.
Making him look at that girl earlier was just a pretext to lead into this question and pry information out of him.
He deliberately said, “I like girls with good grades. Smart. And able to fight.”
You don’t meet a single one of those.
Hearing that, Ye Qingyang felt this really was practically designed around Yu Wan’s standards—except for the last one. Yu Wan couldn’t really fight.
He frowned and negotiated with Lu Jingcheng. “Maybe skip the fighting part. There aren’t many girls who can fight. And besides, you’re so strong already, Brother Lu. Girls definitely couldn’t beat you anyway. What, are you planning to fight your girlfriend? Domestic violence isn’t acceptable.”
Who said anything about beating you up?! Lu Jingcheng thought, speechless. Ye Qingyang was such a weak little chicken that one punch would knock him out. Of course he wouldn’t do something like that.
“Fine. Not being able to fight is okay too.”
Anyway, the first two still don’t apply to you.
Ye Qingyang immediately brightened. Sure enough, Yu Wan was the most suitable person for Lu Jingcheng.
When the time came, if he gave things a little push and helped the male and female leads develop their relationship, then when they got married they’d definitely give him a huge red envelope.
The biggest kind.
Seeing him suddenly happy again, Lu Jingcheng felt his intentions were practically written on his face.
The heart of Sima Zhao—everyone knows it.
Was he planning to work hard in his studies for his sake?
Thinking he couldn’t learn fighting but maybe could salvage his grades?
The more Lu Jingcheng thought about it, the more amazed he became. Honestly… Ye Qingyang might actually do that.
This guy had already changed so much for him—he wasn’t gloomy anymore, his temper was better, and last night he even climbed onto his bed!
Who knew what he might do next?
Lu Jingcheng felt it was incredible.
Just because he liked someone, he kept moving forward and turning himself into a better person.
The power of love was truly great.
No wonder teachers forbid early relationships.
Leaning closer, Lu Jingcheng whispered, “Don’t think about that kind of stuff. No dating before eighteen, got it?”
Ye Qingyang was startled and turned to look at him. What did that mean? Had he already figured out that Ye Qingyang wanted to set him up with Yu Wan?
Seeing the shock on his face, Lu Jingcheng pinched his cheek. “You heard me?”
Ye Qingyang could only nod.
But brother, why are you pinching me? Whether I do anything or not won’t change fate. Your destiny with Yu Wan isn’t something a cheek pinch can alter.
While he was internally complaining, Instructor Xu said, “Hey, hey, hey—Sunflower! You two pay attention. You’re in the front row.”
Lu Jingcheng quickly pulled his hand back, acting like nothing had happened.
Ye Qingyang rubbed his cheek and smiled. “Charge for five seconds, energetic for two hours!”
Instructor Xu laughed. “Really? So you don’t even need to eat anymore? Just get some sunlight and do photosynthesis?”
“That won’t do,” Ye Qingyang replied fearlessly. “Even though my true form is a sunflower that cultivated for a thousand years, I’ve already taken human form. Humans are iron, food is steel—miss one meal and you’ll feel it.”
“Aren’t you little fairy boys supposed to live on wind and dew?” Instructor Xu said. “Oh right—you absorb sunlight.”
“I’m just trying to be more down-to-earth so you humans won’t feel distant from me,” Ye Qingyang sighed. “These days it’s hard to be a human. Harder to be a spirit who turned human. And hardest of all to be a male spirit who turned human!”
The students burst out laughing.
The instructor laughed too. “Alright, alright, cut the chatter. You’re the only one with a mouth that never stops. Lead them in to eat.”
“Got it.” Ye Qingyang led the class into the cafeteria for lunch.
After eating, everyone gradually returned to their dorms.
Today’s room inspection would be earlier than yesterday. After assembling at 2 p.m., Instructor Xu would check everyone’s rooms one by one.
So as soon as Ye Qingyang reached the dorm door, he saw several people waiting outside.
“Hurry up, master,” someone said. “We’ve all been waiting for you.”