Qin Wei watched as Song Huan took the still unpeeled boiled egg from her hand.
Without saying a word, Song Huan peeled the rest of the egg while looking at Qin Wei, then beckoned to the German Shepherd lying by the wall to come over.
Under Qin Wei's gaze, Song Huan fed the dog the boiled egg!
The dog happily wagged its tail after eating the egg.
"What a waste!"
Qin Wei protested.
Song Huan glanced at her, then squatted down to pat the German Shepherd's head before saying:
"Come, let me introduce you. This is a patrol dog, also your comrade-in-arms, Xiao Bei.
Qin Wei, say thank you to Xiao Bei."
Qin Wei looked at her puzzled.
"I already said long ago that you can't eat anything outside the canteen without permission. I also said no wasting food.
If you eat the egg, you'll be violating the rules. If you don't eat it, it'll be wasting food.
But comrade Xiao Bei ate the egg, helping you out."
Qin Wei clapped:
"What flawless logic! But shouldn't you punish the dog for breaking the rules too!"
Song Huan patted Xiao Bei's head, letting it go play, then said to Qin Wei:
"Dogs have different management rules. Also, stop calling it 'dog', either call it 'canine' or by its name. It's your comrade-in-arms and deserves respect."
After speaking, Song Huan stood up:
"Qin Wei."
Though unwilling, Qin Wei also stood up and responded:
"Yes ma'am!"
Her voice wasn't loud. The two of them were standing at the back of the line, and everyone else was engrossed in the movie, not noticing these minor things at all.
"Come with me. As your instructor I really need to have a chat with you."
After speaking, Song Huan walked off, leaving Qin Wei no choice but to follow.
They didn't go too far, just enough that the movie sounds faded, so their conversation wouldn't be disturbed.
"Give me a reason why you're not watching the movie, apart from trying to secretly eat a boiled egg."
Song Huan asked her.
She had been standing at the back observing Qin Wei for a long time. Qin Wei hadn't watched the movie at all, just kept sneakily eyeing the dog.
"I don't like watching it."
Qin Wei replied.
And I don't like talking to you either.
But Qin Wei didn't dare say that out loud.
"Then what do you like watching? Tell me, and I can consider the actual situation and help apply for that next time."
Qin Wei didn't answer.
Song Huan asked again:
"Or we could screen something you performed in? Do you have any movie works?"
"Can it be a TV series?"
Qin Wei suddenly perked up and started talking again,
"I've only performed in TV series, the kind with 58 episodes. We could watch two episodes every day after training and probably finish before the end of boot camp."
Song Huan: "..."
Qin Wei felt she had finally gained back some ground.
"Alright, I'm just concerned about the trainees' thoughts and mentality. This movie has a military theme and is also the latest this year, which is why we're screening it. I neglected your feelings, I can have them switch the movie right now if you're uncomfortable."
Qin Wei thought, don't switch no matter what. If the movie starring Shen Kai got switched because of her, who knows what rumors would circulate.
"You don't have to keep singling me out. My thoughts and mentality are healthy... Alright, it was my mistake first. You can punish me by making me run laps!"
Seeing that Song Huan didn't continue lecturing her, and that Qin Wei had been in the wrong for secretly eating the boiled egg, Qin Wei took the initiative to request punishment.
"Haven't you been running all morning into night? Aren't you tired..."
Song Huan folded her arms, scrutinizing her. To be honest she felt rather surprised.
She could tell Qin Wei had gotten angry earlier, yet was able to restrain herself. Her emotional regulation was decent...
There was another unexpected discovery:
She had assumed Qin Wei was used to being pampered and wouldn't have good stamina. Turns out her endurance wasn't bad.
"Running can strengthen the body. Talking to you here will only drain my health."
Qin Wei said.
Song Huan raised a hand to pat her shoulder, but Qin Wei reflexively dodged away first.
Luckily Song Huan had good temperament and didn't feel awkward. She said in a low voice:
"You did make a mistake, but I won't punish you. Don't let it happen again. Go back and watch the movie. Even if you don't want to watch, sit there and rest properly. Maintaining your strength is very important."
Song Huan didn't harp on it further and let Qin Wei return.
She had a chance to punish Qin Wei yet didn't do it?
Before Qin Wei could ask, Song Huan pressed her shoulder and gave her a meaningful smile:
"I'm sorry about yesterday, but I have discipline rules I can't talk about. Maybe someday you'll understand."
"Ah, no..."
For now Shen Kai's intel on Qin Wei's emotional regulation needs reassessment.
...
The conversation was omitted, but the outdoor movie viewing during boot camp was still filmed. After the delivery workers took everything away, it even made the hot search topics:
#Outdoor Movie at the Frontline#
[My brother is super hardcore! Even the troops were watching! Mostly because the characters were crafted too well, I even thought they were real soldiers!]
[Haha why didn't they give a close-up shot of Qin Wei's reactions watching the movie!]
[Shen Qingqing is so gorgeous! The Shen couple are simply awesome in this movie!]
...
[The King of Soldiers Returns Group Chat]
Shen Qingqing: My school played my show during boot camp! So happy!
Shen Qingqing: Why did the group name change again? The King of Soldiers Returns? What's that?
Youyou: Sweetie changed it. She heard senior sister has 28 days of boot camp so she changed the name. Said there would be new material to write stories about.
Shen Qingqing: Did she write it already? Let me see @Sun Tiantian
Sun Tiantian: Haven't written yet, have been too busy. But I can tell everyone my storyline idea, whoever has time can try writing something.
Shen Qingqing: Even if someone had time they wouldn't write this!
Youyou: All you do is feast on imaginary sugar here without contributing anything @Shen Qingqing!
Shen Qingqing: ...
Future: I wanna hear, I wanna hear! @Sun Tiantian
Sun Tiantian: Special forces soldier x actress. The actress runs into danger while filming overseas. Disregarding personal safety the spec ops soldier rescues her. Then the two get together.
Future: @Qiao Sixiao
Qiao Sixiao: More like the soldier sweeps the actress off her feet, you know that right?
...
The movie finished close to 10 pm. Everyone returned to the dorms to wash up and sleep.
No one knew how much time had passed when the alarm suddenly shattered the quiet night.
Everyone was jolted awake from sleep, first dazed, then quickly realizing—
"Don't sleep!!! Emergency assembly!!!"
As emphasized repeatedly by the instructors before, they raced downstairs still in slippers without changing clothes.
Downstairs, four drill instructors already stood ramrod straight, solemn looks on their faces as they waited for the recruits.
Of the four instructors, the three privates wore shorts, t-shirts, and slippers, having clearly not known ahead of time. Only Song Huan was fully dressed, sternly watching every single person present.
Most of the recruits wore shorts and t-shirts too, and many still had dazed looks.
Song Huan's gaze finally fell upon Qin Wei.
She hadn't imagined Qin Wei would be one of the few people to arrive downstairs in under two minutes after the alarm.
In Shen Kai's intel report on her it said:
"Qin Wei is the typical representative of opulent life, problematic thought quality and lifestyle among entertainers. She should be the negative example to focus on transforming during boot camp."
Song Huan drew a "?" after that line in the report.
Clearly the next time Shen Kai provided mission intel it would be prudent to take it with several grains of salt.
Zheng Instructor only stopped his timer when the last person raced down the stairs.
"Six minutes thirty seven seconds. New low."
This was followed by serious yet not verbally abusive criticism.
Surprise emergency assemblies were to test whether the army camp remained on alert at all times. Clearly the performance of their platoon today was subpar.
