Free Web NovelChapter 309: Chapter 245 Training, Cure-all
Before the 7:20 assembly, I made a call to my parents.
Now that Yang Shaoqing was coming, they no longer needed a reason to come back from Sichuan.
This was actually his Russian nesting doll plan.
First, tell Yang Shaoqing that his parents were coming, then tell my own parents that Yang Shaoqing was coming so they would help him book a flight.
Without Fang Huai having to ask them to come to Guiyang, the old couple was already fussing about how tired they had been lately and planned to return to Guiyang to rest.
Having achieved his goal, Fang Huai, as usual, inquired about his parents’ health and business progress.
The old couple were quite conscientious. After registering the company, they had been busy inspecting the home appliance market and electrical manufacturers, negotiating and learning as they went, and staying in inexpensive business hotels, with their luggage always with them.
But Zhang Mei only mentioned a few simple words about this before she started nagging about going shopping for Yang Shaoqing and his parents, asking Fang Huai to bring back something. When Fang Huai asked her one thing, she responded with another; when he asked if her rheumatism had been acting up due to the recent rains, she replied by asking if Yang Shaoqing’s family lived near Hongya Cave.
The conversation was firmly held by her around the topic of Yang Shaoqing.
Fang Kaiyang was even urging Zhang Mei to hang up the phone, saying they had to pack their bags, as if they couldn’t wait to arrive the next day.
This indirectly confirmed that Dad’s threats from my childhood about trading me at the orphanage for a daughter might not have been entirely made up, only lacking legal consent.
Love surely is conserved: what I received from Yang Shaoqing, I had to lose from my parents and then compensate back to Yang Shaoqing.
...
Playing with tires late at night was something everyone had never expected.
The electricity generated by the full tank of diesel in vehicle number 2 was enough to light up the entire playground with the roof’s lighting system for several nights.
Before the start of the training, Big Demon King Fang said that considering the intensive leg training in the afternoon, tonight would focus on the waist and hands.
Everyone agreed that Fang Huai was a real damn good guy.
The tires from the Second Squadron were the real Russian nesting dolls.
Those new recruits who rolled out all the tires, big and small, from the equipment warehouse felt a bit overwhelmed at that moment.
Zhang Tianwang, who had thoroughly visited the equipment and supply warehouses over the weekend, finally understood the purpose of the plethora of spare tires stored there.
It wasn’t because the Second Squadron had plenty of vehicles, but because it had plenty of people.
This play, in actuality, shares a clever similarity with the gym: you work out where you want to.
When it came to this exercise, Old Cao immediately perked up, insisting Fang Huai step back so he could arrange the training.
In the past, Fang Huai did not know why Old Cao had a particular fixation on the tire exercise. One day, out of curiosity, he asked Old Cao, who thought for a bit and said, "Mother’s Smelly Pussy," during the Military Academy, he was tormented by this tire.
Those who have been rained on must shred the umbrellas of others.
Fang Huai could well understand.
Only now had he not encountered a brat who tossed his school bag into the fire at his burning house, compelling him to rescue the bag at all costs.
Nor had he met an accountant who stood outside laughing as the company burned, pushing him to rescue a computer host filled with unsettled accounts.
If such an opportunity came to help others, he would take it without hesitation, and he would laugh loudly at that.
"Tonight, as usual, we’ll be pulling tires, flipping tires, and adding a tire carrying exercise, just three events in total, simple, right?"
"Hmm..."
Everyone once again heard Officer Zhang’s voice tinged with satisfaction.
Cao Yi next to Fang Huai immediately raised an eyebrow.
Everyone tensed up at once.
God damn it, why didn’t we finish off Officer Zhang this afternoon?
At that moment, seeing no one else speaking, Fang Huai glanced at Cao Yi and cheerfully said,
"Today’s daytime training, overall, the new comrades have integrated quite well. Although the results were not ideal, being able to keep up with the pace and not falling out is a good thing.
Particularly Comrade Zhang Tianwang, as a soldier of seven years, deserves praise for his training spirit, never complaining or showing fatigue throughout, and actively responding to each exercise. This deserves encouragement, let’s give him a round of applause!"
Below there was a scattering of applause.
Zhang Tianwang’s results were far from ideal, nearly the last in all exercises, with only a mediocre performance in the first 400-meter supply dispersal in the afternoon, and then falling to the bottom in the rest, not even beating the over 200-pound Chen Zhenghai. freeweɓnovel.cѳm
But it was far beyond the expectations of the squadron leaders and Fang Huai.
Newcomers were not accustomed to this level of intensity, and Zhang Tianwang had shown perseverance, indeed stronger than some who performed better, like Qin Hongjun and Zhou Tiannu.
Of course, this perseverance might as well be called saving face.
But with him leading by example, others were less inclined to complain openly.
Fang Huai had intended to train him until he collapsed, but by now, he was hoping for him to hold on a bit longer.
Therefore, he praised him profusely.
After a day of displaying absolute strength, Fang Huai’s praise was now sounding much more pleasant to Zhang Tianwang’s ears.
He had internally accepted the fact that he couldn’t defy Fang Huai—it was too great a difference in strength. This Fang Huai, along with He Zhijun, trained at an entirely different level.
Actually, Wang Peng’s performance was also good today, quite persistent, but Fang Huai had not intended to praise him.
Competition is natural among new soldiers, there’s no need to deliberately stimulate it—they will compare themselves.
When Fang Huai stopped talking, Cao Yi coughed, bringing everyone’s gaze back, and spoke with some seriousness,
"I’ve heard a lot of complaints lately, you’ve cursed me a lot in private, haven’t you?
Do you think that the good days of the Second Squadron, with football on Mondays, basketball on Wednesdays, no evening exercise, no additional training, are gone for good?"
As soon as he said this, everyone perked up.
Cao Yi smiled and shook his head, "I can tell you that this intensity of training won’t last long. Doing heavy lifting from morning till night every day, your bodies can’t handle it."
Below was a collective sigh of relief.
But then, Cao Yi sighed unusually,
"I advise everyone to cherish this time."
He paused for a moment, then continued, "The personnel changes this time haven’t stopped yet.
I can tell you that more people will be leaving the Second Squadron.
This is a major reshuffle. The leadership’s requirement is that the overall quality of the entire Second Squadron must step up to a new level. Unless all of you can reach the standard that the leadership wants, surely some won’t be able to stay.
As for where this standard is at the moment, I don’t know.
Buddies, I would find it a pity for any one of you to leave.
Though, the pity would be for your sakes.
In the future, the Second Squadron may be the broadest horizon you’ll ever see in firefighting.
And you might have the opportunity to take part in its construction and rise!"
"This will be a precious troop experience, so no matter how good or bad your physical fitness is, I will not abandon you, nor give up on you,"
"But if you miss this opportunity due to your current lack of effort, then one day in the future, when I call some of you into the office and tell you to pack your bags and transfer to another squadron, don’t hold any grudges."
"This includes the newly arrived comrades; don’t think that just because you’re here now, you won’t go back. You need to train even harder and improve all your skills in tandem."
"Also, maintain good unity!"
"If I’m forced to file a report to send you back to your original squadrons, you should understand that it would be a disgrace in your military careers!"
"Enough said, today is the first and the last time I bring this up. I hope your performance makes it so that I never have to mention it again, meaning, everyone passes smoothly."
"Begin training, dismiss!"
The troops below were somewhat stunned by Cao Yi’s barrage of words, reacting a bit slowly; it took two or three seconds before the crowd started to disperse.
The first reaction of everyone was not to feel that they should work harder.
Instead, they all began to guess who might leave and who definitely wouldn’t.
Who had the ability, who had the connections, who had the merit.
The military is a microcosm of society.
This was actually why Cao Yi didn’t want to mention it too often. Some of those with relatively poor physical fitness might start to take a passive approach to their work.
Therefore, in the past, he only brought it up when the orders came down.
But this time, there was actually a chance that everyone could stay, so Cao Yi had to mention it, to make those not trying hard enough more conscious of their effort.
Working on psychological issues is undoubtedly the toughest task.
Below were nearly thirty heads, more complex than computers, that could extract ten different meanings from the same sentence.
Seeing the chaos, Fang Huai also felt somewhat overwhelmed.
Damn, it’s not easy being a cadre.
"Clap clap."
Fang Huai clapped his hands and shouted loudly, "Stop thinking! Start training! Do you want to sleep tonight? If not, forget about sleep, finish the tire drill and head out to the sports field for a five-kilometer run! Let’s try to keep everyone, okay?"
Everyone was suddenly alert.
What kind of crappy question is that, asking "okay"?
Are you serious?
Five kilometers, a cure for all psychological issues, especially at this moment when the body is extremely fatigued.
Cao Yi knew this all too well.
He then gave a special order: According to the original plan, each training task had to be done three times per person. If they couldn’t finish by 9 o’clock and do the vehicle evening checks on time, they would abandon the checks and train until ten o’clock, with two additional rounds per person.
Upon hearing this, everyone immediately got over any psychological barriers they had and began to prepare the tire drill area.
Training started on three sides simultaneously.
As the saying goes, open your eyes and drill until lights out.
Tonight, everyone was exceptionally fierce.
Dragging tires up the training tower, three times each person.
Flipping tires for 50 meters, three round trips for each person.
Carrying tires, weighing 40 kilograms each, five tires, to sprint-carry to a point fifty meters away, stack them orderly, and then carry them back, three round trips.
The intensity of this drill was no less than an ordinary squadron’s training volume for a whole morning, and the entire team had to complete it in an hour and a half.
Everyone started to train competitively, urging each other to move faster like crazy.
Now, Zhang Tianwang couldn’t just move slowly because he couldn’t keep up, especially when dragging the tires; he and a few new recruits were pushed to the limit by everyone’s urging to forcefully drag the load.
...
At 9:07 PM, Cao Yi, smiling, looked down at the soldiers below who were too tired to speak. He turned a blind eye and announced that the training was over for the day and everyone should head straight to the garage for a 15-minute equipment and vehicle evening check before washing up and going to sleep.
A fulfilling day.
...
PM: 10:00.
"Jiu～Jiu!"
"Lights out!"
After a hard day’s work, Master Zhang experienced firsthand what it means to fall asleep as soon as you hit the bed.
When the lights out call rang, he had already been asleep on his bed for 20 minutes.
But as the saying goes, close your eyes and stay alert.
No sooner had the lights been turned off than they were on again.
Master Zhang sat up in some confusion, smiling at the doorway, and remembered Fang Huai’s guarantee from earlier that day to join the new recruits for evening exercise.
He really couldn’t handle it anymore, truly, not at all. freēwēbηovel.c૦m
The others were also in shock.
Damn, are you seriously doing this?
Fang Huai smiled and walked directly towards Zhang Tianwang... and then bypassed him to Huang Yong.
"Squad Leader Huang, it’s your shift. The guard post asked me to help call the next shift," he said.
At these words, a mix of tension and relief, Zhang Tianwang felt his bladder almost lose its restraint.
Huang Yong, on the other hand, was still energized; with an "Oh," he got up, changed into his regular clothes, and left.
Zhang Tianwang felt relieved immediately and was just about to get up to relieve himself.
Then Fang Huai turned his head back and said to him with a smirk:
"Squad Leader Zhang, they’re doing evening exercises in the next squad. You seem quite tired today, so you might as well not go, right?"
At that moment, Zhang Tianwang felt that if he could just stay in his warm bed and continue to sleep, he could hold his pee until tomorrow.
After struggling for a moment, Zhang Tianwang still submitted to life’s call.
"Ah, um... I won’t make it."
With that, Fang Huai turned around with a smile, turned off the lights, went out, and walked towards the squadron department.
Zhang Tianwang, feeling an urgent need, rushed to the toilet as fast as he could.
Members of the Special Duty Squad were all covered with blankets, their beds shaking vigorously under the covers.
