wavenovel Chapter 62: They've all been figured out once.
Chapter 62: They've all been figured out once.
At 9:00 AM on August 27, 1990, the military training for the Class of '90 freshmen officially began.
Huang Xiaochuan began his two-week military training wearing a military uniform without rank insignia, a belt, liberation shoes, and a military cap without a cap badge.
Military training mainly focuses on formation drills, and from time to time, we also practice standing.
The freshmen made a lot of fools and caused quite a few laughs at the beginning of their military training.
When the instructor gave the command to turn left, some people couldn't distinguish left from right and turned to the right instead. As a result, they ended up standing face to face with the students who had correctly understood the instructor's command. They found it a bit funny and couldn't help but burst out laughing.
This is bad news. The instructor didn't care about anything else and just said, "Everyone, get down and do ten push-ups each."
Ten push-ups were a piece of cake for Huang Xiaochuan, and he completed them easily. However, some of his classmates were a bit too big, and they couldn't even manage two, let alone ten, before they started grimacing.
Let alone a whole day, after half a day everyone was completely subdued by the instructors' few stern warnings. They had no choice but to obey! If one person made a mistake, everyone would be punished. Nobody wanted to be the one to make a mistake, otherwise they would be choked to death by the glares from the other students.
During his break, Huang Xiaochuan went to the convenience store and came back alone with a bottle of drink. Just as the other students in dormitory 222 were about to scold him for hogging the drinks, the convenience store sent someone to deliver two cases of drinks.
That's right, Huang Xiaochuan used his money to get the drinks delivered to the training ground. He didn't want to carry the drinks back himself; that would be too tiring!
After the drinks were delivered, Huang Xiaochuan said to Wu Duo and the vice class monitor Zhai Xi, "Class monitors, could you please share some with our classmates? Don't forget the instructor; he's giving double portions."
Wu Duo couldn't help but think more highly of his roommate. Leaving aside what happened last night, this was another one today. In the words of the men of Yanjing, this was called "generosity."
Wu Duo had long realized that his roommate wasn't just an ordinary working-class kid as he claimed. His clothes, for example, cost at least several hundred yuan apiece. While other classmates might not recognize the brands, he certainly did – they were Lacoste shirts and Nike shoes.
When the two class monitors went to distribute the drinks, they discovered that one case of drinks was refrigerated and the other was at room temperature. Vice class monitor Zhai Xi couldn't help but glance at Huang Xiaochuan a few more times, thinking to herself, "This male classmate is really thoughtful!"
Actually, she was overthinking it. Huang Xiaochuan was just arranging it this way according to his own habits. He was thinking that if someone didn't like ice, there would be room temperature options to replace it.
Unexpectedly, Zhai Xi developed a slight liking for him.
Huang Xiaochuan's actions caused his popularity among his classmates in Economics Class 1 to skyrocket, and his interpersonal relationships to improve significantly.
The instructors also felt the students' goodwill towards them. Besides, they had already put up a show of force, and the students were all smart enough to quickly and correctly carry out their orders without making any more basic mistakes.
The subsequent military training went smoothly for everyone, and the instructors were able to teach without much trouble. It can be said that the Economics Class 1 performed the best among this year's freshmen.
After finishing a day of military training and having dinner, Huang Xiaochuan urged the others to change their socks and wash them quickly, and also wash their feet. They put their shoes on the balcony to air out and let the smell dissipate; thankfully, with special insoles and cotton socks, the smell wasn't too strong.
With the unwavering support of Wu Duo and Ding Yi, even Hao Zhidu, the laziest guy in the dorm, reluctantly went to the washroom to wash his feet and socks. Zhang Gaolei, on the other hand, was easygoing and just followed the crowd. Chen Zhe, though shy, was quite capable of taking care of himself.
After the students in room 222 did this, their dormitory became the cleanest dormitory in the entire building, without any smelly feet.
This surprised Dai Xiaoguang, the counselor who came to check the dormitory that evening. He praised Wu Duo without reservation, thinking that it was all thanks to Wu Duo, the class monitor, and that he had not misjudged him.
Wu Duo was about to deny it when Huang Xiaochuan interrupted him, agreeing with counselor Dai Xiaoguang's opinion.
"Teacher Jiang is right, Wu Duo's abilities are undeniable, you made the right choice in selecting him as our class monitor." (During this period, counselors still preferred students to address them respectfully as "teacher.")
Huang Xiaochuan's words praised two people, which made Wu Duo and Dai Xiaoguang have a better impression of Huang Xiaochuan.
Before leaving, Dai Xiaoguang instructed Wu Duo to also supervise the other dormitories in his class, and to make sure they were as clean and tidy as dormitory 222. Wu Duo smiled and agreed.
Dai Xiaoguang didn't forget to pat Huang Xiaochuan on the shoulder to encourage him: "Huang Xiaochuan, you're doing well. Your dormitory's performance is the best among this year's freshmen."
After Dai Xiaoguang left, Wu Duo complained to Huang Xiaochuan, "Xiaochuan, this is all thanks to you. Why didn't you let me say it?"
"Class monitor, why are we distinguishing between 'yours' and 'mine'? You're the leader of our dorm and our class monitor. Protecting you is protecting the interests of all of us in room 222, don't you all agree?"
Huang Xiaochuan then looked back at the others.
"Xiao Chuan is right." Ding Yi was the first to agree with Huang Xiao Chuan's idea.
Next up were Zhang Gaolei, Chen Zhe, and Hao Zhidu.
Seeing how supportive his other roommates were, Wu Duo clasped his hands together and made a round of bows to thank them.
After spending the past few days together, Wu Duo has formed a general assessment of his roommates.
First, there's Huang Xiaochuan. Although I can't quite figure him out, he's a generous person who doesn't like to argue. He's steady and reliable. And judging from what happened last night, he's also a quick-witted person; using a sanitary pad as an insole was a brilliant idea.
Although he's wealthy, he's not arrogant. He enjoys the food in the cafeteria and always responds positively to my suggestions. He's a friend worth getting along with.
Zhang Gaolei is a good person, but he may have a limited perspective. He likes to follow others and doesn't have his own ideas. Overall, he's a decent person.
Ding Yi is quite interesting. Although he is a native of Shanghai, he doesn't show any of the typical Shanghainese habit of being petty and calculating. Moreover, judging from his speech, behavior, and clothing, he probably comes from a well-off family.
Hao Zhidu is clearly from a nouveau riche family. He must have had a tough childhood. Now that he has money, he likes to show off and isn't very generous; he's still quite petty. Take today's incident, for example. He could definitely afford the drink, but he didn't even think about it. And yesterday, when Huang Xiaochuan gave him socks, he accepted them without saying a word. He's the kind of person who loves to take advantage of others; he won't amount to much in the future.
Chen Zhe is an honest kid, but unfortunately he was too well protected at home and is not quite used to being alone. However, he is a good person and not one to be cunning.
Huang Xiaochuan never expected that Wu Duo would figure them out so thoroughly in just a few days. There was no way around it! From a young age, Wu Duo had seen and experienced things differently from other children, so he learned to understand people from a young age. Otherwise, how could he have been a class leader since elementary school and even become class monitor in college? It was all because Dai Xiaoguang had looked at everyone's academic records beforehand; they must have recorded Wu Duo's resume from elementary, middle, and high school.