Chapter 18: A Promising Medic

“Old Cui, have you got any soldiers in mind?”

At the flag station, the new recruits had already been taken away, but the instructor and the battalion commander remained.

Hearing the battalion commander’s cheerful inquiry, the instructor glanced over and smiled faintly. “Long ago!”

Without waiting for Commander Qi, he turned and left.

In truth, the two of them were never really close.

One was the deputy commander of the first company, the other the deputy instructor of the second company.

Their temporary pairing was evident from their earlier remarks.

Their personalities were completely different, and to be honest, their current roles seemed somewhat reversed.

Commander Qi Ning, despite being the battalion commander, was fond of talking but lacked the sharpness and ruggedness typical of military officers. Conversely, Instructor Cui Jiying was decisive and efficient.

Of course, none of this concerned Chu An.

For a recruit like him, the gap between the battalion commander, the instructor, and himself was wide, and in the coming three months of training, he might hardly see them.

...

At present, Chu An was following Squad Leader Wang toward the second row, where a dormitory door casually bore the spray-painted number “4.”

“Heh heh, assistant squad leader, didn’t expect we’d be in the same squad again!”

Behind Chu An, a new recruit quietly slipped in.

It was Li Guoping, who had come up behind him.

Chu An quickly turned and hissed softly, “Don’t shout nonsense!”

Whether or not he was the assistant squad leader was just something Old Wang had mentioned in passing before—it hadn’t become reality.

Besides, now that they were in the same squad, except for him and Li Guoping, the others were strangers. It wouldn’t look good if anyone overheard.

“Heh heh!”

Li Guoping chuckled.

Clearly, having known Chu An since the train ride and now being in the same squad made him genuinely happy.

Chu An, on his part, was not surprised by Li Guoping’s presence.

Because Li Guoping was another recruit from his dormitory whom Old Wang had pulled aside before.

Though outwardly unremarkable, with a somewhat innocent round face that suggested a simple, perhaps not very bright nature,

Chu An already knew on the train that Li Guoping came from a family of traditional Chinese medicine practitioners.

Though he was the second son and hadn’t studied seriously,

Li Guoping had told him he only finished junior high at seventeen last year.

Why he graduated junior high so late was a feature of the era.

Poor grades meant repeating grades; it wasn’t uncommon to see teenagers of fifteen or sixteen still in elementary school.

Li Guoping was one such case.

He had repeated elementary school twice.

...

Of course, this didn’t prevent him from picking up some family skills by immersion.

In the army, even if your family were veterinarians, picking up a few techniques could qualify you as a medic; all the more so for someone from a traditional Chinese medicine background.

He himself said that although he hadn’t learned much about medicine or prescriptions, his grandfather forced him to learn some massage techniques to promote circulation and reduce bruising.

In fact, he had demonstrated these techniques in the dormitory over the past few days, even massaging Chu An.

One had to admit, he was skilled; after his massage, one did feel some relief.

Naturally, such a talent was sure to be retained by Tong Lianzhong.

...

“Put your luggage underfoot first. We’ll begin with self-introductions. After that, we’ll assign beds!”

Inside the dormitory marked with the number “4,” Chu An and the others followed Squad Leader Wang directly inside.

The space was ample, though not as large as the previous barracks.

But as soon as they entered, they saw something that made everyone happy.

Beds.

On both sides against the walls were three sets of iron bunk beds.

After Squad Leader Wang finished speaking, Chu An and the others instinctively stood on either side sorted by height.

Wang looked at Chu An, who was first on his right, and said, “Chu An, you go first!”

“Yes, sir!”

Chu An stood at attention, his gaze shifting from Wang to the unfamiliar new recruits before him.

“Squad leader, comrades, hello. My name is Chu An, from southern Hunan. I’m seventeen years old and have a good appetite—don’t laugh at me!”

“Heh heh!”

As soon as Chu An finished his self-introduction, smiles appeared on the new recruits’ faces, some even laughing aloud.

“Bro, you can’t be totally useless, right?” A new recruit opposite, unaware how the recruiting squad leader managed things before, audaciously teased Chu An with a grin.

Chu An didn’t answer him but looked toward Old Wang.

Sure enough, Old Wang’s expression darkened.

He glared at the teasing recruit. “Did I tell you to speak?”

“Uh... sorry, squad leader!”

Perhaps he didn’t fully realize his mistake but read Old Wang’s look clearly.

“Don’t let it happen again!”

Old Wang didn’t hold it against him seriously. He wanted to assert authority but would do so after settling in.

His eyes swept over everyone again. “Make your self-introductions more detailed. Include education, skills, and personal interests.”

He then added for Chu An, “Chu An is a high school graduate. His grades were excellent. He missed university admission by just four points in last year’s college entrance exam!”

Suddenly, except for Li Guoping, who had known for some time, the other recruits’ expressions changed.

Being educated and well-read was still highly respected in this age.

“That’s enough. Stop staring. You’re all in the same squad now; there will be plenty of time to get to know each other!”

...

Old Wang spoke again, pulling a notebook and pen from his pocket.

“Chu An, during the self-introductions, record everyone’s information for me!”

He handed Chu An the pen and notebook, then stepped aside and pointed to a table behind him.

“Sit here to write!”

“Yes, sir!”

Though a bit speechless that he was given the task, Chu An accepted decisively.

He took the pen and paper and sat down at one side of the table behind Wang.

At the same time, seeing Chu An seated, Old Wang pointed to the new recruit who had become first on the right and said, “You, introduce yourself slowly as I said, especially your name—make it clear. I need to record it!”

In this era’s recruitment work, aside from recruits personally brought in, the others were like blind boxes.

A simple few questions at the training ground decided it; names had to be recorded on the spot.

“Yes, sir!”

This new recruit, like Chu An before, stood at attention and began his introduction.

“Squad leader, comrades, hello. My name is He Weimin, from Sichuan. I’m nineteen years old, education... junior high graduate. Skills... squad leader... I don’t really have any skills, just hard work. At home, I work with the collective to earn points!”

“Hmm, that counts as a skill. Being hardworking is a good thing!”

Old Wang nodded approvingly.

What the army needed most were people who could work.

For this blind box recruit, Old Wang felt he was pretty good.

“Tell us about your hobbies as well. Also, spell out your name in detail!”

“Yes, sir!” The recruit responded, then looked at Chu An, who happened to be watching.

“My ‘He’ is the character with ‘one’ on top and ‘shell’ below; ‘Wei’ is the one meaning ‘why’; ‘Min’ means the people!”

“That’s right, that’s how I write it!” Chu An confirmed.

“Alright, continue your introduction!”

“Yes, sir!”

The recruit nodded but then scratched his head awkwardly. “Squad leader... my hobby is watching movies, is that okay?”

He quickly added, “At home, I don’t have other hobbies. Besides working, whenever I hear a battalion has a movie showing, I run over to watch!”

“That’s fine, that counts too!”

Old Wang nodded, then glanced back to see Chu An’s pen continuously moving.

He didn’t rush to call the next recruit, waiting until Chu An stopped writing before asking, “Got everything recorded?”

“Yes, all done!” Chu An affirmed.

“Good, next!”

He looked at the recruit to He Weimin’s right.

...