Chapter 29: Nothing Comes for Free!

March 12, 1978.

This day was destined to be an unforgettable one for the nearly two hundred recruits in the C Regiment's training battalion.

The sunset that evening was breathtakingly beautiful, its rays glowing like vibrant red maples. Yet, the instructor, the battalion commander, the company commanders, the political instructors, and even the squad leaders all wore faces darker than the bottom of a scorched pot. They stood like judges from a bygone era, passing judgment on the recruits who had wasted food.

At this moment, Chu An’s deepest wish was that he could selectively erase certain memories. After his rebirth, his memory had become remarkably sharp—a trait he had never considered a drawback before. But now… Chu An truly did not want to dwell on what had just happened. He had realized that sometimes, memories that are too vivid are not a blessing at all.

For instance, at this very moment, whenever Chu An thought about it, he could clearly see the small piece of bone he had spat out of his own mouth. It was revolting, and he had no idea who had left it there. He had simply reached into the bucket and scooped it up, hidden amidst the scraps. Just recalling it made his stomach churn. What a damn nightmare! He vowed that he would never let such a thing happen to him again in this lifetime.

***

"We are fed by the state, but that does not mean we can waste the state’s food!"

The two slop buckets had been emptied, and the instructor stood before everyone with a stern face, his voice low as he lectured: "I know many of you are resentful right now. You’re even wondering why you have to take the fall for a few individuals when you didn't waste any food yourselves!"

The instructor’s voice suddenly rose: "I’ll tell you why: because you are a collective—myself and the battalion commander included. 'Unity is Strength' isn't just a song we sing for show. We share in the glory and we share in the disgrace. I hope this is the first and last time food is wasted. Is that understood?"

"Understood!" all the recruits, their hands still dirty, roared back.

"Dismissed!" the instructor commanded. With that, he and the battalion commander turned and walked straight back into the mess hall.

Meanwhile, Tong Lianzhong stepped to the front of the formation.

"Attention… Stand at ease… Right face…"

He didn't say a word. After leading everyone back to the drill field, he didn't take them back to the barracks but stopped them right on the track. He turned around, his face grim.

"Had a good meal, did you?" Tong Lianzhong said with cold indifference. "You are the worst batch of soldiers I have ever seen! Wasting food? Did you eat your fill back home? Don't you know that every grain of rice and every vegetable you eat is bought with sweat?"

Tong Lianzhong pointed a cold finger at the track. "Looking at you just makes me angry. Run around the field, all of you! Don't stop until I say so!"

The recruits were silent. Even Chu An hadn't expected that after being forced to eat from the slop bucket, there would still be more punishment. But there was no choice. Under the shouts of their respective squad leaders, all the recruits began to run along the track. And it wasn't just the First Company; Chu An noticed that the Second Company, which had just split off to the opposite side of the track, was doing the same.

For some reason, Chu An felt that they had fallen into a trap. It was all too convenient—two company commanders who hadn't discussed it beforehand, yet were now synchronizing the same punishment. And thinking back to the meal, while he had been focused on eating, there had been an suspicious amount of food in those two buckets. How could there have been so much left over? In his own squad, the Fourth, he recalled only two or three people having leftovers that they dumped.

Even worse, the order to clear the tables had come from Old Wang. Although he had left immediately after giving the order, he hadn't warned them against wasting food. It was a setup! Chu An felt a bitter taste in his heart. He suspected that the two buckets had been deliberately staged by the officers remaining in the mess hall. The reason was simple: to teach the recruits a lesson and force them to realize the importance of saving food.

At this moment, Chu An felt a sense of helplessness—the kind that comes from seeing through the entire scheme and being unable to do anything about it. He was just a raw recruit; what could he do? Even if he had seen the trap coming, he would have had to walk straight into it.

"It’s maddening. We didn't waste anything, and now we’re being punished like this!" A recruit accelerated to run alongside Chu An and whispered.

Chu An turned to look at Li Guoping, who was grumbling. After a brief hesitation, he said, "That’s how the military is. Just endure it; you’ll get used to it after a while."

"Sigh… I never imagined military life would be like this," Li Guoping lamented.

Chu An chuckled lightly. "What? Regretting it?"

"Not at all!" Li Guoping shook his head firmly. "Even though this life isn't what I expected, being a soldier has always been my dream. I’m just annoyed at being implicated by others." As he said this, he glanced back.

Chu An looked back too. At that moment, a recruit from the Fourth Squad behind them saw Chu An and Li Guoping looking his way and immediately turned his gaze elsewhere. This recruit was named Xu Ji’an, from southern Anhui. During his self-introduction, he had proudly mentioned his urban residency. Of course, that wasn't why Chu An and Li Guoping were watching him; they were looking because he was one of the two or three people in the Fourth Squad who had dumped leftover food.

The battalion commander and the instructor weren't pursuing it, and the company commander hadn't questioned who exactly had dumped the food. But could the fellow recruits who sat and cleared the tables together not know? Everyone was just keeping it to themselves.

"Forget it, stop looking," Chu An reminded Li Guoping. After seeing through the trap, he knew clearly that even if every recruit who had dumped food stepped forward, they wouldn't escape today’s punishment. It was a collective mess—everyone ate from the same pot, and now that there was trouble, no one was getting away.

"Hurry up! I told you to run, not to stroll! And who told you to run together? If I see anyone whispering to others again, you can come over here and carry me while you run!"

A squad leader’s roar echoed from the side. The squad leaders were running too, but they were circling the inside of the track to supervise everyone.

Chu An and Li Guoping immediately shut their mouths and quickened their pace.

One lap… two laps! As they ran, the recruits gradually formed a continuous circle on the track. The differences in their physical fitness became obvious. By now, the recruits from both the First and Second Companies were mixed together.

"Huff, huff." Everyone was panting. Chu An was breathing hard too, but that was all. He had actually moved to the front of the First Company’s pack.

In fact, Chu An had noticed something two days ago, before the squads were even divided. His increased appetite hadn't been for nothing. On the first morning, when the recruitment officers led them on a slow run, he had realized his physical strength seemed to have improved. In his memory, his original self had done farm work but had mostly focused on studying. He hadn't been physically weak, but there was a clear gap between him and the peers who had stopped studying early to work in the fields. But now, after arriving in the military, he noticed during every morning jog that his stamina didn't seem any worse than the boys who had worked at home after finishing junior high.