Chapter 50: Chou Wei Was Stunned!

Standing at the left side of the formation, Chu An’s heart was pounding. He desperately wanted to get through this without incident.

But to his disappointment, the officer raised his hand to open a folder, glanced through it, then looked up at the members of the Fourth Squad. “Who here is Chu An?”

Chu An was stunned. How could he be singled out by name?

This was bad.

Just as Chu An glanced at Old Wang, hoping to read from his expression what to do next, a voice suddenly rang out from the ranks: “Re...reporting to the commander... I... it’s me!”

Li Guoping raised his hand!

Chu An was shocked, then deeply moved inwardly.

What a true brother, a loyal comrade!

“Why didn’t you raise your hand earlier? Your registration information shows you only graduated high school, right?”

“I...” Li Guoping hesitated, but then suddenly had an idea and explained, “I... I wasn’t a good student either. I was only forced to attend high school by my family, and didn’t really learn anything. I was afraid you’d ask me to take an exam, so... that’s why I didn’t raise my hand!”

His words left the officer before them somewhat speechless.

Could he believe it?

He did believe it, because the roster they had only included the new recruits’ education levels, ages, names, and places of origin.

Although these details were copied from the recruits’ files, there was no mention of missing the college entrance exam by just four points.

Moreover, he trusted that no one would deliberately belittle their own education.

So his gaze quickly shifted away from Li Guoping.

He looked at Chu An again, then fixed his eyes on Qiu Wei. “What’s your name?”

“Reporting to the commander, my name is Qiu Wei!”

Qiu Wei’s voice was noticeably uncertain.

He was a little flustered.

What was going on? Why was the squad deputy deliberately lying? And Li Guoping had also admitted to being Chu An.

His mind was in chaos.

What kind of game were they playing that he didn’t understand? Was he still truly a member of the Fourth Squad?

“All right, you stay for now.”

“Ah!”

Qiu Wei was clearly startled.

He quickly looked at Old Wang, but Old Wang merely looked at him with an expressionless face and said, “What’s with the ‘ah’? The commander has taken a liking to you and will select you for the regiment’s headquarters company. You no longer have to stay in the recruit training company!”

“Wait, not yet!” The officer in front said, “He’s only a candidate. Depending on how things go, I might send him back later.”

The officer then turned to Old Wang and spoke.

Old Wang immediately approached Qiu Wei and said, “Did you hear that? If you want to go to the regiment headquarters, you’d better perform well and be flexible now!”

Then, in a low voice that only the two of them could hear, he added, “Don’t say anything reckless!”

Qiu Wei felt confused.

What was going on?

Wasn’t going to the regiment headquarters company a good thing?

Why were Chu An and even the squad leader covering for him?

He couldn’t make sense of it, and no one was explaining.

At the officer’s signal, Qiu Wei left the Fourth Squad formation, and Old Wang led the rest of the Fourth Squad back towards the recruit camp along the road.

At that moment, Chu An dared not look back, worrying they might call his name again.

But it turned out he was overthinking.

This was a selection of soldiers, not a beauty pageant.

Just having a good face was clearly not enough.

“Deputy squad leader!”

After walking more than a hundred meters, He Weimin whispered from behind Chu An, but before Chu An could answer, Old Wang turned around and said sharply, “Be quiet!”

He shot He Weimin a glare and continued leading the Fourth Squad forward.

Old Wang actually wanted to return to the camp to report back.

But this road was the only path from the regiment headquarters to the recruit camp; after the next turn, the recruit camp would be fully visible.

In other words, they were still in the line of sight of those people behind them.

To avoid being seen, they would have to return to the recruit camp first, then circle around the other side of the camp, climb the rugged mountain, and cross the difficult terrain.

That was clearly unrealistic, because by the time they reached the medical post via the mountain, the company commander and others would have long finished.

So he was somewhat helpless.

Slowly, they returned to the camp area and entered through the main gate.

As soon as they entered, Chu An saw some veteran squad leaders waiting nearby.

They were sneaking glances.

Not only veterans but also two deputy company commanders and the political instructor were present.

“Hey, Old Wang, what’s going on? Why didn’t your squad deputy stay behind, but someone else did?”

As soon as the Fourth Squad entered, these people surrounded them.

“They just picked him!” Old Wang replied calmly.

“Strange!”

“Yeah! We thought your squad deputy definitely wouldn’t make it, but who would have thought he could come back!”

The veteran squad leaders clicked their tongues in surprise. Even the political instructor walked over, looked at Chu An, and asked, “Wang Qinghe, what exactly happened?”

Chu An was no longer the unnoticed recruit he had been when he first joined.

He was the first recruit in the entire camp to become a deputy squad leader, and he had graduated from high school at seventeen. The political instructor also knew he had missed admission to college by just four points.

More importantly, Chu An was tall, had a good appearance, and during training, he had occasionally run three kilometers in under eleven minutes.

Would the communications company really reject such a recruit and instead select a less remarkable soldier? Chu An was curious too.

“Ha ha,” Old Wang laughed, looking at the political instructor. “Yesterday, we gave Chu An a heads-up that the communications company might select personnel after the re-examination. He didn’t want to go, so when he saw the situation just now, he cleverly bent his legs a bit and lowered his apparent height!”

“Heh heh!” The political instructor smiled and looked at Chu An. “Not bad, very clever!”

“Thank you, Instructor!”

“Mm!” The instructor nodded. “It’s okay if you don’t go. A diamond shines wherever it is. Stick to your choice!”

“Yes!” Chu An saluted.

“Alright, go now!”

Just then, Old Wang spoke up, “Deputy squad leader, take them back and supervise their bed-making!”

“Yes!”

Chu An responded, though he wanted to stay and watch the excitement, it was clearly unrealistic.

The veterans and officers who had returned earlier were all still in the camp area. No recruits were in sight; obviously, the squad leaders had sent them all back.

...

“Deputy squad leader, why don’t you want to go?”

“Yeah! And you were the one who called my name! You scared me—I was totally stunned!”

Once inside the camp and out of the squad leaders’ sight, the Fourth Squad immediately dispersed.

One by one, they gathered around to ask, especially Li Guoping, who still looked visibly shaken.

Chu An smiled and explained, “It’s nothing really. Didn’t you hear? That’s the communications company. They report directly to the regiment headquarters and are responsible for protecting the regiment. They’re often on guard duty, and I don’t want to go!”

“Oh! That’s why!”

“Poor Qiu Wei!”

Upon hearing Chu An’s explanation, everyone suddenly felt sorry for Qiu Wei.

No one wanted to be stuck on guard duty every day.

But Chu An said, “It’s okay. If he really stays, he probably won’t be in the guard platoon. The guard platoon needs tall guys. He should be going to the administrative company!”

“What’s the administrative company?” Li Guoping asked as soon as Chu An finished speaking.

Chu An explained.

After that, no one pitied Qiu Wei so much.

After all, no one liked guard duty, but not having to stand guard and getting to interact daily with the regiment commander—a big shot they had never seen before—was a rare opportunity for most recruits who had simple minds and wanted to stay in the military long-term.

...