"Geez, I'm strong."
Chen Zhuang raised his right arm high first, volunteering with a shout.
"Alright, Brother Zhuang, pick two people and go. Be quick and come back," Qin Tian said with a smile and a nod.
"You got it!" Chen Zhuang grinned, feeling a sense of pride from being called "Brother Zhuang." After all, Qin Tian was the temporary class leader, had the halo of a top scorer in the college entrance exam, and had just asserted his authority with that show of force. Being called "Brother Zhuang" carried considerable weight.
"Brother Zhuang, Brother Zhuang, I'll go!" Cao Mingliang called out urgently.
"Can you even carry it?" Chen Zhuang sized him up with a look of disdain.
"Damn it, Chen Dazhuang, you're insulting me!" Cao Mingliang was so angry he almost jumped.
"Hahaha..." The surrounding classmates burst into laughter.
"Fine, fine, you're in!" Chen Zhuang reluctantly agreed, then pointed to a strong guy from the next dormitory.
"Brother Zhuang, the money!" Qin Tian called out, stopping Chen Zhuang. He casually pulled out two hundred-yuan bills from his pocket and handed them over. Mobile payments weren't widespread yet, so he didn't have a habit of carrying a wallet, but he always kept some cash on him.
"Right, almost forgot, I didn't bring much money myself!" Chen Zhuang chuckled as he took the money, waved the two hundred-yuan bills, and asked the class loudly, "What does everyone want to drink?"
"I want Coke, iced."
"Sprite, I want it iced too."
"Bring me a bottle of Vitamin Water!" The classmates responded loudly with various requests.
"Forget it, too many to remember. We'll just buy randomly, and you can pick yourselves later." Chen Zhuang put the money back in his pocket and turned to leave with a flourish. Cao Mingliang and the other guy immediately followed.
"What are you dawdling for? Hurry up, the instructor will punish you if you don't! Don't blame me," Qin Tian shouted. The three of them paused for a moment, then started running. Laughter echoed through the class formation again. Students in the formations on either side looked on with envy.
Before the three returned, the counselor arrived with two instructors.
"Instructor Qi, this is our Class of Economics 1, and this is the temporary class leader, Qin Tian," Shu Peng introduced to a younger-looking instructor next to her.
"Hello, Instructor!" Qin Tian stood at attention and greeted them crisciously.
"Hello, Instructor!!!" Behind him, the classmates greeted in unison. Instructor Qi looked no older than them, with slightly tanned skin and average looks and height.
"Hello, everyone!" Instructor Qi stood at attention and saluted them. Many students in the class secretly breathed a sigh of relief, as this instructor seemed quite approachable. The older instructor, however, looked much stricter. The counselor took the older instructor to the formation of Class 2 next to them.
Instructor Qi's gaze swept over their formation. Seeing a few empty spots, he frowned and asked Qin Tian, "Are some people still missing?"
"Reporting, Instructor, the weather is too hot, so I sent some to the supermarket to buy water," Qin Tian replied honestly. Instructor Qi nodded in understanding and didn't blame them. He then asked, "Did you arrange this formation?"
"Yes!"
"Hmm, it's well done, saving me a lot of effort. Thank you!"
"You're too kind, Instructor. My thought is that during military training, we should cooperate with your work as much as possible, and you should also take good care of us. That way, everyone will be more relaxed," Qin Tian said with a meaningful smile. Instructor Qi looked at him with surprise and nodded with a light laugh, "What you said is very good. I agree."
"On behalf of all classmates, thank you, Instructor!" Qin Tian thanked him with a smile.
"Instructor, we're back," Instructor Qi was about to say something when he was interrupted by shouts from nearby. Everyone looked in that direction and saw the three of them, Chen Zhuang, returning. Chen Zhuang had a case of mineral water on his right shoulder and was carrying a large shopping bag that looked quite heavy in his left hand. The tall and strong guy was directly carrying two stacked cases of water. Cao Mingliang followed behind, panting, carrying a large bag in both hands.
"Hurry up, we're going to the training ground!" Instructor Qi shouted. The three of them quickly quickened their pace and approached, about to place their items at the front.
"Carry them for now, we're heading to the training ground!" Instructor Qi said. Chen Zhuang and the other guy nodded without comment.
"Huh? Instructor, where are we going?" Cao Mingliang asked, covered in sweat and panting.
"Give it to me. Brother Zhuang wasn't really insulting you!" Qin Tian walked over and amusedly took the bag from him.
"What are you talking about? This bag has dozens of drinks, it's very heavy!" Cao Mingliang retorted defensively.
"You, return to your position!" Instructor Qi shouted at him. Cao Mingliang reluctantly said "Oh" and returned to his spot.
"Attention, everyone... Stand at attention!" Instructor Qi faced the entire formation and gave the order loudly. The students stood at attention somewhat loosely, their posture not quite standard. Instructor Qi clearly had no intention of correcting them at this moment and continued to issue commands: "Left turn, march!" Led by the instructor, the formation slowly moved, but the ranks began to spread out as they walked.
The training ground assigned to their class was an open space above the track and field stadium. The students were very happy because there were convenient trees for shade nearby, and unlike the plastic track that would become a furnace after being baked by the sun in the afternoon.
"Five minutes for everyone to rehydrate and move freely. Then we will begin training formally!" Instructor Qi announced loudly. Hearing this, the students joyfully rushed forward to choose their favorite drinks or mineral water. Qin Tian was quickly surrounded by many people.
"Don't rush, don't rush, there's enough for everyone." While shouting to reassure them, he quickly opened the bag in his hand, picked out a bottle of Vitamin Water in Xia Nuannuan's favorite flavor, and then chose two bottles of iced Coke.
"Here you go. You guys, be considerate and let the girls pick first!" Qin Tian placed the bag on the ground and called out loudly.
"Exactly, exactly..." The girls immediately echoed loudly. The boys remained silent, but their gazes fell on the Vitamin Water and Coke in Qin Tian's hands, their expressions of disdain saying it all. They hadn't seen him being considerate, and he'd even grabbed three bottles at once.
"What are you looking at? I'm paying for this, so I should have priority in choosing, right? Besides, two of these are for the instructor and my Nuannuan!" Qin Tian said with a straight face.
"Eww..." A chorus of boos erupted from both boys and girls. Qin Tian ignored these unfortunate single dogs and turned to walk towards Xia Nuannuan. Xia Nuannuan had guessed that he would get one for her, so she didn't push forward to compete with everyone. She simply looked at him with her eyes curved and a sweet smile.