Chapter 74: What, you can’t bear to leave?

At six-thirty in the morning, it was time to gather for the morning run. After the run, they had breakfast, and the morning training officially began at eight o’clock.

Before the morning training, the temporary class monitor took a routine roll call. In fact, with the square formation, it was obvious at a glance where someone was missing. The monitor held the roll call list and looked at the empty spot in the back row. “Who’s not here?”

The students on the left and right looked at each other. No one spoke. Finally, a boy said weakly, “It seems the one who’s not here is called Cheng Ye.”

“Why isn’t he here?”

“I don’t know. We’re not very familiar with him. He wasn’t here last night, and it seems he didn’t go back to the dormitory either.”

Last night, there was a singing session, and the instructor didn’t take a roll call, so no one knew he was absent.

As they were talking, the instructor arrived.

He glanced at the back and asked the monitor, “Someone’s not here. Did they ask for leave?”

The monitor scratched his head, not knowing what to say. While he was hesitating, a figure limped over from not far away.

Overnight, the yellow mud on Cheng Ye’s body had solidified and fallen off, leaving mottled marks. His foot seemed to be injured, and he walked very slowly. It took him a long time to move to the front of the formation.

“Report!”

The instructor frowned. “What’s wrong with you?”

Cheng Ye said, “I injured my foot.”

He pulled up his pant leg in front of the instructor, revealing his ankle. It was swollen high, looking particularly scary.

A gasp of cold air was heard from the surroundings.

Not only the students but also the instructor was scared by his appearance. “How did you do this?”

Cheng Ye’s face was calm. “I wasn’t paying attention to the road when I got up this morning and twisted it.”

“Have you been to the school infirmary to see it?”

“I haven’t had time yet. I came to tell you.”

Now the instructor couldn’t be bothered to reprimand him for being late. “Hurry up and go to the school infirmary to have a look.” He waved his hand. “Someone, send him over.”

The monitor almost instantly stood next to Cheng Ye.

Cheng Ye paused and put two fingers on his shoulder.

He held Cheng Ye’s arm and, like a good brother, helped him towards the school infirmary.

The monitor was not familiar with Cheng Ye either. He didn’t even remember if they had spoken since the military training began. He was only helping him because he wanted to slack off.

In fact, Cheng Ye was not familiar with anyone in the class. The deepest impression everyone had of him was his appearance. His features were deep, and although he had a strong sense of aggression, he was very silent and mostly a loner.

Many girls wanted to strike up a conversation with him, but they would retreat as soon as they saw his eyes.

Thinking of this, the monitor also looked up at him.

Cheng Ye had very dark eyes. Perhaps because they were too dark, they sometimes didn’t look like human eyes.

Like a beast’s.

Although he was helping him, the monitor didn’t feel any strength on his body. Cheng Ye walked slowly, unhurriedly. If it weren’t for the highly swollen ankle, he wouldn’t even have felt that he was injured.

They finally reached the infirmary. As soon as they reached the door, the monitor let go of his hand. He rubbed the cold sweat that had appeared on his palms and said, trying to cover it up, “I’ll go in and get the doctor for you first.”

The infirmary was only crowded at noon and in the afternoon. It was very quiet in the morning. Knowing that Cheng Ye had twisted his ankle, the doctor had him sit on a chair.

He lifted his pant leg to take a look and frowned. “This looks very serious. You almost injured the bone. How did you do it?”

Cheng Ye still said the same thing, “By accident.”

“I’ll find some medicine to spray on it. Rest for a few days and see. The conditions here are not good. I might not have seen if the bone was injured. If it gets more serious, you should go to a big hospital for an X-ray.”

As the doctor spoke, he squatted down. “There’s a bruise inside. I need to rub it out for you. It might be a little painful. Bear with it.”

The monitor winced at the sight. He looked up and found Cheng Ye staring at him.

He sat with his long legs spread, his arms relaxed, casually resting on the side of the chair. He wore a black watch on his wrist and seemed to be completely oblivious to the pain.

“Thank you, I can handle the rest myself.”

The monitor read the dismissal in his eyes. They weren’t familiar with each other anyway, so he didn’t stay long and left the infirmary.

The doctor finished rubbing in two or three strokes. He put down his pant leg and praised, “You’re a tough young man. The ones who came here before would cry and howl over a small scrape.”

Cheng Ye didn’t speak.

He leaned back in his chair, took out a fountain pen from his pocket, unscrewed the cap with one hand, and stared at the hole where the nib was missing for a while. Taking advantage of the doctor’s inattention, he slipped out of the infirmary.

He walked quickly. If it weren’t for the fact that his swollen ankle was not fake, he would have looked like a completely uninjured person.

Cheng Ye walked to the wall, climbed over it with his hands, and arrived at the security room at the entrance of the next training camp.

Everyone’s military training uniform was the same. The security guard thought he was from B University and shouted when he saw him, “Hey, classmate, it’s training time. What are you doing?”

Cheng Ye limped to the security guard. “Uncle, I sprained my ankle. I can’t train.”

The security guard looked at him as he lifted his pant leg and was shocked by the swollen ankle. “It looks quite serious. Are you going out?”

“No,” Cheng Ye stood in a place where the surveillance camera couldn’t see, reached into his pocket, and took out a pack of cigarettes, stuffing it into the security guard’s hand. “There’s something I’d like to ask of you, uncle.”

The security guard flipped it open and saw that it was eighty-one packs. He looked up and found that the surveillance camera was not pointed at them.

He paused, not daring to accept it rashly. “You tell me what it is first.”

Cheng Ye lowered his eyes, looking a little sad. “I’m an orphan. My mom ran away, and my dad is also dead. My dad died when I was in my second year of high school. He had an illness and knew he wouldn’t live long. Before he left, he gave me a fountain pen, hoping I could get a good grade.”

“I…” he paused at the right moment, his voice a little choked. “I take it with me wherever I go, but I accidentally lost it yesterday. I can’t find it anywhere, and I also sprained my ankle. I had no other choice, so I came to ask you…”

The security guard knew what he was going to do. “You want to see the surveillance footage, right?”

“Yes, I didn’t go anywhere before I lost it yesterday. I only went to the school infirmary, so I’d like to trouble you to let me see the surveillance footage of the road in front of the school infirmary.”

Hearing that it was on the roadside, the security guard breathed a sigh of relief.

He pocketed the cigarettes. “No problem, no problem. Come in with me.”

He brought Cheng Ye in, pulled up the historical surveillance footage, and found the road in front of the school infirmary. “This is quite a long time ago. Can you be more specific?”

Cheng Ye said again, “Can I copy a copy?”

“This… we don’t have this rule.”

“I know,” Cheng Ye moved closer to the security guard and stuffed an envelope into his pocket. “It’s such a small fountain pen. It’s very difficult for me to find it just like this. It’s just surveillance footage of a road. Nothing will happen. This fountain pen is really important to me.”

The security guard reached into his pocket and felt a stack that was not thin, not thick.

“I asked my counselor before. The fountain pen is not expensive, and he didn’t want to bother with it. I really couldn’t find a way, so I came to you.”

“Besides, it’s almost time for lunch. It’s not appropriate for the two of us to be here.”

The security guard hesitated. “You’re really not going to do anything?”

Cheng Ye smiled, looking a little honest and kind. “There are people coming and going on the road. There are no secrets. What can I do?”

The security guard stared at him for a few seconds and looked around.

“Then you’d better be quick. Remember, you weren’t here today.”

Click—

Cheng Ye inserted the USB drive into the main unit.

Jiang Shi couldn’t train and became the class’s mascot.

While a group of people were doing goose-stepping, he sat on the steps not far from them, guarding the class’s barrel of water. Behind him was a flower bed, and there happened to be a tree, the shade of which just covered him.

As soon as the whistle for dismissal blew, a group of girls swarmed up. They held cute cups and surrounded Jiang Shi to get water, chirping and asking him, “Jiang Shi, how are you? Are you feeling better?”

“If you’re not comfortable, you can actually tell the counselor and go to the dormitory to rest.”

“Yeah, it’s so hot here…”

He had received a small bag of snacks yesterday. Today, facing their concern, Jiang Shi was a little embarrassed and gave a very faint smile. “Thank you, I’m much better.”

When he smiled, a chorus of “wows” came from the surroundings.

“Move aside. How can others drink water if a group of you are blocking the way?”

Wang Zekai had a bandage on his head. He squeezed through the crowd with a displeased expression. When he saw Jiang Shi sitting in the middle, his face turned pale. He then glared at him and walked away with his own water cup.

The class monitor was a girl, 1.75 meters tall. She stood out in the crowd. She crossed her arms and sneered at Wang Zekai’s back.

“What a show-off.”

She asked Jiang Shi, “Do you have a grudge against him?”

Jiang Shi couldn’t tell others about this kind of thing, so he could only say vaguely, “We had some unpleasantness before because of some things.”

“Don’t mind him,” the monitor said. “I thought he was a kind person before, but I’ve seen through him these past two days of military training. He’s just trying to show off his family’s meager wealth by handing out snacks and hitting on girls.”

“Hitting on girls?” Jiang Shi was stunned.

He tilted his head up, his face fair and delicate, pretty and lively. Perhaps because of his surprise, his eyes widened a little. There were many girls around, and he was a little embarrassed, so his face was also a little pink.

Instantly, his previous coldness disappeared.

The monitor was stunned for a few seconds before she came back to her senses. “Ah… that… it’ll dirty your ears to say it. You don’t need to mind.”

As they were talking, Jiang Shi’s phone vibrated.

He took out his phone and found that it was Cheng Ye’s call.

He was surrounded by people and couldn’t get out, so he could only answer the phone.

“Hello?”

Cheng Ye’s voice was cool.

“Little young master, I see you’re having a good chat. Am I interrupting you?”

Jiang Shi was stunned for a moment, then turned his head and looked through the gap, seeing Cheng Ye standing not far away.

“…”

He stood up abruptly with his phone, startling the people around him. “What’s wrong?”

Jiang Shi let out a dry laugh. “My friend is here. I have to go.”

So everyone followed Jiang Shi’s gaze and saw Cheng Ye not far away.

Broad shoulders, long legs, his skin color the color of the sun’s long exposure. His nose bridge was high, and his features were deep. He looked very wild.

A few girls suddenly fell into a deathly silence.

A few seconds later, the monitor let out a cry of surprise. “Damn!”

Jiang Shi turned his head.

The monitor covered her mouth with her hand, her face flushed. It seemed more like excitement than shyness. She grabbed the hand of the girl next to her and said incoherently, “You… oh no, your friend came so quickly… we won’t disturb you… we won’t disturb… ah, let’s go, let’s go…”

A group of people came in a rush and left in a rush.

Jiang Shi scratched his cheek, a little dazed.

Cheng Ye stood next to him, his body carrying the dry scent of the sun.

“What, you can’t bear to leave?”