City No.1 High School's athletic field was huge, more than enough to accommodate the new first-year students. Xu Su and the others searched class by class and finally spotted Xi Zirong in a military uniform. He was holding a notebook and had already started taking attendance.
Seeing them arrive, the young man nodded. "Fall in. That makes fifty-eight present."
Xu Su and Huang Feng were about the same height, so they found a spot suitable for their height and got into formation.
The two stood one behind the other. Huang Feng muttered under her breath, "I'm setting my alarm for six-twenty tomorrow."
Xu Su wholeheartedly agreed. "I support you."
They weren't actually late; they just hadn't expected everyone else to arrive so early.
As expected, Teacher Wu's warning from last night was highly effective. No one wanted to be kicked out of the rocket class for being absent three times.
After a short wait, the drill instructor finally arrived.
After a simple self-introduction, he asked who the class monitor was.
Xi Zirong handed the notebook with the class roster to the instructor, and another round of roll call followed.
Once he confirmed everyone was present, the instructor, with a stern face, began correcting their formation.
Everyone who made it into the rocket class had been a top student in middle school, but one glance now showed their formation was just as sloppy as any other class's.
Soon, the fifty-eight new students were split into four lines—two for boys and two for girls—and arranged by height.
With her current height of barely five-foot-three, Xu Su stood at the very front of one of the girls' lines. Meanwhile, Huang Feng, who she thought was about the same height as her, was third in the other girls' line.
The instructor looked at the newly arranged lines and nodded in satisfaction. "From now on, you'll stand in this formation."
Xu Su: "..."
After all this was done, the school leaders finally arrived.
On the rostrum, the red flag was raised. The principal of City No.1 High School was the first to give a long-winded speech. The sun was almost directly overhead, and his round of 'encouragement' still wasn't over.
Xu Su was the type who didn't sweat easily, but now her head was covered in it.
Behind her, many students were already muttering about when the speech would ever end.
Suddenly, a sparse round of applause broke out. The leaders' speeches were finally over.
The instructor walked over. "Ten-minute break. If you need water, go get some."
The formation scattered like a swarm of bees. Xu Su ran to the spot where the water bottles were kept and started guzzling water.
Huang Feng looked a little pale. "It's too hot. I'm afraid I'm going to get heatstroke."
Xu Su sat on the grass, using her hat as a fan. "It's good to get some exercise, but if you can't take it, don't force yourself. Ask the class monitor for leave."
Every year during military training, some students got heatstroke. Although the school said you couldn't ask for leave except under special circumstances, in reality, the rule wasn't that strict.
Huang Feng shook her head. "I felt a little sick just now, but I'm much better after a sip of water."
Ten minutes passed quickly, and the formal training began.
The content of the military training was simple: standing at attention, plus the most common drill movements like Attention, At Ease, Salute, Squat, Sit, Quick March, and Goose-step.
The P.E. teacher had taught them all of this in middle school.
The morning's training passed quickly.
Halfway through the afternoon training, Teacher Wu made a special trip over to tell the students that anyone feeling unwell could ask to rest.
Xu Su noticed that the head teacher of the neighboring Class Eleven had come with Teacher Wu and was giving the same instructions to their own class.
It wasn't until that evening that they heard new students from both Class Sixteen and Class Thirteen had fainted from heatstroke, which was why the teachers were so concerned about the students' health.
The next day, the drill instructors had probably all received orders, because the training intensity was noticeably lighter than the day before.
All the students breathed a huge sigh of relief.
The days of military training passed by at a steady pace. Reliving it all again, Xu Su discovered that even though she was drenched in sweat every day, the training was actually quite interesting.
During the lunch break on the last day of military training, Xu Su's period arrived right on schedule. Clutching her stomach, she hesitated, wondering if she should ask for a half-day off to rest.
At this age, Xu Su suffered from painful cramps, especially on the first day. The pain was bad enough just lying in bed doing nothing, let alone running and exercising.
In her past life, she had been too embarrassed to mention her period. She forced herself through the day, and when she got home, she was trembling from the pain but didn't dare tell Chen Shulan.
When she was with Grandma Xu, she always got to eat eggs boiled in sweet soup whenever her period came. But living with her parents, she constantly had to watch their moods. Xu Su remembered how that night, she had slept alone on the living room sofa, crying from the sheer injustice of it all.
Since they were roommates and very close, Huang Feng found out about Xu Su's period. "Come on, let's go ask for leave. Your face is all pale. Fu Zichen is a girl too, you don't need to be embarrassed."
Of course, Xu Su, who was thirty on the inside, didn't think there was anything embarrassing about getting her period.
Fu Zichen lived in room 328. The two of them went up together, only to find the dorm room door locked tight. Inside, it was quiet; the occupants were still taking their afternoon nap.
The military training was so exhausting that even Xu Su, who didn't usually nap, had been sleeping soundly these past few days. The two of them felt bad about knocking and waking everyone up, so they exchanged a glance and decided to come back later.
Seeing them return, Qian Jia asked with concern, "Did you get the leave?"
They both shook their heads.
"Go find the class monitor. I just got back from the little store and saw him and a few other guys from our class buying soda. Several cases of it. I heard they're going to hand it out to everyone after training this afternoon."
"Judging by the time, they should be done by now and on their way back to the boys' dorm."
Qian Jia had come back late and had run into them as they were going upstairs to ask Fu Zichen for leave. She only knew that Xu Su needed to take leave, but not the reason why.
But Huang Feng knew the reason. Worried that Xu Su might be embarrassed, she asked, "Should we go?"
Her lower abdomen was throbbing with pain. Xu Su nodded decisively. "Yes!"
The boys' dorm was right next to theirs. The two of them didn't have to wait long under the shade of a tree by the dorm entrance before they saw four boys from their class walking over from a distance, each carrying a case of soda.
The boys saw them too.
Wan Youping jutted his chin toward the two girls under the tree not far away. "Class monitor, more girls are here for you. Definitely for you."
After a few more steps, he recognized who was standing under the tree, and another boy exclaimed, "Holy shit! That's Xu Su! She looks amazing even in a camouflage uniform. Everyone's saying she's gonna be First High School's school beauty this year, and she's waiting for you!"
First High School had a very strong academic atmosphere, and only first-years had the free time and inclination to secretly rank school beauties. Once they reached their second year, the busy schoolwork would teach them the meaning of 'an inch of time is an inch of gold.'
Xi Zirong followed their gaze and paused. Xu Su and Huang Feng were walking toward them.
Huang Feng wasn't as nervous around Xi Zirong as the other classmates were around the "study god." She said casually, "Class monitor, we need to talk to you about something."
Xi Zirong nodded. Facing Wan Youping's suggestive winks, he stacked the case of soda in his hands on top of the one the other boy was holding. He smiled. "Wan, why don't you take both of these cases to the dorm?"