Zhao Yuan touched Lin Wenxi's forehead and said, "You caught up really quickly, and you recovered fast from the cold too." He turned to look at Zhang Dong and said, "Thank you very much for taking such a good care of my brother, Instructor Zhang."
"That's alright, both of you are my brothers," Zhang Dong replied plainly. After that, he shouted to Zhao Yuan's military instructor, "You're really good for nothing. How come you look even more tired than your student?"
Upon hearing that, Zhao Yuan's military instructor immediately stood upright and said, "Report to Instructor Zhang. My student never took a shortcut and kept traveling on the main road. He slept for only 3 or 4 hours a day, so did I. However, every day he would make a fire and fry some fish for himself. Besides, he had a good sleep every night before reaching the second depot. Compared to him, since the beginning of this military training, I've..."
"Stop making excuses! Don't forget that you're a soldier!" Zhang Dong shouted.
The other military instructor stood at attention, saluted to Zhang Dong and then said to his student, "Zhao Yuan, I have to remind you that you've rested for a long time here!"
Zhao Yuan thought for a moment and reached out his hand to pull Lin Wenxi, while saying, "If you can just hold on, let's set off. After all, we're not far away from the destination now."
"No. I'm really exhausted." Lin Wenxi waved his hand and added, "You can set off together with Wanxin."
Chen Wanxin said smilingly, "You've just recovered from the cold, but you still ran all the way here. I'm impressed. If I hadn't taken the shortcut and traveled day and night, I would've never been able to surpass you." With these words, she rubbed her eyes. There were evident dark circles around them.
"Yes, both of us chose the right way," Lin Wenxi said while smiling meaningfully.
Chen Wanxin felt quite uncomfortable upon seeing that. She forced a smile and said, "Different people may have different ideas about which is the right way. Many things can't be weighted by a balance. I just want to say that the stronger you are, the more fairly the world will treat you." Chen Wanxin regained her natural smile again.
Lin Wenxi nodded smilingly without saying a word.
Zhao Yuan was well aware that the shortcut among the hills was a very difficult road. He thought that Chen Wanxin would have never been able to catch up with himself so fast without some special help from her military instructor.
After a moment of thought, Zhao Yuan looked deeply into Lin Wenxi and said, "Wenxi, I'll try my best to be ranked among the top three, for you!"
Lin Wenxi nodded and smiled brightly. "Just go now."
Zhao Yuan felt encouraged. He turned around and set off while saying, "Let's go!" Upon hearing that, Chen Wanxin hurriedly chased after him, and Luo Yang immediately came out of the woods nearby. Zhang Dong stared coldly at Luo Yang, which made the latter feel somewhat embarrassed. He saluted to Zhang Dong and rapidly ran away.
When they left, Zhang Dong reached out his hand to Lin Wenxi and said, "Do you really think that I'll let you rest?"
"You can't force me," Lin Wenxi retorted, his face somber.
"For me, it's alright to force anyone to do anything, except for forcing that person to have sex with me!" Zhang Dong sneered and pulled Lin Wenxi up.
"Are you talking about jungle law?" Lin Wenxi was stunned and asked.
Zhang Dong kept dragging him forward while saying, "You have to remember. Just mind your own business! Don't poke your nose into everything!"
"But this is a university, not a jungle! How can she cheat without being caught and punished?" Lin Wenxi said grumpily.
"Yes, this is a university. And you have to grow into a man after getting into a university," said Zhang Dong.
"I remember that An'an used to tell me... that a boy can grow into a man just after a night," said Lin Wenxi.
Upon hearing that, Zhang Dong suppressed his urge to laugh out and continued to drag Lin Wenxi forward, while saying, "Stop talking nonsense!" After walking for quite a long time, Zhang Dong finally agreed to let his student have some rest again. Lin Wenxi really wanted to cry now and could not help but sigh in his heart."Why did I choose such a strict and demanding instructor for myself? Is it a blessing or a curse?" The next moment, he thought of something else and spoke to Zhang Dong. "I think of something that you can't force a person to do. You can never force anyone to give you his or her belongings. Otherwise, you'll be considered a robber." Zhang Dong rolled his eyes at Lin Wenxi and said, "You know what. I'm a robber. Do you have any problem with it?"
Lin Wenxi hurriedly shook his head, while thinking to himself, "Alright, it looks like my military instructor thinks that it's alright to be a robber. Well, robbers are great. What can I say now..." As Lin Wenxi felt really tired and could not walk very fast, Zhang Dong deliberately reduced his walking speed for him. In Lin Wenxi's eyes, what his military instructor did was very heart-warming.
When Lin Wenxi arrived at the third depot at dusk, he was told that as he was the fifteenth student that arrived here, he was disqualified in this competition now. He talked with the other students in the depot and learned that Zheng Kai arrived here first, and Zhao Yuan was second to him.
He looked around, searching for Zhang Dong, and then he saw him enter the military instructors' lounge. Suddenly, he was surrounded by several girls.
They laughed at Lin Wenxi and said, "Which class are you in? Did you fall into a cesspit or something? You really stink. Why not go to take a shower first?"
Some boys heard that and teased Lin Wenxi. "This buddy really worked hard!"
Lin Wenxi lowered his head in embarrassment and left for a quiet bamboo forest outside without saying a word. This depot was quite large, and there was a large garden outside the depot building. The roads inside the garden were all paved with flagstones and these roads all led to a musical fountain at the center of the garden. Although it was autumn now, the bamboo forest was still green. Lin Wenxi walked into the garden while thinking dejectedly, "What a heartless person. We've traveled together for such a long time, but he just left without saying goodbye. Oh, wait, the military training is not over yet. He still has a chance to train me and torture me in the near future." The next moment, he thought of something else. He tightly grabbed his cellphone in his pants pocket so much so that he felt his hand became sweaty. After a while, he finally made up his mind and called his father Lin Ziwei.
"Dad, someone cheated during this competition."
"Is there anyone near you?" Lin Ziwei sounded calm and serious as usual.
"No." Lin Wenxi looked around and stood farther away from the students, who gathered and chatted in the garden.
"Uhm, tell me what happened."
"A girl who traveled with me cheated. She took a helicopter and suddenly surpassed me."
"A helicopter? What's her name?"
"Chen Wanxin."
Lin Ziwei fell silent for quite a long time and then asked, "What's her ranking?"
"I don't know."
"Do you have any proof?"
"No. But we used to hike together. After leaving her, I ran all the way every day, but suddenly she just—"
"If you don't have any proof, you should stop talking about this thing! Have you told this to anyone else?"
"Not yet."
"Watch your mouth!"
"I see." Lin Wenxi replied helplessly.
"Do you still remember why Xiang Yu ransacked Xianyang after capturing the city?"
"He did it on impulse," replied Lin Wenxi. Since his childhood, he had read "A General Reflection for Political Administration" and "Records of the Grand Historian" again and again at the behest of his father. As he had memorized all the stories from these books, whenever his father tested him on his knowledge of these books, he would give his father a satisfactory answer.
"Why did Chen Ping succeed in driving a wedge between Xiang Yu and Fan Zeng?"
"Xu Yu is too suspicious."
"Good, you remember these stories very clearly. But you failed to learn anything from them! You called me on impulse to tell me about something that you can not prove. When you were surpassed by someone else, you became excessively suspicious of that person without justification. If you can't prove it, stop talking about it. Do you understand?" Lin Ziwei sounded harsh now.
"I see."
Lin Ziwei directly hung up the phone. Lin Wenxi released his cellphone and felt somewhat dejected. He squatted down and scratched a bamboo with his nails.
"The current rankings! Here come the current rankings!" Suddenly, someone nearby shouted. Lin Wenxi and the other students in the depot all flocked to an electronic screen. He was surprised that he did not see Chen Wanxin's name on the ranking of the top three girls.
He walked around the depot building, the garden and the other nearby places on the hill, but still failed to find Chen Wanxin.