Chapter 242: Fists Hardened
In the following days, the Daliu team was blanketed in snow.
Ning Xiyue was having a blast.
She was either playing in the snow with her girlfriends, chatting with her cross-generational friends in the team, walking to study, or walking to eat.
Life was carefree and easygoing. The only time she thought of Comrade Ji was when she was being smothered with affection — she never imagined that far away, Comrade Ji was waiting anxiously for her reply, his eyes longing.
After sending a package of food to Ning Xiyue, Comrade Ji finally felt some peace of mind for a moment, imagining the look on her face when she received it.
Suddenly, the thought struck him: what if she rejected his letter? The package he had just sent would be returned. His mood immediately plummeted.
Whenever he had a free moment, he found himself thinking about that letter, until he forced himself to keep busy, piling every task onto himself, leaving no time to dwell.
Comrade Ji no longer had time to overthink. The higher-ups were pleased with him, but the newly recruited soldiers under his drill were suffering.
The one who felt it the most was Zhao Xiaochun, who had once chatted with Ning Xiyue at the collective wedding.
During a meal, Zhao Xiaochun pounded his arms while eating and complained to his teammates: “Do you think the instructor has something on his mind? He’s been harsh with our drills. I saw him leave the office once, looking down. He must be…”
His teammate across from him saw the instructor approaching and tried to signal him, but Zhao Xiaochun was too engrossed in his rambling to notice, continuing to chatter. His teammate was about to call out, but Ji Yanming stopped him.
Zhao Xiaochun kept his head down, picking at his food and muttering: “I must have offended him somehow. Why is he always targeting me, finding fault, making me do extra drills…”
As he spoke, he looked up and noticed his teammate wasn’t eating much. Confused, he asked: “Lao Hu, why aren’t you eating more? The food is pretty good today.”
Lao Hu signaled with his eyes, and Zhao Xiaochun realized something was wrong. He turned and saw the fearsome instructor standing behind him, his face icy.
“I…Instructor,” Zhao Xiaochun stammered, feeling doomed.
“Zhao Xiaochun,” Ji Yanming said coldly, calling his name.
“Yes, sir,” Zhao Xiaochun instinctively straightened his posture.
“Discussing instructors casually in public? After the meal, fifty laps with added weight at the training ground.”
“Yes, sir!” Zhao Xiaochun saluted crisply, not daring to make a single sound beyond that.
He knew this punishment was deserved.
After saying this, Ji Yanming carried his meal box and turned to leave, heading straight for the office.
Zhao Xiaochun’s earlier words reminded him that he hadn’t yet checked in at the office today. By the schedule, it should be the right time; he needed to see if anything had arrived.
At the office door, before he could speak, Old Yang inside greeted cheerfully: “Comrade Ji, you’re here again! Perfect timing — a batch of letters and packages just arrived. Yours and Ning Qingzhi’s were bundled together.”
“Really?”
Ji Yanming was overjoyed and hurried over to sign for them. As long as it was bundled with Old Ning’s, it had to be the items he had been longing for — something sent by Yueyue herself.
Old Yang placed the package beside him, teasing: “Now that it’s arrived, you won’t be wandering into the office every day, right?”
Ji Yanming smiled faintly, offering no reply, continuing to fill out the information.
“Look at you, so happy — surely you won’t be coming by every day now!”
Old Yang laughed heartily, then noticed Ning Qingzhi at the window carrying a meal box. He waved: “Come on over, your package is here too. Comrade Ji is already signing for his.”
“I’m coming,” Ning Qingzhi called, jogging over and filling out his information after Ji Yanming.
Together, they collected the two small packages, tied together, and left the office.
Ji Yanming hurried back to the dorm, with Ning Qingzhi following.
Curious, Ning Qingzhi asked: “Old Ji, the one you’ve been waiting for — is it that book report you asked my sister to write?”
“Maybe, maybe not. Open it and see.”
Ji Yanming couldn’t wait any longer. All his anticipation over the past days had been for this moment.
He handed one of the packages to Ning Qingzhi, then took his own small package to the bed to examine it.
Ning Qingzhi sat down, opened his own package, and didn’t interfere.
Ji Yanming cast him a glance before continuing to open his bag. First, he saw a jar of medicine, and beneath it, a letter personally addressed to him by Comrade Ji.
He set the medicine aside and, with a mix of nervousness and excitement, retrieved the letter. His hands trembled slightly as he opened the envelope. Taking a deep breath, he unfolded the letter and read it carefully, line by line, word by word.
The anxiety of the past few days slowly eased, replaced by a surge of indescribable joy that blossomed in his heart and swept through his entire body with the rhythm of his heartbeat.
Even after finishing the last word, he didn’t want to put the letter down. He started again from the beginning, savoring each word, feeling the meaning embedded in every line.
However, Ning Qingzhi felt uneasy after reading it, especially the latter part, where his second brother had written:
“Big brother, secretly telling you, I discovered that Comrade Ji wrote a rather unusual letter to our sister, seemingly hoping to become our brother-in-law. Looks like she may have replied. See how he reacts and try to guess the contents. If it’s true, she’ll probably let us know in a few days. Take this opportunity to do whatever you want. You know what I mean — and remember to write me back.”
Ning Qingzhi set the letter down, eyes burning with resentment as he watched the person opposite reading it. His fists clenched tightly.
