CHAPTER 456: CHAPTER 455: MAKE A SAMPLE!

For a moment, the entire dormitory corridor was bustling with girls coming and going, carrying water, dumping trash, and toting brooms and mops.

Zhen Yu’s dorm room was in the middle of the second floor, so the instructors arrived a bit later there. The frantic hustle hadn’t been in vain—at least they received a few words of praise, which offered Zhen Yu some consolation.

However! Just as the instructors were about to leave Dorm 208, with all the girls standing in line to see them off, one of the instructors suddenly called out Zhen Yu’s name!

"Zhen Yu! Step out!"

"Present!"

"What is that you’re wearing around your neck!?"

Zhen Yu knew without even touching it! So, she could only respond with the ’truth’: "A pocket watch!"

The instructor’s gaze ruthlessly swept over Zhen Yu’s wrist, "Real or fake?!"

"...Fake." Zhen Yu, wearing a half-sleeve and a watch, was on the verge of tears.

She had just put it on and hadn’t fully remembered, forgetting this detail entirely! If she had known, she would have done like some of her roommates and covered it up with her camouflage jacket!

"Violation of school rules by wearing jewelry! Punished with a 3000-meter run! Carry out immediately!"

Zhen Yu quickly stood at attention and loudly replied: "Yes, Sir!"

Then she grabbed her camouflage jacket and dashed past the instructors out of Dorm 208, heading straight for the sports field.

The expressions on the faces of the girls inside were priceless! The instructors saw it all but remained silent.

After the instructors were finally sent away and the door was closed, Zhang Lili mocked, "Deserved! How can you not know what you’re wearing?! Not even putting on a jacket! As if buying a gold necklace isn’t enough to show off!"

No one responded to her remark.

Ren Jing and Li Mengting, who didn’t wear any jewelry, continued with what they were doing. Hu Xi and Yang Yueyue, who also wore jewelry but knew how to hide it, each took off their camouflage uniforms and climbed onto the upper bunks.

Zhang Zhe, however, was restless as if she had ants in her pants, shifting her position on the bed. After enduring for a while, she couldn’t hold back anymore! Suddenly, she got up, pulled open the door, and walked out.

As the door closed, Zhang Lili laughed again.

"Hah! She’s definitely off to spread gossip! I bet that within ten minutes, every girl on the second floor will know about Zhen Yu being punished!"

"Then you’re surely going to lose!" Niu Lili on the top bunk laughed and interjected: "Who doesn’t know about Zhang Zhe’s little hobby! She can’t live without talking behind people’s backs for a day!"

——

Bai Xue heard about this fifteen minutes later and immediately ran out of the dormitory, furious! She sprinted towards the sports field!

And then, halfway there, the two good friends converged.

Bai Xue nervously took Zhen Yu’s hand and shook it; if Zhen Yu hadn’t stopped her, she would have gone in for a bear hug!

"Xiao Yu, are you okay?! Were you scared? Huh? Were you scared?"

"No way!" Zhen Yu couldn’t help but laugh. "It’s just running, what’s there to be scared of?"

"Weren’t you terrified of the dark?! Back in Laha, you couldn’t even go to the toilet at night without having Zhen Yan wait for you outside the door! He teased you about it so many times! The school’s playground is pitch black, and you running there all by yourself, you weren’t scared?"

"Ah!" Zhen Yu didn’t quite remember the old stories Bai Xue was talking about, and could only cover it up by saying, "I was younger back then! Now that I’ve grown up, of course I’m not scared anymore!"

"Oh... that’s good then!" Bai Xue sighed in relief, finally able to lay her worries to rest.

Before meeting up, Bai Xue had been really concerned! All the way there, she kept thinking, what if Zhen Yu got scared and started crying, how would she comfort her! Now it seems none of those methods are needed, which is truly great!

——

On Monday during the flag-raising ceremony, some students with sharp eyes noticed the principal had also come to the playground.

As he stood under the flag, ready to speak, everyone secretly started to guess.

Was there an important announcement to be made?

"Cough! As you all know! This year, many places in our country have experienced the worst flooding in a century! After the relentless efforts by people across the nation, we’ve now achieved a significant victory in this phase! Especially the floods in all the river basins within our province, they’ve been completely subdued! The students from here, don’t know if you’ve seen the news in the past two days, our national leaders held a meeting in Harbin with responsible persons from three provinces, emphasizing the great spirit of solidarity, unity of will, and relentless struggle that we’ve demonstrated in this great flood fighting effort. It is a precious spiritual treasure! To greatly promote this spirit, the provincial Department of Education, after urgent deliberation, has decided to hold an art performance for the flood resistance during the National Day holiday! Our school has received the notification! Key schools under each administration must participate! The location is set in Jia City!"

The long string of words finally got to the main point at the end! And that was, First High School must send participants for the performance!

Most students, including Zhen Yu and her small group of friends, were indifferent listeners, after all.

The principal himself had emphasized that participants for this artistic event would be selected through a process! Everybody from the small town felt they lacked any presentable talent, so they were certain such matters were far from their concern!

——

Orders from above, must be followed below.

Since there was to be a performance, it’s obvious they had to select participants! But the principal did not call for students to actively sign up for the selection! So exactly how these participants would be chosen, all the students had no idea!

After practicing the drill formation for another half hour, all the instructors suddenly and coincidentally blew the whistle to signal a break! The students were momentarily taken aback, but no one thought too much of it.

Since they all started practice at the same time, maybe they just happened to reach the same time point to pause the practice! This thought lasted until the instructors called out to form two lines facing each other and asked the students to sit down right where they were for a rest.

Now, even the most oblivious students sensed something unusual.

Indeed, no sooner had everyone settled down than the instructors of various classes began speaking one after the other, with different words but similar meanings. "The military training is now halfway through. Starting today! During the rest periods, the instructors will lead everyone in one of the most common activities in the troops! Singing competition! Do we want to give it a try now?"

"YES!!!" Hearing that the training was temporarily switching to singing, the students who had been exhausted for days immediately shouted out their approval—especially the boys, who were very keen on joining in the excitement with resounding voices!

The instructor from class one smiled and casually raised his hand, while his eyes glanced at Zhen Yu as if inadvertently.

"Since we’re class one! Then everything, we must aim to be the first!! Now, let’s welcome Zhen Yu with warm applause to step forward and set an example for class two! What do you say, isn’t that great?!"