Chapter 112
10 o’clock in the morning.
“Help! Someone’s fallen into water!”
“Can anyone swim? Help!”
All of a sudden,
Anxious calls echoed across the university.
The National Day holiday was not over so there were not many people staying in school. No one responded to the call.
Reading in his dorm room, Fang Qiu’s ears moved.
Hearing the call for help,
Li Ji pointed at the man thrown to the ground by Fang Qiu and went on to explain, “He’s an armed police officer. We asked him to pretend falling into water. It was not really an accident.”
“Master, please pardon us.”
Luo Shu felt very awkward. This idea was his.
The mysterious man revealed himself.
It was quite similar to the harmonious scene he had imagined.
“Master, could you spare some time to have a chat with us?”
“Idiots!”
Shouted Fang Qiu angrily.
Not many things could enrage him but that time he was really mad!
Those two had gone too far!
“Didn’t you complete your elementary education?
“Don’t you remember the boy who cried wolf?
“This time you might fool me. What if I didn’t come next time when someone actually fell into water all because of this? Someone might die because of your fraud!
“You are servicemen. Do you have any intelligence or not?”
Asked Fang Qiu furiously.
He wasn’t mad for being tricked. These two acted rashly with no consideration of possible consequences.
Hearing that,
Li Ji and Luo Shu exchanged a glance in blank dismay.
Their face took on a ghastly expression with fear immediately.
Fang Qiu was right.
This trick might lead to awful consequences. This time it was fine but what about next time? And the time after?
“Quit these tricks!”
Fang Qiu gazed at the two with cold eyes and said, “And don’t bother me again. I know what you want. I’ll serve my country but not as part of the military. You have your duty and responsibility and I have mine. We are following different ways but we share the same goal!
“You may leave. Don’t be so reckless next time!
“Use your brain!”
After
His body moved.
He vanished without a trace.
By the lake,
Li Ji and Luo Shu looked at each other, sharing the same expression of guilt and fear.
They thought it was a perfect plan.
At last, it did draw the mysterious man out as they had expected.
However,
They hadn’t thought about the possible consequences at all before putting it into action.
It was a university and all the students here were adults. But who dared foresee that no one would be drowning here in the future?
What if someone really fell into water and the mysterious man didn’t go to his rescue because of their trick?
There must be swimmers in this school but who could guarantee no accidents were to take place?
It would be a human life if something went wrong.
“I’m sorry.”
Luo Shu muttered to Li Ji. “I came up with this idea and arranged everything. I wanted to get the mysterious man to come out so badly that I didn’t think about the consequences at all. As a soldier, I shouldn’t have done this. It was my bad.”
“I had my share of responsibility.”
Li Ji heaved a sigh and continued, “If I wasn’t so determined to find the mysterious man, you wouldn’t have taken a day off to come to this school with me and this wouldn’t have happened in the first place.
“The start of this matter was me.”
Luo Shu remained silent.
He knew he was wrong. So did Li Ji.
They had no excuses for this matter. Li Ji was too stubborn, desperate to find the mysterious man. Luo Shu didn’t think thoroughly and took the wrong path.
“Forget about what happened today. Don’t let it bother you.”
After a long moment of silence, Luo Shu said, “We are soldiers. Protecting our homes and defending our country is our bound duty. We can’t make stupid mistakes like this again. We will keep an eye on each other from this day.”
“Yes.”
Li Ji nodded and asked, “What shall we do the next?”
“Make a report.”
Answered Luo Shu. “Our current strength is not enough to investigate the mysterious man. The only thing we can do now is to report this to the seniors. No matter what, we must dig this man out.
“His strength is too impressive.”
“I’ve never seen a youth this powerful. He’s the very first one.”
“It would be a great pity if he didn’t come to serve the country.”
Li Ji nodded his agreement to Luo Shu’s words.
The mysterious man was so powerful that he felt frightened.
More importantly, he was so young.
Actually too terribly young!
They didn’t know much about this mysterious man besides his chivalrousness. But could chivalrousness be enough to assure that the mysterious man would change his temperament completely one day?
Could they trust his promise about serving the country and let him go just like that?
No.
“In the report… This incident…”
Li Ji looked at Luo Shu, hesitant.
“Include it in the report.”
Said Luo Shu firmly. “Everyone deserves a fair punishment for their wrong deeds. If the seniors decide to punish me, I won’t shirk my responsibility.”
“Okay. We report it. I won’t hide from it!”
Li Ji nodded his determination.
Admit the mistake.
Correct the wrong.
It had always been the fine tradition of our army.
“By the way!”
Luo Shu suddenly changed the topic. “Although not yet a martial arts practitioner, Chen Cong does have some strength. Try again to bring him onboard.”
“Yes.”
Li Ji agreed with a nod.
Very soon, the two left with that unconscious armed police officer.
Over here,
Fang Qiu returned to his dorm room.
He took off the outfit and went back to his books.
He left the room for the canteen at noon.
After the meal,
Fang Qiu received a Wechat message from Zhou Xiaotian.
“The youngest, we are on the train back to school. Should be there before dinner.”
Seeing this message,
Fang Qiu replied directly,
“Be straightforward.”
He didn’t believe that Zhou Xiaotian would send him this message for no other reason.
“Heheh. After the previous couple of days, your brothers are exhausted and broke. We didn’t eat well for days.”
It didn’t take long for Zhou Xiaotian to reply.
“And?”
Asked Fang Qiu,
“I mean… Don’t you think you should treat us to a good meal for our wellbeing?”
Zhou Xiaotian sent a sneer.
The emoji was followed by a toadying sticker.
“Why?”
Fang Qiu added the classic nose picking emoji and said, “I didn’t ask you to go on a trip.”
“What about the great opportunity I created for you?”
Zhou Xiaotian replied on Wechat. “Don’t you forget that I called to tell you about Jiang Miaoyu’s injury!
“If you didn’t know about Jiang Miaoyu’s injury, you wouldn’t have the chance to escort her back.
“That was some long journey. Something must have happened on the way. Don’t forget who made the well after drinking from it! It’s important to be grateful.”
Fang Qiu had no words to say.
He replied a series of ellipsis dots.
“Talk to me!”
Seeing Fang Qiu’s ellipsis dots, Zhou Xiaotian sent another message.
“I’ll take your silence as a yes!”
“Fine! Dinner’s on me.”
Fang Qiu replied helplessly.
He had money then. A meal wasn’t a big deal.
“The youngest is the best. +3.”
“What does the +3 mean?” Fang Qiu was confused.
“Your three dorm brothers all think you are the best.”
Fang Qiu sent ellipsis dots again…
He closed Wechat without a word.
He went back to reading.
Still the Yellow Emperor’s Internal Canon.
He had read it for a few dozen times but his memory points were quite different every time as if he could grasp more and more.
Of course, the most important is
Every time, Fang Qiu read carefully without skipping a single word.
Time flew by.
“Dee-dee-dee…”
As Fang Qiu was deeply absorbed, his mobile rang abruptly in his trousers pocket.
He took it out and glanced at it.
It was from Zhou Xiaotian.
“Arrived?”
Fang Qiu was puzzled.
He checked time on his phone and realized it was already 17:30.
“Hello.”
Fang Qiu answered.
“The youngest! We have arrived.”
Said Zhou Xiaotian happily. “Come out. We won’t go back to the room yet. Food and drinks first. We’ll be waiting for you at the gate. Hurry up.”
“Why at the school gate?”
Asked Fang Qiu, completely lost.
“Dinner!”
Said Zhou Xiaotian with a trace of anger. “The youngest, don’t go back on your words. You have agreed to treat us to a big dinner. What’s the deal?”
“We don’t have to go out for a big dinner.”
“Where do we go then?”
Hearing that, Zhu Benzheng, Zhou Xiaotian, Sun Hao with their suitcases had a bad feeling.