They boarded a military bus.
More than a dozen people put their things away and got on the bus.
Shuishui and one of Akong's subordinates sat together. Her name was Lin Yiyun. It was a very gentle-sounding name. However, her personality was unlike what her name implied, as she had a carefree nature. She was similar to Akong. As soon as she met Shuishui, she assured Shuishui that she would take care of her.
Shuishui smiled and thanked Lin Yiyun for her good intentions.
Because Shuishui was only fifteen years old, Akong's subordinates took special care of her. Moreover, Shuishui was quite good-looking, so she was quite popular with everyone. Of course, there were also some who did not like Shuishui's arrival. They felt that she would drag them down and affect their overall training performance.
Shuishui was not the kind of person who would care about other what other people thought. In the car, she tried to get to know more about what they were going to do.
The training she was signed up for was commonly known as elite training. It was specially crafted for top performers. The training system would further hone and sharpen their abilities and strengths.
Usually, profiles of training participants who performed excellently would be kept in file for future recruitment.
There was a total of fourteen people, who were divided into groups of four to five members. Shuishui and Akong's three subordinates formed a group. Group score was an important target. People suddenly pitied the group composed of Akong's subordinates. There weren't many people to begin with, and they even brought along a little girl. It was so burdensome.
However, Akong's subordinates had been instructed by Akong to take good care of Qian Shuishui. They found Qian Shuishui quite sensible and obedient, so they befriended her quite easily. They actually liked her.
Shuishui asked them, "Will I implicate you?"
"No. You were brought here by Coach Akong anyway. You definitely have your strengths. Just now, we noticed that Instructor Xia was very friendly towards you. He never smiled at us. But just a while ago, he smiled and nodded at us. Shuishui, do you know Instructor Xia?" Liu Mo, one of the girls, asked Shuishui curiously. They all knew what kind of person Instructor Xia was.
It was rare to see Instructor Xia being so kind and friendly.
Shuishui shook her head. "But Instructor Xia said that he knew my teacher and that they were comrades-in-arms."
She was also confused by it.
Lin Yiyun nodded in agreement. "Yeah. He's usually so fierce." She was most afraid of instructor Xia and didn't dare to joke around.
The other female soldier was called Xia He. Although she had the same surname as Instructor Xia, they weren't actually related.
Compared to the other two, she wasn't so active and didn't like to talk, but she also showed them her friendly side.
Shuishui thought it was quite good. Soldiers were usually more simple-minded. She didn't think that girls' rudeness was a bad thing. On the contrary, it was because of their environment.
Shuishui spoke in a more mature manner. She didn't act like a little princess. She didn't complain about what she was told to do. The others looked at her appearance and thought that she could have been tricked by Coach Akong into joining the training.
Akong turned around and took out a packet of plums. "Shuishui, eat some of this so you won't get carsick."
Shuishui accepted it. "Thank you."
She wasn't feeling nauseous, but she was thankful for their kindness. As a token of her goodwill, she ate a piece, and the bitterness instantly filled her entire tongue.
Instantly, she felt energized. It was actually good.
The plums were passed around to the others, and they all shook their heads. "This is made by Coach Akong's own family. It's especially sour. And it also has a slightly bitter taste," one of them said.
When Shuishui heard that it was made by Akong's own family, she understood why the packaging looked different. It tasted a little strange, but Shuishui thought that it was pretty good.
The road was bumpy. Shuishui leaned against the window, and soon her consciousness began to drift away. She fell asleep.
After three hours, they stopped. Shuishui was awakened by the noise.
Lin Yiyun saw that Shuishui had awakened. She said, "You should rest for a while. What bad luck. We're almost at our destination, but the bus broke down."
"I see." Shuishui stretched and drank some water to moisten her throat. She got off the bus to take a look. It was quite stuffy inside.
As soon as she got off, Akong waved at Shuishui. "It might take a while. I'm afraid there's something wrong with the engine. It's a bit cold in the middle of the night. You'd better get back inside."
Shuishui watched as she took a step forward. She saw smoke coming from the front of the car. "Coach Akong, in this case, even if there's still a lot of water left in the engine coolant, we have to refill it with new water. We still have to see if the bearing is stuck on something, which increases the friction and causes pressure on the engine. After that, we can try starting the engine again. The engine sounds different. It might be because a part of the engine is stuck. Put your left foot on the clutch pedal, and your right foot on the accelerator pedal. Release the brake and turn on the engine switch. Let's hope it works. If it doesn't, the problem might be more complicated."
Akong didn't know whether to believe Shuishui or not, but she still went to give it a try. When the bus engine started, he looked at Shuishui in surprise. "Shuishui, you really know a lot."
Many people witnessed it. They realized that Shuishui was really a skilled student who was wise beyond her years.
"I had read a book before that talked about the fundamental principles of applied mechanics." In reality, Shuishui was also confused. It was indeed helpful to read books.
"But it's so unusual. Do high school students usually like to read such books?" Akong was a little confused. She remembered that back then, she only read manga and fantasy novels. She didn't read any mechanical books at all. They were too boring for her.
"No. I just remember having read a few principles that could be applied to the mechanisms of a vehicle engine." Shuishui was not so proficient in mechanics, but she was very good in physics. The two had similar basic principles. It was why she was able to react quickly.
Akong patted Shuishui's shoulder. "You can do it. You have both the civil and military skills. You're very promising. If you train well, you will do well in the future."
Shuishui felt a little pain as Coach Akong patted her. She unconsciously took a few steps back and avoided Akong's palm. "Coach Akong, I'll get in the bus first."
"Okay. Get in the bus first. The rest of you, get in quickly. Let's go!" Akong shouted.
Everyone boarded the bus. They continued to head towards their destination.
Shuishui continued to sleep.
Lin Yiyun pulled Shuishui. "We're almost there. If you sleep now, you'll have to wake up soon."
"Okay." Shuishui took out an extra plum blossom to refresh herself. The sour taste instantly rejuvenated her.
Half an hour later, they arrived at the foot of a mountain. There was only a small county nearby.
It was nighttime, so it was impossible for them to go up the mountain at night. They found a simple and crude inn in town. It had basic dorm-type rooms.
They checked in. The sun had yet to rise. They had to get up at five and walk up the mountain at five thirty.
This reminded Shuishui of the trip they had once taken up the mountain. It was simply a different place, with a different purpose. The other one was organized by the school, so it wasn't very dangerous. They had been to a village on the mountain. They had prepared all the necessary tools. In fact, they only needed to bring a pen, sheets of paper, and their daily clothes.
She did not even sign up for the trip, and she found it very baffling.
They all lined up to take a shower. Shuishui chose to shower last because she thought she would be the slowest. As expected, the others showered for only five minutes. She was stunned.
When it was her turn, she tried her best to be as fast as possible and came out in ten minutes or so. She then went to bed. She had to sleep early to be able to wake up early.
She had not brought any books, so she immediately lay down to rest.
The others chatted for a while. They were going to chat with Shuishui, but they found that she had already fallen asleep.
The others soon went to sleep as well.
It wasn't even five o'clock in the morning when Shuishui woke up. She glanced at her phone and saw that it was 4:40 am. She got up, tiptoed into the shower, and then washed up. She opened the text messages she had received and replied to them.
When the others woke up and saw Shuishui on her phone, they felt that it was great to be young.
Shuishui looked at them and got up. "Good morning. I don't know if there's anything to eat. I can go out to take a look. I'll bring some back for you."
"Okay. Thank you," the others said gratefully.
Shuishui went out. After ten minutes, she returned with four servings of porridge and water, as well as a bag of steamed buns and soybean milk. She distributed it to the others.
"Please eat. I was early. I took all the good stuff," Shuishui said to them.
They got up and said, "That's great. Shuishui, you're too thoughtful."
They sat down to eat.
They finished the porridge in large mouthfuls and each of them had two meat buns. They walked out with their bottles of soy milk. Twenty five minutes had passed, and they had to gather outside already.
When they arrived downstairs, the others followed soon after. Some of them began to complain. "There's only white porridge with preserved vegetables left. It's too much," one of the others said.
"Didn't they say there were buns? There are none left."
The others saw Shuishui's group with bottles of soy milk. They didn't even see Shuishui's group in the canteen.
"Where did you get breakfast?" Akong walked over and asked.
"Shuishui was very early and went to get breakfast for us," Lin Yiyun said.
"Yeah, we ate two big buns each!" Liu Mo said, as if she was showing off.
The others heard it and felt angry.
Shuishui tugged at Liu Mo's clothes. "Sister Liu, don't exaggerate."
Liu mo laughed and said, "Who told them to wake up so late?"
Akong looked at Shuishui. "You woke up so early. Not bad."
Shuishui lifted her backpack up. It was really heavy. "It's good. I was not very sleepy because I had also slept in the bus," she answered.
Akong patted his belly. "Why didn't you think of bringing me some?"
Shuishui smiled. "I got food only for four people. Coach Akong, why would I think so much?"
"All right. I was just joking. Don't mind it. Get ready to set off. See if you have your belongings with you," Akong said as she clapped her hands and gathered everyone.