"Who's the bitch?"
With the corners of her lips lifting, Mo Shangjun spoke in an even tone without surprise, her expression wild and her eyes filled with irritation.
That attitude—
the spitting image of a hooligan!
Seeing this scene, the Instructor froze, momentarily at a loss for a reaction.
And the soldiers who were watching this unfold, immediately stopped their previous conversations, their eyes lit with disbelief as they looked at Mo Shangjun.
Their faces, stinging with burning pain.
Mo Shangjun's actions had just delivered them a resounding slap.
Fuck!
With those robust skills, beating a few of them up here would be no issue at all!
The soldier pinned under Mo Shangjun's foot felt an eerie pressure emanating from her, sending cold sweat dripping down his spine.
"I-I-I, I was wrong..."
The soldier repressed the pain in his fingers, frantically apologizing to Mo Shangjun.
Casually taking back the chopsticks, Mo Shangjun tossed them onto the table and shifted her foot away.
The soldier wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, but the lingering pressure made it hard for him to catch his breath.
"For belittling the deputy company commander in private, twenty laps on the field," Mo Shangjun's smile deepened, her hand patting the soldier's shoulder in a seemingly conciliatory tone, "That's not too heavy a punishment, right?"
"Not heavy!"
The soldier, with his hand feeling a fiery pain, gritted his teeth and spoke out.
Mo Shangjun slightly raised her eyebrows in satisfaction.
But, the matter wasn't over.
Mo Shangjun stood leisurely beside the soldier, her gaze sweeping over the nearby dining tables, undisturbed by the eyes of everyone in the cafeteria.
"Who's his platoon leader?" Mo Shangjun's tone lifted slightly, startling those who heard.
"Reporting, it's me!"
A resounding voice responded.
At the next dining table, a platoon leader stood up.
"Come here."
Mo Shangjun spoke casually, after tossing the chopsticks on the table, she cast an indifferent glance at the platoon leader.
The platoon leader, who seemed to have just graduated, a junior officer, very young, probably only a year or two older than Mo Shangjun, but in terms of aura, he was worlds apart from Mo Shangjun.
He walked up to Mo Shangjun with precision.
Despite being half a head taller than Mo Shangjun, when his gaze met hers, it felt as if she was looking down on him from above.
"Which platoon?"
Standing casually, Mo Shangjun crossed her arms and glanced at him from the side.
"Third platoon."
He answered haltingly, the platoon leader somewhat nervous, his palms sweaty.
"Your soldier, your responsibility," Mo Shangjun raised an eyebrow, her lips curled in a smirking question, "Thirty laps, any objections?"
"No!"
The platoon leader answered decisively.
She was the deputy company commander, no matter the punishment she meted out, they only had to accept it gracefully.
Moreover, they were in the wrong to begin with.
After a brief pause, Mo Shangjun looked at him with a smile in her eyes.
After a moment, she stepped forward and asked leisurely, "Aren't you running yet?"
The third platoon leader snapped to his senses.
"Yes!"
With a snap, he stood to attention and responded once more.
Then, after glancing at the soldier whose hand was in excruciating pain, the two of them ran out of the cafeteria together.
Watching them dash off, Mo Shangjun dusted off her hands; the carefree gangster attitude disappeared in an instant.
The surrounding people looked at her as if they'd seen a ghost.
This move, to kill the chicken to scare the monkey, was quite effective. Everyone was filled with trepidation—the petty squabbles from before had already dissipated in the silence.
Presumably, the direction of their conversations would also change from now on.
The instructor remained silent, watching Mo Shangjun easily suppress everyone in the room, which inevitably caused him some headache.
It seemed —
this top student wasn't so easy to send off.
Mo Shangjun walked up to the instructor.
"Instructor, I wasn't overstepping, was I?"
Her eyes narrowed slightly, the slender phoenix eyes calm and waveless, perfectly concealing any trace of prior events.
After glancing at her a few times, the instructor took the lead and walked out of the canteen.
Mo Shangjun put her hands in her pockets, lips slightly upturned, and calmly followed behind the instructor.
Disrespect towards a superior officer— although the punishment was harsh, it wasn't excessive, and the instructor couldn't find fault with it.
"This," the instructor finally stopped, after walking about ten meters out of the canteen, looking at Mo Shangjun with some concern, "Similar problems will definitely occur many times in the future, but brute force should only be used once. If it happens too much... not only will they have complaints, but the leadership will also have opinions."
The implication was that such violent suppression must not happen again!
"I'll change my methods."
The corners of Mo Shangjun's phoenix eyes lifted, her gaze contained a smile, but the laughter didn't reach the depths of her eyes.
She never intended to continue to oppress by force - violence, as a weapon, was only meant to show power at the beginning.
"Hmm."
After observing her for a while, the instructor nodded, then said no more.
After all, he had already agreed to let Mo Shangjun "hit someone."
If it really came down to it, he himself was responsible as well.
Moreover, the incident just now was the fault of the low-ranking soldier; to reprimand Mo Shangjun for that would indeed be biased.
The instructor continued to lead the way ahead, taking Mo Shangjun to the dormitory building.
The dormitory building had four floors, with only the third and fourth floors being used as dorms. The first and second floors were typically used for storage, but the entire structure was referred to as "the dormitory building."
Soldiers and officers had separate living quarters; even those at the company level could be allotted single rooms. However, new recruits would be assigned to their units in a couple of days, and dormitory resources were somewhat tight, with no single rooms available. Although Lin Qi was a platoon leader, due to her gender she was allotted a single room, so Mo Shangjun was assigned to her quarters.
Lin Qi couldn't possibly have any objections.
As for Mo Shangjun, she had just arrived, so she ought to show some magnanimity, not making any comments about the assignment.
At the end of the fourth-floor corridor, against the wall, there was a single room.
Upon entering, to the right there were a wardrobe and a desk, and on the left, a bunk bed. Brand new bedding and several sets of military uniforms had been placed on the lower bunk, while bedding on the upper bunk was neatly folded, indicating "the bed is taken."
The room also had an attached balcony and washroom, with various toiletries already provided.
For the new deputy company commander, the unit was quite thoughtful.
"From now on, you'll live here."
Standing near the door, the instructor briefed Mo Shangjun, not wandering around the room.
"Okay."
After looking around the room a few times, Mo Shangjun quickly nodded.
Facing north with plenty of ventilation, it was a decent place.
"You'll share an office with the company commander. I have a meeting to attend in a bit. I'll take you to see it tomorrow and familiarize you with the surroundings," continued the instructor.
"Okay," Mo Shangjun responded perfunctorily, not really taking his words to heart.
The meeting was probably half true, half false; the real message was that he didn't want to stay with her anymore.
If she wasn't mistaken, the person to take her around tomorrow would probably be a lowly soldier running errands.
"If there's anything, you can come find me. Everyone in this building is from our company; you can also ask them for help."
"Okay," Mo Shangjun continued to respond noncommittally.
"..."
The conversation turned awkward. The instructor thought for a moment, then seeing nothing more to say, he provided a few more instructions and left.
When he left, he didn't even close the door.
Watching him leave, Mo Shangjun took out her vibrating phone, walked to the door, and closed it.
The phone screen was lit up, displaying the incoming caller's name —
Mu Qixuan.
She hesitated for a moment, just about to answer, when she heard the sound of a key turning in the lock.
Her finger slid across the screen, and Mo Shangjun hung up the call. In the next moment, the phone slipped into her pocket.
At the same time, the door opened, and her roommate Lin Qi walked in with confidence.
Upon catching a glimpse of Mo Shangjun, Lin Qi's steps faltered, a flicker of hostility passing through her eyes.