Chapter 11: The Girl Who Suddenly Appeared

If you had to say what the most unbearable part of military training was, it would undoubtedly be standing at attention.

Standing like a pine tree, sitting like a bell, and all under the scorching sun. Each session started at half an hour, the blazing sun roasting the back of your neck like hot coals, your toes stuffy and hot inside your rubber shoes.

Those with slightly weaker bodies or wills had already collapsed and been carried off to rest by the medical team.

It wasn’t until the drill instructor announced a temporary half-hour break that Tang Yunle found a spot in the shade and lay down. He pillowed his head on his arms, half-closing his eyes to enjoy the rare tranquility.

‘So tired.’

‘I can’t believe military training at a top-tier university is this exhausting.’

‘If I had known, I would have worked a little harder back then to get into a 985 or 211 university in the capital.’

‘Maybe the military training wouldn’t have been as intense, and maybe I wouldn’t have been found by my sugar daddy at this university, constantly worried about being killed offline.’

A gust of wind blew past, bringing a hint of coolness. Tang Yunle closed his eyes and enjoyed it, thinking of the crisp autumn air, of his childhood home, of the large tree in the courtyard of his old house.

Back then, his parents didn’t constantly threaten divorce, and his little sister wasn’t such a headache. The family of five would sit on the cement ground of their home, drinking cheap lemonade.

‘Wait, lemonade?!’

A clear scent of lemon suddenly hit his nose. Tang Yunle realized something was wrong.

He opened his eyes and sat up. A cool breeze brushed against his face, rustling the leaves as if they were a green ocean. Strands of beautiful long hair fluttered in the wind, and he could smell the fresh lemon scent on them. A girl was sitting quietly beside him, her head tilted as she looked at him.

The girl was very pretty, looking to be about sixteen, but she was wearing an ill-fitting, oversized military training uniform. Her face was flushed red from the sun, making her look incredibly cute.

Tang Yunle felt embarrassed being stared at, not understanding why he had attracted her attention.

“Excuse me, do you need something?” Tang Yunle asked softly.

The girl didn’t answer, simply holding up a cup of iced lemonade and handing it to Tang Yunle.

“For me?” Tang Yunle was flattered.

The girl nodded emphatically.

“Then… thank you. How much is it? I’ll transfer it to you…”

Tang Yunle fumbled for his phone—it was the first time in his life a girl had given him a drink, and in a university full of s*xually mature adults at that. Could his spring have finally arrived?

Suddenly, something seemed to tap his shoulder. It was as if he had woken from a dream, or as if the world around him had shattered like a mirror, everything returning to nothingness.

“Ah Le, what are you mumbling about over here?”

Lin Haiyu’s voice boomed from behind him.

Tang Yunle turned to look and saw the three of them standing in the shade at some point—

Lin Haiyu was swirling an orange-yellow smoothie cup in his hand. Qin Liang and Li Wei were taking drinks out of a plastic bag. The bag in Qin Liang’s right hand was bulging and heavy.

“You’re something else, kid. Pretty quick on your feet, huh?” Lin Haiyu glanced at the lemonade in Tang Yunle’s hand and patted his shoulder in annoyance. “You managed to grab some lemonade but didn’t bring any back for your brothers. And here we were, thinking of you when we bought smoothies.”

He pointed to the bag in Qin Liang’s right hand. “The lemonade was sold out today. This is the new mango smoothie the school just launched.”

“Thanks, but I didn’t buy this lemonade. A female classmate just gave it to me…”

Tang Yunle was about to explain, but his words died in his throat the moment he turned his head.

The spot where the girl had been sitting was now empty. Not even a corner of her clothes was left, as if it had all been a hallucination.

Qin Liang handed the mango smoothie to a bewildered Tang Yunle, then suddenly sniffed the air. The breeze brushed past his sweat-soaked collar, and a faint, subtle fragrance entered his nostrils.

‘Fresh, elegant, and invigorating.’

‘This is… the scent of lemon.’

Military training continued into the evening. During the day, they could stand at attention and practice marching. At night, as long as it wasn’t the designated dismissal time, the drill instructors would definitely not let them rest. For example, singing military songs.

Military training continued into the evening. During the day, they could stand at attention and practice marching. At night, as long as it wasn’t the designated dismissal time, the drill instructors would definitely not let them rest. For example, singing military songs.

“Thick ink fragrant, steel guns shining, tireless pursuit, loyal watch…”

Tang Yunle was absent-minded while singing the military song. More accurately, he had been absent-minded all afternoon. He had been scolded several times by the drill instructor for being distracted while practicing marching.

‘Who was that girl?’

‘Why did she give me lemonade?’

‘Why did she suddenly disappear after giving me the lemonade?’

As a solo player who had never been in a relationship from elementary school until now, Tang Yunle had a vague sense of anticipation for love. Not to mention, he was a hot-blooded young man, full of vigor, and the summer heat only added to it. The flames in his heart were now running wild, causing him to be absent-minded.

If he had used pictures of white and black stockings to get that sugar daddy hooked, then that girl’s act of giving him lemonade had gotten him hooked, to the point where his blood boiled and his desire was hard to extinguish.

“Everyone, sit down. You’re free to move around and rest for fifteen minutes.”

At the chief instructor’s command, the lawn was instantly filled with camouflage figures.

Tang Yunle sat cross-legged, facing the back of Qin Liang’s head.

Although he was a sick patient, he was still required to participate in the evening military song practice at the instructor’s request.

In the instructor’s words, “You sick patients, I understand you can’t participate in standing at attention and practicing marching during the day due to your physical condition, but for the evening military song chorus, as long as you’re not bedridden, you must be present.”

“This is a matter of attitude.”

And so, Qin Liang and a few other sick patients were shoehorned into the military training ranks.

“Want a mint?”

Suddenly, a low voice came from in front of him.

The young man with ice-blue eyes turned to the side and offered a candy box, the metal lid making a clear clicking sound as it opened and closed.

“Thanks.”

He took the mint, the foil making a crisp “crinkle” sound as he unwrapped it.

Abruptly, a lively little head squeezed in from behind and to the side. She looked at the mint in Tang Yunle’s palm, her eyes filled with little stars of longing, as if to say, “Can I have it?”

Tang Yunle was stunned at first, then realized this was the same girl who had given him lemonade that morning. Meeting her eager gaze, as if possessed, he handed her the mint. “Here you go.”

“Thank you, big sister sauce~” The girl happily took it and popped it into her mouth, her voice sweet as if she were sucking on a candied fruit.

Tang Yunle, however, was taken aback.

‘Thank you, big sister sauce?’

‘Did I mishear, or is that a dialect from where the girl is from?’

In front, Qin Liang’s eyes were slightly narrowed as he felt the mint melt on his tongue. The air was filled with that refreshing, pleasant scent of lemon, as addictive as catnip.

He heard the young man behind him muttering to himself.

Curious, he quietly glanced back. The young man was turned to the side, muttering to the empty air, a very performance-art-like behavior.

His gaze swept over Tang Yunle’s trouser cuff, where a section of his ankle was exposed, fair and smooth as milk, with a faint pinkish hue.

‘So fair, so smooth~’

A thought uncontrollably rose in the mind of the young man with ice-blue eyes.