Chapter 24: The Little Pitiful One’s Military Training – 4

Ding Yi’s cohorts quickly reacted, reaching out to pull Ding Yi free. The rest of the students pushed open the door and ran to fetch the instructor.

The second floor was noisy. The instructors rushed in, separated the brawling group, and hauled Gu Xizhou and the others away.

In the late-night emptiness of the training field, a line of students stood with their hands behind their backs under the bright lights.

There were six in total: besides Gu Xizhou, Su Nanfeng, and Ding Yi, there were the two underlings who’d helped Ding Yi, and the chubby girl who had splashed Gu Xizhou. She’d been dragged down as well.

Gu Xizhou was the shortest, standing first in line. Su Nanfeng was the tallest, standing last.

The instructor managing this floor was a female alpha named Ning Ying. She was about 1.7 meters tall, with a lean, well-proportioned figure.

She slapped a teaching pointer against her palm as she scrutinized the six students involved, letting out a cold laugh. “You’ve got some nerve, causing trouble right after arriving!”

The students straightened their backs, afraid of getting hit, not daring to speak.

Ning Ying walked up to Gu Xizhou and poked her with the pointer. “Little classmate, what’s your name?”

The corner of Gu Xizhou’s mouth was cut from Ding Yi’s bite, and her cheek was also bruised. Bearing her injuries, she shouted loudly: “Reporting to Instructor! I’m a student from Class 17! My name is Gu Xizhou!”

Ning Ying nodded. Her tall frame, like a willow tree, blocked the light before Gu Xizhou. She seemed somewhat satisfied. “Where did you learn that choke-hold just now? It was quite decent.”

Gu Xizhou yelled: “Self-defense skills I learned at home!”

Actually, 0820 had taught her step-by-step. If she hadn’t locked Ding Yi down, she definitely would have been mobbed.

Ning Ying clicked her tongue lightly and kicked Gu Xizhou’s knee, scolding: “Brawling privately! Looks like you’ve got too much pent-up energy.”

“Run twenty laps!”

Gu Xizhou: “Yes!”

She stepped out of the line and dashed into the darkness like a skinny monkey.

Ning Ying moved on to the next student, the chubby girl. “You! What’s your story?”

The chubby girl answered timidly: “Reporting to Instructor, I’m a student from Class 1, my name is Wang Yiren.”

Ning Ying didn’t kick her this time. With a cold face, she said: “Splashing water on a classmate, you also run twenty laps!”

“Yes.”

Next, she questioned them one by one. The students answered in turn.

“Li Caiyue, Class 1.”

“Wang Youcai, Class 1.”

“Ding Yi, Class 1.”

When Ding Yi reported, Ning Ying scrutinized her a bit more. The reason was simple: her face looked terrible.

Gu Xizhou had hit her with the basin until her nose bled profusely, her forehead was bruised and blue, and her cheeks were red and swollen.

Ning Ying swept a glance over her, showing no sympathy. “Twenty laps.”

Ding Yi protested unwillingly: “Instructor, she started it!”

Ning Ying didn’t care for this nonsense. These brats had cost her a night’s sleep, and they wouldn’t be sleeping either. “One more word from you, and it’s ten extra laps!” she snapped coldly.

Ding Yi snorted, then unwillingly ran off into the night.

Only Su Nanfeng was left standing there. Ning Ying looked at her pretty face and frowned. “And what’s your deal?”

Su Nanfeng pursed her lips and answered sullenly: “Classmates brawling, an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire.”

Ning Ying clicked her tongue and kicked her knee. “No excuses! Twenty laps!”

Su Nanfeng was furious. It really had nothing to do with her, but she didn’t want her parents called, so she could only bury her head and start running.

Soon, the staccato sound of running echoed across the training field, like muffled thunder in the dark night, drifting far to the nearby dormitory buildings.

Ning Ying had a fiery temper. Unable to sleep in the middle of the night, she couldn’t stand to see these troublemaking students resting. She dragged a chair under a streetlight and watched them run.

If anyone slowed down, she’d kick them and curse: “Dragging your feet like that, you think you’re turtles?! Run faster for this old lady!”

“Did you skip dinner?! Huh?!”

“You want another lap?!”

Round after round they ran. By the end, these energetic alphas didn’t even have the strength to make a fuss anymore.

Finishing the last lap, they were basically collapsing onto the ground, moaning and groaning.

Gu Xizhou was sprawled on the grass like a fish pulled out of water, covered in sweat. She was so exhausted she didn’t even have the energy to flop around.

Ding Yi, Su Nanfeng, and the others weren’t any better off. Reaching the finish line, they also collapsed onto the grass, unable to lift a finger.

Among the six, only the chubby Wang Yiren couldn’t keep up. By the time the rest had finished all twenty laps, Wang Yiren still had six to go.

Ning Ying didn’t want to wait for her. She walked over and kicked a Class 1 student in the rear, saying viciously: “Class 1, get up! Your classmate hasn’t finished running.”

“Each of you will run one extra lap for her.”

Ding Yi and the others grumbled: “No way, Teacher… why do we have to run for her?”

Ning Ying just cracked her pointer down, shouting: “Get up or not? If not, you can all continue running tomorrow night!”

Even though they were extremely unwilling, Su Nanfeng, their leader, still pushed herself up from the ground and staggered onto the track to run that last lap.

Seeing their boss was running, the other Class 1 students had no excuse to slack off. They forced themselves to follow, staggering after her like a row of penguins.

Gu Xizhou sat up from the ground, watching Su Nanfeng and the others disappear into the night. She felt immensely satisfied. “Serves them right!”

Ning Ying flicked her pointer down on Gu Xizhou’s shoulder, snorting coldly. “You’re pretty gleeful about their misfortune.”

“Maybe you should join them running?”

Gu Xizhou immediately shut her mouth and behaved herself.

—

After a night of turmoil, Gu Xizhou and the other five weren’t sent back to their dormitory. As problem students, they were hauled off to the instructors’ dorm and locked in for the night.

As it turned out, everyone was so exhausted they couldn’t even curse, let alone fight. They actually managed to sleep soundly for the rest of the night.

At six the next morning, the assembly bell rang.

Gu Xizhou and the others rushed back to their dormitory to wash up, changed into their training uniforms, and ran down to assemble.

The moment she arrived at the field, her classmates from Class 17 immediately surrounded her and asked with concern: “What happened? Did the instructors lock you up all night?”

She’d only slept three and a half hours. Gu Xizhou was dead tired.

She yawned, sat cross-legged on the ground, and replied with dark circles under her eyes: “Not much. They just made us run for most of the night.”

Everyone gasped: “Did the homeroom teacher not come?”

Gu Xizhou answered: “The instructor said they’ll drag us to see the school leaders after training today.”

Students started chattering: “That Su Nanfeng is just too overbearing! How can she tell people to do such bad things? Isn’t she afraid of the teachers?”

Gu Xizhou explained: “I think it might not have been her this time. It was probably Ding Yi.”

“That Ding Yi is just her lackey. If you ask me, it was her intention all along…”

The students buzzed like little bees.

When Su Zhiyi arrived to assemble, she immediately heard Su Nanfeng’s name.

The moment everyone saw her, they parted to make way, letting her walk up to Gu Xizhou.

Su Zhiyi looked down, saw the cuts and bruises on Gu Xizhou’s face, saw her sitting listlessly on the ground, and her expression drastically changed.

She quickly crouched down and reached out to touch Gu Xizhou’s face, her expression tense: “Did Nanfeng hit you again?”

The sudden contact left Gu Xizhou momentarily stunned.

She looked up at Su Zhiyi, meeting a pair of concerned eyes, and her heartbeat became erratic.

The surrounding classmates were also dumbfounded. Watching Su Zhiyi touch Gu Xizhou’s face with such care, their expressions became subtle, a mix of excitement… and awkwardness.

Classmates who were close friends exchanged knowing glances. A thought quietly arose in their hearts: How to put this… they could sort of understand why Su Nanfeng kept targeting Gu Xizhou.

Maybe the other party was a sis-con or something.