Chapter 5

“It’s… it’s nothing, Senior Sister. I’ll head out first.” Yue Bai loosened her arms around the military training uniform a bit. She grinned awkwardly and bolted toward her roommates without waiting for Sang Wan to say a word.

The scorching summer sun burned her exposed skin, while the hot wind battered her face without mercy. Only after pulling away from Sang Wan did Yue Bai’s expression finally soften into something natural.

Her steps slowed, and she rubbed her nearly rigid face.

“Yue Bai, over here.” Xu Nuo waved her over.

Sang Wan tilted her head. Her pen lingered too long on the booklet, forming a dark blot of ink that spread outward.

“Sang Wan, is that your junior?” The man handing out uniforms paused and eyed the slightly dazed woman beside him with curiosity.

“Hm?” Sang Wan shook her pen. She lowered her head to keep jotting down sizes, her smile fading just a touch. “Yeah, a junior.”

“Sorry to keep you waiting.” Yue Bai offered an apologetic smile. They had only just met, after all; a little politeness went a long way.

“No big deal—it wasn’t long.” Chen Han waved it off. “Military training starts tomorrow. Get some good rest tonight.”

“Yeah, sure.” Yue Bai and the others chimed in.

They got back to the dorm early. Yue Bai showered first and climbed into bed, propping herself up against the headboard to scroll on her phone.

The dorm group chat was already buzzing like crazy. Yue Bai watched messages fly by on the screen, but nothing caught her interest. Bored, she backed out of the chat.

She thought about it but decided against setting the group notifications to silent.

“Should I sneak some sunscreen to military training tomorrow?” Xu Nuo muttered to herself from her desk, weighing her options. “But the forums say A University’s training is brutal. What if they catch me and make me do solo drills?”

Zhao Yu let out a little “Ah.” “Better play it safe—just in case we actually get reamed out.”

Yue Bai stayed quiet. She couldn’t drum up much enthusiasm for these new roommates, offering only curt replies when someone directly asked her something.

Night fell, and the dorm hushed. After hauling luggage all morning and dashing around all day, Yue Bai was wiped out. She set a quick alarm and drifted off.

Her alarm hadn’t even rung the next early morning when Yue Bai woke up. She grabbed her phone on instinct to check the time, then lay there fully waking up.

“Fam, rise and shine.” Zhao Yu sat up.

“Up.”

“Yeah, I’m awake.”

Yue Bai slung her military training uniform over her arm and checked her outfit in the mirror. She tied her long hair back, leaving a ponytail trailing from under her training cap.

“Want to do your makeup?” Zhao Yu asked, spotting the lineup of cosmetics on Yue Bai’s desk.

“Nah, just sunscreen will do.” Yue Bai twisted open the sunscreen tube, squeezed a dollop into her palm, rubbed it in, and smoothed it over her face and neck.

All prepped, Yue Bai snatched her phone and stepped out of the dorm ahead of the others. She waited for her roommates, then they all headed together to the military training assembly point.

The Art College group was stationed at the East Field, nice and close to the dormitory building.

Once they were lined up on the field, Yue Bai realized her oversight: she hadn’t eaten breakfast.

Skipping the morning meal before this kind of grueling training—for her, at least—was straight-up torture. She wryly hoped someone else who’d skipped it would pipe up to the instructor about grabbing breakfast.

No such luck.

“Attention!” The instructor’s booming command rang right in Yue Bai’s ears. Her head buzzed, and her stance wobbled slightly.

“Did I say you could move?” The instructor spotted the fidget and bellowed.

Yue Bai froze on the spot, snapping her back ramrod straight as she awaited orders.

Midmorning break finally rolled around. Parched to the bone, Yue Bai watched her classmates whip out water bottles and chug away. Pitifully, she remembered she’d forgotten hers—again.

She plopped down on the ground, hugging her knees in quiet misery with her head buried in her arms.

“Damn, this senior sister’s gorgeous.” A voice exclaimed from nearby.

“How do you know she’s a senior?” Someone else piped up.

“Didn’t you notice she’s not in uniform? And you seriously know zilch about this school?” The first one tutted in amazement. “Arts Institute and Music Institute are right next door—we hear things. She’s the one from the recruitment video.”

“No way—the freshman promo video?” The other said in disbelief. “She is stunning. And she’s heading our way?”

Yue Bai overheard the chatter without much reaction. She lifted her head slowly, curious which senior they meant.

Sang Wan gave the cluster of freshmen a gentle once-over, her eyes settling on one in particular. She addressed the instructor, though. “Instructor, you’ve been working hard. Mind if I bring a bottle of water to one of my juniors?”

The instructor glanced at the time and nodded. “Go ahead.”

Yue Bai stared in surprise as the figure approached, then sprang to her feet. “Senior Sister, what are you doing here?”

Sang Wan handed over the water with a helpless smile. “No class this morning, so I swung by to check things out. Forgot your water, huh?”

Sang Wan had spotted Yue Bai empty-handed during lineup at the start of training and guessed right away. When break hit and Yue Bai sat there alone, it confirmed her hunch. So she’d borrowed an unopened bottle from a friend and brought it over.

“Yeah, forgot it.” Yue Bai scratched her head sheepishly.

“Here, drink—your lips are cracked.” Sang Wan twisted off the cap and passed it over. “Breakfast?”

“Nope.” Yue Bai gulped it down greedily, answering in between.

Sure enough, Sang Wan’s brows knit together at that. Catching that the instructor wasn’t watching, she fished a candy from her pocket in a flash. “Eat breakfast next time, okay? It’s scorching out—don’t pass out on us.”

“Got it, Senior Sister.” Yue Bai nodded along.

Time was nearly up, so Sang Wan politely bid the instructor farewell and left.

A short distance away, she unlocked her phone to reply to the message.

“No breakfast—I just gave her a candy.” Sang Wan’s eyes flickered briefly.

“Thanks for the help.” Zhou Qingyan shot back. “Wen Mo and I are too far away to swing by easily.”

“No trouble at all.” Sang Wan’s fingers danced across the screen. “Least I could do.”