Intensive training was a repetitive grind, inherently dull and tedious, and in such a monotonous life, everyone sought their own ways to pass the time.
In the mornings, Zhu Shiqing organized paperwork at the General Staff Headquarters. Since the country was not yet at war, most of the staff documents concerned regional troop reorganizations, weapons replenishments, and the domestic distribution of military industries.
Compared to the grueling drills of the Staff Corps, office work in the section was exceedingly leisurely; chatting and shooting the breeze during duty hours were everyday occurrences.
Xiao Liu in the office often teased Zhu Shiqing, "Say, Brother Shiqing, you're bound to become a high-ranking official one day! When you move up, don't go forgetting your old colleagues!"
Whenever Zhu Shiqing heard this, he would nod solemnly and parrot the ancient promise: "Should I rise to wealth and honor, I shall never forget you." Yet the moment he had free time, he would head straight for Fang Wenjian's department.
Fang Wenjian had been assigned to the duties Sun Beifeng once handled. Constantly running errands across the city, he was hardly ever seen when he first started, and at times he even arrived slightly late for their regular afternoon training.
Song Mingyang had few pastimes in his daily life; his sole indulgence was visiting brothels, and he was especially fond of visiting them in the morning.
Perhaps this had to do with the heavy afternoon drills that left him physically and mentally exhausted. On top of that, he had an obnoxious habit of consulting fortune-tellers. Whenever he stepped into a brothel, he never asked a girl her age or cared about her looks; he only matched their eight birth characters.
If their horoscopes aligned, he would happily patronize her for a week straight. If they clashed, Song Mingyang wouldn't stay a minute longer.
Of course, most of the money spent on his brothel visits was footed by his good brother, Lai Tianyou.
Lai Tianyou's family was in business, and whenever he had free time, he loved traveling to Shanghai for amusement.
Once, taking advantage of a corps furlough, Lai Tianyou took Fang Wenjian and Zhu Shiqing along on a trip to Shanghai. Throughout the journey, he pointed at the prominent billboards for Watsons and Coca-Cola lining the city streets, grumbling about how foreign capital was ravaging the domestic market.
For Zhu Shiqing and Zhong Yifeng, the real joy remained competing against each other. Putting in extra practice had become second nature. Through months of rigorous trials, Zhong Yifeng was no longer the pompous, haughty young master who had first entered camp.
Yet there was one flaw Zhong Yifeng could never shake: the condescension that radiated from his bones. In his eyes, irregular units were just irregular units, and a rabble remained a rabble. If anyone wanted his respect, they had to prove their worth with undeniable skill, just as Zhu Shiqing had done.
Toward the end of May, the weather was gentle and sunny.
Returning from an outside assignment, Fang Wenjian met Zhu Shiqing for lunch at an inn.
"Shiqing, something feels off lately."
Fang Wenjian seemed unusually distracted today. Zhu Shiqing had scraped together what little he could spare from his modest pay to order a plate of sliced beef, but Fang Wenjian had barely touched his chopsticks.
"What could be wrong? No matter what's going on, eat your meal first." Over the past few months, Zhu Shiqing had thoroughly shed his scholarly air. Coarse words slipped into his speech with increasing ease, and when it came to devouring meat, he showed none of the Confucian virtues of modesty and restraint.
Only then did Fang Wenjian lift a thin slice of beef into his mouth, but it tasted utterly bland to him. The anxiety churning within his chest refused to subside, and he set his chopsticks down again. "Did you know? Quite a few people have been arrested in Shanghai over the past few days."
"Really? Who was arrested? Traitors or secret agents?"
"Students." Fang Wenjian lowered his voice, enunciating every word.
Zhu Shiqing's expression slowly hardened. Pressing his lips together, he set down his chopsticks as well and glanced around the room. Everything appeared normal.
"Why are they arresting students?"
"The situation in North China is looking grim, yet the Nationalist government is still clinging to its policy of concession and withdrawal. Word has it that Japanese troops are growing increasingly active around Beiping-Tianjin. The Northwest Army published an open editorial appealing to the Nanjing government to send troops north in support. The students in Shanghai organized spontaneous demonstrations over it, and several waves of protests have already been put down over the last few days."
"That's strange," Zhu Shiqing muttered under his breath. "Hasn't the government been waiting for an opening to deploy forces to Beiping-Tianjin? Now that the opportunity presents itself, why are they pulling this kind of stunt instead?"
Ignoring the remark, Fang Wenjian went on, "Yesterday, Officer Ming mentioned that Instructor Yue has been assigned a new mission. He's stepping down from his post as our Staff Corps instructor and reporting back to his original unit."
"Instructor Yue is from the 36th Division..." Zhu Shiqing murmured. "Things really aren't peaceful lately. Let's focus on training for now. There aren't many days left before our graduation."
Throughout more than two months of training, although Zhu Shiqing's physical stamina had not reached the highest tier, he was indisputably one of the top trainees when it came to real-time strategy and marksmanship.
Except for Lin Hong, he feared no one on the firing range.
Yet Zhu Shiqing's greatest talent lay in his grasp of military theory and the practical application of tactics and strategy. He possessed singular insights into pincer movements, elastic defense, long-range shifts in formation, and even night assaults and shock attacks. In several simulated combat exercises, the squad under his command had consistently pulled off effortless victories.
Shortly before afternoon drills were set to begin, Zhu Shiqing arrived at the training ground, only to find the ranks sparsely filled. The Qingliang Mountain camp felt eerily quiet today.
When the clock struck two, nearly twenty or thirty trainees were nowhere to be found on the drill field, and four or five men from Zhu Shiqing's own squad were absent.
"What's going on? Where did everyone wander off to?" Song Mingyang sauntered in a circle around the field and chuckled. "They couldn't all be asleep in some woman's arms, could they?"
"Look at that wretched attitude of yours! As if everyone's like you, haunting brothels whenever you've got spare time! If Tianyou didn't keep lending you money, you'd be down to your underpants by now!" Fang Wenjian scolded in exasperation. "You lucky bastard, how you manage to never get caught is beyond me!"
Song Mingyang grinned cheekily. "It's all calculated, perfectly calculated."
Stepping foot into red-light districts and engaging in prostitution or gambling were strictly forbidden across all military academies. During their training in the Staff Corps, several cadets had already been caught patronizing prostitutes and summarily expelled. But Song Mingyang was different from the rest—he always went in the morning...
Moreover, he got straight down to business and never stayed to sleep. Even if an inspection caught him away from his post, it amounted to dereliction of duty at most. With his status in the Staff Corps, very few people would truly go out of their way to make trouble for him.
"All right, all right, wipe those smirks off your faces. There really are too few people here today. Let's hope nothing has happened," Zhu Shiqing said. A vague sense of unease gnawed at him; it wasn't outright panic, but it weighed heavily on his chest.
As they were speaking, Ming Quan arrived, his face ashen.
His first words were: "Today's training is canceled. Everyone return to quarters and await orders."
Having delivered the command, he left the bewildered trainees staring at one another and strode away.
"Hey, Old Zhong, you're always well-informed. What happened today?" Leaving Fang Wenjian and the others behind, Zhu Shiqing fell into step beside Zhong Yifeng, hands clasped behind his back.
Zhong Yifeng cocked his head, glancing sideways at Zhu Shiqing with a sigh. "I say, Old Zhu, if we're talking about Nanjing or Shanghai, I certainly know more than you do. But here in the Staff Corps, you're the favorite in the eyes of Ming Quan and the instructors. Shouldn't I be asking you?"
"I honestly don't know a thing. So many of our brothers vanished today without explanation," Zhu Shiqing admitted frankly, holding out his hands.
Seeing Zhu Shiqing's genuinely perplexed expression, Zhong Yifeng let down his guard a little. Sweeping an arm out, he pulled Zhu Shiqing aside and lowered his head to whisper, "The bastards from the Party Affairs Investigation Division are stirring up trouble."
The Party Affairs Investigation Division? Zhu Shiqing's face tightened as unpleasant memories flashed through his mind.
"The Fuxing Society?"
"No, but they piss in the same pot."
"Is it serious?" Zhu Shiqing scrutinized the dismissing trainees closely, finding no sign of Lin Hong among them. "Was Lin Hong called in?"
Zhong Yifeng closed his eyes slightly and gave two heavy nods.
Chapter 26