Bai Yan’s counselor is a middle-aged male teacher who is quite nice, and he has a good reputation among previous students.
He saw the instructor managing the team as if it was nothing special and couldn’t help but awkwardly say: "Instructor Xu, our class has a student who accidentally came late, what should we do about this?"
This returnee scholar with a great reputation as an exam candidate chose the major he was in charge of, so the counselor naturally paid great attention to Bai Yan’s matter.
It wasn’t until the counselor spoke personally that the instructor turned around, his gaze coldly sizing up Bai Yan.
"I know, he is the well-known returnee student Bai Yan!"
The young instructor’s look was unfriendly, sweeping over Bai Yan as he coldly said: "I don’t care if you are a returnee or a top student! If you are in my team, you must follow my rules!"
"Tell me, your class and name."
The young instructor stared directly into Bai Yan’s eyes.
Bai Yan responded indifferently: "I am Bai Yan from Class 23, Language and Literature major, Hua Xia."
"Before you speak, say ’report!’ Start again!"
The young instructor suddenly shouted loudly, startling the students and the counselor around him.
"Report, I am Bai Yan from Class 23, Language and Literature major, Hua Xia."
Bai Yan sighed and continued.
Forget it, since I’m here, Bai Yan didn’t bother to argue with him. There are rules in university, less trouble is better than more.
"Louder! I can’t hear you!"
Instructor Xu was still not willing to let Bai Yan off, his attitude very clear, intending to make an example out of Bai Yan, whose reputation was the biggest. The instructor felt that once he subdued Bai Yan, the other students would naturally obey him.
I don’t want to cause trouble, but that doesn’t mean I am really scared of you!
Bai Yan suddenly fell silent, his eyes slightly squinting at the young instructor.
"Alright, alright, Instructor Xu, it’s only the first day of military training, don’t be so strict!"
The counselor laughed as he tried to smooth things over.
"Fine, I’ll give your counselor some face, go back to your ranks!"
Instructor Xu was silent for a moment before speaking, his cold eyes glancing at Bai Yan.
Bai Yan smiled indifferently and returned to the team.
The way Bai Yan carried himself breezily made Instructor Xu very uncomfortable inside.
"Tsk, just a senior student from an ordinary military school, not even active duty military personnel, and so arrogant."
"I also think that Instructor Xu is a bit too strict."
"They are using Bai Yan to set an example to establish authority! Bai Yan is going to have a tough month ahead!"
The students whispered among themselves.
"All of you, stand properly in the military pose and stop talking nonsense!"
The instructor turned his head and roared.
"This month’s military training assessment affects not only your class’s grades but also mine, I don’t want you weaklings dragging me down!"
"Everyone will be standing in the military pose this morning! Those who don’t stand well won’t get lunch!"
The murmuring immediately stopped, everyone’s faces showing a look of anger yet not daring to speak.
No food if we don’t stand well?
We are students, not soldiers! This is just the first day of military training, aren’t the demands too strict?
The counselor stood by with a wry smile, also feeling that this session’s instructor was too harsh, especially Instructor Xu, who was really training the students like soldiers.
The September sun blazed high in the morning, the rays scorchingly intense.
Under the scorching sun, the freshmen were gritting their teeth and enduring. It must be said that the quality of new students at ZH University is high; although they complained about the strictness of the instructors in their hearts, everyone still obediently followed, not wanting to embarrass their class.
However, these students were still too young, and although most of the male students had good constitution, some with weaker constitution were already showing signs of collapse under the scorching sun with sweat on their faces and unstable stances.
"Instructor Xu, perhaps let the students take a break?"
The counselor beside suggested sympathetically, these are all his students!
Next door, An Xiaowan and Chen Jing’s female squad had already started their free activities and were resting in place. Most of the male squads on the athletic field had also begun to disperse one after another.
Only Bai Yan’s squad was still standing at attention.
"Counselor, it’s not that I don’t allow them to rest. The military has its own rules."
The young instructor sneered as he surveyed the team: "Today, the pride of your class, the so-called returned student Bai Yan was late! Therefore, your rest today is canceled! Everyone must stand for the entire morning!"
"This is punishment! If you want to blame someone, blame your classmate Bai Yan!"
Instructor Xu skillfully shifted the blame directly onto Bai Yan’s head.
"Damn, other classes have people who are late too. Why aren’t they being punished?"
"This instructor, I’m speechless. He’s actually making us blame Bai Yan. He’s sowing discord!"
"Bai Yan is a top student who returned from overseas, the pride of Mo City Chinese students, and also the pride of our Hua Xia Language Class 23. I’m not going to listen to his nonsense!"
Some students began to grumble quietly among themselves.
"Come out here, fifty push-ups!"
Instructor Xu sneered, pointing out a few students!
The faces of several students stiffened. Everyone had already been standing for most of the morning, and their physical strength was extremely depleted. Performing fifty push-ups at this point would definitely be life-threatening!
"Hurry up, step out! Don’t be like a woman, cowering!"
Instructor Xu barked, causing several students to tremble. Facing an instructor with explosive muscles, they dared not act out and could only grit their teeth and step forward.
Several boys turned pale, already shaky as they walked.
"Instructor, let’s skip the push-ups, just a verbal reprimand will do!"
The counselor advised from the side. Teachers from the Literature College all share a trait—protectiveness. They can’t bear to see their students suffer.
This extremely protective tradition was passed down since Professor Zhong started teaching, and Class 23’s counselor was no exception.
"Pleading won’t work. I already let Bai Yan off once earlier. If I let these people go too, how can I carry on with military training! These are the rules!"
Instructor Xu sneered: "Don’t dawdle, do push-ups right there! Those who can’t finish aren’t allowed to eat lunch until they do!"
The students stared dumbfounded, their faces growing even paler.
This is damn well killing us!
Most squads on the field were already resting, but Bai Yan’s squad was still standing under the scorching sun, extremely conspicuous. Many students were pointing and discussing this side.
"Isn’t that Bai Yan’s class squad? Why haven’t they disbanded?"
"I say, fifty push-ups aren’t that difficult!"
"Please, if you had stood under the sun for a morning and then were told to do fifty push-ups, you’d probably vomit blood!"
"This instructor is really harsh. He’s quite adept at using a soft knife!"
"And, he always shifts the blame onto Bai Yan."
The pointing and discussing from people around made these few boys hesitant; some of them were already trembling violently in their legs. How could they possibly do fifty push-ups!
Instructor Xu sneered: "Then make it a hundred! You have five minutes, if you don’t do it, the number will keep increasing!"
"A hundred! He’s asking for their lives!"
The counselor voiced his dissatisfaction, his expression grim.
"Alright then, let that latecomer Bai Yan come out. As long as he also gets punished alongside, we’ll keep it to fifty!"
Instructor Xu’s smile was somewhat sinister.
Everyone was stunned for a moment, realizing that his aggressive approach was because of Bai Yan! But how had Bai Yan offended this young male instructor!