Chapter 218: Baseless accusations—I'm charging you with slander!

I want to stay, but I'm afraid I'll mess up...

What's there to be afraid of? If you let fear take the lead, you'll never get anything done right.

It's just motion sickness—does it want your life or to slice your flesh?

Come on, follow me!

Guo Yongwen didn't say a word, grabbed Ding Tengfei's arm, and headed straight for the equipment field.

Soon, the two arrived beneath a horizontal bar.

You get motion sick, don't you? Today I'm going to cure that motion sickness of yours!

Get up there!

Huh?

Ding Tengfei looked bewildered, completely unable to grasp the situation.

Guo Yongwen then told him: "Wrapping your abdomen around the bar specifically treats motion sickness! Get up and do a hundred first!"

Ding Tengfei panicked: "I can at most do five or six..."

I said a hundred, I mean a hundred—get up there!

Looking at Guo Yongwen's ferocious expression and his two fists as big as sandbags,

Ding Tengfei's throat tightened; he could only be forced to jump up, supporting half his body on the bar with a sit‑up motion.

The abdomen‑around‑the‑bar is an advanced version of horizontal‑bar training; for core strength, it's a huge test of arm strength.

The New Recruit Company had no such training; after being sent to the lower unit, they went to the Tenth Platoon's training ground, and they didn't even have any training equipment.

They had only just joined the combat squad a week ago, and their exposure to this training was pitifully scarce—let alone a hundred, even twenty or thirty would be tough.

But Guo Yongwen gripped the armed belt in his hand, letting the end of the belt dangle down, and glared at him with a vicious stare.

You're just sightseeing up there? Get to it!

Ding Tengfei, resigned, began swinging his lower body.

After repeating the swinging motion four or five times, when he kicked his legs up to the highest point,

His body, using the bar as an axis, completed a full 360‑degree clockwise rotation.

After finishing one, Ding Tengfei's face already showed a slight flush; he lowered his head to look at Guo Yongwen standing below.

Angry, Guo Yongwen swung the armed belt and struck Ding Tengfei's combat boot; it looked heavy but actually caused no pain—it was mainly intimidation.

You're like a donkey—won't move unless I whip you?

Ding Tengfei, whose foot had just been struck, hurriedly continued the abdomen‑around‑the‑bar.

Because the exercise requires arm and waist‑abdomen strength, after just four reps he was already panting heavily, accompanied by obvious dizziness.

But with Guo Yongwen watching him one‑on‑one from below, he couldn't slack off; each time he shouted that he couldn't continue, he was forced to do two more.

After twenty consecutive turns, Ding Tengfei's face was completely flushed and swollen, with the veins on his forehead bulging.

At that moment his arms were still gripping the bar, but his whole body trembled, especially his waist and abdomen, which felt like they were being torn apart.

Platoon Leader, I—I really can't go on....

You can't, but you have to! If you're tired, just hold on up there—if you dare come down, I'll break your bastard legs!

Guo Yongwen's method was simple and brutal: he just wanted to push Ding Tengfei to his limit.

Before reaching the limit, shouting "I can't" is just laziness talking.

Ding Tengfei, unable to go up or down, truly felt what it's like to be roasted over a fire.

He gritted his teeth and forced himself to do a few more, but the dizziness and the weakness in his hands became even more pronounced.

Later, he could only prop his belly on the bar to ease the strain on his hands—but doing so made his lower abdomen ache, and it wasn't a sustainable solution.

After a brief rest, Ding Tengfei gritted his teeth, swung his legs again, and began his abdomen‑around‑the‑bar.

Twenty circles, twenty‑one, twenty… how many twenties have I done?

Ding Tengfei's head felt like mush, being shaken uniformly in each round of the bar wrap.

The intense dizziness made him want to vomit, but he could only clamp his lips shut and force the nausea down.

He didn't know how many turns he'd done on the bar, but the nausea and loss of strength gradually reached their limit, until his mind went blank.

Ding Tengfei's hands turned soft and powerless; after completing that round, he clung to the bar with his abdomen like a folded blanket, and his body began to sway weakly.

In the end he couldn't hold on, as his weakness slowly slipped him off the bar.

He thought he'd fall straight to the ground, but instead his right foot landed firmly on a hard stone.

Ding Tengfei stared blankly, saliva dripping from his mouth, looked down at the hard stone—only to realize it was Guo Yongwen's shoulder.

Platoon, Leader...

At the same time, his left foot also began to plant firmly.

It was Lu Yang who grabbed the soles of his combat boots with both hands.

Guo Yongwen bent halfway, used his shoulder to lift his foot up, and said: "Just stay up there—if you can't do a hundred, you're not coming down!"

Lu Yang lifted his head to look at Ding Tengfei's face, flushed red from intense dizziness, nausea, and weakness, and said: "Hang in there! Not eating steamed buns, just fighting for breath—whether you can do it is one thing, whether you want to is another!"

Don't let people look down on you, don't let them look down on you, old fellow!

No steamed buns, just fight for breath...

No steamed buns, just fight for breath!

Ding Tengfei's scattered gaze grew resolute again.

He desperately wanted to accomplish something, desperately wanted others' approval.

Since enlisting, he's always tried to gain attention by various flashy tactics, but they all backfired.

Seeing how successful and outstanding Lu Yang was, he also longed to be recognized and praised.

Ahhh!

Lu Yang and Guo Yongwen strained together and gave him a push upward.

Ding Tengfei gritted his teeth with all his might, poured his remaining strength back into his arms, and braced himself on the horizontal bar again.

Then he began swinging his legs, reawakening his body, and once again circled the bar round after round.

As the world spun, only one sentence remained in his mind: Not eating mantou, fighting for pride!

Don't be looked down upon any more!

Don't be stared at by everyone!

Stop calling me "little cannon"!

Lu Yang and Guo Yongwen stepped back two paces, watched Ding Tengfei circle the bar again and again, then exchanged a smile.

In the unit, there will be all kinds of setbacks and all kinds of challenges.

Cross over it, and you will become a new self, forging an indomitable will.

A soldier, tempered a hundred times into steel, is forged just like this.

Lu Yang believes that after Ding Tengfei overcomes each hurdle, he will, like himself, see more scenery and gain more attention.

"Old Gao, why do you just refuse to listen?"

"Ding Tengfei is still young, hasn't even been in the army for a year, his mind is immature, it's natural for him to fall into self‑despair when faced with trouble; proper guidance is all that's needed, right?"

"Otherwise, what would I, as an Instructor, be doing in this unit? Isn't it to instill correct thinking in the soldiers?"

"You can't just compare him to Lu Yang simply because he's also from Guangling and a fellow hometown native. That mindset is completely wrong and absurd!"

"In a unit, how many top talents like Lu Yang can you produce? Even if you look at the whole regiment, maybe not even the entire Division can find a few soldiers who become Platoon Leaders in their first year!"

"Listen to me, give him another chance. I think this soldier is capable; he will definitely be. No matter what he was before, anyone who throws himself at a hand grenade in battle is a good soldier!"

In the office, Instructor Zhao's mouth was about to smoke, his spit was about to dry up.

It was only after much effort that Gao Feng's temper was eased a bit.

"Give me some time, and give Ding Tengfei some time as well."

"I never misjudge people; even if this kid can't match Lu Yang, he'll definitely become the second Guo Yongwen, definitely become the backbone of our company!"

Gao Feng took a drag of his cigarette and laughed: "Just him, that pile of mud, how could he catch up with Guo Yongwen? Guo Yongwen when he first arrived was how he was; can they be the same?"

Instructor Zhao said earnestly: "Everyone's path into the army is different, and the way they grow and improve varies. Didn't you always say that when Lu Yang first enlisted he was frail, a drizzle could give him a fever and need hospitalization? Now look at how he is now."

"Whoever thinks military service is a smooth ride, you also once failed a course at the military academy, retook it, copied others' assignments, and used cheat sheets in exams!"

"Hey, hey, hey!" Gao Feng quickly interjected: "Without evidence, don't tarnish someone's innocence; I will sue you for defamation!"