Chapter 26: Farewell Dinner
Wei Jing looked at Yang Jiabo, who was lying on the bed pretending to be dead, and didn’t know what to say. "You just had to mess around, and now you’re paying for it, huh?"
"Whatever you say," Wei Jing sighed. What else could he say?
On the sixth day of the summer camp, they finally went to the shooting range. That day, besides the instructors, many soldiers came to teach them one-on-one how to shoot. Each person had ten bullets, and if they were too scared to shoot, they could refuse. This was a perk, so no one was forced to participate. Many of the female students opted out, as did a few of the boys.
Yang Jiabo excitedly stepped up, following the instructor’s guidance. He lay prone on the grass, aimed, and fired. After finishing his ten bullets, Yang Jiabo felt great. He was sure he had hit at least seven rings or above.
"Target one: thirty rings. Target two: forty-six rings… Target seven: zero rings. Target eight: one hundred and thirty rings…" The instructor announced the scores one by one.
Zero rings? Zero rings? How was that possible? Yang Jiabo couldn’t believe it. All his shots had missed the target. He stood there dumbfounded, completely stunned.
"Ah—" Wei Jing sighed and said, "Jiajia, all your bullets ended up on my target."
"Little troublemaker, surprised?" Instructor Chen tried hard to hold back his laughter.
"Ah—" Yang Jiabo’s face turned bright red. He crouched down, covering his head, looking a bit like an ostrich.
"Hahaha" Instructor Chen finally couldn’t hold back and burst out laughing.
Yang Jiabo, embarrassed and angry, glared at him. "Instructor, is it really okay to laugh at your own soldier like this?"
"Ahem" Instructor Chen walked away with a straight face.
"Alright, don’t be upset. If you really like shooting, I’ll take you again in the future," Wei Jing pulled Yang Jiabo up and led him away from the crowd.
"It’s fine. There’s no real use in learning it. It’s just for fun," Yang Jiabo said dejectedly, feeling like he never wanted to shoot again.
"It’s okay. Look, at least half of my score was thanks to you. That’s sixty-five rings, which is better than most of the other students," Wei Jing comforted him.
On the seventh day of the summer camp, they prepared to go home. In the morning, they held a small parade, with military and school leaders reviewing their training achievements. They had a big meal at noon, packed up in the afternoon, and were ready to leave.
Many students had been longing to go home, but when it was time to leave, they felt a deep sense of reluctance. Instructor Chen didn’t come to see them off. Instructor Xu brought news that Instructor Chen had been accepted into a military academy. If it weren’t for leading them, he would have already returned to the army to complete the necessary procedures.
After graduating from the military academy, he would become an officer. Yang Jiabo felt sorry for his future soldiers, dealing with a 'terminal perfectionist' would be tough. He gloated a bit but also wished Instructor Chen success in his career. Little did he know, he would see Instructor Chen again someday, and it wouldn’t be a pleasant encounter.
They were driven back to school by military trucks, where the principal announced some not-so-great news. All the elementary schools in the city had held military summer camps, so the city government decided to hold a joint parade with military leaders a week later to showcase the training results. There would be a competition.
So, for the next week, they needed to continue training at school to prepare for the city’s requirements. Yang Jiabo took a deep breath. This was not going to be fun. The instructors who had brought them back also looked stunned, they had to spend another week with these troublemakers.
The sixth graders who had already graduated didn’t participate, as most of them weren’t interested. Wei Jing also didn’t participate, he was preparing to return to Beijing. Yang Jiabo thought about how to give his good friend a proper send-off. How could he show his sincerity?
After much thought, Yang Jiabo decided to invite Wei Jing’s family over for a meal to bid him farewell. The day after they returned, the school gave them a day off, and Yang Jiabo invited the Wei family for dinner.
"Mom, Dad, I’m back," Yang Jiabo said as he entered the house, tossing his luggage aside. "Wei Jing is leaving for Beijing to study. I want to invite his family over for dinner tomorrow."
"That’s fine, but your mom and I have to work tomorrow. Should we eat out?" Yang Jianjun hesitated, feeling that eating out wasn’t as good as eating at home.
"How about I come back early to cook and buy some ready-made dishes?" Li Guizhen suggested.
"Don’t worry. Just give me the money, and I’ll handle it," Yang Jiabo puffed out his chest, taking full responsibility.
"Are you sure you can do it?" Li Guizhen looked at him doubtfully.
"Of course I can."
Although Li Guizhen gave Yang Jiabo some money, she still felt uneasy and secretly decided to take time off work to come back early.
Early the next morning, Yang Jiabo put on an old set of clothes and rode the second-hand bicycle he had bought from Yan Ruofei to the fields. It was a sturdy blue Peugeot ladies’ bike with a cool golden lion emblem on the handlebars.
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