A fierce wife enters the house: She helps up a house full of spineless people.

When dinner was served, there was a chorus of groans on the drill ground.

Those who couldn't stand still watched others receive their food while their own stomachs growled with hunger, and they had to be tied to the stakes. The feeling was indescribably miserable.

Wang Tianfang held up an earthenware bowl filled halfway with brown rice, topped with a few wilted vegetable leaves. The dozens of people who had persevered with them each received two extra black flatbreads.

The flatbread was dry and hard, but it was a good thing for them who had been training all day and were starving.

He found a corner to squat down and was just about to start eating when several people gathered around. The one leading them was the fair-skinned young man named Li San.

Li San and his followers, though they had stood the entire way, now held their bowls with nothing but disgust on their faces, showing no joy whatsoever. He gripped the dark, gritty flatbread in his hand, his brows furrowed in a frown.

"Is this stuff for humans? Even pig swill is better than this!" Li San spat, flicked his wrist, and threw the black flatbread directly at Wang Tianfang's feet, raising a cloud of dust. "Hey, you country bumpkin, here you go."

The others nearby laughed and imitated him, throwing over a pancake: "That's right, it's so hard it could break your teeth, only a country bumpkin like you could eat that."

Wang Tianfang paused, looked down at the flatbread that had rolled to his feet, his face expressionless. He bent down, picked up the flatbread, carefully patted off the dust, and then placed it on top of his own.

"Thanks." He said in a flat voice, then picked up his original flatbread and began to eat it with the brown rice in his bowl, without showing any anger at being humiliated.

Before Jinzhu came into the family, he never got to eat such cakes. Although he's had a couple of good days now, one shouldn't forget one's roots.

Li San was stunned. None of the embarrassment, anger, or gratitude he had expected from the country boy appeared.

Wang Tianfang's nonchalant acceptance and even relish in the meal only made him feel a lump in his throat, unable to swallow it down.

His sense of superiority as a city dweller didn't show; instead, it made him seem narrow-minded. His expression changed, and in the end, he just sneered, with barely concealed embarrassment and a hint of annoyance: "A starving ghost reincarnated."

After saying that, he picked up the bowl of food he had barely touched, turned around and left, with his followers hurrying after him.

Not far away, a patrolling veteran glanced in this direction, said nothing, and slowly walked away with his sword sheath in hand.

Ignoring the stares around him, Wang Tianfang focused on finishing his meal, then carefully wrapped up the pancake Li San had thrown away and stuffed it into his pocket—he could have a bite if he got hungry later that night.

Jinzhu once said that in the army, strength is the key to survival; you need food to have strength. It would be foolish to starve yourself for the sake of saving face.

After finishing their meal and returning to the camp, the atmosphere became even more oppressive.

Dozens of grown men were crammed onto a large communal bed, the stench of sweat and foot odor making everyone dizzy. Those who hadn't eaten lay listlessly on straw mats, groaning in pain.

Wang Tianfang lay on his bunk, using his arm as a pillow, staring at the dark beams.

He missed home, and even more so, he missed Jinzhu.

I wonder what she's doing right now? Is she having trouble sleeping too? He's not around, and she's sleeping in such a big bed all by herself. Is she not used to it?

He touched the breastplate on his chest, as if he could feel her concern.

The next day, before dawn, the urgent sound of the assembly drum rang out.

The new recruits, still half-asleep, got up and rushed to the drill ground in a flurry of activity.

Zhang Kui, with his dark face, was already standing there like an iron tower.

"Those who didn't eat yesterday, are you enjoying your hunger?!" Zhang Kui's booming voice rang out in the cold morning wind. "Let me tell you, this is just the appetizer! In my recruit camp, those who obey get meat! Those who disobey don't even get to eat shit!"

"Today, the second training exercise! Weighted running! All of you, get over there, each of you take a sandbag and tie it to your legs! Run twenty laps around the training ground! Anyone who doesn't finish won't get any food today!"

The recruits turned pale upon hearing this. The sandbags didn't look big, but they were surprisingly heavy, weighing at least ten pounds. Running twenty laps with them strapped to their legs? That would be deadly!

"What are you dawdling for! Get moving, all of you!" Zhang Kui cracked his whip in the air.

No one dared to hesitate any longer and rushed to collect the sandbags.

Wang Tianfang picked up a sandbag, weighed it in his hand, and had a sense of its weight. Twenty laps sounded daunting, but as long as he adjusted his breathing, he should be able to manage.

He tied the sandbags tightly to his calves and started running with the group.

At first, everyone had energy and ran fairly well together. But after running three or five laps, the formation fell apart.

Those with poor stamina had long since fallen to the back of the line, grimacing and panting as they ran.

"Ouch, I can't take it anymore, my legs are going to break..."

"Water...I want to drink water..."

The cries of agony rose and fell.

Wang Tianfang adjusted his breathing and ran steadily, step by step. Unlike others who sprinted at the beginning, he maintained a steady pace.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Li San was also running at the front of the group. Although he was panting heavily, he seemed to be able to keep going.

Wang Tianfang nodded inwardly. Although this guy had many flaws, he was indeed quite capable and not just a pretty face who could talk a good game.

By the tenth lap, almost half of the runners had fallen behind and were unceremoniously pulled aside by the veterans.

By the fifteenth lap, less than a third of the runners were still able to keep going.

Wang Tianfang's lungs felt like they were on fire, and his legs felt like they were weighed down by two heavy stones, making every step incredibly difficult. Sweat streamed down his forehead, blurring his vision. The flatbread in his arms seemed to have gained weight, a reminder that he couldn't stop.

He gritted his teeth, with only one thought in his mind: he couldn't fall.

If he collapses, he won't get food. If he doesn't get food, he won't have strength. If he doesn't have strength, he won't survive the next training session. It's a vicious cycle. If he wants to gain a foothold here, he has to keep going.

"Hey, country bumpkin, almost done for?" Li San's voice came from the side. He still had the strength to speak. He moved closer to Wang Tianfang, a complex expression on his face. He seemed surprised that Wang Tianfang could hold on so well. "You've got some tough bones."

Wang Tianfang ignored him, focusing all his energy on breathing and walking. Compared to having enough to eat and surviving, these verbal arguments meant nothing.

Seeing that he didn't respond again, Li San's nameless anger flared up again, but he felt more frustrated. He took a few deep breaths and sped up to overtake him.

Finally, I finished the twenty laps.

When Zhang Kui called for a stop, Wang Tianfang felt all the strength drain from his body. His legs went weak, and he collapsed to his knees, gasping for breath, his throat filled with the taste of blood.

On the entire training ground, including him, there were fewer than twenty people who could complete twenty laps.

Zhang Kui walked up to them, a rare look of satisfaction appearing on his dark face. His gaze swept over Wang Tianfang and Li San.

"Good! Very good!" Zhang Kui nodded. "Finally, a few decent ones! You guys, have an extra chicken leg for lunch!"

drumstick!

The moment those two words were uttered, the eyes of the exhausted recruits around them turned red.

Those who didn't finish the race looked utterly hopeless.

Wang Tianfang didn't want to think about anything right now; all he wanted to do was lie on the ground and not move.

But Zhang Kui clearly had no intention of letting them rest.

"Get up, all of you! Don't be spineless cowards!" Zhang Kui roared. "Now, go to the weapon rack, each of you take a wooden spear! This afternoon, we'll practice bayonet fighting!"