The Taming of the Ruffian Hero

Lin Wenxi looked at the photo silently, and gradually came out of his trance.A drop of tear flowed down his face and fell to the screen of Zhang Dong’s cellphone. He wiped it off the screen and lifted up his head to look at the sky. By doing so, he stopped himself from crying. After that, he looked at Zhang Dong with a smile.

“Come on. Be a man! When you want to cry, just cry. And when you want to laugh, just laugh,” Zhang Dong tightly held Lin Wenxi’s shoulders, his hands somewhat trembling.

“Well, I remember!” Lin Wenxi replied smilingly. His smile was as bright as the clear blue sky.

“I’ll take a photo of you. You have to laugh out loud!” Zhang Dong smiled and lifted up his cellphone, with his camera focus on Lin Wenxi.

Lin Wenxi raised a hand to make a V-sign and smiled slightly.

“That’s not good enough. Let’s try again.”

Lin Wenxi sat on the ground, tilted his head and looked at Zhang Dong.

“Cut! Try again.”

Lin Wenxi was a little embarrassed. After a moment of thought, he raised a hand and gave a thumb-up to Zhang Dong. He tried his best to smile at his military instructor, but Zhang Dong was still not satisfied.

They stood up and continued to walk. Lin Wenxi walked silently in the front, and Zhang Dong closely followed him.

“What the f*ck!” Zhang Dong suddenly cursed.

Upon hearing that, Lin Wenxi turned around and saw that one of Zhang Dong’s feet was stuck in the mud. Zhang Dong hastily pulled the foot out, but his shoe was still stuck there. He was anxious and lost his balance, so he stepped into the mud again. His black sock was smeared all over with some yellowish and whitish mud. Zhang Dong looked so embarrassed, and Lin Wenxi could not help but laugh out loud. Suddenly, he heard a camera shutter sound.

Zhang Dongxin looked at the photo with satisfaction and then put the cellphone away. He squatted down to pick up his shoe and put it on. After that, he urged Lin Wenxi to advance.

“Show me the photo,” Lin Wenxi was a little displeased and said.

“I’ll show you the photo when you laugh out loud again. I promise,” Zhang inserted his hand into his pants pocket and said. ｆ𝘳e𝒆w𝗲𝐛𝘯𝐨νe𝚕.cｏ𝓶

“Hah-hah-hah!” Lin Wenxi burst into laughter. A fish was startled by him and jumped out of the water and then fell back into it.

Zhang Dong gave Lin Wenxi the cellphone, and Lin Wenxi saw his photo. He grinned, revealing his white teeth. His eyes were black and shiny. Upon seeing the photo, Lin Wenxi could not help but smile. He returned the cellphone to Zhang Dong and skipped forward.

Zhang Dong was a little surprised upon seeing that and thought, “What? He’s skipping forward? He’s at least 17 or 18 years old now. Does he reveal his true self now? That’s adorable. I remember that on that day, he also skipped all along the way while carrying a little school bag on his back.”

When Lin Wenxi stopped to read the map, he frowned and started to miss Wang Xiang. When Zhang Dong came close to him, he stopped frowning and let his military instructor tell him where to go.

Suddenly, Lin Wenxi thought of something and asked worriedly, “Does this count as cheating?”

“Well, in fact, I think this trip is too hard for you guys, Even a real soldier can hardly complete this trip. Doesn’t your university worry that you’ll fall off some cliff and die? Jifu University is just ridiculous and disgusting! As your military instructor, I’m obliged to tell you how to avoid such risks and dangers!” Zhang Dong said solemnly. The next moment, he calmed down, pressed a button on his pager and shouted toward it. “What’s wrong with this f*cking stupid pager? The signal comes on and off all the time!”

Lin Wenxi curiously looked at the pager, and Zhang Dong pressed another button on it.

Lin Wenxi was stunned and looked at Zhang Dong, as now he knew that this pager was an anti-cheating device used to record conversations between the military instructor and his students.

“Did it record what I said just now?” Lin Wenxi asked anxiously.

Zhang Dong put an index finger to his lips indicating silence and then played the recording. The pager recorded Zhang Dong’s curse but did not record their conversation before that. Lin Wenxi smiled with relief. He thought of something else and asked, “We used to set off at night, but at such times, you were always able to catch up with us. How did you do that? Did you stay awake all night long to keep a close watch on us?”

“OF course... You know what, You should know when to stop asking questions!” Zhang Dong reprimanded Lin Wenxi, and Lin Wenxi could not help but lower his head. The next moment, Zhang Dong cheerfully took out a tracer. On the tracer, there were a green spot and a red spot. He pressed some buttons to turn the tracer on and then signalled Lin Wenxi to walk to a tree which was not very far away from them. Lin Wenxi walked toward the tree and after a while, he heard the tracer ring. A voice called out, “The target is moving. The target is moving.” Zhang Dong pressed some buttons again, and the tracer quieted down.

Upon seeing that, Lin Wenxi thought, “Oh, that’s why he could always catch up with us. Once we stopped to take a rest, he would turn the tracer on to trace us. Once we started to move, the tracer would ring.”

Lin Wenxi gave a thumb-up to Zhang Dong and whispered, “High-tech.”

Zhang Dong gave a thumb-up back to Lin Wenxi, pointed to his cheeks and grinned. Lin Wenxi revealed an understanding smile.

Lin Wenxi seemed to be looking for something all along the way. Once he spotted an extinguished campfire, he would become very excited and go to search the area around the extinguished campfire. After a while, he would calm down and look disappointed.

“What’re you looking for?” Zhang Dong was curious.

Lin Wenxi took out a green medicine bottle, opened it and put it under Zhang Dong’s nose.

“Cinnamon juice. It can warm your body and cure kidney weakness. Do you have such a problem?” Zhang Dong teased.

Lin Wenxi shook his head and silently put away the bottle.

“Alright, I’ll stop teasing you. Cinnamon juice can cure cold. No wonder you recovered from the cold so fast.” Zhang Dong smiled meaningfully and added, “Who cares so much about you? It’s not Zheng Kai. It must be Zhao Yuan.”

Lin Wenxi’s cheeks flushed red. He shrugged his shoulders without saying a word and behaved like a sassy, streetwise boy. Zhang Dong had never seen Lin Wenxi behave like this before. He could not help but pinch the boy’s face and laugh out loud.

After sleeping in trees for two nights, Lin Wenxi felt tired out. He felt as if his bones had fallen apart. Upon thinking that Zhang Dong had slept in trees all these days, he felt perplexed about why his military instructor abused himself in this way. He looked at Zhang Dong’s backpack and found out that his tent bag was gone.

“How did you lose your tent bag?” asked Lin Wenxi.

“When did I bump into you?” Zhang Dong smiled and asked.

Lin Wenxi suddenly realized what had happened and gradually lowered his head, while thinking,”I left all of a sudden late at night. To ensure my safety, Zhang Dong had to catch up with me as soon as possible. He might not have enough time to pack his tent. Or he just thought that I left to take a walk around the place and never expected me to travel at night.”

“Thank you,” Lin Wenxi whispered.

“You’re welcome. To repay my kindness, when you pitch up a tent tonight, you should let me sleep together with you.” Zhang Dong patted Lin Wenxi’s shoulder and said directly.

Lin Wenxi shook his head slowly while thinking, “I had no choice but to sleep together with Zhao Yuan before. If I sleep together with my military instructor tonight, I’ll become a promiscuous bitch who is able to sleep with any man. Wait, how can I describe myself as a bitch?” Lin Wenxi could not help but laugh.

“Well, I’ll sleep in the tent tonight, and you sleep in a tree,” Zhang Dong added.

Lin Wenxi thought that Zhang Dong was just joking. To his surprise, at night, Zhang Dong really set up the tent and invited him to sleep together. Zhang Dong smiled meaningfully at Lin Wenxi, and Lin Wenxi looked a little embarrassed.

Beyond Zhang Dong’s expectations, Lin Wenxi walked away and clumsily climbed up a tree. He wove some branches and vines into a hammock in his ungainly way and slept on it.

Lin Wenxi slept in trees for two consecutive nights, when Zhang Dong slept in his tent. As he had a hard time sleeping in the cold and windy nights, he looked listless during the day. Despite that, he still insisted on running all the way. Upon seeing that, Zhang Dong felt confused and wondered, “Why does Lin Wenxi work so hard? Does he really want to be ranked among the top three? Or does he work so hard for another reason?”