My Little Poplar - Chap 5

Edited by Isalee

After unpacking, the sky had fallen dark. Most of them started making noise about going to the canteen for food.

Bai Xinyu was extremely sleepy. That 1.2m basic wooden bed in his eyes was now a great temptation, as he had not been able to lie down and sleep for the past three days. He did not want to go for dinner, and wanted to just fall asleep immediately.

When everyone left, he quickly scurried into bed. The moment he lay straight down, he felt the aching in his back, and he could not even straighten himself. As such, he could only lie on his side, and fell groggily asleep.

After some time, people started returning to the dorm. The lights turned on, and Bai Xinyu groaned unhappily. Pulling the blanket over his head, he turned around, wanting to continue sleeping.

Qian Liang patted his blanket. “Hey, are you not going to eat?”

Bai Xinyu mumbled, “No, I’m sleepy.”

A recruit with a Shandong accent spoke excitedly, “That huge mantou in the canteen was really delicious, I ate five in one go.”

“Look at how your stomach is nearly exploding, hahaha.”

“They were really generous with the oil for the braised pork. It was so tasty. If I knew that the food here was so good, I wouldn’t have fucking cried so badly about coming here.”

Bai Xinyu heard them discuss their dinner, and his stomach started grumbling. He was hungry now… and he decided to look for something to eat.

Just as he scrambled out from under the blanket, he immediately met Yu Fengcheng’s eyes. Alarmed, he wrenched the blanket back over he head, like a mouse seeing a cat.

Yu Fengcheng burst out laughing. He yanked his blanket away. “What are you doing?”

Bai Xinyu seized the corners of his blanket tightly, desperately trying to hide in his bed. However, to his misery, he discovered that Yu Fengcheng was on the bed right next to his. This fellow only had to stretch his arm out and he would be able to grab hold of him. Bai Xinyu spoke guardedly, “I’m sleeping.”

“You didn’t eat. Not hungry?”

“I have all sorts of delicious things in my bag, so you don’t need to care about me.”

Yu Fengcheng nodded, smiling slyly. “Oh, you have all sorts of delicious things in your bag.”

Bai Xinyu really wanted to give himself two tight slaps then. Why did he dig his own grave?

A few recruits came over. “Hey, what delicious things? Let us try some.”

Bai Xinyu pursed his lips. “My mom prepared them for me. I’m not going to share them.”

“How petty. My mom gave me quite a lot of salted vegetables. Later, I’ll share them with everyone.”

“I have sausages from my hometown too.”

Yu Fengcheng stood up, dragging Bai Xinyu’s luggage out from his cupboard and dumping all the snacks out onto his own bed. “Come, come, let’s share them.”

Bai Xinyu leapt up. “What are you doing?!”

Yu Fengcheng held up a pack of teddy bear cookies, shaking it lightly. “You eat these sorts of things?”

Bai Xinyu said self-righteously, “Isn’t it meant for human consumption?”

Yu Fengcheng tore into the bag. He opened his mouth, pouring half the contents inside. While chewing, he nodded. “Mn. I’ve tested it for you already. There’s no poison, fit for human consumption.”

A group of recruits shared the snacks amongst themselves happily. Bai Xinyu could only cry tearlessly, “My mom prepared these for me…”

The person standing next to Bai Xinyu’s bed would be sleeping on the bunk above him. He looked down, speaking kindly, “We all just left home for the first time. Everyone, stop teasing him already.”

Only then did the crowd stop joking.

Bai Xinyu turned his head to see a pair of extremely gentle and bright eyes. It was a boy who looked rather honest and frank. He was not too tall, and a little thin. His eyes were fairly large, and he had good-looking features. His appearance was not too bad, just a little countrified. That boy saw that Bai Xinyu was looking at him, and he smiled. “I’m Feng Dongyuan from Xi’An. I’ll be sleeping on the bunk above you.”

Bai Xinyu nodded hesitantly. “Oh, I’m Bai Xinyu.” This Feng Dongyuan was more likable than the noisy and talkative Qian Liang.

Yu Fengcheng did not hold back. He picked a few different types of snacks, all of them containing meat, then shoved the rest away. “Hey, take them back.”

Bai Xinyu pulled his luggage over, resentfully throwing all those snacks back inside. He thought, then took two packets out and handed them to Qian Liang. “Qian Liang, here.”

Qian Liang laughed, “Ah, really?” He accepted them happily.

Bai Xinyu was a little embarrassed. How much were these things actually worth anyway? He had never been a petty or a selfish person before, but he just did not want to let Yu Fengcheng have his way.

Yu Fengcheng looked at him with a shadow of a smile. “Why aren’t you eating anything?”

Bai Xinyu whispered, “I lose my appetite when I look at you.”

“Oh? Then you can just go hungry.” Yu Fengcheng chuckled, “Tomorrow morning, we have to wake up at 5.30am to start training officially. I’ll see if you’ll be able to endure it till then.”

Bai Xinyu had not completely snapped out of his wanton and indulgent life, and he was completely unable to imagine what it would be like to wake up at 5.30am to start training. He rebutted, “I’ll just eat breakfast tomorrow.”

Yu Fengcheng nodded. “Right, breakfast.” His smile was inscrutable.

Bai Xinyu was annoyed by that smile of his. He felt as though he would be meeting immense misfortune in the next minute. No, wait, to have attracted the attention of this tyrannical bully, he had already met immense misfortune.

The lights were shut off punctually at 9.30pm. Bai Xinyu was truly exhausted. He did not even wash his face. Holding onto his blanket, he fell deeply asleep.

Just as Little Young Master Bai was sleeping soundly, dreaming of beauties in his arms with liquor and delicacies in front of him, a piercing bugle call sounded next to his ear.

The light sleepers in the dorm all scrambled up, hurriedly pulling their clothes on. Bai Xinyu covered his ears. He was pissed at having his sweet dreams disrupted.

Feng Dongyuan jumped down from his bunk. As he pulled his trousers on, he shook Bai Xinyu. “Hey, quick, wake up and put your clothes on.”

Bai Xinyu paid no heed to him at all. He was not a morning person. Groggy, he was too lazy to throw a tantrum. He only gripped his blanket tightly and pulled it over his head, trying to hide from reality.

“Xinyu, hurry up, it’s time to get up!” Qian Liang’s loud voice rang in his ear.

Under his blanket, Bai Xinyu mumbled incoherently, “I’m not getting up, go away!”

The next second, his blanket was yanked away from him, and he nearly rolled off the bed. Although it was summer, Xinjiang had a large temperature difference. It was very cold in the morning and at night. Bai Xinyu curled up, shuddering in the cold. He opened his swollen eyes and stared hatefully at Yu Fengcheng.

Yu Fengcheng kicked him. “Hurry and get up.”

Bai Xinyu wailed, “I’m not getting up, I’m not getting up. I haven’t had enough sleep. Look, the sky hasn’t even lit up yet.” It had been years since he last woke up early. Every day, he would sleep till his body woke up naturally, and it was cold and dark out there. Only his bed was his most intimate home. Wanting him to get up now was worse than killing him.

Qian Liang patted his back. “Bro, you should quickly get up. Instructor Xu is famous for being the devil. Do you want to die under his hands?”

How would Bai Xinyu ever listen to this? He rolled about on his bed, howling like a recorder on repeat, “I’m not getting up…”

Yu Fengcheng was fully dressed. He did his belt, straightened his collar, then lunged onto the bed and started pulling at Bai Xinyu’s sleepwear.

Bai Xinyu was so shocked his eyes opened fully. “What are you doing?! You want to be a hooligan?!”

Qian Liang realised what was going on. “Quick, two of you, come and help!” He too lunged onto the bed, grabbing onto Bai Xinyu’s hands. The recruit from the bed across came over and held onto Bai Xinyu’s legs, and in his shrieks, the few of them swiftly removed his clothes.

By now, Bai Xinyu was fully awake. Yu Fengcheng was pressing onto him, pulling at his clothes with a wicked expression. That huge hand seemed to be covered with sparks. When he touched his skin, it immediately heated up, and Bai Xinyu flushed red. Despite the fact that there were many other people in the room, when he looked at Yu Fengcheng’s eyes, he felt as though the other people had turned into furnishings. The two of them were locked in a time warp, and Yu Fengcheng had stripped him entirely, like a predator. There was no one who could save him… His blood froze, and he sucked in a deep breath, yelling, “I’m getting up, I’m getting up!”

After shouting a few times, Yu Fengcheng finally let him go. With his arms folded, he commented, “Next time, don’t wear anything to sleep. It affects your waking up speed.”

With bloodshot eyes, rumpled clothes and messy hair, Bai Xinyu got up from bed dispiritedly. Full of grievances, he sniffed as he pulled his clothes on. With a pathetic look, it felt as though he had just been molested. The lower part of Yu Fengcheng’s body tightened while watching him, and he really wanted to just push him down there and then, fucking him till he cried out loud.

From downstairs, Xu Chuang shouted. “There’s still thirty seconds!”

No one bothered with Bai Xinyu any longer, heading downstairs in a rush. In a blink of an eye, a room of twenty-odd people was now left with just Bai Xinyu alone. Now, he too started to feel a little anxious. After all, Xu Chuang’s sinister appearance was really quite scary. Flopping about, he dressed himself and ran downstairs. However, when he went past the washroom, he saw his swollen eyes in the mirror and he could not help but go in to wash his face. After washing his face, he felt that his skin was dry. So after a few seconds of hesitation, he ran back to the dorm and took out his moisturiser from his bag. Only after applying it did he head downstairs again.

The 600 plus recruits were already all gathered on the drill ground. Xu Chuang and Wang Shunwei were standing on the rostrum. In front of every group was a monitor in charge of leading them. Bai Xinyu cautiously made his way over, only to have all the recruits look at him. Xu Chuang and Wang Shunwei too turned their heads towards him, watching this late recruit.

Having so many eyes on him suddenly, Bai Xinyu shuddered. He froze where he stood. It felt wrong to just stand there, but it also felt wrong to continue walking forward.

Xu Chuang’s fierce eyes fell onto Bai Xinyu. He slowly raised his wrist, looking at his watch. “What time is assembly?”

Bai Xinyu took a while to answer. “6am?”

Xu Chuang roared, “5.35am!”

Bai Xinyu hunched over, thinking. Getting up at 5.30 and gathering in 5 minutes. Are you crazy?

Xu Chuang projected his voice. “As recruits, this is your first day, and I gave you five minutes to assemble here. However, one week later, I expect you all to appear in front of me in three minutes. Whether you run here, crawl here, or jump down from up the stairs, no matter what method you choose, I don’t care. Now that you’re in my camp, you’re not allowed to take your own sweet time. You!” Xu Chuang pointed at Bai Xinyu. “Come here!”

Bai Xinyu was really trembling at this point. This instructor was really fucking frightening.