After everyone picked a bed and unpacked the few things they had, they started introducing themselves to each other. First Wang Jie said hello to the one sharing the bunk with him. A short, lanky, dispirited boy. The skin around his eyes was red and puffy, he actually looked like he was about to cry.
“Hey, I’m Wang Jie. What’s your name?” Wang Jie looked down at the short boy. Standing next to each other there was a stark contrast in height.
“C-Che Xiao Wen” The boy stuttered, looking down, unable to look Wang Jie in the eyes.
Wang Jie just sighed and went to get to know the other people. It wasn’t his job to comfort some stranger, or help him come out of his shell. He had his own share of troubles.
Liu Wei was just as he had imagined, honest, forthright, and easygoing. His dad was a merchant so they lived in the better part of the city, it was no wonder he had gotten so fat. He was 15 like Wang Jie.
There were two twin brothers, Huang Bo and Huang Chao. It seemed they had adapted to the situation quite well, they looked incredibly relaxed. They were both around 182cm tall, 6 centimeters shorter than Wang Jie himself. It was incredibly hard to tell them a part. If not for the fact that Huang Bo had a short thin scar above his left eyebrow, it would’ve been impossible. They were 16.
Another guy was Guan Yi, he was a monster of a man. Standing at 194cm he was by far the tallest person there. He was wide too, though Wang Jie was equally muscular. He was the oldest in their tent too, being 17 years old.
Liao Kang looked like a gentle helpful person, a very soothing expression lingered on his face the entire time. Wang Jie couldn’t explain it, but he just felt comfortable when he talked to him.
The last guy was a bit weird. He didn’t speak much, Qiang Yi said his name and walked off. A bit blunt perhaps.
With the introductions out of the way, the group of people began conversing among each other. Wang Jie was listening to Liu Wei talk about his dads businesses when another soldier walked into the tent and clapped his hands.
“Follow me” He turned on the heel of his foot and led them outside. Wang Jie had to go over and shake the half crying boy, Che Xiao Wen, to awaken him from his brooding. At a quick pace they walked to another tent, the sign outside read quartermaster.
Following the soldier inside, they hung back while he began to converse with who Wang Jie assumed was the quartermaster. Meanwhile the quartermasters female assistant came out from somewhere and measured them all. It was the first girl they had seen at the camp. When she measured Wang Jie she gave him a quick double take, he was quite handsome, especially when compared to these average soldier types. None the less she did her job just like she had with everyone else.
After she finished taking their measurements, she went to the storage room and started picking out the uniforms in the correct sizes.
When she came back, she handed a sheet over to the quartermaster before beginning to hand out two sets uniforms. While handing them out, the quartermaster started speaking “These uniforms are now your responsibility. Unless it’s from combat, I don’t want to see any damage done to them.”
Che Xiao Wen shook slightly at those words, it didn’t seem like he understood that they would be seeing combat.
“Keep them clean, when you step off for the day, clean them before you start enjoying your leisure time. There will be penalties if you show up next day in a dirty uniform. Same goes for your boots, you need to brush and polish them. The supplies for that are already in the pouch attached to your bed.” The quartermaster tapped his finger on his desk. “Perhaps some of you have already seen those, maybe not, but now you know, so don’t pretend you haven’t been told. Go back and change now, don’t wear your civilian clothes around the camp.”
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The soldier led them back to their tent and gave them a quick address “After you change, you are free to walk around and explore the camp. Reminder, that is within the camp. Anyone leaving the camp will be considered a deserter and punished accordingly.” The soldier took a quick pause to look each one of them firmly in the eye. ”The eatery is next to the grounds where you were first taken in. Dinner is in 3 hours, if you aren’t there you simply won’t eat. Any questions?”
Surprisingly, for once they were allowed to ask some questions.
“What about breakfast?” Liu Wei asked.
There were a few chuckles but the soldier answered seriously. “That’s a good question, if you didn’t ask I wouldn’t have told you. 5 in the morning, lunch is between 10-12, the exact time depends on when your instructor thinks there’s time for it.” The soldier nodded “Is there any other questions?”
Wang Jie took a quick look around and saw none else was going to say anything “What exactly are we here for?”
The soldier looks towards him, then seemed to mull things over for a bit “Right, you haven’t really been told yet. Everything has been such a rush. You’ve been brought here for training, after which you’ll be fighting in the upcoming war. When exactly that is going to be, we are not sure. It’s possible you won’t be able to finish the training program.”
The soldier did another quick scan for questions, but it seemed none had anything to ask. “Finally, you need to pick a group representative. Every day at 6, an adjutant will come by and check the conditions of your tent. Make sure you sweep it clean and keep it in order, there will be penalties if it doesn’t look good. You may as well get used to that. Don’t leave your things laying around, keep them on top of your beds or below. I’ll leave you to it.” With that, the soldier turned and left the tent.
The boys all stood around, glancing at each other. Wang Jie was the first to speak up “So… I guess we have to pick a representative?”. Everyone nodded, but none said anything in reply.
“Does none want to do it?” Most of them shook their head, while the meek boy Che Xiao Wen just continued looking at the ground.
“I mean… I really just don’t think I’m suited for it.” Liu Wei said, a slight smile on his lips.
“Right, me neither. Maybe you should do it Wang Jie, you seem like you’d be good at it.” Guan Yi the tall boy said, quickly receiving the approval of everyone else.
“I agree, I think you’d be good at it.” Liao Kang with his soothing smile and gentle demeanor was almost too out of place here. It was hard to imagine him as a soldier.
Speechless, Wang Jie looked around at these shameless people and rolled his eyes “Fine, I guess I’ll do it.” Perhaps he gave in too easily, but it wasn’t that big a deal, better to just get it out of the way.
At dinner time they all went to the eatery and grabbed some food, if you could call it that that is. Rice soup and a dark, tough piece of bread. It looked pretty burnt and it was seriously tough, no joke, you could almost make a mace out of it. If you gave it to an old woman she’d probably crack her teeth on it.
Not that Wang Jie ate that well at home, but at least it was decent bread, it was from a bakery after all. On the bright side, at least there was the opportunity to get more here, which Wang Jie, fatty Liu Wei, Guan Yi and the twins Huang Bo and Huang Chao all took advantage of.
Che Xiao Wen just sat and poked his food. Wang Jie looked over and frowned, he really didn’t want to be stuck babysitting this kid. Well, they were the same age and Che Xiao Wen just seemed so helpless.
“Come on, just eat. Get over it and stop feeling so sorry for yourself.” Wang Jie shook his shoulder, causing Che Xiao Wen to look up.
“Right, thanks.” His eyes turned back to his food and he took a bite. Wang Jie’s encouraging didn’t seem to help all that much after that.
“I wonder how the kingdom is planning to fight back against three countries at once.” Liu Wei said, drawing the attention of the rest of the group.
“Both the Highlands and the Valian Kingdom are both pretty small, it’s doable.” Guan Yi said, continuing to shove food into his mouth.
“Sure they are, but we’ll be fighting on three fronts at once. It honestly doesn’t look like the chances are good.” Liu Wei muttered, seemingly in deep thought.
It was silent as everyone began to ponder.
“I don’t think all that is for us to worry about. Not like they’d tell us much regardless.” Liao Kang said, breaking the silence.
“Yeah you’re right, it’s better not to think about it.” Liu Wei nodded.
They ate the rest of their meal in silence. Wang Jie began to think about his mother. She’d probably read his note by now. No doubt that it would be a huge shock, he hadn’t even had the opportunity to say goodbye. It was probably the same for a lot of the people who were dragged here.
After the boys finished their meal they returned to their tent. It was late and most of them were exhausted so they went straight to bed. It hadn’t even been a minute before that fatty had fallen asleep, snoring like an elephant.
From his top bunk, Wang Jie could hear sniffles and whimpers coming from below him. It was no doubt Che Xiao Wen feeling sad again.
Wang Jie tried to block out the noises and fall asleep. It had been a long day despite how fast they tried to make it. They’d been standing and waiting for hours, not to mention the walking here. Oh, and they had to get up extremely early the next day. It’d probably only get worse from now on. Finally letting go of his thoughts, he managed to fall asleep