Chapter 52: Dandelion’s Promise: The Flight of the Flying Man

After Fu Ran’s sequence of actions, the gazes of the two companies instantly converged on the two of them.

Their position happened to be right in the middle of the two companies, which meant those looks completely enveloped them.

While being stared at by everyone, Yan Hao forced himself to remain calm, putting on a bewildered expression as if he knew nothing and she had mistaken him for someone else.

However, Yan Hao’s act of playing dumb did not make the girl doubt herself.

She continued to point at him while looking around.

“Fu Ran!”

Instructor Zhou spoke up.

“Do you want to do more deep squats?”

Everyone turned their resentful eyes toward her.

Sensing their gazes, she understood that if she caused any more trouble, she would likely become public enemy number one.

Thus, she honestly stood back in line.

After Instructor Zhou managed Fu Ran, he looked at Yan Hao with a face full of interest.

Yan Hao felt that something bad was about to happen.

Sure enough, in the next second, Instructor Zhou looked at Yuan Hao and gestured toward Yan Hao with his eyes.

“Instructor Yuan, what is that Flying Man in your class called?”

“Instructor Zhou is asking for your name,” Yuan Hao said, glancing at Yan Hao.

“Report, my name is Yan Hao.”

He deliberately emphasized the pronunciation of ‘Yan’ to avoid any unnecessary confusion.

Even so, Instructor Zhou still laughed.

“Haha, Yan… Hao, right? Good, I’ll remember you too. The Flying Man, huh? I’ll give Instructor Yuan Hao a chance to let you fly a bit later.”

He intentionally dragged out the pronunciations of ‘Yan’ and ‘Yuan’ with a playful tone.

Because he didn’t want to become the nail that sticks out, Yan Hao had decided to use the Dao, but it ended up backfiring.

Now, he had become the so-called “Flying Man.”

Yan Hao felt somewhat depressed.

However, the subsequent training went smoothly enough.

They sat down on the playground and, under the instructor’s guidance, learned a military song called One Two Three Four Song.

Yan Hao was somewhat tone-deaf, but military songs basically only required the voice to be loud enough and the emotions to be intense enough.

“That last time wasn’t loud enough. We’re going to sing it one last time, and then we’ll dismiss for the day. Let me hear your voices!”

Yuan Hao gave the final task of the day.

Some of the other classes had already finished singing and started to disband.

“One, two, three, four, start,” he began simply.

Perhaps because everyone was eager to rest, this rendition of the chorus was exceptionally loud and passionate:

One two three four, one two three four, like a song

Green barracks, green barracks, they taught me

Singing until the mountains shake and the earth moves

Singing until the flowers bloom and the water rejoices

One-a, one-a, one-a, one

A steel rifle is handed to me

Two-a, two-a, two-a, two

Without a second word, for the motherland

Three-a, three, the soldiers of the three services find joy in hardship

The four seas are our home

Hey! Hey, hey!

Wherever I am, wherever I am

There is a one two three four

One two three four, one two three four, the soldier’s song…

***

They were dismissed.

Tao Feng wanted to take Yan Hao to the canteen to buy something to eat, but Yan Hao, who had stayed up late the night before playing Jump Jump, felt exhausted.

He told Tao Feng to go by himself while he slowly walked back to the dormitory.

After a quick wash, he lay down on his bed.

Although this dormitory converted from a classroom was a bit strange, it didn’t lack for anything; it even had two air conditioners.

Under the influence of two air conditioners set to 16 degrees Celsius, Yan Hao even felt a bit cold.

Once he actually lay down, Yan Hao found he wasn’t as sleepy as before.

He felt a slight sense of discomfort from the unfamiliar environment, the dim lighting, and the noisy chatter of the others in the class.

Not long after, Tao Feng came to the bedside while eating a bag of spicy strips called “Su Xia Che Dan.”

He looked at the still-awake Yan Hao and waved the spicy strips in his hand.

“Want some?”

Yan Hao shook his head.

“I already brushed my teeth.”

Hearing that, Tao Feng picked up the bag, tilted his head back, and finished the remaining “spicy strips” in one go.

Shortly after, Tao Feng also finished washing up and lay down beside him.

The lights-out bell rang, and the dormitory went dark.

Perhaps because there were so many people, there was always the sound of rustling and whispering in the room.

Yan Hao tossed and turned; he didn’t know how much time had passed, but he still couldn’t fall asleep.

Maybe Yan Hao’s tossing and turning affected Tao Feng next to him, as Tao Feng gently nudged him.

“Can’t sleep?”

Tao Feng kept his voice very low.

“A little,” Yan Hao responded softly.

“I can’t sleep either. They’re a bit noisy.”

Tao Feng sat up, rummaged through his trunk, and then lay back down.

“Want to listen to music?”

He handed one end of a pair of wired earphones to Yan Hao while secretly showing him a glowing MP3 player under the covers.

Yan Hao didn’t say anything.

He just took the earphone and put it on.

He usually didn’t listen to music much; most of the songs he heard came from short videos.

Not long after putting it on, a song began to play in the earphone:

Seriously tossing the coin that decides fate

But not knowing where I can actually go

The promise of growing up together

Is so clear

I believe in the pinky swear we made

We said we would travel together

It is now your

Only persistent stubbornness…

The song was a bit melancholy.

Hearing the pinky swear in the lyrics, he thought back to his past self.

‘Can a pinky promise really be trusted? This kind of thing is probably just a child’s game. After all, what meaning or effect does a hook of the finger actually have?’ he asked himself.

At first, he had imitated a cartoon, saying that anything promised with a pinky swear must be done, and he had unilaterally taught Zero how to pinky promise…

After that, whether it was buying her food or helping her with something, he would pinky promise with Zero like a fool every time…

But…

He thought back to his own unanswered pinky promise and that foolish, sentimental sentence — ‘I won’t lie to you; you can try to trust and… rely on me.’

As Yan Hao was lost in thought, the song reached its end.

“What is this song?”

Yan Hao turned his head toward Tao Feng and spoke in a low voice.

“Dandelion’s Promise.”

Tao Feng deliberately lowered his voice.

“By Jay Chou,” he added.

Dandelion’s… Promise?

Yan Hao felt the name was a bit strange.

Tao Feng stopped the MP3 and said softly, “How can there be a promise in a dandelion? It scatters as soon as the wind blows.”

Yan Hao was stunned, and the atmosphere became a bit heavy.

He chuckled, turned his head back to look at the bed board above him, and softly complained, “Is it that depressing?”

Tao Feng also chuckled.

“But the flower language of the dandelion includes the meaning of ‘love that never stops.'”

Tao Feng pressed play on the MP3 again, and music began to flow from the earphones once more.

“After the dandelion scatters to various places with the wind, it grows incessantly. So the promise is also everywhere, at all times,” Tao Feng added at last.

Song after song played, and he didn’t know how much time had passed.

Yan Hao was afraid he might accidentally fall asleep, so he returned the earphone to Tao Feng.

He stared at the bed board above him and slowly drifted off to sleep.

So, is a dandelion’s promise a fragile thing that cannot even withstand a light breeze, or does it have the resilience of wild grass?

Perhaps even the person who came up with the song title didn’t know the answer.

***

In the early morning, the wake-up call sounded on campus right on time.

Yan Hao struggled to open his eyes and sat up.

Ever since middle school, he had developed a pavlovian reflex to this damned sound and hated it to his core.

After a simple wash, morning training began.

Just as Yan Hao’s company finished their roll call and headcount, Fu Ran from the neighboring company came running from the entrance of the back playground, late once again.

“What, did you see the Flying Man again?”

Before Fu Ran could explain, Instructor Zhou started teasing her.

“Report! I didn’t see the Flying Man this time; I overslept!”

Fu Ran said with righteous conviction.

Her hair was still messy, and she looked like she had just crawled out of bed.

“Oh, is that so? Well, it just so happens to be time for the morning run. Since you aren’t fully awake, how about you go out and run two extra laps by yourself to freshen up?”

“Yes, Instructor!”

Fu Ran turned around, ready to run toward the track.

“Don’t be in such a hurry. Wait until everyone starts running, then you can overtake us by two laps.”

Instructor Zhou gestured ahead.

The First Company and Second Company had already started running, and the Third Company was slowly starting to move as well.

“Oh, right. Instructor Yuan, where’s the Flying Man? We should let him fly a bit too.”

Instructor Zhou looked at Yuan Hao again.

Perhaps thinking that Fu Ran alone wasn’t interesting enough, he added a little fuel to this boring morning run.

“Yan Hao!”

“Present!”

“A young lady from the class next door wants to run two extra laps with you. Are you willing?!”

Yuan Hao’s voice remained powerful and resonant.

‘I wasn’t even late, so why the hell would I be willing?’

Yan Hao thought.

He thought that, but he couldn’t say it.

He sighed slightly in his heart and then loudly replied, “I am willing!”