Chapter 2: Famous Scene 2
Chang Ning calmly dodged the flying spittle and immediately admitted his mistake.
Don’t think he’s being cowardly; in the New Recruit Company, offending the Squad Leader would get you targeted to death.
Besides, this matter was originally his and Xiao Zhuang’s fault; people had already ordered them to board the train, but the two of them stayed motionless, which was indeed excessive.
“Squad Leader, I accidentally fell asleep while waiting and was dazed when I heard the order, so I didn’t react.”
“You think I didn’t see your little moves?”
Zheng Sanpao didn’t buy Chang Ning’s apology; instead, his face darkened even more, thinking Chang Ning was quibbling.
When Zheng Sanpao walked back and forth, he saw these two sitting on chairs, not assembling after hearing the order, and instead chatting as if no one else was around.
In his view, this attitude was extremely arrogant, and the situation was extremely bad.
Logically speaking, since Chang Ning had apologized, Zheng Sanpao shouldn’t hold on to it. But contrary to expectations, Chang Ning was still left speechless by Zheng Sanpao’s retort.
Chang Ning felt angry inside but could only hold it in; what they said was fact, and he couldn’t very well say he thought just now that all this was someone pranking him with a play.
If he said that out loud, no one would believe it; maybe Zheng Sanpao would even slap him.
“And you! What are you looking at so intently? Didn’t you hear the assembly broadcast?”
Zheng Sanpao turned his head again, snatched the book from Xiao Zhuang’s hand, and glanced at the title, discovering it was《 Shakespeare Drama》, a book title he’d never even heard of.
“What are you shouting for? I heard it, but not everyone’s boarded yet, so what’s the rush?”
Being interrupted repeatedly while reading, the irritation in his heart gradually couldn’t be suppressed, plus he was already unhappy about parting with Xiao Ying; Zheng Sanpao taking his book upon arrival hit Zhuang Yan’s sore spot.
The two’s conversation happened right in front of Chang Ning, which made him feel a bit strange inside.
Watching through a TV screen and being there in person felt completely different; Chang Ning thought this also counted as witnessing a famous scene.
The commotion here was so big that the noisy Waiting Hall immediately quieted down. Cadres, Veteran Soldiers, and New Recruits all looked toward them.
Lao Pao had been a soldier for many years and had never seen such a wild-tempered soldier. Xiao Zhuang didn’t play by the rules, leaving Lao Pao stunned too.
“Give me back my book, and I’ll go assemble and board the train.”
Being watched by so many people, Xiao Zhuang wasn’t intimidated and bluntly reached out to Lao Pao for the book.
“You soldier, you’re quite the bird; I’ve got you pegged.”
The train was still waiting to carry people, and there wasn’t time to waste; Lao Pao swallowed his anger, returned the book to Xiao Zhuang, and planned to deal with this bird soldier at the New Recruit Training Camp.
The person involved felt nothing, but Chang Ning, watching the drama on the side, felt panicked inside.
His biggest reliance in this world was knowing the plot, but Xiao Zhuang and Lao Pao’s conversation just now was completely different from the plot he’d seen in the previous world.
According to the plot, this moment should be Xiao Zhuang introducing himself and counter-asking Lao Pao’s name, then Chen Xiwa appearing and both sides finding steps to back down.
But now Chang Ning looked around and saw no sign of Chen Xiwa anywhere, not even a hair.
‘Could it be that because of me this Variable, the plot changed?’
Chang Ning felt a bit panicked, but then he thought and comforted himself.
‘It might not necessarily be the plot changing; this is the real world, where everything changes every moment; as long as the general plot doesn’t change, there shouldn’t be any problem.’
Chang Ning didn’t even believe his own words of self-comfort; what general plot unchanged means no problem.
This world wasn’t as peaceful as his previous life, especially the City around the Wolf Fang Barracks, which was simply fraught with disasters.
First there was Ma Yunfei and his group of powder players wreaking havoc, then K2 causing destruction, and in between Scorpion quietly infiltrating. The situation was extremely serious; one misstep could mean death.
The situation was very grim; who knew if he’d get boxed lunch just from bad luck. Chang Ning wasn’t the protagonist, and the world will wouldn’t take care of him.
‘Isn’t it said that after Transmigration, you’re equipped with a Golden Finger? Where’s mine?’
Thinking of the Golden Finger, Chang Ning belatedly realized he seemed to have no Golden Finger.
Based on his past Experience reading novels, he began calling out in his heart for the transmigrator’s standard equipment.
‘System? Golden Finger? Cheat? You there? Respond…’
After trying all methods with no response, Chang Ning’s face turned grave, his expression dim.
He seemed to have no cheat; where was the promised transmigrator standard? Sure enough, novels are all lies.
Xiao Zhuang strangely watched Chang Ning’s expressions changing non-stop beside him: joyful one moment, sad the next; in just a few minutes, none repeated.
As a Directing Department student at the Drama Academy, after seeing Chang Ning’s rich expressions, Xiao Zhuang immediately felt his school’s acting majors’ skills were total trash.
After boarding the train, Chang Ning and Xiao Zhuang casually picked an empty spot to sit, and then a magical scene appeared.
Chen Xiwa didn’t know from what corner he crawled out and sat across from the two with another unrecognized person.
Good grief, the plot of the first episode’s opening had thoroughly changed; if Chang Ning remembered right, Chen Xiwa should have sat here ahead of the two.
“Brothers, I’m Chen Xiwa from Shandong; what about you guys?”
Chen Xiwa didn’t know what he was rummaging for in his Backpack, grinning to reveal his white, bright teeth, smilingly introducing himself to Chang Ning and Xiao Zhuang.
“I’m Zhuang Yan, studying in the capital; you can call me Xiao Zhuang.”
Xiao Zhuang wasn’t much for talking, his expression somewhat cold. Perhaps Chen Xiwa noticed something, his smile becoming slightly awkward: “You don’t look old; high school grad, right?”
“I’m a freshman this year.” Zhuang Yan explained.
Silently observing the two’s awkward chat, Chang Ning couldn’t stand the uncomfortable atmosphere anymore and spoke up to break it.
“I’m Chang Ning, in university like him.”
What Chang Ning said wasn’t wrong; his identity in this world was indeed a university student, and one who graduated early at that; all this was from the Memory preserved in his mind.
“You’re a university student too! Why would a university student come enlist?”
Upon hearing Chang Ning was also a university student, Chen Xiwa’s face was full of envy.
He had entered society to hustle right after junior high, yearning for university; looking at the two across from him, his eyes were full of envious expression.
In this era, university students weren’t as common as twenty years later; they had extremely high value.
In Chen Xiwa’s simple view, getting into university meant having a good job in the future.
So he didn’t understand why these two across from him would come enlist and endure this hardship. If it were him, having gone to university, he definitely wouldn’t enlist.
“Have an Apple; I have more if not enough.”
Knowing the two were university students, Chen Xiwa became even more enthusiastic, pulling several Apples from his Backpack and stuffing them into Chang Ning and Xiao Zhuang’s hands.
A similar scene happened among the Squad Leaders responsible for the New Recruits.
“You know, two university students came this year.”
One Squad Leader shared with the other Non-commissioned Officers with a sense of rarity; clearly this one had connections and knew something.
University students! Wow, actual university students coming to enlist, and two of them! What a rare thing.
Four or five Non-commissioned Officers surrounded that Squad Leader, even Lao Pao among them.
What followed was no different from the Original Plot, which also let Chang Ning, who had been quietly observing distractedly, relax.
Ever since boarding, Chang Ning had been paying close attention to Lao Pao’s every move, expecting this scene. As long as this happened, it meant the plot’s corrective force was still there, and things wouldn’t deviate too wildly later.
