Lin Wenxi successively received calls from Wang Xiang, Zhang An’an and Shu Xiaoman during his trip. Some of them expressed concerns about his health, and some of them asked him what rank he thought he could get in the end. Wang Xiang teased him, “Have you collapsed to the ground?”

Zhang An’an kept him asking if he was still sleeping together with Zhao Yuan in the same tent every night. When she knew that Zhao Yuan had left Lin Wenxi alone, she shouted in disbelief, “No way. That’s impossible.” Shu Xiaoman told him that they had returned to Jifu University and continued their miliary training there. She complained that she was a little bored with this training and said meaningfully, “Wenxi, when you come back, we’ll have lots of fun. Hah-hah-hah.” Upon hearing her dreadful laughter, Lin Wenxi was so scared that his heart began to race. He immediately hung up the phone.

Tonight was the third night when Lin Wenxi slept on a tree alone. When Zhang Dong was awakened by a loud noise nearby and climbed out of the tent, he saw Lin Wenxi curl up on the ground. Evidently, the boy had just fallen from the tree. Fortunately, as his backpack offset some of the impact, he was not just scared and not injured.

Zhang Dong kicked hard on Lin Wenxi’s back, and the latter was startled by having the pain and immediately stood up. He threw Zhang Dong an angry glance, returned to the tree and tried to climb up the tree again.

“If we were in a war now, you would have to sleep in the grave together with skeletons and the ghosts! Do you really think you have to be clean?” Zhang Dong kicked Lin Wenxi to force him kneel on the ground and poured mud on him. Lin Wenxi felt that his head was smeared with mud and hurriedly stood up. Zhang Dong kicked him again and made him collapse to the ground. He used his hands to cover his head, gritted his teeth and let Zhang Dong continue to pour mud on him. When Lin Wenxi was smeared all over with mud, Zhang Dong dragged him all the way into the tent.

Lin Wenxi lay on his side, his shoulders trembling. Zhang Dong propped his head with one folded arm, gazed at the boy for a moment and then closed his eyes while clenching his fists. He thought, “Now he looks just like before… If it is wrong, just let it be!”

“I’m never worried about being dirty. And you’re never dirty,” Zhang Dong said softly while embracing Lin Wenxi from behind. After a long time, Lin Wenxi finally stopped trembling. Zhang Dong had a lot of thoughts that night, and even he himself did not know whether he fell asleep.

Because of that night, Lin Wenxi successfully got rid of his old habit of never sharing a bed with anyone. That night, when he was covered with mud and thought dejectedly that he had never been so dirty before, someone told him that he was never dirty.

When they set off the next morning, Lin Wenxi could not remember how many days he had kept running on the road, as he slept for less than three hours for several nights on the trot. Now, when he traversed hills and waded across rivers, he was never worried about getting dirty. He even did not care much about taking off his shirt in front of Zhang Dong. He washed his clothes in the river and dried it by putting it in the sun.

Zhang Dong squinted at his body and smiled. “Your skin is so white.” Lin Wenxi replied, “You look really tan.”

Zhang Dong approached Lin Wenxi, grabbed the boy’s hand and put it on his chest while saying, “My heart was darkened before, but it’ll not be darkened anymore in the future.” Lin Wenxi did not quite understand what his military instructor meant and looked him up and down. Zhang Dong was slim but muscular. His body was covered with scars. His body looked different from that of Zhao Yuan or Zheng Kai. Lin Wenxi believed that only a seasoned soldier could have such a body. He gasped when he saw a long scar on Zhang Dong’s waist. It was clearly left by a knife-cut. He turned his head to the side and said, “It’s not easy to be a soldier. Am I right?”

“Don’t be afraid of looking at these scars. They clearly show many medals I got,” Zhang Dong said proudly while sighing in his heart, “I used to hurt someone. I want to make it up to him, but I don’t know if I can do that.”

“Sigh…” Lin Wenxi sighed and added, “My father has a driver. He used to be a soldier, and his arms are covered with scars too. You guys really work hard.”

Upon hearing that, Zhang Dong smiled as he felt that Lin Wenxi’s words warmed his heart. The next moment, he decided to play a prank on the cute boy. He patted Lin Wenxi’s back to smear some mud on it. Lin Wenxi wiggled his body and stretched his hands, trying to wipe the mud off. However, no matter how hard he tried, he could not touch that part. Upon seeing that, Zhang Dong could not help but laugh out loud.

Suddenly, something flickered within Lin Wenxi’s eyes, and then he rapidly ran to an extinguished campfire nearby. When he found some fish bones and warm ashes there, he grinned. “Instructor Zhang, come on, hurry up. We’re almost there!”

Zhang Dong was confused and wondered,”We’re almost there? Where? Does he talk about the destination? It’ll take us at least two days to get there. Why does he say that we’re almost there?” Lin Wenxi quickly put on his clothes, picked up his backpack and ran away.

When Zhang Dong caught up with Lin Wenxi again, he knew what the boy had been talking about just now.

Lin Wenxi suddenly stopped and gazed ahead, looking sad and disappointed. The next moment, he sat on the ground with a blank look on his face. He was tired out as he did not get much sleep this week. Zhang Dong looked ahead and saw Zhao Yuan and Chen Wanxin in the wood, which was not very far away from them. The boy and the girl sat on a rock and chatted cheerfully while enjoying some fried fish together.

Lin Wenxi felt as if his head was about to explode as he thought, “Zhao Yuan and Chen Wanxin stay together and seem to enjoy themselves very much. They’ll probably feel disturbed when seeing me here. Why do I have to try so hard to catch up with him? Why?

“Wait, why is Chen Wanxin here? Why could she surpass me? Zhang Dong and I ran all the way and slept just a few hours every night. Why?”

Lin Wenxi scratched his head in agony. He just could not figure out why these things happened.

Suddenly, he thought of that night and the helicopter which had roared and flew above his head. He was surprised and thought, “Was she on that helicopter?” He gazed at Chen Wanxin and then saw her smile gradually freeze on her lips.

Zhao Yuan spread his hands in shrug and said, “It looks like I’ve wasted too much time cooking and eating. Now both Wenxi and Wanxin catch up with me.” He was really surprised upon seeing Lin Wenxi’s tired face. He looked Zhang Dong up and down and then looked back at Chen Wanxin suspiciously. After that, he said smilingly, “Well, probably all the roads lead here. Come on, let’s have some fried fish.”

Zhang Dong exchanged a look with Lin Wenxi. Lin Wenxi stood up and stepped forward to pick up some fried fish. He grumpily stuffed it into his mouth and felt as if he was chewing some wax. He thought, “I’ve imagined many times how we are going to meet. If Zhao Yuan was fishing just now, I would scare his fish away. If he was frying his fish, I would approach him from behind and cover his eyes with my hands. I’ve even imagined how we bump into each other while hiking at night. Wait, why did I miss him so much?” Suddenly, Lin Wenxi thought of a picture that he had seen before. It depicted a donkey chasing a carrot in front of itself. He blurted out, “I’m a donkey.”

Upon hearing that, Zhao Yuan felt puzzled.

Lin Wenxi took out a green medicine bottle. Zhao Yuan took it and asked smilingly, “Did you find all the bottles?”

Lin Wenxi shook his head, and Chen Wanxin deliberately turned her head to the side to look at somewhere else.

“You got some of them. Well, that’s alright,” Zhao Yuan smiled and said.

“I found only this one.”

“Well, students after you are lucky to get some free medicine.”

“Thank you.” Lin Wenxi said with a smile. He felt relieved after saying this and realized that this was all that he really wanted to tell Zhao Yuan after traveling for these days.

“Ahem, stop this public display of affection. Can you guys talk privately?” Chen Yuxin said smilingly.

“Come on, we’ll arrive at the destination within at most two days. Let’s fight!” Zhao Yuan stretched a hand toward Lin Wenxi and said with a smile.

Lin Wenxi shook his head as he suddenly felt exhausted. He said, “I’m tired. I want to have some rest.” He looked up at the sky. The sun was setting, and birds were flying toward their nests. He somehow felt as if this competition was over. He did not care about the destination anymore since he thought that he had already reached his destination.