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墨書 Inktalez
I called out to Old Tang as we walked towards the Battalion. By the time we entered, several Company Commanders had yet to arrive; only the Company Commander and Instructor from the Recruit Training Camp were present. Old Tang and I greeted the two leaders.
After sitting down, the Company Commander briefly inquired about the Unit's situation before shifting the topic to the Reunion event. "Before the Spring Festival, the leaders will visit the Recruit Training Camp to celebrate with the new recruits. I'm thinking of organizing a Spring Festival Reunion party on New Year's Eve, with hundreds of people gathering on the playground. The atmosphere would be great. It doesn't matter how late it gets; we can rest on New Year's Day, and after a late meal, each Unit can organize their own viewing of the Spring Festival Gala or engage in their respective activities. Wang, what are your thoughts?"
This was good news! I blurted out my excitement, but my biggest concern was where we would find programs for this event. The Company Commander smiled and said, "That's why I've gathered you all here to brainstorm." I glanced at Old Tang, thinking that there wasn't much time left, and wondered where we could find suitable programs. Besides, our training schedule was already packed; it would be difficult to manage.
Old Tang and I remained silent when a few more people entered from outside the Battalion. We turned to see that all the Company Commanders had arrived, which saved us from an awkward moment. The Company Commander redirected his attention and invited everyone to take their seats.
Once everyone was seated, the Company Commander and Instructor announced that the meeting was officially starting. The first topic was for each Unit to report on the new recruits' training status, including implementation of training plans and living conditions. After all Units had formally reported, the Company Commander moved on to the second topic—the Reunion party. As soon as he finished speaking, everyone began chattering about their opinions, and it boiled down to one main concern: time was too tight.
After everyone had spoken, the Company Commander remained calm and smiled. "If there were no difficulties, why would I have called everyone here? So here's what we'll do: I don't care how you implement this, but I am making this program a part of the New Recruits Company's assessment criteria. Each Unit must present four programs. After all performances are completed, Regimental Leadership will score them and award first, second, and third prizes. In addition to gifts for the performers, points will also be added to your New Recruits Company's assessment—7 points for first place, 5 for second." He looked around and asked, "Do you think there are still difficulties?"
The Company Commander's approach was quite clever; it stirred up quite a buzz among us. It’s known that even gaining one point is usually very challenging; unexpectedly, he offered a maximum of 7 points as encouragement. It was clear that everyone was intrigued—even Old Tang, who was usually composed, nudged me and whispered, "This is quite tempting; it seems we can't avoid doing this now."
I nodded in agreement and was about to speak when Wu Yan jumped in first. "I support Battalion's decision! We will do our utmost to prepare excellent programs that satisfy our Leaders." Damn it! Wu Yan changed his stance so quickly; he had just been one of the most opposed! This guy really knows how to flatter! I had no choice but to follow Wu Yan's lead and added, "I am also willing to take on this task and guarantee that we will produce high-quality programs without interfering with our training!" Soon after, an Instructor from Three Teams expressed his support as well.
The Company Commander and Instructor exchanged satisfied glances before outlining some requirements such as veterans not being allowed to perform and allowing staff members to participate as guest performers. After announcing that the meeting was adjourned, Old Tang and I slowly made our way back to our Unit while discussing how we could come up with suitable programs—should we just throw together a few ideas ourselves or involve everyone in brainstorming?
What unique features could we incorporate? Faced with this situation, we decided to hold another meeting with all key personnel gathered together to discuss how to proceed. Three heads are better than one! The difference this time was that we had received a task; now everyone needed to focus on how to accomplish it rather than complain about it. As a squad leader, I felt at a loss; while I could lead troops effectively, when it came to artistic creativity or inspiration for performances, I doubted whether either of us could come up with anything worthwhile.
After discussing for a while without much progress, I organized my thoughts and decided on a dual approach: First, I would require each core member of the Unit to come up with one program idea—this would be mandatory regardless of feasibility; they just needed to propose something initially so we could filter through them later—including myself and the Instructor in that process. Second, I would ask squad leaders to encourage every soldier in their squads to contribute any creative ideas or inspirations for programs; each squad should submit at least one program idea for us to consider. No core member's idea could overlap with those from their squad. By pooling our collective wisdom, hopefully we could end up with some decent quality programs by then—time permitting—we would finalize everything and begin rehearsals shortly after.
Old Tang saw there were no better alternatives and agreed with this decision; he emphasized that everyone should work together actively after going back down to inspire creativity among soldiers. He thoughtfully suggested that any program which ultimately wins an award would earn corresponding rewards for their Unit.
"With great rewards come brave men," Old Tang told me after the meeting adjourned. I asked him what kind of rewards he had in mind. He smiled and said they would figure out prizes later but wanted to create some buzz first. Shrugging my shoulders in acceptance of this plan—I didn’t mind spending my own money if it meant producing good programs—but time was tight while still needing to ensure training continued. Sighing inwardly, I began hoping for divine intervention; perhaps luck would be on our side and some talented individuals among our new recruits would emerge.
Time flew by quickly until finally arrived at our deadline; Old Tang and I sat in Company Headquarters looking at each other with furrowed brows—why? Because we realized finding four high-quality programs with novelty and character was indeed quite challenging.
As Old Tang put it succinctly: a party typically consists of singing and dancing performances; each Unit must present one or two conventional singing or dancing acts while additional points would depend on two other unique performances that needed to be impressive enough to leave an impact—only then could Regimental Leadership award high scores.
Looking again at the proposals on our table, they were all about choir performances, solo singing, assassination drills, military boxing, and so on—completely lacking in originality. The only slightly innovative entries were from Class Seven, which proposed a Tai Chi performance, and Class Ten, which suggested a martial arts display. It seemed that a few new recruits had learned some Tai Chi moves or something similar, and now they were bringing it out to fill the program. Old Tang wore a worried expression. "It's a pity you can't take the lead; otherwise, you could show off some stick techniques," he said. I laughed and scolded him, "I'm not a monkey! What would I do with a stick? Besides, the new recruits' reunion is meant to showcase their talents; we can't just steal the spotlight."
Sighing, I thought about how we had one singing act and one martial arts performance lined up, but where were the other two programs? Old Tang and I had been struggling with this for the entire morning, and as lunchtime approached, we still had no leads. It was frustrating! Duty was outside blowing the whistle for us to gather for lunch. I patted Old Tang on the shoulder. "Come on, let's eat first; we can think more after lunch." Old Tang stood up helplessly, and we walked together toward the cafeteria.
Before we reached the cafeteria, we heard the duty squad leader organizing a sing-along outside. They were singing the Military Moral Song. Since it was a chorus from the whole company, it lacked elegance but had a ruggedness to it. As I listened, an idea suddenly struck me! We finally had our first program! I pulled Old Tang aside and whispered a few words in his ear. He looked at me in surprise and exclaimed excitedly, "Old Wang, that's brilliant! This could work!"
I smiled proudly at him and turned to find someone to arrange it.
After lunch, Old Tang and I called over the soldier from Class Seven to Company Headquarters to see what he was capable of; we were worried he might just be pretending to be funny.
Just as Old Tang and I were chatting, there was a knock at the door, and two new recruits walked in together.
Old Tang nodded at me. "These are the two soldiers performing martial arts." I took a closer look. Oh, one of them was my fellow townsman from Hubei—he was from Shiyan. He wasn't very tall, but during the new recruit assessment, I remembered he grew up near Wudang Mountain. Yes, he must be the one performing Tai Chi. The other recruit was from Shanxi; he looked quite sturdy at around 1.7 meters tall. I wondered what he could do.
I pointed at my fellow Hubei townsman. "Xu Changsheng, right?"
"Yes!" he immediately stood at attention.
"Can you perform Tai Chi?"
"Yes!"
"Don't be so nervous; just perform here for us so we can see what you've got."
"Report Leader, I can perform Tai Chi and Tai Chi Sword; I'm not sure which one to demonstrate."
"We don't have a sword here! Just do Tai Chi!"
"Understood."
Xu Changsheng stepped back a few paces to find an open space in the room and assumed the starting position of Tai Chi. He looked quite poised. Suddenly, he sprang into action—his movements were clean and swift, powerful yet fluid! His motions flowed like a dance—graceful and effortless. He exuded vigor and smoothness! However… this wasn’t what I remembered Tai Chi to be like! Wasn't Tai Chi supposed to be slow and gentle?
Old Tang and I exchanged glances, stunned into silence.
After he finished his set of punches and struck a final pose, both Old Tang and I were at a loss for words. Was this really Tai Chi? Meanwhile, the new recruit beside us was enthusiastically applauding.
I managed to say, “Xu, can Tai Chi be this fast?”
“Where the heart goes, speed is determined by oneself. Of course, I could interpret it in the traditional way, but personally, I feel that if it's purely for performance, using faster sequences seems to convey more vitality and tension,” Xu Changsheng replied calmly, as if the intense exercise had no effect on him.
It really was like that! I thought to myself, feeling like I had stumbled upon a treasure!
Old Tang and I turned our attention to another new recruit. This one was surnamed Guan and called Guan Yuanzhi. Before we could say anything, he reported, “Leader, I can’t perform here!”
“Why not!?”
He laughed heartily and said, “Leader, I wield a sword—Great Sword! I don’t have any weapons here; I can’t demonstrate!”
Great Sword! A surname of Guan! From Shanxi! Could he be a descendant of Guan Yu?!
(To be continued, more exciting content tomorrow!)
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