Hearing He Niancheng’s request, Chen Haoyang felt a little confused.
He had previously heard of groundless rumors about Gu Qingjiu and the Chief Instructor, but other than the one time Commander Huo asked him to get Gu Qingjiu to go to the infirmary, Commander He said nothing about Gu Qingjiu to him, nor did he ask him to make things easier for her.
Hence why he assumed that it was just a rumor.
But now that he heard He Niancheng’s special request, he couldn’t stop the surprise he felt.
His actions were not lax at all as he swiftly singled out a form and took it out from the stack.
“Commander He, Gu Qingjiu’s form is here.”
Chen Haoyang passed the form to He Niancheng, and he accepted it unconcernedly.
When He Niancheng skimmed through the A’s and B’s of the form, he spoke coldly, “At least she sees herself well.”
Chen Haoyang did not understand the meaning behind his words.
He Niancheng had lowered his lids as he read through the form twice before returning the said form to Chen Haoyang.
He said in a crisp voice, “Just grade everything based on your judgment.”
And he didn’t subtly hint anything.
Chen Haoyang let out a breath of relief. His assessment of Gu Qingjiu was pretty positive as well.
Chen Haoyang was young, fair, and just. When Gu Qingjiu arrived, although she was not particularly outstanding, her performance during training was not bad. Later on, after she had slimmed down, she did not become arrogant because of her newfound attention. She was not anxious or rash, but instead a prudent and clear-minded young lady.
He initially thought Commander He would say something after he saw the form.
Upon reaching his office, Chen Haoyang placed the forms down neatly before returning to the training fields where his recruits were at.
…
When afternoon practice ended, everyone was dismissed, but Chen Haoyang made Gu Qingjiu and Xie Ya stay behind.
It startled Gu Qingjiu, and it puzzled Xie Ya as well.
After everyone had left, Chen Haoyang took out both their forms.
“I’ve already seen through the self-evaluation forms that both of you submitted. There isn’t anything wrong with it. Both of your performances have been great, so I gave the two of you A’s.”
When Chen Haoyang finished speaking, Xie Ya frowned as she swept a quick glance at Gu Qingjiu.
Standing with a perfect posture, Gu Qingjiu’s gaze was fixed on Chen Haoyang.
Nothing out of the ordinary was etched on her face.
“The reason I asked the two of you to stay behind is because of another thing—the advanced training camp.”
Chen Haoyang paused before he continued, “Advanced training camp means that it’s a level higher than the new recruits’ training camp. They sieve through recruits in that camp to find potential soldiers for actual combat. As per the leader’s arrangement, both of your names were chosen from the ninth squad this time around. However, only one of you could advance.”
The last part of his statement startled Gu Qingjiu and Xie Ya.
They knew that it was difficult to enter the advanced training camp, but wasn’t there no need to only choose one out of the two of them?
Actual combat soldiers were still soldiers, but the conditions to enter had no reason to be so harsh, right?
Gu Qingjiu’s heart thumped.
If they really had to fight, she would definitely not out win Xie Ya.
Unlike Gu Qingjiu’s hesitation, when Xie Ya got over the shock, she couldn’t help a grin surface on her face.
It was as if she had already secured her victory.
Between her and Qingjiu, she knew that she would definitely be the winner.