That day, Gu Qingjiu returned to the hostel twenty minutes earlier than usual.
Chu Lian was the one who helped Gu Qingjiu open the hostel door.
They were already asleep, but luckily they were pretty nice.
They had been opening the door for Gu Qingjiu on these few nights, but they didn’t have a single word of complaint.
They were shocked to see Gu Qingjiu come back so early. “You’re back so early today.”
When she got out of bed, she subconsciously looked at her watch and saw that it was only 11:40 p.m.
“Yeah, I’ve already hit the bullseye, so I’m done practicing.”
Gu Qingjiu replied softly, touching her forehead as she did so.
The sweat droplets that had seeped out due to her highly-strung state, had been blown dry by the wind.
When Chu Lian heard this, it was as though a bolt of lightning struck her—she sobered up in an instant.
“You… you hit the bullseye?”
It was a hundred-meters target, and Gu Qingjiu managed to hit the bullseye after practicing for four days?
“Yes, I hit the bullseye. I tried a few times. When Commanding Officer Qin tests me, it shouldn’t be a problem.”
Gu Qingjiu spoke in a breezy tone as she entered the room and prepared to take a shower.
The hostel would cut off electricity at 10 pm, but Chu Lian and her hostel mates fetched her hot water using a kettle so that she could bathe with hot water when she came back.
She entered the bathroom and started removing her clothes, while Chu Lian, on the other hand, was left feeling like a lightning had struck her.
Gu Qian sat upright in her bed in a dazed state when she heard the commotion. She could only indistinctly see Chu Lian.
“What’s the matter, Lian Lian?”
“Qingjiu… passed.”
Chu Lian sounded like she was dreaming.
She had entered the school for so long and only started practicing with a hundred-meters target.
Never mind hitting the bullseye—she even found it difficult striking the target at all.
On the other hand, Gu Qingjiu had only practiced for four days…
She remembered Gu Qingjiu saying she had only practiced with a fifty-meters target before she came to this school.
And it had only been four days since she started practicing.
“Really?”
Gu Qian was incredibly shocked as well.
The sounds of water splashing could be heard coming from the bathroom.
Gu Qingjiu already started showering.
Chu Lian recalled that when Gu Qingjiu spoke earlier, her voice sounded rather calm.
There wasn’t joy in her voice, and she sounded as though she was talking about an everyday affair.
But it was incredulous that she was able to hit a hundred-meters target bullseye within such a short period of time.
The commotion woke Qi Xiaoran as well.
After Gu Qingjiu finished showering, she laid on her bed. Qi Xiaoran suddenly asked her, “How does it feel?”
Gu Qingjiu adjusted the position of her pillow. “It’s alright, just like in the past.”
Just like in the past, where she would cease to feel anything after hitting the bullseye.
As though that red dot had grown inside her heart.
Since Qi Xiaoran came from the same place as her, she knew the state Gu Qingjiu was in when she practiced shooting.
When she heard this, she merely replied with a hum before lying down and getting back to sleep.
Although Chu Lian and Gu Qian were astounded, it was after all night time already, and the two of them were pretty sleepy.
They decided to reserve the questions for tomorrow.
When the hostel quietened down again, only Gu Qingjiu was left staring at the headboard in the darkness with her eyes open.
When she struck the bullseye, she had a thought —that if she managed to hit it, she was going to do something bold.
But now that she returned to the hostel and calmed down, Gu Qingjiu started getting cold feet.
She was a little afraid.
But…
If she didn’t go, perhaps it might affect the state she was currently in.
After much thought, Gu Qingjiu ultimately decided to go the next day.
After making up her mind, she finally calmed down and went into a deep slumber.