The Elder Brother’s Brief Absence, Yi’s Silence

The other instructors looked just as grim. They were exhausted after a mere ten laps around the mountain; if they were to encounter any real danger in the future and maintained this pace, they would have been riddled with bullets like a hornet’s nest long ago.

This was no child’s play. Compared to the training they had endured when they first entered military academy, the current regimen was a walk in the park. Their own training had been hundreds of times more grueling—a life of pure purgatory.

If they were to impose their past training programs on these students, the entire group would likely pass out cold. They knew all too well how much hardship it had taken to forge their current abilities. People like these, who couldn't even bring themselves to leave their beds until the sun was high, would have no idea how they had died if a real crisis were to strike.

In that moment, a blazing fire ignited in the eyes of every instructor. They were determined to show everyone, in half a month’s time, a group of brand-new soldiers—not a bunch of spoiled rich kids who knew only how to complain.

From the moment they made this resolution, the next dozen days for these poor children were destined to be anything but easy. What kind of brutal training awaited them? No one knew. They only knew they had to persist, persist, and persist again.

Meanwhile, in the Ouyang family's small villa, Ouyang Xianyi sat blankly on the sofa. Ever since his brother had left for military training, the house had become even quieter. Everything was hushed, devoid of any vitality. How much longer would these boring days last? If only he attended the same school as his brother! He held the remote control, flipping through channels incessantly, but he didn't linger on any of them, his eyes just flicking past. His absent-mindedness was painfully obvious.

His mother stood behind him, watching her youngest son. He had been weak and sickly since childhood. Sometimes, watching him indifferently allow needles to pierce his skin, her heart ached with a mother’s agony. Ouyang Xianyi had an exceptionally poor constitution, and combined with his rare blood type, he couldn't engage in any dangerous physical activities. Even a minor cut would lead to serious trouble. This meant he could never do what normal children did; he could only watch from afar as others ran on the playground, shedding sweat, while he, like a girl, could only cheer them on.

In truth, he felt that apart from studying, he had nothing. Perhaps in the eyes of others, Ouyang Xianyi was an elegant prince held in high esteem, but he felt he was nothing more than a useless person who knew how to do nothing but read. Seeing Xianyi sitting on the sofa early in the morning clicking the remote, his mother felt a surge of unbearable sorrow. Ever since she and his father had brought his brother back home, Xianyi had become much more cheerful. But now, with his brother away for only a short time, his younger brother had already fallen into this state. She was burning with anxiety, yet she didn't know what to say.

Back then, her relationship with Ouyang’s father had been obstructed by her own parents, but the two had persisted until now. With Ouyang’s father having achieved success and the addition of their two children, her parents had finally relented and accepted the reality of her life with Ouyang Yu. Yet, these two children had lost the innocence and lightheartedness that other children possessed. Amidst their parents' busyness, they had gradually lost their joy and their childhood.

Unbeknownst to them, they had built impenetrable walls around their hearts, isolating everyone. And those isolated were not just outsiders; even they, as parents, were kept at a distance, shut out entirely.