{{Stimulating Training}} chapter 3

A Lot of “Love” in the Letter

In a blink of an eye, another week passed. One day, the company commander brought a letter to David and joked, “The address and name on this letter are not clearly written. It doesn’t seem to be from your sister. Is it from a female classmate, David? Do you want me to read it?”

As soon as the company commander finished speaking, the other recruits all shouted, “Read it!” David blushed with embarrassment. The company commander opened the letter with a half – smile. He quickly scanned it, and his mouth dropped open. Then he put the letter away and said with a strange smile, “Haha, David, there are eight ‘love’ words in this letter. You’ll do seventy push – ups today.”

The other recruits were even more curious and asked the company commander one after another, “Sir, is this letter from David’s girlfriend? With so many ‘love’ words, what does it say?” The company commander kept a straight face and said seriously, “Don’t be in a hurry. After David finishes these seventy push – ups and reads the letter, you can ask him.” This made David eager to see who the letter was from and what was written in it. He finished the seventy push – ups in one go.

Looking at David, who was sweating all over, the company commander patted him on the shoulder and said, “You did well today. You broke your record.” Then he handed the letter to him. David took the letter and quickly opened it. To his surprise, he sat down on the ground as soon as he read it. The other recruits picked up the letter that David had thrown on the ground and burst into laughter. The eight “love” words in the letter were: “Hope you love the army as much as you love your own home, take care of your comrades, cherish your health, love reading, love learning. In short, love everything you love and be a broad – minded soldier.”

David read the letter carefully again and found that although there was no signature, the postmark was from a post office near his hometown’s school. Who on earth wrote this letter?

From that day on, David received such strange letters every week. The letters were all about ideals and life. Of course, there were always the words “think” and “love” in each letter. Although they weren’t about missing or loving him, they made him do hundreds of extra push – ups every week.

Half a year passed in David’s confusion. After these six months of extra training, his physical fitness had improved greatly, and he had become the top soldier in the company’s military training. One day, David received a letter. To his surprise, there were no “think” or “love” words in this letter. The writer calmly told him that they would come to the military camp to see him in a week.

The mystery that he had been guessing for half a year was about to be solved. David was both excited and nervous. A few days later, when the writer really appeared in front of him, he was stunned. The writer was Mr. Johnson, his political teacher in the second year of high school! Seeing his confused face, Mr. Johnson smiled and said, “Let me tell you a secret. I’m the company commander’s girlfriend. The idea of adding push – ups for letters was thought up by your company commander. When he found that there was something ‘wrong’ with your sister’s letters, he asked me to help.”

Looking at the smiling company commander, David was extremely touched. He couldn’t help standing at attention, raising his hand, and giving the company commander a military salute in a proper manner. Behind him, a row of soldiers also saluted the company commander in unison. Like David, they were all soldiers who had been trained through the extra push – ups.

}}