Somewhere in Luoping....
When Wuli woke up in the morning, Shuli was already cooking a Chinese-style omelet wrap on a portable propane stove.
"Go wash your face or something before you can eat," Shuli murmured, noticing Wuli had woken up.
"Yeah, yeah, I know."
As Wuli stretched her arms and slowly got up from the bed, she headed straight to the closet before taking off her pajamas.
Changing into a militia uniform, Wuli soon left the cabin with a wash basin, a face towel, and a toothbrush in hand.
After walking for a minute, Wuli soon arrived at the public bathing house. Unfortunately, due to her being late today, there was already a small line waiting outside.
Wuli had to wait for three minutes before she finally arrived at the lines of faucets meant for people to get water out of.
She quickly brushed her teeth and washed her face with a towel, then headed to the restroom next door before heading back to the cabin.
When she went inside, Shuli was already sitting in a chair, with the breakfast already made on the table.
"Good morning, Shuli... how do you always wake up so early?" Wuli grumpily asked, taking a seat before eating the egg.
"You ask this question every day. Just get used to it... How are you always so tired when you sleep at the same time as me?"
Shuli questioned as she started eating her own breakfast, which consisted of a piece of bread with a very small piece of ham.
"But I always want to sleep in more," Wuli complained, her mouth yawning again as she finished eating the remaining cabbage on her plate.
"Too bad."
As Shuli put her own empty plates onto the sink counter, Wuli started complaining once again.
"Ugh, I miss living at Yanyan's house... Why did we ever move out of that place?"
"Ironic, you're the one who asked to move out," Shuli pointed out, bowing down to the floor to tie her shoes.
"I mean, we shouldn't interrupt their sex life like that... I can hear Xiaoyun begging them to let him in, but they didn't because of us."
"Never knew you're so considerate... Well, too bad. I'm going to work now... Don't forget to lock the door."
With Shuli headed out of the cabin with her backpack, Wuli was now all alone in the cabin.
"I have to earn more money to move us out of here!"
Wuli's eye was filled with determination as she quickly finished the rest of her breakfast before putting it over to the counter.
"But how am I going to earn more money?"
Wuli wondered as she exited the cabin and locked the door. Her mind couldn't think of a way to earn extra cash.
After walking on the sidewalk for a bit, she soon arrived at the training field. Yet, her mind was still thinking about how she could earn more money.
"Wuli, you good?"
One of the militia asked as Wuli met up with the rest of her units, who all looked a little tired, as if they didn't have a good night's sleep either.
"I'm good. I was just thinking how I can earn more money." Wuli murmured as she accidentally spoke her mind.
"Oh, you worried about that?"
"Yeah. Do you know how?" Wuli asked, her face shyly looking away as the militia suddenly moved a little closer.
"Hmm... I mean, if I were you, I would just marry a rich man. Look at your face and body, it's so beautiful that even I am falling for you as a woman."
The militia paused for a second, then moved even closer.
"I'm sure there's a market for you, even if you're on the older side... No man would ever reject someone with as sexy a body as yours."
"That will never happen. I-I need a more legitimate way."
Wuli quickly rejected that idea as she couldn't imagine living with someone else and leaving Shuli behind.
"Well then, either construction or office work. Militia is only a part-time job, you know."
The militia member quickly moved back to her position as Yiming had finally arrived in the training field.
"I know, but both jobs are so boring. It's just the same thing every day... I kind of hate this job as well. It's just the same thing every day——"
Before Wuli could finish whispering back, she was quickly interrupted as Yiming spoke up to give his instruction.
"Good morning, everyone. I know usually it's Gantian or Jixi as your drill instructor. Well, they will be here later."
Everyone in the training field fell into silence as they all stared towards Yiming with a curious look.
"I'm here to announce that we are recruiting militia members to be full-time soldiers. The starting pay is ten food stamp a day, as well as free housing..."
As Yiming started explaining the benefits of being a soldier, Wuli's mind started to realize this was the perfect opportunity she was looking for.
"You might be wondering why the wage is suddenly increased for soldiers... From now on, there will be a new requirement for active soldiers."
Yiming paused for a second as everyone waited in anticipation.
"They will be required to join Yezi's rescue team and go to the city outskirts... Anyone who wants to join can stay after today's training. Gantian, take it over."
Yiming quickly turned around, leaving no room for anyone to ask any questions, as Gantian quickly came up from the side to take over.
"Everyone, run five laps as a warm-up!" Gantian yelled out.
---
After the morning training was over, Wuli decided to stay. She could see several of her peers also staying behind.
"You guys want to join to be soldiers? I need to warn you, it's a full-time job, and you have a chance to die and never return home.
It's not like militia where you just stand on the wall and do some exercise in the training field every day." Gantian warned.
Not a single person was deterred as they all remained in place, including Wuli.
"We are only recruiting eight people as eight people had died from the last mission. You guys sure you still want to stay?"
Gantian warned again. Yet nobody moved. Everyone who stayed behind fully expected the possibility of death.
"Very well then. We'll be testing your physical ability and gun usage as we had taught you in the militia."
As Gantian led the twenty people to the training field, it soon took a whole hour to test every single one of them through the tests.
With all the scores collected on a piece of paper, Wuli was the only woman who passed the test among all twenty people, of whom a third were women.
"Congrats, the eight of you are now soldiers... You all can take a break today and report here tomorrow in the morning.
I would recommend leaving any last will, you might not see the sun tomorrow... Everyone else, keep training, and one day you'll get in."
Gantian quickly dismissed all twenty of the militias as he himself exited the training field, leaving Wuli standing there by herself.
After snapping back into reality, she quickly headed towards one particular place Gantian had mentioned earlier, the administrative building.
Walking up to one of the booths, the first thing Wuli did was to put Shuli as the beneficiary in case of her own death.
With that out of the way, the worker handed her all thirty food stamps as the signing bonus for being a soldier.
"Can I ask how I can upgrade from living in a small wooden cabin?" Wuli curiously asked the worker.
"To upgrade from cabin to house would cost fifty food stamps upfront, and thirty food stamps per month.
And for mansions, you need to be the head of a department or soldiers who have nowhere to go and no one else to live with you.
But unfortunately, as of now, they are all full, so none of them is available for now... So there are no more mansions."
The booth worker paused for a second as he checked the newly printed memo on the top right of the window.
"However, the cost for a house for soldiers is only fifteen per month and has no upfront cost." The booth worker added.
"I will take that."
Wuli quickly handed fifteen of the thirty food stamps she had gotten from the booth worker just a few seconds ago.
"Here's your key, ma'am."
As the booth worker handed her the key to the house, Wuli knew she had made the right choice to be a soldier.
"Thank you."
"No problem."
Getting out of the booth, Wuli's face was filled with a smile as she celebrated with the key in hand.
"I'm finally out of the cabin! No more spending time in this small cabin!" Wuli mumured to herself as she ran back towards the cabin.
After arriving back at the cabin, Wuli brought the dishes to the public bathing house, washing them before bringing them back to the cabin.
With everything done, she now just had to wait for Shuli to get back home from work.
---
One hour later...
As the clock hit three, Shuli was finally back home from work. Her face looked a little exhausted as she walked into the cabin.
"Shuli, welcome back!" Wuli excitedly jumped on top of Shuli as she closed the door behind her.
"Okay, okay, why are you so excited today?" Shuli curiously asked as the two of them separated.
"We're moving out! I got a house for us!" Wuli suddenly announced.
"Wait, really? How did you get the money? Your militia salary can barely afford rent and food here."
Shuli asked, her face looking even more confused than before. A hint of worry appeared in her eyes as her bad feeling soon came true.
"I got a full-time job as a soldier, so I got a bonus and a discount for it."
"Soldier? What! Y-You are going to die out there! I-I would rather live in this cabin with you than live in a house."
Shuli argued, her face filled with anger as she couldn't believe Wuli had just made such a big decision without even asking her first.
"C'mon, it's not that dangerous. We have both already lived in the outside world for half a year... Besides, the outside world is way more exciting for me."
Seeing her looking determined to be a soldier, Shuli had no other choice but to accept it as her mind cooled back down.
"Fine, if that's what you like," Shuli murmured, her face still looking a little grumpy.
"Anyway, let's pack up now!"
As Wuli headed over to the bed, she quickly took out a small suitcase they had brought back a few days ago to load their stuff inside.
After packing everything, the two have one last look inside the cabin.
"The queen-size bed, the wooden table with two chairs, a countertop, and a stove with a kettle and a big thermos bottle.
Finally, I'm out of this no-running-water cabin! I finally can have my own bathroom!" Wuli excitedly yelled as she pushed the suitcase out.
"I kind of got used to this cabin and the public bathing house already..."
Shuli murmured, her face already looking a little nostalgic despite leaving the cabin for just two minutes.
"You will forget about it in a day... Look like we are here now."
As the two of them stopped, they could see a house right in front of them. Although it looked very small, it was still bigger than the cabin.
"What a coincidence, we live next to Yanyan's house... Man, I'm still jealous of that mansion. I want to get my own one day."
Wuli's mind was filled with determination and a hint of jealousy as she compared the two houses in their mind.
"Yeah, sure, you're totally going to beat the city mayor and be able to live in one of those mansions." Shuli sarcastically replied.
"Just you wait, anyway, let's go inside."
As Wuli put the key inside the lock, the door opened, revealing the inside to be much bigger than they had expected.
"Wow, this is a lot bigger than the cabin... We finally got a living room and a bedroom! And a restroom! Oh my god, it's running water!"
Wuli yelled in excitement as she turned on the kitchen sink, which had cold water coming straight out of the faucet.
"Well, this is certainly an upgrade."
Shuli murmured as she walked to the bed, which felt extremely soft compared to the hard mattress back in the cabin.
"I'm going to take a shower first!"
As Wuli locked herself in the bathroom, she rolled her eyes before bringing the suitcase into the house.
Locking the door, Shuli looked down at the spare key that Wuli had given her. She couldn't help but feel a little undeserving of living here.
"I guess I'll go cook dinner then," Shuli murmured to herself as she walked over to the kitchen.
After cooking dinner, Wuli happened to finish taking a shower as the water stopped.
"Damn, there's still no hot water. But whatever, it's better than taking a shower in the public bathhouse."
Wuli complained as she walked out of the shower with a towel wrapped around herself, her hair still dripping wet.
"You're making it sound like it's that bad. It got hot water there and a separate shower room for males and females."
Shuli argued back, her mind already thinking about the public bathhouse they had to go to every day while living in the cabin.
"Yeah, yeah, says the one who always goes late at night because they are scared of other women seeing their body."
As Wuli started changing into her pajamas next to the suitcase, Shuli's face blushed a little before getting up from her seat.
"S-shut up. I'm going to go take a shower now."
"That's the wrong way. The bathroom is over there." Wuli pointed out as Shuli walked into the bedroom.
"Hmph!"
After waiting for ten minutes, Shuli walked out with a towel wrapped around her body, just like Wuli earlier.
"I-I forgot to get my clothes," Shuli murmured, quickly grabbed her clothes before running back to the bathroom.
With one more back and forth, the two could finally sit down together, eating the dinner that Shuli had cooked up.
"Hey, Shuli, you heard about the New Year celebration that's coming up?" Wuli suddenly asked.
"Yeah... Everybody in the town knows about it at this point. The empty field out there has like a full stage with hundreds of tables and chairs."
Shuli suddenly got up from her seat, walking over to her backpack before taking out two small tickets.
"Yanyan gave me a ticket to their table," Shuli murmured as she handed one of the tickets over to Wuli.
"Oh, how considerate of her. She's so nice."
"Yeah..."
As the two fell into silence, Shuli took the empty plates to the sink, washing them as Wuli waited at the dining table.
By the time everything was cleaned, the two looked at each other for a second before heading to the bedroom together.
"This bed is the same size as the cabin... I thought it was going to be at least a little bigger."
Wuli murmured, looking a little disappointed as she closely examined the bed from the left side.
"I mean, it's already a queen-size bed. They only intended for two people to sleep on it.. Unless you have babies." Shuli pointed out.
"Whatever. I'm going to sleep now."
As Wuli lay down on the left side of the bed, Shuli headed over to the light switch, turning it off before lying down next to Wuli.
"Hey Wuli... Are we just close friends?"
"Yeah. W-Why do you suddenly ask that?"
"N-Nothing. Goodnight."