At that moment, Liu Ye broke free from Liu Zhou's grip.
"Old Liu, are you trying to choke me to death?"
"Who told you to have such wandering hands!" Liu Zhou said through gritted teeth.
Ignoring Liu Zhou's murderous glare, Liu Ye asked with a curious look:
"Old Liu, how does a big guy like you use this kind of thing? Tell the Truth, do you have a girlfriend?"
Liu Zhou collected himself, ignoring him entirely, and instead turned to explain to Zeng Li and Yuan Quan:
"My feet are killing me from standing all day in military training, so I thought about buying a pack of sanitary pads to use as insoles. It should make things a bit more comfortable."
The university issued uniform clothing for military training, and the shoes were those military-green cloth shoes with rather stiff soles. Since they were all used to soft sneakers, the cloth shoes felt particularly rock-hard.
Using sanitary pads as insoles was a trick Liu Zhou had seen online in his future life; he had no idea if it would actually work.
Still, since the method had circulated quite widely back then, he figured it had to be somewhat useful.
That was why Liu Zhou had sneaked out to buy sanitary pads, never expecting to run right into the three of them.
Hearing Liu Zhou's explanation, the two beauties stopped looking at him like he was some kind of pervert. Instead, they said in surprise:
"Liu Zhou, you really have a smart head on your shoulders. Why didn't we think of that?"
"Yeah, standing all day makes your feet ache like crazy—it's even more tiring than regular practice," Yuan Quan added.
When it came to understanding sanitary pads, women were obviously the experts.
Seeing this, Liu Zhou immediately swallowed his pride and asked which brands had softer and thicker materials.
Zeng Li smiled and said:
"Liu Zhou, stay right there and don't move. I'll go pick another pack for you."
With that, the two girls headed back into the shop, leaving Liu Zhou with a vague feeling that he had somehow been taken advantage of, though he couldn't quite figure out why.
At that moment, Liu Ye chimed in shamelessly:
"Get a pack for me too, while you're at it."
"Liu Zhou had the guts to buy them himself, don't you?"
"Aren't you grabbing them on the way anyway?"
In the end, Zeng Li and Yuan Quan did pick up extra packs for Liu Zhou and Liu Ye, and the four of them slowly walked back toward the school.
Suddenly, Zeng Li spoke up:
"Liu Zhou, do you need any sunscreen?"
"I've already bought some."
"Old Liu, a big guy like you actually wears sunscreen?"
Ignoring Liu Ye's habitual fussing, Liu Zhou noticed that Zeng Li and Yuan Quan looked somewhat curious, so he explained:
"You both know I'm from Yangcheng. Compared to the humid and muggy weather down there, the dry northern climate takes some getting used to, so I picked up a few skincare items."
Maybe other people thought wearing sunscreen was unmanly, but Liu Zhou knew better than to make things hard on himself.
When it came to cosmetics in this era, sunscreen wasn't exactly rare.
While people were more familiar with domestic staples like Dabao or Modu-made Liushen Florida Water, brands like Avon and L'Oréal had already entered the domestic market, and Olay was already known to many.
Seeing that Liu Zhou had already bought his own sunscreen, Zeng Li didn't press the topic further. Instead, she smiled and said:
"Liu Zhou, you really live a refined life!"
"What's so refined about me? I just prepared a bit ahead of time. It's mostly just that Liu Ye, this roughneck, makes me look good by comparison."
The four of them parted ways at the intersection. As soon as Liu Zhou and Liu Ye were out of earshot, Yuan Quan couldn't help laughing and asked:
"Lizi, you haven't fallen for Liu Zhou, have you?"
"No way!" Zeng Li hurriedly denied.
"Then why did you suddenly start caring about him?"
"Didn't he just teach us the trick about using sanitary pads for our shoes? I was just returning the favor."
"You might fool someone else with that line, but you won't fool me. Look at the way you're staring at Liu Zhou—it's completely different."
Compared to their other classmates, Zeng Li and Yuan Quan knew each other exceptionally well.
They had been classmates at the opera academy, both majoring in Qingyi roles, and later they were even assigned to the same theater troupe.
Only Yuan Quan had left earlier, spending quite some time with her parents in Beijing before returning to study at the Central Academy of Drama all over again.
Though they had been apart for a while, their bond remained as close as ever.
"I haven't fallen for him. I just think he's a bit different from the other guys, though I can't quite put my finger on how. I'm just curious, that's all."
"Curious my foot! You've clearly got a crush," Yuan Quan teased with a smile.
Hearing that, Zeng Li lunged to grab her, but Yuan Quan laughed and ran off.
"Don't run! I'm going to wipe that smirk right off your face."
"Admit it, I hit the nail on the head! Haha!"
Chasing and dodging, the two girls headed toward the girls' dormitory building.
Right at that moment, Xia Yu and Tian Yu happened to see the two graceful, frolicking figures, and their eyes instantly glued themselves to the pair.
"Holy cow!"
"Gorgeous!"
The two of them sighed in unison.
They didn't look away until the girls vanished from sight, at which point they exchanged a glance.
"Don't tell me you've got the hots for one of them again?" Tian Yu asked.
"I've got the hots for both of them!"
"Oh, give it a rest. Didn't you say you were into the senior student just a while ago? That didn't last three minutes either."
"This time it feels different. I actually feel a sense of belonging when I look at them," Xia Yu said earnestly.
"Get lost, you greedy bastard. What are you going to do next, try to have both imperial consorts at once?"
With that, Tian Yu ignored his precocious classmate and headed toward the cafeteria.
Meanwhile, Liu Zhou and Liu Ye reached the bottom of their dormitory building.
"Old Liu, do you think if we tell the others about the sanitary pad trick, they'll be so grateful they treat us to dinner?"
"They probably would, but I think we shouldn't tell them just yet. Watching them suffer with sore feet sounds like way too much fun."
"True! Man, you're wicked, haha!"
"Get lost!"
Liu Zhou stopped entertaining the chatterbox and strode toward their dorm.
Back inside, finding his roommates slumped limply in their chairs, Liu Zhou smiled and announced:
"Let me show you guys a foot-saving artifact."
...
The next day, as everyone headed out for breakfast, Liu Zhou spotted Qin Hao walking ahead and hurried to catch up.
"Qin Hao, did you pad yours?"
"Pad what?"
"Your shoes, of course!"
Hearing that, Qin Hao stopped in his tracks and said with a stern face:
"Liu Zhou, that remark is a grave insult to my dignity. Do you really think someone of my height needs pads?"
Realizing Qin Hao had misunderstood, Liu Zhou figured guys were all equally sensitive about their height.
"Who said anything about height boosters? I'm talking about sanitary pads! They protect your feet so military training doesn't hurt as much. I told Liu Ye all about it last night—didn't he tell you guys? Everyone in our dorm used them!"
"That little jerk! No wonder he was acting all sneaky last night."
Pouring salt in the wound, Liu Zhou put on an innocent, sugary-sweet act:
"Liu Ye really shouldn't have done that. I thought for sure he'd mention it to you. If I'd known he wasn't going to say anything, I would have told you myself."
"Old Liu, this isn't your fault, you were just trying to help. Just watch, I'm going to round up the others and we'll go settle the score with him."
Seeing how things were turning out, Liu Zhou decided to say no more. There was such a thing as overdoing it.
As for pranking Liu Ye, Liu Zhou felt zero psychological pressure whatsoever.
He didn't care what kind of fate awaited Liu Ye next.
Over the next few days, alongside the usual attentiones and adstantes, they added goose-stepping to the routine—an even more agonizing exercise.
Every single phase of the goose-step had to be practiced repeatedly, making their feet hurt even worse.
Liu Zhou began to feel like the sanitary pads were utterly useless; his feet hurt just as much as ever.
However, the moment he took the pads out and realized how much worse his feet felt without them, he understood they were still doing some good.
As he slowly grew accustomed to it, military training actually started to feel quite fulfilling, with every hour of the day tightly scheduled.
They ate on time, rested on time, and spent their days either holding military posture, practicing squad maneuvers, running, or learning military boxing. Basking in the blazing sun and sweating it out left no one with any extra energy to stir up trouble.
The training results were strikingly obvious. Within just a few days, everyone's vigor and alertness had emerged. Though they had tanned a bit, standing straight and neat gave them a presence that immediately commanded attention.
In the final days of military training, aside from basic drills, another major highlight was engaging in rousing battles of military song competition against the other platoons, led by their instructors.
There was no trick to these contests; it was purely a matter of who could shout the loudest.
Swept up in the moment, a bunch of stubborn youths—girls included—pushed themselves to the absolute limit, screaming at the top of their lungs.
For a while, the entire parade ground echoed with booming, overlapping military songs, forming a vibrant spectacle of its own.
Yet as satisfying as the daytime shouting was, the nighttime brought sheer misery, with throats aching agonizingly.
For the students of the Department of Directing and Playwriting, however, that wasn't even the worst part. The true torment was the assignment given by their head teacher.
At first, everyone had prepared at a leisurely pace, but as the end of military training drew closer, panic began to set in.
Liu Zhou, on the other hand, remained completely calm; he had already decided on his topic.
Stage plays and feature film scripts were naturally out of the question. As a fresh student just entering the academy, there was no need to flash breathtaking talent—just enough to catch the head teacher's eye would do.
So this time, Liu Zhou opted for a micro-movie script, and he planned to start writing it over the next couple of days.