<b>Chapter 234: Award Ceremony (Part one)</b>


    Two dayster, at the Yanjing Military Martial Arts Venue, many buses arrived, and the soldiers were all present in their military region’s uniforms because this was themendation event after thepetition.


    Every participating soldier came in formal military attire, and the muscr soldiers standing in rows gave off a very energetic feeling. Here, you wouldn’t see any young meat (TL note: ng for young boys with silky smooth skin). These were all tough men that had been throughbat.


    Xu Cheng also saw familiar faces, including Ye Qiu and the others. Although still injured, they all came to attend the event. Now, only those that couldn’t get out of bed were still resting at the hospital; those that could move all came.


    Daoba Li looked a bit awkward when he saw Xu Cheng. He walked over and said to Xu Cheng, “About what happened in the past, I’m sorry.”


    “It’s fine, I already beat you up. But if you don’t feel satisfied in the future, I can give you another beating.”


    Daoba Li lifted his eyebrows and thenughed. “Don’t worry, next time we still won’t know who will be the one doing the beating.”


    Then, both of them walked into the venue, and inside, the over 500 participating soldiers all walked to their seats which had been arranged by the military regions.


    Xu Cheng saw Commander Xie, the Chief of Staff of the 5th MR, and Instructor Yan sitting in the first row. This year, the seating was quite interesting. Due to the unexpected ascension to first ce, the seating area of the 5th Military Region was at the very front. The smile on Commander Xie, and the Chief of Staff’s faces just didn’t stop; it was just such a satisfying feeling to sit at the front with everyone looking at the back of their heads.


    Once everyone had been seated, a couple of generalmanders walked in, and everyone stood up to salute. Then, the national anthem began ying with the g being raised in the stadium, and everyone remained standing and sang quietly.


    Then, everyone sat down, and the generalmanders went up to give a speech, motivating the soldiers.


    “It would only be a country if there’s a home, and protecting the country is protecting our home, protecting the hundreds and thousands of homes. This year, you have all disyed excellent capabilities, and I hope that no matter where you are assigned to in the future, you can all be the backbone that protects the stability and safety of our country. The stronger you guys are, the stronger the people’s sense of identity and the more prosperous the nation will be. I hope that in the future, you will always live by the duty of a soldier. I’m proud of you all for constantly working hard to better yourselves.”


    Thunderous apuse sounded from the crowd.


    Themander finished his simple speech as he gently looked at the crowd, and then he passed the podium to someone else to continue the following ceremony.


    First, all the soldiers that participated in thispetition would be promoted one rank. Those rookies that came to thepetition this year usually didn’t have any ranking or merits, yet being able to be selected to participate in thispetition was already enough to reward them. So, all the rookies were promoted to the second lieutenant rank, with a corresponding badge, uniform, and certificate. As for the veterans that were already promoted in the previous years, they wouldn’t get another one if they didn’t get into the top 200 and would only get a participatory honor certificate.


    The rewards were handed to them by themanders of their military region, and the rookies all couldn’t be more excited as they epted with both hands. Some even had red and teary eyes, but they knew what asion this was and quickly wiped their tears off before and stood up tall as they epted the awards.


    Then, it was time to give out the awards from the 100 to 200th ce. The rookies would be promoted two ranks, and the veterans could get a promotion as well.


    Xu Cheng and the others all apuded and congratted the recipients.


    After this segment was over, the host said in a serious tone, “Now, let us wee the 51st to 100th ranked soldiers of this junglepetition to the stage.”