Instructor, My Heart Rate Is Off the Charts

Lin Xiaoxing, an art student, is sent by her father to a special forces vehicle training camp, where she crosses paths with Lu Chenzhou, a cold-faced squad leader. He teaches her to identify parts and gives her a bullet casing to use as a bookmark. He even welds hundreds of casings into a tank model, yet leaves without a word beneath the starry sky. Three years later, they meet again while sketching in the mountains. He stands tall in his crisp uniform, and she is no longer the girl who would burst into tears at the slightest thing. “Three years ago, was it a mission?” she asks. He takes the bullet-casing bookmark, polished smooth and bright, from his breast pocket. This time, the answer is written in the starlight.