"The day the red-headed document was posted, it was raining in Pingchuan."
"More than 2,000 people across the province signed up, and 48 were chosen. Forty-eight people sat in the same classroom, thinking this was the end."
"They ran on the cinder track together, stacked tofu blocks together, carried sandbags along the Xiangjiang River together, and were awakened by whistles in the middle of the night together."
"Three years later, all forty-eight people were admitted to the same military academy."
"On the day they were divided into classes, they were separated. They passed each other in the corridor, and some of them never spoke to each other again."
"Another six months later, the phone rang late at night. Eight of them were called to an unlisted house."
"There are eight strangers sitting across the table."
"The men said to them: 'You have been elected for three years.'"
"Then hand over a piece of paper."
"Sign it and treat what happened tonight as if it never happened. Go back tomorrow and continue to be your ordinary student."
"They signed it."
"When we walked out of that door, eight people stood in the hallway and looked at each other."
"No one said anything."
"But they knew something was different from that day."
Intention: Comrades are not selected, they are shouldered together. Senior brothers are not called out, they are beaten out together.