The team leader said helplessly, “The company leader and I immediately rushed over.” The team leader joked, “How was your sleep in the security room? Any particular feeling?”
“No, no particular feeling. I just feel that the pickets in our school are really strict. I almost fought with them last night, but luckily, I suppressed it. The male students often complain that pickets are not easy to deal with. Frankly, I didn’t have any comments before, but now I finally know how they felt.”
The team leader couldn’t help laughing, “That’s because you rarely walk around on campus. Even if you walk around, you’re always straight and upright; it’s obvious for the pickets to know whether you are qualified or unqualified.”
“But you can’t blame the pickets for this matter. Ye Jian, you are a smart student. I believe you can understand it without me explaining too much. The pickets must always be kept on the watch to play a role in picketing and restraint. Sometimes when students go out for vacation, they will bring back their little bad habits because they have relaxed their minds. And the pickets’ responsibility is to keep an eye on those bad habits and correct them.”
“For example, you return to school in the middle of the night, although we all know it was due to special circumstances, the pickets did not know that, and they would definitely perform their duties in order to maintain the order in the school. I hope you don’t put this matter to heart.”
“They are soldiers, and they also shoulder their responsibilities. You are a student, so they have the right to take necessary actions. Even if they sometimes deal with things badly, you must know that their main purpose is to make sure every student is up to a soldier’s requirements.”
“You see, do you think they usually embarrass students without injustice or reason? No, they only deal with things, not people. They don’t deliberately target the students.”
“Just like you, Ye Jian, I believe that the picket team has heard of your name, but they didn’t let you go because it was you, which shows that they handle things fairly and justly.”
Because Ye Jian was locked up in the security room and had to sleep there for a night, the team leader was worried that she would complain about the pickets, so he was very careful to explain the situation to her, so she wouldn’t put the matter to heart.
The school was already very lively at 6 o’clock in the morning. A deafening sound of exercise could be heard coming from the fields. After a week of vacation, each class was engaged in a new round of training.
One class of students was still wearing their summer physical fitness uniform, shouting neatly “one, two, three…” slogans across the runway under the shady woods as they began their daily morning jog.
Ye Jian listened to the familiar marching sounds. After the team leader finished speaking, she smiled and said, “I understand what you mean, don’t worry, I didn’t feel aggrieved. I just felt a little angry that they didn’t want to return my ID to me even after I explained to them several times.”
“But it wasn’t to the point that I wanted to quarrel with them. If we really fought, I would only be at fault in the end, no matter what reasons I can come up with.”
“The pickets have their responsibilities, I understand; that’s why I didn’t complain when I was locked up in the security room for a few hours.”
While talking, Ye Jian laughed, “I think it must be very hard to enter the school compound if I hadn’t had a valid reason last night. Not every student gets to have the chance to stay a night in the security room. Now I can say that I have had my fair share of experience. Hey, at least, this leaves some memories for me.”
Seeing that she did not have any complaints, the team leader felt relieved. He then said with a smile, “The students have been picked up by pickets before; even school leaders have been arrested.”
“There was once a combat unit’s Brigade Commander was caught by a picket and was even issued a ticket because he didn’t button up collar properly. After he buttoned his collar properly, the picket still severely criticized him before letting him off.”
