Chapter Thirteen: You Call This Tea Serving, Soldier?

“Aping, what plans do you have for tonight?”
After dinner, his colleagues smiled and looked toward Tan Ping.

“I want to get some exercise!”
Tan Ping replied with a smile.

It had been his habit ever since he enlisted in the army.

“You young people are really different! Full of energy. I’m getting old; I can’t keep up with all this anymore!”
Master Wang Xingyun chuckled and shook his head.

“You all go ahead with your workouts, I’ll take a walk around!”

The local transportation department had arranged for Tan Ping and his team to stay in a courtyard in the suburbs.

The area was spacious, perfect for training.

Before starting his workout, Tan Ping opened Douyin and began a live stream.

He knew well that streaming on the official platform would accumulate followers under the official account.

Most of the casual viewers were attracted by the entertaining content about traffic law education.

The best way to build a personal fan base was to showcase one’s unique style on this platform and guide traffic accordingly.

Otherwise, if the traffic law program changed hosts, Tan Ping would be out of the picture.

At this moment, a video about drunk driving checks posted by Officer Rabbit was gaining traction, gathering over twenty thousand likes in just a few hours.

Tan Ping also had a personal account linked to the official platform.

Some viewers, after watching the official traffic commentary videos, were intrigued enough to click into Tan Ping’s personal account.

“Oh? Officer Tan, you’re live streaming this late?”

Seeing Tan Ping go live, netizens surprisedly sent barrage comments asking.

“I just finished dinner, planning to exercise a bit!”

Tan Ping had taken off his police uniform and put on a tank top.

The shirt didn’t reveal much when worn, but once removed, his strong muscles became instantly visible.

“Officer Tan, your physique looks really great. Do you often go to the gym?”

One netizen asked.

“Not really! Our job keeps me busy from dawn till dusk. Finding a spot to work out casually is already a blessing!”
Tan Ping replied with a smile.

“Officer Tan, your physique is my ideal type. Could you teach me how you trained it?”

The same netizen continued in the chat.

Tan Ping glanced at the screen; the live viewers had grown from a few to over a hundred.

“I just train casually! I stick to push-ups and sit-ups every day, and if possible, some pull-ups too!”

As he spoke, he was warming up.

“Officer Tan, I see on your profile that you used to be in the military?”

Another netizen asked.

“Yes! Served in the army for a few years before transferring to become a traffic police officer.”

Tan Ping nodded; it was no secret.

“Officer Tan, we’re comrades! I was in the military too. What branch did you serve in?”

An ex-soldier enthusiastically typed.

“I was in the army!”

Tan Ping glanced at the comments and replied.

“No way! Me too! I was an army scout!”

The veteran began to reveal his background.

“Comrade, we’re colleagues. I used to be the 'tea soldier'—when I first joined the company, I was responsible for serving the company commander’s tea!”

Tan Ping looked at the comments and smiled.

“Hahaha! Officer Tan, the guy above is a scout—that’s the predecessor of special forces, quite impressive! And you’re a tea soldier, serving drinks and managing logistics, quite different!”

The netizens laughed and sent messages.

“Officer Tan, with your physique, were you just a runner in the army? I find that hard to believe.”

The ex-soldier doubted in the chat.

“The army has many outstanding individuals, but I’m really quite ordinary.”

Tan Ping humbly replied.

By then, he was ready. “Friends, I’m about to do some push-ups, so I won’t be able to respond to comments for a while. Please excuse me!”

“Go ahead, Officer Tan, exercise away!”

“Yes! I want to see how good the fitness level of a former soldier really is!”

“I’m a fitness coach and do push-ups regularly. I’ll join you!”

“Right! Just like the drinking videos, all of us iron-pumping brothers will join in!”

With that, many viewers propped their phones up, ready to do push-ups alongside Tan Ping.

Seeing their enthusiasm, Tan Ping smiled and nodded. “Life is movement! Friends interested, let’s do some push-ups together! We’ll just keep it simple with a few.”

“I was a soldier too! Haven’t done this in a while, body’s a bit rusty. It’s rare to meet a comrade today, so I’ll join in!”

“Count me in!”

More netizens joined the stream—fitness coaches, veterans, and sports professionals alike.

Tan Ping began doing push-ups in front of the camera.

He started with the standard form.

This style mainly trains the pectoral muscles. The technique requires hands slightly wider than the shoulders, feet together, chest out, core tight, then bending the elbows to lower the body until the chest is about one centimeter from the ground, pause briefly, and then push up quickly with chest strength.

Watching Tan Ping’s form, the ex-soldiers in the chat showed nostalgic expressions. One commented, “Familiar routine, familiar feeling! It’s been eight years since I left the military camp…”

“Same here! Push-ups were the most common exercise in the army.”

“Too bad! I lost my shape after leaving service; now I even have a belly!”

Tan Ping counted aloud as he exercised: “One, two, three, four...”

He soon completed fifteen standard push-ups with excellent form.

Next, he moved onto close-grip push-ups and did another fifteen.

“These are close-grip push-ups, much harder than the standard ones! They mainly train the inner chest and triceps.”

A knowledgeable viewer explained in the chat.

“Whoa! Officer Tan’s doing wide-grip push-ups now!”

“That’s the side-to-side sway style...”

“Alternating elbow raises...”

“Crawling knee raises...”

“Explosive push-ups...”

“Side shuffles...”

“All these are the eight push-up styles often practiced in the military!”

“Watching Officer Tan do push-ups reminds me of our nightly routine in the barracks!”

“At first, the squad leader said to do eight push-ups, but before we knew it, we ended up doing eight sets of eight reps...”

Tan Ping finished the first round of the eight push-up styles and didn’t rest, continuing on.

Soon, he completed a second round.

By this point, many viewers were astonished. “Officer Tan must have done over 240 push-ups in one go, right?”

“Yeah! And he looks like he’s just warming up!”

“Is this the endurance of a regular conscript?”

“I can’t keep up!”

“If it were just regular push-ups, I could do two or three hundred no problem, but these are fancy variations!”

Fully in the rhythm of his workout, Tan Ping ignored the chat and pressed on.

Under the watchful eyes of over a thousand viewers, he completed yet another round of the eight push-up styles.

“Wow! Another 120 push-ups; that’s 360 total, right?”

“Officer Tan’s calm and composed—this endurance is amazing!”

“Whew!”

By now, Tan Ping pushed himself off the ground.

His military tank top was soaked with sweat, clinging to his body, radiating a primal energy.

“Does anyone know what Officer Tan did in the army exactly?”

“Do you really call that ‘tea soldier’?”