That morning, He Mingyu still won the gold medal in the standing long jump.
In the afternoon, Yan Xingqian and Sheng Xiaowen participated in the shot put and javelin events respectively. Like Zhou Anran, they weren’t particularly athletic, choosing these events mainly to participate. Unsurprisingly, they didn’t achieve any notable results.
The next day, the temperature in Nancheng rose by a few more degrees. Shortly after 9 AM, the sun was already blazing hot.
Chen Luobai came wearing a black baseball cap, which he soon placed on Zhou Anran’s head.
Zhou Anran watched the morning competitions wearing his cap.
Not long after the afternoon events began, Chen Luobai was called away by the math teacher.
When he returned, he pressed another can of soda into Zhou Anran’s hand.
Zhou Anran looked down and saw it was the same orange soda as yesterday. She glanced sideways and noticed he was holding the same cola as yesterday too.
Still wearing his baseball cap, her face suddenly felt hot again from the sun.
Zhou Anran squeezed the soda can in her hand, her heart racing, and asked him preemptively: “Are you sure you want cola? Do you want to switch with me now?”
Chen Luobai glanced at her, drawling teasingly: “Let’s not switch for now.”
Zhou Anran’s face grew even hotter: “Then there won’t be a chance to switch later.”
Chen Luobai reached over to open her can, the hair tie she gave him still around his wrist. He joked, “Feels like I’m getting worse treatment now.”
Zhou Anran: “…”
Her face burning, she didn’t want to discuss this further. She took a sip of soda and changed the subject: “What did the math teacher want?”
Chen Luobai opened his cola: “Talked about the midterm exams. Want to know your score?”
Eh?
Zhou Anran looked up at him again: “You know my score already? How much?”
Chen Luobai’s lips curled slightly as he said lazily: “Beg me and I’ll tell you.”
Zhou Anran: “…?”
This guy was addicted to teasing her.
“Forget it if you won’t tell me. I’ll find out tomorrow at the latest anyway.”
“Not going to beg?”
“Not begging.”
Chen Luobai held his cola can lazily: “Then I’ll beg you.”
Zhou Anran blinked: “What are you begging me for?”
The young man drawled, clearly teasing her again: “Begging you to beg me?”
Zhou Anran couldn’t help but laugh: “Chen Luobai, aren’t you bored?”
Chen Luobai nodded: “Now you think I’m boring, huh?”
He paused, then suddenly leaned in closer, his voice low near her ear: “Just confessed yesterday and already trying to back out?”
Zhou Anran’s ear tingled from his warm breath, and she shifted away slightly, afraid the teachers would see. Red-faced, she protested quietly: “Not at all. You’re the one bullying me.”
Chen Luobai raised an eyebrow: “How am I bullying you?”
Zhou Anran: “Making me beg just to tell me an exam score.”
“That counts as bullying?” Chen Luobai paused, giving her a meaningful look. “Then you don’t know what real bullying is.”
Zhou Anran: “…?”
She shifted away a bit more.
“Forget it if you won’t tell me.”
Seeing her cheeks puff out slightly, Chen Luobai’s lips curved again: “147.”
?
Zhou Anran looked up again in surprise: “You mean I got 147?”
Chen Luobai made an affirmative sound: “Told you my deskmate was amazing.”
Zhou Anran was a bit stunned.
She knew she’d done well, solving all the big questions at the end, but she was unsure about two or three small questions at the beginning. She thought she’d get 145 at most, not expecting to score two points higher than anticipated.
Her lips curved into a smile: “I should thank you for tutoring me.”
The last two big questions happened to be ones he’d explained to her.
Chen Luobai asked in a low voice: “How do you want to thank me? Not just with empty words, right?”
Zhou Anran took a sip of soda and thought for a moment: “Treat you to a meal this afternoon?”
Chen Luobai: “Just me?”
Zhou Anran felt a bit guilty: “I was thinking of inviting Qianqian and the others too.”
Knowing she scored high in math, her friends would expect her to treat them too.
Chen Luobai had an “I knew it” expression: “What else?”
Zhou Anran felt even more guilty: “Maybe invite Zhu Ran and the others too?”
Chen Luobai: “Did they tutor you too?”
Zhou Anran: “Well, Tang Jianrui invited us all out for his birthday the other day.”
Chen Luobai looked at her silently.
Zhou Anran tugged gently at his uniform: “Is that okay?”
Chen Luobai’s fingers tightened on the cola can.
Two seconds later, he relaxed them, his tone resigned but amused.
“You’re already wheedling me. How can I say no?”
*
At the closing ceremony of the sports meet that afternoon, the principal suddenly announced from the stage that the school basketball tournament would be revived next spring.
The crowd below instantly erupted in excitement.
The school had been doing well in professional high school leagues in recent years, but the internal basketball tournament hadn’t been held for several years. With high school life being a monotonous routine of daily studying, the news of a major event next semester thrilled everyone, whether they liked basketball or not.
Class 2 was no exception, of course.
On the way to eat off-campus after the closing ceremony, Zhou Anran heard several boys constantly discussing next semester’s basketball tournament.
Even after entering the private room at the restaurant and eating most of the meal, they continued the topic.
However, while on the way they had been discussing what format the revived spring tournament might take, now they were talking about which students in various classes were good at basketball. Somehow, the conversation turned to last semester’s basketball game.
“Wonder if Hu Kun will participate next semester,” Tang Jianrui said. “The principal didn’t say if those special recruitment students can join.”
Huang Shujie quickly finished a piece of ribs: “Who cares if he joins? We have Luo-ge. If we could crush their class last semester, we can do it again next semester.”
“True,” Tang Jianrui said with a laugh. “Plus we have Yan the Female Knight. If Hu Kun plays next year, Yan, please cover for us again like last year.”
Yan Xingqian was startled by this, instinctively looking at Zhou Anran in surprise.
Didn’t she say Chen Luobai had confessed to her? Why hadn’t she come clean about this yet?
But regardless of why Zhou Anran hadn’t revealed it, Yan Xingqian would stand by her side. If Zhou Anran wanted to keep it secret, she’d help her keep it secret: “Oh, I just happened to watch a game with my dad before. I haven’t watched in a long time now, so I probably can’t help you guys.”
Zhou Anran had a bad feeling as soon as Tang Jianrui suddenly brought up Yan Xingqian.
She knew how smart Chen Luobai was. Yan Xingqian’s surprised glance in her direction just now was enough to reveal something.
Sure enough, before she could figure out how to handle it, the young man’s lazy voice sounded in her ear: “It’s fine if you haven’t watched in a long time. As long as you remember that rule from back then – charging the ball instead of the player is a violation, right?”
Yan Xingqian didn’t even know what a violation was, but since she had supposedly “remembered the rules just from watching one game,” it wouldn’t make sense to say she’d completely forgotten now. She carefully recalled that Zhou Anran had indeed told her something like that back then.
Just as she was about to nod, Yan Xingqian heard a soft voice by her ear.
“Qianqian.”
Yan Xingqian blinked.
The next second, Chen Luobai had already stood up and grabbed Zhou Anran’s wrist.
“Come with me.”
The private room door opened, then closed.
After the two left, Tang Jianrui seemed to suddenly realize something: “Wait, didn’t Luo-ge just say it backward? Charging the player instead of the ball is a violation, right?”
Yan Xingqian: “…”
No wonder Zhou Anran had stopped her just now.
Zhu Ran, who was closest to Chen Luobai, had also happened to notice Yan Xingqian’s instinctive reaction earlier and probably guessed something: “He didn’t say it wrong. He was probably trying to trick Yan Xingqian.”
“Huh?” Tang Jianrui was confused. “Why would he trick Yan Xingqian for no reason?”
Zhu Ran didn’t answer him, just looked at Yan Xingqian: “The one who helped us that day was Zhou Anran?”
Yan Xingqian: “…”
Why were these people so perceptive?
She didn’t know how she had given it away so easily, but she wasn’t sure what Zhou Anran’s plan was now, so she didn’t admit it directly.
“What day?” She played dumb, then changed the subject. “Why did those two run out in the middle of eating?”
Sheng Xiaowen and Zhang Shuxian helped deflect: “Maybe they thought our wattage was too bright.”
*
After leaving the private room, Zhou Anran was pulled by Chen Luobai outside the restaurant.
The autumn night was noticeably cool.
Under the streetlight, the tall young man turned to look at her, his voice as deep as the night.
“The one who helped me that day was you, right?”
Zhou Anran didn’t hide it from him anymore and nodded slightly.
Chen Luobai had a guess that he dared not believe, feeling emotions surging uncontrollably in his chest: “Why did you help me? Didn’t you say we weren’t close? I don’t remember helping you before that.”
Zhou Anran wasn’t surprised at all about being exposed now.
She knew how smart he was.
Back then, she was able to fool him with the “not close” excuse because he didn’t know her well at the time. He had never paid attention to her before and knew nothing about her, so he easily believed all her false reasons.
But in these past two months, especially after the National Day holiday when they became desk mates, they spent almost every day together. If he didn’t know her inside out, he was at least very familiar with her now.
If not for this small incident, it would have been another. If not today, it would have been tomorrow or sometime in the future.
Just give him a little clue, and he could easily guess most of her hidden secrets.
But he liked her too, so she wasn’t afraid of being exposed anymore.
Zhou Anran gently kicked at the fallen leaves by her feet: “You did help me.”
Chen Luobai was stunned: “I helped you?”
Zhou Anran nodded. Although she was sure of his feelings now, she still felt a bit embarrassed, to be frank about these things, so she kept her head down, kicking at the leaves: “On registration day in our first year, I almost fell on the second floor. You steadied me.”
Chen Luobai was suddenly pulled back to the memory of that rainy day.
He had been hurrying upstairs when he saw someone about to fall and reflexively reached out to steady them. Because of the urgency, he hadn’t paid attention to where his hand landed, ending up with his arm around the girl’s soft, slender waist.
Feeling unusually awkward, he hadn’t looked at her face again and hadn’t given it another thought afterward.
Chen Luobai’s throat felt dry: “That was you?”
Zhou Anran nodded: “There was another time when Tang Jianrui and the others were playing basketball on the court. The ball accidentally flew out of bounds and almost hit me. You caught it for me.”
Chen Luobai vaguely remembered that too.
But he had just casually intercepted a ball, not even considering it as helping someone, so he hadn’t paid any attention to who had almost been hit.
So they had crossed paths so early on.
He had missed noticing her for so long.
“How did you—”
Chen Luobai’s heart was filled with a bittersweetness. He had wanted to ask her why she never told him, but halfway through the question, he realized there was no need.
It wasn’t just her naturally reserved personality.
Given how he had ignored her back then, how could she have approached him?
No wonder she had tried to run after giving him that gift that day.
No wonder she was always too shy to look at him at first.
No wonder she agreed to whatever he said and could be easily cheered up even when he upset her.
“That day—” Chen Luobai’s throat felt tight, “The day before the final exams last semester, when you were crying on the rooftop, was it because of me?”
Zhou Anran: “…”
How had he managed to guess this too?
Thinking back on it now, she still felt a bit embarrassed.
She pressed her lips together, not wanting to hide it from him anymore, mainly because she couldn’t anyway.
“Mm.”
Chen Luobai closed his eyes briefly.
No wonder the more he tried to comfort her that day, the harder she cried.
“I’m sorry.”
Zhou Anran: “You don’t need to apologize to me.”
It wasn’t like he had made her fall for him.
All the bitterness and sadness back then had been her own choice.
Besides, falling for him wasn’t just bitterness and sadness. Sometimes when he glanced her way, or when she accidentally bought the same thing as him, she would be secretly happy for a long time.
Moreover, because he was so excellent, it gave her more motivation to improve herself.
She never felt that just because he hadn’t noticed her, he owed her anything.
“You didn’t do anything wrong.”
Chen Luobai lowered his gaze and stared at her for two seconds, then suddenly reached out to take her hand again: “Will you come with me?”
Zhou Anran was startled: “Where to?”
Chen Luobai pulled her forward: “To make amends on behalf of that slightly blind Chen Luobai from back then.”
Zhou Anran let him lead her a few steps, then hurriedly said: “I told you, you don’t owe me anything.”
Chen Luobai: “Then let me make up for my regrets from back then.”
Zhou Anran blinked, then seemed to remember something: “Wait, I haven’t paid the bill yet.”
After settling the bill, Zhou Anran was led by Chen Luobai to a nearby arcade.
On a Friday night, the arcade was quite busy. Zhou Anran followed him through the crowds, finally stopping in front of a row of claw machines.
“Are we here to play the claw machine?”
Chen Luobai made an affirmative sound as he bought tokens: “Don’t you like rabbits? I’ll get you as many as you want tonight.”
Zhou Anran had been here once with Yan Xingqian and the others.
They had all tried these claw machines, but none of them had managed to win a single toy. Often, the claw would shake just as it reached the chute, dropping the toy back into the machine.
She wanted to warn him, but seeing his jaw still tense, she was afraid stopping him from playing would upset him more, so she said nothing.
When Chen Luobai inserted the tokens and placed his hand on the joystick, her heart lifted slightly.
The mechanical claw grabbed a small white rabbit, swaying as it turned towards the chute, and then…
It dropped steadily into the prize slot.
Eh?
He could do it!
Chen Luobai bent down to pick up the little rabbit. As he turned, he saw the girl’s delighted expression, her dimples showing slightly. The restlessness and regret churning in his heart seemed to finally ease a little.
He stuffed the rabbit into her arms: “Hold on to it.”
Zhou Anran watched as he turned back to the machine.
Soon, a second rabbit joined the first in her arms.
Then a third, fourth, fifth, sixth…
“Isn’t this enough?” Zhou Anran said softly. “I can barely hold anymore.”
Chen Luobai turned around with the seventh rabbit.
The girl was hugging a pile of rabbits. With her own gentle and adorable features, holding all these soft white rabbits, the scene was incredibly cute.
Chen Luobai’s lips curled into a smile as he stuffed the seventh one into her arms too: “Wait here.”
Seeing him finally smile, Zhou Anran felt slightly relieved.
She stood there for a moment, then saw Chen Luobai push a small cart over.
Zhou Anran placed all the rabbits from her arms into the cart.
Chen Luobai rested his hand on the cart: “Shall we continue with rabbits, or do you want something else?”
Zhou Anran: “Either is fine.”
As long as he’s happy.
Chen Luobai pushed the cart to the next machine: “Then I’ll get you a few of each.”
Then to the third machine, the fourth…
Soon, the small cart was full too.
Zhou Anran noticed his jaw was no longer as tense as before and asked softly: “Isn’t this enough? How many are you planning to get?”
Chen Luobai didn’t turn his head: “365, I guess. To make up for each day the first-year Chen Luobai didn’t give you one.”
Zhou Anran’s lips curved: “The owner will kick you out if you do that.”
The young man turned his head, eyebrow slightly raised: “You’re my accomplice now. If the owner kicks anyone out, it’ll be both of us. Are you scared?”
Zhou Anran: “…”
What accomplice?
Her lips still curved: “I am scared.”
She paused, then gathered her courage to reach out and pull his hand from the joystick: “So isn’t this enough? Remember you still owe me one favor. I want to use it now. Let’s leave the past in the past. I’m very happy now, and we already have dozens here. You can give me one or two each month on behalf of first-year Chen Luobai. Don’t be upset, and don’t feel like you have any regrets.”
Chen Luobai’s gaze fell on her hand gripping his wrist.
Zhou Anran’s ears heated up, but she didn’t let go.
“Zhou Anran.” Chen Luobai’s heart melted, and he called her name softly. “Are you silly? When I gave you that favor back then, it was for you to ask something for yourself, not for you to ask something for my sake.”
Zhou Anran looked up at him: “But the favor belongs to me, so I decide how to use it, right? Don’t tell me you’re going back on your word now.”
Chen Luobai gazed at her intently, not responding.
Zhou Anran couldn’t help but ask softly again: “So if you’re keeping your word, will you not be upset anymore?”
Chen Luobai lowered his gaze again, looking at her hand on his wrist. He paused for a second, then looked back at her face, watching her quietly for two seconds before moving his hand slightly downward, grasping her hand in return.
Zhou Anran felt her fingers being slowly separated.
The warm lighting in the arcade made the young man’s expression seem gentle, his voice low and tender.
“Alright, I’ll listen to my future girlfriend.”