Shi Niannian remained stunned for a long while, leaning her face back slightly, taking the ice-cold cola in her hand.

The side of her face that had been pressed against the can was cool and moist, the heat from her exercise finally dissipating.

She looked at Jiang Wang, not understanding why his anger had disappeared, and stammered: “Thank you.”

Jiang Wang supported himself on his knees and asked: “Why didn’t you take first place?”

“She was too… fast,” she replied slowly, her clear eyes looking at him.

This was her unique gaze—clean yet somehow hollow, without much emotion, as if nothing could make her angry, easily convincing others to believe whatever she said.

Jiang Wang snorted softly: “So you know how to lie.”

Shi Niannian hadn’t expected her lie to be completely seen through, felt embarrassed, and blushed.

Her fingertips tapped on the cold cola can.

“Can’t… be faster than her.”

“Afraid that if you took her first place, those people would bully you again?”

She nodded very slightly, still with a calm expression.

Not showing a trace of dissatisfaction or grievance, as if whether she won first place or not simply didn’t matter, as though she had reached a state of enlightenment.

Jiang Wang had been competitive ever since Jiang Chen first hit him when he was young. He had fought his whole life, and when he was younger, he fought fiercely and viciously, without considering consequences.

He couldn’t understand Shi Niannian’s personality.

Jiang Wang slightly curled his lip and glanced away.

The sports meet was especially lively, with many students from other schools who had sneaked in wearing No. 1 High School uniforms. Cheers and screams filled the air.

After the women’s 800 meters, another round of new competitions began.

The starter pistol’s sound pierced the clouds.

The sound made Jiang Wang’s ears a bit numb. He reached up to gently adjust the hearing aid in his ear canal, turning his head toward the field.

Shi Niannian placed the cold cola can beside her and reached into her pocket.

Because she was running the 800 meters, Jiang Ling, afraid of her getting low blood sugar, had taken her to the school store in the morning to buy something.

Two candies.

Wrapped in semi-transparent fluorescent wrappers that made a rustling sound when rubbed.

She unwrapped one and put it in her mouth.

Jiang Wang turned his gaze back from the field to see Shi Niannian extending her hand to him, a small orange candy sitting in her snow-white palm.

“For earlier,” she pursed her lips, speaking with effort and sincerity, without stuttering this time. “Thank you.”

Jiang Wang looked at the girl’s clean palm for a moment, then raised an eyebrow and smiled: “Just this?”

Shi Niannian looked at him, not understanding.

Jiang Wang raised his hand to point at his brow bone, where the blood mark had formed a shallow scab, adding a completely different flavor to such a face.

“One candy for one injury?”

Shi Niannian also felt that her thank you seemed too small.

She lowered her eyelids, closing her fingers again to grasp the candy back.

Just as she was about to withdraw her hand, Jiang Wang snatched the candy.

He unwrapped it and tossed it into his mouth.

He braced his hand on the cement ground and sat down on the step next to Shi Niannian, dusting off his dirty palm.

He sat close, his thigh touching hers.

She was still wearing loose shorts that reached mid-thigh, which brushed against Jiang Wang’s athletic pants that outlined his thigh muscles. She felt uncomfortable and inconspicuously moved a little to the side.

Jiang Wang chewed the candy into pieces in two bites.

Fruit candy, sweet and sour, is quite tasty.

“Got any more?” he asked.

“…What?”

“Candy.”

“No more.”

Jiang Wang glanced at her: “So stingy.”

So she turned her pants pockets inside out to show him: “Really… no more.”

The young man suddenly leaned closer, bringing the hot air around his body with him, smiling ambiguously: “Don’t you have one more in your mouth?”

His voice was very pleasant to hear.

Especially when tinged with amusement, it carried a lazy quality, emerging from his throat, slightly deeper than other boys’ voices, making one’s heart flutter.

Shi Niannian found Jiang Ling at the edge of the high jump field.

“I’ve been looking for you everywhere! After I squeezed my way down, I couldn’t find you. Where did you go?” Jiang Ling asked, holding her arm.

Shi Niannian replied: “Washed my… face.”

“Are you still tired? I checked your results—you were less than a second slower than Cheng Qi,” Jiang Ling said with a smile.

“Not very tired.”

“Let’s go watch the high jump. There are so many people there!”

Shi Niannian was pulled by Jiang Ling toward the high jump field.

After walking a few steps forward, she looked back and saw Jiang Wang being stopped by Xu Fei, who was carrying a basketball, as they walked toward the basketball court.

After Jiang Wang had said those words earlier, she had simply walked away.

This person… was always so inexplicably strange.

Jiang Ling pulled Shi Niannian to sit on the brick-red ground. Three circles of spectators surrounded the high jump area. Each attempt to clear a higher height, each leap over the bar, whether successful or not, was an event that easily attracted onlookers.

The sun was too fierce. Jiang Ling borrowed a school uniform jacket from a nearby boy and propped it above their head, including Shi Niannian, under the shade.

After watching the competition for a while, she took out her phone to play with.

“Hey, Niannian,” she nudged with her elbow.

Shi Niannian leaned over to look at her phone.

“Teacher Cai agreed that we don’t have to attend the evening study session tonight!” Jiang Ling said excitedly.

The phone screen reflected light, and Shi Niannian couldn’t see clearly: “…Holiday?”

“Watch a movie!” Jiang Ling said. “Chen Shushu has already gone to select a good movie!”

Xu Fei was naturally sociable. After playing basketball with Jiang Wang once, he treated him like a good brother, inviting him to play every time. Jiang Wang had declined several times due to lack of interest, but Xu Fei didn’t mind.

“Wang, I think your phone is ringing!” Xu Fei came off the court, took a sip of water, and pointed to the clothes lying on the ground.

He bent down to take the phone from his pocket, and indeed, there was a call.

He unintentionally glimpsed the contact name and paused.

—Coach.

“What kind of coach is this? For training?” he asked casually as he handed over the phone.

Jiang Wang glanced at him without answering, thanked him, took the phone, and walked to a space before answering.

“Xu Fei! Come on!” Someone tossed a basketball to him.

Xu Fei caught it with one hand: “Coming!”

On the other side.

“Hello?” Jiang Wang answered the phone.

“You little rascal, have you forgotten about your coach? It’s been so long, and you haven’t come to see me once?” the male voice on the phone said.

He laughed ambiguously, with a hint of rakishness: “Busy studying.”

“You don’t plan to come back?”

A moment of silence.

The coach sighed: “You truly have talent, and I don’t want you to give up like this. Besides, your ears aren’t completely deaf. Intensive practice would help you recover as much as possible. I still hope you’ll try again.”

He lowered his head, his bangs casting shadows between his eyebrows: “It’s not like I haven’t tried.”

“We can take it step by step. I know you were always number one before, and you might not be satisfied with your current performance, but there’s still hope.”

“I’ve already wasted a year,” Jiang Wang said calmly. “Even if my ears hadn’t been damaged, this year would have allowed others to catch up to me by a large margin.”

Although the coach wanted to give him more hope with all his might, he knew better than Jiang Wang that what he said was indeed true.

In competitive sports, not a single day could be wasted, let alone an entire year.

Without systematic training and planning, spending every day in a sunless prison.

The gap created during this year couldn’t be made up with a period of intensive training, and not everyone could endure it.

The first day of the sports meet ended, and everyone returned to the classroom in small groups after dinner.

Because of the sports meet, the previous studious atmosphere was completely gone. No one in the classroom was studying; everyone was chatting and playing around.

When Jiang Wang returned to class, Shi Niannian was chatting with Jiang Ling.

It was rare to see her not studying at this hour.

He had just smoked outside and was now chewing gum. Fan Mengming had called him in the evening to go out together, but he wasn’t interested.

He glanced to the side and saw Jiang Ling huddled next to Shi Niannian with her camera.

“Look, this is you during the 800 meters that I took!” Jiang Ling showed her the photos one by one, seeking praise.

She had taken many, from the start to crossing the finish line.

“Aren’t they good?”

Shi Niannian wasn’t used to praising herself, so after a pause, she only said: “The photos are very good.”

“Of course they are! Let me show you even better ones!” Jiang Ling took back the camera, clicked around for a while, and pulled up photos of Xu Zhilin. “Look! My idol!”

Shi Niannian widened her eyes slightly, saying in surprise: “You took… so many.”

“Of course! I was basically either photographing you or him,” Jiang Ling said, hugging the camera with an infatuated expression. “I am Xu Zhilin’s most loyal fangirl.”

She pointed her index finger at Xu Zhilin’s face on the screen: “I want to slide down Teacher Xu’s nose bridge.”

Shi Niannian was stunned for a moment, then couldn’t help but smile, calling her name in a soft, pleading voice: “Jiang Ling…”

“You haven’t heard that one? I have a whole bunch more!”

Jiang Ling’s face didn’t even redden as she continued effortlessly, “I want to swim in Teacher Xu’s dimples, swing on Teacher Xu’s eyelashes, play hide-and-seek among Teacher Xu’s abs…”

“Enough, Jiang Ling,” Shi Niannian laughed, grabbing her hand.

She was about to say more when a cold voice interrupted from the side: “—You like Xu Zhilin?”

“…Ah, yes.” She hadn’t expected Jiang Wang to initiate conversation with her and seemed a bit flattered.

“He doesn’t have a girlfriend,” he said concisely.

Jiang Ling was stunned.

In the evening, approaching night, the sky was tinged with a strange purple-blue. The classroom windows weren’t closed, making the curtains billow up and down in the breeze.

Given Jiang Wang’s personality, it was extremely bizarre for him to initiate conversation.

Jiang Ling was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized.

Holy shit!

Jiang Wang! Really! Likes! Shi Niannian!!

She whipped her head around, staring intensely at Shi Niannian.

Shi Niannian asked in confusion: “What’s wrong?”

The classroom door was suddenly hit with a loud bang, startling everyone.

Jiang Ling quickly turned back.

The English teacher stood at the door: “What’s all this noise! What’s all this noise! Is the sports meet a holiday for you?! There’s an exam right after National Day! Think about it! If the class average scores last again, I’ll call all your parents in!”

The English teacher’s deterrent effect didn’t last long.

Because soon, they started playing the movie.

It was an American film.

Everyone looked up with interest.

After the initial opening sequence, the first scene immediately caused the entire classroom to erupt.

“Holy shit!! Chen Shushu, I salute you as a true man! Daring to choose this kind of film right under Teacher Cai’s nose!”

“I’m about to take off my pants!!”

“Xiao Mingfan, you pervert!”

…

Shi Niannian didn’t react at first, staring up blankly.

Until a pair of warm hands covered her eyes.

“—Little one, you shouldn’t watch this indiscriminately.”

The young man’s voice carried a knowing, mischievous smile, his fingertips bearing a faint trace of tobacco.