"And This Student Is..?" Ji Huanyu's Head Tilted;
He Was Clearly a Little Curious About Sheng
Wang.
The sunlight cascaded down upon the tip of the grass, the greenery
verdant and replete. Sheng Wang was dazzled to the point that he had to
squint, and heat washed up from the front of his forehead, as well as the back
of his ears.
He suspected it must be the hot air that Gao Tianyang carried over; he
fanned himself twice with his collar before saying to Jiang Tian, "How can
this be the stake? No matter what, I lose."
Jiang Tian raised an eyebrow, refusing to comment. He was quiet for
several moments before he said in half resignation, "You didn't feel like you
lost when you set me up though?"
"Duh, that's totally different." When Sheng Wang laughed, he felt like
the heat wasn't as suffocating anymore; the cool breeze swept by, and it was
still the clear and crisp autumn weather once more.
He said in full righteousness, "You've already said so, it was a set up."
"What set up?" Gao Tianyang took a bottle of water from the student in
charge of logistics, and chugged as he walked.
"Nothing, we're just talking about the hugeass hole you dug for us,"
Sheng Wang pointed at Jiang Tian's clothes, and casually replied.
Their gaze focused on the track once more.
Before the competition, Sheng Wang was already sufficiently mentally
prepared; he already predicted that Song Sirui wouldn't be running at a
decent speed judging from his height and legs alone, but he never knew that
he could be this slow…..
"You better tell me that Old Song is just saving up his strength and he'll
be sprinting at the end," Sheng Wang pointed at the person being gradually
overtaken by the other classes as he said.
Gao Tianyang laughed hoarsely. "There's a need to save strength for
200m?"
As they spoke, a girl from Class 8 had overtaken Song Sirui. He
struggled for a bit with his short legs, but to no avail.
"His fastest speed was only at the starting point," when Gao Tianyang
snubbed Song Sirui, he was merciless. "At the last 50m, you will discover
how fast his legs can go. Have you ever seen a hamster ball? It's that effect.
Visually, you think that he's sprinting, but in reality nothing changed. It's quite
illusive."
(t/n: The language used in the original text seemed to suggest this for Song Sirui's legs.)
Just as he said, Song Sirui scampered his way to the exchange point in
the way Gao Tianyang described. By the time he passed the baton to Li Yu,
the advantage that Gao Tianyang bought was all gone. From the first and far
ahead of everyone to the 5th place from the back, all it took was 200m.
"Maintain your pace, don't break down. Think about our class'
slogan." Gao Tianyang pointed at the ostentatious red banner as he said,
"Year 2 Class A, win or lose, it's ok! Life is painful and brief, it's over and
that's a relief!"
Sheng Wang: "..."
"Why did I agree to come up here to embarrass myself like this?"
Sheng Wang asked Jiang Tian wholeheartedly.
Jiang Tian said monotonously, "I was just thinking about this too."
"To the nobility of friendship." Gao Tianyang raised his bottle of
vitamin water.
The three of them were in a pretty good place mentally, but Li Yu, who
received the baton, broke down. She was already inept at running, and was
only here to make up for the numbers due to her role as the class monitor.
After this round, the last 5th place had completely transformed into the last
place.
The referee over here raised the flag, and the students in charge of the
fourth leg all stepped onto the track. Sheng Wang was one of them. He had
warmed up prior to this, and was now doing a few quick bounces on the spot.
Then, he got into position and waited at the exchange zone.
Students came charging in, and they received the baton one after
another. There was still 10+m until Li Yu arrived.
Jing-jie often said she had a shaky psyche, she would easily get
stressed out and anxious. This point of hers was magnified by many degrees
on the sports ground, where her adrenaline soared to new heights—
She ran to the point that tears were exiting her eyes too.
In her blurred vision, Sheng Wang was already lightly jogging along the
track. He was a clean and yet striking silhouette on the track.
The moment she passed the baton to him, she heard him say, "Ay, don't
cry."
The next second, the boy shot out like an arrow that left its bow.
Radiant youth moved people's hearts the best; when he sprinted, he
ran through the very passage of time itself. But in that instant, nobody
would think of mushy things like this. There was only the most direct
reaction: the entire of Class A had gone ablaze, and screamed their throats
hoarse at the track.
They discovered almost immediately that it wasn't just Class A who
was screaming, the other classes had lost it way more than they did.
"WHAT THE HELL—YOU GUYS TOTALLY BOUGHT HACKS!!!"
The sports rep of Class B did not participate in the relay, and shouted at
Class A from his seat.
"GO BUY IT YOURSELF!" A girl yelled back with no holds barred.
Sheng Wang had overtaken Class 8, Class 6, Class 3, and Class 9...
With every person he overtook, there was another wave of screams
from the grandstand, every single class was screaming.
Next, it was Class 12, Class 7, Class 2, Class B.
The first few in the relay for Class B haven't left the sports ground yet,
and were following the competition in real time by the grass. Amongst them,
was Shi Yu from the same dorm as Sheng Wang and Jiang Tian.
Ever since the results of the English Olympiad came out, he was in an
incredibly awkward state for a long time. Even though Sheng Wang didn't
know that he was waiting for him to clown himself, he still felt like his
words came back to bite him in the ass, and was too embarrassed to see him.
Perhaps it was because of the many days Shi Yu used to praise Sheng
Wang, or maybe it was the competitive spirit of boys, but Shi Yu had
suddenly entered 'competition mode', and treated Sheng Wang as his
opponent. He quietly started comparing himself against Sheng Wang in many
ways, all one-sidedly.
Sheng Wang did an entire week of Olympiad practice, but he only
scored 10 points higher than him for physics and chemistry in the weekly test.
That's all he amounted to.
Sheng Wang had seriously memorised the ancient poetry and texts, and
did his assignments himself on a usual basis too. Yet, he only scored 126 for
the weekly test's language exam. That's all he amounted to.
Sheng Wang's English…...his English was probably because that's his
natural talent.
Well...humans will all have a couple of things they are good at, Sheng
Wang used his for English, Shi Yu spent it on sports.
Shi Yu had always felt that he was naturally outstanding in terms of his
physique compared to other people. His speed, his explosive energy, his
jumps were all amazing. He made everything look as easy as breathing. He
had always felt that catching up to natural talent was an impossible task, it's
all due to destiny. This was also why he copied homework, played games,
and chit chatted whenever he wasn't revising.
But in this moment, he found his deep-rooted belief of many years
suddenly shaking in its foundations.
He watched Sheng Wang surpass 12 people with his very eyes, and
come closer and closer to the second place. Just like that, he was the most
unbridled, dazzling presence on the entire track, and abruptly he felt that even
his own so-called talent wasn't as outstanding anymore.
"Holy shit, that's too iconic!" The few people of Class B couldn't help
to exclaim. One of them even hooked an arm around Shi Yu's neck, saying,
"You're quite something too, do you even know how badass your roommate
is?"
Shi Yu awkwardly laughed, and finally stopped thinking "that's all he
amounted to". He answered, "How about you tell me?"
When Sheng Wang reached the exchange zone, he was shoulders to
shoulders with the second place, and was only two steps behind the first.
He didn't manage to break his momentum after passing the baton to
Chilli, he only managed to gradually stop after continuing for 7-8m. The gust
of wind that followed came leaping at Chilli's face.
The next moment, Chilli dashed out with her face entirely flushed.
The two legs in the middle were largely boys. Class A students thought
that they were about to lose their advantage once more, but never would they
think that everything is possible when girls go insane!
"Oh my god..." The sports rep of Class B didn't know what to say
anymore.
Class A was stunned for a moment, and then they were on fire once
again, as though they could put Chilli on hacks through sheer volume alone.
"Chilli's new name from today shall be Wind-and-Fire Wheels!" a boy
shouted. Other people figured that it was indeed quite fitting, and then they
were losing their minds from laughing.
(t/n:, or the wheel of fire that goes zoom zoom thus creating much wind, iconically wielded by
Ne Zha. It looks like this.)
This girl legit surpassed another person, and after 200m Class A was
first in place again. There were many boys in the class, and when they
cheered their pitch was clearly different, and the gusto of it all was
earthshaking.
And then, the journey of heart attacks began—
Sheng Wang was drinking a bottle of water by the side, and after a few
seconds, he decided to not drink anymore; he was afraid he would choke to
death here.
First it was Zhao Qiaona, the sixth leg, who slipped and stumbled a
few steps. 7-8 students whooshed past her like the wind.
With that, she panicked, and soon she lost track of the rhythm of her
breathing, becoming terribly out of breath after 100+m. With her relay, Class
A was in 11 place.
Next, someone bumped into the 7th runner, and nearly fell down. Both
her hands were already on the ground before she straightened up to catch
up...
And caught up to the last place.
Not even roller coasters are this hardcore.
Sheng Wang saw that the situation was going out of control halfway
through, and ran to Jiang Tian from all the way across the other side of the
field.
At this time, the teacher had already raised the flag. Jiang Tian was
standing at the exchange zone. Gao Tianyang made use of the fact that they
haven't chased him away yet to down chicken soup right into his ears. After
spending ages doing so, he discovered Jiang Tian was zoning out, and not a
single word made it into his ears.
He followed Jiang Tian's gaze, and saw Sheng Wang by the side of the
track.
"Ok fine, You have a hella steady mental state, I'll just take my leave!"
Gao Tianyang cupped his fist.
Just as Sheng Wang was about to step onto the track, the teacher at the
area had begun shooing people away. Gao Tianyang ran over, crestfallen.
"They aren't allowing anyone there anymore. If you wanna say something,
just yell."
Sheng Wang froze; he suddenly realised he himself didn't know what
he wanted to say. Why did he come all the way here then?
Just to stand by the side? Just to…...take a look?
"Oh, I thought you figured out a strategy or wanted to warn him about
some things from the way you ran like your ass is on fire," Gao Tianyang
waved generously. "Then, let us both just do our jobs and cheer him on!
Tian-ge—run well!"
Jiang Tian was rotating his ankles at the moment, his plain and clear
gaze traversed from the tracks to here.
The 7th baton had already come around from the corner of the track,
Class A was at the very back.
Sheng Wang's brows furrowed, his face screamed that he was
concerned.
Just as he looked away from the far distance, he saw Jiang Tian give
him a thumbs up, then turning to his side. His hand reached out, waiting for
the girl charging from behind.
Sheng Wang suddenly felt reassured.
That day, Class A students felt as though they were aboard the roller
coaster ride of death, they received heart attacks again and again, again and
yet again.
In the end, when they saw Jiang Tian surpassing everyone one by one,
they collectively got excited, and decided to might as well start counting
along.
When they counted to 13, the relay race was finally over. Jiang Tian
was the second across the finish line, and Class 4 was first. The gap was so
narrow that one could barely tell them apart.
Class A was ecstatic. 2nd place was enough to cause them to howl.
After all, they were usually the last place in the previous relay races.
The language rep even prepared the broadcast speech. Unexpectedly,
the referee made a hand gesture, and summoned a few students who were by
the corner to ask them something
A few minutes later, a number was added to Class A's total score: a
full 15.
"What happened???"
Class A students all thought that there was a mistake, only to hear Gao
Tianyang, who just returned, yell, "Class 4 broke the rules by bumping into
people, and they are disqualified. The other classes move forward by one
place accordingly, and now our class is first!!!"
Jiang Tian was out of the loop, and was walking back from the
finishing line, his arm dangled as he held a bottle of water.
He rolled the t-shirt sleeves up to his shoulders, and heat was
dissipating off him. Suddenly, he heard someone run up to him from behind,
and throw an arm around his neck, saying, "We're first!"
It's Sheng Wang.
Other than him, nobody else would dare to plaster themself onto him
like this.
Jiang Tian lowered his head to go with the momentum, and stumbled
two steps with his back hunched. He opened up the bottle of water, appearing
completely unruffled.
"Did you hear me? We're first place, the first!"
Someone was given an inch and took a mile; not only did he dare to
reign his neck, he even dared to ruffle his hair.
"I heard," Jiang Tian replied, with his lips touching the mouth of the
bottle. He took a few more gulps before he put it down, revealing a smile.
They wanted to go to the back of the grandstand to do a registration.
However, just as they turned around the corner, Jiang Tian abruptly came to a
stop upon seeing something in front of them.
Sheng Wang still had his arm around his shoulder; he watched with his
very own eyes how any trace of his smile disappeared from his face, and his
expression chilling.
He was taken aback, and followed Jiang Tian's gaze.
One would have to go through Road #3 to travel from the west gate to
the sports ground. In the middle of the way, there was a flight of steps. An
immaculately dressed man was walking down from the steps, and when he
saw Jiang Tian he stopped in the middle.
Sheng Wang's first reaction was that he felt that the other person was
kinda familiar. It was rare for him to remember people's faces, but as long as
he had an impression, there must be something special about the person.
He was briefly stunned before he realised: that person was special in
how his face was somewhat similar to Jiang Tian's.
Next, he also recalled how he had seen this person before: outside
Beyond Parasol Trees, in the alley near Old Man Ding's home.
"Xiao-Tian," the other person called.
Sheng Wang knew that this was Jiang Tian's father who had never
appeared up till now, Ji Huanyu. He recalled Old Man Ding's narration of
Jiang Tian's childhood, and suddenly he found himself loathing this person's
outstanding airs..
Jiang Tian didn't reply.
Sheng Wang saw Ji Huanyu's gaze dart towards him. Before he could
react, he felt Jiang Tian already straightening up.
The action of having an arm around his shoulder suddenly didn't feel
as natural anymore. Sheng Wang monetarily froze, and released him.
"And this student is..?" Ji Huanyu's head tilted; he was clearly a little
curious about Sheng Wang.
Upon asking that, Jiang Tian finally opened his mouth and bothered to
respond.
"None of your business," his tone was icy cold. After that, he lightly
tapped on Sheng Wang's shoulder, saying, "What are you standing here for.
Let's go."