Chapter 40: Indirect Kiss

Ning Mu held Bai Yurou’s hand and walked to the school’s sports field.

It was high noon, yet there were still quite a few people active on the field.

Some were playing ball, some were running, and some were sitting on the lawn playing on their phones.

She swept her gaze around and discovered that a spot on the nearby badminton court had just freed up—two girls had just packed up their things and left, looking like they were going to eat.

“Want to play badminton for a bit?” 

Ning Mu turned her head to the side and pointed toward that empty court.

Bai Yurou nodded. 

“Alright.”

Although her body wasn’t good and she couldn’t do vigorous activities like long-distance running, something small-range like badminton with no running was still doable.

“Then I’ll need to use your card.”

Borrowing sports equipment from the school required using a campus card as collateral for registration, and conveniently only Bai Yurou had brought hers.

Bai Yurou naturally had no objections. 

Then the two of them divided the tasks. 

Bai Yurou went to the equipment room to borrow the equipment, while Ning Mu went to that empty court to hold it so that once the equipment was borrowed the court wouldn’t get taken by someone else.

Bai Yurou followed the signs and found the equipment room. Inside the equipment room sat a middle-aged woman in her forties or fifties with a kind face.

Bai Yurou handed over her campus card. 

The middle-aged woman efficiently finished registering, returned the card to her, then found two rackets packed in bags and one shuttlecock from inside the equipment room and handed them all to Bai Yurou together.

The middle-aged woman looked at Bai Yurou’s petite frame and the rackets she was holding a bit strenuously in her arms, and asked with concern, “Little girl, can you really carry them? Do you need help?”

“It’s fine, Auntie. I can carry them. Thank you.” 

Bai Yurou smiled and politely declined the middle-aged woman’s kindness, hugged the equipment, and turned to leave.

Was she, Bai Yurou, that frail of a person? Unable to even hold two rackets and needing others’ help.

As a result she had overestimated her own physical condition and really couldn’t hold them. 

Those two rackets were indeed very heavy for her. After just taking a few steps, her arms were already sore and unable to exert strength.

Ning Mu was holding the badminton court. From afar she saw Bai Yurou coming out holding the equipment with some difficulty. 

She hurriedly went up to meet her and took one of the rackets and the shuttlecock from her hands.

With more than half the weight reduced, Bai Yurou felt as if a heavy burden had been lifted and quickly arrived at the court.

“Hah…” Upon reaching the court, Bai Yurou hurriedly placed the remaining racket in her arms onto the lawn and caught her breath.

She was still too weak. Just holding that little bit of stuff had already left her gasping for breath.

One had to know that in the past Lin Ye could carry twenty jin of things upstairs in one go without even breathing hard.

“Do you need to rest a bit?” Ning Mu on the other side of the court looked at the gasping Bai Yurou and asked with concern.

“Mm, let’s rest a bit.” Bai Yurou didn’t force herself. Right now she was even a little lacking in strength just holding a racket, let alone playing.

“I’ll go buy you a bottle of water.” 

Ning Mu was still a little uneasy. 

She also placed the racket and shuttlecock on the ground, turned, and ran toward the small shop beside the sports field.

Not long after Ning Mu left, a boy walked over. “Classmate, want to play together?”

Bai Yurou raised her eyes and glanced at him, silently sighing in her heart.

Here it starts again.

Ever since coming to Moon City University, being approached by boys had almost become daily routine.

When she first entered the school gates she had been surrounded by a group of senior brothers. 

When eating noodles with Ye Hui a boy from the neighboring table had come asking for WeChat. 

Now even playing a bit of ball she couldn’t have peace.

There was no helping it. Having inherited seventy percent of Zhou Wanting’s looks, she was already born refined. 

Combined with that frail figure, it easily aroused protective desires. 

She knew what level she was at in the eyes of boys.

“No. I have a partner.”

Bai Yurou tried speaking with that icy tone Ye Hui used, but unfortunately this set didn’t work on her petite self. 

An icy tone appearing on her petite self instead created more of a contrast that drew people in.

“Your partner hasn’t come yet, right? Let’s play a few rounds first.”

The boy continued shamelessly.

So annoying so annoying so annoying.

Should I just punch him? When the time came, calling her older brother should be enough, and she wouldn’t get punished either.

Bai Yurou recalled her mother’s instructions from a few days ago on the phone about calling big brother if she suffered any grievances.

Should I try solving the problem in the fierce young miss way?

Ever since waking up, Bai Yurou had always been a well-behaved girl and had never thrown a young miss temper. 

Right now she wanted to try.

The boy was still continuing without knowing his limits. 

“How about it, classmate? Just play a few for fun.”

Little did he know that Bai Yurou’s right small fist was already charging up, ready to greet that face of his at any moment.

Just as Bai Yurou’s small fist was about to swing out, a familiar voice came from behind. 

“What are you doing?”

It was Ning Mu. She had returned holding a bottle of mineral water. 

At a glance she saw her own best friend being approached by a strange boy and hurriedly went up to rescue the situation.

Ning Mu held the water in her hand toward Bai Yurou, then stared at the boy.

Ning Mu had returned. Bai Yurou could only silently put away her small fist. 

She didn’t want to appear too violent in front of Ning Mu.

“I… just wanted to play a game with the classmate.”

The boy stammered.

“She said she doesn’t want to. Do I need to repeat it again? Or should I repeat it to the teacher later?”

“N-no.”

The boy probably also felt there was no point in continuing to entangle. He left behind a “Then I’ve disturbed you” and fled.

“Honestly, running into this kind of thing every time.” 

After driving the boy away, Bai Yurou let out a breath of relief and turned to look at Ning Mu. 

“Thankfully you helped me out of it, Mu Mu.”

“Who told my Rou Rou to be so pretty? Quickly drink some water. Once you drink you’ll recover your stamina.”

Bai Yurou responded and took the water bottle, trying to twist it a few times, but couldn’t open it.

“Let me.” 

Ning Mu looked at her somewhat embarrassed appearance and smiled as she reached out her hand.

Bai Yurou had no choice but to hand the water over.

Ning Mu twisted lightly, and the bottle cap opened. She took a small sip before handing the water bottle over.

“Ah…” Bai Yurou’s face instantly turned red.

“What’s wrong?” Ning Mu looked at her puzzled.

“N-nothing.” Bai Yurou hurriedly took the water.

Sharing the same bottle of water between best friends is the most normal thing.

There’s nothing wrong with Ning Mu doing this either, Bai Yurou reminded herself.

But when she looked at that mineral water bottle mouth that seemed to still carry the temperature from Ning Mu’s lips, her heart inexplicably beat a little faster.

Does this count as… an indirect kiss?

This thought suddenly popped into Young Miss Bai’s mind.

Bai Yurou, what are you thinking? 

The other person treats you as a best friend, and here you are treating her as something else.

She secretly scolded herself and hurriedly raised the water bottle, taking a fierce big gulp.

So this is the taste of the water Ning Mu drank? It feels sweeter than ordinary mineral water.

After drinking, Bai Yurou still couldn’t help thinking about it.

On the other side, Ning Mu had already returned to the court and picked up the racket and shuttlecock.

The racket had already been taken out of the bag by her.

“Have you recovered about enough? Then I’m serving?”

Bai Yurou hurriedly placed that bottle of mineral water that had made her overthink onto the grass beside her, also picked up the racket from the grass, and took it out of the bag.

Then she nodded toward Ning Mu, indicating she was already ready.