“No way, Prison Pei?” Fan Jian stared at the message just posted in the class group chat, his mouth dropping wide open as if he could fit a whole watermelon inside.
He never could have imagined that Pei Xingyan—the same guy who had just loudly complained to him in class about how all the sports meet events were stupid—was now shockingly listed on the registration sheet.
And damn, he signed up for five events!!!!!
“Are you even human?!!!” Fan Jian leapt off the bed, grabbing Pei Xingyan’s collar as he walked in and shaking him vigorously. “I believed you when you said no to registering because you were under pressure from the teachers, but you go behind my back and sign up for five events? I—”
Pei Xingyan quickly cut him off, interrupting his early-morning spellcasting, and started complaining instead. “You really have the nerve to say that? Do you know how Teacher Shen evaluated you?”
Fan Jian froze on the spot.
Pei Xingyan began to sow discord, even raising his voice so the others in the dorm could hear as well.
He said, “She said, ‘Pei Xingyan, your entire dorm usually behaves terribly, and now you dare to make a racket when I’m trying to discuss serious business? Tell them to be careful and not screw up, or else I don’t have the power to punish, but I do have the authority to report them!’”
Fan Jian’s body began to tremble. Before getting accepted here, he was a textbook-type student, and having a teacher set their sights on him was scarier than a hundred murderers combined.
“So what should we do?” Fan Jian’s teeth chattered as he spoke awkwardly.
“I thought about it, and of course, I can’t let my brothers suffer.” Pei Xingyan pounded his chest fiercely, looking every bit like a righteous hero. At this moment, whether it was Song Jiang or Chen Haonan, they’d all have to step back three paces when facing him.
He went on, “I knew Teacher Shen wanted me to persuade the guys to sign up, but can I be such a coward who goes back and surrenders? No way! So I said, ‘Teacher, there are four of us in the dorm, I’ll take all the events myself. I can do four events solo.’”
“And what about the fifth one?”
“Buy four, get one free. She said she’d consider it during the next evaluation for awards and scholarships.”
“Holy shit!!!”
Several guys in the dorm swarmed around, fawning over Pei Xingyan like he was a hero returning from battle, barely holding back from calling him “Daddy.”
But in reality, Pei Xingyan was nothing like the bribed man he portrayed himself to be. He was simply the beneficiary of Shen Zhishu’s goodwill.
Shen Zhishu didn’t even threaten him; she kept calling, “Xingyan, Xingyan, I’m begging you~” while shaking his hand and practically acting coquettish.
She picked several unpopular, incredibly difficult events for him, confidently promising he’d definitely win first place.
Pei Xingyan’s first reaction to those events was simple—The school’s leadership had completely lost their minds!
What kind of good school offers fencing and shooting as sports meet events???
Compared to those, the team sport of baseball was nothing remotely niche.
But Pei Xingyan couldn’t argue with her, especially since he couldn’t escape the trap woven by her careful planning. So he had no choice but to accept.
Honestly, the events she picked were indeed niche, but they happened to be exactly the ones Pei Xingyan was familiar with.
He had played fencing briefly in middle school after his mom made him try it during a fad. Shooting was something he practiced with his father’s friend. As for baseball, his high school prided itself as a high-class international school with a brainy crowd that loved foreign trends but had little domestic popularity. Nearly every student had to do specialized training, so of course, baseball was part of it. He even went to watch the Koshien tournament in Japan with the school team.
So now he suspected this woman knew him extraordinarily well—not just because she saw all the forms he filled out but because she knew things about him that hardly anyone else did.
He was sure that aside from his parents and Ye Ziwei, very few people in the world knew he could do these events. He wasn’t even skilled—just competent—and never boasted about it.
How did Shen Zhishu find out?
And her closeness toward him was beyond normal, completely unlike someone who had never met him before…
As Pei Xingyan thought about it, he wondered if he had somehow suffered amnesia and forgotten about a big sister who had always been by his side.
But as soon as the thought crossed his mind, he couldn’t help but laugh.
That kind of thing… that kind of second-dimensional stuff? No way.
The dorm continued to be noisy, several guys worshipping Pei Xingyan as if chanting “Pei the God is awesome,” like some weird cult performing a summoning ritual.
“All right, all right, just treat me to a few more meals,” Pei Xingyan generously said. “Standard’s fine if it’s just the stir-fry from the second floor of the cafeteria.”
“Eat shit—” The moment they heard money was involved, the three scattered like birds.
“Knew you were all fake brothers…”
“Not that we’re heartless,” Fan Jian grumbled in refusal, “It’s just that Prison Pei has to accompany his girl every day now. We can’t exactly treat the girl too.”
“Hmph.” Pei Xingyan sneered and turned over to rest. According to Shen Zhishu’s instructions, baseball practice would start in the afternoon.
He had no idea why the school leaders picked this event. He even doubted if the whole campus could muster a baseball team.
But the academy must have known the difficulty because among the twenty-two colleges, they could only form four teams in total.
That might barely scrape together nine players, but Pei Xingyan was still curious whether the school could arrange the proper field or if they’d just turn the playground into a makeshift baseball diamond.
“Damn, Prison Pei, your team’s so luxurious? Players from all over the place,” Li Zhe from the next bunk said, holding his phone. “Why aren’t they all from our college?”
“Our college probably can’t even get two people together…” Pei Xingyan collapsed onto his pillow, speaking lazily.
“Hey, hey! There’s even the Arts College!” Li Zhe exclaimed. “Doesn’t that college have a lot of pretty girls?”
“If there are, so what? No need to make a fuss…” Pei Xingyan closed his eyes, his voice fading.
Li Zhe chuckled and then continued being shocked. “And the Philosophy College… We even have that college?”
Pei Xingyan, who had just closed his eyes, snapped them open wide. Those two colleges…
He suddenly had a bad feeling.
But he tried to comfort himself: it couldn’t be such a coincidence that Lin Xiaoyu and Su Shanshan just happened to be interested in this sport, just happened to be at the venue, just happened to see him, and just happened to bump into each other.
How could that be—
“Damn, just saw the notice in the class group chat saying we have to attend the joint college team ceremony, and our colleges are scheduled for… the afternoon?” Li Zhe continued his astonishment, then started complaining about how their afternoon would be taken up.
The dorm quickly grew noisy again, all of them railing against the school’s habit of stealing students’ personal time.
But Pei Xingyan never said a word. It wasn’t because he thought the school was in the right, nor was it because he didn’t care.
He just felt dizzy.
He felt like he was about to die.
If those two girls were at the scene, and by chance saw him, and crowded around him all at once, what kind of situation would that create…
Pei Xingyan didn’t dare imagine. He suddenly sensed a terrifying, ominous aura.
He could only pray that none of the things he feared would happen.
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