(1)
The bright sun blazed down.
Breathing was rapid.
Dizziness swirled in her vision.
It was deadly.
The playground at Xiaocheng No. 2 Middle School was a 200-meter track.
The boys had to run 1,000 meters, meaning five laps.
And this was only the first lap just finished.
Most of the students hadn’t fallen behind; only the two fattest boys lagged at the back, and a bit ahead was An Jing, gritting her teeth and holding on.
If she ran slower, she could have lasted a bit longer, but Zhou Chao was leading the pack up front, sprinting like a mad dog.
The others followed closely behind, messing with An Jing’s already poor stamina and making her lose her rhythm so much that she wasn’t even sure whether to breathe through her mouth or her nose.
“Ha—huff… ha—huff!!”
Her arms weakly swung with her body, and her vision blurred, barely able to see anything far ahead.
She could only focus on the grainy plastic track, step by step, moving forward.
“Hey, An Jing! Can you keep up?”
Sun Wei, who had just finished his lap, still seemed full of energy. He jogged not far ahead of her.
“Hurry up, or you won’t pass!”
But An Jing didn’t have the strength to reply.
“Ha, hu… haah—”
“Damn it… Zhou Chao’s gone up front again! No team spirit at all!”
“Damn…”
An Jing tried to spit out a few words, “Can’t… keep moving…”
“No way, this is just one lap; what’s wrong with you?”
“Too… fast!”
“Who told you to follow those idiots up front, huh? Ha, hu, ha… Your rhythm’s all messed up now.”
“Damn you…”
Her legs felt as heavy as if filled with lead, aching with waves of soreness, while her hands began to go numb, as if lacking blood flow.
But An Jing caught the gazes of the watching classmates.
She didn’t want to embarrass herself by being outrun even by a few chubby boys.
She clenched her teeth and mechanically took another step.
By the third lap, she felt like those legs no longer belonged to her.
Though she couldn’t run fast, she somehow felt she could keep running endlessly.
Her entire body still gasped for air like a broken bellows, but she regained control of her rhythm.
She faintly heard someone calling her name but couldn’t make out the words.
Even though it was just a fitness test, An Jing felt like she was running in a school sports meet.
In fact, at last year’s sports meet, she was still a boy, and running this 1,000 meters was nothing.
Remember, she was ranked among the top boys in the class alongside Zhou Chao.
Without training, and now with a girl’s body, she was utterly useless at this moment.
But luckily, she still had a tenacious spirit.
“Last lap!” the PE teacher at the finish line shouted to An Jing and the others.
“Hey, you fat ones, speed up! Put in some effort if you want to pass!”
The word “pass” was like magic.
It reignited a fighting spirit in An Jing’s heart.
On this beautiful Friday afternoon, she didn’t want to spend it all running.
She wanted to shout to boost her morale, but at this moment, all her strength was in her legs.
So she could only breathe deeply and sprint toward the finish.
Yeah… she felt like she was flying, but to others, she looked like a zombie desperately chasing after the living.
“What the heck is he running…”
Fang Qiang gawked, “all twisted and crooked—won’t he fall? He wasn’t taking this seriously before. What’s up with this 1,000-meter run lately…”
“Ha!”
As he muttered, Zhou Chao had already reached the finish line.
The PE teacher pressed the stopwatch and nodded at Fang Qiang.
“Three minutes forty seconds!”
“Not bad, full marks.”
“Compared to last time… ha… a bit slower.”
Zhou Chao took a deep breath and walked a few steps forward with momentum.
“You’re getting soft from doing that too much.”
“Bullshit. You know nothing about ‘use it or lose it,’ huh?”
The PE teacher glanced at the leading boys who were nearly done, grinning as he swung the stopwatch.
“Nowadays, you guys have lowered the full marks standard too much. Back in our day, though there was no PE exam, the school fitness test required finishing in two minutes fifty-five seconds for full marks.”
“Geez, that’s so fast.”
“Your generation is just weaker,” the PE teacher sighed, shaking his head.
“Not like before at all.”
“An Jing’s still back there,” Fang Qiang glanced behind, “pass is under four minutes twelve seconds, can she make it?”
“Looks like she’s trying really hard…”
“She used to run not slower than you.”
“Really?”
Zhou Chao smiled faintly.
“You must be remembering wrong.”
“Haah!!”
At that moment, An Jing surged forward again with a burst of speed.
“Not bad, she passed!”
Fang Qiang teased with a smile.
But An Jing had no strength to respond because her left foot caught her right, and she staggered forward a few steps, about to fall.
“All right, last one to pass. The other two fat ones and the skinny guy fail—stay after school and keep running! If you don’t have the attitude to run, you might as well just walk!”
The PE teacher scolded the boys behind.
Zhou Chao stepped forward to catch her, but at the last moment, she changed direction—originally trying to regain balance, she ended up tilting her body.
“Ugh!”
“Ah…”
She felt a soft touch on her forehead; she hadn’t actually fallen to the ground but was steadied instead.
“An, An Jing… are you okay?”
Almost suffocated by that oversized softness, An Jing suddenly lifted her head, gasping for breath, and saw Wang Xinru’s worried, bitter melon-shaped face.
“Uwaa!”
An Jing waved her hands vigorously to show she was fine, but her body lost balance again, and she sat down hard on the ground.
The pain she expected never came.
Instead, she felt someone supporting her from both sides.
It was Fang Qiang and Zhou Chao.
“What’s going on?”
Fang Qiang looked puzzled.
“Can’t even stand after running 1,000 meters?”
“Haha, dead tired, huh?”
Zhou Chao laughed teasingly.
“Dead…”
An Jing mumbled weakly and, with the help of her two good friends, sat down by the flower bed.
Meanwhile, the PE teacher was organizing the next group of boys for their test.
Fang Qiang jogged over, and Sun Wei staggered toward them.
“Man, summer vacation was way too indulgent. My stamina’s dropped a lot recently.”
“Exhausted.”
An Jing rolled her eyes big time; she still hadn’t recovered.
“Awei, come on, I’ll treat you to a Coke.”
“What’s the point of drinking? I’m dead tired; just let me sit a while.”
“Damn, you won’t drink if I pay? Then coffee—hot?”
“That’s expensive.”
“Fine, let’s go for coffee!”
Sun Wei and Zhou Chao’s voices faded away.
Seconds later, An Jing suddenly noticed the sunlight beside her blocked again.
She tilted her head and saw Zhu Ying puffing her cheek.
“Huh…”
“How’s the touch?”
“Huh?”
“You just bumped your head on Wang Xinru’s chest~”
“Eh? I—I didn’t mean to!”
“Come over.”
Zhu Ying scooted closer to An Jing, their bodies nearly touching.
“W-what are you—”
“Here.”
She pouted and patted her own thigh.
“Lie down here.”
“Ehh—no thanks, I’ll rest for a bit…”
“Lie down.”
Zhu Ying grabbed An Jing’s shoulder and pressed the still steaming petite girl onto her lap.
Zhu Ying’s thighs were way too straight, a bit bony.
Honestly, lying on them felt a bit uncomfortable…
But utterly exhausted, An Jing didn’t bother resisting.
“An Jing, are you okay just now?”
Wang Xinru’s voice came.
An Jing opened her eyes slightly.
What she saw wasn’t her face, but that huge softness.
Feeling embarrassed, she quickly shut her eyes.
Though Zhu Ying wore a sweater… the shape was suggestive enough to spark all sorts of imagination.
“No, no problem… ha, haha…”
“Hm…”
Wang Xinru hesitated but said nothing more.
She turned to leave, but Zhu Ying spoke up.
“No need to be so awkward, Wang Xinru?”
“Huh?”
“Mm—could you buy me three cans of hot coffee?”
“Okay.”
“What are you up to…”
An Jing quietly watched Wang Xinru walking away and muttered softly.
“Even if you’re no longer a couple, you used to be childhood friends. Not staying friends would be a pity.”
“Ah…”
“Have you been deliberately ignoring her lately? That’s not good.”
“No, no…”
“Really?”
Ahem!
“Just get along normally. Will you ever grow up?”
“W-what do you mean grow up? Huh?”
An Jing suddenly realized what Zhu Ying was talking about and blushed red, shouting, “Why is it me growing up? I don’t want to grow anything like that!”
“Uh… anyway, in your dream you are…”
“What?”
“Not telling you~”
“Little devil…”
“Hehe~ Princess Chu Yu?”
An Jing shuddered all over and hurriedly sat up.
“You even know that?”
“I’ve seen your memories. Lots of them.”
“That’s unfair, I don’t know yours at all.”
“If you could, go look for yourself.”
“You know I can’t see memories!”
“Well, no choice then?”
“Uh… coffee?”
“Thanks, Xinru. This can’s for you. The rest are for me and An Jing.”
“Huh? For me…?”
“Don’t be so shy. I’m not that unreasonable girl.”
Zhu Ying blinked her “innocent and bright” eyes. “Just keep it normal.”
“Yeah, lately when you two talk I get awkward too.”
Zhou Chao, who just returned with the coffee, nodded from the other side.
Ahem!
“Hey, Wang Xinru, come here for a moment.”
“Me? What’s up?”
“Listen, don’t be such a pushover. If you’re always Mr. Nice Guy, people won’t necessarily thank you, understand? Learn to say no when you need to.”
“But then everyone will…”
“Those friends aren’t worth keeping.”
Zhou Chao threw his head back and took a big gulp of coffee, putting on a tough drinking vibe.
“It’s not about having many friends but having good ones, right, An Jing?”
“Exactly!”
“Well said!”
“Awei, go cool off somewhere else. What are you butting in for?”
“Hey, Zhou Chao and I specially bought you a can of coffee and you’re still picky! Wait, you already bought some?”
“Who paid?”
“Zhou Chao, but I carried it!”
“You’re shameless…”
“Shameless people are invincible!”
“Eek—”
Zhu Ying once again proves she’s the best.