Chapter 38: First Time Participating in the Sports Festival

“Hey, this event isn’t mainly about physical strength. It’s mostly about how well the two people coordinate with each other.” 

Zhou Meng looked at An Ling with eager eyes. 

“Aren’t you and Li Yang childhood friends? Why don’t you two sign up together?”

“But…” 

An Ling avoided Zhou Meng’s gaze. 

“Our height difference is pretty big.”

“Besides, Class President, aren’t you signing up?”

“I already did.” 

Zhou Meng raised the sign-up sheet in her hand. 

“I signed up for the girls’ eight-hundred-meter and shot put. I can’t do any more than that.”

An Ling looked at Zhou Meng’s round, cute face and found it hard to imagine her running eight hundred meters.

“Don’t judge me by how I look,” Zhou Meng seemed to read her mind. 

“I trained in long-distance running back in elementary school. Even if I’m slower now, I can still finish.”

“Anyway, just sign up with Li Yang. Please?”

“This…” 

An Ling was a little tempted, but…

Seeing An Ling starting to waver, Zhou Meng suddenly called out to Li Yang in front of them.

“Li Yang, how about you and An Ling sign up for the three-legged race together?”

“Three-legged race, huh~” Li Yang thought about it. Doing the event with An Ling would probably be pretty fun.

“Sure,” Li Yang agreed without much hesitation.

“Sign here.” 

Zhou Meng, seeing she had successfully roped in one of them, quickly handed the sign-up sheet to Li Yang.

“An Ling, Li Yang has already signed up. You wouldn’t make him go out there and embarrass himself alone, right?”

An Ling looked at Zhou Meng and suddenly felt that their class president could be quite devious.

“Fine~”

“Yes!” Zhou Meng passed the sign-up sheet to An Ling as well. “Sign right next to Li Yang.”

“Sigh~” An Ling slumped weakly onto her desk. This was her first time ever signing up for a sports festival.

Li Yang reached over and poked the fluffy ear on top of her head.

“Hey!” An Ling quickly protected her ears. “Don’t touch those!”

“You signed up?” Li Yang asked.

“What else could I do? It’s my first time participating in a sports festival.”

“Exercising is good for you. Plus, you’ll have me with you.” Li Yang said. 

“Have you ever done this event before?”

“No. I’ve only seen it online. I used to think it looked interesting, but now that I’m actually doing it, I feel kind of nervous.”

“It’s fine.” 

Li Yang reached for An Ling’s ear again, only to get his hand slapped away.

“Talk properly. Stop touching my ears!”

“I’ve never done it either. We’ll practice when we have time. The sports festival doesn’t start until next week anyway.”

“Mm, okay.” An Ling nodded. 

“As long as we don’t make complete fools of ourselves in public.”

***

The morning classes went on as usual.

Li Yang had returned to his usual inattentive self today, as if yesterday’s diligent behavior had just been a momentary whim.

An Ling felt this couldn’t continue and called him out several times during class.

“You should listen properly for a few more days. You were doing so well yesterday.”

Li Yang lifted his head. Being woken up by An Ling multiple times had reduced his drowsiness somewhat.

“The teacher’s voice is too soothing.”

“Since it’s so soothing, listen today. I’m not waking you up anymore. Pay attention in class!”

Seeing how serious An Ling was being about his studies today, Li Yang finally compromised. “Got it, Teacher An Ling.” 

He opened his textbook and actually started paying attention.

An Ling looked at him speechlessly, her tail flicking once. Whatever. 

She wouldn’t complain anymore. It was already a big improvement that he was staying awake.

At lunchtime, An Ling took out the two lunchboxes from her bag.

“Wow, An Ling, you prepared lunchboxes again today,” Zhou Meng said when she saw the two containers.

“Mm, I didn’t feel like eating cafeteria food. It’s nicer to make something myself.”

“I don’t like the cafeteria either. I get tired of it after eating there for a while.”

“Yeah, exactly.” An Ling laughed it off.

Of course, that wasn’t the real reason. 

An Ling had only recently started eating the school cafeteria food, purely to avoid that troublesome woman.

“Let’s go, let’s go.” Li Yang had already stood up impatiently. 

“To the secret base.”

The two left the classroom, walked through the hallway, and went up the stairs.

The door to the rooftop was still closed. Li Yang skillfully climbed in through the window and opened the door from inside.

“With those moves, it’s a shame you’re not competing in more events,” An Ling said as she walked in and placed the lunchboxes on the assembled desk.

“Didn’t I already sign up for three?” 

Li Yang sat down across from her and eagerly opened his lunchbox.

The fragrant aroma of cola chicken wings immediately wafted out. 

The wings had a beautiful glossy reddish-brown color with thick sauce, looking incredibly appetizing.

The braised pork belly was also perfectly cooked. The rice was drizzled with meat sauce, and the greens helped balance the richness.

“Wow.” Li Yang swallowed. “This is way too generous.”

“Eat up.” An Ling opened her own lunchbox. “While it’s still hot.”

“Then I won’t hold back.” 

Li Yang picked up a chicken wing and took a bite. “Delicious!”

An Ling’s lips curved into a small smile when she heard him.

“About the three-legged race…” 

An Ling suddenly brought up the sports festival again. 

“I wonder if I’ll be any good at it.”

“It’s fine,” Li Yang comforted her.

“We’ll do special training this weekend. I guarantee we’ll pass without any issues.”

“That’s the only thing we can do. I’m not aiming for a ranking anyway. As long as we don’t embarrass ourselves.”

“Even if we embarrass ourselves, we’ll do it together. One person embarrassing themselves is just embarrassing. Two people is called putting on a show.”

“Pfft…” An Ling couldn’t help laughing at Li Yang’s words. 

“The two of us going out there would just be two faces worth of embarrassment.”

But he was right. Doing it together made it much less awkward.

“You can count on me.”

“Then you should go compete with three legs by yourself.”

Chatting with Li Yang like this made An Ling feel much less nervous.

After they finished eating and packed up the lunchboxes, Li Yang moved the desks and chairs back to their original positions as usual. 

He then led An Ling out and closed the door behind them.

The first class in the afternoon was the more relaxed art class. 

An Ling let Li Yang rest during that period, but called him back to attention for the classes afterward.

Even though they had signed up for the sports festival today, the troublesome woman still hadn’t appeared to cause any trouble. 

Overall, it was a good day.

An Ling even thought that during the sports festival, she could look around and see if any girls in the stands seemed interested in Li Yang. 

Maybe she could help pick out a good one for him.

After school, An Ling and Li Yang walked out of the classroom together.

“Are we buying groceries today?” Li Yang asked.

“Yes,” An Ling answered. 

“Fresh vegetables taste better. We finished what we bought yesterday at lunch.”

The two walked side by side out of the school gates, heading toward the fresh produce store.

“Want to give it a try?” Li Yang suddenly suggested.

“Try what?”

“The three-legged race we signed up for today. There aren’t many people on this road. We can try walking while tied together.”

An Ling looked around. 

This shortcut was indeed quite empty.

“We can, but we don’t have anything to tie our legs together with.”