Chapter 8 After returning to school from the holidays...

On the first morning self-study session after returning to school from the holiday, Wang Kan was frantically copying homework.

When he arrived, he greeted Fang Minzhou very naturally, as if he had forgotten the boast he had made earlier, "Hello, deskmate, good morning, can I copy your homework?"

Fang Minzhou was dumbfounded, and Ouyang Qian was also dumbfounded.

Although Zheng Yanhang was puzzled, he followed suit: "Can I borrow the English one too? Wu Cheng didn't write it."

Fang Minzhou refused, and Wang Kan seemed to have expected it. She turned around and took the test paper that Zheng Yanhang had already copied, saying this as if she wanted to tease her and see how she would react.

Fang Minzhou was really afraid that people would misunderstand that the two of them were very close.

In chemistry class, Ms. Zhan went straight to the test paper and asked Fang Minzhou to collect everyone's corrected papers. After collecting them, she took them to her office and, out of curiosity, specifically looked at Wang Kan's paper. It seemed that she had done the chemistry test paper herself, with a 60% accuracy rate.

The school is known for its relaxed atmosphere, which is a kind of trust and perhaps also a privilege.

She disliked Wang Kan's attitude towards studying, not because his grades were bad (grades and attitude are not entirely related), but because she simply disliked irresponsible people.

Wang Kan wasn't entirely indifferent to his grades, but he deliberately adopted a carefree and casual attitude.

However, the more important event before the midterm exams is the sports meet.

This originally had nothing to do with Fang Minzhou. Although she was in good physical condition, she had no interest in participating in sports events. The long holiday had just ended, and everyone's minds were still wandering and hadn't settled back in. They were very enthusiastic about signing up, but there were still some challenging events that they hadn't filled up.

In order to improve the class's points, the sports committee member, having failed to get help from others, resorted to a forced lottery.

Fang Minzhou randomly drew a number and hit the women's hurdle.

"Hahaha!" Wang Kan, who had been craning his neck to watch closely, laughed out first, and gave Fang Minzhou a "cheering" gesture with schadenfreude.

The overwhelmed female sports committee member said humbly, "Minzhou, thank you for your hard work. As long as someone participates, it doesn't matter about the ranking. If you can't run, you can find someone to take your place and just let me know."

“It’s okay, I’ll take it,” Fang Minzhou said. Although she also felt a bit unlucky and would rather be drawn in the 3,000-meter race than the hurdles, she still followed the rules.

"That's great, thank you so much."

Ouyang Qian was a little worried, "Have you ever done hurdles?"

"No, but... it's all about participation,"

Ouyang Qian thought that this thing seemed to be not so easy to train. Every year at the sports meet, hurdles was one of the events where people made the most fools of themselves. But seeing how calm Fang Minzhou was, Ouyang Qian didn't say anything more.

Because she is in a precarious situation herself, and as the branch secretary of the Youth League, she took the lead by signing up for several tasks, which is why she is feeling a bit down now.

"Aren't you going to put in a little more effort now?" Wang Kan asked provocatively.

Fang Minzhou replied to him, "So, what place are you planning to get?"

Wang Kan was taken aback, then pondered for a moment, "Do you know what project I signed up for?"

"High jump and men's relay."

Wang Kan was quite surprised, "Why are you paying so much attention to me?"

"...You and Zheng Yanhang signed up yourselves, and you're sitting right next to me. I'm not deaf." Fang Minzhou was speechless. "How are you going to participate in the sports meet like this?"

Wang Kan was embarrassed.

He had intended to tease Fang Minzhou, but unexpectedly, she outmaneuvered him. At the time, she was reading a book; little did he know she was actually listening to everything.

Ouyang Qian turned around and pointed to her head, saying to Wang Kan, "It's nothing, it's just my cerebellum when I'm running."

Fang Minzhou burst out laughing.

That's hilarious.

Wang Kan twitched the corner of her mouth.

However, he still wanted to know the answer to what had just been said, so he asked Fang Minzhou, "So what place do you think I can get?"

Fang Minzhou ignored him.

Wang Kan persisted: "Leaving aside the relay, what if I won first place in the high jump?"

Fang Minzhou, who was continuing to do her homework, didn't even turn her head. "Impossible."

"Why not?"

Fang Minzhou glanced at him sideways, "Do you think our school's sports students are vegetarians?"

Wang Kan: "..."

Okay, he forgot about this group. Wang Kan took a step back, "What about the top three? What if I get a top three spot?"

Fang Minzhou asked in surprise, "What do you mean, how do I say it? Say thank you for bringing honor to the class?"

Wang Kan: "..."

He realized he couldn't win an argument with Fang Minzhou. But she was far too indifferent, not even offering a word of encouragement. Even though he was joking, he had at least said something, right?

Wang Kan propped up the magazines spread out on the table to cover her face. Fang Minzhou glanced at them; the latest issue of the sports weekly, "Sophie's World," had already sunk to the bottom of the lake.

The sports meet was at the end of October, with three weeks to go. Since she had already signed up, Fang Minzhou actually planned to take it seriously.

She's afraid of getting injured and falling, but she can't be afraid if she's training in hurdles. But if she falls now, she won't be able to compete. It's a real dilemma.

Fortunately, she is tall and flexible. She practices according to the training methods taught by her physical education teacher, and with the teacher's guidance in class, she can at least safely clear all the hurdles. She is a little slow, but the teacher said that she has a sense of rhythm and can speed up later.

Given the frequent occurrences in this competition, he certainly wouldn't be last place, because No. 1 High School doesn't have any sports students specializing in hurdles, and those who participate in this event are almost always unlucky.

Every evening, Ouyang Qian and Fang Min would go to the playground to exercise.

The sky at dusk in October was ablaze with sunset colors, and the temperature was a bit more relaxed. Although it was still hot, the autumn breeze blowing across the lake was cool and moist.

After exercising, Fang Minzhou and Ouyang Qian would sit on the central bleachers to rest for a while, enjoying the breeze, listening to the radio, and watching the people on the playground sway like water plants in a lake.

The selection criteria for school broadcasters must include having a pleasant voice. Once, Ouyang Qian mentioned that Lin Sinian seemed to work at the broadcasting station, and Fang Minzhou then remembered that there was such a person. But no matter how pleasant one's voice is, it's not as popular as the songs played. Every time the last song played, it was a reminder and urging everyone to go back to evening self-study. Walking on the road, sometimes you could hear passersby humming along with the song, still feeling a bit unsatisfied.

Wang Kan was one of them.

Behind the stands was a basketball court. Whenever Fang Minzhou and Ouyang Qian went up or down from the stands, they would see boys playing basketball tirelessly. Several times, on their way back to their classroom, they would even run into boys from their class who had just finished playing.

This familiar scene always reminded Fang Minzhou of the sinful origin of her awkward relationship with Wang Kan, but she couldn't pull Ouyang Qian away from it. Once, when Ouyang Qian was chatting with others and fell behind, Wang Kan walked up to her and asked, "Why are you walking so fast?"

She didn't.

She ignored Wang Kan, but Wang Kan was inexplicably smug. A song mixed with noise floated in the night, and as she walked, she heard Wang Kan's song too.

Fang Minzhou quickened his pace, and he quickened his pace as well.

Fang Min and Zhou thought Wang Kan was really... annoying. He used to be subservient and apologize to her, but now he keeps provoking her.

She could tell he was deliberately trying to provoke her, but she didn't know why. The more he tried to provoke her, the more stubborn Fang Minzhou became. No matter what she was thinking, she remained unmoved on the surface.

In addition to the competitions, the sports meet also includes an opening ceremony performance. Each class can also set up a stall in their own designated area. Teacher Zhan only focuses on academic performance, leaving these activities entirely to the class officers. Everyone discusses what stalls to set up during class meetings.

Although the school activities were for the seniors, with the college entrance exam just around the corner, they didn't really have the mood or energy left. So everyone treated the juniors' activities as the last chance to have a wild and unrestrained time in high school. As a result, opinions were divided and they decided to do something big, like setting up a one-stop shop for everything.

We need to buy food, trinkets, and organize some lucky draw games... This just increases the workload for the class committee, as there are many things that need to be purchased and reserved in advance.

The class meeting was held during the last period of Wednesday morning. The topics that had not been discussed were taken to the cafeteria. Fang Minzhou and Ouyang Qian were together, and inexplicably, they also sat among several key class officers.

However, she was at least a chemistry class representative, and Wang Kan, who didn't even have a hat, didn't know how she "sneaked" into the class.

Oh, Zheng Yanhang is the male sports committee member, it must be nepotism.

"Let's pick a day this weekend and go buy everything together," Ouyang Qian suggested.

“Okay, how about this weekend? Saturday or Sunday?” Lin Sinian asked.

"I'm fine with anything, what about everyone else?"

There were people who had other commitments, so after counting, besides Ouyang Qian and Lin Sinian, there were only Zheng Yanhang and Yin Mengran, four people in total. That's not a lot, but it's not a small number either.

"Are you free?" Ouyang Qian asked Fang Minzhou.

Fang Minzhou was doing her English homework during the class meeting and only vaguely heard the gist of it. This wasn't her job, but Fang Minzhou noticed that Ouyang Qian seemed to really want her to go with her. She thought for a moment and said, "I have tutoring on Saturday, but Sunday is fine."

"Is Sunday okay?" Ouyang Qian asked the others.

Several people nodded.

“So, it’s just the five of us? But it’s just me and the class monitor, two guys…” Zheng Yanhang said to Wang Kan and Wu Cheng, “Let’s have one more person, then we’ll be complete.”

Wu Cheng shook his head: "I have something to do this weekend."

Zheng Yanhang pretended to make a move: "What could possibly be wrong with you? Playing games? Can't you just skip a day of playing?"

"I really have something to do."

"Don't talk nonsense..."

Wang Kan interrupted, "I'll go."

The dining table fell silent.

Seeing everyone's reactions, except for Fang Minzhou who was eating and picking at scallions as if she hadn't heard anything, Wang Kan said, "What's wrong? Is it necessary to be so surprised? Do I look so lacking in teamwork?"

“No, you look like you could do the work of two people,” Ouyang Qian said.

"Welcome to the team," Yin Mengran said with a smile.

"Shall we meet at the entrance of the West City Commercial Center at 2 PM on Sunday afternoon?" Lin Sinian asked.

“...How about we go to the small commodity wholesale market?” Ouyang Qian said. “Although there aren’t as many items as in the trade center, the prices are cheaper, and it’s quite close to the trade center.”

No one objected.

At this point, Wu Cheng patted Zheng Yanhang's arm: "Can you let go of me now?"

"screw you."

Amidst the laughter, Fang Minzhou, who had been silently eating with her head down, finally raised her head and met the gaze of Wang Kan, who was diagonally opposite her. The latter raised an eyebrow at her.

Fang Minzhou: "..."

She looked up and saw Lin Sinian sitting opposite her. He glanced at her plate and suddenly said, "I don't eat scallions either."

Fang Minzhou was a little embarrassed when she was discovered to be a "picky eater". She said, "I'm a bit strange. I can accept that the food is in the dish, but I can't eat it myself."

"Well, mine is a bit worse than yours. I can't even handle dishes with scallions on them."

Wang Kan, who overheard the conversation with one ear, rolled her eyes in boredom.

A note from the author:

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