Chapter 28

After the 1500-meter event, the morning's competitions were basically over. After having lunch, Jiang Jiawei changed her clothes and went straight back to her room, falling asleep as soon as she hit the bed. Mu Zhengxi and Zhang Chao went to the arcade together.

The school arrival time is 2 PM.

Across the street, Mu Zhengxi and Zhang Chao were waiting for her, having bought milk tea and red bean-flavored wheel cakes.

"Why did you buy me two cups?"

Mu Zhengxi released the straw he was biting. "One of them is a new flavor."

Zhang Chao joked, "How about it? Isn't your brother very considerate?"

Jiang Jiawei didn't understand and blinked: "What younger brother?"

The news that Mu Zhengxi was Jiang Jiawei spread like wildfire across the campus, but Jiang Jiawei herself only learned of it at this moment.

"Is this the class monitor your cousin?"

Having learned the whole story, Jiang Jiawei naturally assumed the role and replied, "Ah, yes."

"younger brother."

Jiang Jiawei, biting on the straw of her milk tea, tilted her head to look at Mu Zhengxi, her eyes crinkling with laughter.

Mu Zhengxi had become desensitized to this term of endearment, going from being initially excited to later being indifferent. Anyway… he'd find out later whether it was his younger brother or not. He ignored Jiang Jiawei's teasing, but he also forbade her from calling him "younger brother."

"Call him Zhengxi."

"Or you can call me brother."

Jiang Jiawei retorted, "I'm older than you, you should call me 'older sister'."

"Who said that? I was born before you."

"I don't believe it." Jiang Jiawei realized, "Your cold doesn't sound so bad anymore."

"Yeah, after all, I'm a soccer player, so this little cold will definitely get better quickly~"

Jiang Jiawei laughed, truly impressed.

My arm was touched.

"Shall we bet on whether that person can skip it?"

There was a men's high jump event taking place in the area.

"What are we betting on?"

"If you lose, you have to call me 'brother'."

"If you win, will you call me 'sister'?"

"Can."

"Okay, then I'll bet on him to win."

"I also bet on him."

"So what are we betting on, haha?"

Mu Zhengxi realized what was happening and laughed along with him, "Rock, paper, scissors."

"How many rounds?"

Best of three.

"Come."

Rock, paper, scissors.

...

"Jiang Jiawei, you lost!!!! Shout it out, shout it out now!!!! Hurry up!" Mu Zhengxi pointed at her, "Don't cheat, you're not allowed to cheat!"

"Alright then." Jiang Jiawei cleared her throat and imitated Chen Jingyu's broadcasting voice, "Brother."

“Ehhhhhh,” Mu Zhengxi responded in an extremely long tone.

Jiang Jiawei refused to accept this, saying, "Let's do it again."

"I don't."

This time, Jiang Jiawei was unhappy. "Mu Zhengxi, you're really cheating!"

"How did I cheat? I didn't say I'd play a second time."

"Childish ghost."

"You're the childish one."

Jiang Jiawei shook her head and said casually, "Well, everyone knows you're my cousin now anyway."

It was a decisive blow to the game.

"..."

Mu Zhengxi snorted, "They'll know it's not true later."

Jiang Jiawei had taken off her boxing braids from the morning and only tied her hair in a low ponytail. Mu Zhengxi asked, "Why don't you use the hair ties I bought you? Don't they look good?"

The wind blew by.

Jiang Jiawei kicked away a stone at her feet, "It's beautiful."

Mu Zhengxi didn't believe it either, "Then why don't you use it?" He then naturally made a request, "Then you can get it done tomorrow."

Jiang Jiawei remained silent.

"So you just think it's not good-looking."

"Okay, I'll do the acupuncture tomorrow."

Mu Zhengxi's lips curled up in a smile after receiving the promise.

"Hey, class monitor, playing cards."

"OK."

“You two are a family, you and your brother.”

The first sentence sounded quite reasonable, but what was with that title? Mu Zhengxi's face fell. "She's my sister."

"Weren't you talking about my cousin?"

We were born on the same day.

"Holy crap, that's awesome???"

"Oh yeah." Mu Zhengxi suddenly remembered and looked at Jiang Jiawei, "Who are the other two students in your class who share the same birthday as us?"

"You wouldn't know him even if I told you."

"Just point it out to me and I'll know whether it's a boy or a girl."

"The girl isn't here right now."

"Okay, so they're both girls?"

"right."

"I thought there would be a boy among them."

A classmate asked curiously, "Who is it?" It's so unfortunate that they also have their birthday on the first day of school.

"Jiawei, are you free now? Could you braid our hair?"

“Okay.” Jiang Jiawei handed the half-drawn cards in her hand to another classmate.

Mu Zhengxi: "Making up stories again??? You might as well just set up a stall."

Mu Zhengxi has rounded eye contours and deep double eyelids. When he expresses dissatisfaction or anger, his eyelids droop slightly, and his long eyelashes cover them. He often looks like a child who has been forgotten by the teacher and has not received any candy. He is not actually fierce when he is angry.

Jiang Jiawei instructed her classmate, "Play well! My younger brother is still a beginner, give him a good experience!"

Mu Zhengxi: "..."

When Jiang Jiawei returned to her class's headquarters, the classmate who took her place at the card game immediately cried out in protest, "Class monitor, you're finally back! Your brother played cards too fiercely, too scary, I couldn't handle it."

"Hey! What's so fierce about it!" Mu Zhengxi looked at Jiang Jiawei and hurriedly tried to clarify things for himself. "It's because he beat it terribly! Isn't that right?" He even pulled the people next to him to be witnesses.

The two rivals, who were enjoying their easy wins, nodded and laughed heartily.

Jiang Jiawei: "Did you win or lose?"

Mu Zhengxi was even angrier: "We definitely lost!!"

"You'd better hurry up and bring the class monitor back now that you're done for."

"Haha, okay."

Mu Zhengxi decisively threw down the few cards he had left, saying, "These are invalid cards. You two can move up one level."

After finishing his date, Zhang Chao jogged back with a basketball, grabbed Mu Zhengxi, and said, "What are you playing cards for? Let's go, let's go play basketball. There's a court available, let's go!"

Mu Zhengxi was pulled up.

Several boys from the base camp also stood up.

The choice between playing cards and playing basketball is quite obvious.

Mu Zhengxi looked at Jiang Jiawei with a restless look in his eyes. To be honest, he wasn't the kind of person who could sit still for long, otherwise Jiang Wenqing wouldn't have sent him to play football.

"I went to play basketball?"

"good."

Mu Zhengxi took off his coat and handed it to Jiang Jiawei, saying, "Hold this for me."

She ran a few steps outside and then ran back, saying, "Jiang Jiawei, why don't you come watch me play basketball?"

Jiang Jiawei, who had already rearranged the game, didn't even glance at it, saying, "It's too hot."

All right.

"Then get me some water in a moment."

"good."

A wallet was thrown from a high place and landed in Jiang Jiawei's arms.

Mu Zhengxi ran far away.

"Class monitor, you two siblings have such a good relationship."

"Huh? Haha."

Jiang Jiawei chuckled dryly twice.

"If I had a class monitor as my older sister, I would be very obedient, okay?"

"Haha, Li Wentao, be careful, I'm going to tell your sister in a minute."

"Go ahead, come on, let's open the cards."

The school moved west, and all the afternoon competitions had ended, so school ended earlier than usual.

Students began to go home one after another. Jiang Jiawei and a few classmates packed up some things at the base camp and dispersed.

I bought a bag of mineral water at the convenience store and headed to the small basketball court behind the teaching building.

This secluded spot is often a battleground for boys playing basketball at school.

Besides a few people from their own class, there were several other students from other classes. It seemed like they were playing as a team, with someone acting as a referee.

Jiang Jiawei sat down on a stone bench by the side of the field.

Mu Zhengxi's claim that he is very good at basketball is true. People with long arms and legs have a physical advantage. The basketball seems smaller in his hands than in others' hands, making it seem very easy to control. His playing style is also aesthetically pleasing.

Jiang Jiawei remarked that he really had a lot of stamina.

If she had a cold like this, it would be impossible for her to have such energy to exercise so vigorously on the court on the fourth day.

Mu Zhengxi took off his hoodie, leaving him in only a white T-shirt. His back was completely soaked with sweat, and the hem of his shirt was also wet from wiping away the sweat.

Jiang Jiawei patted her pockets; she didn't have any tissues.

Mu Zhengxi caught a glimpse of someone sitting on the sidelines out of the corner of his eye.

As night began to fall, I checked every now and then to make sure Jiang Jiawei was still on the stone bench. She was looking down, pulling at the grass, and after she finished pulling the grass, she was looking at some reptile.

The bell rang, and the school lights came on.

Although it was the school sports meet, there was still evening self-study. Despite still feeling like we hadn't had enough, basketball had to stop there.

The sound of the basketball hitting stopped.

Jiang Jiawei looked up.

A wave of sweltering heat hit them after their workout, and with several boys together, it was a complete heat bombardment. Jiang Jiawei felt the temperature around her instantly rise several degrees.

"Student Committee Member".

One classmate joked, "You're so worried about your younger brother, huh?"

"Haha, right." Jiang Jiawei replied with a smile, handing them water.

"Thank you, class representative!"

Jiang Jiawei felt a resentful gaze fixed on her, and handed her coat to Mu Zhengxi, saying, "Don't catch a cold."

The night wind was cold.

Mu Zhengxi stared at her, his tone sarcastic and nitpicky, "I already had a cold."

"Then don't make it worse."

It seems that no matter when you look at Jiang Jiawei, her eyes always carry a smile, like the dim yellow streetlights overhead, with just the right brightness, gentle and not dazzling.

Then people feel like they have no outlet for their anger, and end up getting angry for no reason, which is very inexplicable.

Jiang Jiawei: "Let's go back and have dinner, little brother."

"Oh, it's here."

wrong.

"Hey Jiang Jiawei! I'm not your younger brother!"

"I'm so hungry, are you hungry?"

I'm hungry.

Stepping off the basketball court, Jiang Jiawei glanced at the person with a jacket draped over their shoulders, then looked at the hand carrying only a water bottle. "Where's your hoodie?"

"On the basketball hoop."

Mu Zhengxi remembered it too, and ran back to get it.

Music is playing over the school's public address system.

“Hey Miss Jiang,” Mu Zhengxi nudged Jiang Jiawei’s elbow, “Excuse me, do you sell Peninsula Iron Boxes here?”

"Yes, go straight and turn left, it's on the shelf on the right."

"Isn't it the shelf on the left?"

"On the right?"

"Are you even a shop assistant? How can you be so incompetent?"

"It's a summer job, and it's only my first day. Sorry about that."

"Hahaha."

Jiang Jiawei asked, "Did you grow up with your grandmother when you were little?"

"No, it's my maternal grandmother."

Was your maternal grandmother also in Hanyang?

"yes."

"If you come back, will your grandmother... be reluctant to let you go?"

Mu Zhengxi remained silent for a moment.

“My grandmother had an accident the year before last, and she can’t bear to leave me for the time being.”

Mu Zhengxi raised a slight smile, trying to make the topic less sad.

Jiang Jiawei's pupils dilated slightly. "The year before last??"

Mu Zhengxi hummed in agreement, then gestured with his chin towards the trees along the campus path. “For now, it’s temporarily become a tree, um… do you know what a cypress is?” He was facing Jiang Jiawei, walking backwards. After thinking for a moment, he described it as: “The kind of cypress that embodies the spirit of heroes throughout the world, awe-inspiring even after a thousand autumns.”

"The pine and cypress remain unchanged even after death, their green color enduring for a thousand years."

Mu Zhengxi stopped in his tracks, a look of delighted surprise on his face as if he had found a kindred spirit. "Yes! That's right! That's exactly it!"

Jiang Jiawei tilted her head and looked at him with a gentle smile, "You love your grandmother very much, don't you?"

Mu Zhengxi turned around, lowered his head, and said in a voice only he could hear, "More than love."

Seeing a student walk by with a book, he changed the subject, "Jiang Jiawei, do you also have evening self-study tonight?"

Yes, I want it.

Jiang Jiawei jumped down the steps.

Jiang Jiawei has to attend evening self-study sessions, and so does Jiang Jiayi.

Mu Zhengxi tilted his head. "Then what should I do?"

I quickly caught up with him and asked, "May I go to your classroom?"

"That probably won't work."

"Fine, you can't do your homework at the bookstore? You have to study in the classroom during evening self-study?"

Actually, evening self-study is not mandatory. Except for boarding students, day students can choose to participate or not. However, after registering to participate, the teacher will take attendance. If you do not participate, you will have to ask for leave.

Jiang Jiawei countered with a suggestion, "Then you can go to a bookstore to read books."

Pshaw, that's boring.

Mu Zhengxi tugged at the leaves on a passing bush.

Jiang Jiawei clapped her hands. "Ah, you can hang out with Zhang Chao. He doesn't go to evening self-study sessions, and he doesn't do his homework either."

Mu Zhengxi tapped her head lightly with a leaf, "As the class monitor, how can you watch your classmates not study and become lazy? Zhang Chao has started writing now. He said he's planning to take the entrance exam for Nanshan University with his girlfriend."

Jiang Jiawei wrinkled her nose and raised her hand to touch the spot on her forehead where the leaves had brushed against her.

"Then I...I just..."

Well, she's just respecting other people's choices.

Speaking of this, Mu Zhengxi suddenly remembered, "Jiang Jiawei, have you decided which university you want to apply to?"

"Me? I haven't decided yet. What about you?"

"I……"

Jiang Jiayi, who was on the other side of the street, saw them and shouted, "Sister! Why are you so late? I'm starving!"

"Run back quickly!!"

"They're here!"

Jiang Jiawei jogged across the road.

Mu Zhengxi found something interesting to do that night: Jiang Weichao was going to teach him his secret recipe—braised duck legs.