Chapter 12's "being fooled" boils down to one thing: wanting to sleep with him.
After leaving the office, Jiang Xuchi walked forward in the school corridor, with a girl chasing after him.
She was furious and shouted, "Jiang Xuchi!!!"
Students passing by in the corridor all turned to look at her.
Qin Man caught up with him, grabbed his arm, and pulled him into the stairwell of the emergency exit. "Next time something like this happens, can you at least tell me first?"
Jiang Xuchi glanced at her: "Didn't I already say that?"
"I haven't agreed yet."
“This is the duty of a substitute,” Jiang Xuchi leaned against the wall in the corridor, looking at her calmly. “Otherwise, the coach would have let Duan Kexin participate.”
Qin Man's eyelids twitched at the mention of Duan Kexin.
Anyone is fine, except Duan Kexin. If we let her go, wouldn't that be exactly what she wants?
Just because Qin Man didn't cause her trouble last time doesn't mean she's forgiven Duan Kexin. She has a bad temper to begin with, and she absolutely cannot let Duan Kexin have this chance to show off.
Seeing Qin Man's silence, Jiang Xuchi smiled at her: "The substitute's form was submitted automatically. The coach just asked me, and I have no objection."
Qin Man: "Then why don't you come and ask me?"
"He asked me to ask you, and I just answered for you without thinking. You're welcome." Jiang Xuchi's tone remained indifferent, yet slightly arrogant.
Qin Man frowned and raised her voice, "This is the last time."
Jiang Xuchi looked at her.
Qin Man stared into his eyes: "This is the last time. I'll listen to you properly. Don't even think about threatening or ordering me around again."
Jiang Xuchi suddenly reached out and pressed her on the back of the head, then flipped over, and she became the one leaning against the wall.
He wasn't angry; his expression was calm, but his tone was chilling.
“You could have just told the coach you were withdrawing; you didn’t have to act like you were forced.” He raised an eyebrow. “Or do you prefer it this way?”
Qin Man's face turned pale and then red after a long while, as he spoke.
"Didn't you tell me to invite me to participate?"
“The form was handed over casually; you could have easily explained to the coach that it was a misunderstanding,” Jiang Xuchi sneered, “but you still obediently signed it.”
Jiang Xuchi was telling her that these were all her choices.
But did she really have a choice?
Since Jiang Xuchi transferred to the class, Qin Man has been worried every day about whether she has offended him, because if he is in a bad mood one day, he could easily tell everyone about her affairs as a joke.
Jiang Xuchi didn't need to do anything; a single glance or a single word was enough to keep Qin Man occupied for a long time.
Qin Man almost gritted her teeth, her eyes gleaming.
"Okay, I want to participate. Are you satisfied now?"
*
After school, in the tennis court's lounge.
Qin Man carefully removed the gauze and applied a scar removal patch to the area where the scar was almost invisible.
She changed her clothes and came out to warm up. She put on her sneakers and hopped around, her ponytail bobbing up and down. Suddenly, someone grabbed her braid.
Qin Man was forced to stop. She turned her head and glared at the person who had come. It was Xi Yue, who whistled at her.
"You're here so early."
"..."
Qin Man took a step to the side, and her ponytail slipped from Xi Yue's grasp.
She saw the person behind Xi Yue.
Jiang Xuchi had just changed his clothes and came out wearing a white sweatshirt and simple black shorts, looking neat and stylish.
A photo of Jiang Xuchi was circulating widely among the girls in the class. It was a picture taken by someone when he was warming up on a bench during the match.
Girls say whatever they want in private, but it all boils down to one thing: they want to sleep with him.
Qin Man looked away and saw that there were only three people present. She asked, "Is there a girl here too?"
Mixed-gender 2v2, we're still missing one person.
Jiang Xuchi looked down as he wrapped his wristband around his wrist and said, "Let's not practice for now."
"ah?"
"Your physical fitness is too poor. Start by improving your physical fitness."
Xi Yue chuckled beside him: "I just came to watch the fun, I'm not going to practice with you."
Qin Man's expression instantly turned sour. What did she mean by training physical fitness first? The finals were in a month, and she was training physical fitness now?
"If I'm not playing tennis, I'm going home." Qin Man turned around after saying that.
Jiang Xu didn't move, watching her back for a moment before striding forward and grabbing Qin Man's wrist.
Qin Man staggered two steps and turned to look at him.
"The final is a tug-of-war. If your physical condition is not good, no matter how well you play in the beginning, you will suffer and be more embarrassing in the end."
His words hit Qin Man right where it hurt.
Qin Man retorted defiantly, "Who are you calling physically weak?"
"Stop pretending. Do you think your skinny arms and legs can last twenty minutes?" Jiang Xuchi retorted mercilessly. "Have you forgotten how you lost to me the first time?"
Qin Man's face turned somewhat green from what he said.
Qin Man's biggest flaw is that she cares a lot about her image, so she was spurred on by his words and obediently ran behind Jiang Xuchi.
However, Qin Man was out of breath after less than two laps and could not continue, so she had to slowly walk one lap.
Jiang Xuchi swept past her like a gust of wind on his third lap, only glancing at her briefly with a sideways turn of his head.
That glance was full of contempt.
Qin Man's heart was instantly ignited, and she chased after Jiang Xuchi's retreating figure.
Jiang Xuchi wasn't fast either. She had just finished one lap and could easily catch up. But just when they were almost side by side, Jiang Xuchi took a big step, quickened her pace, and ran far ahead.
Qin Man was unwilling to give up and chased after him again. By this time, she was already running out of energy, but she caught up with Jiang Xuchi again.
Just when we were almost side by side, he ran off again.
Qin Man was furious. Only then did she realize that she had been tricked by Jiang Xuchi again using the same trick.
I've been fooled time and time again, it's all the same with Dangdang!
Feeling frustrated, Qin Man decided to stop running and sit on a bench to rest.
Qin Man was still sulking when she saw Jiang Xuchi running over and she shot him a sharp look.
"Admit it, you need to work on your physical fitness so you won't lose too badly next time you fall for a trick." Jiang Xuchi's tone was indifferent, but the sarcasm in his words was obvious.
Qin Man covered her ears, pretending not to hear, and acted as if she was stretching.
Jiang Xuchi walked over and pulled her arm off. "You still need strength training. I'll send you a schedule."
"Are you deliberately messing with me?"
Jiang Xuchi leaned back on the bench and asked in a cool and indifferent tone, "What kind of image do I have in your eyes?"
“You don’t treat Pei Shiyu like this.” As Qin Man spoke, she made herself sound really wronged, staring straight at him.
Throughout the entire match, Jiang Xuchi's target was her.
Jiang Xuchi kept pestering her, she really didn't know why.
"You think you can compare to her?" Jiang Xuchi laughed. "Even if she trains harder than you, she still won't have a chance to win the championship."
These words instantly calmed Qin Man down. She smiled smugly and mimicked his tone, saying, "Admit it, you can't win the championship without me."
Jiang Xuchi picked up her racket bag from the ground and tossed it into her arms, chuckling, "Time to practice."
Qin Man persisted, "Still not admitting it?"
As Jiang Xuchi walked, he unscrewed the cap of a mineral water bottle and tilted his head back to drink.
He clearly wasn't going to respond to her.
Qin Man, realizing she had made a fool of herself, had no choice but to pick up her racket and follow.
*
After school every day, I run three laps, then do strength training, then play tennis for an hour, and then go home.
Just after training that day, a few girls who had been secretly watching from the outside of the tennis court pushed and shoved each other, and finally chose one of them to walk towards Qin Man.
The girl asked very directly: "Are you Jiang Xuchi's girlfriend?"
This is the fifth one in the past few days. Qin Man put her tennis racket back into her bag without looking up. "You can decide whether I'm not or not."
The girl was taken aback, clearly not expecting this answer.
Qin Man slung the tennis bag over her shoulder and smiled at her: "The choice is yours."
Because of her close relationship with Jiang Xuchi, coupled with his not-so-approachable personality, Qin Man's role as his teammate seemed even more ambiguous.
In the past few days, quite a few girls have come up to her, either directly or indirectly, asking her what her relationship with Jiang Xuchi is.
If Qin Man answers no, they will ask her to help deliver love letters or bring drinks and snacks.
Qin Man wouldn't do this kind of errand-running work, but refusing their requests would only lead to more inexplicable misunderstandings.
Qin Man later learned to be smarter and only gave them a perfunctory smile, letting them guess whatever they wanted.
If they keep guessing, they'll only make things worse and won't be involved with Qin Man.
Because they didn't dare to ask Jiang Xuchi for confirmation.
...
After school on Friday, Qin Man rubbed her sore shoulders and stretched in the break room.
Her phone chimed, and she saw a message from Jiang Xuchi.
Jiang Xuchi asked her to train together at the tennis hall on the weekend.
Without even thinking, Qin Man replied with a refusal.
Jiang Xuchi: [You're here?]
Qin Man stared at those two words for a long time, and after realizing what he meant, she sent a long string of ellipses.
She added, "I want to rest this weekend."
Jiang Xuchi stopped sending messages, it seems he's letting her go.
Qin Man breathed a sigh of relief. She was truly exhausted. Even with her daily training regimen meticulously planned, she still struggled to keep up. Jiang Xuchi, on the other hand, trained an hour longer than her in the mornings—his perseverance was a true talent.
She picked up the clothes she wanted to change into and went into the changing room. She was still looking down at her phone when she went in, and as usual, she hung her school uniform on the hook first.
Just as I hung it up, I caught a glimpse of a black patch on the wall out of the corner of my eye.
She swiftly pulled her hand back, and upon realizing it was an insect, she screamed again and backed away.
The insect was startled by her and spread its wings, fluttering onto the collar of her school uniform.
Qin Man rushed out of the lounge with a pale face and caught Jiang Xuchi, who was sneaking a smoke at the door.
She lunged forward, but Jiang Xuchi managed to raise the cigarette butt higher, avoiding burning her.
"There are bugs in the changing room!!!"
Her lips were pale, her hair was disheveled, and she didn't care about her appearance at the moment. The scent of incense from the women's changing room still lingered on her body.
Jiang Xuchi: "Are you asking me to go and catch one for you?"
Qin Man nodded, her eyes bright and full of anticipation.
Jiang Xuchi found it absurd: "Women's changing room?"
“There’s no one inside, you can go in,” Qin Man replied quickly. “It’s on my clothes, help me.”
That voice was pitiful.
Jiang Xuchi glanced around and, seeing that no one was there, pulled Qin Man towards the lounge.
The layout of the men's and women's rest rooms was similar, and Jiang Xuchi quickly found the location of the women's changing room. Qin Man pointed to it from outside, indicating that he should go in and take care of his business.
Seeing her serious expression, Jiang Xuchi teased her, "You're still so afraid even when you're all grown up."
Qin Man blushed and said, "Enough with the nonsense."
Lifting the curtain, they saw a huge beetle perched on Qin Man's school uniform collar.
Jiang Xuchi used his racket to try and flick it up, but as soon as he touched it, the insect trembled, spread its wings, and flew away.
Qin Man's scream rang out from outside.
Jiang Xuchi raised an eyebrow and waited for her to stop speaking before preparing to leave.
Qin Man suddenly lifted the curtain and pushed him inside with great force and speed, almost causing him to fall into his arms.
Jiang Xuchi slammed into the mirror behind the locker room. From outside, several girls' voices drifted over: "You said Jiang Xuchi practices for an hour every day after Qin Man leaves, is that true? I didn't see him just now."
A note from the author:
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