Chapter 7 The Princess "I'll remember her face."...
Across the aisle, two girls were whispering to each other, staring at Jiang Xuchi's profile, their gazes shifting back and forth between the two of them.
Qin Man immediately lost her appetite. "You called me over just to say this?"
"You won't agree?" he countered.
"Then what do you mean?"
“You know.”
Back and forth, neither side compromised or gave in, and the atmosphere reached a freezing point.
Qin Man took out her phone, deleted the message he sent her through a WeChat group chat, put down her chopsticks, and stood up. "I'm not playing games with you."
"Qin Man".
He called her by her name, the threat in which was obvious.
Qin Man's heart was pounding. She realized that if she really left, Jiang Xuchi could really tell everyone about her, so she couldn't take another step.
Unable to sit back down, Qin Man stood frozen in place, pale and weak, repeatedly asking, "What exactly do you mean?"
"Come be my sparring partner for tonight's tennis practice." Jiang Xuchi stood up as well, looking up at her with eager, gossipy eyes all around. He spoke calmly, not interested in wasting time with her. "Don't be late."
Qin Man didn't even know how she left the cafeteria. Thinking back to how uneasy she felt after seeing Jiang Xuchi's message last night, she found it all ridiculous.
What was a huge deal to her was nothing more than a few words to Jiang Xuchi, as simple as it gets.
After school.
Pei Shiyu stood on the steps as usual, calling Jiang Xuchi to train together. Her eyes were full of light, and she really enjoyed watching Jiang Xuchi slowly walk towards her from the back row.
This time, however, as Jiang Xuchi passed Qin Man's table, he tapped his knuckles twice on the surface.
These two actions, like stones thrown into a lake, instantly silenced the noisy classroom as everyone turned to look at Qin Man.
Qin Man was lying on the table when she heard the sound. She propped herself up and sat up. Jiang Xuchi had already walked to the classroom door.
She glared at his retreating figure, cursing him a thousand times in her heart.
Pei Shiyu saw Qin Man reluctantly stand up, take out a tennis racket from the cabinet, and frown slightly.
On the way to the venue, Pei Shiyu asked him, "Why did you invite Qin Man along?"
"Sparring partner".
"What about the students who have been practicing with us?"
Jiang Xuchi said nonchalantly, "They can fight the same way they always have."
Pei Shiyu was speechless. She turned her head to look at Qin Man beside her, her mind filled with countless guesses, but what came out of her mouth was a gentle question: "Qin Man, do you have a boyfriend?"
Qin Man was wearing headphones, and the deafening rock music made Pei Shiyu's voice muffled. She pulled off one earphone and gestured for her to repeat herself.
Pei Shiyu turned to Jiang Xuchi instead: "The three of us can't fight."
Jiang Xuchi slowed his pace, seemingly lost in thought.
"Bang--!"
Qin Man felt something fly towards her, but she didn't have time to react.
A second earlier or later would have been fine, but Jiang Xuchi deliberately slowed down his pace at this moment.
A basketball hit Qin Man squarely on the shoulder. She immediately gasped and turned to find out who had caused it.
"Oh, sorry about that." Xi Yue's playful voice came over, and he ran up to Jiang Xuchi. He glanced at Qin Man first, then smiled at Jiang Xuchi. "Shall we go play tennis now?"
Jiang Xuchi nodded to him.
Qin Man was still rubbing her shoulders.
Xi Yue looked at Qin Man, reached out and casually patted her shoulder twice, without saying a word of apology, but just kept smiling, and his hand went to her waist.
Qin Manyao slapped his unruly hand away, "Can't you watch yourself?"
"It was an accident, an accident." Xi Yue shamelessly put his arm around Qin Man's shoulder again. "Okay, don't be angry. We still have to play ball together later."
Qin Man tried to push him away again, but out of the corner of her eye she noticed that Jiang Xuchi was staring at them, so she stopped moving.
It seems Xi Yue has no intention of letting go of this hand.
Jiang Xuchi suddenly spoke up: "Xi Yue, beat the clapper."
Xi Yue suddenly realized: "Just say I forgot something."
He ran back to get his tennis racket. Qin Man dusted off her shoulders in disgust, took a hair tie out of her pocket, and casually tied her hair into a bun.
After completing this series of preparatory actions, Qin Man went to see Jiang Xuchi.
She met his languid gaze.
The wind blew up the stray hairs on his forehead, and his collar swayed in the wind, exuding nonchalance.
Qin Man looked away first. Since she couldn't guess what he was thinking, she decided not to.
Upon arriving at the venue, the first person I saw was Duan Kexin, the team member who had been training with Jiang Xuchi and Pei Shiyu, and the president of the school's tennis club.
She was engrossed in her game with another male teammate when she saw them walking towards her. She immediately stopped, looked up, and with her eyes crinkling, called out to Jiang Xuchi, "You've finally arrived!"
The next second, Duan Kexin saw Qin Man carrying a tennis racket next to her. She was stunned for a moment and looked at Pei Shiyu in confusion.
Pei Shiyu smiled apologetically: "Today we're playing against Manman."
The seemingly intimate phrase "Manman" directly drew the flames of war to Qin Man.
Qin Man remained silent.
Duan Kexin frowned and looked at Qin Man, opening her mouth, "But..."
"President Duan." At this moment, Xi Yue's loud voice rang out from behind, his tone very familiar, "You don't need to trouble yourselves today. We'll be your sparring partners from now on. Thank you for your hard work."
Duan Kexin looked at Xi Yue, then at Qin Man, and after realizing something, her expression clearly turned to disappointment. She turned to the other team members and said, "Let's go then."
...
As the training session ended, the tennis ball rolled to Qin Man's feet. Panting, she picked it up from the ground and slammed it down heavily at Jiang Xuchi's feet.
Because she and Xi Yue kept losing points, she had to keep picking up the balls, and her back was almost broken from bending over.
Unfortunately, Xi Yue was not one to show mercy to women, so he just stood there smiling and watching her chase the ball around.
Jiang Xuchi bent down, picked up the ball, weighed it in his hand, and walked up to Qin Man.
He shoved the ball back into Qin Man's hand, his tone ambiguous: "Play more carefully next time, and pick up fewer balls."
Qin Man gripped the tennis ball tightly, her face flushed with anger.
Even after fighting him multiple times, Qin Man was still very unwilling to accept defeat.
"Tennis princess, someone's giving you pointers." Xi Yue shrugged, laughing as he said something irritating.
But when Jiang Xuchi looked at him, he wisely shut his mouth and stopped making sarcastic remarks.
The entrance to the men's locker room.
After changing his clothes, Xi Yue came out and patted Jiang Xuchi on the shoulder, "Want one?"
Jiang Xuchi turned his head, and Xi Yue noticed that he already had a cigarette in his mouth, so he very considerately took out a lighter and lit it for him.
"I have something to ask you," Jiang Xuchi said.
"What."
Why is she called the Tennis Princess?
Xi Yue smiled and said, "Oh, Qin Man, it's because of a match."
"Contest?"
"I still have a phone here..." Xi Yue paused in taking out his phone, then suddenly changed the subject, "Then I'll ask you a question too."
Jiang Xuchi remained expressionless. "Ask."
"You and Qin Man knew each other before?"
Jiang Xu didn't answer directly, but instead made a "hmm?" sound from his nose, throwing the question back to the other person.
Xi Yue explained, "It's just a feeling. Ever since you transferred here, it's like you've been targeting Qin Man."
“On my first day at school,” Jiang Xuchi exhaled a puff of smoke, the smoke dissipating in the evening breeze, his voice faint, “I remembered her face.”
The words were ambiguous, but Xi Yue nodded knowingly, "Who wouldn't remember her face?"
He deliberately lowered his voice, his tone tinged with excitement, "Besides, being looked at by those eyes makes me especially want to do it to her..."
"You saved the video?"
Interrupted from their conversation, Xi Yue remembered this incident, unlocked his phone, and showed the saved video to Jiang Xuchi.
"It's a tennis tournament for first-year high school students, and your opponent is Duan Kexin." Xi Yue added, worried that he might not recognize her, "Duan Kexin is the club president who has been practicing with you these past few days."
The footage was taken by Xi Yue with his mobile phone, from the perspective of the first row of the stands, and it clearly reflects his personal style.
The camera kept panning back and forth between Qin Man's facial features, which were partially obscured by her hair, and her flowing skirt, before finally settling on a close-up.
There was almost no information about the match, not even the score.
But it's also clear that she was the winner of this match.
The blazing sun shone brightly, making Qin Man's white skirt dazzling.
She was bathed in sunlight, the court was lush and green, her long black hair framed by a slender yet powerful physique. Not a single movement was superfluous; her serve, her hit, her counter-attack, her finishing move—she never made a mistake.
Xi Yue leaned closer and said, "Isn't she beautiful? After this match, her reputation as the tennis princess spread throughout the entire Xilai High School."
After the video ended, Jiang Xuchi tossed the phone back to Xi Yue.
As he walked out, he shook the ash off his sleeves.
The next day, as soon as Qin Man entered the classroom, she felt that something was wrong.
It seemed like everyone was looking at her with unusual fervor, but when Qin Man looked back, they turned their heads away and continued whispering.
Seeing her clueless expression, a girl smiled and explained to her, "Qin Man, you're trending!"
"What's trending?"
Go see for yourself.
Qin Man opened her phone, switched to the app, and saw a red "hot" label following the entry "Xilai Tennis Princess".
This is a short video that has been edited, with music and some special effects added. It has received over 100,000 likes and more than 5,000 comments, all asking who this is, what her name is, and whether she has a boyfriend or girlfriend.
[What a beautiful high school girl! What's her name?]
[This is a student of Xilai, a representative of the wealthy and powerful; his name alone would scare you to death.]
Is she the daughter of the Qin Ye Group?
[The only daughter of a real estate tycoon? Wow, she's so beautiful!]
The comments section is full of back-and-forth chatter, and you could practically trace Qin Man's hometown back to her roots.
She stared at the comments, feeling dizzy.
She had never been afraid of such stares before. She had been intimidated during a dance competition in elementary school, but back then she would only laugh secretly in bed.
Unlike now, where even the slightest disturbance makes one fear that their mask will be removed.
Qin Man placed her phone screen upside down on the table, feeling utterly powerless.
"Who posted the video?" she asked.
Nobody knows.
"I asked who posted the video!"
Her voice rose, and those around her noticed something was wrong with her tone, advising her, "Oh, I really don't know, the hype will die down in a couple of days."
At the same time, Jiang Xuchi pushed open the classroom door.
As he brushed past her, Qin Man suddenly reached out and grabbed Jiang Xuchi's sleeve.
Jiang Xuchi stopped and turned to look at her.
"No practice today." Qin Man's voice was low, her throat inexplicably dry and sore.
"Why?" Jiang Xuchi lowered his eyes, looking at the white fingertips that were gripping his sleeve tightly. "We have to practice every day. There's a competition next month."
Tonight, a lot of people will definitely come to watch her and Jiang Xuchi play tennis. There will be a huge crowd outside the fence, with many mobile phone cameras pointed at them.
Just thinking about it made Qin Man's breathing quicken and her heartbeat become irregular.
Jiang Xuchi was still looking at her.
"I just don't want to practice anymore."
"Because of the video?"
"You knew?" Qin Man said incredulously, "You sent it?"
Jiang Xuchi replied quickly: "No."
"Then tonight..."
"Let's continue tonight."
Qin Man wouldn't let go, her eyes welling up with tears as she stared at him stubbornly.
Jiang Xuchi recalled what Xi Yue had said last night, and it made a lot of sense. Anyone would think twice under her gaze.
Don't be late.
He pulled his hand away from Qin Man's fingertips and continued walking to the back of the row.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
