Zhou Xiaoxiao couldn’t find out the origin of the note from Yan Wei, nor did she see its contents. After making a fuss for a while, she quieted down, and no mysterious person sent anything else afterward, so the matter was left unresolved.
At the end of April, the school held a three-day spring sports meet before the midterm exams. The exams followed immediately after the sports meet, leaving students torn between joy and sorrow, unable to fully enjoy themselves—a testament to the school leadership’s cunning intentions.
This year, however, the curse of rain during the sports meet didn’t hold. From the first day, the sun shone brightly and continued for three full days, draining even the most energetic students of their enthusiasm.
Registration forms had to be submitted a week in advance. During the long break, Wen Tan announced the details of the sports meet, and the class briefly erupted in noise. But when he encouraged everyone to sign up, only a few responded.
Most students either stared blankly or busied themselves with their own tasks, showing little interest in signing up. The task should have been handled by the sports committee member, but unfortunately, they were on sick leave these past few days.
Wen Tan’s fair ears flushed slightly red. His good friend couldn’t stand it and shouted, “The sports meet is for the glory of the class! Shouldn’t the class committee set an example? Class monitor, you sign up first! What about the academic committee member? Where’s our academic committee member?”
The boy deliberately raised his voice so the whole class could hear.
Laughter immediately erupted below, and the students joined in the teasing. The academic committee member was Yan Wei, and when it came to representing the class, Yan Wei’s name carried far more weight than Wen Tan’s.
Caught off guard by the callout, Yan Wei felt a pang of helplessness. She had no talent for sports and, due to her poor physical condition, barely passed physical education classes. She avoided such activities unless forced to participate.
In her previous life, during the sports meet, Jiang Youyi, despite her leg injury, had signed up for the 1,600-meter run. Worried that Jiang Youyi wouldn’t make it, Yan Wei had refused to participate under the pretext of feeling unwell and took on logistical duties out of selfish motives. In the end, Jiang Youyi stubbornly finished the race but didn’t accept the water Yan Wei offered.
With a sigh in her heart, Yan Wei suddenly looked up from her textbook and smiled brightly at the class monitor on the podium. “Then sign me up for the long-distance run, 1,600 meters.”
The noisy classroom fell silent for a moment. Zhou Xiaoxiao, who hadn’t had time to swallow a mouthful of hot water, spat it all out onto the podium. Without bothering to clean up the mess in front of her, she turned in horror and grabbed Yan Wei’s shoulders. “Really? Are you joking? You have low blood sugar, and you want to run 1,600 meters?”
“Low blood sugar isn’t a heart condition. Why can’t I run?” Yan Wei chuckled, brushing off Zhou Xiaoxiao’s hands.
Zhou Xiaoxiao looked dazed.
Wow! As expected of the goddess! She went straight for the hardest event!
Suddenly, the classroom grew even noisier. The boy who had started the teasing laughed loudly. “Class monitor! Did you hear that? The academic committee member wants to run 1,600 meters. Write it down!”
Wen Tan had never seen Yan Wei smile like that before and nearly made a fool of himself in his daze. He also remembered Yan Wei’s low blood sugar and hesitated for a few seconds before whispering, “Maybe… you should choose a different event? The 1,600 meters is too difficult. Events like long jump, high jump, or shot put… no one has signed up for those yet.”
The class burst into laughter, egging him on even more. “Class monitor! You’re being too biased!”
Wen Tan looked embarrassed, but he stubbornly met Yan Wei’s gaze, hoping she would change her mind.
“I’ve decided, sixteen hundred meters it is. Please help me sign up, monitor. Thank you.” After speaking, Yan Wei lowered her head to continue organizing her notes, ignoring the teasing and commotion around her.
Unable to persuade Yan Wei, Wen Tan had no choice but to first record the event she had signed up for. His pen paused briefly, and two seconds later, he added his own name in the blank space after the boys’ two-thousand-meter event.
The two names stood neatly side by side on the sign-up sheet.
Just then, a girl passed by him, glanced at the sheet pinned under his hand, and said, “Give me the pen, I want to sign up.” She snatched the pen from his hand and quickly scribbled her name in one of the columns on the form.
Wen Tan’s stunned expression was almost comical. Jiang Youyi put down the pen and stepped off the podium. On her way back to her seat, someone stopped her. A pretty female classmate, in a rather uncharacteristic move, stretched out a leg to block the aisle and asked, “What event did you sign up for?”
“Guess,” Jiang Youyi teased, then lightly kicked the heel of Yan Wei’s shoe before stepping over her leg to return to her seat in the back row.
Wen Tan stared blankly at the sign-up sheet. A few bold, sprawling characters now appeared on the form, closely following Yan Wei’s name. The strokes spilled out of the box, lying between the two names that had originally been side by side, like a wall overgrown with thorns.
After evening self-study ended, Jiang Youyi left early. Yan Wei tidied her desk, picked up a book of error corrections, thought for a moment, then put it down. She heard Zhou Xiaoxiao ask, “Heading back to the dorm together?”
“No, I’m going to the track.”
“Going for a run?” Zhou Xiaoxiao remembered Yan Wei had signed up for the sixteen-hundred-meter race and still couldn’t quite understand it. However, she herself had signed up for the four-hundred-meter sprint and decided to change her plans. “I’ll go too. A little last-minute practice can’t hurt!”
Yan Wei laughed at her. “Not going back to review? Midterms are coming up soon.”
“One or two days won’t make a difference. Exercise is important too!” Zhou Xiaoxiao declared righteously and confidently.
The two of them headed to the track together. Yan Wei did a simple warm-up, stepped onto the track, and slowly eased into her practice. Zhou Xiaoxiao, the sprinter, didn’t speed up but walked alongside Yan Wei, casually starting a conversation. “You and Jiang Youyi seem pretty close. How did you two get to know each other, especially since she’s so quiet?”
How did they meet?
Yan Wei tilted her head and thought about it. The question felt too distant for her now, and she couldn’t quite recall the specifics. However, there was one memorable incident she would never forget.
In their first year of high school, before they were divided into arts and sciences streams, she and Jiang Youyi happened to be in the same class and even shared a dorm. They maintained a lukewarm classmate relationship throughout the semester, knowing little more than each other’s names.
But as the highest and lowest achievers in the dorm, they were seen by other classmates as incompatible, like fire and water.
High school students were quick to form prejudices based on personality clashes. Jiang Youyi didn’t fit in—she was independent, unconventional, and never extended friendliness to anyone, making her an easy target for other girls during idle moments.
Someone started ostracizing Jiang Youyi. During lunch breaks, when Jiang Youyi returned a little later, they would lock the door to keep her out. Coincidentally, Yan Wei had stayed in the classroom that day to solve a few extra problems and returned just in time to see Jiang Youyi being blocked outside the dorm door.
Faint, unrestrained laughter could be heard from inside the room.
“I’ll do it.” Yan Wei stood behind Jiang Youyi. This might have been the first time they spoke.
“No need.”
Jiang Youyi was cool, not even turning her head when she replied.
Yan Wei blinked. She was actually just in a hurry, not trying to help, but Jiang Youyi seemed to have misunderstood her.
Then, with a loud bang, Yan Wei’s ears went deaf for a few seconds.
The door swung open, the lock broken. The laughter inside vanished, and several girls trembled, instinctively stepping aside.
Jiang Youyi withdrew the foot she had used to kick the door, shrugged off her bag, and walked in as if nothing had happened. She tossed her backpack onto her bed and then went into the bathroom to freshen up.
She didn’t speak, and no one dared to say a word. The dormitory was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Yan Wei stood outside the door, her heart suddenly racing uncontrollably.
This girl was so audacious.