Jiang Qiao: [I wouldn’t dare.]
166: [………………]
On the basketball court, the freshmen boys, now in their uniforms, started a friendly match against the sophomores.
Jiang Qiao glanced over and immediately spotted Lu Xun among them. The young man stood half a head taller than the others, standing out like a crane among chickens, making hearts flutter.
Lu Xun, with his long limbs and steady, precise moves, scored two baskets within the first three minutes of the game.
The sophomores grew anxious. Zhou Yue, their captain, seemed distracted, frequently glancing toward Jiang Qiao in the stands. But Jiang Qiao wasn’t looking at him—she was staring intently at someone else.
Following her gaze, Zhou Yue saw Lu Xun execute a clean shot, the ball swishing through the hoop.
Zhou Yue had heard from the girls in his class that a straight-A student had joined the freshman class this year—a strikingly handsome one who had drawn the attention of every girl in the high school division on his first day.
Within half a day, they had dug up his background: Lu Xun, orphaned, deaf in his left ear.
Tch. Zhou Yue couldn’t understand why Jiang Qiao would be interested in such a pretentious pauper. Irritated, he noticed the lingering bruise at the corner of Lu Xun’s mouth and thought maliciously, He must’ve been beaten up for putting on airs.
He whispered something to his teammates, and from then on, the sophomores deliberately drove past Lu Xun’s left side.
Jiang Qiao saw Lu Xun hesitate for a moment. Those few seconds cost him the opportunity, and by the time he tried to defend, the ball was already in.
Cheers erupted across the field.
The same pattern repeated over the next few plays, with the sophomores swarming around Lu Xun.
Zhou Yue didn’t participate directly, but anyone could see he was tacitly approving his teammates’ actions.
Ye Qingqing noticed it too, feeling both furious and embarrassed. “They’re clearly targeting him on purpose.”
At halftime, the sophomores left the court smugly, while the freshmen wore awkward expressions, shooting resentful looks at Lu Xun and grumbling as they walked off.
Jiang Qiao saw Song Qingying approach Lu Xun with a bottle of water, her face full of concern as she said something to him. Lu Xun shook his head, and Song Qingying walked away dejected.
The second half began quickly. The sophomores stuck to their strategy, and the freshmen seemed to have given up. As long as the sophomores kept ganging up on Lu Xun, they couldn’t win.
Just as another basket seemed inevitable, a surprised gasp rang out—the ball was intercepted right at the edge of the hoop.
Seizing the moment, Lu Xun caught the falling ball with one hand and, in a swift countermove, scored in the opponents’ basket.
As expected of a high-IQ straight-A student, Jiang Qiao thought, he figured out how to break their tactic during halftime. Others were thinking the same.
The whistle blew. Lu Xun’s team won the match 17–13.
Zhou Yue, humiliated, offered insincere congratulations while secretly wishing he could tear Lu Xun apart. He left the court in disgrace.
The entire field was filled with the excited roars of boys and the cheers of girls.
Amid the noisy environment, Lu Xun’s usually silent left ear began to ache sharply. Beads of cold sweat dotted his forehead, and a wave of self-loathing washed over him uncontrollably.
A girl, having mustered her courage with flushed cheeks, approached to offer him water, but when she looked up, the young man was already gone.
Unaware that he had earned someone’s envy and resentment, Lu Xun walked along the shaded path toward the quiet, abandoned school building, his left ear still throbbing faintly.
Crunch—
His shoe stepped on a dry twig, producing a distinct sound.
He turned his head with an unpleasant expression, recognized who it was, frowned slightly, then turned back and leaned casually against the wall.
Pretending not to notice his obvious unwillingness to engage, Jiang Qiao handed him a bottle of mineral water she had just bought, blinking: “I bought this especially for you.”
Lu Xun didn’t even lift his eyelids, pulling a small vocabulary booklet from his school uniform jacket to read.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the girl’s eyes widen slightly, her expression one of suppressed anger.
The chilled water bottle had formed tiny droplets, turning her slender fingers slightly red from the cold. Even so, she stubbornly refused to withdraw her hand.
Lu Xun felt irritated and abruptly closed the vocabulary booklet, saying coldly, “Buying water for me? Got too much money to spend?”
“………………” Jiang Qiao couldn’t hold back her frustration: “Who told you to help Song Qingying? She was just pretending in front of you. I didn’t bully her—she insisted on reporting my name.”
Lu Xun had truly witnessed the guilty party filing the suit first. He had no patience to argue with this young lady: “Whatever makes you happy.”
Jiang Qiao: “…………………” I’m not happy!!
“Let go.” Lu Xun tried to leave but was blocked. He looked down and saw his school uniform sleeve tightly gripped, which only intensified his irritation.
Yet Jiang Qiao acted as if she couldn’t read his expression: “No, I haven’t finished talking to you yet. You can’t leave until I’m done.”
Her tone was so domineering, her attitude so entitled.
But her courage wasn’t that great—after one cold glance from Lu Xun, she immediately let go, still pretending to be tough: “What are you glaring at? I just want to talk to you, not take your life!”
All bark and no bite.
Lu Xun patted the wrinkled sleeve where Jiang Qiao had gripped it, leaned back again, and laughed out of sheer exasperation: “Go on.”
Jiang Qiao had intended to question why he patted his sleeve, but seeing him smile like that, she swallowed nervously, afraid he’d notice, and coughed twice for show: “Lu Xun, give me your contact information.”
It was a statement, not a question.
“No phone,” Lu Xun replied without a second thought.
Jiang Qiao: “…………………”
Is this guy a dog? How can he lie so shamelessly? Couldn’t he at least come up with a normal excuse?!
Jiang Qiao was genuinely angry but still feigned confusion: “How is that possible? Then how do your friends contact you?”
“No friends,” Lu Xun said.
Jiang Qiao was speechless. She watched as Lu Xun turned and walked away, then spat out a single word: “Damn!”
[Can I just skip the plot and force him?] Jiang Qiao gritted her teeth.
166 chuckled: [No.]
On the way home from school, Ye Qingqing asked how it went, so she told her the whole story, sincerely marveling at how Lu Xun had reached new heights of being difficult.
After hearing it, Ye Qingqing’s expression turned strange: “Lu Xun is in the class group chat.”
“Impossible, he doesn’t even have a phone………” As she spoke, Jiang Qiao opened her phone. The administrator had asked everyone to change their display names to their real ones, and she immediately spotted Lu Xun.
Jiang Qiao: “…………………” Damn Lu Xun.
Jiang Qiao’s pretty face twisted with anger. Ye Qingqing had no doubt she wanted to kill Lu Xun at that moment. Just then, she spotted her family’s car and hurriedly said, “Qiao, I’ve got to go. See you tomorrow…”
Leaving Jiang Qiao alone to grumble at 166.
After finishing her meal and lying in bed, Jiang Qiao found Lu Xun in the class group chat and sent him a friend request.
Lu Xun rejected her.
She bolted upright like a carp leaping from water and persistently sent another request.
She refused to believe he would keep declining.
Meanwhile, Lu Xun was riding his bicycle, his sturdy forearms showing clean muscle lines as the wind ruffled his short hair. His handsome, deep-set eyes carried a youthful vitality.
The narrow alley had no streetlights, pitch-black and silent. His phone buzzed intermittently in his pocket, its screen flickering between light and dark.
Pressing his lips together, he pedaled faster.