Jing Jiaxi ran very slowly, falling a full lap behind the main group.
Lu Pengtao, who was running up from behind, felt a surge of malice seeing him jog along so leisurely. He glanced over at the students in the stands cheering for Jing Jiaxi, listening closely, yet failing to hear his own name among the shouts.
Running at the very front, resentment rushed into Lu Pengtao’s heart.
Why am I the one running in first place, but a pretty boy gets all the attention?!
He slammed his shoulder viciously toward Jing Jiaxi.
Sensing the impending collision, Jing Jiaxi slowed his pace by a few steps, narrowly avoiding the brunt of the impact. His entire body staggered, but he managed to keep from falling.
A wave of hushed, critical whispers erupted from the spectator stands.
“That Lu Pengtao! It’s bad enough that he targets Jing Jiaxi on regular days, but he’s actually tripping him up at a time like this? Unreal!”
“That is way too much! They’re in the same class, why does he have it out for Jing Jiaxi?”
“Jealousy, obviously.” A girl glanced at the class monitor, Mi Yaxin, who was currently staring down at the track with a deep frown. She gave the person next to her a meaningful look, and the other person caught on instantly.
“A man with that much jealousy looks like he’d have violent tendencies!”
“Ahhh! Lu Pengtao is so disgusting, he’s bumping into our Jiaxi again!”
……
Seeing Jing Jiaxi—who was already two laps behind—get shoved yet again, Fu Qianyu’s face had turned completely as dark as charcoal from where he sat in the guest section listening to the surrounding chatter.
Sitting beside him, the vice dean wiped the sweat from his face, inwardly cursing the arrogance of the boy bumping people on the track.
The investment Fu Qianyu brought in was enough for the university to build a whole new building! To be so utterly blind to the situation and maliciously bully a classmate—how could their university have a student like this!
Sweating profusely with anxiety, the vice dean desperately wanted to call a halt to the race immediately. He was just about to explain things to Fu Qianyu, but the man, bearing a murderous expression, simply adjusted his suit slightly, stood up, and walked down toward that slender figure.
The vice dean hurriedly followed.
Lu Pengtao’s face was drenched in sweat. Because he had run too fast early on and put all his focus into colliding with Jing Jiaxi, he had long run out of strength for the final sprint. One by one, the people around him overtook him, leaving his heart flooded with fury and resentment.
He stared viciously at Jing Jiaxi’s unhurried back.
It’s all your fault! If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be losing this race!
If it weren’t for you, Mi Yaxin would have been my girlfriend long ago!
Lu Pengtao’s heart was entirely consumed by hatred. Gathering his absolute maximum strength, he faked a sprint but actually threw his weight heavily into Jing Jiaxi’s back.
Hearing Lu Pengtao’s heavy footsteps behind him, Jing Jiaxi thought helplessly that it was truly impossible to continue this race.
Running at a steady pace, he lifted onto his toes and leaped lightly, intending to jump onto the grass and forfeit.
But things didn’t go as planned. Lu Pengtao’s bull-like momentum was aimed squarely at Jing Jiaxi. Even though Jing Jiaxi had already shifted his direction, Lu Pengtao remained relentless, turning right along with him and ramming his shoulder hard against him!
Jing Jiaxi felt a dull pain in his back as his feet missed their footing. His mind instantly flashed with an ominous realization.
He was about to fall!
The baby!
Instinctively, Jing Jiaxi twisted his body to take the impact on his back, losing his balance completely.
Just when he thought he was about to crash onto the grass, a figure rushed forward and caught him.
By the time Jing Jiaxi realized what was happening, he was lying in the man’s arms, his heart thumping so fast it felt like it would explode.
Right then, a sharp howl pierced his ears.
“Ahhh!”
Catching the boy’s feather-light body, lingering fear and intense rage rushed into Fu Qianyu’s brain simultaneously. He kicked out with his leather shoe, striking Lu Pengtao’s shin with enough force to bring him crashing down with a single movement.
Lu Pengtao, who was mid-sprint, tripped as if he had hit an obstacle, his face slamming straight into the rough asphalt of the track. His entire face was instantly covered in blood as he curled up, clutching his leg and wailing in agony.
The familiar, broad chest brought Jing Jiaxi an instant sense of security.
Two hearts, both beating rapidly, were pressed incredibly close together. Jing Jiaxi assumed it was his own nervousness causing the frantic thumping, but after a moment, he realized there was another high-frequency heartbeat right beside him, pounding wildly within the chest of the person holding him.
Even though he was the one who almost fell, Mr. Fu was so tense that his heart was beating even faster than his own.
Fu Qianyu lifted the boy up in a bridal carry and, under the watchful eyes of the entire crowd, carried him away from the scorching, turbulent track.
The stadium fell dead silent for a brief moment. Countless people watched as a tall man in a suit carried away a delicate-looking freshman. Not to mention, this freshman was a newly crowned campus heartthrob whose popularity had been soaring recently.
The moment the man carried the youth out of the stadium gates, the entire place erupted into a frenzy of chatter, punctuated by occasional suppressed yet excited squeals.
With a grim expression, Fu Qianyu carried the person in his arms toward his car.
Jing Jiaxi froze like a startled kitten, not daring to make a single move, and it wasn’t until he was placed safely inside the car that he could finally breathe normally.
The aura radiating from the man beside him was incredibly oppressive; Jing Jiaxi didn’t dare say a word, terrified of making him angry.
After a long moment, Fu Qianyu spoke: “Is someone in your class bullying you?”
“I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have participated!”
The two voices rang out at the exact same time, causing Jing Jiaxi to blink in surprise.
He isn’t angry because my signing up for the race might have harmed the baby?
When he almost fell, even he himself felt that textually knowing his body wasn’t well yet stubbornly signing up was a massive mistake. He couldn’t even place in the race and was only there to make up the numbers, yet he hadn’t been cautious enough about his own condition.
“It’s not your fault. Don’t blame yourself for the mistakes of others. Does that person often bully you?”
Fu Qianyu’s words caused Jing Jiaxi to release his tight grip on the hem of his shirt.
“No, that classmate usually doesn’t get physical. He just says unpleasant things. I don’t know what got into him today.”
Fu Qianyu observed Jing Jiaxi’s expression—it was calm and indifferent, without a single trace of anger.
“This isn’t right, Jing Jiaxi.”
“Are you talking about him bumping into me?” Jing Jiaxi felt there was a deeper meaning to his words.
“When someone bullies you, a normal person gets angry.” Fu Qianyu pointed out his abnormal composure; it was as if he felt no wave of emotion whatsoever when others harmed him.
Jing Jiaxi scratched the back of his head. “But, if I always get angry over things like this, it would be exhausting.”
A cold sneer tugged at the corner of Fu Qianyu’s mouth. “But do you know? The moment I saw him ramming into you, I just wanted to kill him.”
The sheer deadliness in his tone made Jing Jiaxi’s heart tighten.
“……” Jing Jiaxi didn’t know how to respond.
Fortunately, Fu Qianyu didn’t press further. He crossed his arms and closed his eyes to rest, organizing his thoughts. From the commentary in the spectator stands, two pieces of information could be extracted:
First, the root cause of the incident was that this Lu Pengtao was jealous of Jing Jiaxi over a woman. Second, Lu Pengtao targeted Jing Jiaxi on a regular basis.
“Jing Jiaxi,” the silent man suddenly spoke up.
“?”
“Does anyone at school like you?”
“No. Who would like me?” Jing Jiaxi replied without a second thought. He couldn’t imagine anyone liking someone like him, who was poor and average-looking. His self-image was still stuck in his middle school days when people looked down on him; he never thought he was good-looking, nor did he think there was anything about him worth liking.
Fu Qianyu opened his eyes slightly to look at him. “……Silly.”
In the prime of youth, how could anyone not like someone as eye-catching as Jing Jiaxi?