CS - 32

The next day, the stifling weather truly began to pick up some wind.

The breeze swept across the hot, almost scorching rubber track, through the treetops, and across the entire stadium, bringing with it a rare sense of coolness.

Lin Zhe Xia’s relay race was the last event of the morning.

She pinned her race number on her back and began waiting for the announcement over the loudspeaker.

“Participants in the Grade 11 girls’ relay race, please proceed to Area A to prepare—”

Competitors were required to arrive fifteen minutes early to line up. After hearing the announcement, Lin Zhe Xia followed others down from the side of the stands.

When she arrived at Area A and had just lined up, she noticed two extremely familiar figures sitting by the edge of the track.

Xu Ting waved at her: “Hey, Lin Shao.”

Lin Zhe Xia was a bit surprised: “What are you doing here?”

After saying that, she turned to the other person, “And you—shouldn’t you be staying in the stands?”

Chi Yao wasn’t wearing his school uniform today—neither were many others. With so many people at the sports meet, the school couldn’t keep track—and since many participants needed to change clothes after their events, the school tacitly allowed students not to wear uniforms on the second day.

He was dressed in a simple T-shirt paired with jeans, his legs unusually long. Perhaps to avoid the sun, he had draped a jacket over his knees and was sitting beside Xu Ting inside the rubber track’s inner boundary.

Almost simultaneously, both “man and dog” spoke—

Xu Ting: “We came down to cheer you on!”

Chi Yao, in a casual tone: “Bored out of my mind, came down to watch turtles race.”

“...”

“You hang around with Xu Ting all the time,” Lin Zhe Xia said, trying to hold back her irritation, “Maybe you should learn how to talk like a normal human being.”

Xu Ting nudged him with his elbow: “Did you hear that?”

Chi Yao: “Didn’t hear anything. Deaf.”

Lin Zhe Xia: “You’re the turtle. I’m running the fourth leg—I’ll show you what ‘stunning speed’ looks like.”

Chi Yao didn’t reply, but his entire demeanor expressed one thing:

A look of utter disdain: You? Stunning speed?

As they spoke, her team began calling names.

Lin Zhe Xia stopped talking to Chi Yao. In the past, she would silently repeat to herself, “The enemy’s doubt is my greatest motivation; I must make Chi Yao that jerk see me in a new light.” But now, she realized her thoughts weren’t like that at all.

The closer it got to her turn, the more nervous she became.

But this nervousness wasn’t because of the starter’s gun—it was because she realized Chi Yao was watching her from the sidelines. And he would continue to watch her throughout the race.

It was strange.

This realization made her suddenly feel tense.

During the relay race, things moved quickly. As she prepared to take the baton, she tried to reason with herself internally: So what if he’s close? So what if he’s sitting there watching me run?

So what…

With these thoughts swirling in her mind, Lin Zhe Xia sprinted toward the finish line. But halfway through, she realized something was wrong.

She hadn’t warmed up properly, and the added mental pressure caused her to overexert during the start. After just a few strides, her calf began cramping. By the time she realized it, her knee had already scraped hard against the rubber track, burning with pain.

Xu Ting shouted, “Shit!”

“How did you even fall?”

He instinctively wanted to rush over to help but quickly remembered that it should’ve been Chi Yao’s job. Turning around, he saw Chi Yao hadn’t moved. “Aren’t you going to help her up?”

“Let her finish running.”

Xu Ting thought this was ridiculous and couldn’t help but say, “Even after falling, she keeps running…”

He wanted to call Chi Yao heartless but unexpectedly noticed that Chi Yao himself looked very tense.

The boy’s voice came out strained as he spoke: “If someone helped her off midway, she’d rather finish the race. This is a relay race. It’s not just about her—it’s the whole team. Knowing her personality, she’d blame herself if she didn’t finish.”

“So… let her finish.”

Xu Ting was stunned.

He looked back at the track and saw that Lin Zhe Xia indeed hadn’t let anyone help her. She pushed herself up as fast as possible and continued running.

However, after that fall, Class Seven, which had been leading, was now trailing behind the others.

“This is what it means to grow up together,” Xu Ting muttered while rubbing his nose. “It really is different from ordinary people. Before, I just thought you two were close, but I never imagined it went this deep—you don’t even need words to understand each other.”

There was no suspense in the end. Lin Zhe Xia crossed the finish line last.

Chi Yao waited for her at the finish line, crouching down: “Get on. We’re going to the infirmary.”

Before climbing onto his back, Lin Zhe Xia emphasized: “If I hadn’t fallen, I definitely would’ve come in first.”

This time, Chi Yao didn’t retort. He gave a faint “Mm” from his throat.

“You better not be brushing me off with that ‘Mm.’“

“Mm.”

“...”

Lin Zhe Xia didn’t want to speak anymore.

Chi Yao carried her to the infirmary.

As Lin Zhe Xia leaned on his back, she caught the scent of laundry detergent that had been dried under the sun.

Then belatedly, she felt her ears growing hot.

“So embarrassing.”

Hiding her face in his shirt, Lin Zhe Xia said, “So many people were watching.”

“You finished the race,” Chi Yao said. “It’s not embarrassing.”

But floating in Lin Zhe Xia’s mind, her immediate thought was: But you saw me.

Before the race, she had already inexplicably cared that he would be watching her from the sidelines. And then she fell right in front of him.

The infirmary was located behind the stadium.

After Chi Yao carried her away from the crowd, she couldn’t help but ask, “Earlier… when I fell…”

“What about it?”

“Did I look really ugly when I fell?”

For a moment, there was silence.

Lin Zhe Xia immediately regretted asking. That wasn’t something she’d normally ask.

When had she ever cared about such things in front of Chi Yao? Even when she accidentally fell into a puddle on a rainy day, she wouldn’t have asked, “Did I look ugly just now?”

But recently, she had started becoming unlike her usual self.

She had started caring about her image in front of Chi Yao.

Trying to cover her unease, she explained: “There were so many people watching. I do care about appearances. I can’t afford to lose face as the great Lin Shao.”

After a long pause, Chi Yao broke the silence: “Not bad.”

Lin Zhe Xia: “... Not bad?”

Chi Yao elaborated: “Not ugly.”

Lin Zhe Xia threatened, “I’ll give you another chance. Answer again.”

Chi Yao demonstrated what it meant to answer again: “A little ugly, but still acceptable.”

“Answering again means giving a different answer,” Lin Zhe Xia said, “Not expanding on ‘not ugly.’“

Chi Yao: “Oh, I thought you didn’t understand those three words.”

Lin Zhe Xia: “...”

Lin Zhe Xia: “Just give me a different answer.”

The person carrying her countered, “Are you sure?”

Lin Zhe Xia gave a faint “Mm.”

Chi Yao paused, then replied: “Pretty ugly.”

“............”

They were getting closer to the infirmary.

She rested on Chi Yao’s back, neither of them able to see the other’s face.

Lin Zhe Xia didn’t need to hide her burning ears, nor could she see Chi Yao’s expression as he spoke. But his deliberately teasing response—”pretty ugly”—seemed to carry a hint of gentleness.

At the infirmary, the school doctor in a white coat examined her injuries.

“Not bad, just some scrapes. Disinfect it, and it’ll be fine,” the doctor opened the medical kit. “Disinfection might sting a bit since the abrasion covers a large area of your knee.”

The disinfection did hurt a little, but it was bearable. Instinctively, Lin Zhe Xia clutched Chi Yao’s arm, closing her eyes until the pain gradually subsided.

“After disinfecting, you can rest here for a while. Be careful when moving around. You don’t have any more events, right? Good. In this condition, you shouldn’t run anymore.”

The school doctor closed the medical kit and added, “If you feel uncomfortable later, come back to the infirmary.”

There seemed to be other emergencies on the field, so the doctor didn’t linger in the infirmary and quickly left with the kit.

The infirmary wasn’t large, with only three or four beds separated by white curtains.

Sitting on the bed, Lin Zhe Xia said, “I want to sleep for about an hour. If I’m not awake in an hour, remember to wake me up.”

Chi Yao pulled the curtain closed for her and said, “Got it.”

After speaking, Lin Zhe Xia noticed Chi Yao didn’t seem to be leaving.

“Aren’t you going?”

Chi Yao, sitting outside the curtain: “I’ll stay here and keep an eye on you.”

Lin Zhe Xia slowly said, “You don’t need to worry so much about me.”

“Who’s worried about you,” Chi Yao said. “It’s too sunny outside.”

Finally, Chi Yao added, “Don’t flatter yourself.”

“... Oh.”

Lin Zhe Xia lay down on the bed. The infirmary air conditioning was a bit cold, so she pulled the blanket over herself.

Perhaps from sitting in the stands for two days, she was exhausted. Not long after, she fell asleep.

She slept deeply.

In the midst of this sweltering summer, she secretly took a deep nap.

Chi Yao sat nearby, separated by only a thin white curtain, keeping her company.

Lin Zhe Xia seemed to have a dream about summer, though it was hazy. In the dream, a girl was calling out, “Chi Yao.”

That girl seemed to be saying, “Are you Chi Yao?”

As her consciousness gradually returned and she opened her eyes, she realized she had woken up—but the “dream” hadn’t ended.

Because the girl’s voice clearly came through the curtain: “I’ve seen you play basketball. I’m He Yang’s classmate. I even asked him for your contact info… Never expected to meet you here.”

Lin Zhe Xia realized this wasn’t a dream.

There really was a girl talking to Chi Yao, and she had been woken up by their conversation.

The girl continued: “Are you feeling unwell?”

Upon hearing this, Lin Zhe Xia felt a strange sense of suffocation.

But this suffocating feeling didn’t last long—

Outside the curtain, Chi Yao’s familiar voice said, “Do you need something?”

“...”

His attitude remained as harsh as ever.

Lin Zhe Xia thought to herself, if she were that girl, she’d definitely turn and leave.

But the girl proved to have stronger resilience, pressing on: “Actually, yes.”

“Your friend request was declined,” the girl said. “Can you add me instead?”

Chi Yao’s tone remained unchanged: “No.”

“Let’s be friends.”

“I don’t need friends.”

“And…?”

The girl seemed about to say something else, her gaze falling on the phone in his hand.

“I don’t have a phone,” Chi Yao stretched his wrist casually, slipping the phone into his pocket. “Too poor. The phone I’m using now is borrowed.”

“............”