Chapter 16: The Opening Ceremony
If he said that he had just practiced table tennis with Wen Hupo all night and nothing else happened, would Chu Jingyi believe him? Yi Bao would definitely believe him, but he wasn’t so sure about An Baili. An Baili would definitely bite him, leaving two faint teeth marks on his little brother.
In fact, An Baili didn’t say or ask anything.
For the next few days, Lu Li would go practice with Wen Hupo after school every day. They practiced table tennis, the three-legged race, and he even taught her some running techniques. At first, Lu Li was filled with impure thoughts, but noticing Wen Hupo’s growing determination, his lust subsided. He had never felt so calm and composed around her. She just wanted to win, and he, as her only male friend, should do his best to help her, shouldn’t he?
Time flew by, and amidst the boisterous noise of the campus, the sports meet began.
The sports meet in the world of teenagers was no less important than the UN elections. Passion, sweat, and muscles were on full display on the green field. The boy who ran the fastest, jumped the highest, and threw the farthest would always attract waves of cheers. Even standing on the sidelines, you could feel the surge of hormones, the deafening cheers drowning out the announcements from the podium – this was the sports meet, a boisterous and exciting world.
Some athletes had been preparing for this event since last year. Their eyes were sharp and fierce, their bodies strong and powerful, looking even more intimidating in contrast to the petite girl leading their team.
“Now approaching us is the team from Class 7 of the second-year science program. Their momentum is like the rising sun, like hungry wolves…” The announcer was reading from a script. Lu Li recognized it as the one An Baili wrote, piecing together random phrases. He didn’t expect the announcer to actually read it out loud.
The first day’s events were mostly individual events, and Wen Hupo had signed up for some of them. Lu Li scanned the field, like an albatross searching the sea, trying to spot that golden figure. An Baili pinched his arm. “Stop looking. Jingyi’s competition is this morning, you should pay more attention to her.” Lu Li smiled awkwardly and tried to say something to An Baili, but his words were drowned out by the waves of cheers.
“Now approaching us are the athletes from Class 1 of the second-year liberal arts program. Look, leading the team is the little princess of Chuanhai, Miss Chu Jingyi…”
So it was Chu Jingyi who elicited such enthusiastic cheers.
Lu Li stood up straight, barely able to see over the heads of the audience in front of him. An Baili tugged at his arm, and Lu Li let her climb onto his shoulders.
“Ah, I see Jingyi!” An Baili shouted excitedly. “She looks so pretty today, so cute in her sports outfit…”
Indeed. Normally, Yi Bao was neatly dressed, dignified and polite, gentle and generous, the perfect image of a virtuous wife and mother. But today, with her hair tied up and wearing a red sports outfit, Silly Goose’s delicate face lost its usual composure, replaced by a youthful and playful charm, like a pretty girl from the middle school next door. She looked incredibly adorable.
Silly Goose’s skin was fair and rosy, practically glowing under the sunlight, a stark contrast to the tanned skin of the athletes behind her. And Chu Jingyi was the most impressive among all the team leaders. The athletes from Class 1 of the second-year liberal arts program surrounded her like stars orbiting the moon, carefully following her every step, afraid of missing the beat. Silly Goose had that kind of leadership in their class.
Lu Li looked at her small, tense face and couldn’t help but smile. He had to find a chance to make Yi Bao wear a sports outfit in private. Her serious and silly look made him want to tease her.
He then thought of Yi Bao’s little white tiger, the soft and delicate flesh still vivid in his mind, so clean and pure. He wondered what it felt like…
At the back of Class 1’s team, a flash of platinum blonde caught everyone’s attention.
The wind blew across Chuanhai, lifting Wen Hupo’s smooth blonde hair, like a silk banner, like the flowing robes of a Greek goddess. She walked at a leisurely pace, an ethereal air about her.
Among the women Lu Li had met, only two had such unique temperaments.
One was Zhu Xi. Beneath her beautiful and cold exterior hid a heart filled with strange passion and deadly poison, like a black wolf hunting its prey. The other was Wen Hupo. Beneath her aloof and ethereal beauty hid a restless and wandering soul, like a lost white dove.
Suddenly, Wen Hupo turned her head, her gaze piercing through the crowd, meeting Lu Li’s for a fleeting moment. It was a strange feeling, among so many people, they could find each other with a single glance, a casual turn of the head, catching the subtle expressions on each other’s faces.
Lu Li’s heart skipped a beat. This feeling again. He had felt it the first time he met Wen Hupo, his heart no longer his own, but captured by this foreign girl with golden hair.
He forced himself to calm down.
Wen Hupo smiled. Lu Li had a feeling that this smile was so faint that no one else could see it, but he was certain she was smiling. She tilted her head and made a “meow” shape with her mouth.
Why “meow”? Why a cat?
Lu Li remembered that rainy night, Wen Hupo holding the kitten and asking him, “Can I keep it?”
“It’s just a stray cat, a homeless little thing, no one wants it.”
“Would you dislike a homeless little cat?” she had countered.
“It’s up to you.”
Stray cats weren’t easy to care for. They were fragile, and because they were separated from their mothers too early, they were still wild and aggressive. Especially during the first few days at a new home, they would meow incessantly at night, disturbing everyone’s sleep.
A thought flashed through Lu Li’s mind, as if he had grasped something.
An Baili snorted. “Hmph, Wen Hupo isn’t that bad. Just a little uglier than me.”
Lu Li chuckled. The little village girl truly had no self-awareness.
The fleeting thought in his mind disappeared because of An Baili’s interruption. He vaguely felt like he had missed something. When he looked at the field again, the team from Class 1 of the second-year liberal arts program was already gone. Both the lovely Jingyi and the blonde princess had left.
“Let’s go, Baili. Let’s go to the high jump area and watch Jingyi’s competition.”
Lu Li patted An Baili’s bottom, signaling for her to get off his shoulders.
An Baili giggled and tugged at Lu Li’s ear, pointing ahead with her other hand. “Let’s go, Lu Li mobile! Beep beep!” Her legs tightened around his neck, her feet dangling playfully.
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