CH 3

During the second semester of their sophomore year, the tension between Ling Yunfan and Ji Canghai was so strong that it could be felt even from ten streets away.

First, whenever they ran into each other in the narrow corridors or staircases, Ling Yunfan would turn his head and walk away, clearly showing that he didn’t want to give Ji Canghai any good face.

Then, during a week-long study group, Ling Yunfan and Ji Canghai coincidentally ended up in the same group. Ling Yunfan had been wondering what to do, but Ji Canghai only showed up for one day and then took a half-month leave, neither attending classes nor participating in group activities.

After that, during self-study sessions, if Ling Yunfan studied until 10 pm, Ji Canghai would study until 11 pm, and eventually they would stubbornly stay in the self-study room until the security guard came to drive them out, saying “What are you two doing? Do you plan to sleep here and have a heart-to-heart talk like brothers? The self-study has ended for how long now? We’re about to cut off the power, you know?”

The most ridiculous incident was during the school sports day.

One achieved results in both 800-meter and 5000-meter high jump, while the other obtained rankings in 100-meter and 200-meter long jump.

The most exciting part was the final relay race, in which Ling Yunfan and Ji Canghai were the last runners for their respective classes, and coincidentally, the two classes were drawn to run at the same time on the first and third tracks.

On the day of the relay race, the competitors were warming up on the track.

Ling Yunfan was pressing his leg when he suddenly felt a burning gaze. He looked up and saw that Ji Canghai was staring at him for some reason.

The two locked eyes, and Ji Canghai looked away.

Ling Yunfan was puzzled. Why was Ji Canghai staring at him? Was he trying to spy on the enemy?

Suddenly, a boy from the second track ran over with a smile and jokingly hugged Ling Yunfan’s shoulder, saying, “Wait a minute, let’s go easy on each other, Brother Fan.”

“I don’t need you to go easy on me,” Ling Yunfan replied. “I’ve got the first place in the bag.”

The boy laughed and affectionately hooked his arm around Ling Yunfan’s neck. “Wow, Brother Fan, you’re really tough when you talk.”

As soon as the words fell, a cold voice drifted over from the front.

“The competition is about to begin, but some people are still fooling around. Do they still want to win first place?”

The speaker was none other than Ji Canghai.

He looked at the two with slanted ink eyes, with a hint of icy sharpness in his gaze.

Ling Yunfan was unhappy, “Tsk, what about you…”

“What are you doing?” The sports teacher interrupted, “The competition is about to start, hurry back to your own position.”

The male student quickly let go of Ling Yunfan and obediently returned to his own running track.

Ling Yunfan had no choice but to remain silent, but the anger in his chest couldn’t be extinguished.

However, Ling Yunfan was very confident in himself when it came to running.

All the anchor runners from the four classes, including Ji Canghai, definitely cannot outrun him.

As long as there are no mistakes in the previous baton handoffs, he is sure to be the first.

But sometimes things go wrong unexpectedly.

In Ling Yunfan’s class, the second and third runners dropped the baton during the handoff, although they picked it up immediately, it still caused some delay.

When Ling Yunfan received the baton from the third runner, their class was in fourth place.

Ling Yunfan ran desperately, surpassing the third and second runners amidst cheers and applause, and finally had a showdown with Ji Canghai to determine the winner.

Damn it, even if my legs break and blood flows, I must beat Ji Canghai.

As the finish line was in sight and he was about to win, fate played a cruel trick on Ling Yunfan.

He stumbled and fell onto the rubber track, just a meter or two from the finish line, amid gasps from the crowd.

In that moment of dizziness, Ling Yunfan’s only thought was that if he got up he would waste time, so he threw himself forward, rolled twice, and crossed the finish line in a spectacular tumble.

When he was helped up by teachers and classmates, the first thing Ling Yunfan asked was, “Did I beat Ji Canghai?”

He was always competitive and hated to lose.

When he heard that he had won, Ling Yunfan laughed, but then screamed in pain from his twisted ankle.

Later, in the infirmary, Ling Yunfan realized that something was amiss.

Although he decisively rolled to the finish line, he still fell down. How could he be faster than Ji Canghai, who was running normally? At that time, the difference between the two was negligible.

Ling Yunfan was puzzled and asked his friend.

His brother helped Ling Yunfan, whose ankle was wrapped in a fixed bandage, to the bed in the infirmary and said, “Hey, you startled Ji Canghai when you fell. That guy stopped for a moment.”

“Startled him?” Ling Yunfan raised an eyebrow in confusion. “We were each running in our own lanes, how could I startle him?”

“Who said you didn’t!” his friend shouted. “I don’t know why that guy doesn’t look at the finish line ahead, but at what you’re doing. He probably wanted to see if you would surpass him. He deserved to get second place.”

“Anyway, I won.” Ling Yunfan was proud and relieved, all his previous frustrations vanished in an instant.

“Rest well here, Brother Fan. I have to go to the closing ceremony of the sports meet. I’ll come back to send you home later.”

“Okay, thanks. Go ahead.”

After his friend left the medical room, Ling Yunfan lay down on the bed with his injured leg propped up. He was a little bored, and after a while, he fell asleep.

In a daze, Ling Yunfan smelled a faint and refreshing fragrance, like the fragrance of lotus after a thunderstorm by a pond, with a cool and gentle air.

When Ling Yunfan woke up, he found that the window in the medical room was half open, and there was a bottle of sports drink and a small box of mango mousse cake on the bedside.

On the cake was a heart-shaped sticky note with three elegantly written words, “For Brother Fan.”

For most of the day, Ling Yunfan had been running and jumping, so he was naturally starving. Without much hesitation, he ate the cake, thinking that he needed to find out who had sent it so he could properly thank them.

Later, Ling Yunfan kept thinking about the cake, but when he asked around, no one admitted to having sent it.

The second year of high school, filled with fun and games, came to a close, and it could be considered exciting.

However, the third year of high school was a year of focused academic study.

During this year, Ling Yunfan ranked higher than Ji Canghai twice and lower than him thrice. Just when Ling Yunfan was studying tirelessly day and night for the sixth round of exams, Ji Canghai began to skip class from time to time.

When the results of the exams came out, Ling Yunfan immediately checked the rankings for their year group. Upon seeing that he was in third place and Ji Canghai wasn’t in the top two, Ling Yunfan pumped his fist and exclaimed “Yes!” in excitement.

He then began to look for Ji Canghai’s name on the list.

It wasn’t in the top ten, nor was it in the top twenty.

Just as Ling Yunfan was surprised, he saw Ji Canghai’s name at the very bottom of the rankings.

He had scored zero in every subject because he didn’t take the exam.

Suddenly, Ling Yunfan’s joy and satisfaction disappeared, replaced by disappointment and loneliness.

But soon, the disappointment and loneliness turned into anger, “Ji Canghai, how could you skip the exam? Do you think you couldn’t beat me, so you just gave up? Damn it, I will definitely even the score and perform better than you in the next exam. You just wait!”

However, Ji Canghai didn’t give Ling Yunfan the chance.

Ji Canghai dropped out of school.