OEBSAS |Chapter 23

Day two of the sports meet, and all three of Shao Xian’s group had events.

Shao Xian had high jump, Qian Wenjie had javelin, and Chen Baizhou had long jump, all three events held in the morning.

Chen Baizhou also had a long-distance race in the afternoon.

Today, Heaven was on their side. Layered clouds blocked the sunlight, bringing out a few traces of coolness.

The three of them all got pretty good results in the morning’s events. After lunch, Chen Baizhou was planning to take out his test papers and do some problems, but Shao Xian stopped him.

“You still have the long-distance race in the afternoon. Sleep for a while and rest up. Don’t write anymore.”

Chen Baizhou had always listened to Shao Xian. Hearing that, he put the test papers back and lay down on the table with his eyes closed.

Half of his face was buried in the crook of his arms, the other half facing Shao Xian.

Shao Xian could only see his bridge of the nose and his brows and eyes, and he could not help getting hooked on looking.

Chen Baizhou’s eyebrows were neither too thick nor too thin, with a very proper shape. The ends of his brows were as sharp as a blade, slightly raised, carrying a bit of cold sharpness. His eyelashes were thick and curled, casting a bit of shadow under his eyes, and the tear mole under the outer corner of his eye was clearly visible.

In his previous life, the thing people praised Fu Baizhou for the most was this face, and Shao Xian never denied that either.

The kid now was still too young, still green and unripe, not fully grown into himself yet.

As he looked, he gradually closed his eyes and fell asleep too.

By the time his breathing gradually steadied, Chen Baizhou suddenly opened his eyes, with not a trace of sleepiness in them. He quietly stared at Shao Xian for a long while, then closed his eyes again.

When the afternoon long-distance race began, Chen Baizhou stood in front of the starting line, waiting for the starting gun to go off. Before the gunshot rang out, he glanced at Shao Xian.

Shao Xian smiled and waved at him, saying “jia you” with his mouth.

Chen Baizhou had not yet managed to smile back when the gunshot exploded by his ear.

His body reflexively ran forward, and he had no time to care about anything else. He could only breathe evenly and adjust his rhythm.

Long-distance running tested endurance, and when it came to endurance, he felt he was no worse than anyone else.

One lap, two laps, three laps…

Some people overtook him, and some people were left behind by him. He always kept a steady pace, moving little by little toward the finish line.

He silently counted the laps in his heart. When he was almost to the final lap, he began to speed up.

The cheers outside the field had already drifted far away from him. He could only hear the strong pounding of his own heartbeat.

Suddenly, there was a cry of alarm from outside the field. He abruptly sensed danger, but it was already too late.

A force slammed hard into his back, and under the loss of balance he directly fell forward. Fortunately, he reacted in time and used his palms to brace himself against the ground, but even so, his knees were scraped by the ground, burning with pain.

With this delay, the foundation he had built up in the early stage collapsed in an instant.

“Chen Baizhou, are you hurt? We’re not running anymore!” Shao Xian’s anxious voice entered his ears.

Chen Baizhou lay on the ground and looked at Shao Xian, but in his heart there was only one thought left.

He could not lose!

No one knew where the strength came from. He quickly got up, completely ignoring the pain in his leg, and sprinted toward the finish line.

One, two, three…

Almost at a hundred-meter sprint speed, he overtook one opponent after another and finally broke the red line.

The next second, he could no longer hold on. With his eyes closed, he fell straight forward.

He fell into a familiar embrace, clear and sweet, making it easy for someone to get lost in it.

Before passing out, he heard Shao Xian’s anxious voice. It was very close, yet it also seemed to drift very far away.

But that was already enough.

Shao Xian held Chen Baizhou tightly, his face completely cold.

The homeroom teacher hurried over to ask what happened. Shao Xian said blankly, “Teacher, I’ll take Chen Baizhou to the school infirmary first.”

As for the person who had deliberately knocked Chen Baizhou down, he remembered him.

Qian Wenjie helped him support Chen Baizhou to the infirmary together. After the school doctor carefully examined him, he said, “Nothing much. His physical foundation is a bit poor, and he overexerted himself from too much exercise. He’ll be fine after resting for a while. I’ll clean the wounds on his hands and legs first.”

When Chen Baizhou fell, his palms and knees had rubbed against the ground, and now the skin had all been scraped open, looking miserable beyond words.

Even so, he still insisted on finishing the whole race and even got first place.

It was impossible for Shao Xian not to feel heartache, but at the same time he was also very proud.

“Doctor, can you be a little gentler?” Seeing Chen Baizhou frown slightly from the pain, Shao Xian could not help saying.

The doctor was not angry either. He looked at him and said with a smile, “Sure, I’ll try my best. Looks like you boys have a pretty good relationship.”

“Of course, the affection of childhood sweethearts!” Qian Wenjie jumped in.

Shao Xian glanced at him. “You’re the childhood sweetheart?”

“Aiya, that’s just what I mean,” Qian Wenjie said with a hehe laugh. “Otherwise, boyhood friends is fine too.”

As he was joking, Chen Baizhou woke up. His eyes were first confused, and only after seeing Shao Xian clearly did he truly wake up.

“Don’t talk yet. Drink some water first.”

Shao Xian fed him two mouthfuls of water. Chen Baizhou’s complexion gradually recovered, and he said, “I’m fine.”

“You already fainted!” Qian Wenjie said disapprovingly. “Why were you so desperate? It was just one competition.”

Before Chen Baizhou could speak, Shao Xian spoke for him.

“Baizhou was thinking about the class’s honor, but the body is the most important thing. You can’t do this again in the future.”

“Okay.” Chen Baizhou smiled slightly, long lashes lowered, hiding the warmth in his eyes.

After the school doctor finished applying the medicine, the three of them returned to the field. Shao Xian took out a piece of candy from his bag and gave it to Chen Baizhou.

Orange-flavored, very sweet.

Hao Lu walked over, glanced at Chen Baizhou a few times, and said to Shao Xian, “The one who knocked down Classmate Chen was Cui Hang from Class Four.”

“Cui Hang?” Shao Xian rolled these two words over on the tip of his tongue, as if carrying killing intent.

Qian Wenjie could not help shivering. “Xianxian, you know this bastard?”

“Remember when my brother went on a blind date in fourth grade?” Shao Xian said with a smile. “Cui Hang is Cui Yue’s younger brother.”

After that blind date, not long after Shao Xian mentioned to Cai Yalan that Cui Yue had held hands with another man, Shao Yun stopped contacting Cui Yue.

It was not because she had dated before, but because they found out she was keeping two boats afloat at once.

Shao Yun did not like being cheated on, so of course he no longer had anything to do with Cui Yue.

But Cui Yue still did not know that she had been exposed. She herself had very high ambitions, and because Shao Yun had unilaterally refused to continue the relationship, her pride was dealt a blow, and she even came to bear resentment toward Shao Yun and even the Shao family.

Shao Xian did not know why Cui Hang had wanted to knock Chen Baizhou down, but it was nothing more than this sort of personal grudge.

In the end, Chen Baizhou was suffering because of the Shao family.

Cui Hang did not dare touch him, and assumed that Chen Baizhou was not valued by the Shao family. A bump would not mean anything at all, so he made a move.

But it still felt a little strange somehow.

“So what? Why did he want to hurt Baizhou?” Qian Wenjie asked in confusion.

“Go ask and we’ll know,” Shao Xian said as he stood up and asked, “Coming with me?”

Chen Baizhou and Qian Wenjie naturally followed.

Hao Lu was also curious and wanted to go along.

“Girls had better not go.” With one sentence, Shao Xian stopped her eager footsteps.

The three of them walked toward the gathering area for Class Four.

Halfway there, Qian Wenjie suddenly let out a ghostly howl. “I think I remember, Chen Yu is in Class Four!”

Chen Yu was a year older than them. He had originally been one grade above them, and after the three of them skipped grades, he ended up in the same grade as Chen Yu.

But ever since Chen Baizhou left the Chen family, Shao Xian had never paid attention to the Chen family again. He really did not know that Chen Yu was in Class Four.

At Class Four’s gathering area, there were a few boys and girls sitting there cracking sunflower seeds.

When they saw Shao Xian and the others coming over, the girls looked excited, while the boys looked like they were facing a great enemy.

“Where is Cui Hang?” Qian Wenjie asked fiercely.

The boys obviously did not dare provoke the trio. Although unhappy in their hearts, they still replied, “He should have gone to the bathroom.”

There was a public toilet by the playground. Shao Xian and the others went toward the public toilet again.

“Xianxian, what if that coward Cui Hang runs home?” Qian Wenjie worried.

Shao Xian gave a soft laugh, his expression unreadable.

Qian Wenjie suddenly felt goosebumps spring up all over him.

“Baizhou, what do you want to do?” Shao Xian suddenly asked Chen Baizhou.

Chen Baizhou had been keeping silent all along. He was the victim, and he had the most right to state his view.

“Fighting and brawling at school will get you punished,” Chen Baizhou said without thinking. “Just have him apologize to me.”

He had firmly remembered what Shao Xian told him a year ago.

Do not solve problems with violence, and besides, he did not have the ability to get revenge in other ways right now, so it would be better to let it go lightly and wait for the right time.

Shao Xian did not know what he was thinking. Thinking that he was after all softhearted and kind, he patted his shoulder and said, “He deliberately knocked you down and hurt you. How can we not teach him a lesson?”

After speaking, he led the two of them to the entrance of the public toilet.

Before they even went in, they heard an argument coming from inside.

Teenagers were mostly impulsive, but after they were impulsive, they would become afraid. Cui Hang in the public toilet embodied this sentence vividly.

“What do we do? What if Shao Xian comes looking for trouble with me?”

Another voice said disdainfully, “What are you afraid of? I didn’t tell you to crash into Shao Xian. The one who got hurt was Chen Baizhou. That little bit of injury is nothing to him at all. Shao Xian won’t do anything to you either.”

If you listened carefully, actually that voice was a little weak.

Of course, Cui Hang did not hear it. He asked over and over again, “Really? You didn’t lie to me?”

Chen Yu was full of impatience. This Cui Hang looked pretty fierce, but he did not expect him to be a paper tiger on the inside.

Just as he was about to continue coaxing and deceiving him, he suddenly heard footsteps, and immediately looked outside the toilet.

“Of course it’s not true,” Shao Xian said with a smile, holding a rattan stick in his hand. “Cui Hang, how can you believe Chen Yu’s nonsense?”