“Okay.” Ruan Qingmu nodded, changed his 5000 meters into 1500 meters, and began to ponder again.
In front, Fang Li suddenly stood up in silence. He began to run along the running track alone slowly.
The PE class was almost done and not many people were on the running track. Fu Songhua was collecting the sports equipment for the class when he suddenly saw Fang Li on the running track. His frail shadow was the only one on the trail.
He hurriedly put the net bag into the hands of the person next to him. “Help me collect this first. I’ll be right back in no time at all.”
He took off and rushed to the running track, chasing after Fang Li.
“Hey, hey, I want to ask you something!”
Fang Li halted in his steps, looked back at him, and refocused his attention on running again.
“You want to sign up for the 5000 meters for your class in the sports competition. It’s fake, right?”
Fang Li silently ran forward. After a long time, he finally said, “It’s true.”
Fu Songhua became furious in an instant. “Why are they bullying people like this? Do you just agree like that when they told you to run the 5000 meters?”
Fang Li ignored him.
“I’ll take you to look for the people in your class. That Ruan Qingmu is crazy!” Fu Songhua reached out to grab him. But when he just made contact with Fang Li’s hand, Fang Li pulled his body away and avoided him.
“No need for you to care. I volunteered.”
Fu Songhua was stunned. “You’re so thin. How can you run? They must’ve forced you. Don’t be afraid. Just tell me and I’ll help you to get justice!”
Fang Li panted and his delicate face was thoroughly red. “I’ll say it again that nobody forced me.”
Fu Songhua’s pair of thick eyebrows frowned as he looked at him. He finally asked carefully, “Are you angry with me? I just casually said you weren’t in the advanced class that night. I didn’t know you were also not…”
Fang Li lowered his head and didn’t look at him. “I’m not angry with you. You didn’t tell any lies.”
Fu Songhua looked at him in stunned silence, suddenly feeling slightly distraught with anxiety.
Ever since that night, Fang Li began to avoid him. No matter how dense Fu Songhua was, he could still feel that something was wrong.
“Do you take me as a friend or not? If you do, tell me where did you go that night?”
Fang Li suddenly halted in his footsteps. “What do you mean?”
Fu Songhua scratched his head a little fretfully. “Whether it was the Internet café or a date with a girl, I will believe you as long as you tell me the truth!”
Fang Li dazedly looked at him. The rims of his eyes were slightly red. “What if I don’t want to tell you? Or maybe that night… What if I went to do some unspeakable things?”
Fu Songhua blankly looked at him. “W-What kind of unspeakable thing?”
Fang Li suddenly shook his hand hard and rushed forward with great effort.
In the distance, Ruan Qingmu accidentally raised his head. He looked at Fang Li madly rushing back, increasing his speed when approaching, and swiftly avoiding everyone.
Nobody paid attention to him. But Ruan Qingmu’s eyesight was good and he saw a flash of red on the rim of his eyes.
He quickly ticked several last categories and handed the paper to Bai Jing. “Help me ask the people with changes. If they don’t have any objections, do me a favor and hand this form to Old Jian.”
Bai Jing happily responded, “Okay, don’t worry, Ruan-ge!”
Ruan Qingmu jumped up, rushed to catch up with Fang Li, and reached out a hand, pulling the boy to the side.
Avoiding their classmates, he firmly stared Fang Li in the eyes. “What happened? Did Fu Songhua, that stupid big guy, bully you?”
Fang Li rubbed his eyes and whispered, “No. I ran too quick… there’s sand inside my eyes.”
Ruan Qingmu thoughtfully looked at him. “Then, tell me the truth. Why do you want to run the 5000 meters?”
Fang Li lowered his head and didn’t say anything.
“If you don’t say it, I will cancel your application.” Ruan Qingmu’s tone suddenly turned ice-cold. “I don’t want to see you run yourself to death in the field due to some strange reasons.”
Fang Li suddenly raised his head and firmly looked at him. “I want to do it myself, can’t I?” He then fiercely gasped. “Why do every one of you… think that I was forced into this? I can run and I want to run. You guys can participate in it, so why can’t I?”
Ruan Qingmu calmly looked at him and finally nodded his head. “It’s fine if you truly want to run. When the time comes, I will cheer for you.”
… Ruan Qingmu returned to lie under the tree. His gaze involuntarily drifted to the side.
He didn’t know why but with this look, Qin Yuan also turned his head and looked at Ruan Qingmu’s spot from the other side among the Class 1’s crowd.
The sun shone brightly. Even though they were far away, a slight flash of sharp light could still be seen clearly in Qin Yuan’s eyes.
Ruan Qingmu squinted his eyes and grabbed his phone, waving his device so that the other side could see it.
Seeing Qin Yuan silently taking out his phone, he casually sent a message on WeChat. “What do you think about retreat three day’s march and striving to be first and fearing to be last?”
Qin Yuan began to turn around and type in his phone.
Not more than a dozen seconds later, a reply rapidly came in.“Prince Chong-er and Wang Yuqi? Why? Are you making tactics and strategies for the sports competition?”
Ruan Qingmu looked at the strings of words and the wry smile at the corner of his mouth became wider. Indeed, he understood.
“That’s right, ah. Tell that stupid big guy in your class to be careful.” He typed down a line of messages.
“I’m the class monitor. Are you here to warn me?”
Ruan Qingmu lazily propped his cheeks. “If you say so, then so be it. Indeed, I don’t care about him. It’s actually you I have to be on guard against.”
This time, Qin Yuan didn’t reply quickly. After a long time, he hesitatingly asked, “… What did you sign up for?”
“Why? Do you want to watch me again?”
Qin Yuan stared at his phone and typed out very slowly this time. “Mm. I’m looking at you right now.”
Ruan Qingmu was in an extremely happy mood and replied with a smile, “That makes two of us. I’m also looking at you.”
On Class 1’s side, Fu Songhua looked at Qin Yuan suspiciously, “Hey, hey?”
What strange thing was the class president looking at on his phone? He was still discussing the logistics of the sports day with him just now, but why did Qin Yuan suddenly look like he just went to the nine heavens and even blushed a little?