Chapter 111: Crashing the Girl

It was just a routine serve.

The autumn sunlight was nice, perfect for playing.

Jiang Nian watched the white shuttlecock float toward him at a steady pace, gripped his racket tightly, tilted his body slightly, engaged his waist, and brought his elbow forward.

As his shoulder blades pulled back, his forearm rotated outward to draw the racket back, then his arm snapped straight, wrist pressed down.

Bam!

A crisp crack echoed across the small court—the violent smash sent the shuttlecock rebounding wildly fast, but not at any tricky angle.

Wang Yuhe answered with a heavy clear, setting the tone for the match.

Kill!

Chen Yunyun had initially worried Jiang Nian would be crushed by Wang Yuhe, but seeing his first shot was fierce, she realized he wasn't clueless—her relief finally surfaced.

When she saw Wang Yuhe also smashing violently, Chen Yunyun suddenly grew excited.

Play! Play!!

The people on the nearby court were from Class One of the Olympic Prep, playing a slow, elderly-style game. Hearing the wind whistle, they paused mid-step, holding their rackets curiously to glance over.

Generally, men and women playing badminton together rarely use clears.

The reason is simple: men have stronger explosive power and better stamina, so their backcourt skills are always superior.

And clears are just back-and-forth attacks—women are at a relative disadvantage. But Wang Yuhe's stamina must be decent too, confident enough to engage Jiang Nian in clears.

Jiang Nian instantly understood Wang Yuhe's intent, quickly retreated, then pushed off hard and leapt into a smashing jump.

In that instant, power visibly erupted from the racket.

"Boom!!"

A thunderous crash—the shuttlecock shot past Wang Yuhe's side, leaving her no time to react. She only felt a cold gust rush past, then *pata*—the shuttlecock hit the ground.

Match point.

Several boys from Class Three were rotating rest breaks and happened to be watching.

"Retreat that fast? Holy shit!"

"What's up? (What the hell just happened?)"

They'd been sitting or squatting to rest, but after seeing that one shot, they instantly stood up in awe, inhaling sharply—so damn impressive.

Smashing at a girl? Real man!

"Holy shit, violent smash!"

The crowd's cheers made Chen Yunyun realize Wang Yuhe might be losing to Jiang Nian. She began worrying again for her best friend, her gaze turning to Wang Yuhe.

She saw Wang Yuhe bite her lower lip, then turn silently to pick up the shuttlecock.

Chen Yunyun froze—would Jiang Nian really make her best friend cry? She knew Wang Yuhe's stubborn nature too well, how deeply she cared about her physical training.

She acted like a little kid, even calculating progress bars when carrying water.

In such a public place, someone as introverted as her, so obsessed with her training results—she might really cry from this.

Thinking of this, Chen Yunyun shouted:

"Jiang Nian, don't bully girls!"

"Huh?" Jiang Nian looked at her in confusion. *What's wrong with you? Didn't you tell me to crush Wang Yuhe's arrogance? * "I didn't do anything—did I bully her?"

"Can't you be a little gentler?" Chen Yunyun was furious.

"Sigh, fine." Jiang Nian nodded helplessly, even stepped forward to check on Wang Yuhe. "Uh… you okay? Did I hit too hard just now?"

Strange—why does her expression look like she's about to cry?

No way.

"I'm fine," Wang Yuhe sniffed, took a deep breath, and looked at him. "You don't need to hold back. Respect your opponent by giving your all."

Hearing this, Jiang Nian couldn't help but feel deep respect and nodded.

"Good!"

Nearby, Yao Bei Bei and Zhang Ningzhi, who had been wandering around, were drawn by the commotion and walked over just in time to see Jiang Nian's smash. Yao Bei Bei grimaced.

"If any other girl had received that shot from Jiang Nian, she'd have been crying already."

Then she sneered, "Straight male!"

Zhang Ningzhi smiled and whispered in defense:

"Boys are just like this."

Because of the previous violent smash, it was still Wang Yuhe's serve—a standard serve, and they exchanged a few shots back and forth.

Although Jiang Nian had said he'd use his full strength, he'd actually held back.

He wasn't that stupid—making Wang Yuhe lose face wouldn't make him look impressive.

The first round was just testing her limits; playing within that boundary was enough. Once Wang Yuhe warmed up, he'd match her smashes—and that'd be it.

No one would think he was holding back, she'd have fun, and he'd enjoy himself too.

Win-win.

But Wang Yuhe, on a clear, found her position, retreated quickly, clenched her lips, raised her racket, and leapt high into the air—the shuttlecock exploded like it had been fired from a cannon.

Boom!

Jiang Nian was stunned, reflexively returned a net shot, and Wang Yuhe followed with another high clear—he instinctively gritted his teeth!

Fuck, whenever it's high, smash it!

His inner ultra-violent gene kicked in—she started the smashes, so I'm not to blame!

He quickly shuffled back, pushed off hard, leapt into the air, and smashed with an absurdly twisted posture, his whole body curling into a ball, then—

"Bang!!"

A smash far more violent than Wang Yuhe's, a ruthless, ferocious assault—like a storm of wind and rain crashing down, the wind tearing through the air, terrifying to hear.

Fuck, who fired that shot?

Oh, it was me? Then never mind.

Everyone around was stunned. Holy shit, is he doing high jump? Dude! That smash—they only saw Jiang Nian leap high into the air, and hadn't even had time to mock his ugly form.

The kill shot came!

Badminton is a very intuitive sport, unlike basketball. Most people can only run and jump, shoot and score; you rarely see dunks or anything like that.

But in badminton, whether you're a young adult, even an elderly person, or even a child.

Once you master some technique and have decent physical conditioning, you can all deliver violent smashes—the explosive power is something anyone can feel.

How strong you are? Look at your footwork. How fierce you are? Listen to the sound.

Wang Yuhe stared blankly at the fallen shuttlecock, holding back tears that were about to fall. She turned to pick it up, but in the instant she rose, she couldn't hold it anymore.

Tears pattered down as she served, crying while she played.

The few spectators were dumbfounded. Holy shit, there's actually a pro? Three smashes and she's in tears—first time seeing a girl cry while smashing.

"Bam! Bam! Bam!!!"

Wang Yuhe kept crying, tears flowing endlessly, each smash fiercer than the last.

Jiang Nian felt awkward—he hadn't expected Wang Yuhe to actually cry. He decided to feed her shuttles. Dude, I'm being this gentle—can you please stop crying?

Still crying? I'll smash you again if you jump up.

After a few smashes, Wang Yuhe realized he was letting her. She wiped her tears with the back of her hand. Seeing too many eyes on her, she lowered her head and walked off the court.

Jiang Nian on the court was mortified, under the gaze of everyone around him.

Especially when he saw Yao Bei Bei and Zhang Ningzhi standing under a tree by the court—she was whispering to Zhang Ningzhi, pointing at Jiang Nian as she spoke.

Huh? Bitch, talking shit about me again?

I'll throw your homework into the men's toilet tank someday!

"You're really harsh, smashing so hard," Chen Yunyun gave Jiang Nian a wounded look, then turned and hugged Wang Yuhe, whispering comfort.

Jiang Nian smiled slightly, not taking it to heart.

He roughly calculated—he'd only used three-tenths of his strength against Wang Yuhe. Don't underestimate the stamina of boys' high schoolers—it's the peak of life, when bed frames get worn out.

He picked up his racket, ready to leave the court and switch players.

Suddenly, a graceful figure walked over from the other side of the playground. She stopped four or five meters in front of Jiang Nian, glancing at him curiously.

Her gaze carried a hint of inquiry, sweeping over him.

"Play badminton?"

Jiang Nian blinked, looking at the girl before him—Li Qingrong.

She wore a white-and-purple windbreaker, sleeves rolled up to her elbows. Her hair was tied high in a ponytail, secured with a yellow rabbit hair tie.

That hair tie was kind of cute.

Especially paired with the class monitor's expressionless face—the contrast made it even cuter.

"Sure."

He remembered Li Qingrong had decent athletic ability—she barely even breathed after running three thousand meters. If she played badminton too, her level must be excellent.

"Let's go over there," Li Qingrong nodded toward the side, signaling him to follow.

"Oh, okay."

The badminton court was next to the basketball court, but normally no net was set up. Students had to fetch one themselves from the equipment room and manually hang it on the poles.

Li Qingrong's playing spot was in the corner between two teaching buildings, surrounded on three sides.

The only advantage was how loud the swings sounded.

In simple terms, it was like having great game sound effects. The feel of the hit was the same, but the sound added extra fun.

Seeing the two leave, several boys from Class Three grew curious.

"C'mon, let's go check it out."

"The monitor's playing Jiang Nian—who do you think will win?"

"Who knows? But Jiang Nian won't let her win. Real men stick to their game—letting girls win is boring."

Yao Bei Bei heard this and rolled her eyes.

"A bunch of straight guys."

She grabbed Zhang Ningzhi's hand and walked toward the court.

"Hurry, let's go watch—latecomers won't get good spots."

"Huh? Oh, okay."

Zhang Ningzhi didn't understand, but she followed along, dazed. Inside, she wondered—if she played against Jiang Nian, would he also smash?

Originally, a group had been playing table tennis around the table, urging someone to win the title of "Emperor." After hearing those loud smashes, they all turned to look toward the badminton court.

Now that they saw the monitor playing Jiang Nian, they lost interest in waiting for their turn. They grabbed a few people and headed over—Sun Zhicheng was one of them.

Though he didn't want to admit it, badminton smashes really did look cooler than table tennis.

The group laughed and joked, debating who would win.

Sun Zhicheng glanced toward Chen Yunyun and saw her supporting Wang Yuhe as they walked toward the court.

He couldn't help but suspect that Jiang Nian's blunt behavior today had already upset Chen Yunyun and Wang Yuhe.

After all, even as a guy, he thought it was a bit too unsportsmanlike—even another guy would've been mentally shattered by such smashes.

Being violently smashed in public, then shamefully bending to pick up the shuttle—just imagining it was too embarrassing.

No wonder Wang Yuhe cried.

At the same time, he felt a bit relieved—Jiang Nian wasn't some perfect, all-around nice guy. Otherwise, he'd have no chance at all. This was his opening.

On the basketball court.

After Li Hua was collectively A-Lu-Ba-ed by the boys, he became much more well-behaved, not only quitting his habit of defensive grope, but also becoming extremely civilized and polite.

You're a troublemaker—you just need a good beating!

He'd just hit a perfect smash, turned around, and found no one defending him. He flew into a rage—what's this mean? Isolating me, trying to pull a campus 80?

"What are you staring at?"

"Come on, the monitor and Jiang Nian are playing badminton—let's go watch," Ma Guojun urged.

"Watch a—" Li Hua was about to spit out his reply, then suddenly realized—"You mean the monitor's playing badminton and bullying Jiang Nian? We've gotta go see this."

"Let's go, let's go, let's go!!"

The small badminton court was packed with at least twenty people, half of whom were there for Li Qingrong.

It wasn't as exaggerated as in movies—just because she was popular. Normally, a few girls would cluster around her; during PE class, it became seven or eight.

A few boys had tagged along, hoping to mingle with the girls.

Li Qingrong handed Jiang Nian a racket from outside the court; just by its appearance, it was clearly expensive.

"Go all out. Don't hold back for me."

"Huh? Oh." Jiang Nian nodded, thinking, This is what you said—then couldn't help but compliment, "Monitor, your hair tie is really pretty."

Li Qingrong lowered her gaze, hesitated a moment, then asked.

"Should I hold back?"

Huh? Hold back? Which hold back?

Sorry, I went off track—I'm going to face the wall.

"Hah, no no," Jiang Nian snapped back, waving his hand. "Monitor, just go all out too—if you don't, this match won't be fun."

Li Qingrong thought for a moment, then nodded.

"Mm."

After both took their positions, Jiang Nian instinctively stood in the back right court, posture loose.

Too much posing would look showy, and there were too many people watching.

Li Qingrong didn't even take off her coat—she tossed her racket up and served.

The first few rallies were standard: two rounds of flat drives, then they began launching high clears.

The high clear is the foundation of badminton—it solves all the flashy nonsense.

The shuttlecock soared high, each crisp "pang-pang-pang" echoing as it traced a steep arc through the air.

The rally began, and the crowd's tension tightened.

Li Qingrong's explosive power was fierce—when Jiang Nian launched a high clear, she seized the chance and smashed.

She leapt high, and with a loud "BANG!", the sound reverberated in the corner of the classroom building.

A collective gasp swept the crowd—so damn shocking.

"The monitor's insane, damn!"

"She doesn't even look strong—how's she got that much power? That smash nearly scared me into peeing myself."

"This is the power of gentleness, Big Bro—go let the monitor slap you once."

"Your mom!"

Jiang Nian didn't return it—he could only bend down to retrieve the shuttlecock.

Mainly because Li Qingrong's smash had been so brutal—it left him stunned. The monitor was such a contradiction.

Outside the court, Chen Yunyun watched Jiang Nian bending to pick up the shuttlecock, then hugged Wang Yuhe.

"Yuhe, look—evil people get their comeuppance."

When it was his turn to serve, Jiang Nian perked up. It was better if Li Qingrong was strong—it meant he could really play, straight—

BANG!! BANG!!

They began smashing back and forth: after a smash came a trashy diagonal, then they sprinted and smashed again.

On the third-floor corridor, Xi Bao was wearing a lapel mic, teaching the neighboring Olympiad Class Two. Hearing the sharp "pang-pang-pang," she couldn't take it anymore—she pushed open the window and shouted:

"Who's setting off firecrackers down there?!"

End of month—please vote for me~