Chapter 129: Morning Jogging Agreement

What's this?

In Class Eight's classroom.

After lunch break ended, Li Luo shoved the sports meet registration form into Zhu Yufei's hands.

Zhu Yufei asked in surprise, then perked up instantly when he saw the form's title: "Holy shit! There's gonna be a sports meet?"

As soon as he said that, a clamor erupted through the classroom.

Many curious classmates gathered around, asking about the sports meet's schedule.

"It starts next Thursday and ends Saturday noon," Li Luo said. "If anyone has a event they're good at, start signing up."

"Boys, go to Zhu Yufei. Girls, go to Yan Zhusheng."

"For students who participate in the competition, uh… let me think… I'll give you some rewards."

"What kind of reward, class president?" Xu Yinghuan asked with a grin. "A lunch from the class president?"

"Dream on." Li Luo smiled, then added, "But it's not out of the question—if you really want it."

"Can I sell this lunch?" Zhang Guohuang asked with a cheeky grin. "A lot of girls from other classes want to eat with the class president—I bet I could get a good price."

Yan Zhusheng appeared beside him out of nowhere and pointed to the 3000-meter option on the form. "I think you're suited for the 3000 meters."

"No, sis, I'll sell it to you!" Zhang Guohuang begged immediately.

"Why would I buy his lunch?" Yan Zhusheng tilted her head. "I can just ask him for it directly."

At this, everyone around them wore knowing expressions.

Only Yan Zhusheng felt nothing amiss; she picked up the form and wrote her name under the women's 100m, 200m, 4x100m, high jump, and 10x50m events.

Li Luo glanced over and smiled. "Confident, huh? No surprise—you're the PE monitor."

Seeing this, Zhu Yufei also signed himself up for three individual events and most of the team events.

With the PE monitor leading by example, classmates already interested in the sports meet began signing up one after another.

By the time first period in the afternoon started, Li Luo took the registration form to check it.

The Fuyi Middle School sports meet had about ten events total, with a requirement that each class must enter two students per event.

Each student could sign up for at most three individual events, with no limit on team events.

Like Yan Zhusheng and Zhu Yufei, as PE monitors, they led by example—signing up for every event they were confident in, clearly aiming for medals.

Events like the 100m and 200m filled up immediately.

The boys' 400m and 1000m were also easily filled, but the 3000m remained empty—everyone seemed to be avoiding it.

On the girls' side, things were trickier: no one had signed up for the 400m or 800m, let alone the 1500m.

After some thought, Li Luo picked up his pen and wrote his name under the men's 3000m.

【Yan Zhusheng】: Can you even do it?

Seeing Li Luo's choice, Yan Zhusheng passed him a scratchpad and wrote a line on it.

Seeing Yan Zhusheng's doubt, Li Luo immediately frowned.

【Li Luo】: You're underestimating me?

【Yan Zhusheng】: Every night when you run, you look more tired than I do.

【Li Luo】: Don't you think it's your problem? And for a 3000m, just finishing is success—I don't expect any ranking.

【Yan Zhusheng】: Want some special training? There's still over a week until the event.

【Li Luo】: What kind of special training?

【Yan Zhusheng】: Run morning jogs together.

【Li Luo】: Just say it if you want to kill me.

They quietly bickered during class, but in the end, Li Luo agreed to Yan Zhusheng.

But only for this period before the sports meet.

…

When he got home at night, Xu Youyu tossed his backpack onto the living room desk and collapsed onto the sofa, stretching out.

"I'm dead. All this sports meet stuff is so annoying."

"What events did the senior sign up for?" Li Luo took three small pudding cups from the fridge and handed one to each.

"Sign up for what?" Xu Youyu rolled her eyes. "Do you think I'm just a figurehead as student council president? I've got a ton of stuff to handle—no time for competitions."

"Even if you did sign up, you couldn't beat anyone anyway."

"Heh." Xu Youyu ignored him and turned to Ying Chanxi. "Chanxi, what events did you sign up for?"

"100m," Ying Chanxi sat down at her desk and pulled out a new letter she'd received from the literature club. "And 1500m."

"You're running 1500?" Li Luo sat across from her, skeptical. "Are you sure you can finish?"

"What else can I do?" Ying Chanxi pouted. "None of the girls in class would sign up, so I had to drag Xinyan along."

"Poor Qiao Xinyan for being stuck with you."

"What about you?" Ying Chanxi looked at him. "What did you sign up for?"

"3000m."

"Huh?" Ying Chanxi paused, then smiled. "Are you sure you can finish?"

Li Luo: "... You've got a serious grudge."

"Li Luo's that brave?" Xu Youyu exclaimed from the sofa. "You signed up for 3000m? You'll probably die after finishing."

"So I'm going to train harder," Li Luo said seriously. "Starting tomorrow morning, you two fix your own breakfast—I have to wake up early for morning jogging."

"What time are you planning to wake up?" Ying Chanxi asked curiously.

"I'll go straight to the track to run, then head to the cafeteria for breakfast."

"I'll join you," Ying Chanxi declared firmly. "I need to train for the 1500m too—better to get used to it early."

"Uh..." Li Luo paused, unsure how to refuse, but then he thought better of it. "Alright, let's go together."

"Huh?" Xu Youyu sat up from the sofa, looking at the two of them. "You're just leaving me behind at home?"

"You can come too, Senior."

"I'm not joining the event!"

"Aren't you the class monitor?" Li Luo asked, puzzled. "Why not set an example and sign up for the 1500-meter race?"

"You forgot I'm in Liberal Arts Class Sixteen now?" Xu Youyu chuckled. "There are plenty of girls, and even two transfer students who are athletes—there's no way it'd fall to me."

"What a shame," Li Luo instinctively glanced at Xu Youyu's chest, then quickly looked away, and finally met her eyes.

Seeing her half-smiling, knowing gaze, he let out a sharp "Tsk."

He'd only looked for a second at most!

No, barely half a second!

How did she even notice?

"Drop those little tricks," Xu Youyu shot him a look.

She'd spent years immersed in male-oriented novels—she knew exactly what boys were like.

One glance, and Xu Youyu could guess what a boy was thinking.

Too easy.

But the boy she'd interacted with most lately was naturally Li Luo, who shared the same roof.

As a result, the two had somehow started an unspoken game of eye-tag, constantly testing each other.

As long as Xu Youyu didn't catch him, Li Luo could feel smug for a while.

But usually, Xu Youyu spotted it instantly.

"Senior, didn't you get any pen pal letters this time?" Ying Chanxi asked, opening a letter at her desk.

"Nope," Xu Youyu waved her hand. "I didn't even reply last time—they should've gotten the message by now."

"Then why do I still get them?" Ying Chanxi sighed helplessly. "At least there are fewer than last time—I already told them I don't want to be pen pals."

"They don't care what you reply with," Xu Youyu rolled her eyes. "As long as you reply at all, to some boys, that's already an answer. What the reply says doesn't matter much."

"Many boys think girls are naturally reserved, so even if you refuse, they see it as playing hard to get."

"So it's not that you don't want to—they just haven't persisted long enough to truly win you over."

"Hmm... though not all, most of the boys who write to you probably think this way."

Li Luo listened beside them, his lips twitching. He thought: Xu Youyu really is a master of psychological analysis. Has reading so many male-oriented novels really made her this good at understanding boys?

Then again, boys with any self-awareness probably wouldn't send letters to girls like Ying Chanxi and Xu Youyu in the first place.

They'd reject themselves immediately.

Thinking of this, Li Luo took out the letters girls had sent him from his bag, unfolded them, and read carefully.

After reading, he looked at Ying Chanxi and noticed she was sneaking glances at the letters in his hand.

But from that distance, she couldn't possibly make out the words.

"You want to read them?" Li Luo asked with a smile.

"I don't!" Ying Chanxi shifted her gaze guiltily. "I'm just a little curious—did someone really send you a love letter again?"

"Not exactly," Li Luo shook his head. "They just said they're interested in me, asked if I'd be pen pals, maybe discuss study methods and such."

"So what are you going to reply?"

"No reply," Li Luo folded the letters back up. "It's too much trouble. I don't want to end up with another Gao Yuqin."

Ying Chanxi blinked, and upon hearing Li Luo's words, her feet beneath the desk involuntarily curled up.

Then she gathered up her own letters, muttering, "Fine, I won't reply this time either—I'll follow Senior's advice."