The Qiao and Cheng families only lived about a hundred meters apart, so Cheng Jue Zhi had heard a bit about the youngest daughter of the Qiao family. 

Apparently, she usually did pretty well in school. With the competition season getting intense, it sounded like her family was thinking about letting her skip a grade. 

Was she planning to jump straight to third year and compete with him for the top spot? 

Cheng Jue Zhi didn’t take the threat from the little girl seriously, nor did he want to get involved in squabbles between kids. 

Even though he wasn’t that much older than Qiao Nan, he’d spent so much time traveling around with his parents that he acted more like an adult. 

He came to talk to Qiao Nan because his uncle had asked him to. Thinking back on how many times Cheng Cheng had reminded him yesterday, Jue Zhi hesitated for a moment, then knocked rhythmically on the window again. He didn’t stop until the girl—who was in the middle of “disciplining” her classmate while casually threatening him earlier—finally turned around to look at him. 

“This is some anti-swelling and pain-relief tincture. Don’t forget to use it,” he said, opening the window and handing her a small bottle of medicinal alcohol. “Uncle said if your leg still hurts, just take it easy today.” 

Cheng Cheng had known that Qiao Nan was hardworking, but he hadn’t expected her to be this determined. When he called Xie Luoying after returning home, he only then found out how badly the girl had injured herself trying to practice a jump. 

She didn’t make a sound during training either, totally fooling everyone—including him. 

Since Cheng Cheng couldn’t directly train with her, he just sweet-talked his nephew into passing the message along at school. 

So, he wasn’t here to tattle to a teacher after all. 

“Got it,” Qiao Nan blinked, clearly caught off guard. It took her a few seconds to recall the connection between Cheng Jue Zhi and Cheng Cheng. “Please thank the coach for me.” 

She sounded dry and emotionless as she accepted the bottle and shut the window right after, then immediately went back to scolding her deskmate, trying to talk him out of bullying others. 

Tuan Tuan, meanwhile, seemed to sense something and chirped nonstop in her ear like it had just uncovered some sort of treasure. 

⌈ Qiao Qiao, are you sulking or something? ⌋ 

⌈ Why don’t you talk more with Cheng Jue Zhi? ⌋ 

“Shut up,” if Tuan Tuan weren’t a virtual entity, Qiao Nan would have thrown a piece of chalk right at its little virtual ice crystal-head. “Do you want to finish the mission or not?” 

She was already embarrassed from threatening the wrong person, and now she had to endure Tuan Tuan dragging it up again and again. Her face was stiff with frustration. 

On the other hand, Wan Huzhong, who was diligently doing makeup homework nearby because he failed to bully others, quietly glanced over and quickly lowered his head again, suppressing the urge to pull pranks on Qiao Nan when she wasn’t paying attention. 

He prided himself on being the kind of guy who never gave up, but faced with her overwhelming presence, he decided it was smarter to lay low for now and live to fight another day. 

As the saying goes: “A gentleman takes his revenge, even if it takes three years.” 

He didn’t need to wait three years, though. Just one week later, the school’s sports day rolled around. 

When the homeroom teacher announced the sports day events, Qiao Nan happened to be away with the provincial team. Ning Jiwen hesitated for a moment, then asked Wan Huzhong to let her know about it when she came back the next day. 

After all, she was part of the class and also an athlete, so Ning Jiwen had some expectations for her strength. 

Wan Huzhong readily agreed in front of the teacher, but the second Ning Jiwen left the room, the chubby boy showed his true nature and rushed to the class PE assistant. 

Seeing his deskmate’s weak appearance, he thought he should be helpful and help her strengthen her body. 

Without thinking twice, under the watchful eyes of the PE assistant, Wan Huzhong quickly wrote down Qiao Nan’s name and checked off all the events that looked most physically demanding. 

High jump. Long jump. 400-meter dash. 

All the stuff that he could barely manage himself. He smugly signed her up for every single one. 

If the rules hadn’t limited them to just three events per student, he would’ve filled in her name across the whole form. 

“Wan Huzhong, this… doesn’t seem very fair,” the PE assistant, Shang Congtong, said softly. She was a delicate girl, and although she was nervous, she still worked up the courage to speak up. “The teacher’s going to find out.” 

But this trick had no effect on the little chubby boy. 

“What’s there to be scared of?” Wan Huzhong banged on her desk hard enough to shake her papers. “As long as you don’t tell anyone, who’s gonna know it was me?” 

“And besides, Qiao Nan’s stamina is terrible. I’m just helping her get a bit more exercise,” he added casually as he scribbled on the form, crumpled it up, and tossed it into her lap. “Got it?” 

He even copied the smug look from some drama he saw on TV, shooting her a sideways glance before humming a little tune and strutting back to his seat. 

Even though he didn’t dare confront Qiao Nan directly, this little act of mischief still filled him with pride. 

Surprisingly, his plan worked—Shang Congtong didn’t rat him out when Qiao Nan returned to school the next day. 

Though she did look incredibly guilty whenever she passed Qiao Nan in the hallway or when the girl greeted her, Qiao Nan didn’t press it. Still, she couldn’t help but feel like something was off. 

Shang Congtong, pressured by Wan Huzhong’s constant threats, stayed silent all the way until the registration deadline, finally submitting the full list of names to the homeroom teacher. 

Ning Jiwen glanced at the slightly crumpled sign-up form that Shang Congtong handed over. 

Most of the kids just signed up for one or two events for fun—after all, it was a two-day sports meet and they just wanted to relax. But in contrast, the three checkmarks next to Qiao Nan’s name really stood out. 

“Huh? Qiao Nan signed up for this many events?” Ning Jiwen wasn’t exactly surprised—after all, the girl was basically a professional athlete in the class—but still, seeing how strong her sense of team spirit was, the teacher couldn’t help but feel a little excited. “Thanks for the help, Congtong. You can go back to class now.” 

She casually set the form aside and went back to grading papers. From Shang Congtong’s perspective, she didn’t seem to find anything unusual about the sign-up form. 

It looked like Qiao Nan could handle this school sports meet just fine. 

“Okay, Teacher,” the girl replied, clenching her sweaty fists. Most of her anxiety had settled down, and she quietly left the office. 

She didn’t hear the rest of the conversation happening in the teacher’s office. 

“Teacher Ning, your class athlete signed up for so many events—trying to break some records or something?” 

“Teacher Wang don’t say that. There’s no record breaking here; this kid just has a strong sense of collective honor.” 

✵✵✵ 

In 2005, information channels still mainly relied on paper documents. The system Qiao Nan was linked to could only help her find materials on the internet. 

Even though more students had been practicing on the field lately, Qiao Nan hadn’t paid much attention to it. 

Due to various coincidences and misunderstandings, Qiao Nan only found out at the class meeting the day before the sports meeting that she had been signed up for so many events. 

“We especially commend student Qiao Nan here, who has registered for so many events for our Grade One, Class One sports meeting.” 

The moment her name came out of the teacher’s mouth, Qiao Nan—still half out of it—realized it was already too late to back out. 

A sports meet? Wait, did she miss something? 

She looked around in confusion and immediately spotted her desk mate, who was trying hard to keep a serious face but couldn’t quite hide the smug look in their eyes. 

It was indeed a bit surprising but also somewhat expected. 

Qiao Nan let out a small laugh and gave a polite nod under Ning Jiwen’s proud gaze, accepting the praise even though it left a bad taste in her mouth. 

In her mind, Tuan Tuan seemed like it was getting ready to jump into action again. 

⌈ Qiao Qiao, want me to help? ⌋ 

⌈ I’m an all-in-one top-tier assistant: good at fighting, arguing, and backing you up! ⌋ 

“No need.” Qiao Nan glanced at the printed sign-up list that was passed down. 

Yep, her name was packed with checkmarks. 

400 meters, high jump, long jump. 

These were events she would have signed up for even if Wan Huzhong hadn’t helped her register. 

These were part of Qiao Nan’s daily routine track training. Although she didn’t specialize, it was more than enough for a small elementary school sports meeting. 

Still, that didn’t mean she was going to let her sweet, helpful little desk mate off the hook that easily. 

“Tuan Tuan.” The little girl moved her palm a bit and clenched her jaw. “Tell me—does being soft automatically make you an easy target?” 

Author’s Note: 

Even though Nan Nan behaves super well during training, that doesn’t mean she’s a pushover~ 

Plotted out the next few chapters. There’ll be about 2-3 more of daily life and training before the next competition starts. 

As for music choices, they won’t follow real-world release dates. Traditional Chinese-style music only started going mainstream recently, so earlier on I’ll lean toward instrumental pieces. But after 2014, vocal tracks will be included too. 

Around the early 2000s, China’s winter sports scene hadn’t really taken off yet. The first Winter Games weren’t held until 2017, and the first club league started in 2018. I originally wanted Nan Nan to compete in the club league, but after some research… I was totally lost. 

My friend after reading this chapter: “Wow, this revenge plot is so elementary school.” 

Me: “She is in elementary school!!” (dramatic voice)