Chapter 35: Brother Xu Didn’t Pamper You for Nothing  in a natural yet literal style:

---

Zhuang Heyang walked around with the sign-up sheet, asking classmates what events they wanted to register for.

He didn’t worry about the boys — there were a lot of boys in the class, and some events even had five or six people signing up. The problem was with the girls. There weren’t many to begin with, and they all looked thin and delicate.

He slapped a pen and the A4 paper onto Meng Yuanyuan’s desk, his tone teasing: “Come on, girls, help your big brother out a bit.”

Jiang Mingzhi laughed, took the sheet, and wrote her name under women’s long jump and the 4×100 relay.

After she finished, she gestured for Zhuang Heyang to look. “Satisfied?”

Zhuang Heyang beamed. “More than satisfied. Jiang-meimei, I didn’t dote on you for nothing. No, wait — Brother Xu didn’t dote on you for nothing.”

Jiang Mingzhi was just about to shoot back a snarky remark when she saw Meng Yuanyuan write her name under the 3000-meter event — she was so startled she nearly choked on her own spit.

Events like the 3000 meters were usually only signed up for by students who trained in athletics.

Jiang Mingzhi asked with concern, “Yuanyuan, did you write in the wrong row?”

Meng Yuanyuan shook her head, as if she had made up her mind. “I want to run the 3000.”

Her words stirred quite a bit of commotion — even Guan Jingxu came over to ask her why.

She was the kind of person who’d try to skip running even two laps in PE class. What had happened to make her want to push her limits like this?

Guan Jingxu said, “You’ve never trained for long-distance running. I really don’t think you should go for the 3000.”

Zhuang Heyang agreed, “Yeah.”

If something happened to her, the teacher might think he forced her into it.

Everyone tried to talk Meng Yuanyuan out of it, but she was surprisingly firm. “I’m running the 3000. There are still ten days before the sports meet — I’ll train every day until then.”

No one knew what else to say. Zhuang Heyang confirmed repeatedly, “You’re volunteering, okay? This has nothing to do with me.”

Meng Yuanyuan nodded, and Zhuang Heyang walked off with the sign-up sheet to go find other strong candidates.

Jiang Mingzhi glanced at Meng Yuanyuan. She had her head down reading a book, her face expressionless, but it was obvious her mood wasn’t good.

“Why do you want to sign up for the 3000 meters?” she asked.

Meng Yuanyuan bit her lower lip and only spoke in a soft voice after two seconds: “I thought I could lose some weight while I’m at it.”

She looked up at Jiang Mingzhi, eyes filled with hope. “I can lose five pounds in ten days, right?”

Jiang Mingzhi hadn’t expected that her real goal was weight loss. Thinking back to how Meng Yuanyuan had been skipping at least one meal a day at the cafeteria lately, she suddenly understood.

She tried to talk her out of it. “That’s not how you lose weight. Besides, you’re not even fat.”

Meng Yuanyuan was 168 cm tall and weighed 68 kg.

She pinched the flesh on her stomach and asked Jiang Mingzhi in return, “Do you weigh over 60?”

Jiang Mingzhi: “……”

She didn’t. And Meng Yuanyuan knew she didn’t.

Jiang Mingzhi could only try to comfort her with a line she saw online: “If your weight doesn’t start with a six, you’re either flat-chested or short.”

That only made Meng Yuanyuan even more upset. “But you’re neither short nor flat-chested.”

Jiang Mingzhi quickly tried to steer the topic away from herself. “You really aren’t fat. High schoolers burn a lot more energy — you still have time to lose weight more scientifically once you’re in college.”

Over the past few days, Meng Yuanyuan had been dieting, only getting vegetables from the cafeteria and eating barely a few bites of rice. Her complexion had obviously worsened.

That kind of weight loss method was far from healthy — she might not even have enough energy for her studies.

Meng Yuanyuan lowered her head again, looking sad. “But I can’t help it.”

Her family didn’t support her losing weight. And college? That was more than a year away.

Summer was coming soon, and she also wanted to wear short skirts and show off slender legs.

Jiang Mingzhi thought back to when Meng Yuanyuan started changing — it had all started around the May Day holiday.

She asked, “Did someone say something to you?”

If it wasn’t for something that had triggered her, there was no way she would have changed so drastically.

Meng Yuanyuan lowered her brows and murmured, “Someone said I’m fat.”

Under Jiang Mingzhi’s persistent questioning, Meng Yuanyuan finally told the truth.

During the holiday, Meng Yuanyuan posted a set of photos on her Moments. In the pictures, she was wearing a tight gray knitted sweater and standing in front of a giant cactus.

In fact, she had worn a loose jacket that day, but it was too hot, so she ended up taking it off.

In the comment section, a guy she knew from before said she was as “sturdy” as the cactus behind her.

Her self-esteem, already fragile, was further wounded, and she vented to her middle school best friend about the rude comment.

She expected to be comforted, but instead, it hit her even harder.

Her friend, thinking she was being tactful, told Meng Yuanyuan, “Actually, you should wear looser clothes. Tight ones just highlight your flaws, like how you don’t have a waist.”

That night, Meng Yuanyuan cried under the covers, deleted the post, and swore to lose weight — she’d get below 100 jin and shock them all.

Jiang Mingzhi had seen that post and had even liked it. Meng Yuanyuan had looked so cute in the pictures.

Jiang Mingzhi tried her best to comfort her: “People with an H-shaped figure don’t really have a waist, but their legs are usually long. Also, it’s completely normal for girls to have a little fat on their lower abdomen. It protects your uterus. You can feel mine — I have one too.”

Luckily, she had gained some weight recently, and with how much she ate at lunch, sticking her stomach out a little was no problem at all.

Meng Yuanyuan skeptically reached out to touch Jiang Mingzhi’s stomach. Seeing that Jiang Mingzhi did indeed have a little belly, her mood lifted a bit.

Jiang Mingzhi reached out and patted Meng Yuanyuan’s stomach, “You have an H-shaped figure too. Don’t stress so much.”

Meng Yuanyuan felt a little better but still insisted on running the 3000 meters.

Jiang Mingzhi couldn’t persuade her further, so she said, “Then just don’t push yourself too hard. If you can’t do it, don’t force yourself.”

“Mm.”

During dinner, Jiang Mingzhi pulled Meng Yuanyuan to the cafeteria. “You didn’t eat at lunch, right? You need to eat something tonight.”

Meng Yuanyuan replied, “I had an apple for lunch.”

She wasn’t stupid. There was no way she’d actually starve herself. She’d always carry an apple in her bag, and when all the other students went to the cafeteria, she’d hide in the classroom and eat it.

But just eating an apple really made her hungry quickly. At first, her stomach felt empty and she wanted to eat something, but after a while, she just felt numb from hunger. There was no sensation, but her hands would tremble.

Jiang Mingzhi, having no experience with dieting, could only advise her to lose weight healthily.

“Just eat normally. How are you supposed to have the energy to run if you’re not full? From now on, I’ll run with you every evening at seven, and we’ll keep going until study time.”

Spending half an hour running every day might not make her lose much weight, but at least it would help her stay healthy.

Meng Yuanyuan, chewing on her rice, looked like she might cry. “Jiang Mingzhi, you really… hic… are so kind,”

Zhuang Heyang came over with his meal and sat down next to her, “Xu-ge, there’s a seat next to Jiang-meimei, you can sit here.”

Jiang Mingzhi looked up, and the boy with a bowl of beef noodles sat down next to her.

The noodles were topped with a layer of spicy chili oil and vibrant green scallions. The large chunks of beef were incredibly appetizing.

“Is that the beef noodle shop at the back of the street?” she asked.

“Yeah, their flavor is really good,” Zhuang Heyang said.

Jiang Mingzhi nodded. “Their braised beef is especially delicious. But why didn’t I get so much beef when I bought it?”

Guan Jingxu hadn’t used his chopsticks yet; he picked up a piece of beef and placed it on Jiang Mingzhi’s rice. “Because I added an extra serving of meat.”

Jiang Mingzhi was surprised by his casualness. Actually, she wasn’t hinting that she wanted to eat his meat.