Chapter 31: A Last-Minute Effort, Making Things Worse

Jiang Mingyue placed her hands beside her ears, her abdomen straining as she attempted to lift her upper body.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Failure!

Jiang Mingyue exerted all her strength, but she couldn’t even manage a single sit-up.

She lifted her head again and again, only to fall back each time.

The soreness in her abdominal muscles left her powerless.

She had practiced sit-ups yesterday, doing about sixty or seventy in total, and this morning, her abdomen was sore.

At the time, she hadn’t realized the seriousness of the issue.

Now, she deeply regretted it.

Wuwuwu.

She had truly been careless.

Not everything could be accomplished by a last-minute effort.

It seemed that Qi Ze had already noticed this problem.

Given the current situation, even completing four in a minute was an overestimation of her abilities.

Qi Ze tightly pressed down on her feet, lowering his gaze to watch her. His lips were pressed tightly together, suppressing the smile that threatened to form.

Jiang Mingyue’s face turned bright red, partly from exertion and partly from embarrassment.

Around her, classmates were completing sit-ups one after another, while she hadn’t finished even a single one.

“I can’t get up~~.” Jiang Mingyue said, her voice trembling with anxiety.

Qi Ze wanted to laugh but knew it would be unkind. He was also worried about affecting Jiang Mingyue, so he struggled to suppress his laughter. “Put your hands down… Use your legs for leverage to help you sit up.”

There was really no other choice; it had to be done this way, or she would truly end up with a zero on the test. Jiang Mingyue glanced at the teacher, who was not paying attention to her side.

She quietly grabbed her legs and used her arms to forcefully lift her upper body.

Though it was still quite difficult, she finally managed to complete one.

Then another, and another, until she had done four.

After struggling to finish the fourth one, the teacher blew the whistle, signaling for the end of exercise.

Jiang Mingyue collapsed directly onto the mat, drenched in sweat.

She covered her eyes with her arms, feeling utterly hopeless.

Qi Ze had been right after all—she had indeed done four.

“Students whose names are called, come over to report your scores.”

The gym teacher began recording the results in a notebook.

Classmates around her reported their scores one by one—35, 40, 45… their results were all quite good.

Listening to these scores, Jiang Mingyue curled up on the mat, shrinking herself further.

Her score was too embarrassing; she couldn’t bring herself to say it.

Before long, Jiang Mingyue heard the teacher call her name. Reluctantly, she sat up, planning to walk over and quietly report her score to the teacher.

However, she saw Qi Ze walk up to the teacher and whisper something to him.

The teacher then looked up at Jiang Mingyue and said something in reply to Qi Ze.

Qi Ze nodded, then walked back toward her.

Turning around, he immediately saw the corner of Jiang Mingyue’s mouth tightly pressed, as though she were holding back a smile.

Qi Ze finally couldn’t help but laugh out loud. In an instant, it was as though the sunshine reflected off the snow, and the girls nearby couldn’t help but glance at him.

Had it been any other time, Jiang Mingyue would have certainly been mesmerized and stolen a few more glances at him. But now, seeing him smile, she felt as though he was mocking her.

Jiang Mingyue cast him a resentful look.

Qi Ze sat cross-legged beside her, noticing her expression. He smiled and asked: “What’s wrong?”

“What did you say to the gym teacher?” Jiang Mingyue rested her chin on her knee and asked him in a sulky tone.

Qi Ze replied: “Nothing, I just reported the scores.”

“Oh.” Jiang Mingyue responded casually. “Then how many did you report for me?”

“Guess?”

Jiang Mingyue snorted. “What’s there to guess? Report whatever I did.”

“Then why ask?” Qi Ze’s smile deepened. “What, do you think four is too embarrassing and want me to lie and report more?”

“Hmph, someone as honest, upright, and good-hearted as me would never do such a thing as deceive the teacher. I’m just… just worried that you might lie to the teacher to spare my feelings.” Jiang Mingyue said, bluffing with nonsense.

Qi Ze raised an eyebrow. “Sorry, I’m also an upright and good-hearted person. I won’t lie to the teacher.”

“…I knew it.” Jiang Mingyue said, her voice full of mock disappointment. “You’re so cold-hearted and don’t care about my feelings, wuwuwu…” She looked at him still laughing and asked: “Are you mocking me?”

Qi Ze pressed his lips together to suppress his smile. “…No.”

Jiang Mingyue shot back: “Then why are you laughing?”

“Because… you’re cute.”

“…Hmph, you’re laughing at how stupid I am, aren’t you?”

“Mm-hmm, stupid… and cute.”

“Hmph.”

【Ding——Corruption value -5%, current corruption value 75%】

Hmm?

Jiang Mingyue’s spirits lifted—his corruption value had dropped!

Did this mean that Qi Ze wasn’t mocking her after all? He really thought she was… cute?

Jiang Mingyue suddenly felt a little warm. She stood up and said: “I’m a bit thirsty. I’ll go buy some water. Do you want some?”

Qi Ze looked up at her and pointed to the side. “Isn’t that bottle of water yours?”

“Oh… yeah, it’s mine. I forgot.” she replied. The bottle had been something Qi Ze bought for her when he got water before gym class.

Jiang Mingyue sat back down.

Qi Ze took the water beside him, opened the cap, and handed it to her.

Jiang Mingyue suddenly realized that Qi Ze wasn’t as indifferent as he had been when they first met. He was actually quite nice to her now. Not only did he no longer coldly reject her goodwill, but he also helped her again and again. He even spoke more to her than before, and the change was quite significant.

With this thought, her mood suddenly improved. She grabbed the water and drank half of it in one go. “Ah, this tastes good.”

“How can purified water taste good or bad?”

“This isn’t just any purified water.” Jiang Mingyue winked, beginning to spout nonsense again. “This bottle was bought by you. It’s full of your deep feelings for me.”

Qi Ze: “…Here we go again.”

⋆⁺₊⋆ ━━━━⊱༒︎ • ༒︎⊰━━━━ ⋆⁺₊⋆

After a short break, the gym teacher announced that the boys would be testing their 1,000-meter run.

The 1,000-meter run had to be tested outdoors, so the boys followed the teacher outside. Jiang Mingyue took Qi Ze’s water bottle and followed them outside as well.

It was a sunny day, the sun shining brightly, casting everything in a glaring light that made people squint their eyes.

Thankfully, there was a breeze today, so it wasn’t too hot.

Class One happened to be testing the boys’ 1,000-meter run as well.

The two gym teachers discussed it and decided to make it a little competition to encourage everyone’s enthusiasm.

The boys from the two classes were divided into four groups, each with 10 people: 5 from Class One and 5 from Class Seven.

Qi Ze stood on the track, the sun shining down on him, casting a dazzling glow that made it hard to see him clearly, yet it was impossible to look away.

He was so eye-catching.

Jiang Mingyue couldn’t help but grab her camera and take a flurry of photos of him.

The teacher blew the whistle, and Qi Ze took off first. His long legs and good stamina quickly put him in the lead.

Jiang Mingyue stood at the finish line, cheering for him. “Qi Ze, go! Go! Qi Ze!”

She was shouting with all her might. At first, the classmates around her looked at her with “do you really have to do this?” expressions, but by the end, they were all infected by her loud, enthusiastic voice and started cheering loudly too.

The girls from Class One, seeing that the students from Class Seven were cheering for their own class, also began cheering for theirs.

Jiang Mingyue noticed that most people were shouting “Qi Moyang, go.” and only then did she realize that Qi Moyang was also in this group, closely following behind Qi Ze. But he was always half a meter behind.

Seeing this, the students from Class Seven also started cheering for Qi Ze, hoping that the first place would fall to their class.

In an instant, the whole playground was filled with the sounds of “Qi Ze, go!” and “Qi Moyang, go!” from both sides.