The next day at school, Chu Tao received a mysterious warm reception from the whole class.

“Class president, much respect, much respect.”

“Class president, you’re amazing—truly hiding your strength.”

“No beating around the bush, right now in my heart, it’s only brother She and you, class president.”

“Class president, even if the other classes don’t know of your achievements, we’ll always remember them.”

Chu Tao: “…”

He honestly hadn’t expected that getting into trouble and spending time in the police station would make everyone here proud rather than ashamed.

Jiang She leaned back lazily in his chair, lightly tapping his fingers on the table as if the compliments directed at Chu Tao were actually for him.

Fang Sheng glanced at Jiang She, disgusted by his “showing-off-the-wife” look—it was unbearable.

“Bro, can you tone it down a little?”

Jiang She looked surprised. “Tone it down? I’m practically back in the womb with how low-key I am.”

Fang Sheng: “You call this low-key? Even a blind man could see it.”

Just then, Xu Yuan happened to walk by to get some water and overheard them. He couldn’t help but ask, “What are you guys talking about?”

Fang Sheng replied irritably, “Talking about A-She and the class president.”

“Ugh, this little thing.” Xu Yuan shrugged dismissively.

Fang Sheng pointed at Xu Yuan and whispered, “See? Anyone can tell.”

Unexpectedly, Xu Yuan went over and patted Chu Tao on the shoulder.

“You know, our She-ge^[1]Ge or GeGe means brother isn’t covering for people for nothing. Now you see how impressive A-She is, don’t you?”

Chu Tao looked up, suspicious. “What exactly are you trying to say?”

Xu Yuan kept a stern face, saying coolly, “Just because you fought well yesterday doesn’t mean anything. Class Three still belongs to She-ge.”

Chu Tao narrowed his eyes, then looked back down at his vocabulary list, simply responding, “Oh.”

Fang Sheng: “…”

Jiang She snickered, “Anyone can see it?”

Fang Sheng replied, “Okay, maybe that wasn’t completely accurate. Xu Yuan and a dog can’t see it.”

Xu Yuan glared. “Screw you, Little Sheng, you’re insulting your dad!”

The two started gesturing at each other from across Jiang She.

The class cleaner, holding a mop, walked up to the podium and was shocked by the chalk dust everywhere. “Damn, why is there so much chalk dust? Who the hell messed around here last night?”

The room was chaotic, and no one responded.

He only muttered, not expecting a reply.

But when Chu Tao heard it, he couldn’t help but feel his ears get warm.

The chalk dust was from last night, from him and Jiang She.

Jiang She stifled a cough, staring at Chu Tao’s back.

Chu Tao’s eyelids trembled slightly. He knew Jiang She was coughing for his attention, but he could only pretend not to hear.

Thankfully, Yang Liu soon walked in. Last night’s events had clearly taken a toll on her; she had dark circles under her eyes and looked exhausted.

“Everyone, sit back down in your seats. Cleaner, you can go back to cleaning later.”

Once everyone was seated, Yang Liu took a deep breath. “I’m not going to bring up what happened yesterday again. I just hope you’ve all learned a lesson. If there’s an issue, report it to the school first; the school will handle it. Organizing fights is the most immature thing you can do! The school is responsible for your safety—if anyone ends up hurt, disabled, or worse, it’ll be too late for regrets!”

“Alright, one final announcement: starting this afternoon, PE classes will resume so you can prepare for the sophomore exams.”

With that, Yang Liu slung her bag over her shoulder and left.

The sophomore proficiency exams don’t count toward college entrance scores, but they are directly tied to the high school diploma—if you fail the exam, you don’t get your diploma.

Since the beginning of the first semester of sophomore year, PE classes had been taken over by teachers of other subjects, to the point where even the least motivated Class Three had forgotten what their PE teacher looked like.

As long as they didn’t have to stay in the classroom, they didn’t care what they were asked to do, so as soon as Yang Liu left, the cheers from Class Three practically lifted the roof.

For the first class in the afternoon, with the sun shining warmly, Class Three gathered on the field.

The PE teacher approached, holding a notebook and a stopwatch. His belly protruded, casting a shadow that stretched across the rubber track.

“From today on, you need to take PE class seriously. I know many of you haven’t exercised in ages, but the proficiency exams are fast approaching. Everyone has to complete the 1000 meters and pass! Who’s the class president?”

Chu Tao stepped forward from the back of the line. “I am.”

The PE teacher gave him a quick look. “Today, I’ll be testing your abilities. Class president, help me keep track of the scores.” He handed Chu Tao the roster^[2]Roster meaning: The Class Roster is a simple list of students in the selected class, showing the following columns.  and added, “While the first group is running, record their times. Then, find someone else to take over when it’s your turn.”

Chu Tao nodded.

He’d always been decent at sports, and although he hadn’t done any intense exercise recently, he was confident about passing the test.

Holding the notebook, he began reading off names: “Xu Bo Xue, Xu Yuan, Shen Qingyun, Yang Cen, Fang Sheng, Jiang She…”

After calling out twenty names, the PE teacher instructed them to start warming up.

Chu Tao’s pen paused slightly next to Jiang She’s name.

He honestly had no idea how fast Jiang She was since he never participated in sports meets.

Fang Sheng lazily chimed in, “Is testing even necessary? Passing is a piece of cake for our She-ge; he could break the Huainan record without a sweat.”

Chu Tao thought to himself, ‘That’s some serious exaggeration.’

During last night’s chase, he didn’t feel that Jiang She was any faster than him.

Jiang She smirked, unzipped his school jacket, took it off, rolled it up, and tossed it over to Chu Tao.

Chu Tao was briefly taken aback, instinctively catching Jiang She’s jacket.

But as he held it, he realized something was off.

Everyone else was placing their jackets on the ground, and here he was holding a notebook ready to record times.

“Hold onto it for me.”

With Jiang She’s casual command, Chu Tao couldn’t very well toss it back.

The jacket had a fresh laundry scent, and, oddly, Chu Tao thought it smelled a lot like his own detergent at home.

Clearing his throat, he replied earnestly, “Go on, warm up quickly.”

The other students had already started stretching their wrists and ankles.

Jiang She walked over, leaned in slightly, and whispered by Chu Tao’s ear, “Don’t think that last night was my usual speed. I was going easy on you because of your injury, got it?”

If he hadn’t deliberately slowed down, there was no way Chu Tao could have caught up to him.

Chu Tao smirked slightly, pretending to be casual but with a hint of competitive spirit. “Oh, I won the city’s 1000-meter championship back in middle school.”

Although it was a past achievement, it was enough to show that his athletic level was among the best for his age.

If it weren’t for his good academic performance, he could have been specially admitted to Huainan High School on his sports record alone.

Jiang She gave a meaningful smile, his Adam’s apple bobbing slightly, his gaze playful. “What if I’m faster than you?”

Chu Tao raised his eyebrows. “Impossible.”

Jiang She lowered his gaze, eyes lingering on Chu Tao’s round Adam’s apple. “So confident, huh? Want to bet on it?”

Chu Tao felt slightly unsettled under his heated gaze but replied with determination, “Why wouldn’t I? Alright, if you win, it’s up to you.”

His competitive streak wouldn’t let him back down so easily.

Since he’d trained, he could feel his muscles growing stronger and figured he should be much faster than his last record.

Jiang She paused, then softened his tone. “Just teasing you.” He placed a hand lightly on Chu Tao’s shoulder, the pressure just right, relaxing but not painful. Lowering his voice, which was clear and pleasant, he added, “With your injury, how could I bear to compete with you?”

He always liked to tease Chu Tao a little, only to then gently coax him.