“Uh…” Jian Mingyuan waved his hand angrily, “Take it away.”
Without the slightest hesitation, Ye Ruhui stuffed the other half into his mouth: "Then I'll eat it."
"Well……"
What kind of look is that?
"The way you look at a monkey."
Ye Ruhui showed an expression of willingness to hear the details.
The concise and to-the-point phrase is: "Changing one's mind constantly."
"The phrase 'changing one's mind frequently' describes someone who raises monkeys," Ye Ruhui said, finishing half a popsicle. "Why look down on yourself like that?"
It took Jian Mingyuan five seconds to realize what the other person meant, and he wished he could jump up from his chair and strangle this foul-mouthed bastard on the spot.
Unfortunately, I had the will but not the ability, and could only watch helplessly.
Ji Li happened to return from the office and glanced at him: "What's wrong?"
“I went for a run on the track during break.” Jian Mingyuan rolled his eyes listlessly. “If it weren’t for this, this day next year would be his death anniversary.”
Ji Li casually asked, "Going to practice the 5000 meters?"
“Yes…” Jian Mingyuan paused, “What do you mean, train for the 5,000 meters? I only started training for the 1,000-meter race for the final exam.”
Ye Ruhui, who was sitting next to him, suddenly froze for a moment.
A bad feeling instantly welled up in Jian Mingyuan's heart.
"Didn't you know?" Ji Li twirled his pen. "Ye Ruhui has already registered you for the men's 5000-meter race at the school sports meet."
"Uh..." Two seconds later, the whole class heard a loud "bang" from this side. Everyone who was doing homework, eating snacks, or chatting was startled and subconsciously turned their eyes over.
"Ye! Ru! Hui!"
“I can explain…”
"Explain your idiot!"
.
“Each project must have at least two participants, and each person can apply for a maximum of two projects. Regardless of the method used, the project quota must be filled,” Ye Ruhui said.
Jian Mingyuan gritted his teeth: "Couldn't you have assigned me something with less physical activity?"
“When I first called out from the podium, you were the one who absolutely refused to participate. Now all the other events are already taken.” Ye Ruhui shrugged. “Besides, you know we’re a liberal arts class, so there are already few boys. The only thing left is the 5,000-meter race and you. Even if I had told you in advance, you would still have to participate. Telling you later will only increase your average level of excitement before the race.”
Jian Mingyuan took a deep breath: "So I should thank you?"
Ye Ruhui: "Is it my fault that the application form, which was personally instructed by Brother Xiaosai, is not allowed to have any blanks?"
"Well……"
"I advised you to sign up a long time ago, but you wouldn't listen. Do you blame me?"
"Well……"
"Is it my fault that you're bad at running?"
"Uh..." Each of the three sentences was more concise than the last, and each was more infuriating than the last.
The end result was that Ye Ruhui was grabbed by the neck, pinned to the table, and beaten up, while the person sitting in the audience during Jian Mingyuan's training that night was replaced by Ji Li.
.
Ji Li put down the book in her hand: "You just finished running too, why don't you sit down for a while?"
It wasn't by chance that they ran into each other when picking up takeout. Ying Yunsheng did have a habit of jogging at night, so Ji Li met him again on the first night she accompanied Jian Mingyuan to the playground. After that, they would always greet each other whenever they met.
Ying Yunsheng took off his coat and sat down next to him.
The person who had just finished strenuous exercise was sweating lightly, their hair was a little damp, and their body temperature was a little higher than usual. The heat was transmitted into the air with their breath and then gradually climbed onto the skin of the person next to them.
Ying Yunsheng suddenly asked, "Can you run?"
Ji Li paused for a moment: "If we control the speed and time, it should be possible."
Have you tried it?
"without."
Ying Yunsheng paused for a moment.
"What's wrong?"
“I just realized,” Ying Yunsheng said softly, “that you never participated in any sports activities when you were in elementary school.”
Tingfeng Lane is still located on the border between urban and rural areas, so the primary school management is naturally not very strict. Most teachers have a laissez-faire attitude towards their students. The number of students attending physical education classes is always inconsistent, and there is no need to take attendance for flag-raising ceremonies and morning exercises. Skipping classes is even more common.
Ying Yunsheng had noticed the other party's absence, but he had never considered the possibility of a special reason.
Ji Li didn't dwell on this topic: "Did you sign up for any events at the school sports meet?"
"No."
A hint of surprise flashed in Ji Li's eyes.
Ying Yunsheng said, "There are more boys in our class. If I don't participate, there are other people who can help. I don't need to make up the numbers."
"That's a pity," Ji Li said with a smile. "I was originally planning to cheer you on since it was your competition."
"You shouldn't go to places like that."
"But you should do your best to show your appreciation."
"Are you doing this out of courtesy or out of personal desire?"
"What?"
Ying Yunsheng stared at his bewildered expression for a few seconds before slowly speaking: "When you cheer, is it because of the participants themselves, or because you feel it's an obligation you should fulfill?"
Why would you think that?
Ying Yunsheng paused for a moment and said, "Sometimes I think you're too nice."
"Uh..." This was the first time Ji Li had received this kind of friend card, and she didn't know how to react for a moment.
"It'll definitely be noisy at the school sports meet. Won't you feel uncomfortable in that kind of environment?" Ying Yunsheng turned to look at him. "Risking the risk of dying just to cheer for the athletes—what kind of person do you think that is?"
"Well……"
"Either they have an excessive sense of collective honor, or they have a distorted thought process."
"Uh..." Ji Li couldn't find the words to refute for a long time: "When did you become like this?"
For a long time, his impression of Ying Yunsheng remained that of his childhood self: aloof and introverted, reserved and taciturn, with a touch of "rebellion" stemming from his family background. To outsiders, he would only appear distant and unapproachable. He was the kind of person who would rather swallow his tears and blood than utter a sound. Over the course of a whole year, he spoke less to the entire class than he did to him alone.
The few meetings after their reunion already foreshadowed a transformation that would overturn all expectations. Whether it was through scheming or fighting, it wasn't until the other person's scrutinizing gaze looked at him seriously for the first time that the distant memories suddenly turned back. The boy who replaced him still had a cold demeanor, but his words carried the sharp edge of a sword, revealing his vulnerabilities.
Ying Yunsheng was bewildered: "Haven't I always been like this?"
People are usually unaware that they have changed.
Ji Li reminded him helplessly, "You would never have said something like 'Is I out of my mind' before."
"Well……"
"Risks are always present. Even if I sit here and do nothing, I could die in the next second."
As expected, Ji Li saw the other party suddenly frown: "You think I'm too kind, that I don't care about my own body at all, that I'm abandoning my health like trash, that I don't shy away from talking about my illness, and that I keep talking about death all the time. In fact, it's a kind of self-abandonment?"
Ying Yunsheng knew he had more to say.
"Quite the opposite," Ji Li chuckled softly. "I value my life very much."
.
In the distance, Jian Mingyuan finally finished his task for the night, stopping in front of the two of them, leaning on his knees and panting: "A...academic genius..."
Ji Li walked down from the stands and reached out to help him: "Let's go."
The three of them walked back side by side, and just as they were about to step from the playground into the teaching building, he suddenly stopped: "I forgot to bring my book."
Jian Mingyuan, having just caught his breath, subconsciously asked, "The book you took to the playground earlier?"
Ji Li hummed in agreement: "You guys go back to the classroom, I'll go to the playground to get it."
He left after he finished speaking, leaving only Jian Mingyuan and Ying Yunsheng at the scene.
Jian Mingyuan and this classmate from before the subject selection had barely spoken a few words, but because of their experiences over the past few days, the naturally outgoing Jian Mingyuan had already included the person in his night running group, and subconsciously said goodbye to the other person: "Then I'll go first... Hey, where are you going?"
Ying Yunsheng didn't hear him and chased after Ji Li directly.
The basketball court is the only way to get from the playground to the teaching building.
"Hey," someone on the field suddenly pointed to the sidelines and asked, "Look over there, isn't that Ji Li under the streetlight?"
"Where? Let me see... it really is."
"Is this the person that Sister Luo Luo said she had her eye on before?"
"So this is the type that Sister Luo Luo likes. No wonder she rejected Brother Liang before. They're completely different..."
The boy next to me suddenly slapped the ball hard.
The person who had just spoken immediately changed his tune: "He doesn't look like much either. How can those skinny arms and legs compare to our Brother Liang?"
Tong Siliang's eyes were gloomy. After a while, as if he suddenly thought of something, he gripped the basketball tightly with both hands.
As Ji Li was carrying the book across the asphalt road, a sudden, whistling sound filled the air.
A basketball suddenly flew out of the court, carrying tremendous force and aggression, and slammed fiercely in his direction.
He had just pulled the thought of dodging out of his mind when the ball flew in front of him even faster than his body could react. He could even smell the plastic scraping against the surface of the ball as it spun at high speed.
Time seemed to be compressed to its limit, and at the critical moment, a hand suddenly reached out and caught the basketball that was within reach.
In just a few seconds, the boys on the basketball court were completely caught off guard by this turn of events, and didn't even have time to dodge when the other side looked up at them.
A sudden, unexpected eye contact.
Ying Yunsheng easily identified the culprit. Without even a moment's hesitation, he leaped forward in front of everyone, used his wrist to forcefully send the ball out.
"Bang--"
The basketball whistled through the air and slammed into a man's face with a loud thud. For a moment, the entire basketball court was silenced by the sound, leaving only the painful screams of the boy who had fallen backward.