Criticizing Love - Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Having said those words, Lin Xi gave it her absolute all.

With her long arms and legs, she was a natural-born runner. When she was little, Lin Deyuan and Xing Xiu were busy starting their business and left her at a relative’s house in the countryside. She ran wild all over the mountains; she was the best at catching wild rabbits, and her speed had been honed long ago.

It was just overtaking one student-athlete. If Gu Nianyin could do it in the morning, why couldn’t she?

With that thought, Lin Xi accelerated once more.

She clung to the Class 10 athlete like a shadow, finally pulling ahead by half a body length in a split second. Then a full body length. Then a clear distance.

The surrounding noise erupted. In an instant, the entire elite class was cheering for Lin Xi. But she didn’t care; her eyes were fixed straight on the red finish line, driven by a single obsession.

The shadow of her white sneakers crossed the red line, and her oversized jersey snapped the tape as she burst through—

“AAAAHHH!! FIRST PLACE!” “Sister Lin is a legend!” “Holy crap, is the elite class insane? First place again this year?!” “What’s that girl’s name?” “Damn, you don’t know Lin Xi?” “That’s Lin Xi!”

Celebration and amazement intertwined, filling the entire stadium.

Lin Xi crossed the finish line three body lengths ahead of her opponent. Panting heavily, she looked at the red ribbon draped over her; the voices around her became clear again as her breath slowed.

Praise. Honor. Despite having no physical medal around her neck, Lin Xi raised her head and smiled with pride.

“Xi! The way you hit that line was so cool I almost fell in love with you! You were so badass!” Zhong Sheng ran over and hooked her arm around Lin Xi’s neck, the weight making Lin Xi’s back bend slightly.

Qin Zhuo turned to Gu Nianyin: “The Great One was amazing too! Overtaking two people in a row!”

Hearing Qin Zhuo’s fair treatment of everyone, Lin Xi patted her shoulder. “You weren’t bad either, Captain.”

Zhong Sheng, hearing them praise each other, pouted. “So I’m the only one who dragged the team down, huh?” She knew her own level; she was just joking.

Unexpectedly, a calm voice drifted over: “You were great as well.”

Gu Nianyin’s expression was neutral, her tone ordinary. Zhong Sheng froze, then smiled sheepishly. She knew Gu Nianyin was just being polite, but that was a compliment from the Great One! Even Lin Xi hadn’t—

“Very impressive.”

While Zhong Sheng was thinking to herself, Gu Nianyin’s voice sounded again. She had somehow swapped places with Qin Zhuo and was now standing right beside Lin Xi. Her choice of words for Lin Xi was a level higher than the praise she’d given Zhong Sheng.

Lin Xi hadn’t expected Gu Nianyin to praise her specifically. Since one doesn’t hit a smiling face, she responded with a somewhat stiff politeness: “Thanks.”

Gu Nianyin’s lips curved slightly, and she added quietly, “I heard everything you said.”

Her voice wasn’t loud; in the noisy stadium, only Lin Xi could hear it clearly. It made Lin Xi want to hit someone.

Gu Nianyin was referring to the sentence Lin Xi had thrown back at her when receiving the baton. Lin Xi had no idea what had possessed her to add the words “for you” at the end of that sentence. She had pushed herself to overtake that athlete out of pure defiance and team spirit—it had nothing to do with doing it specifically for Gu Nianyin!

Words blurted out instinctively didn’t count. Lin Xi drew a giant ‘X’ over that sentence in her mind, nullifying it completely. Besides, what was with this Gu Nianyin? Why did she keep provoking her?

Lin Xi was gnashing her teeth in annoyance, but just as she was about to speak, Wang Tingxiu walked over. The teacher’s usually stern face was full of gratification—not just because they won, but because she saw Lin Xi successfully integrating Gu Nianyin into the class. She hadn’t been wrong about Lin Xi; the girl was a good influence.

“Well done,” Wang Tingxiu patted Lin Xi’s shoulder. She held up her camera and addressed the heroes of the hour: “Come on, stand together. I’ll take a photo of you.”

Lin Xi hated photos. She had been awkward in front of a lens since she was a child. She immediately protested, “What for?”

“For the memory, obviously!” Zhong Sheng smiled brilliantly. “So future elite classes can look at our photos and reminisce. With results like ours, they probably won’t be able to match us.”

Lin Xi looked disgusted. “You make it sound like we’re dead.” “I do not!” Zhong Sheng argued.

“Stop bickering,” Qin Zhuo interjected, pulling Lin Xi to the spot Wang Tingxiu had chosen. “The main contributors stand in the middle.”

Caught off guard by Qin Zhuo’s pull, Lin Xi stumbled into the center. As she tilted, her arm bumped into another. A slight coolness suddenly pressed against Lin Xi’s skin, feeling exceptionally clear in the afternoon heat.

She turned and saw Gu Nianyin standing beside her, watching her calmly. The autumn wind swirled fallen leaves, and a floral scent drifted past. Lin Xi knew it was Gu Nianyin’s scent. Her chest tightened, her heart skipping two beats.

The air felt subtly silent; the surrounding noise seemed to fade away. Lin Xi’s expression became very unnatural, and she pulled her arm back from Gu Nianyin’s.

She felt she really needed to make an appointment with Dr. Tao for a check-up. She needed to see if the final sprint had been too much and if her heart was failing.

“Look at the camera.”

As she made that plan, Wang Tingxiu’s voice came through. She adjusted the settings and shouted to the four girls, “3, 2, 1—”

The sound of the shutter was swallowed by the stadium. The girls, their heights slightly above their teammates on either side, were frozen in this moment.

But this wasn’t their first photo.

The starting gun fired several more times on the track as Wang Tingxiu took many photos of Lin Xi and the others. She adjusted angles and zoomed in, only letting them go after a long while. “Alright, go rest. Once I’ve edited them, I’ll send them to you.”

Zhong Sheng feigned innocence: “Teacher, but none of us brought our phones.”

“Hmph,” Wang Tingxiu let out a cold laugh, her eyes sharp. “Then who was sharing stickers in the group chat this morning?”

Zhong Sheng was the class’s primary supplier of stickers/emojis; she would never miss a chance to harvest new ones during a sports meet. The girl was instantly embarrassed.

Wang Tingxiu turned a blind eye, waving them off. “Go on back. Watch the discipline, don’t lose any points. I still want our class total to be in the top three.”

“Okay—”

Zhong Sheng led the way back to the stands. As they neared their seats, Lin Xi’s sharp ears caught a persistent vibration. It sounded like a silenced phone receiving a call.

Driven by a strange intuition, Lin Xi’s heart tightened. She hurried to her seat and pulled her phone out of her bag. The screen, which should have been black and silent, was pulsing against her fingers, displaying a name in white text on a black background.

Sister Ping.

It was the nurse who had given Lin Xi the red dates last time. The nurse specifically in charge of Xing Xiu.

The call, which had been ringing for a long time, disconnected the moment Lin Xi pulled it out. The screen unlocked via facial recognition, and a flood of missed calls from the same person jumped out at her.

Lin Xi’s heart stopped. She knew the hospital wouldn’t contact her like this unless it was something extraordinary. One call after another.

Her hand tightened around the phone. She glanced around her, then left the noisy stands with a forced look of calm.

The sports meet was held on the rubber track behind the school; in front of it were the volleyball and basketball courts. Maple leaves covered the pedestrian path. The “Athletes’ March” music faded into the distance, and there were few people around.

Standing under a tree, Lin Xi called the nurse back, her voice forced into a steady calm: “Sister, is something wrong?”

But the voice on the other end was not calm. It was full of uncontrollable tension. The nurse spoke immediately:

“Xi, your mother was just rushed into the emergency room. Come back quickly!”

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