Who Told You To Fool My First Love? - Chapter 8

In the end, it took the four of them plus Wang Chuan to finally manage to haul that massive pile of supplies back to the classroom.

The students of Class 1 were flattered and pleasantly surprised. They hadn’t expected to share in such luxury.

In addition to the snacks, Wang Chuan also presented a customized cheering banner specifically for the athletes. It was red with gold lettering, and when unfurled, it was over three and a half meters long—a truly impressive sight.

Hu Jun looked at the supplies and clicked his tongue in amazement: “Class Monitor, I suddenly feel like it wouldn’t even matter if our class ended up in last place for total points. Who could possibly have more style than us!”

The crowd nodded repeatedly.

“The competitions haven’t even started yet, and you’re already talking about bad luck,” Qiao Muyu said with a laugh. “Ending up in last place would be too embarrassing. No matter what, we can’t lose to the elite Class 2 next door, right?”

“The Class Monitor is right! Everyone, let’s do our best and strive to squeeze into the top five of the grade!”

“Okay! Go, Class 1!”

The spirit of Class 1 was high, but unfortunately, sports performance isn’t something that can be won just by shouting slogans.

After several rounds of sprint events, almost all of their class’s preliminary qualifiers were wiped out.

Except for Hu Jun, the only one who qualified for the finals was Lu Zhen, who had signed up for the men’s 100-meter dash and made it through as the top runner in his heat.

Although these elite students couldn’t beat the other classes on the track, their flair for writing cheering scripts was top-notch. All sorts of elaborate excessive flattery emerged one after another, focusing on the idea that participation was what mattered and having a good time.

The morning’s competitions drifted by amidst the sound of starting pistols.

After the lunch break, the students, still not satisfied, gathered back at the sports field to continue watching the rest of the schedule.

After dropping off a batch of athletes at the check-in desk, Qiao Muyu returned to the bleachers to rest. He dug a sketchbook out of his bag, intending to write a few more cheering scripts to call out for their athletes.

But as he wrote, his hands started to get restless. By the time he came to his senses, he was already holding a pencil and drawing a sketch.

He was gazing at the athletes practicing high jump in the distance, drawing enthusiastically, when Du Jingfei sat down with a thud next to him: “Little Yu, when do the senior 100-meter finals start?”

Qiao Muyu answered without looking up: “Should be soon. I just sent him to the stage to check in.”

As soon as he finished speaking, an event announcement came over the loudspeaker.

“Hey, hey, hey, it’s starting!”

Du Jingfei craned his neck to look toward the starting line.

“Which lane is Lu Zhen in?”

Qiao Muyu: “Lane three.”

Du Jingfei soon locked onto his target, then let out a shout: “Damn! Zhou Shengyuan is there too! He’s in lane five!”

“It’s normal for him to be in the finals, isn’t it? I remember he was also the top of his group in the prelims this morning.”

“That badass?” Du Jingfei stroked his chin, feeling a bit worried. “Do you think Lu Zhen will throw the race and intentionally lose to his younger brother?”

“How would I know?”

Just as they were speaking, the referee shouted at the top of his lungs: “On your marks! Get set—!”

Qiao Muyu felt inexplicably nervous and couldn’t help but stand up to watch.

Bang!

The starting pistol fired, and the athletes shot out like arrows from a bow.

Lu Zhen’s vigorous posture exploded like a fully drawn bowstring being released. From the very second the gun went off, he was in the lead, leaving a gusty afterimage on the track.

The distance was a bit far, so Qiao Muyu couldn’t clearly see the expression on his face, only the sunlight grazing through his flying hair, plating it with a layer of dancing gold—dazzling and effortless.

He crossed the finish line first, truly unstoppable.

“Ahhhhhhh, first place!”

A roar of cheers erupted from the Class 1 bleachers. Everyone was dancing with excitement, almost to the point of hugging each other and crying.

Qiao Muyu, however, remained stunned for a long time. The image of the youth racing across the track was like a painting deeply imprinted in his mind. He couldn’t resist picking up his pencil and bowing his head to sketch earnestly on the white paper.

Beside him, Du Jingfei let out a sigh: “Badass! After three years, this is finally the first gold medal our class has won in a sports meet. You could say we’ve fulfilled a dream today! Little Yu, let’s go congratulate Lu Zhen!”

Qiao Muyu looked up at Lu Zhen, who was surrounded by a crowd at the finish line, and teased: “Do you think he looks like someone who is short of people to congratulate him?”

Du Jingfei followed his gaze, his mood becoming a bit complicated: “Why are there so many girls from other classes giving him water? Sigh, damn it, he’s showing off again.”

Qiao Muyu smiled and didn’t speak, keeping his head down to continue detailing his drawing.

Before long, Xu Runcan came rushing back to the bleachers in a whirlwind.

She hadn’t participated in any events, yet she was as sweaty as an athlete who had just finished a race. Her voice was hoarse from shouting, but she couldn’t spare the time to drink water: “Did you guys see it? Just now, Lu Zhen—”

“Saw it, saw it, saw it with both eyes,” Du Jingfei cut her off and handed her a bottle of mineral water. “You didn’t win this championship, so why are you so excited?”

“What? That’s not what I’m talking about.”

Xu Runcan glared at him with dissatisfaction. “I mean, just now, after Lu Zhen finished collecting his medal, he met a girl who confessed her feelings to him!”

“Damn? There’s such a thing?” Du Jingfei’s gossip soul immediately ignited. “Who was that girl? Which class is she from?”

“Don’t know. Just know she’s from Class 7.”

“So what was Lu Zhen’s reaction? Did he agree?”

“He didn’t even know who she was, so of course he didn’t agree. Then that girl wouldn’t give up and asked if she could pursue him. I thought he would just refuse her and be done with it, but guess what?”

Xu Runcan stopped halfway through her sentence and slowly took a sip of water, deliberately keeping them in suspense. Du Jingfei urged her impatiently: “Hurry up and say it, what happened?”

Xu Runcan smiled mysteriously: “He said he couldn’t, because he has someone he likes.”

Upon hearing this, Qiao Muyu’s pencil tip paused, and he became curious too: “He’s only been at our school for three months, and he already has someone he likes?”

“Who said it has to be at our school? Could be someone he knew before.”

Xu Runcan couldn’t help but let her imagination run wild.

“Or maybe his family set up an arranged marriage for him? Wealthy people love playing those commercial marriage games anyway. Married first, then fall in love, arranged marriages—wonderful! It’s all my cup of tea.”

Du Jingfei’s mouth twitched: “What kind of messy novels are you reading all day?”

“I’m serious. That Butler Wang from his house is practically someone out of a ‘dominant CEO’ novel. What with ‘Young Master’ this and ‘Madam’ that, what normal person talks like that? It’s so funny, haha!”

As Xu Runcan was speaking, Du Jingfei suddenly coughed loudly and started frantically giving her signals with his eyes.

Xu Runcan turned her head and saw Lu Zhen, who had just returned.

Her smile immediately froze. Awkwardly, she pulled Du Jingfei to flee the scene: “Let’s go, let’s go! Keep me company to watch the high jump!”

There was no extra expression on Lu Zhen’s face. He seemed long accustomed to such discussions, simply sitting down with a calm expression to rest.

As he tilted his head to drink water, his Adam’s apple bobbed. Sweat slid down his temples to his collarbone, eventually disappearing silently into the slightly damp collar of his black short-sleeved shirt.

Qiao Muyu silently looked away, then scanned the gold medal and award certificate he was holding, offering his congratulations with a smile: “Congratulations on winning the championship. The race was spectacular.”

“Thank you.”

When Lu Zhen spoke, he happened to turn his head to look at him. His gaze shifted, landing lightly on the sketchbook sitting on Qiao Muyu’s lap.

Qiao Muyu suddenly realized what was happening and hurriedly covered it with his hand: “Hey, don’t look!”

But it was one step too late.

Lu Zhen had originally only taken a slight glance and wasn’t sure what it was, but seeing his reaction now, he understood about eighty or ninety percent: “What you drew… seems to be me?”

Qiao Muyu was speechless, his inner sense of shame exploding.

What was the difference between secretly drawing someone and a creep taking candid photos of them?

And he got caught red-handed by the subject himself.

His earlobes heated up involuntarily, and he didn’t dare to look Lu Zhen in the eyes: “I was just drawing for fun. If you mind, I’ll erase it.”

“I don’t mind,” Lu Zhen said. “May I take a look?”

Qiao Muyu hesitated for two seconds before obediently handing the sketchbook to him.

Lu Zhen looked down. On the page, the running youth’s posture was graceful, bold, and dynamic.

Qiao Muyu’s pen strokes were clean and decisive, the lines were delicate and light. Using only simple black, white, and gray, he had brought the light and shadow to life.

Lu Zhen’s gaze flickered slightly, but he didn’t offer any commentary, only asking: “Do you really like drawing?”

Qiao Muyu remembered the time he ran into Lu Zhen at the bookstore while buying art books, and admitted it generously: “Mm, I like it very much.”

“Then why didn’t you study art?”

Qiao Muyu’s fingers gripping the pencil tightened, and a touch of bitterness washed through his heart. He dodged the question, half-joking: “My academic scores are so good. Wouldn’t it be a waste to go study art?”

Lu Zhen understood and asked again: “Can you give this drawing to me?”

It was a happy thing to have his work recognized. Qiao Muyu smiled and nodded in agreement: “Of course. If you like it, then it’s yours.”

“Thank you.”

Just as Lu Zhen was about to tear out the page, a thought struck Qiao Muyu: “Wait, since I’m giving it to you, let me write a ‘To’ autograph on it as a keepsake.”

“Okay.” Lu Zhen had no objections and handed the sketchbook back to him.

Qiao Muyu rummaged through his bag to find a blue signature pen. After contemplating for a few seconds, he finally wrote a short message:

“To: Lu Zhen—Stay passionate, and may you bloom along the way.”

After finishing, he habitually added a small stick-figure fish with his own unique style in the bottom right corner of the drawing.

“Finished! This little fish represents me,” Qiao Muyu closed the cap with satisfaction. “Cute, right?”

Lu Zhen’s brow moved. He stared blankly at the little blue fish, momentarily forgetting to answer.

Seeing that his expression was a bit strange, Qiao Muyu became hesitant: “What’s wrong? Do you not like it? Should I change it to something else?”

“No need,” Lu Zhen spoke suddenly. “I like little fish.”

Qiao Muyu’s face burned instantly. He pretended to be calm and let out an “Oh.”

The way he said that… was so ambiguous.

After a whole day of heartfelt cheering and support, by the next day, the students’ voices had all become at least a little hoarse.

There weren’t many events left for Class 1, and the atmosphere in the bleachers had clearly become more relaxed.

Students playing board games, playing cards, or gathering together to crack sunflower seeds and gossip—at a glance, not many people were doing anything serious.

Huang Zhengsen, who participated in the long jump, performed exceptionally well today. After breaking his own records to take fourth place, he quickly packed up his things and returned in triumph.

Du Jingfei, who was on good terms with him, teased him with a grin and complimented him, then got a mischievous idea. He handed him a can of cola that he had been shaking for a long time, claiming it was a reward for his spectacular performance.

Huang Zhengsen, with no suspicion at all, happily took it. Unexpectedly, as soon as he pulled the tab, the cola in the can surged out uncontrollably.

Huang Zhengsen was so startled he threw it to the side. As a result, half the cola splashed all over the unlucky guy sitting next to him: Qiao Muyu.

Qiao Muyu: “…”

“I’m sorry, Class Monitor! I didn’t mean to!” Huang Zhengsen pleaded with a tearful face.

Qiao Muyu felt a wave of anger, but he wasn’t about to start yelling over someone else’s unintentional mistake. He could only grit his teeth and say: “…It’s fine.”

Huang Zhengsen felt terrible about it, so he turned around and rummaged through his bag to find a pair of track pants: “Class Monitor, I brought an extra pair of clean pants. Why don’t you go change?”

Qiao Muyu shook his pants, which were soaked through, and sighed helplessly: “Thanks.”

Qiao Muyu took the pants to the gym, which was right next to the sports field. But the bathroom there had many people queuing. By the time it was his turn, he figured his wet clothes would have dried on their own.

After glancing around, he discovered a sports equipment room nearby that was quiet and seemed to be empty.

It just so happened that the door wasn’t locked, so he pushed it open and walked inside. As soon as he looked up, he saw the back of a tall boy in the room.

The person was raising his arms to take off his black short-sleeved shirt, revealing a pale, cold back. The youth’s shoulder and spine lines were smooth. A thin layer of sweat clung to his lean, strong waist, tapering narrowly into his loose black trousers.

He seemed to have just finished participating in the long jump, as his track pants were covered in fine yellow sand.

He heard the movement behind him and turned his head, making eye contact with Qiao Muyu standing in the doorway.

Lu, Lu Zhen?

“Sorry!” Qiao Muyu awkwardly averted his gaze, refusing to look at him. “I thought there was no one here.”