Times of Our Lives

Chapter 10

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Zhang Ganggang brought his camera along on the day of the sports meet. As they were walking in the formation, he was taking photos. When Ji Qinyang was participating in the high jump event, he was taking photos. Even when Qi Fei was lying on the ground panting with his tongue out after the 1500m running event, he also took photos of that.

“…” Qi Fei shouted angrily at the camera that was in his face. “Zhang Ganggang what the hell are you taking photos of? Quickly help me up!”

Zhang Ganggang reached out. “Yes, yes.” He looked around, “Where’s Xie Meng?”

Qi Fei twisted the bottle of mineral water open and poured it over his head. “He’s part of the second team doing the high jump. Ji Qinyang has left to accompany him and didn’t come to cheer me on!”

“That’s normal.” Zhang Ganggang consoled him. “People always prefer the new to the old.”

Qi Fei, “…”

Where the high jump area was, Xie Meng was warming up, and Ji Qinyang was next to him. Xie Meng was dressed differently from the rest in short-sleeved shirts and shorts, he was in a simple trousers and a shirt. Ji Qinyang was talking to him with his hands in his pockets.

When Zhang Ganggang dragged Qi Fei over to cheer him on, Xie Meng was about to do his jump.

“Xie Meng!” Zhang Ganggang yelled. “Fighting!!!”

Xie Meng heard him, and turned his head and waved. Ji Qinyang suddenly pulled at him.

“?” Xie Meng looked down and found that his shoelaces were loose. Before he could bend down, Ji Qinyang had already crouched down.

“…” Unconsciously, Xie Meng pulled his foot back

Ji Qinyang looked up. He raised his brow at Xie Meng. “Why did you move your foot?”

Xie Meng felt awkward. “There’s no need…”

Ji Qinyang ignored him, and deftly tied his shoelaces. Pressing his hands on his knees, Xie Meng shyly thanked him.

Ji Qinyang smiled. “Fighting.”

Xie Meng nodded. He extended his hand to Ji Qinyang, and from the corner of his eyes, he saw that Zhang Ganggang was still taking photos…

Zhang Ganggang was very excited. “The two of you, come closer. I’ll take a few more shots.”

As the ranking of the classes were according to points, so other than the athletes having to work hard, the cheer team also had to work hard. Every note that was submitted could be awarded an extra point, and Maitreya led Wu Xiaomei and the rest of the girls to busy themselves writing.

Writing was one thing, but there also needed to be participants. As there were too few students, in the end, Class Three had to have the athletes cheer each other on, and you could often see the comical sight of the athletes running all over the place.

After finishing the high jump, Xie Meng went to watch Zhang Ganggang throw shot put. Amongst a group of sturdy and muscular professional athletes, Zhang Ganggang looked like a little abused chick in a nest that did not get enough food…

“Hi…” Zhang Ganggang trembled with fear. “Friendship first, competition second…”

A group of bulky fatties looked down at him.

“…” Zhang Ganggang’s look on his face screamed his fright.

After the track and field events, the results of Class Three were not ideal. Other than Ji Qinyang and Xie Meng getting the top two scores in high jump, Qi Fei getting second place in the 1500m run, as the champion was a national runner who easily lapped him…

“We’re 30 points away from first place.” Qi Fei held Zhang Ganggang’s camera as he calculated. “If we can win the 100m relay race, we’ll cut the lead in half.”

Ji Qinyang tapped his chin. “We have to rearrange the order of the runners. Qi Fei will be the first one, I’ll be the last one.”

Chen Dong raised his hand. “I’m not that good, so I’ll take the second spot.”

Ji Qinyang, “Then the third spot will be for Xie Meng.”

Xie Meng glanced at Ji Qinyang, and gave just a nod.

Zhang Ganggang headed towards them in a hurry. “I went to check it out! The other classes don’t  have any good runners, so Class 6 is our biggest competitor. Zhuo Xiaoyuan will be taking the last position!”

Ji Qinyang smiled. “The time for revenge has come so soon.”

Qi Fei was stretching his legs. Hearing that, he cheered out loudly. The four people stuck the numbers on their back, and when they were about to enter the track, Xie Meng suddenly stopped Qi Fei.

“I’ll swap with you.” He handed Qi Fei his number. “I’ll go first.”

Usually, the speed between the both were similar. Qi Fei did not think too much about it, and swapped with Xie Meng. When they were in the respective positions, Ji Qinyang did not see Xie Meng when he turned around.

A hundred metres away, Qi Fei waved at him.

Ji Qinyang squinted. He stared at the runners in the first position. Xie Meng was already preparing to start running, and his back looked full of energy.

The starting gun went off.

Cheers and encouragement rang from the audience. The girls also stopped writing notes, and Maitreya took the lead in cheering his class on, while Zhang Ganggang took photos with much anxiety and nervousness.

“Xie Meng’s in the lead! Xie Meng’s in the lead!” Wu Xiaomei was about to jump off the stand. Coming around the curve, Xie Meng had an obvious lead from the runner in second place.

Chen Dong shouted from the second position. “Hurry hurry hurry!!!”

Xie Meng handed the baton over. Because his speed was so fast, he had ran with Chen Dong for nearly ten metres, and their lead was apparent. For the second runner, his pressure was a lot lesser.

Zhang Ganggang ran up to hug Xie Meng.

“It’s not over yet.” Xie Meng laughed as he rubbed Zhang Ganggang’s head. He saw that Chen Dong had already passed the baton to Qi Fei, and Class Six had also caught up. For now, it was hard to tell who would be first.

“I’m going to the finishing line.” Xie Meng told Zhang Ganggang. The third runner was already halfway done, and the two classes that were leading were neck to neck. Ji Qinyang, in the last position, was already prepared to take the baton.

Zhuo Xiaoyuan took his baton at about the same time.

At the finishing line, Xie Meng’s eyes were glued to the runners passing the last curve. There were more and more people from Class Six joining him, and they were all yelling out Zhuo Xiaoyuan’s name together. Ji Qinyang’s lead was not obvious.

Zhang Ganggang was extremely anxious. Qi Fei and Chen Dong had also came over, but their cheers of encouragement were no competition for the volume of Class Six. In a fit of anger, Qi Fei brought the group and waited right in front of the finishing line.

“Yang-ge!!!!” Qi Fei roared with all his might.

Zhang Ganggang shouted as he took photos. “W High’s Number 1 Beauty!!!!”

Chen Dong, “Obedient pretty boy!!!!”

Xie Meng, “…”

Everyone was staring at him.

Xie Meng took a deep breath and yelled, “Ji Qinyang!”

Ji Qinyang looked up. Xie Meng opened his arms at the finishing line. He looked into his eyes, smiled and yelled again. “Ji Qinyang!”

The next second, the gun sounded again. Ji Qinyang had already thrown himself into Xie Meng’s arms.

“Yeah!!!!!!!” The first one to realised they had won was Qi Fei. He shouted as he embraced Ji Qinyang and Xie Meng who were still hugging each other, and Chen Dong and Zhang Ganggang also jumped onto them.

Zhang Ganggang was so happy that he forgot himself. “We won we won we won!!!”

Xie Meng was being hugged by Ji Qinyang. The boy was very strong, and his waist was nearly hurting from the pressure on it. Xie Meng had to put his arm around Ji Qinyang and patted him on his shoulder.

Ji Qinyang suddenly lifted him up.

Xie Meng, “…”

Ji Qinyang held him up for a very long time.

Xie Meng could neither laugh nor cry, “Am I not heavy?”

Ji Qinyang chuckled a couple of times. He tightened his arms around Xie Meng again, then slowly put him down.

“You should eat more.” Ji Qinyang said. “You’re too light.”

All the track and field events had concluded in the morning. Class Three was less than ten points away from first place. To the classes without any sports athletes, the ball games in the afternoon was like a blessing.

Wu Xiaomei led the girls in dodgeball, and took their first championship.

“Ahh!!!” A group of girls screamed as they hugged each other, and even spontaneously lined up and went around the stadium celebrating, doing the rabbit dance.

Qi Fei led the boys in cheering. “Which class has the prettiest girls?!”

The boys shouted, “Class 3!”

“Which class has the cutest girls?!”

“Class 3!”

“Which class has the smartest girls?!”

“Class 3!”

The girls laughed in amusement, and when it came to the boys’ basketball match, Wu Xiaomei returned the favour.

She somehow managed to get cheerleading pom poms for the girls, and the twenty-plus girls had one each in their hands, cheering orderly by the court side.

“The girls in our class are really encouraging.” Chen Dong laughed as he dribbled the ball, warming up.

Zhang Ganggang handed his camera to Xie Meng, asking him to take photos of him holding the basketball.

“Make the shot look good.” Zhang Ganggang tried to pose coolly. “They’re for Rourou.”

Xie Meng, “…”

Zhang Ganggang, “Is it done? Is it done?”

“… You shouldn’t try too hard.”

Zhang Ganggang put the ball on his head.

“… Next pose.”

After thinking about it, Zhang Ganggang put the basketball between his legs.

“…”

Ji Qinyang could not watch it anymore. He helped to pose Zhang Ganggang in the simplest position, the basketball under his armpit.

In the tournament between the six classes, two classes dropped out of it. Among the four classes, there would be two matches, and the winners of each match would face the other in the finals. The strength Zhuo Xiaoyuan’s class was undeniable, and was sure to go into the finals. As for the rest, there was only Class Three, this dark horse, and the two teams were like enemies on a narrow road, always bound to meet.

“Let us win?” Qi Fei shamelessly asked Zhuo Xiaoyuan. “You guys won’t have enough points even if you win. If we win, we’ll be in first place.”

Zhuo Xiaoyuan ignored him.

Ji Qinyang, “Don’t worry. No need for them to give us chances. I’ll watch him.”

“You?” Zhuo Xiaoyuan looked mocking. “Why, you don’t want your restricted zone anymore?”

Ji Qinyang pointed at Xie Meng, laughing provocatively. “We have a secret weapon.”

This classic line from Coach Anzai²

Twenty minutes later, Zhang Ganggang left the court gloomily…

The game continued, and Zhuo Xiaoyuan started shooting his three-pointers.

Qi Fei, “Why does it look like the ball wouldn’t go into the basket from his position?!”

Zhang Ganggang, “That’s right that’s right! See, it didn’t go in!”

Zhuo Xiaoyuan, “…”

Qi Fei replaced Zhuo Xiaoyuan, and immediately ran into the restricted zone once he got the ball.

Zhuo Xiaoyuan started teaching Zhang Ganggang. “See, this is how a mad dog would play basketball. There’s no strategy to it at all, his intelligence is too low. Don’t learn from him.”

Zhang Ganggang nodded his head vigorously.

“… Who has low intelligence?!” The mad dog Qi Fei roared. “I’ll bite you!”

Finally, Ji Qinyang and Xie Meng were also tired.

“The three of you can go and play.” Ji Qinyang tossed the ball to Zhuo Xiaoyuan, then opened a bottle of water and passed it to Xie Meng. The two of them sat by the courtside, quietly watching the three clowns play basketball.

The back of Xie Meng’s shirt was drenched with sweat. He undid his top button and fanned the shirt slightly, revealing the clean and gentle lines of his collarbone.

Ji Qinyang turned his face away, looking up and straightening his fringe. It was not long before he could not help himself and turned his head back.

“?” Xie Meng had already buttoned his shirt back up. He smiled at Ji Qinyang.

Ji Qinyang, “…”