CY – Chapter 22

Chapter Twenty-Two

“Write faster, everyone, keep it up!” Yin Li waved the folder in her hand with vigor, and specifically turned to Lu Bai to emphasize, “I let you two rest yesterday, so today you have to make up for yesterday’s work!”

Lu Bai had a pained expression. “You can’t treat me like this. I brought honor to the class yesterday. You can’t just discard me after I’ve served my purpose!”

Yesterday afternoon, Lu Bai participated in the relay race as usual. Due to his outstanding performance in the morning, Guan Yue arranged for him to run the anchor leg. The others, perhaps influenced by Lu Bai, didn’t want to just go through the motions and gave their best. Class One, rarely showing competitive spirit outside of academics, united and surprisingly reached the finish line at the same time as another class, tying for first place.

“You put in effort on the field, but we who had no events weren’t idle either,” Yin Li said, picking up another small stack of A4 papers. “Class Two has decided this year to compete with us for this Spiritual Civilization Award. Yesterday, they wrote many drafts but didn’t submit them, all to lull us into complacency so they could catch us off guard. Today, when I go to submit our drafts, I saw Class Two had a stack that high. If we don’t work overtime and rush, we won’t be able to catch up to them!”

“I’m back,” Han Chengcheng and a few others had just gone to submit some motivational essays and scout for intelligence.

“How was it?” Yin Li quickly went to meet them.

“Currently, Class Two has submitted the most, with our class second,” Han Chengcheng said. “But there are too many submissions now, and the student union found a lot of duplicated content when reviewing. They’re now requiring that duplicated content won’t count, and if found, it will be sent back for rewriting.”

“Tsk, it’s all Class Two’s fault,” Yin Li said indignantly. “No worries, we can still leave them ten streets behind with our quality.”

“For a motivational essay, it’s hard to avoid some similarities in content…” Lu Bai didn’t quite understand. “There are only so many events, how much variety can you really write about?”

“It’s not just about writing about the athletes,” Han Chengcheng had already started preparing to write. “You can also write for the volunteers, the cheerleaders, the referees, the teachers from each class, and those who performed.”

“Then, in that case, you could also write for the organizing committee…” Zhang Xiaotian murmured beside him.

“Alright, let’s do it!” Yin Li declared with a flourish. “Let’s write it now!”

“This is allowed…” Lu Bai had intended to play hooky with Zhang Xiaotian, but he hadn’t expected Zhang Xiaotian to start writing already. He scratched his head, feeling too embarrassed to rest alone.

While the sports field raged with competition, the stands showed different scenes for each class. The regular classes and specialty classes were having a lively time, while the experimental classes were all diligently wielding their pens. This was clearly a battle exclusive to the experimental classes, with Class One and Class Two showing the most fervor.

“Oh, still writing?”

As Class One was engrossed in writing, they suddenly heard a voice. A student sitting nearby looked up and saw a Class Two volunteer passing by while collecting trash.

“Writing only, how many points will that get you?” the person said, patting the “Volunteer” armband on his sleeve. “You bookworms who only know how to study, no wonder you can only get the Spiritual Civilization Award.”

“Oh right, with this pace, you might even lose the Spiritual Civilization Award this year!”

“Damn it!” Li An, who had been playing a game while writing, was so angry that he threw his pen down. “If you’ve got the guts, beat us in the next monthly exam!”

“Ooh, getting angry!”

The Class Two students laughed and left. Li An slammed his hand on the table and sat down. “I’m not writing anymore, who cares about some Spiritual Civilization Award!”

“Li An, you’re giving up before even trying to win!” some students below were unhappy, and others, like Li An, didn’t want to write.

“Shouldn’t our class also send more volunteers? And have a few people go take pictures to send to the student union later,” Han Chengcheng asked Yin Li.

“How about this: we’ll go by study group order, starting with the first group to pick up trash. Each group will arrange their own photography, and the photos will be sent to Chengcheng here,” Yin Li habitually gave orders, then asked Li An, “Is this arrangement okay, Class Monitor?”

“Yes, let’s do it,” Li An stood up abruptly. “First group, follow me!”

Zhang Xiaotian, while writing, secretly asked Lu Bai, “Is Yin Li also a class officer? The organizational committee member?”

“She’s not a class officer,” Lu Bai chuckled. “Our class doesn’t have an organizational committee member.”

“No organizational committee member?”

“Our class not only doesn’t have an organizational committee member, but many other positions are also missing,” Lu Bai explained. “For any event, the class teacher usually designates someone to organize it, or whoever can’t stand it takes the lead. Li An usually only acts when things are directly on his plate; otherwise, he doesn’t care about anything else. Yin Li, well, she’s the type who can’t stand it.”

“Yin Li even criticized Li An before for not taking responsibility, and Li An retorted that Yin Li was meddling, which infuriated Yin Li. But she still meddles next time.”

“I see many people in the class listen to Yin Li,” Zhang Xiaotian observed, looking at Yin Li.

“Not everyone is as… insensible as Li An,” Lu Bai shook his head.

The last day of the sports meet proceeded with this peculiar busyness. It wasn’t until the afternoon when the student union announced that they would soon start calculating each class’s points that Zhang Xiaotian and Lu Bai joined the last group to pick up trash.

As the sports meet neared its end, most of the trash on the school grounds had been collected by the class volunteers. Their group only had to pick up fallen leaves and scraps of paper, which was very easy. Lu Bai dragged an empty snake-skin bag and held a tree branch. When he found a secluded spot, he swung the branch with a swishing sound.

“Tian’er!” he called out to Zhang Xiaotian, who was picking up paper in front. Zhang Xiaotian turned to look at him, and Lu Bai performed a plausible sword flourish with the branch.

“Let’s spar a bit!”

“You’re crazy,” Zhang Xiaotian stood still. “Don’t hit anyone else.”

“Hmph, no one wants to play with me,” Lu Bai shrugged and slung the wooden stick over his shoulder. “What have you been picking up? The ground looks pretty clean, there’s nothing there?”

“I cleaned it all up in front, so of course, you can’t see anything behind me.”

“Then take a break, let me pick up some,” Lu Bai quickly walked up to Zhang Xiaotian, shoved the wooden stick into his hand, and reminded him, “Hold it properly, don’t lose it for me.”

Zhang Xiaotian was a bit disgusted by the dirty, hand-holding stick, but he held onto it properly and didn’t throw it away.

The last group seemed to be out for a stroll. The entire group only brought back half a bag of trash. After disposing of it at the school’s garbage station, they returned to their class just as the rostrum announced the point rankings for each class over the past two days. In the first year, Class One also took first place. When they began announcing the second-year rankings, everyone’s heart grew more anxious. The announcements were made from lowest to highest rank, and the quieter the surroundings became as the announcements progressed, the more the silence became palpable when the third place was announced. At this point, only Class One and Class Two remained unannounced.

“Second place…” The school broadcast station equipment was quite old, and it occasionally had interruptions. It was precisely at this moment that it went silent, leaving everyone’s hearts in suspense. Some people, impatient, couldn’t help but curse. As if deliberately building suspense, the principal’s voice then came from the broadcast: “First place is…”

“Damn it, I wasn’t even nervous!” Lu Yibo’s distinctive voice boomed from Class Two. Many students who had been holding their breath burst into laughter. Zhang Xiaotian, who had worked hard all day, was inevitably anxious at this moment.

As if having captured the attention of all the students, the principal slowly continued, “First place, Class One!”

The air froze for a moment, and then a huge cheer erupted. The students from Class Two were indignant. Someone shouted loudly at Class One, “We’ll show you in the next monthly exam!”

“Show us what? Losers!” If Li An had a tail, it would have been wagging to the sky at this moment. He even took a few people to gloat in front of some Class Two students, earning playful curses from his acquaintances.

“He’s really insufferable,” Yin Li deliberately rolled her eyes at him, but it was clear she was also very happy. Lu Bai was packing up his things and sighed, “An athletic meet is really tiring, more tiring than classes.”

“Then next year, when we have the sports meet, you can go back to class,” Yin Li said.

“No, that’s not it,” Lu Bai said with a grin. “How boring would you guys be without me?”

“So thick-skinned,” the four of them said, packing up and chatting. Li An finally did something a class monitor should do and began organizing everyone to move the desks and chairs back to the classroom. The sports meet finally concluded.

Before school ended, Zhang Xiaotian received a call from his mother, who said she had to go on a business trip for a month and was already at the airport. She wouldn’t be able to pick him up for school and asked if he needed her subordinate to come and take care of him. Zhang Xiaotian felt he didn’t need it and politely refused. His mother didn’t say much, only telling him to take care of himself and call her if anything came up. Zhang Xiaotian let out a heavy sigh after hanging up. Lu Bai saw him finish his call and walked over to ask, “How are you going home?”

“Walking back,” Zhang Xiaotian replied.

“Then let’s go together,” Lu Bai said, slinging his backpack over his shoulder.

This time, Lu Bai didn’t lead him on a detour through small alleys, which Zhang Xiaotian found a little regretful. Those alleys were too many and too chaotic. Yesterday, Zhang Xiaotian, bored at home, wanted to go for a walk downstairs. Without someone to guide him, he almost got lost in that old residential area, and it wasn’t as interesting as when he walked with Lu Bai. However, this main road was also good – wide, bustling, and walking along it without talking wouldn’t be boring because of the constant chatter. One could overhear people’s gossip without even trying…

Lu Bai stifled a laugh, tugging at Zhang Xiaotian’s sleeve, his attention completely focused on listening. Zhang Xiaotian slowed down as Lu Bai pulled him, pretending nothing was happening. As they went down a step, he almost slipped. Lu Bai quickly pulled him up. Once they were steady, the gossip had already moved away.

“What a shame,” Lu Bai said with a look of regret. “I was just getting to the exciting part.”

“You’re something else,” Zhang Xiaotian wished he could smack him on the head. “Listening so intently, why don’t you follow them home to listen?”

“Can’t go to their home, that would be too rude,” Lu Bai shook his head.

“And this isn’t rude?”

“I’m not the only one hearing it!” Lu Bai said shamelessly. “Besides, I won’t spread it around. I don’t even know them.”

Taking the main road home was much faster. Before long, Zhang Xiaotian saw familiar buildings in the distance. He suddenly felt that this road was too short.

“My mom is on a business trip,” he said.

“Mm,” Lu Bai nodded. “So?”

“For a month,” Zhang Xiaotian said. “So for this month, I’ll have to go home by myself.”

Lu Bai said, “Oh,” and then smiled, “Then after that, we can go home together.”

Zhang Xiaotian looked at him.

“Going home alone isn’t as fun as going home together,” Lu Bai said.

Zhang Xiaotian withdrew his gaze.

Indeed, going together was more fun.