411. The Childish Chen Yao
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Chen Yao only had a preliminary 100-meter sprint in the morning, and to everyone’s surprise, he came in last—like, dead last. No qualification for him!
But bless his heart, Tu Junhui fared even worse. When he was about to throw the shot put, Big Dog scared the living daylights out of him, making his arm go jelly and resulting in an epic fail. He was left utterly bewildered, like a deer caught in headlights.
Just earlier, Chen Yao was seething with anger, but seeing Tu Junhui’s pitiful attempt made him unable to contain his laughter, unleashing a storm of sarcastic jabs. Still, they had a common enemy now, so after a brief mockery session, they quickly turned their frustration outward.
“Someone needs to wrangle that Big Dog and give him a good smackdown. He’s really messing with us!” Chen Yao crossed his arms, leaning against the wall outside the nurse’s office, grumbling, “I suspect our class is doomed. We might not even snag a top-three spot!”
Lin Nan nodded in understanding; she had her own competition in the afternoon and definitely didn’t want Big Dog messing with her game.
Not that she had any real game to begin with. She was relying on her magic to cheat her way through.
After an accidental sighting while showering, Chen Yao had unlocked a new magic—basically just a low-level acceleration spell that gave her temporary leg power.
Totally by accident, of course. There was no way she would have done that on purpose for some silly honor. She didn’t have a stunning cross-dressing Tu Junhui to motivate her, after all.
Higher-level acceleration magic involved wind elements, which was akin to sticking your hands in a fire to unlock fireball magic—total self-harm. Lin Nan didn’t see herself signing up for that kind of pain.
The nurse’s office smelled overwhelmingly of disinfectant, wafting into the hallway. Lin Nan grimaced and, after chatting with Chen Yao for a bit, she couldn’t take the stench any longer and stepped away—only to suddenly look at her empty hands and then the spotless floor. Her eyes widened: “Chen Yao! Where’s the cat?!”
“What cat?” Chen Yao replied, utterly confused.
“The Cola! Lilith left it with me…” Lin Nan instantly panicked, rushing toward the playground, “I thought it was too heavy, so I put it down at my feet, and then you started talking to me, and I completely forgot about it!”
“How do you manage to lose everything?” Chen Yao followed her, rambling on, “Your memory needs work. You can remember money stuff clearly, but the trivial things—you’ve lost our umbrella, remember? What about your bag?”
“Eh?!”
Lin Nan was even more flustered. She honestly forgot she had taken an umbrella when she left. Her usual bag was nowhere to be found, and her hands were empty. Light as a feather! But she recalled that bag was a few hundred bucks—ouch, losing it would sting.
Chen Yao shook his head, half-amused: “How can your memory be so selectively bad? Tu Junhui remembers when he spent your money in first year!”
“Let’s just go back and look, we can’t have lost it, right?”
She was in a whirlwind of anxiety, hurrying toward the playground. Noticing her panic, Chen Yao reassured her: “Don’t worry, the cat’s not lost. Even if it was, it would probably have a fine life as a stray around school.”
“What about your bag? There are cameras everywhere, who’d be brave enough to take it?”
“True, but you can never be sure about someone’s noggin,” Lin Nan murmured.
She vaguely remembered putting her bag on a flowerbed under a tree, rope in her brain telling her to remember to grab it later, but—in true Lin Nan fashion—after a few minutes, she’d completely spaced it.
Rushing back to the tree where they sheltered from the rain, she glanced at the flowerbed, only to realize her bag was gone! But there lay Cola, still lounging by the track, never having moved an inch, blissfully unaware of the chaos around, attracting a bunch of students who couldn’t help but gawk.
Nearby students were pondering where this “pig” came from, while some—I’m looking at you, brave souls—even dared to touch it, with Cola not putting up any resistance, seemingly reveling in the attention.
She barely remembered the days the previous Cola was all bouncy and curious about the world. Now, it had evolved into a black pig!
Was Lilith really raising a cat according to pig standards?
Lin Nan stepped closer, trying to scoop Cola into her arms before turning to hand it over to Chen Yao.
Chen Yao, with significantly better physique than Lin Nan, was still caught off guard by the 20-pound bundle of joy.
“My bag…” Lin Nan sighed, still haunted by her lost little bag.
At this moment, Zheng Qian, who had been engrossed in his phone, suddenly stood up and strolled toward them. Chen Yao’s vigilance kicked in, narrowing his eyes at Zheng’s approach.
“Looks like you’re searching for something?” Zheng Qian smiled at Lin Nan. “A little pink bag, perhaps?”
“You’ve got it?” Chen Yao shot back, not even a bit hesitant.
Zheng Qian shot him a glance: “Nope. A student found it and brought it to me.”
Even though Chen Yao knew this guy was head-over-heels for someone named “Yao Yao” and spent his days texting her like a lovesick puppy, he still kept his guard up. Who knows if this guy was just pretending not to notice Lin Nan or if he was really out of the game?
Maybe, just maybe, if Lin Nan let her guard down, he’d pounce like a hungry tiger.
Lin Nan, however, was oblivious to Chen Yao’s protective vibes; hearing her bag was safe, she practically bounced alongside Zheng Qian.
“Stay cautious around him,” Chen Yao whispered to Lin Nan, trying to paint a picture of Zheng Qian’s “true character.” “That counselor is like a wolf in sheep’s clothing; you’re lucky you don’t have many interactions with him yet.”
“Really?”
“Oh, you betcha! Super creepy! I heard he used to flirt with female students and would use scholarship money as leverage to get them to…”
Zheng Qian, not deaf, turned back with a grin, cutting through Chen Yao’s gossip: “If I were that kind of guy, I’d be locked up by now.”
“See? He’s feeling guilty!”
Lin Nan realized, and it clicked that Chen Yao was just a jealous little kid.
Or more like he was concerned about Zheng Qian whisking her away.
She nodded vigorously: “Got it! I won’t talk to Zheng Qian anymore.”
“Don’t even look at him; he’ll ruin your eyesight.”
After spending some time together, Lin Nan noticed Chen Yao’s jealousy was like child’s play, while she had never really seen this side of him in the seven or eight years they had known each other.
But it was kind of adorable.
“Did everything come back alright?” Zheng Qian reached into the drawer of their homeroom and pulled out the bag for Lin Nan.
Having retrieved her little bag, Lin Nan immediately opened it to check the contents. Meanwhile, Chen Yao kept a watchful eye on Zheng Qian, worried Lin Nan’s brain might get tricked and end up counting cash for him.
“All good, thanks!”
Lin Nan beamed, clutching her bag in gratitude.
Before Zheng Qian could say anything else, Chen Yao yanked her away. “Let’s go! Back to the rental apartment, I’m making dumplings!”
