A small corner.

Pei Yujing stood by the railing, staring blankly at Jiang Ning, and with difficulty, squeezed out two words: "Thank you."

Jiang Ning saw her looking as uneasy as a little student waiting to be scolded, and unknowingly, the little bit of annoyance in his heart dissipated a lot.

Actually, Xue Yuantong used to be quite a coward too, but completely different from Pei Yujing.

When Xue Yuantong was bullied, he would get angry, curse the other person viciously in his heart, and fantasize about becoming strong one day, then defeating them and shocking the world.

But Pei Yujing wasn’t like that; she was utterly numb, seemingly unaware that it was bullying, and always preferred to back down.

Jiang Ning couldn’t even bring himself to offer advice.

If it weren’t for Pei Yujing’s decent grades, otherwise, if she ended up in a lousy high school or vocational school with boarding, she might face even more excessive treatment.

Jiang Ning asked, "Did you forget what I taught you?"

Pei Yujing didn’t dare to meet his dark gaze straight on; her eyes dodged, and she lowered her face: "I didn’t."

Jiang Ning once taught her a trick, to tell people she was pregnant when approached.

"When your classmates asked you to sign up, why didn’t you say it?" Jiang Ning asked her.

Pei Yujing was feeling uncomfortable and said, "It’s not a good influence."

"Oh, you actually care about influence?" Jiang Ning chuckled.

Pei Yujing remained silent.

Jiang Ning looked at her meek appearance.

As expected, even if given another chance, she’d still be this uninspiring.

Jiang Ning suddenly lost interest in educating her further, waved his hand: "Forget it, go play by yourself."

Jiang Ning turned away with his juice.

It wasn’t until Jiang Ning walked more than ten steps away that Pei Yujing lifted her face. She saw the bottle in Jiang Ning’s hand with a bit of juice left, thought for a while, and moved out from her small corner towards the playground gate. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Hu Mengqing, who was lecturing junior students, saw Jiang Ning coming and quickly greeted him: "Let’s go, let’s watch the long jump at the sandpit. There’s a lot of familiar faces there."

"Sure."

Several junior students shouted: "Senior Sister Hu, what about us?"

Hu Mengqing picked up an ink pen, scribbling on the paper: "Alright, you’re free to move around now, no more practice needed."

A cheer erupted.

Only Cheng Xia had a dark expression: "Are you blatantly targeting me for fun?"

Hu Mengqing didn’t take her seriously at all: "Try reporting me to the academic office?"

She inviting Jiang Ning for the long jump perfectly aligned with the school’s wishes. Being in the sports team, Hu Mengqing knew very well the importance of the Tri-city Sports League. It’s no exaggeration to say that any obstacle would be crushed mercilessly by the school.

...

At the edge of the track.

"That Jiang Ning looks familiar, doesn’t she?" A first-year student squinted at the figure on the green turf, "Just a word to exempt them from sports training."

"Almost as prestigious as our Brother Xun."

This flattery was so obvious that Gai Shixun’s face darkened, ’Damn it, are you mocking me?’

A boy suddenly had an idea: "I got it, he was the one who did the flame effects at the New Year’s Eve performance!"

Though the Fourth Middle School expanded its enrollment, bringing the total number of students and staff close to three thousand, Jiang Ning was someone who had appeared in front of the entire school community, so some people still remembered.

"So he’s that guy, no wonder he’s got connections. I remember Sister Ai from our grade even asked for his contact info."

"Wow, that’s Sister Ai!"

Ai Man was quite famous in the first-year cohort. She gained popularity even before the New Year’s Eve show. Later, she petitioned the school’s admin office and actually got a dance studio in the multipurpose building approved as the base for the dance club. The school even remodeled it—with heated floors, a dressing room, and a large full-length mirror. Such prestige!

Only recently, clothes kept going missing from the dressing room. No one knew who was doing it; it was really nasty.

"Do you think he’s dating Sister Ai?" one boy suddenly speculated.

Gai Shixun felt quite unpleasant hearing this.

For guys at this age, face is everything, Gai Shixun said: "Ai Man just thinks he has a talent for performing, so she added him as a friend. Isn’t that common in their circle?"

"Ask yourselves, would Sister Ai really be interested in him?"

A student seemed to see through it all: "True, Sister Ai had added a lot of people before. Didn’t she add a guy from the experimental class? He thought Sister Ai liked him, later invited her to the field during a break in the evening self-study but got rejected on the spot."

"I know that guy, he used to score really well, in the top fifty of the grade, but he never recovered after that."

Wu Shixun felt good: "So, some people are just clueless, thinking they’re impressive, when they’re just a tool."

"Hopefully, he won’t get too discouraged by Ai Man."

Wu Shixun shook his head, with a sympathetic tone.

"There was a girl in a white dress performing with him at the time, I think her name is Bai Yuxia, like a fairy. By the way, could they be partners?"

Someone immediately refuted: "So what if they performed together? I chat with Shang Wanqing at 11:29 PM!"

Then others began to boast: "I helped Zhou Jinglan move a piano."

"I brought tissues for Liu Yihan!"

"Last time Luo Yingzhu smiled at me, and I even played badminton with Qiu Yi!"

"Are we proud?"

Gai Shixun cleared his throat twice and said seriously: "So, there are some flowers in this world that bloom on the edge of a cliff. Once you try to pick them, you’re destined to fall and be shattered."

The group satisfied their own Ah Q spirit, all feeling good about themselves, as if they’d reached the pinnacle of life.

"It’s still Brother Xun who’s mastered the art of dating a girlfriend and taking advantage!"

"Brother Xun, share some tips!"

Wu Shixun floated high on the praises from his buddies, his gaze swept around, just in time to spot a flirtatious cheerleader girl.

The girl had heavy makeup on, striking an orchid finger pose, constantly twirling her skirt. Wow, those legs, that tiny waist; really nice!