Right after that, Fatty went back into the crowd and rejoined the line.

As expected, the PE teacher was another middle-aged uncle on the verge of old age, with a bald head. When he saw Fatty hand him the roster, he clasped his hands behind his back and stood in front of the line with an air of authority. A moment ago there had still been people whispering, horsing around, and messing with each other in the ranks, but the second the PE teacher stood in front of them, the entire line instantly went quiet.

Clearly, this PE teacher still had some authority; he could suppress this group of students in one go.

Then his gaze swept around once, checked how many people were present, and he seemed satisfied enough, so he dropped that topic. Instead he said, "Do you still remember the breathing method for running that I taught you last class? Do I need to teach it again?"

Although he phrased it like a question, the meaning was obvious: this is something I taught you last class, it's only been a few days, and if someone dares to say they don't remember now, that person is done for. So after he said this, the whole class fell silent; not a single person spoke up.

"Teacher!" The whole field had gone quiet, and at this moment Liang Xiaohan suddenly raised her hand. Everyone's eyes turned toward her.

"Hm?" The PE teacher frowned; when he saw it was Liang Xiaohan speaking, his gaze shifted over to her.

"I just wanted to say, I think classmate Hao Jian's understanding and learning of this is especially good, so I'd like to invite classmate Hao Jian to come up and demonstrate, and tell everyone about his feelings and insights and so on. That way, for classmates like me who find it a bit hard to learn, it'll be much easier to understand." Liang Xiaohan said.

Hao Jian had been standing in line looking all casual and indifferent, but when he heard what Liang Xiaohan said, his brows immediately furrowed. He'd originally thought she suddenly calling out "Teacher" meant she was going to do something else, but now it was obvious this girl was deliberately trying to screw him over.

Before he could speak, the PE teacher heard Liang Xiaohan's suggestion and said, "Since that's the case, then classmate Hao Jian, come out and demonstrate. Since classmate Liang Xiaohan says you learned it well, you can go run a lap first and come back. We'll see how your breathing is after one lap, then you can tell your classmates what you've learned."

"I…" Hao Jian wanted to refuse as soon as he heard that. But just as he was about to go on, all the classmates beside him were already staring at him, and Liang Xiaohan was looking at him with a smug expression, as if saying that if he refused, he'd be admitting he was chickening out.

So he immediately swallowed his words and walked out at a leisurely pace. He gave the PE teacher a look, the teacher signaled for him to start, and he began to jog.

The track wasn't big; one lap was only four hundred meters. Four hundred meters to Hao Jian was basically something he could do without breaking a sweat. But in order not to stand out too much, he deliberately slowed his pace and ran one lap at the speed of an average first-year high school student.

After he finished one lap and came back to report to the PE teacher, the man saw that Hao Jian wasn't even panting, looking completely relaxed. He immediately looked at Hao Jian with a hint of appreciation in his eyes.

"Not bad!" he praised Hao Jian. "Your pace was pretty even, rhythm well controlled, and your breathing stayed really steady."

Then the PE teacher turned back toward the line, wanting to ask Liang Xiaohan what she had learned from watching Hao Jian run. However, before he even spoke, Liang Xiaohan raised her hand again and said, "Teacher, I feel like just one lap doesn't really show anything. It's way too easy for classmate Hao Jian, so he probably can't feel it very clearly. I'd like to have classmate Hao Jian run again. What do you think?"

The PE teacher thought for a moment when he heard that, then said, "That's fine. Four hundred meters is indeed a bit too easy, so run another two laps, make it twelve hundred meters total, and let's see what kind of endurance classmate Hao Jian has."

Then the PE teacher looked back at Hao Jian and said, "Hao Jian, can you run it?"

At this time, Hao Jian's eyes were fixed on Liang Xiaohan, full of resentment. He hadn't expected that she'd choose to torture him this way. One lap he could accept, but now she was suggesting that the PE teacher have him run a few more laps. Was this ever going to end? This was clearly her messing with him on purpose.

He had no idea how he'd offended Liang Xiaohan to make her target him like this.

However, when Liang Xiaohan said those things, Zhang Danlin's gaze in the crowd uncontrollably fell on her, then on Hao Jian. Obviously, the way they kept glancing at each other made her very unhappy; in her heart there was a wave of Envy and resentment.

Hao Jian glared hard at Liang Xiaohan.

The way the PE teacher phrased his question was perfect too—what do you mean "can he run"? There were so many people in the class watching, and Liang Xiaohan was watching too. If he said he couldn't run, that would be the same as a man admitting he was useless. Wouldn't that be way too embarrassing?

He was basically being forced. Whether he wanted to or not, he had to run. There was no way around it, so he could only nod and say he could. Running a few laps was no big deal; for him it couldn't be easier. But if he said he couldn't, then he'd be throwing away his pride as a man.

So as soon as he said he could run, he started off, and his figure appeared on the track of the sports field.

Watching Hao Jian jogging, Liang Xiaohan felt especially pleased, her heart filled with glee. She'd never felt this satisfied before; just seeing Hao Jian looking uncomfortable made her feel comfortable.

At this time, their class wasn't the only one having PE on the field; there were five or six classes out there, including Gu Peng's class. Gu Peng had been standing in his class with an indifferent expression, when someone suddenly nudged him and said, "Brother Peng, look, isn't that that overestimating-himself Hao Jian?"

Hearing Hao Jian's name, Gu Peng instantly turned toward the voice and looked over, and saw Hao Jian jogging on the track. Then he looked again and noticed that Hao Jian was the only one on the track; the rest of his classmates were all standing still. He figured Hao Jian was being punished, and a smile spread across his face.

A piece of trash being punished by the teacher actually dared to challenge him—wasn't that just asking to be humiliated. He had already imagined the scene of Hao Jian being beaten by him next Friday, running away in a panic and begging for mercy.

He let out a cold laugh and said, "Trash. Let him run."

The few guys around him snickered. When Hao Jian ran past them, a bunch of them immediately flipped him the middle finger and shouted, "Garbage! Trash!" 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

As soon as they did that and said those words, it caused a burst of commotion and laughter. But as Hao Jian ran past, he acted as if nothing had happened. Go ahead and be arrogant now; when next Friday comes, you'll be the one crying. For now, he'd let them laugh and act wild a little longer.

He simply didn't take it to heart at all, just kept jogging at a steady pace, finished the few laps, and then went back to the line.

Seeing that Hao Jian had run over a thousand meters and still looked relaxed, not even breathing hard, the PE teacher immediately regarded him in a new light and said, "Not bad, you're a good seedling. How about coming over to specialize in athletics?"

Hao Jian shook his head when he heard that. He had no time to waste learning that; this kind of thing was way too easy for him. When the PE teacher saw this, he didn't say anything more. After that, seeing that Hao Jian had already run a fair bit, Liang Xiaohan actually softened, her heart turning unexpectedly kind, and she didn't make him keep running.

Right after, the PE teacher had Hao Jian talk about his experience and insights. Hao Jian stood up there and rattled on at machine-gun speed, talking a whole barrage of stuff. He talked so much that the PE teacher was completely lost in the clouds. Then, seeing that Hao Jian looked ready to keep going, the PE teacher couldn't take it anymore. If he let Hao Jian continue like that, he'd probably talk through the entire period.

So he hurriedly stopped Hao Jian and told him to go back down. As he came down, Hao Jian grinned, a proud smile on his face, as if to say, "What, you wanted to wear me out? I've got energy to spare—let's see what you can do to me."

But as soon as he got back, Liang Xiaohan switched places with someone and came to stand beside him. She looked at him with her nose in the air and said, "So, how was it? Comfortable? Want to try that feeling again?"

For Hao Jian, running more than a thousand meters couldn't be easier. You had to know, back when he trained, his runs started at at least ten or twenty kilometers. This kind of short distance was nothing. But what really bothered him wasn't the distance; it was that he'd been made to do it because of Liang Xiaohan's scheming.

That was what annoyed him: whatever he did felt like it was under Liang Xiaohan's orders, like he was being controlled by her. That feeling was especially irritating.

It seemed that Liang Xiaohan also picked up on what he was thinking, so she laughed even more happily, poked him with her hand, and said, "That was just a little warm-up. If you dare not listen to my orders, the really uncomfortable stuff is still ahead."

Hao Jian snorted coldly and said nothing.

Seeing him like that, Liang Xiaohan laughed even harder. She had her spot switched back with her classmate and then returned to her original place.

After that, the PE teacher talked for a few more minutes up front. Luckily he was never very long-winded, so after talking for just a few minutes he dismissed the line and told them to move around freely.

As soon as they were allowed to move freely, Zhang Danlin ran over to find him.