Seeing that Xufang had been staring at his phone, Zhang He, one of his roommates, couldn’t help but lean over to take a look. He admired and said, “Having a girlfriend is really something else; you look at your phone twenty-four hours a day…”
Before he could finish his sentence, he suddenly saw the content on the screen and couldn’t help but exclaim, “Damn, what’s this?”
Xufang raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. He turned off the phone screen, placed it face down on the table, and calmly began eating his beef noodles.
Zhang He looked at the breakfast in front of him and felt a wave of nausea rising in his stomach. He looked at Xufang, his fingers trembling, and said in disbelief, “You’re just going to eat like this?”
Xufang continued to eat without stopping, and he didn’t react to Zhang He’s suggestive remarks.
“You want to eat, go get it yourself.”
“…,” Zhang He was stunned by his response and immediately protested, “No! I meant, didn’t you find that picture disgusting after looking at it for so long?”
Upon hearing this, Xufang suddenly realized, paused for a moment, and then said slowly, “Ah,” before picking up his phone again and sending a message to Lin Xiche: [Nice.]
Zhang He: “…”
Forgive him for not understanding the world of romance.
Not long after that, Xufang added two more words: [Not really.]
Seeing these two words, Zhang He’s expression became somewhat satisfied, but he shook his head and advised, “You should sound more angry in your response, or she might send you more next time.”
Xufang remained unfazed and simply replied, “I know.”
After finishing dinner, Lin Xiche went back to her dormitory first to put her books back. She wasn’t sure when she could leave the department meeting, so she decided to take a quick shower and then headed out.
At 7:00 in the evening, the cafeteria had fewer people, and the tables in several sections were sparsely occupied.
Lin Xiche walked to the spot where they had the meeting last night.
There were only five people there at the moment: Yu Ze, He Ruliang, and three other girls from the department. The three girls were sitting in a row, while Yu Ze and He Ruliang sat across from them.
With no other option, Lin Xiche walked over and sat down next to He Ruliang.
They exchanged greetings, and then the discussion about the discipline and procedures of the basketball tournament continued.
Yu Ze fiddled with his computer in front of him, pulled up the previous freshman basketball tournament proposal, and showed it to them. Then he said, “The overall process is similar, so this proposal shouldn’t be too hard to put together.”
Lin Xiche also opened her laptop.
He Ruliang, in an unusual turn of events, was typing on his computer quite seriously and had already started writing the theme of the event. Others were also dividing the tasks, and before everyone had arrived, the proposal was nearly completed.
Some of them had classes and evening self-study sessions until 10:00 PM, so the entire department didn’t gather until later.
After everyone had arrived, Yu Ze began to assign tasks. “Other departments will handle publicity and venue-related matters. There are six faculties in the school, and we have thirteen people, so we’ll divide into six groups, with two people in each group. Since the Faculty of Engineering has more departments, they will have three people.”
“In that case, I and Apeng will take care of the Faculty of Information.”
Lin Xiche had been assigned to oversee two departments within the Faculty of Engineering for the upcoming freshman basketball tournament. She was responsible for the departments of Civil Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering. The registration forms had already been submitted, and each team could have between seven to fifteen members.
The male students in the Faculty of Engineering were numerous, so the registration forms for the two departments were filled to capacity, each with fifteen members.
Lin Xiche opened a document and began entering the information of these students into the computer. While inputting the data for the Department of Civil Engineering, she noticed that the third name on the list was Xufang.
She blinked and sent Xufang a message: [You’re participating in the freshman basketball tournament?]
Xufang replied promptly: [Yes.]
Lin Xiche asked, [Do you know what the prize is for the winning team?]
Xufang: [I don’t know.]
Lin Xiche: [Each member of the winning team gets a bicycle! I’ve seen them; they’re super cool!]
Lin Xiche: [Pipi, if you win, will you give me the prize?]
Xufang: [Yes.]
Xufang: [I won’t.]
“…”
At this time, Lin Xiche’s roommates were still napping.
Lin Xiche couldn’t be bothered to scold Xufang anymore. She stretched and, after confirming the information she had just entered, sent it to He Ruliang. Then she contacted the sports departments of various faculties to arrange for someone to come and draw lots.
After the draw, they could continue with the rest of the work.
Because she had a physical education class in the afternoon, Lin Xiche rested her head on the desk for a while.
Lin Xiche’s course schedule had originally been randomly chosen, but she later changed some of her courses to match her roommates’ schedules, such as the physical education class. All four of them had chosen it for Thursday afternoons.
The freshman physical education class was an introductory course where they tried various sports, and they would make formal selections in the second semester.
The class was held on the campus field, and there was no shade nearby. The sun was still quite strong at 5:00 PM, and for a moment, Lin Xiche felt like she was back in the days of military training.
The physical education teacher selected the tallest male student as the sports representative and had him lead the class in two laps of warm-up running. They were learning soccer that day.
The teacher divided the class of fifty students into five teams, maintaining an equal gender ratio of five boys and five girls per team. They divided the artificial grass field into multiple sections, with each team playing in its designated area.
Since this class was more of an introduction to various sports, the teacher’s lecture was not very formal, and the atmosphere was relaxed. Consequently, not many students were paying attention.
Most of the students on the grass field were running around, chasing after the ball in an unorganized manner.
Lin Xiche and Nie Yue were in the same group. Lin Xiche stayed outside the group and didn’t want to take the ball from others, so she mostly just observed. However, when Nie Yue called her over, she decided to join in.
At this moment, most of the students had lost their enthusiasm, and some had even returned to the sidelines to rest and drink water.
Nie Yue passed the ball to Lin Xiche and proposed a bet, saying, “Let’s make a bet. I’ll be the goalkeeper, and if I catch the ball, you treat me to a meal. If I fail to catch it, I’ll treat you.”
Lin Xiche thought for a moment and shook her head, “I’ll be the goalkeeper.”
“Sure, just be careful not to fall,” Nie Yue warned. “Falling on the artificial grass can be painful. I’ve experienced it once.”
Lin Xiche agreed and got into the goalkeeping position. She was just about to start when she got distracted. She noticed Xufang walking in her direction, accompanied by another male student. She wondered what they were doing and when he had arrived.
Lin Xiche’s attention shifted towards them for a moment, and she caught sight of a ball flying in her direction. Her breath caught, and she instinctively tried to dodge it. However, in the process, her left foot stumbled over her right foot, and she fell to the ground.
Just as Nie Yue had warned, it was quite painful. Luckily, Lin Xiche had worn long pants for her physical education class, so only her elbow was scraped and bleeding slightly.
Nie Yue rushed over to help her up and checked the wound, sounding distressed, “Why did you suddenly fall? I didn’t even react in time…”
Lin Xiche raised her elbow to inspect the injury. The skin had been scraped off, revealing a reddish, slightly bloody area, which looked a bit nasty.
Despite the fall, Lin Xiche didn’t complain. She was about to suggest, “Let’s go to the campus clinic,” when her arm was suddenly grabbed. It felt cool, and the grip wasn’t too tight, but it was positioned right over her wound.
Lin Xiche turned her head to see Xufang, his lips pressed together, and he looked completely unconcerned. Then, he glanced at the male student nearby, his eyes dark and mysterious, exuding a somewhat intimidating aura.
It seemed like he was about to beat the guy to a pulp any moment now.
The male student also appeared somewhat frightened.
Lin Xiche was about to call out to Xufang to ask him to calm down, but before she could say anything, he silently tugged her arm and started walking away with her. Lin Xiche wasn’t one to fear pain, so she didn’t have any complaints. She was curious and asked, “What are you doing on the field?”
Xufang remained silent.
“Didn’t you say you don’t have a physical education class today?”
Still no response.
“Are you not going to talk today?”
“Lin Xiche.”
“What’s up?”
Xufang’s pent-up frustration suddenly erupted, and he spoke with irritation, “Couldn’t you see that ball coming?”
Lin Xiche, being honest, replied, “Well, I did see it, which is why…”
Xufang interrupted her, “Wear glasses to class next time.”
“But I’m wearing contact lenses…”
He cut her off again, “Is the next class still a soccer class?”
Lin Xiche thought for a moment, “I think so.”
He gave her a cold glance, “I’ll come to check next week to see if you’re wearing glasses.”
Lin Xiche was left speechless.
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