chapter 36

As it was mandatory to participate in at least one event, many chose to enroll in one of the jumping events over the track events. However, the triple jump was way harder than the high jump, so most of them enrolled in high jump.

Huo Ran didn’t care that he had so many opponents; in fact, he thought it was quite good. He had to wait a long time between each round, enough time for him and Xu Zhifan to run with Kou Chen.

Kou Chen’s speed wasn’t fast, but he also didn’t play around like he did in the 400 meter dash before. This time, he stuck himself in the middle, following the lead.

The runner currently in first was Zhou Haichao, and behind him was a former classmate of Huo Ran who had training in long-distance running. However, as the 1000 meter dash wasn’t his specialization, the pacing for this race may be hard for him to grasp.

Kou Chen may be able to get second place if he stays steady.

Wait, why only second place?

Huo Ran glanced at Zhou Haichao who was in the lead. Every movement of his was annoying, and made people feel fed up. This person wasn’t even a long-distance runner, so why was he first? Who does he think he is?

“Kou Chen! Let’s get it!” He hollered at Kou Chen again.

Kou Chen kept running but he also couldn’t stop laughing. 1

“Stop laughing!” Wei Chaoren also hollered. “Why are you laughing while running? You’re laughing your stamina away!”

When running past the first bend of the track, the order didn’t change much. Kou Chen took the chance to draw ahead and just as he cut to the inner lane, a group of girls suddenly popped up on the side of the track and burst out in synchronized cheers, “Go Kou Chen! Go Kou Chen! Kou Chen take first place! Big sis loves you the most!”

“Jesus, fuck!” Xu Chuan was shaken so hard he staggered.

“The seniors from the Arts department,” Xu Zhifan laughed his ass off. “Fuck. Not bad, not bad.”

Kou Chen tilted his head and smiled at them.

“Let’s go ——!” The girls were jumping and waving as they cheered, “Big sis loves you——!”

“Don’t distract him!” Huo Ran caught up to Kou Chen, “You better fucking watch your step.”

There were lots of people cheering from every class, and both sides of the track were full of people cheering the participants on. However, Kou Chen was the only flame of hope for the entire Humanities department, so there were extra people there to cheer him on.

The other athletes didn’t really care and focused on running, but Huo Ran could sense Zhou Haichao’s displeasure.

He kept turning his head to glance back at Kou Chen’s position.

This time Kou Chen wasn’t fooling around though. You could tell from just a glance that he was running seriously. However, he’d been running in the middle this whole time, so the pressure on him definitely wasn’t small.

Huo Ran focused onto the back of Zhou Haicho’s head with a vicious glare. Keep looking back like that. Fuck! Just based on that kind of shitty mentality, you won’t get first place!

As they finished the first lap, the athletes began to form a long line. The footsteps of many started to slow as they grew more and more exhausted. However, there were no big changes with Kou Chen and he maintained his place as fourth place.

“Don’t run this lap,” Xu Chifan patted Huo Ran’s shoulder a few times. “Don’t overexert yourself here and end up being disqualified.”

“No way.” Huo Ran had confidence in his jumping abilities. Although he hadn’t previously participated in any high jump events, he had at least practiced the correct form with his back. 2He was much better prepared than the students who insisted on just hurling themselves over the bar. He’d have no problem getting to the finals.

Xu Zhifan glanced at him and smiled without saying a thing.

He knew why Xu Zhifan was smiling.

As a side effect of hanging around people like Kou Chen for a long time, who could stop themselves from being influenced by the arrogance from his torrent of bragging?

After another lap, he coincidentally ended up right beside the high jump field, and broke from the group of people running alongside the 1000 meter athletes.

There were also quite a few people from their class waiting beside the high jump.

“1.5 meters already,” Hu Yi hadn’t signed up for the high jump but he also didn’t want to run a lap with the track participants so he watched the high jump participants, “Class 3 from the Humanities department has a monster. Look.”

“How monstrous?” Huo Ran asked.

“Just watch,” Hu Yi gestured with his chin.

A burst of cheers trailed the current participant as the boy sprinted out towards the bar, leapt up, arched his body, and nose-dived into the mat.

“Fuck. Bellyflop style,” Huo Ran laughed and applauded him with the crowd.

1.5 meters wasn’t difficult for Huo Ran. His own expectations were 1.7 meters. Anything after that came down to fate.

“What’s the school record?” Hu Yi asked him. “Has anyone been able to break it?”

“More than 1.8 meters – almost 1.9 meters,” Huo Ran said. “Nobody has managed to break it these past few years.”

“Break a record then,” Hu Yi said.

“Go wash your face. It might wake you up,” Huo Ran said with a grin.

“Huo Ran!” The referee shouted.

“Here!” Huo Ran raised his hand. Looking at the position of the crossbar, he jumped lightly in place before rushing out.

The lap he had just run could be considered his warm up and his body was quite relaxed because of it. The height of his jump was quite good and he easily landed on the other side of the bar, surrounded by applause.

“Just raise it to 1.6 meters already,” Someone shouted, “He’d pass it anyways.”

Huo Ran looked at Huo Yi. Huo Yi gestured a measurement with his fingers, saying,“You jumped so much higher, more than ten centimeters.”

“Then I’ll try 1.6 meters,” Huo Ran glanced over to the track and could see from afar that Kou Chen had made his way to third place. The back of the pack was lagging behind the first three places by a considerable distance, and Kou Chen was already biting at the ass of second place.34

The crossbar rose to 1.6 meters. Huo Ran didn’t stay in his position. With a small hop like before, he directly ran up.

Stomp, leap, shoulders, waist, then legs. He heard applause and cheers all around him erupt the moment he jumped.

1.6 meters wasn’t too much of a problem either. He glanced at the crossbar after he landed; it hadn’t even trembled.

When it was another participant’s turn to jump again, he rushed to the 1000 meter track once more where the participants were getting ready to sprint through the last leg of the race. He planned on going over and giving Kou Chen a few shouts.

Their group of seven didn’t run with him this lap. Besides Xu Zhifan, the others weren’t able to keep up. Taking a shortcut across the track, they went directly to the bend of the track and waited for Kou Chen to arrive.

“How is it?” Huo Ran shouted as he rushed over.

“He’s almost here,” Xu Zhifan said, “He’s still third right now, but we don’t know what’ll happen after they all start sprinting.”

Huo Ran looked over at the track. The first section of people were soon drowned in the sound of cheering. The Art department seniors were shouting especially wildly; they were probably using this chance to vent out the pent-up stresses and frustrations from attending classes right now.

“Kou Chen is first——! Bis Sis loves you——!”

“Kou Chen!” Huo Ran hollered. “Go go go!”

“Sprint already!” Jiang Lei shouted. “Kou Chen sprint! Kou Chen, just start sprinting!”

Kou Chen looked towards them. Huo Ran jumped while shouting, “Start sprinting! Sprint!”

The corners of Kou Chen’s lips quirked up and he suddenly accelerated, using the outer lane to overtake second place. He was nipping at Zhou Haichao’s ass now.

Zhou Haichao wasn’t last year’s champion for nothing. Despite being in the lead this whole time, he still had strength left. When Kuo Chen accelerated, he also began to sprint, very fiercely.

Huo Ran’s group started to run after Kou Chen like crazy.

“Bite harder! Bite harder!” Xu Chuan yelled so loudly his voice broke.5

Up ahead, Wu Xiaochen had led a group of classmates cheering and waving their class banner to the finish line. Their shouts could be heard from afar. “Nobody stop me——”6

Kou Chen accelerated again, and was a few steps behind Zhou Haichao now. Zhou Haicho could probably feel him breathing down the back of his neck.

There hadn’t really been such a close call between first and second in the previous 1000m dash. Everybody was excited, and even the people who were too lazy to move from the stands took out their binoculars to watch the race.

For Huo Ran, if the one in first wasn’t Zhou Haichao and Kou Chen wasn’t able to place first, he wouldn’t really care. However, the one in first right now was Zhou Haichao. This person had been his enemy since his first year playing high school basketball, and after the incident with He Hua, he despised him even more. He wanted Kou Chen to surpass him and step all over his head with his ruthless bragging.

From how hard Zhou Haichao was sprinting, he was probably very desperate right now. Sadly for him , Kou Chen’s physical strength was nothing to scoff at. Give him about 50 meters, and he’d be able to surpass him.

When there were 100 meters left, Kou Chen deviated to the outside lane, looking like he was ready to overtake him.

Just as he started to accelerate, Zhou Haichao also swayed outwards, seeming to deviate to the outer lane as well. He swayed back to the inner lane just as quickly – equivalent to feigning a step out.

However, it was this one step that inconspicuously blocked Kou Chen from moving forward.

Kou Chen almost kicked him in the leg.

“Fuck your uncle! Motherfucker!” Huo Ran cursed so much that his voice cracked. “Kou Chen, fucking charge!”

The group of seven and the surrounding people were probably the only ones who noticed this detail, and Xu Zhifan also cursed. “Fuck! What a character!”

Kou Chen’s tempo had been disrupted by Zhou Haichao’s little ploy and he returned to being right behind Zhou Haichao.

“Kou Chen. Sprint past him! Take the championship! Sprint! Sprint! Sprint!”

Kou Chen violently accelerated again and Huo Ran felt that he had used a lifetime’s worth of strength to roar out, “Kou Chen is first place一! Brother loves you!”7

You could really see their influence on each other as the remaining five of their group of seven followed Huo Ran’s roar with their own, “Kou Chen is first一! Big Bro loves you!”

When Kou Chen tried to overtake Zhou Haichao once again, he was faster than last time, presumably to guard against Zhou Haichao’s legs.

Zhou Haichao no longer had a chance at blocking Kou Chen. He had actually disrupted his own rhythm when he stretched out that foot, and as Kou Chen still had more stamina than him, Zhou Haichao was powerless to stop him as he rushed past to take first place.

The burst of shouting from the surrounding onlookers were like bombs. How many years in a row had they, the Humanities department, been underdogs and failed to rank high in any of the long-distance running events? This time, however, they were actually able to not only beat out the other athletes, but last year’s champion as well.

Kou Chen just barely pulled ahead of Zhou Haichao and crossed the finish line 4 or 5 meters before he did. He slowed to a stop a few meters after the finish line and bent over panting with his hands propped on his knees.

Everyone in their class immediately pounced on him, burying Kou Chen in a dogpile.

Huo Ran took a glance at the other participants who had just passed the finish line. The other participants were quite happy, gasping while smiling and greeting their classmates. Only Zhou Haichao had a depressed face.

When their eyes met, Zhou Haichao glared at him.

Huo Ran didn’t hesitate to cuss him out, “Fucking trash.”

“Don’t start any trouble,” Xu Zhifan immediately stood between him and Zhou Haichao, cutting off their conversation. “You’ll get demerit points; don’t give Old Yuan any more trouble.”

“Fine,” Huo Ran said, turning his head to look over at Kou Chen.

Kou Chen squeezed out from the pile with a bottle of water in hand and slowly wandered over to them with his arms wide open, “You love me, big bro?”

“Love!” Wei Chaoren pounced and wrapped his arms around him.

“Love love love!” Xu Chuan also pounced on him.

They took turns to aggressively assert their love by pouncing on him. With a sigh, Huo Ran simply walked over, wrapping an arm around him and slapping him hard on the back several times, “Fuck. You’re too fucking awesome.”

“Do you love me, big bro?” Kou chen asked with a smile.

“Love love love love love,” Huo Ran nodded.

“Come,” Kou Chen said.

‘Give me a peck.’

Huo Ran automatically finished Kou Chen’s sentence in his head. With no hesitation, he held Kou Chen’s face and gave him an aggressive kiss on his forehead, complete with an exaggerated sound effect: “MUA!” 8

The shouting from around them subsided for a moment before they fervently rose again. This time, all you could hear were the girls, along with a few whistles from the boys.

Huo Ran wiped his mouth, “Got a mouthful of sweat.”

“No shit. You go and run two and a half laps without sweating,” Kou Chen grabbed a towel to wipe his face, “Have you finished the high jump finals yet?”

“About to,” Huo Ran said.

“Let’s go and watch,” Kou Chen said.

“Do you want to take a break first?” Xu Chuan asked. “The last section stretch must have been incredibly exhausting, right?”

“I’m okay. Not too tired. I can rest while I watch, ” Kou Chen said and glanced over at Zhou Haichao. “Even if I was tired to death, I wouldn’t rest here.”

“Yeah,” Wei Chaoren nodded. “Let him take a gander. Not only are we not tired, we can even walk. Not only are we still able to walk, we can also run!”

“I really have no strength left to run,” Kou Chen wrapped his arms around Huo Ran’s shoulders, hanging from him in a familiar manner. “ I don’t want to run even a single meter.”

By the time the group made their way to the high jump area, a few rounds had passed. Anyone that could clear the 1.6 meter bar would make it into the finals. The four still left were surrounded by cheering and shouting.

In the beginning, the fun of watching the high jump event lay in seeing all the creative ways people came up with in an attempt to cross the pole. After, it was just a competition of who could pull the flashiest moves.

Kou Chen had dragged a chair from who knows where and sat down to watch Huo Ran prepare for the final.

“I’m suddenly a little worried,” he whispered to Xu Zhifan who was crouched beside his chair. “He just ran a few laps, yeah? It couldn’t be that he doesn’t have the strength left to jump, right?”

“Don’t worry. Even though he doesn’t have the stamina for running long distances, his physical strength is still good,” Xu Zhifan said. “After all, he’s the captain when we play basketball and he’s our leader when we go hiking.”

“True,” Kou Chen nodded in agreement.

Huo Ran was about to challenge 1.68 meters. The participant in front of him had just passed and everyone was quietly watching his turn.

He bounced lightly in place.

Watching him, a single phrase suddenly came to Kou Chen’s mind.

A super handsome, super cool teenager.9

After bouncing once, Huo Ran started running; Kou Chen’s eyes followed his figure fixedly. The moment he took off, the surrounding crowds started cheering.

Huo Ran’s silhouette when flying over the bar was extremely beautiful. Just from a glance, you could tell how many times he had practiced jumping with his back.

1.68 meters was crossed with little effort.

Kou Chen measured with his eyes. He had jumped over 1.7 meters.

“Look, look. That curve. Holy shit,” Tang Wei’s voice ran out with awe from behind.

“What a sexy waist,” Li Yiyi followed up.10

“Those V-line abs though,” Wu Xiaochen also chimed in.11

Kou Chen turned his head, and saw that all the girls from their class had their phones raised.

“Taking pictures?” He asked.

“Yeah,” Wu Xiaochen showed him her screen. “Aren’t my candid-taking skills legendary? Took it just as he crossed the pole.”

Kou Chen took a look. She had caught Huo Ran mid-air, just as he was arching over the pole. The action made him look very flexible. His top was lifted up and revealed his waist; the pose was indeed captured very well.

“Send it to me,” He said.

“Sure,” Wu Xiaochen said. “I still have quite a few pictures of your Huo Ran here. I’ll send them all to you.”12

Hearing the exchange, Xu Zhifan, who was squatting by the side, burst out into laughter.

A few others in their group of seven followed suit, bursting out into maniacal laughter alongside Xu Zhifan.

“Okay,” Kou Chen agreed with a nod, his face unchanging.

Huo Ran glanced their way, and Kou Chen quickly flashed him a smile in response.

There weren’t many competitors left at this point; it was a tight race.

The next guy to go directly raised it to 1.72 meters. He failed once but succeeded the second try, so he asked for it to be raised to 1.74 meters.

Everyone started to applaud. Huo Ran followed along, clapping his hands.

However, he couldn’t pass the 1.74 meter mark.

When it was Huo Ran’s turn, Kou Chen suddenly grew a bit nervous. As everybody around them were cheering, he stood there staring, frozen in place.

Huo Ran succeeded the 1.72 meter jump on his first try.

He cleared 1.74 meters as well.

Kou Chen felt that Huo Ran was a bit magical. The bar was normally around 5 centimeters thick. If it was raised to 1.8 meters and he passed the jump, then doesn’t that mean he could jump 1.85 meters?

“Of course not,” Huo Ran answered during the break after jumping the 1.74 meters, “When I jumped the 1.6 meters, Huo Yi said there was more than 10 centimeters of clearance but for the 1.74 meters this time, there were only a few centimeters left.”

“Come,” Kou Chen said.

Huo Ran stared at him.

“Take a break for a bit,” Kou Chen patted his legs, “It’s going to rise directly to 1.78 meters in a bit. There’s only one opponent left. I think he’s aiming to break the school record so no matter how you jump, you’ll be second.”

“Oh,” Huo Ran actually was a bit tired from jumping. The ground around them was occupied by their group of seven, and sitting on the ground was really uncomfortable, so Kou Chen’s legs looked very attractive right now. However, Kou Chen had just finished running 1000 meters, so he was a bit hesitant. “Aren’t you tired?”

Kou Chen shook his head.

Huo Ran plopped down.13

Comfortable.

He leaned into Kou Chen’s body again, sticking his legs out and stretching them a bit.

“After you get second place,” Kou Chen whispered as he wrapped his arm around his waist, “We’ll go to the cafeteria.”

“To do what?” Huo Ran tilted his head.

“To eat barbecue~” Jiang Lei came over and whispered. “Yesterday, Kou Chen’s aunts and uncles all agreed to help us cook it and we’d left the ingredients in the cafeteria.”

“Ah,” Huo Ran immediately felt hungry when he heard this, and his stomach actually followed along and rumbled.

Thank god the people around them were noisy.

However, Kou Chen glanced up at him with a smile.

“The fuck you smiling for?” Huo Ran glared at him.

“It’s already growling,” Kou Chen’s arm around his waist tightened, and he flicked him in the stomach.

“Shit,” Huo Ran turned back to look at the predicted first place 14who was getting ready to jump. “Was it that loud? No way?”

“Good boy.15 Hang in there,” Kou Chen said with a smile. “I’ll give you all my share later.”