There was a long-distance running assessment[1] during Friday’s physical education class. Females had to run 800 metres while the males had to run 1000 metres.
The boys started running first and many girls crowded around to watch, but the one that most people were watching was the school grass[2], Liu Luo Yang. Many girls were cheering for him, much to the jealousy of the other guys.
But Song Yu Meng was not part of them. She was busy debating with Yi Ran who would be the first one to cross the line for the 800-metre run.
“I’m telling you, I’ll definitely be first. Wait and see!” Yi Ran was very confident about getting first place.
“Cheh! I don’t believe you. There are so many girls, why are you so confident of being the first? I can even say I’ll be the first!” Song Yu Meng just wanted to disagree with her.
“You???” Yi Ran almost laughed. “Ha, please. It would be a miracle if you don’t come in last. Don’t you have any idea what your own standard is?”
“This lady won’t come in last!!!”
Cheers erupted from the finishing line of the 1000 metre race. An athlete was the winner and Liu Luo Yang came in second. Plenty of girls were crowding around and offering him water and congratulating him and whatnot.
Song Yu Meng took a glance. She was only curious who had come in first and second, and she didn’t really care that Liu Luo Yang had come in second.
Her feelings towards him were fading, she had realised. But feelings are mysterious things. She didn’t know why it was happening either, they had never faded in the past five years.
Weird.
Next up was the 800 metre run for the girls. Yi Ran stood by Song Yu Meng’s side when they were getting ready. A whistle rang out and twenty girls surged forward.
Song Yu Meng didn’t start with a burst of speed, so she naturally lagged behind. But Yi Ran didn’t speed up either, maintaining the same pace as her so they were running side by side.
Song Yu Meng glanced at Yi Ran. She had just started running so she still had the strength to speak to her.
“Hey Crazy Yi, what are you following this lady for?”
Yi Ran teased: “I’m worried you’ll be last, I’m accompanying you.”
“Scram! I won’t be last! This is called preserving your energy for the later part, got it?!”
“If it’s like that……” Yi Ran smiled craftily at her. “Alright then, catch up to me later. I’ll be waiting for you in first place.” She immediately increased her pace after that, taking over girl after girl.
Song Yu Meng watched as Yi Ran made it from last place to first place in 20 seconds and shouted unhappily: “I told you to scram and you really got lost?!”
After 300 metres, Song Yu Meng’s energy was pretty much sapped. She didn’t have the strength to speed up now. Panting, her throat was on fire and her lungs hurt. Every step took all of her effort.
She looked at Yi Ran on the other side of the field. Under the wispy sunlight, her figure looked long and lithe. There was an unspeakable sort of attractiveness, Song Yu Meng was dazed for a second.
After that, the pain from her lungs and chest reminded her she was still in the 800-metre running assessment.
No way! I can’t be last! Or Crazy Yi will definitely laugh at me! Thus Song Yu Meng took a deep breath and started increasing her pace.
Xu Yuan’s own stamina was really bad, but it was better than Song Yu Meng’s just by a bit. She was originally a few dozen metres ahead of Song Yu Meng, but she fell at the last second.
The fall was quite serious, her knees had scraped against the rubber running track and were bleeding.
Liu Luo Yang didn’t say anything, he rushed over and carried Xu Yuan to the medical bay in a hurry. Many people saw it, and some cheered while others looked on enviously.
Song Yu Meng was mechanically repeating the running actions while she watched the two of them. Xu Yuan was in Liu Luo Yang’s arms. A few years ago, he had done the same for her. He had carried Song Yu Meng to the medical bay in front of everybody else.
That scene flashed across Song Yu Meng’s eyes like in a movie. Previously, she would always be happy when she thought about this memory, but her heart was as calm as a pond of still water today.
It was just as she was distracted, Song Yu Meng also fell onto the red rubber running track. She “ah”-ed in pain. Her knees weren’t hurt, but she had sprained her ankle.
Song Yu Meng moved her leg, trying to stand back up, but her right ankle hurt. Even if she could manage to stand up, it would be difficult to walk.
Nobody angered her, but she felt as if she had suffered a great injustice. Tears started dripping from her face and she felt incredibly upset.
After crying for a moment, Song Yu Meng settled her emotions and prepared to leave. After all, there were too many people at the field and she didn’t want others to laugh at her.
But just as she wiped her tears away, Yi Ran had appeared at her side.
“Yi……” She hadn’t finished calling Yi Ran’s name when she was swept into Yi Ran’s arms. One arm under her neck, one arm under her legs, and they were off to the medical bay, a look of worry on Yi Ran’s face.
Song Yu Meng was in shock. She could only feel that her own hands were locked around Yi Ran’s neck and her whole body was floating. Yi Ran’s scent drifted into her nose and her face felt like it was on fire.
There were so many people on the field, it’s inevitable some would gossip.
“WTF[3], I can understand Liu Luo Yang carrying Xu Yuan, but what’s going on with Yi Ran carrying Song Yu Meng? Weren’t they fighting everyday?”
“Bro, I’m wondering the same thing. I clearly saw them arguing yesterday on the field!”
“Um…… Why do I feel like this pair of enemies are actually a bit sweet?”
“Sis, I think the same……”
The sound of people debating got louder and louder, and Song Yu Meng got shyer and shyer. Her pale face was red, like the beautiful peach blossoms in spring.
“If you don’t want to be seen, just hide your face.” Yi Ran’s brows were furrowed in worry, her footsteps not stopping.
Song Yu Meng’s heart pounded even harder and she hummed like a cat, obediently turning her face into Yi Ran’s shoulder.
She was too embarrassed, all her senses seemed to have stopped working. Only her sense of smell seemed to still be alive, enough to smell the familiar jasmine fragrance from Yi Ran’s body.
She liked this scent.
There were two medical bays in the school and Yi Ran purposely avoided Xu Yuan and Liu Luo Yang, opting for the empty one.
But unfortunately, the doctor wasn’t in.
Yi Ran placed Song Yu Meng carefully on the wooden bench and turned to rummage in the medical cabinet.
She brought a bottle of disinfectant and squatted down in front of Song Yu Meng, trying to take her shoe off.
“You, you, you, what are you doing!” Song Yu Meng was like a frightened small creature, pulling her foot back towards herself.
But Yi Ran was faster and held onto her right foot. It was a bit rough and Song Yu Meng called out painfully: “Don’t be so rough! It hurts!”
Yi Ran started taking her shoe off gently and said: “If it hurts then don’t move around, I’ll put the medicine on.”
Song Yu Meng mumbled shyly: “I can put it on myself……”
Yi Ran raised her head to look at her. Song Yu Meng turned her red face away and stayed silent.
Yi Ran placed Song Yu Meng’s shoe and sock on the ground, revealing her foot. Her skin was pale and soft, but there was a bruise on the ankle which looked quite serious.
Yi Ran pressed her index finger against the bruise gently, but she hadn’t said anything when Song Yu Meng started yelling.
“Don’t touch it, it really hurts!”
Yi Ran smiled softly. “You deserve it for not paying attention. I’ll be gentler.”
She took a cotton swab and doused it in disinfectant before gently swiping it across Song Yu Meng’s injury. She kept an eye on Song Yu Meng’s reaction at the same time, whenever she furrowed her brows or made a noise of pain, Yi Ran would be even gentler.
Song Yu Meng looked at Yi Ran holding onto her foot, seriously and gently disinfecting her injury. Her heart felt full.
She couldn’t hold back a slight smile, something felt ready to come out of her heart.
After a while, Yi Ran tossed the used cotton swab into the bin and gently helped Song Yu Meng to put on her sock and shoe. Then, she bent down in front of her.
“Get on, I’ll carry you back.”
“Ah….. I can walk.” She moved her leg, but she had no strength in it.
“Ah what? Hurry up and get on!”
“……” She wanted to get on but she was too embarrassed to.
Yi Ran stood up. “Alright, if you don’t want me to carry you on my back, I can princess carry you back.” She immediately moved forward as if she was going to sweep Song Yu Meng up.
She hurriedly said: “Don’t carry me! I’ll let you carry me on your back!” She felt the princess carry was too intimate.
Yi Ran bent down again and complained: “Couldn’t you have just done this earlier?”
Song Yu Meng: “……”
When Yi Ran was carrying her out of the medical bay, they passed by a group of girls from the next class.
Song Yu Meng was utterly embarrassed and buried her head in Yi Ran’s back, praying: Please don’t look at me! Please don’t look at me!
That group of girls was astonished, one of them even dropped her can of cola. After they had walked away, the girls looked at each other and wondered if they had seen correctly.
“What did I just see? That was Yi Ran and Song Yu Meng from Class Eight?”
“I think so.”
“I know so!”
“WTF!!!”
Yi Ran’s steps were slow and steady, with both hands holding Song Yu Meng’s legs around her waist. Song Yu Meng clearly wasn’t heavy at just under 50kg, but she felt as if the weight on her back was bearing down on her. Especially when Song Yu Meng’s warm breath would hit her back, Yi Ran’s nerves and heart would tense up.
“Yi Ran……” Song Yu Meng suddenly said her name seriously, dragging out the last syllable and sounding as if she was whining.
“Mm?”
“Nothing, I just wanted to call your name.”
“Mm.”
Song Yu Meng didn’t know that she had made Yi Ran’s heart skip a beat. But she saw that, approaching winter in December, Yi Ran’s ears were all red.
Yi Ran helped her to her seat and instructed: “Walk less these few days, got it?”
“Got it.”
“Mm.”
Yi Ran turned around to return to her seat when Song Yu Meng caught a corner of her clothes and said with a slight blush: “Thank you.”
Smiling blandly, Yi Ran said: “You need to be sincere when thanking someone. Remember, you owe me a favour, you’re going to have to return it one day.”
Song Yu Meng pouted. “Petty.”
Before physical education was over, Su Xiao Xiao rushed back into the classroom. Seeing Yi Ran and Song Yu Meng both there, she was relieved. She rushed to Song Yu Meng and panted: “Xiao-Yu, so you were in the classroom. I was looking for you for a long time!”
“What were you looking for me for, did something happen?”
“I was worried about your fall on the field! Are you okay?” Su Xiao Xiao asked anxiously.
“I’m fine! Crazy Yi brought me to the medical bay!” She couldn’t hide her happiness when she talked about it.
And Yi Ran, behind her, smiled as well, as refreshing as the spring breeze.
As for Su Xiao Xiao…… She saw the happily smiling Song Yu Meng, then looked at Yi Ran smiling secretly behind, a picture of harmony between the two. She felt she shouldn’t have come back to the classroom to disturb the two of them.
Just now, she had seen Song Yu Meng fall over and wanted to help her, but Yi Ran got there much faster than her.
She felt safe handing Xiao-Yu to Yi Ran.
[1] 长跑考核 – I have no idea how 1000m or 800m can be considered long-distance, but yeah, that’s what the novel says. Jump back up.
[2] 校草 – Mentioned this before, literally means school grass, used to refer to the most handsome guy in school. Jump back up.
[3] 我靠 – Different way of writing, it’s wo kao and not wo cao, and the actual meaning is “I rely”, but people use it to get around internet filters in China, so the contextual meaning is “WTF” or “f*ck”.