This humble Taoist priest wants to take the college entrance exam.

Chapter 130 is bad; it revealed the class monitor's true colors.

Because of the prize, the highly competitive class monitor became even more determined and quickened his pace, soon arriving at the nearby stadium.

On Sunday morning, the stadium was quite crowded. As soon as I entered, I could hear the squeaking sound of many athletic shoes rubbing against the floor.

Many badminton coaches rent courts in the venue on weekends to teach children. Badminton shuttlecocks are scattered all over the ground, and a group of children are holding rackets that are almost half their height, learning to swing and move their feet from the coaches. They look quite professional.

"Class monitor, did you learn like this before?" Chen Shi'an asked curiously.

"Ah."

Lin Mengqiu turned her head and glanced at the group of children. They were about the same age as her when she started learning to play. She started learning to play in the third grade of elementary school. Back then, she was just like these young players, not even as tall as the net.

Six or seven years have passed in the blink of an eye, and she is now a graceful young woman.

"Oh, is that Mengqiu? It's been a long time since I've seen you play ball!" The middle-aged man who was teaching the boys greeted Lin Mengqiu with a smile.

"Hello, Teacher Wang." Lin Mengqiu bowed slightly and nodded.

"Didn't Lao Lin come to play basketball with you today? Was he playing with his classmates?"

"Um……"

"This young man looks to be in good shape! He must be a master!"

"Teacher Wang, let's go play ball first..."

"Okay, okay, you still need to practice more so you don't fall behind. You're busy with studies, so try to play ball more often when you have free time!"

"Uh-huh."

Seeing Lin Mengqiu leave, Teacher Wang also sighed.

As expected, girls change a lot as they grow up. I remember when Mengqiu first started learning ball, she was very young and had a very cheerful personality. But since her mother passed away, she has never come to learn ball from him again. She locks herself up all day and becomes less and less talkative, becoming taciturn.

"Teacher Wang, who is that lady? She's so pretty!"

"It's your senior sister... slacking off again, huh? Set up the racket."

"...Ling Dan doesn't even use a racket."

"How can they be compared to you guys?!"

……

"Class monitor, was that older man your former badminton coach?"

"Yes, he's my dad's friend."

"Looks very professional."

"He used to be on the provincial team."

"No wonder the class monitor is so good at badminton."

"~~~"

Lin Mengqiu's father has a VIP membership at the stadium, and she had booked the court before she arrived. She went to the front desk, gave the staff her phone number, and the staff came over to start the game, took away the reservation sign, and turned on the court lights.

It was Chen Shi'an's first time playing in such an indoor venue, and he found it quite novel. The venue was equipped with a large central air conditioning system, and there were wall-mounted fans on the rest seats at the back of the court. Even so, most of the people exercising in the venue were covered in sweat, and the sounds of hitting the ball, running, celebrating, frustrated, and laughing were constant.

Lin Mengqiu went to the rest seats at the back of the venue and took off her backpack.

Chen Shi'an stood next to her, unzipped the racket bag, and took out two badminton rackets.

This racket isn't the one Lin Mengqiu kept in the classroom; it's the one she keeps at home, where she has her own personal racket.

"Squad leader, is this racket yours?" Chen Shi'an asked, taking out a lighter racket.

"Ah."

"Is this the one Uncle Lin uses?"

"Mine too."

"Which one should the squad leader use?"

"The blue one."

During this period, Chen Shi'an played badminton with Wen Zhixia every day after school. He also gained his own understanding and concept of the sport, which can be considered a kind of 'self-taught talent' like Xiao Zhixia.

The two girls have different playing styles. Wen Zhixia is offensive and likes to use heavy shots with wide, open strokes; Lin Mengqiu is defensive and mainly plays to the rhythm, so light shots are more suitable for her to control the ball.

Lin Mengqiu opened her backpack, which contained a dry towel, some spare sports medicine for sprains and bruises, spare racket grip tape, a thermos containing stomach-soothing tea, a bottle of milk, and two small bottles of mineral water.

"for you."

Lin Mengqiu took the bottle of milk out of her bag and handed it to Chen Shi'an.

Chen Shi'an was taken aback: "The class monitor even brought me milk?"

"..."

"Thank you monitor."

"~~~"

Chen Shi'an never expected that he could have milk even when he wasn't in the classroom. Without being polite, he took the milk, inserted the straw, and took a big sip.

Looking at the slightly deflated bottle, Lin Mengqiu was very satisfied.

If you're going to drink, just drink! Stop with the nonsense...

In preparation for playing this game with him today, Lin Mengqiu not only prepared milk for him, but she had also warmed up at home beforehand.

Now let's stretch it a little more.

She unzipped her jacket and took it off, revealing a white polo shirt-style short-sleeved badminton tracksuit underneath.

Wearing black pants and a white shirt, the girl's figure appeared exceptionally slender and graceful, and her arms, peeking out from the short sleeves, were so white they seemed to glow.

She took a hair tie out of her backpack and tied her long, flowing hair into a high ponytail.

The hair tie wasn't the hazy blue she usually wore at school, but a more vibrant orange.

Seeing Chen Shi'an staring at her, Lin Mengqiu looked away uncomfortably, tying her hair while glancing at his shoes, and said:

Aren't you going to warm up yet?

"I guess running over here counts as a warm-up."

"..."

Lin Mengqiu tied her hair up, stood up, picked up her racket, took a brand new ball from the tube, and walked to the opposite half of the court first.

"Come on then."

"it is good."

Chen Shi'an had just stepped onto the court when she slapped a ball across the court in an extremely tricky spot.

Having learned from his previous experience playing Connect Four with the class monitor, Chen Shi'an was well aware of the girl's competitive spirit. He didn't know whether her move was a 'warm-up' or a 'scoreboard start', so he didn't dare to be careless and quickly caught the ball and returned it to her.

hateful!

A cunning Taoist priest!
I didn't manage to steal it from him!

This is only the second time Lin Mengqiu has played ball with him since he shaved her head last time.

I still remember the scene when we lost last time. Chen Shian had no footwork whatsoever, but he was still able to catch the ball. Moreover, his smashes were so fast that no one had time to react, or his returns were so tricky that no one could save them in time.

But this time it's different.

Chen Shian didn't smash the ball, not even once.

Moreover, when returning the ball, it always returns to a place where it is relatively easy for her to catch.

Even his footwork is no longer like it was at the beginning, where he just ran over to receive the ball by speed. Instead, it is a more skillful, mature, and energy-efficient footwork, and there are even faint traces of Wen Zhixia's footwork.

What kind of monster has that annoying cicada turned him into?!
Why not kill the ball?
Why do I always have to go back to where I can catch the ball?

Why aren't you running around randomly like you did at the beginning!
Lin Mengqiu felt a tightness in her chest, a sense of unease, yet she had to admit that Chen Shi'an, trained by Wen Zhixia, was truly invaluable… a natural-born, perfect sparring partner…

A training machine that will never concede a ball...

Like Wen Zhixia, Lin Mengqiu was unable to score any points against Chen Shian when playing against him. All of Chen Shian's points came from her mistakes.

He was like a mirror, making Lin Mengqiu realize for the first time how many mistakes and shortcomings she had.

My competitive spirit and frustration are intertwined... Ughhhh!
"Why didn't you kill the ball?" Lin Mengqiu asked breathlessly.

"If I smash, you won't be able to return it, so it's good to play back and forth like this."

"...Wen Zhixia told you not to smash the ball?"

"Yes."

"You smash the ball."

"Ok?"

"Don't hold back, kill when you need to. I'm good at defense, and I can catch the ball that she can't catch."

"alright."

Lin Mengqiu then picked up the ball from the ground and served a high clear.

The ball was heading towards Chen Shi'an's backcourt.

He took a small step back, then leaped high into the air, followed by a thunderous roar that filled the air!
[Smack!]
[despair--]
The sound of the ball hitting the ground and the sound of the ball hitting the ground almost happened at the same time.

The speed was so fast that Lin Mengqiu couldn't even keep up with her eyes. She was still in her serving posture when she looked back and saw that the ball had already been smashed back into her own half of the court's scoring area...

The powerful smash echoed through the enclosed arena. Passersby playing on the surrounding courts looked over at the sound, but they could see nothing but a young girl sheepishly running to retrieve the ball...

"You're not allowed to serve before smashing!" Lin Mengqiu said, blushing.

"...Alright then, class monitor, you serve and I won't kill it."

"You serve." Lin Mengqiu hit the ball to him.

Chen Shi'an served a gentle ball, which Lin Mengqiu received smoothly and then returned.

then……

[Smack!]
[despair--]
"You're not allowed to smash anymore!!"

"……Fine."

After going around in circles for a while, we've returned to where we started. Chen Shi'an has stopped smashing the ball and is now hitting it to a position where she can reach it every time.

After being disciplined a second time by the class monitor, the two were finally able to fight back and forth...

Unfortunately, the score couldn't be tied, and before long, Lin Mengqiu lost the first game by a shameful margin of 0 to 21.

Although the score was embarrassing, it must be said that for Lin Mengqiu, this kind of playing was truly exhilarating.

If she had had such a perfect sparring partner before, she would have crushed the annoying cicada when she played against her that day, instead of the long and stalemate.

It's unclear when it started, but Lin Mengqiu's original idea of ​​thoroughly humiliating Chen Shi'an gradually transformed into her determination to get at least one point from him; getting even one point would be a victory!
After all, Wen Zhixia had played ball with him for so many days without scoring a single point, and she felt that she could never be worse than Fanren Chan!

After the first round, Lin Mengqiu started taking off his pants.

"Squad leader, why are you taking your pants off?"

"..."

The girl blushed and glared at him, then continued to pull down her black sweatpants.

"I was shocked to find out she was wearing athletic shorts underneath."

"..."

After the first game, Lin Mengqiu was drenched in sweat. After taking off her black sports pants, she recovered a lot.

Beneath her athletic shorts, her long, slender, and fair legs swayed gracefully with each step.

With each jump and spike, the hem of his white tracksuit would lift up slightly, revealing fine beads of sweat at his waist, like scattered diamonds, which would quickly be blurred into faint damp marks by the rolling sweat.

His youthful chest rose and fell with his breath, beads of sweat slid down his neck and into his collar, and the back of his sportswear was already soaked with sweat, clinging to his skin and outlining the lines of his shoulder blades.

At this moment, all that could be seen about the class monitor was the heat and exhaustion; there was no trace of her usual coolness.
After three games, Lin Mengqiu suffered a crushing defeat with a score of 0-63.

In fact, this style of play is more tiring than the conventional one, since Chen Shi'an doesn't actively try to score, so each ball takes a long time to play...

Exhausted and physically drained, she looked as wronged as an introverted child who had lost a performance she couldn't win. She stood there blankly for a moment, her racket clattering to the ground, and then she plopped down on the ground...

"No fighting! No fighting!"

Chen Shi'an: "..."

"How about we try playing one more ball?"

"No, I don't want to fight anymore."

Lin Mengqiu didn't even look up, like a wronged little rabbit, all traces of her usual aloofness and rationality gone, replaced only by a childish and unreasonable stubbornness. But then again, she was just a seventeen-year-old girl; perhaps this undisguised expression was her truest self?
Oh no, they've exposed the class monitor's true colors...

"Well, in that case, the class monitor is going to keep his promise and do my laundry, right?"

"..."

Lin Mengqiu suddenly looked up, her pretty face instantly turning red. She was both angry and embarrassed, but refused to back down, and said in a hard voice:

"Fine, I'll wash it!"

Chen Shi'an breathed a sigh of relief, feeling relieved. He had thought the class monitor was going to cheat.

He walked over and held out his hand to her: "Let's go, if you're not going to fight, let's go home for dinner."

"My legs are sore, let me rest for a while..." Lin Mengqiu turned her face away and lowered her voice.

"I'll pull you up." Chen Shi'an didn't pull his hand back, his tone still gentle.

"..." Lin Mengqiu didn't move.

"Give me your hand."

Chen Shi'an urged her softly again, completely ignoring her prickly appearance, and his hand remained steadily in front of her.

Lin Mengqiu belatedly realized her lapse in composure. Perhaps to maintain her usual aloof persona, she should have ignored the outstretched hand and stood up with dignity.

But her reddened ear tips and the toes that were secretly moving in his direction had already betrayed the girl's disingenuous thoughts.

Lin Mengqiu's eyelashes trembled, and she slowly raised her head.

The lights inside the venue shone down on Chen Shi'an's head, illuminating his well-defined profile.

Looking at the hand suspended in mid-air, she finally gently placed her sweaty little hand on it.

The moment her fingertips touched Chen Shi'an's palm, he gently grasped them.

His hands were warm, with a dry temperature, which perfectly enveloped her sweaty little hands.

She tried to pull her hand away as if she had been electrocuted, but the force from him had already arrived.

The force wasn't great, but it was very steady. With a gentle pull, Lin Mengqiu felt her heart and body surge like a roller coaster, instantly taking her to a great height.

As she stood up, she lost her balance and swayed slightly, instinctively leaning closer to him.

His unique scent of herbs and pine, combined with the scorching heat from their activity, washed over her. Lin Mengqiu instinctively closed her mouth, but her nose involuntarily began to breathe. She felt her cheeks instantly burn.

She quickly let go of his hand and took half a step back.

"I...I'm going to the restroom. You can pack your things first."

After saying that, Lin Mengqiu didn't even look at him and walked off in a certain direction with her head down.

She must have gone the wrong way, because after a short while, she turned around and quickly walked back in the correct direction...

(End of this chapter)