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

Chapter 182 Lin Xia's Badminton Rematch! (Thanks to RUY16109 for the Alliance Leader)
The second-to-last period on Monday afternoon is physical education.

Class 5 and Class 11 will attend together.

Previously, because of the need to practice Baduanjin (Eight Pieces of Brocade), the two classes were held together, and Chen Shi'an led the practice.

Now that they no longer need to practice Baduanjin, Class 5 and Class 11 have separated and gathered at two different locations.

As is customary, we run two laps around the track to warm up first.

When I returned, Teacher Wan was looking at the registration form for the school sports meet for Class 5.

"What's going on? Is your class so unenthusiastic about the school sports meet? Why are there so few people signing up?"

"Exactly! Teacher Wan, I'll recommend a few strong ones to you. Just write down their names when you ask!"

Xu Zihan, the sports committee member, got excited and stepped forward to try and drag the group of boys into the water.

He alone signed up for four events: the men's 100m, 200m, 400m, and the 4x100m relay.

Based on the requirement that each event must have at least one person, there are still no applicants for the high jump, long jump, triple jump, and shot put events.

"Teacher Wan, let Liu Zhuoran do the long jump, then let Zou Xiaokun do the high jump, and this one too..."

"You unfilial son! Don't you dare betray your father!"

Before Xu Zihan could finish speaking, several of his buddies rushed up, covered his mouth, lifted him up, spread his legs, and were about to smash him into a big tree.

"What are you doing?! Hurry up and line up!"

Fortunately, Teacher Wan spoke up in time, otherwise Zihan would have been beaten by Aruba.

The girls in the class giggled and covered their mouths as they watched.

As expected, none of these stinky boys were serious except for Chen Shi'an.

The problem is, Chen Shi'an isn't exactly a straight man either! Looking at Chen Shi'an's name on the registration form, among the several fun activities, Teacher Wan said with a hint of helplessness:
"Shi'an...you must be very athletic, right? Why did you only sign up for these fun activities?"

"Not only that, Teacher Wan, I also signed up for the 3000 meters and the 4x100 relay."

"...Shouldn't you report more?"

"Give the other students a chance, Teacher Wan."

"?"

Teacher Wan was speechless. He couldn't see any arrogance on Chen Shi'an's face; his words were full of sincerity.

No way... just how confident are you to so sincerely believe that if you're on the field, no one else has a chance?!

Chen Shi'an mainly participated in the school sports meet for the experience and fun. Participating in the competition is one kind of experience, and watching the competition is another. He didn't want to be busy running between the two. Participating in a fun event, such as the 3,000-meter race or the 4x100-meter relay, was enough for him.

In any case, Chen Shi'an has participated in quite a few projects. Teacher Wan held the registration form and looked at the girls in the class.

As if being stared at by some wild beast, the girls felt their scalps tingle and quickly lowered their heads, not wanting to be selected to sign up for the competition.

"Everyone, be more enthusiastic! It's all about participation!"

"..."

"Alright, everyone, you can all disperse now. Those of you who signed up for the competition, please train hard these next few days. If you don't understand any of the technical points, come and ask me."

“Ooo ...

Upon hearing that they were to be dismissed, everyone perked up. Who wanted to train anymore? They all scattered and ran off in different directions.

Upon hearing the announcement of the disbandment, Chen Shi'an became wary, glancing at Lin Mengqiu and then at Wen Zhixia on the other side.

Before, after each PE class and after practicing Baduanjin, he would quickly avoid danger and run to play badminton with Zihan and the others. Fortunately, after the first time, the two girls never asked him to play badminton in PE class.

However, today seemed to be an exception. Lin Mengqiu and Wen Zhixia both brought rackets down, clearly intending to play badminton. But unusually, neither of the girls had arranged to play with Chen Shian beforehand.

What's going on?
Chen Shi'an was somewhat puzzled.

Class 11 had been dismissed earlier, and he had already seen Wen Zhixia waiting on the badminton court with her racket in hand. The girl looked fiercely competitive, her shoulder-length hair tied into a short ponytail, and she was even stretching her legs and turning her wrists to warm up!
Lin Mengqiu also looked ready for a match. After the group disbanded, she walked towards the place where the rackets were placed, took out a hair tie from her pocket to tie her hair, picked up the racket on the ground, and walked straight to the badminton court.

Chen Shi'an remained standing there, blinking.

Who are you two going to play ball with? Why didn't you invite me?

When Chen Shi'an saw Lin Mengqiu standing on the opposite half of the court from Wen Zhixia, he was finally a little surprised. He didn't stay where he was, nor did he avoid the danger and go to play basketball with Zihan and the others. Instead, he quickly walked over to watch the show.

"Class monitor, Xiao Zhi, do you want to play badminton?" Chen Shi'an asked with a smile from the sidelines.

"..." Lin Mengqiu didn't speak.

"correct."

Wen Zhixia said, "Perfect, Taoist priest, you can be the referee!"

"Okay."

Feeling relieved that it wasn't his problem, Chen Shi'an stood amusedly next to the net and asked with a smile:
When did you guys book the game?

"Noon, I guess."

"You arranged it via WeChat?"

Chen Shi'an thought for a moment and asked, after all, the two girls were not in the same class. Lin Mengqiu went to class with him in the morning, Wen Zhixia ate lunch with him at noon, Lin Mengqiu took a nap with him during lunch break, and they only met in the afternoon until now. Obviously, they did not have the supernatural ability to communicate over long distances like him. If they wanted to arrange a game, they could probably only do so on WeChat.

"correct."

"Ah."

"So, who invited whom?"

Adhering to the attitude of "if you're going to eat melons, eat them all," Chen Shi'an continued to be curious.

The two girls remained silent for a moment after being asked this question.

Wen Zhixia spoke first.

"I made the appointment!"

The last time the two girls played against each other, it was a seven-ball game, and Lin Mengqiu ultimately won.

Chen Shi'an still remembered it vividly, and turned to look at Wen Zhixia with a smile, asking, "Then it seems that Xiao Zhixia is well prepared this time." "It's alright, although not at her best, there shouldn't be any problems."

"Ah……"

Lin Mengqiu couldn't help but chuckle.

They started stacking armor right from the start?

What does it mean to say 'although not in the best condition'?
You're talking as if I'm in 'peak condition'!
Originally, there was no need to practice Baduanjin in this PE class, and Lin Mengqiu was thinking of asking Chen Shi'an to practice three-legged race together.

Unexpectedly, Wen Zhixia sent the challenge message first.

Yes, it was a message posted, not a post on WeChat Moments.

Since they added each other on WeChat, the two have been communicating remotely through their Moments. This is their second private chat.

The first time was when Lin Mengqiu took the initiative to add him on WeChat and sent a private message; the second time was when Wen Zhixia invited him to play ball and sent a private message.

The chat message was very simple, consisting of only a single, dry sentence:

Zhizhi: [Are we playing badminton in PE class this afternoon, singles?]
With such a blatant declaration of war, how could Lin Mengqiu possibly be afraid of her!
He immediately replied with "Okay".

So during PE class, the two met on the court, their fighting spirit palpable.

The online battles they've been having on social media these past few days have really fueled the rivalry between the two girls, so today's the perfect opportunity to deflate each other's egos!
Although she narrowly lost to Ice Spirit last time, Wen Zhixia was clearly not convinced. She had been practicing with Chen Shi'an every day during this period, which made her confidence a little inflated.

Lin Mengqiu could easily see through what this annoying cicada was thinking. It was as if no one had never practiced ball games! If I can't beat that stinky Taoist priest, can't I beat you?
The two swung their rackets back and forth to hit the ball. It was supposed to be a warm-up, but Chen Shi'an, watching from the sidelines, could already feel the intense atmosphere of battle. Did they have to play so hard just to warm up?
After warming up for five minutes, Lin Mengqiu stopped swinging her racket and hit the ball; instead, she caught the ball and held it in her hand.

The challenge was initiated by Wen Zhixia, and she was not to be outdone, so she immediately challenged her to a wager.

"Just playing isn't fun, let's add some prizes."

"Okay!"

Wen Zhixia's voice was loud; she was just about to speak!

"What kind of prize do you want?" Lin Mengqiu asked her.

"Go ahead and say it. Since you've spoken first, I'll let you choose," Wen Zhixia said magnanimously.

“...The loser has to do twenty sit-ups on the spot,” Lin Mengqiu said through gritted teeth.

As the physical education class ended, Chen Shi'an, Lin Mengqiu, and Wen Zhixia, as big celebrities in their respective classes, had already attracted a lot of onlookers to the sports field.

For the boys, this is hardly a big prize, but for two delicate girls who care about their image, putting aside the discomfort of losing to each other, admitting defeat and doing sit-ups in public is quite a bet!
"...Okay! Then it's like you said, the loser does twenty sit-ups!"

Seeing how ruthless Lin Mengqiu was, Wen Zhixia didn't back down and readily agreed to the prize she offered.

With the prize money involved, the badminton match suddenly became much more exciting.

Chen Shi'an also became interested and said with a smile, "Why does everyone like to make bets?"

The two girls didn't reply to him. Lin Mengqiu tossed the badminton shuttlecock to him, and Chen Shi'an caught it precisely.

"So, the match has begun?"

"Wait! Let's agree on the rules first!"

Wen Zhixia said, "This time we play 21 points. We only win if we are two points ahead, and we switch sides when we are eleven points ahead!"

"Row."

Lin Mengqiu agreed.

Having played with the two girls for so long, Chen Shi'an already knows what the standard scoring rules are, and he has even figured out the girls' playing style.

Wen Zhixia is an aggressive player who uses a powerful, wide-ranging style of play. She gets into the game quickly and has a fierce attack, but she also makes a relatively lot of mistakes.

Lin Mengqiu is a defensive player who mainly focuses on controlling the pace of the ball, especially excelling at short shots at the net. However, she is slow to start and prefers to engage in drawn-out battles.

If Chen Shi'an were to assess the two girls' abilities, he would say they were evenly matched, neither being significantly stronger than the other.

However, in terms of physical fitness, Lin Mengqiu is clearly more suited to badminton. After all, she is tall and has long legs. At 167cm, she is quite tall for a girl. Wen Zhixia, on the other hand, is at a significant disadvantage, barely reaching 160cm. Moreover, she carries a much heavier load than Lin Mengqiu, which puts her at a considerable disadvantage.

However, judging from recent training sessions, Wen Zhixia still has a slight advantage. After all, Chen Shi'an only plays and trains with Lin Mengqiu on weekends, while Xiao Zhixia and he are competing almost every day...

The weather was calm this afternoon, with limited impact from the weather. Also, the teams will switch halves in the middle of the game, so even if one side has a slight advantage, the score will be even after the half-time switch.

Without using coins to cast a divination, Chen Shi'an really couldn't guess who would win in such a fiercely contested and evenly matched match between Xiao Zhi and the class monitor.

More and more students from Class 5 and Class 11 were drawn to the area.

Everyone tacitly agreed that the students from Class 5 stood on Lin Mengqiu's side, while the students from Class 11 stood on Wen Zhixia's side.

Yao Jingyan spoke first, shouting, "Go Zhizhi!!"

Then Qiu Yufu also shouted, "Go, class monitor!!"

Chen Shi'an coughed twice and stood next to the net at the center line.

"Are you all ready? Whichever side the ball lands on, that side serves."

Chen Shi'an flicked the badminton shuttlecock in his hand with his finger.

The shuttlecock soared high into the air and then fell vertically, its head striking the white line of the net precisely.

The net trembled slightly, and the shuttlecock remained upright for nearly two seconds.

Finally, under the watchful eyes of everyone in the arena, the ball's tail gently tilted to the right—

With a thud, the ball landed in Wen Zhixia's half of the court.

"Holy crap! Dao Ye's opening shot is amazing! How can he hit it so accurately?! Is there a master among the crowd?!"

"Zhizhi, kick off!"

"Go Zhizhi!"

"Go, squad leader!"

The battle begins.

(Thank you so much RUY16109 for the generous donation of 100,000! You're so generous, boss! May you prosper! Thank you so much for your continued support!)
(End of this chapter)