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

Chapter 189 Preparing for War
In mid-October, affected by cold air, it rained lightly for several days.

When it rains, Chen Shi'an doesn't ride his bicycle anymore. As before, he walks to and from school with Wen Zhixia.

When it didn't rain at night, Li Wanyin still set up her stall as usual.

Fortunately, the autumn rain didn't last long. On the 23rd, the Double Ninth Festival, the sky cleared up again, and it was already the end of the month.

Unfortunately, Chen Shi'an had to attend classes on the Double Ninth Festival, otherwise he would have liked to celebrate the festival by going out to find a mountain to climb.

"Oh? So today is the Double Ninth Festival?"

Wen Zhixia was a little surprised when Chen Shi'an mentioned it during dinner.

"……you do not know?"

"Of course I knew it was the Double Ninth Festival, I just didn't expect it to be today, and the school isn't even giving us a holiday!"

Chen Shi'an laughed as he listened: "You only remember the holidays when you get time off, right?"

"Then why is the Double Ninth Festival called the Double Ninth Festival?"

"In the Book of Changes, nine is a yang number. On the ninth day of the ninth month, both the sun and the moon are yang, and two nines coincide, hence it is called Double Ninth Festival."

"I see!"

Skipping over the topic of the Double Ninth Festival, Wen Zhixia asked him with a grin, "Then, Taoist priest, after school this afternoon, would you like to practice three-legged race with me and Xiaoyan? The school sports meet is coming up soon, you should practice a bit."

Chen Shi'an was taken aback: "Isn't it supposed to be two-person or three-legged race? How can three people practice together?"

"Xiaoyan, you're so good! We can take turns practicing together."

"But I already promised the class monitor this morning that I would practice with her."

"?"

Upon hearing this, the girl puffed out her cheeks, but still didn't give up, saying, "Alright then, let's practice together!"

……

Autumn is high and fresh.

The wind was particularly strong on the Double Ninth Festival, so badminton was out of the question. Taking advantage of the free time after school in the afternoon, Chen Shi'an practiced three-legged race with the class monitor.

Today is the 23rd, and the October monthly exams are approaching.

Besides preparing for the monthly exams, many students who signed up for the school sports meet are also making the most of their practice sessions to avoid embarrassing themselves on stage.

The track and field was much livelier after school than usual. Some were running, some were doing high jump and long jump, some were throwing shot put, some were practicing fun events in the open space, and some were flying kites.

It seems that some students at school do know about the Double Ninth Festival. A few girls are flying kites on the playground right now, but unfortunately their skills aren't up to par, and the kites haven't taken off after flying for a long time.

Chen Shi'an watched with amusement and couldn't help but say, "Your kite strings were let out too long at once, making them hard to control, and then they ran in that direction where the wind was more favorable."

The girls didn't know what grade they were in; Chen Shi'an didn't recognize them, but they recognized him.

Seeing that it was Chen Shi'an speaking, the girls became bolder and said with smiles, "Senior Chen Shi'an, do you know how to fly a kite? Why don't you help us fly it?"

"Are you in your first year of high school?"

"Hmm, I don't know if there's something wrong with this kite, it won't fly after flying it for ages..."

"Then let me try it."

Lin Mengqiu: "?"

no,!
You philandering cat!
We agreed to practice three-legged races together, but instead we went off to fly kites with the junior girls!
Lin Mengqiu ignored him and ran to the track and field, jogging a few laps with the other runners to get some exercise.

Chen Shi'an started playing with a kite on the grass.

He's an expert at flying kites; he played with them a lot when he was a child, and he can even make his own kites.

The kites of the girls were all bought from outside; they were all different styles and colorful.

He took the triangular kite from one of the girls, held the spool in one hand and controlled the line with the other, jogged slowly against the wind, and stopped when the kite took off. He turned his back to the wind and faced the kite flying in the air, and continued to slowly loosen and control the line.

The kite flew higher and higher, soon reaching the height of several stories high, with the colorful ribbons at its tail fluttering in the wind and making a rustling sound.

The girls were all stunned.

He had spent half a day trying to fly his kite but it wouldn't take off, and he thought he had bought a defective product. But when it came to Chen Shi'an, it flew off so easily.

"Wow--!"

"Amazing!"

"It's flying so high!"

Several girls couldn't help but clap their hands, all looking up at the kite in the sky.

Many other students who were exercising on the track and field also looked up at the kites in the sky, including Lin Mengqiu, who had only run half a lap.

And you know what? In the usually dull and boring campus, the colorful kite flying in the air made the whole atmosphere under the sunset lively and vibrant.

"Okay, just control the line according to the wind speed and altitude."

Chen Shi'an returned the spool of thread to the girl.

"Thank you, senior!"

The girl's eyes sparkled, and her expression was full of joy.

The other two girls who hadn't flown their kites yet also shamelessly came over to ask Chen Shi'an to help them fly them.

"Senior, can you help us fly our kites too? You're so good at flying kites!"

"alright."

The female students were sweet-talking, and Chen Shi'an didn't mind. He also helped the other two girls fly their kites.

Although I didn't go hiking on the Double Ninth Festival, I flew a kite, which was enough to celebrate the occasion.

……

Chen Shi'an glanced around and, before seeing Wen Zhixia come downstairs, spotted Lin Mengqiu running on the track. He then ran towards the class monitor.

Even when running, Lin Mengqiu doesn't like to run alongside others. Occasionally, when someone else runs past her, she either overtakes them or falls behind to make room. Her hair, tied in a high ponytail, sways behind her head. She always maintains a certain social distance from others.

She had already run two laps, a distance of 800 meters, which made her a little out of breath and a bit sweaty on her forehead. However, she still had the stamina to keep up. She had tried to run two kilometers in one go, which was better than many boys.

As Lin Mengqiu was focused on running, a figure suddenly appeared beside her. Glancing at him out of the corner of her eye, she saw it was Chen Shi'an and walked alongside him. "Has the class monitor run two laps already?"

"Hmm. Whew."

"Squad leader, you're in pretty good shape. How many laps are you planning to run?"

"Three laps. Whew!"

What's the most laps you've ever run?

"Five laps. Whew!"

"Why didn't the class monitor sign up for a long-distance race back then? I remember there was a women's 1500-meter race."

"Huff, huff, don't talk while running!"

Lin Mengqiu couldn't help but roll her eyes at him. The mere appearance of this stinky Taoist priest had thrown her breathing into disarray.

As Lin Mengqiu passed the track next to the teaching building again, she had finished her three laps and was about to slow down when her gaze sharpened and she saw Wen Zhixia and Yao Jingyan walking towards her from the school path.

Wen Zhixia also saw Chen Shian and Lin Mengqiu running together.

The class monitor, who had been slowing down, started running forward again.

Chen Shi'an, who was running alongside him, paused for a moment and reminded him, "Squad leader, are you still running? You've already finished three laps."

"...Run one more lap with me."

"alright."

Seeing that Lin Mengqiu was still running, Chen Shi'an accompanied her for one more lap.

Wen Zhixia looked at the two running together, her lips pursed, and she pulled Yao Jingyan along.

"Xiaoyan, let's go for a run to warm up!"

"Huh? Weren't we supposed to be practicing three-legged races? Now we're running again?"

"You don't want to lose the 4x100m relay, do you? Hurry up! Let's catch up with the Taoist priests!"

"...Actually, even if I lose...Hey! Zhizhi, wait for me!"

Unlike Lin Mengqiu, who excels at long-distance running, Wen Zhixia is better at sprinting. Her short legs are incredibly fast, and she caught up with Chen Shi'an and Lin Mengqiu in no time.

Lin Mengqiu was on the innermost side of the track, Chen Shi'an was on her right, and Wen Zhixia ran to Chen Shi'an's side. Then Yao Jingyan ran to Wen Zhixia's side, and the four of them ran side by side.

"Taoist priest!"

"Why is Xiaozhi so slow? I've already run two laps."

"The teacher went overtime a bit. There were people flying kites on the playground!"

"Yes, I helped put it there."

"you?!"

"correct."

"Then why didn't you invite me when you flew your kite?"

"Who told you to come down so slowly?"

"Let's go eat together after training," the girl said, raising her voice slightly.

"it is good."

Chen Shi'an agreed, then turned to ask Lin Mengqiu, who was running in silence.

"Squad leader, do you want to come along?"

"No."

Lin Mengqiu, who was already panting after running three laps, stopped panting as soon as Wen Zhixia arrived, looking as if she was still in full swing.

"Ok."

Chen Shi'an then asked Yao Jingyan over there, "Xiaoyan, do you want to come along?"

"Ah! I... I'll go back to the dorm to take a shower first! I'll eat with my roommates later!"

Yao Jingyan regretted it. Looking at the three people beside her, she felt that something was wrong. She shouldn't have followed them!

Lin Mengqiu, who had already run three laps, simply stopped running when she saw that the annoying cicada was shamelessly following her.

“Go practice three-legged race,” she said to Chen Shi’an.

"The squad leader isn't running away anymore?"

"I've run three and a half laps."

"alright."

Chen Shi'an slowed down and stopped with her.

Seeing that the two of them had stopped running, Wen Zhixia also stopped running. Since she was full of energy, she called Xiaoyan over to the grass to practice three-legged race.

Wen Zhixia and Lin Mengqiu signed up for the same events at the school sports meet: three-legged race, back-to-back ball relay, and 4x100m relay.

As her best friend, Xiaoyan couldn't escape either, and was dragged by Wen Zhixia to sign up for the same project, and even become her partner.

The two girls have been training for the 4x100m relay during their physical education classes these past few days.

Of course, it's different from the professional training of sports students. The main focus is on training the baton exchange (so that you don't drop the baton during the exchange like some people do), and also on improving teamwork (so that you don't stand still in the pre-race zone and wait to receive the baton like some people do).
Chen Shi'an didn't have much to train for the main events. He mainly practiced the three-legged race and the back-to-back ball relay with his class monitor. These two events require a lot of teamwork. Chen Shi'an couldn't possibly drag his class monitor along by himself while he was running...

In fact, Lin Mengqiu paid more attention to these fun events than the main competition events. She had been watching a lot of videos these days, secretly learning the techniques for each event.

Every time she saw the contestants in the video, with their arms around each other and their legs tied together, and then thought about herself and Chen Shi'an, the girl would blush and her heart would race.

"...Did you bring the rope I asked you to bring?" Lin Mengqiu asked.

"Bring it."

Chen Shi'an took out a bundle of red nylon rope from his pocket, held both ends of the rope with both hands and stretched it out. It was about a meter long and quite sturdy.

This rope of yours...did you buy it at the market?

(End of this chapter)