You're dumping me, huh? Fine, then I'll just pick up the school beauty and make her my wif

Su Qinghe bent over and panted for a while before straightening up to take the bottled water.

She didn't rush to drink it. First, she pressed the bottle against her burning cheek to cool it down before unscrewing the cap and taking small sips.

"I ran in three minutes and nineteen seconds."

Su Qinghe screwed the bottle cap back on, looked up at Jiang Che, her eyes sparkling, "I was a full twenty-nine seconds faster than last time! Aren't I amazing?"

"Impressive." Jiang Che took out a tissue from his pocket and wiped the sweat from his girlfriend's face, smiling as he said, "Looks like these past two days of training weren't in vain; your hard work has paid off."

"That's right." Su Qinghe shook her head smugly, her ponytail swinging back and forth behind her head. "There's nothing I, Su Qinghe, can't accomplish if I set my mind to it."

"Then why were you so worried before?"

"Worrying is one thing, doing it is another; they are two different things."

Su Qinghe shoved the water bottle back into Jiang Che's hand with a straight face, then started pushing him toward the starting line. "You should get ready too, the boys' 1000-meter race is about to start."

Jiang Che glanced towards the track and, sure enough, the teacher in charge of the physical fitness test was already calling the boys to assemble with the roll call list.

"Then I'll go."

"Okay, good luck." Su Qinghe pumped her fist at him. "Don't come back to see me if you don't come in first place."

"Is there a reward for coming in first place?"

"Yes, as a reward, you'll make me sweet and sour pork ribs tonight."

"Is this reward for me or for you?"

"Is there a difference? What's mine is yours, and what's yours is mine?"

Jiang Che chuckled and tapped her on the head, then turned and walked toward the starting line.

A large crowd had already gathered at the starting line for the boys' 1000-meter race.

Xu Wenbin wore a pained mask, as if he were about to be executed.

Seeing Jiang Che approach, he wailed and rushed over, "Old Jiang, my life is so miserable..."

"If... I mean, if I fail today, could my good godfather, Uncle Jiang, take the makeup exam for me on the day of the retake?"

Jiang Che gave Xu Wenbin a strange look. "Have you been watching too much of the Wawasan matches these past few days? How come you've become a 'surrender before the battle' type too?"

"How can you say I surrendered before the battle even started? I genuinely failed the race, Lao Jiang. If it were before, I might have managed to get under four and a half minutes with some effort, but now..."

Xu Wenbin looked down at his slightly bulging stomach and patted it in frustration. "If I had known I was going on a date with Lin tide, I wouldn't have taken her to eat so much good food."

"..." Jiang Che sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Alright, Lao Xu, stop saying such discouraging things. Let's get through first and see if we can get through."

"You don't want Lin tide to know you're not good at lasting, do you?"

"Damn it, what does this have to do with whether I can last or not?"

"How can you say it's okay? If you're having trouble even running, you can imagine what other things are like...tsk tsk."

Xu Wenbin wanted to say something more, but just then, the physical fitness test instructor suddenly said, "On your marks—".

Everyone immediately fell silent and bent down to assume a starting position.

boom--!

With the sound of the starting gun, dozens of boys immediately rushed off like wild horses.

Following his own running strategy, Jiang Che easily completed the 1,000-meter test.

He didn't have high expectations for his performance, so he didn't consciously control his speed while running.

The final time was three minutes and twenty-eight seconds.

The boys got a perfect score of three minutes and forty seconds, and this score even exceeded the mark by twelve seconds.

After coming off the track, Jiang Che walked slowly for a while with Su Qinghe's insistence on helping him, and his breathing completely calmed down.

One by one, the boys rushed across the finish line.

Jiang Che looked around the track for a long time, but couldn't find the three sons of 412.

It wasn't until four minutes later that Song Mingxuan and Lu Ziang crossed the finish line.

Xu Wenbin, on the other hand, took five minutes to complete this "long march".

After finishing his run, Xu Wenbin calmed his breathing slightly and then collapsed onto the grass in a starfish position.

He kept muttering things like "I can't take it anymore, I'm going to die."

After the physical education teachers finished recording the results, the class monitors called out to collect the physical education test cards.

After Jiang Che and Su Qinghe handed their physical fitness test cards to their respective class monitors, they walked hand in hand towards the outside of the playground.

Seeing that Jiang Che had completely calmed down, Su Qinghe finally asked about his grades.

"I finished in 3 minutes and 28 seconds, not bad, nothing special."

"What's so good about you? You're even slower than me, which means you need to work on your training."

"You're in the girls' group, I'm in the boys' group, how can we compete like this?"

"I don't care, I'm just faster than you."

The two exchanged a few words.

In the end, Jiang Che was defeated and admitted that he just couldn't outrun Su Qinghe.

Satisfied, Su Qinghe took Jiang Che's arm, intending to go to a restaurant with him for a big meal to celebrate the successful completion of the physical test.

But Jiang Che wasn't in a hurry to leave. He gently patted the back of her hand and said, "Don't move around here. I'm going to the restroom."

Su Qinghe glanced at him, then looked at Lu Ziang standing not far away.

The girl blinked thoughtfully, then released Jiang Che's arm.

"Then hurry up, if you're more than fifteen minutes late, I'll start to suspect you're sneaking food in the bathroom."

"I don't have a penchant for being the eighth child, thank you."

Su Qinghe gently patted his chest, then turned and walked towards the bench next to the playground.

After watching Su Qinghe walk away, Jiang Che turned around and walked towards the public restroom next door.

Lu Ziang pretended to swipe a few times on his phone screen. Seeing that Jiang Che had gone to the restroom, he took a deep breath and followed him.

There weren't many people in the restroom right now.

Jiang Che walked over and chose the innermost urinal to stand in.

Lu Ziang hesitated for half a second, then stood at the second urinal to Jiang Che's left, deliberately leaving one space between them.

The sound of water could be heard.

While relieving himself, Jiang Che said calmly, "Old Lu, just say what's on your mind. Hesitating isn't like you."

Lu Ziang didn't say anything. He finished his business first, then zipped up his pants and walked to the sink to turn on the tap.

The sound of rushing water continued for quite a while.

Jiang Che also came over to wash his hands. The two stood side by side in front of the sink, their young faces reflected in the mirror.

One looked calm, the other had a furrowed brow.

"How much do you know?" Lu Ziang asked.

"It depends on how much you're willing to tell me."

Jiang Che turned off the tap, shook the water droplets off his hands, and grabbed two paper towels from the side.

His eyes remained fixed on Lu Ziang with a half-smile.

Lu Ziang was also staring into Jiang Che's eyes in the mirror, and the two fell into an eerie silence.

He had been observing during this period.

From the USB drive to the morning run, from the financial statements to the tentative conversation that day, Jiang Che's reactions to everything were impeccable.

It neither showed any sign of wariness nor any sign of ignorance; it just floated there indifferently.

This attitude made Lu Ziang more uneasy than any reaction.