I really like your sand sculpture group friends

Su Mengyao forced a smile, her eyes flickered, and she avoided his gaze: "I know! Don't worry!"

She patted her chest, as if to encourage herself, then turned and strode quickly toward the athletes' assembly point.

Mo Xiangwen immediately squeezed to the side of the track, found a spot near the curve with a clear view, and fixed his gaze on Su Mengyao.

The starting gun fired!

As expected, Su Mengyao dashed out like an arrow, but perhaps having taken his words to heart, she didn't try to grab a spot in the top few, but instead stayed firmly behind the first group.

But it was still too fast.

If she were a track and field athlete, doing this would be perfectly fine; it's a confident attitude to strive for victory.

But Su Mengyao, even her older sister Mengli, said that she hadn't practiced long-distance running much.

Even when he, Su Mengli, and Su Mengyao did morning exercises together, he rarely saw Su Mengyao run more than 1000 meters.

If you're not strong enough, the most important thing is to keep your breathing rhythm and pace steady. That way, you can at least get a decent ranking—just like him.

He was very aware of his own abilities and never intended to win from the beginning.

Even thirdly, this was already a very unexpected and satisfactory result for him and the other students in the class.

Sure enough, before the second lap was even over, her speed had noticeably decreased.

His breathing became unusually rapid and disordered, he gasped for air, and his steps began to lose their stability and rhythm.

Every time someone passed her, a hint of resentment flashed in her eyes. She gritted her teeth and tried to speed up and catch up again, but each acceleration seemed to be more strenuous, which only made her rhythm more chaotic.

Mo Xiangwen ran alongside her for a short distance along the edge of the track, then shouted, "Mengyao! Stay calm! Adjust your breathing! Don't chase them! Keep to your own pace!"

Su Mengyao seemed to have heard him and glanced quickly in his direction. She seemed to want to adjust her pace, but then someone overtook her. She immediately put all her effort into catching up, but she stumbled and her rhythm completely collapsed.

She hadn't trained much in long-distance running, so her lung capacity and stamina were naturally inferior. With her rhythm completely collapsing, the outcome was predictable.

In the second half, her physical strength was visibly exhausted to the limit.

Su Mengyao's face flushed red, and her sportswear was completely soaked with sweat, clinging tightly to her body.

Her steps became incredibly heavy, almost as if she were dragging her legs forward, each lift of her leg appearing exceptionally difficult.

In the end, Su Mengyao almost relied on willpower to stagger across the finish line, ranking among the last few in the group.

At the finish line, several of her classmates were already waiting there. They immediately surrounded her, some offering water, others offering towels.

"Thank you for your hard work, Mengyao!"

"That was really tough! It's amazing that you managed to finish the run!"

"Yes, yes, it's great that you finished the run!"

"After all, Su Mengli couldn't participate, and we couldn't find anyone else to replace her. It's already great that you stepped forward to participate."

Su Mengyao lowered her head, sweat dripping from her hair. She took the water, her voice hoarse and muffled: "...Thank you."

She didn't look up at anyone, but just gasped for breath, her chest heaving violently.

Mo Xiangwen, holding a bottle of sports drink, quickly walked through the crowd to her.

Su Mengyao seemed to sense it and slowly raised her head.

This was the first time Mo Xiangwen had ever seen Su Mengyao, who always had a bright smile, with such an expression.

Her eyes were slightly red, and tiny beads of sweat clung to her long eyelashes. Her gaze was filled with extreme exhaustion and an indescribable sense of grievance and loss.

She looked at the drink Mo Xiangwen offered, but didn't immediately reach out to take it; she just stared at him.

P.S.: I'm a homebody and don't know much about running, so please forgive me if I have any minor issues.

Chapter 154 Who gave you the right to act badly at this time?

Seemingly realizing her lapse in composure, Su Mengyao quickly lowered her head again.

When she looked up again, the grievance and disappointment on her face had faded a lot, but it was still obvious at a glance.

Su Mengyao, seemingly unaware, forced a smile: "Xiang Wen, you're here..."

She moved her lips, as if trying to say something, but after opening her mouth, she didn't say anything.

What happened? Is a long-distance running failure such a serious blow to Su Mengyao?

Mo Xiangwen's brows furrowed unconsciously. Judging from Su Mengyao's usual demeanor, perhaps she was just trying to lighten the mood with a joke.

The fact that she didn't say it proves that she truly doesn't have the mood or the energy for it anymore.

Mo Xiangwen sighed softly to herself, stepped forward, and gave her classmate an apologetic smile.

"I'll take Mengyao to rest for a bit first."

"Yes, yes, Mengyao has worked hard too, you should take her to rest." A familiar female voice said.

Mo Xiangwen recognized the voice; after a closer look, he realized it was Li Ting, whom he had met briefly at the arcade.

That makes sense. Since she's Su Mengli's classmate, she's also Su Mengyao's classmate, so it's normal for her to be here.

Li Ting seemed to remember him as well; seeing his gaze, she smiled and greeted him.

Mo Xiangwen nodded in response.

Then Li Ting turned around and whispered to her classmates from other classes.

Although he didn't know exactly what it was about, he guessed it was about his good relationship with Su Mengli, which meant he could entrust Su Mengyao to him with peace of mind.

The other classmates didn't see Su Mengyao's expression, but they guessed that Su Mengyao was probably in a bad mood because she lost.

Since Li Ting had already mentioned that he had a good relationship with Su Mengli and Su Mengyao, and that Su Mengyao recognized him, no one had any objections at this point.

"She just finished a long run, so make sure she walks with you for a while before resting." Li Ting smiled at him: "Then I'll leave it to you."

"Thank you." Mo Xiangwen nodded to her in thanks and said apologetically, "Excuse me, we'll have to leave now."

"It's alright, it's alright, let's go quickly." Li Ting waved her hand and gave him a look urging him to hurry up.

Mo Xiangwen glanced at Su Mengyao. She was still in the same position, bent over, with her hands on her knees, head down, seemingly lost in a slump again.

It was like a lonely child, and he simply couldn't leave him alone.

He had no choice but to step forward, gently grasp her wrist, and lift her up with a little force.

"what?"

The action of grabbing her wrist interrupted Su Mengyao's thoughts, and she instinctively tried to break free.

"Stop 'hey,' let's go." Mo Xiangwen didn't let go of her hand.

Su Mengyao then noticed it was him, gave up struggling, and let him lead her outside.

She lowered her head again and whispered, "Oh."

Mo Xiangwen secretly glanced back at Su Mengyao, and seeing that she was still looking down, he felt a little worried.

Given Su Mengyao's current state, it seems he has no way to take her directly back to Su Mengli, otherwise things would feel even worse.

Just as Li Ting said, athletes who have just finished a long-distance run need to take a short walk to help their bodies relax.

Mo Xiangwen then pulled Su Mengyao along and walked in another direction.

This direction leads back to the main road of the campus. It will be a little further to get back to the viewing platform where Su Mengli is from this direction.

However, let's just say it's to avoid the crowds at the school sports meet and to take her for a walk.

He took out his phone and sent a message to Su Mengli.

[Mengyao just finished running. I'll take her for a short walk before we go back. Please wait a little longer.]

Su Mengli, who was sitting in the same spot, suddenly felt her phone vibrate and quickly opened it to check.

Taking a walk...? Su Mengli was slightly taken aback.

Su Mengli tried to calm herself down, then replied on her phone, "Okay, then I'll leave it to you."

She turned off her phone screen and stared absently at the finish line.

But by this time, neither of them could be seen anywhere.

Su Mengyao seemed to have finally come to her senses. She looked up and glanced around, only to find herself back on the main road of the campus.

This was just as other competitions were starting, and students and teachers were watching the games on the track and field, cheering for their classmates. The main road, on the other hand, was deserted for a while, with only a few scattered students strolling around.

"This isn't the way back to my sister's side, is it?" Su Mengyao asked softly.

"Let's take a short walk before going back," Mo Xiangwen replied softly. "Give your body a break."

"...I'm fine." Su Mengyao, with her head down, bit her lip and said softly, "Let's go back quickly. My sister is injured, and we need to take her to the infirmary as soon as possible."

Mo Xiangwen suddenly stopped and released her wrist.

Su Mengyao was slightly taken aback, feeling as if she were a lost child who had lost her map, and a sense of panic welled up from the bottom of her heart.

She was about to look up to find Mo Xiangwen when she saw a familiar face appear in front of her.

When she saw his face, Su Mengyao's panicked heart calmed down a lot. Then, she immediately realized that her current appearance and expression were probably not that good-looking.

Thinking of this, her heart, which had just settled down, started racing again.

Su Mengyao blushed slightly and hurriedly covered his eyes with her hands, saying coquettishly, "Don't look."

"Okay, okay, I won't look." Mo Xiangwen, who had just squatted down, obediently took a step back and stood up again.

He hadn't originally intended to spy on the girl's face, who might be on the verge of tears. However, he wasn't good at talking and needed a bit of unorthodox methods to break the current situation, so he came up with this idea to change her mood.

It seems like the results are pretty good now?

Although there might be a risk of Su Mengyao holding a grudge, he didn't have any good solutions at the moment.

He never imagined he'd have to comfort girls one day; he should have learned some "player" techniques.

Su Mengyao pinched his waist angrily and complained in a low voice, "Who would suddenly peek at someone's expression at a time like this?"

"It was quite sudden," Mo Xiangwen retorted. "But wasn't I watching openly and honestly right in front of you?"

That was far too blatant, and it was actually done openly right in front of her.

Su Mengyao couldn't find a point to refute for a moment, so she could only reach out and poke his waist hard to vent her dissatisfaction.

Mo Xiangwen felt much more relaxed; the fact that he could joke around with him proved that his mood had improved somewhat.

"Are you sure you can go back to see Mengli looking like a little crybaby right now?" Mo Xiangwen joked.

"I'm not a crybaby!" Su Mengyao retorted softly. "You'll see when I show you. I'm just... I'm just in a bad mood."

"Okay, okay, no." Mo Xiangwen replied casually.

He remembered that there should be a vending machine nearby.

Mo Xiangwen frowned, looked around, thought carefully for a moment, and then led Su Mengyao into a side road.

Sure enough, there was a vending machine over there.

"What's wrong?" Su Mengyao raised her head slightly, secretly looking at him from behind, as if afraid that he would suddenly turn around and come back.

"I need to buy something. I'm all sweaty from running today, and I didn't bring any with me."

Mo Xiangwen operated the vending machine, scanned the code, squatted down, took out the item he had just bought, and then turned to face Su Mengyao.

Su Mengyao, who had been watching his movements, quickly lowered her head. Then, Mo Xiangwen suddenly grabbed her hand, lifted it up, and stuffed something into her palm.

It was a pack of tissues.

"Don't mention it, it's yours." Mo Xiangwen turned around and continued walking back, casually saying, "It's just a pack of tissues anyway."

"I'm not a crybaby!"

Su Mengyao complained, then chased after him from behind and rammed her head hard into his back.

"Oh, Miss Mengyao."

"Who told you to act naughtily at this time!"

However, she did not object to going back immediately, but followed closely behind him.

Chapter 155 Not a Crybaby

Back under the shade of the trees, Su Mengli looked anxiously in the direction they had returned from.