Jiang Ning quietly watched Pei Yujing walk back to the small corner, frowning slightly, thinking that her temperament was somewhat excessive.

Had she forgotten the words he taught her?

If it weren’t for the fierce Sister Ma running a shop outside the school gate, he would have suspected that Pei Yujing might be bullied at school.

Jiang Ning was eating sunflower seeds. After this 100-meter sprint ended, Hu Mengqing from the sports team continued to call people for training, and then Pei Yujing again came out from her small corner and stood at the edge of the track.

As a result, the girl who occupied the track earlier brought her best friend to occupy it again.

Seeing this, Hu Mengqing looked at the registration book in her hand and shouted, "Cheng Xia, don’t take the spot, let Pei Yujing practice first. She still has many more times to go."

"She’s the one who doesn’t want to practice!" Cheng Xia replied naturally.

Her friend chimed in, "Yeah, you see she just walked away."

Hu Mengqing’s face became stern, and she shouted, "You’re acting like I didn’t see that?"

She said, rushing over to ask, "Always taking others’ spots, aren’t you ashamed?"

...

A little farther away, on the football field.

A boy maneuvered skillfully, dribbling past two opponents, then stopped.

"Hey, Gai Shixun, what are you doing spacing out, keep going?" someone shouted.

Following his gaze, they saw the girl with long hair reaching her waist, "Wow, this girl is really pretty. So, you were watching a beauty this whole time?"

Someone walked over and patted Gai Shixun, "What, are you interested?"

Gai Shixun chuckled, "I’ve been interested for a while!"

Hearing this, several guys nearby also laughed, some of their other thoughts dissipated.

Gai Shixun was somewhat famous being a year above them, good at both academics and sports, high emotional intelligence, and very loyal. Competing with such a person wasn’t even a question.

So, some of the guys pinned their desire to pursue a pretty girl on their good brother Gai Shixun. If he succeeded, they would share in the glory too.

Someone urged, "Brother Xun is amazing, she’s our senior!"

"Senior or not, once Brother Xun makes his move, it’s a done deal!" A couple of student players egged him on.

After all, Gai Shixun was quite capable. From the start of their first year till now, he had dated four or five girlfriends, all of whom were good-looking and well-built girls.

Gai Shixun said indifferently, "Alright then, let’s go take a look."

So, led by Gai Shixun, a large group of them headed towards the 100-meter track.

...

Hu Mengqing was confronting Cheng Xia from the first year.

"Senior Sister Hu, I didn’t do anything, right?" Cheng Xia said with an air of justification.

Hu Mengqing: "Fine, then this run of yours, I won’t count the laps."

Cheng Xia was immediately displeased. She wanted to finish running quickly and then have some free time. After all, students coming to the field for training must complete a set number of laps.

"What do you mean, using authority for personal gain?" Cheng Xia, unhappy, directly retorted.

Hu Mengqing: "It’s the school’s responsibility for us to manage this."

Nearby, Yang Sheng, in charge of the 800 meters training, came over to ask her for the registration book to log the laps for the girls who just finished the 800 meters.

Gai Shixun and his group arrived too, he waved his hand like a big brother, "Cheng Xia, stop arguing, show me some face!"

Cheng Xia shot back sarcastically, "Who are you? Why should I give you face?"

Gai Shixun’s face hardened immediately.

He hadn’t expected that Cheng Xia from the neighboring class would give him no face at all, leaving him awkwardly stuck there.

Gai Shixun was at a standstill, he hesitated, "Senior Sister Hu, give me some face!"

Hu Mengqing ignored him.

Gai Shixun was taken aback: ’Damn it!’

He became like background decor, standing there.

The argument continued.

Cheng Xia raised her hand, pointed at Pei Yujing, and told Hu Mengqing, "Besides, this is between her and me, is it your place to interfere?"

She calculated that Pei Yujing was an easy target, deliberately saying, "Ask her if she’s dare to contest with me!"

Hu Mengqing stared directly at Cheng Xia, her tone hard, "She doesn’t need to choose now, this is between you and me. If you keep causing trouble, you don’t have to run at all."

Cheng Xia covered her mouth, laughing flamboyantly, dismissively: "You think just because you say I can’t run, I can’t?"

She not only pointed at Hu Mengqing, but also gestured toward Yang Sheng, provoking them, "You people love acting all mighty, not knowing your place!"

Yang Sheng had just finished taking names, and upon hearing this, turned his face, staring directly at her, "You think I’m not knowing my place?"

Cheng Xia chuckled, "People should be self-aware."

Hu Mengqing tried to interject, but Yang Sheng, tired of talking, flipped open the registration book with a "swish."

She grabbed an ink pen and quickly scribbled, crossing out all of Cheng Xia’s running records for today.

Then, she flashed the book in front of her, "So, what do you think now?"

Cheng Xia was stupefied.

Hu Mengqing was equally dumbfounded, "Wait, Yang Sheng, that was my registration book!"

Cheng Xia was irate, jumping around and cursing, "Are you crazy?"

Yang Sheng nonchalantly said, "With such a loud voice, I thought the registration book I have is fake!"

Yang Sheng then, right in front of her, filled in Pei Yujing’s training times fully with the ink pen.

"Can I manage this or not? Go on, speak up!"

Cheng Xia’s friend screamed an "Ah."

Yang Sheng pretended to lift his pen again, "Scream again, and I’ll cross yours out too!"

Silence ensued.

After finishing his actions, Yang Sheng slapped the registration book back into Hu Mengqing’s hands, "If anyone disobeys, cross their name off, hand it to the administration office, let them argue with their homeroom teacher!"

With that, Yang Sheng clapped his hands and walked away.

...

Hu Mengqing learned her lesson. Being straightforward by nature, she directly shouted, "Everyone, continue training!"

"Oh, by the way, Pei Yujing, you don’t have to practice!"

Cheng Xia went mad on the spot.

Gai Shixun watched Yang Sheng’s departing back in amazement, ’Damn, this girl, too freaking cool!’

He was briefly torn between hitting on the short-haired girl first or the long-haired girl.

After Cheng Xia’s madness subsided a bit with no effect, she finally fixed an angry gaze on Pei Yujing.

The most isolated and helpless person on the field was Pei Yujing.

Hu Mengqing was also puzzled. The reason she didn’t let Pei Yujing choose earlier was because she feared she might just give up.

This girl seemed too withdrawn, not even having a single friend.

She noticed that the girls training around were giving Pei Yujing peculiar looks.

Hu Mengqing, having been through this, was well aware of how severe the infighting among high school girls could be, comparable to palace drama.

This couldn’t go on. She could protect her once, but not always.

And at that moment, Jiang Ning appeared at the starting point of the 100 meters, saying, "Senior Sister Hu, from now on, please fill in all of Pei Yujing’s training times."

As soon as he spoke, Cheng Xia was quick to retort, "Who do you think you are?"

Seeing it was Jiang Ning, Hu Mengqing’s eyes instantly brightened, all her worries dissipated, "Okay, I’ll take care of this."

Cheng Xia’s expression turned ugly.

Hu Mengqing was very familiar with Jiang Ning’s abilities. The physical education teacher had told their sports team that if Jiang Ning was willing to study sports, he’d easily get into a top university, even Qingbei wasn’t out of the question.

Unfortunately, Jiang Ning was so excellent in cultural subjects that he didn’t need sports to boost his scores.

Jiang Ning: "Alright, thanks."

Hu Mengqing told Pei Yujing, "From now on, when you come to the field, just find a place to hang out."

"By the way, Jiang Ning, do you have time to check out the long jump team?" she tentatively asked, as the school authorities requested Jiang Ning to join the long jump team.

Jiang Ning nodded, "Yeah, you have them practice again, I’ll have a word with Yujing."

Hu Mengqing cheerfully agreed, "Alright, alright."