NOVPUB"Next Thursday is the school sports day," said Guan Biyue as she tidied up her lesson plan. "The sports committee should come to my office to get the registration form, class dismissed!"
"Yay, finally it’s our turn!"
"I’ll bring my modified RC car, it’s an Audi and super fast!"
"Pssh, mine is four-wheel drive, yours definitely won’t be as fast as mine!"
"..."
At Experimental Primary School, the school sports day usually took place on the Thursday and Friday following mid-term exams. Since the height of most first-grade students hovered around one meter or just a bit over, the school teachers, concerned about safety issues, summarily deprived them of the right to participate.
While students from other grades ran freely on the sports field, the poor first-graders had to sit in the classroom and focus on their lessons. Starting this year, they finally got their turn to be in charge, and everyone seemed very happy.
"We get to skip school again~" Lin Wanning’s short legs swayed under the table as she spoke excitedly.
"When the time comes, I’ll make you run the thousand meters!" Xu Qingfan threatened jokingly.
"Hehe, not scared at all~ Let Brother Qing Fan run for Ningning!" Lin Wanning leaned her face on the desk, grinning at him.
Recalling the sports day events from his primary school days in his past life, Xu Qingfan sadly realized that his old primary school had never actually held a sports day.
"Brother Fan, do we need to prepare anything for the sports day?" Xiao Ruawen asked from behind her desk.
"Maybe some sports drinks?" Xu Qingfan said uncertainly, because he really liked drinking that brand of electrolyte water.
"Do we need to buy medicine? I heard we should also get some glucose!"
"Why bother with that stuff, if anyone gets hurt they can just go to the school doctor. We’re all healthy, no need for glucose. Better to buy a few kilos of bananas," he replied, shaking his head.
"So we’ll buy water and food, and..." Xiao Ruawen pondered on her tiptoes, "Bingo~ How about we also buy some gifts for the athletes who participate in the competitions!"
"You’re absolutely right," Xu Qingfan said, giving her a thumbs-up.
"There’s still 432 yuan and 60 cents in the class fund," Zhang Yiyi announced, showing her the little notebook she used for writing.
"Let’s buy strawberry cakes, too many bananas can cause diarrhea!"
"Xiao Xiao, let’s go pick out gifts together after school!" Xiao Ruawen exclaimed, scooting onto Xia Xiaoxiao’s lap and wrapping her arms around the little girl’s neck.
Xia Xiaoxiao was a bit overwhelmed by her best friend’s enthusiasm, rolling her eyes as she said, "Let’s talk after school."
Xu Qingfan suddenly noticed a peculiar thing: If two boys were doing what the girls were doing, he’d be disgusted, but when two girls did it, he found it pleasing to the eye.
Yet, it seems that wasn’t always the case. If it were two tanks, for instance, he’d still feel disgusted.
Before Xu Qingfan could delve deeper into this profound issue, the sports committee had returned and started handing out the sports day registration forms.
"What’s this ’kangaroo jump’ thing?" Lin Wanning asked, pointing to an event listed on their shared registration form.
"Maybe it’s about tying your feet together and hopping around?" Xu Qingfan guessed uncertainly.
"I know, I’ve played it before. It’s when you put your legs in a sack and hop to the finish line. Whoever has the shortest time wins!" Xiao Ruawen explained, raising her hand.
"Oh~" Everyone seemed to have an epiphany.
Aside from the fun events like kangaroo jump and tug of war, the rest were proper track and field events. "What events do you guys want to sign up for?" He picked up the pen and turned to his three team members.
"Brother Qing Fan, let’s sign up for kangaroo hopping together!" Lin Wanning pointed at the sign-up sheet and said.
"Sure, but there might be a lot of students signing up for this one, so we might not get picked. Qiuyue, do you want to sign up for kangaroo hopping?" Xu Qingfan wrote down all three of their names under the event.
"No need, Brother Fan, I’ll just slow you down," Chen Qiuyue said, scratching her head embarrassedly.
"No worries, it’s all about participating. How about you two? Anything else you want to sign up for?" Xu Qingfan stopped writing after adding his name under the 100 meters and high jump and asked.
"No more for me, Ningning is really slow at running; I’m always the first one to get caught in tag." Lin Wanning shook her little head like a rattle drum.
Xu Qingfan then turned his gaze toward Zhang Yiyi, who also shook her head with a smile.
"That’s fine then~ Qiuyue, see what else you want to sign up for. Don’t be shy about taking the chance to shine for our class!" He handed the sign-up sheet to Chen Qiuyue.
"Then I’ll... sign up for shot put," Chen Qiuyue said, taking the pen and writing her name down.
"Heehee, Qiuyue, you’re definitely going to take first place in shot put; not even the boys can throw as far as you!" Xiao Ruawen, who hadn’t left yet, said with a giggle. 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘱𝘶𝑏.𝑐𝘰𝑚
"Yep, I’ll do my best to bring honor to class sixteen!" Chen Qiuyue nodded firmly, feeling everyone’s encouraging gazes.
"Here you go~" Xu Qingfan passed the filled-out sign-up sheet to Xiao Ruawen.
"Brother Fan, why didn’t you sign up for the kilometer run? You have such great endurance!" Xiao Ruawen asked, puzzled after seeing the events he signed up for.
Xu Qingfan looked back at her suspiciously, really wanting to ask: How do you know I have good endurance?
"Too tiring," he answered offhandedly.
The real reason was that the high jump and the 100 meters sprint were the two events with the most spectators, and if he didn’t take advantage of his current height over his peers to show off now, he’d never get the chance again.
After all, he remembered very clearly that from fourth grade up until the start of junior high, he was always seen as the short kid.
"Okay then~ I was actually looking forward to running with you," Xiao Ruawen said, shrugging in disappointment.
Since boys’ and girls’ physical abilities are nearly the same during primary school and to save time, the school sports events didn’t differentiate between genders, nor would they have something like a "freely democratic" United States’ cross-gender groups.
Just the thought of having to run two and a half laps around the track left Lin Wanning’s legs feeling weak. She looked at Xiao Ruawen admiringly and said, "Class president, go for it! Ningning will cheer for you during the race!"
"What’s the use of cheering? Ningning, you should run with me!" Xiao Ruawen reached out to tickle Lin Wanning’s armpit.
"Ah~ That tickles, take this, Six-Pulse Excalibur!"
"Roar~ Behold my Peerless Universe Strike!"
"Ah! The opponent is too strong, Brother Qing Fan, you must use your Great Cosmos Shift to help me!"
Xu Qingfan was successfully amused by Lin Wanning’s ’Great Cosmos Shift’ and tapped both their heads with his hands: "This is the Left and Right Mutual Struggle Technique, you’re in second grade now, still acting like little kids."
"Yiyi!" Lin Wanning collapsed onto the table, pretending to be on her last breath.
Zhang Yiyi covered her mouth to sneakily laugh, and upon hearing Lin Wanning call her name, she stood up and placed her hands on Xu Qingfan’s head: "Absorption, Great Method!"
"Ah~ My hands are poisoned, what kind of hero are you, using the restroom and not washing your hands!" Xu Qingfan’s voice abruptly stopped, and he slumped weakly onto the desk.
The room burst into laughter.
"Silly~" A smile as fleeting as that of an epiphyllum blossomed on Xia Xiaoxiao’s face.
