Chapter 31

Do you have someone you like?
Su Xiaoxiao only nodded mildly. “Yeah, I know.”
“You, you know?” Jin Qishan froze, his ears turning red.
Did she figure out what he’d been hiding all along?
“Of course,” Su Xiaoxiao said breezily. “It’s natural, same genders repel, opposites attract.” She gave him a teasing side-eye. “Besides, Shen Yi is really handsome.”
“Heh.” He scoffed once, twice, thrice. “Handsome? Don’t see it.”
“You’re so jealous I can smell the vinegar,” she teased. “Is it really that hard to admit someone else is good-looking?”
“Ha.” Jin Qishan rode up beside her, pretending to sound casual. “Then tell me, who’s better-looking, him or me?”
“Obvious, you,” Su Xiaoxiao deliberately drew out the word.
His’s lips curled, just a little, “aren’t as handsome as him,” she finished.
“Hmph.” He turned away with a sharp snort.
“Hey, don’t be mad,” she said quickly, laughing. “You’re handsome, you’re the most handsome man alive, okay?”
Then, suddenly remembering something, she added, “Oh, did you know Zhang Dongshan confessed to Hua Hua over the summer?”
Jin Qishan blinked. “Zhang Dongshan, likes Shen Hua?”
Su Xiaoxiao gave him a you’re hopeless look. “Wasn’t it obvious?”
“Not really.” He frowned, thinking back, but found no sign of it.
Honestly, he’d always assumed Zhang Dongshan liked Su Xiaoxiao.
The guy was glued to her every day, talking non-stop, always offering her snacks first.
Su sighed. “Wow, you really didn’t notice anything,”
“When did you find out?” he asked.
“First semester of eighth grade,” she said proudly. “I’ve got an eye for these things, one look, and I can tell who likes who.”
Jin Qishan chuckled softly. “Really?”
(Then can you tell who I like?), he didn’t say that part aloud, but the question echoed quietly in his chest.
“Of course,” Su Xiaoxiao said breezily, thinking to herself how pure teenage crushes were.
The ways they tried to get each other’s attention were endless, but the look in their eyes was always the same.
Words might lie, but eyes never did.
Jin Qishan asked again, “So how did you know he confessed?”
“Dongshan told me afterward,” Su said. “Too bad Hua turned him down.”
Jin nodded, unsurprised.
“But why didn’t he tell me?”
“Why should he?” she raised a brow. “Who reports their confession to a love rival? Still, I didn’t expect them to stay friends afterward.”
He only focused on that last part, completely missing the earlier jab.
“Why couldn’t they stay friends?” he asked, frowning.
Su Xiaoxiao blinked. Wait, is he admitting he likes Shen Hua?
She gave an awkward little laugh, eyes darting away. “How can you stay friends with someone you like? Liking someone means you can’t ever really be ‘just friends.’”
Night had fallen thick and cool. The streetlamps scattered pools of golden light across the ground, and the only sound was the faint squeak of their bicycle chains.
Then, softly, Jin Qishan asked, “Then, do you have someone you like?”
The light turned red, and Su Xiaoxiao came to a stop at the intersection.
Someone she liked? It had been so long since she’d felt anything like that.
She vaguely remembered, many years ago, in another world, she’d once had a crush on a boy, the school heartthrob. But he’d already had a childhood sweetheart. Later, she even wrote a novel based on them.
Right. This very novel, the one she’d transmigrated into.
And now, in this young body with an older soul, how could she fall in love again?
Her eyes drifted past Jin to the traffic light ahead.
Her voice was soft, almost wistful. “No, I don’t think so.”
No?
She really didn’t like him at all?
Jin Qishan’s heart sank slowly, but he forced a small, easy smile. “Then, would you still be friends with someone who likes you?”
“Of course not,” she said without hesitation. “It’d be too awkward.”
That autumn night, Su Xiaoxiao would never know just how hard Jin Qishan’s heart had been pounding when he’d asked, Do you have someone you like?
…
High school life was far livelier than middle school. They’d just finished a ping-pong tournament, and now the next event, a basketball competition, was coming up.
That morning, their homeroom teacher, Mr. Cao Feng, spoke to the class with bright enthusiasm.
“Next month, there’ll be an interclass basketball game! I hope you all sign up and give it your best shot. The experimental class hasn’t made it to the finals in years, let’s change that this time!”
He said the same thing every year, and every year, they failed miserably. Getting enough players to even form a team was already a victory.
Liu Jun, tall and skinny with great grades but terrible stamina, groaned. “Come on, with all of us sickly scholars, how are we supposed to beat the normal classes? Those guys are built like tanks.”
Chen Bo gave him a playful punch. “Don’t jinx it! We’ve got Brother Shan, haven’t we?”
Chen Bo played basketball sometimes too, but he was, frankly, terrible at it.
Liu Jun snorted. “So Brother Shan’s gonna lead a team of crippled scholars?”
Zhang Dongshan, overhearing, bristled and pointed his bandaged finger. “Hey! Who’re you calling crippled?”
Chen Bo smirked. “Well, seeing as your hand’s already busted, pretty obvious who he meant.”
Zhang nearly cried. Two days ago, he’d jammed his finger so badly during practice that it fractured. And now they were mocking him for it.
Su Xiaoxiao patted his shoulder, grinning. “Calm down. Next time we have a match, you might not be the only one with broken fingers.”
Zhang: “…”
Shen Hua tried not to laugh, her shoulders shaking.
Seeing her amused, Zhang doubled down on his clown routine, earning more laughter from the class.
From the back, Duan Hao snorted loudly, eyes narrowed to slits, rolling so far back they showed mostly white.
When Su Xiaoxiao turned her head and caught sight of him, his greasy hair and smug face, she instantly felt nauseated.
She never liked talking to Duan Hao, but unfortunately, he always seemed eager to talk to her. His jokes were crude and awkward, and he thought they were charming.
He had terrible hygiene and the world’s worst foot odor. But that wasn’t the worst of it, he kept sticking his feet under her desk. Every day she came close to passing out from the smell.
And on top of that, he clearly liked her.
But that kind of “liking” made her skin crawl.
He’d play with her hair, poke her back, pick fights with her just to get her attention,
And the more she avoided him, the happier he seemed.
Utter creep.
Just thinking about Duan Hao gave her a headache.
If only Jin Qishan sat behind her instead,
Mr. Cao clapped his hands, quieting the noise. “Alright, enough chatter. We’ll talk more later. Ma Jinlong, take down names for the basketball signups.”
The class’s P.E. monitor jumped up. “Got it, sir! I’ll handle it!”
After class, Ma Jinlong went around trying to recruit players. They decided to hold an in-class tryout first.
Unfortunately, not many people could actually play.
“Brother Shan, you in?” Ma asked, holding his clipboard.
Zhang didn’t even hesitate. “Of course! What’s a game without me?”
“Ha! You mean what’s a game with you?” Duan Hao said mockingly, sneaking a glance at Su Xiaoxiao. “Your skills are trash, you play like you’re blind.”
Zhang’s skills weren’t great, but he wasn’t that bad either. Being insulted in front of the whole class, especially in front of Shen Hua, was humiliating.
Still, he swallowed his pride, cheeks red. “That’s only ’cause I haven’t shown my real strength yet.”
Ma Jinlong quickly jumped in to smooth things over. “Right, right, Brother Shan’s the best. I’ll put your name down.”
“Go ahead,” Zhang Dongshan said with a wave.
“Okay, I’ll check who else wants in.” Ma Jinlong turned to Duan Hao. “You playing, Hao?”
“Me? Nah,” Duan said loudly, seeing Su Xiaoxiao hadn’t even glanced at him. “What’s the point? The team’s full of weaklings anyway.”
Su Xiaoxiao’s mood soured instantly. She’d already been irritated by how he humiliated Zhang, but she’d held her tongue out of pure dislike for the guy.
But now, as he went on and on, she couldn’t stand it anymore.
Duan Hao continued in a sing-song tone, “I bet we’ll get eliminated in the first round, no one here can last five minutes.”
Su Xiaoxiao turned around with a pleasant smile. “Oh? And you can?”
He blinked. “Well, no, but I…”
“But what?” Her smile sharpened. “You can watch? You can talk? If you’re so amazing, why don’t you play? Let’s see what your mouth can score, a three-pointer, maybe?”
“You’re all talk. If you can’t even make a shot, then shut up. Do you even know what a dunk is? A layup? Can you even reach the hoop with that build?” She looked him up and down, eyes cold. “You can’t even jump, can you?”
Finally, she smiled again, disdain curling her lips. “You’re miles worse than Zhang Dongshan.”
Duan Hao’s face flushed crimson; he couldn’t get a single word out.
The class fell silent. It was the first time anyone had heard Su Xiaoxiao tear into someone like that.
For a few seconds, no one moved.
Then,
“Pfft” Jin Qishan broke the silence, laughing as he walked forward from the back row.
“Well then,” he said with a grin, “since Duan Hao here’s so impressive, why don’t we settle it on the court? You and me. Let’s see which one of us counts as the ‘crippled weakling.’”