If You Don't Go To Hell, Who Will?

I suspected that Zhong Yuan"s eyes had a problem. The whole situation really affected my mental condition before the compet.i.tion. Not only wasn"t he ashamed, he arrogantly said, "Lu Zijian thinks the same."

I turned to Lu Zijian pitifully. No, no, it can"t be. Lu Zijian is my idol. He would never act that way! (What does this have to do with him being your idol?)

Lu Zijian looked at me a bit embarra.s.sed. He laughed it off and said, "That… Your… Your hairstyle is really something, haha."

I wanted to cry, but there were no tears. Senior Lu, must you be so honest? You can"t even tell a white lie…?

Just then, Zhong Yuan said, "Hairstyle? She doesn"t even have hair. What kind of style could there be?"

I… If not for maintaining my poise in front of Lu Zijian, I"d have socked him already!
—

After Zhong Yuan"s disturbance, I performed really poorly during the morning preliminaries. I only just barely slipped my way into the finals. I realized though that most of the girls who were partic.i.p.ating had never even touched a basketball before. There were only a couple who showed some skills.

In the afternoon, my girls actually came to cheer me on. I was touched.

As the women"s" finals proceeded, the boys rested on the sidelines. My turn came, and I held the basketball in my hands and looked over at Lu Zijian, hoping to gain some loving encouragement. Then I saw Zhong Yuan jog over and sit down next to Lu Zijian. He looked over to the court with a smile, as if he was going to watch me make a fool of myself.

I glared at him and then turned to make my shot. The basketball gave me much face. After it circled the rim, it fell into the hoop.

Plucky Miss Fourth laughed and even gave a whistle. She shouted, "Blockhead Third, not bad!"

Her shout wasn"t super loud, but definitely loud enough for me to hear. Because she stood closer to the judges though, I suspected… Lu Zijian probably heard as well?

So embarra.s.sing! Miss Fourth, how am I supposed to endure this now…?

I picked up my messy emotions and continued with my shots. The rest of my performance was pa.s.sable. I was unable to put forth my best, but it wasn"t horrible.

When I finished, I didn"t dare look at Lu Zijian. I hardened my skin and dragged my roommates out for ice cream. We sat near the sports field and waited for the results.

I licked at the chocolate on my ice cream while I idiotically stared at Lu Zijian in the distance. He was seriously watching each compet.i.tor and giving them points… A man working seriously is so handsome!

Boss waved her hand in front of my face. With less than kind intentions, she asked, "What are you looking at?"

Before I could answer, Miss Fourth cut in, "A blockhead is looking at another blockhead."

Upset, I grabbed her ice cream from her hand and shouted, "I"m warning you! Don"t ever call me Blockhead in front of Lu Zijian! And you, you guys!"

Lil" Second stared into the distance towards Lu Zijian…"s friend at his side, Zhong Yuan. She said, "Blockhead Third, forget it. Lu Zijian belongs to Zhong Yuan. Look how close they are. You don"t stand a chance!

I s.n.a.t.c.hed Lil" Second"s ice cream away from her as well. "Are you sure you guys came to cheer me on today?" Then I remembered there was still Boss. I turned to give her a warning glare. She didn"t say much, but when she did say something, I could rarely refute it.

Just then, Boss raised her ice cream in the air. She looked up and gave an exasperated sigh. Then she looked back at her ice cream and said, "I don"t talk when I"m eating."

Second, Third, and Fourth all made a face at her.
—

It was nearly evening when the compet.i.tion finished. Tallying the points didn"t require any special techniques, so the results were released shortly after the conclusion of the compet.i.tion. The award ceremony was approaching. The ceremony was very simple and happened right on the athletics field.

First place wasn"t me. Second place… wasn"t me either…

I only got third place. The prize was a single Grandpa Mao.1The 100 yuan bill bears the image of Mao Zedong.

OK, well, third place it is then. It seemed my abilities weren"t up to first and second place. I was sad that I didn"t get the 500 yuan, but at least I got 100. People, you know, should be happy with what they have.

The important part is that Lu Zijian personally handed out the prizes…

When he handed the certificate and prize to me, I latched onto his hand and gave it a firm shake.

My breathing felt hurried, and my heart beat faster as the adrenaline rush came…