Chapter 52 Part 2

…

At two o’clock, they arrived at Jiaojiang Experimental Middle School. Experimental Middle School was well-funded; they’d moved to a new campus two years ago with impressive teaching buildings and fields. The only downside was its distance from the city center, so all students had to board. In contrast, Jiaojiang No. 1 Middle School had hunkered in the city for years—great transportation and convenience, but old, rundown teaching buildings and a tiny field.

This citywide English speech contest had ten high schools participating, and crowds had already gathered at Experimental Middle School’s gate—school uniforms of various colors and styles everywhere.

Lu Ping regretted it: If he’d known everyone else wore uniforms, he should have too! How else to show their No. 1 High School pride?

Seeing his regretful face, Shen Yuze asked, “Want a uniform? I have a spare set in the car.”

“Yes!” Lu Ping’s eyes lit up.

Shen Yuze was quite a bit taller than Lu Ping, so his uniform was a size larger. Lu Ping put it on directly—it was baggy, requiring him to roll up the sleeves.

The clothes still carried Shen Yuze’s body scent, a unique aroma that was neither perfume nor laundry detergent—worlds apart from those chemically synthesized fragrances. Lu Ping had always felt that the smell on Shen Yuze was like a white shirt sun-dried in the breeze, warm winds gently fluttering the hem, both reserved and proud.

After putting on Shen Yuze’s school uniform, Lu Ping felt as though he was soaked in Shen Yuze’s aura from the outside in.

Lu Ping shoved his hands into his pockets, mimicking Shen Yuze’s posture—back straight, chin slightly raised, sweeping disdainful glances at passersby—before asking Shen Yuze, “How about it? Do I look like you?”

Shen Yuze was speechless. “In your mind, am I just some arrogant guy with bad eyesight?”

“How is it bad eyesight?” Lu Ping retorted. “This is KG’s gaze! The look of certain victory!”

Shen Yuze asked wryly, “…So you’re not denying the ‘arrogant’ part?”

Lu Ping grinned slyly. “I see you’ve got a pretty accurate self-image, so I won’t say more.”

Shen Yuze lightly knocked Lu Ping on the forehead.

The two of them stood by the car, chatting intently, oblivious to the fact that every student passing by deliberately slowed down just to steal a few extra glances at them.

The English speech contest required formal attire, so all the participating boys wore suits. But boys their age in suits always looked like “kids sneaking into adults’ clothes”—a youthful face paired with an ill-fitting suit just felt off no matter how you looked at it.

Shen Yuze was different. He had inherited his supermodel mother’s perfect figure—tall stature, broad shoulders, long legs. The suit was like a king’s battle robe on him. His expression was cool and aloof, brimming with pride, but when his gaze fell on the boy opposite him, it softened noticeably.

When others followed his line of sight to Lu Ping standing before him, they were often struck by disappointment—what? Why was this handsome guy’s friend so ordinary?

Ordinary features, ordinary height, ordinary build and vibe. From head to toe, nothing stood out.

But after a few more glances, people gradually noticed something different: the boy’s round face looked cute and approachable; his eyes sparkled with lively joy; when he spoke, he added little unconscious gestures, like the boy-next-door who greeted you with “good morning” every day before school—radiating an indescribable warmth and comfort.

People used to juice and hard liquor might find plain water bland; only a rare few could taste its lingering sweetness.

Shen Yuze was the first to “drink the water.”

…

Shen Yuze didn’t linger at the school gate for long. A few minutes earlier, his English teacher had called, urging him to hurry to the waiting area. Lu Ping watched him enter the Experimental Middle School gates, then found a shady spot by the entrance to sit. Regular audience members couldn’t enter until 2:30 p.m., so with time to kill, he could play on his phone.

He hadn’t enjoyed the peace for long when a familiar girl’s voice rang out.

“Lu Ping? You really came!”

Lu Ping looked up to see Chen Miaomiao, Zhou Yue, the Class Monitor, and others standing nearby. They all wore No. 1 High School uniforms and had come to cheer for Shen Yuze.

Lu Ping wasn’t close to the others and could only chat a bit with Chen Miaomiao. But with her megaphone personality, knowing her was as good as knowing the whole school.

Chen Miaomiao was always in the loop. She told Lu Ping that around sixty or seventy people were coming to Experimental Middle School today, from various grades and classes. No. 1 High School didn’t mandate attendance for the speech contest, but since Shen Yuze and Meng Xin were school celebrities, plenty of classmates had shown up voluntarily to support them.

“Here, take this.” Chen Miaomiao suddenly pulled a fabric item from her sleeve cuff and stuffed it into Lu Ping’s hand. “Hide it in your pant leg or sleeve—don’t put it in your pocket, or those Experimental Middle School jerks might search you!”

Bewildered, Lu Ping unfolded the cloth. It was about fifty centimeters long and twenty wide, printed with Shen Yuze’s photo, the school’s logo, and bold characters: [No. 1 High School Students, Laughing Proudly Over the Competition!]

Lu Ping was stunned speechless. “…………What is this?”

“It’s a banner! Haven’t you seen one?” Chen Miaomiao explained. “A must-have for fan girls! I had my designer friend make it and rushed the printing overnight. Not bad quality, right?”

Lu Ping nodded dumbly.

Chen Miaomiao beamed proudly. “We’ll sneak the banners in. When Shen Yuze takes the stage, we unfurl them all at once—blind those Experimental Middle School dogs with envy! Let them seethe!!”

Lu Ping wasn’t sure if it would blind anyone, but he hoped Shen Yuze wouldn’t crack up laughing on stage when he saw it.

Time quickly reached 2:30 p.m., and the audience could enter.

Experimental Middle School students guided visitors from other schools toward the grand auditorium. Along the way, they passed imposing teaching buildings, comprehensive blocks, libraries, the newly laid 400-meter plastic track, soccer fields, and fitness equipment and ping-pong tables everywhere… Chen Miaomiao itched with anger. “They’re deliberately showing off!”

The Experimental Middle School auditorium was magnificent, seating nearly a thousand. Rumor had it that since the school was boarding-only, they screened movies there every Monday night to enrich students’ after-school lives.

For the speech contest, the hall was decorated with colorful streamers, balloons, and banners everywhere. No. 1 High School students tried their hardest not to look envious. So what if it was just an auditorium? Their No. 1 High School… well, they didn’t have one, but they had a gymnasium (with insufficient heating and leaks).

Seats were divided into left, center, and right blocks, fanning out from front to back. They naturally aimed for the front-center spots, but as they headed there, Experimental Middle School students blocked them.

“You’re from No. 1 High School, right?” An Experimental student eyed their uniforms. “Audience seats for this contest are pre-assigned. I’ll take you.”

Only then did they notice school names stuck on the seats—students in matching uniforms sat together in their own blocks.

The Class Monitor said, “No need, just point us there. We’ll go ourselves.”

The Experimental student raised his hand and pointed to the very last few rows of the entire hall! “Rows 25 to 30, sit wherever.”

“???”

“!!!”

“You’re kidding! This hall only has thirty rows, right?”

“So shameless!”

“Pah, what a load of crap!”

The grudge between Experimental Middle School and No. 1 High School ran deep, but no one expected such blatant discrimination. Normal seating wouldn’t arrange like this—you’d assign by left-center-right blocks in sequence. How could they shove one school to the back rows?

The Experimental student held his head high, utterly shameless. “Watch your language—this is our turf, not your No. 1 High School! We’re already being nice to you ‘guests.’ We didn’t even reserve seats for our own students. If our people want to watch, they stand in the aisles…”

It sounded reasonable at first, but on second thought, it was all traps.

It was Sunday, so Experimental’s boarders had returned. Tons of students would show up. If the aisles filled with their crowd, packed tight, they’d block the entire view for No. 1 High School’s back-row folks!

Tempers flared; even some hot-headed No. 1 students rolled up sleeves for a “heart-to-heart.” Luckily, classmates held them back.

Amid the chaos, Lu Ping was angry too, but he kept his cool.

This was Experimental’s home ground, and No. 1 High only had seventy-odd people. Clashing head-on would get them nowhere. To fix this, he needed a workaround.

Lu Ping scanned the hall, his eyes lighting up at a group in gray uniforms up front.

He immediately shrugged off his blue-and-white jacket and strode forward while others were distracted.

“Lu Ping, where are you going?” Sharp-eyed Chen Miaomiao spotted him.

Lu Ping shushed her and whispered, “I’m grabbing front-row seats. Coming?”

“Huh?” Chen Miaomiao thought—did Lu Ping figure ditching his uniform would let him blend into another block? He’d give himself away cheering!

Curious, she shed her jacket too and followed quietly.

She expected him to try his luck asking around, but Lu Ping headed straight for the fifth-row group.

They wore gray uniforms with an unfamiliar chest logo—who knew which school? Only about thirty or forty of them, not filling their spots, looking sparse and awkward.

Up close, Chen Miaomiao caught their dialect chat.

Jiaojiang City shared one dialect overall, but accents varied subtly by area, with different word choices. She half-understood but couldn’t pinpoint their school.

“Didn’t expect Experimental to give us such prime seats.”

“With so few of us, we can’t even fill them.”

“Too far from home—no school bus. Only us idiots came.”

“We’re just here to make up numbers. First place will be No. 1 or Experimental anyway.”

They chatted animatedly, only noticing Lu Ping and Chen Miaomiao after a while.

Curious stares turned their way.

Even social butterfly Chen Miaomiao felt nervous under so many strangers’ eyes—how to ask for seats?

Unexpectedly, the usually quiet, low-profile Lu Ping spoke up.

And Chen Miaomiao realized he was using their exact dialect!

“Excuse me, are you from Beian High School?” Lu Ping greeted fluently in pure North Shore dialect, perfectly at ease. “I’ve got something I’d like to discuss with you…”