"On this beautiful day with endless scenery and pleasant weather, we welcome the 67th annual autumn sports meet of Liyang No. 2 High School. Students, amongst the so-called comprehensive development of morality, intelligence, physical, aesthetics, and labor, the 'physical' aspect refers to sports."

The sports meet hasn't even started yet, and the stands are already overcrowded. Everyone is carrying chairs from the classrooms to the field, and the staircases are packed with people.

The voice of Broadcasting Head Jiang echoed throughout the school: "Strengthen your body, love sports, and feel the spirit of sports. I know you are all busy with your studies on normal days, but today, you can freely soar on the field and sweat to your heart's content..."

"Why is it so crowded? Let us through." 

The students, who should have been soaring freely on the field, were now all stuck at the staircase. The clanging and dragging sounds echoed throughout the entire hallway, causing a traffic jam as if it were the morning rush hour and there was no way out.

Class 3 were blocked at the section of the hallway in front of their classroom, leaving no space for anyone else to pass. Those who couldn't squeeze through were even forced to stay in the own classrooms.

Wan Da's chair was left at the entrance, but no one knew where he had gone. After a few minutes, he finally managed to push his way through the crowd and exclaimed, "I swear, it was a nightmare! We were stuck from the fifth floor all the way down to the first, and the old teaching building was even worse - there were collisions happening on both the second and third floors!" 

"If it were me, I would have already moved the chair down there by now," said He Chao as he dragged the chair towards the back door of the classroom. Upon seeing the magnificent scene outside, he decided to sit down right at the door instead of going any further. With a piece of candy in his mouth, he said, "Just wait and see. We'll be stuck here for at least ten minutes."

After speaking, he turned his head back to look at Xie Yu and said, "Old Xie, come over here?"

Xie Yu didn't budge. He was lying on the table with his eyes closed, saying, "No thanks, you like to be squished in with the crowd?"

"Help me put on the number tag. I can't reach it from behind," said He Chao as he held up the tag issued by the sports committee. It was made of a piece of cloth that had turned slightly yellow from repeated use, with four digits printed on it. "Hurry up, I'm the hope of the whole village."

Xie Yu didn't react. 

He Chao kept talking, and Xie Yu sat up and said, "Wan Da, go on the tag for the whole village's hope."

Wan Da, who was inexplicably drawn into the conversation: "..." 

He looked left and right, and his gaze met He Chao's. Although Brother Chao didn't say anything, his silence spoke volumes. Wan Da could read the message on his face loud and clear: "Be smart and back off. I want my desk mate to do it, you dare come and try?"

So Wan Da turned his head and pretended to be deaf: "Oh, why isn't it moving? How long are they going to block the way?"

Xie Yu: "..."

He Chao mentally gave Wan Da a thumbs up. Then he dragged his chair back and placed the pins and number tag on the desk. "Thank you, little friend."

Xie Yu pinched the pin and really wanted to stab him to death. 

He Chao sat with his back to Xie Yu, leaning back in his chair. Wan Da stood at the door, looking at him with a complex expression. He Chao smiled and even arrogantly raised his hand to gesture "yeah".

Wan Da shook his head, unable to bear watching.

Xie Yu pinned the number tag to He Chao's clothes with four corners and then mercilessly kicked his chair, telling him to hurry up and leave with a perfunctory tone: "Done."

He Chao reached back to touch it and found that Xie Yu had pinned it quite meticulously. He was about to praise him when Xie Yu kicked him again.

Class 3 had bad luck and was assigned to a small corner opposite the stands, under the scorching sun.

Then each class marched in formation into the stadium. Luo Wenqiang changed his clothes in the gym restroom and held the class sign at the front. He Chao and Xie Yu led the rest of the class behind him, one on each side. 

In Xu Qingqing's words: He Chao and Xie Yu are the face of our class, we'll rely on the two of them to hold us up.

Xu Qingqing's intention was to look cool, but students from other classes didn't see it that way.

They watched as Class 3 marched in formation, feeling only fear in their hearts. Even with the background music of "March of the Volunteers," with the two big shots from the building standing in the front row, leading more than thirty students from their class, they still felt like the next second they would roll up their sleeves and start fighting.

It was unbelievably wild.

So even though Luo Wenqiang was dressed so outrageously, no one dared to laugh at him.

"What's wrong with these people?" He Chao tilted his head slightly and said, "No one's laughing? Isn't it funny? When the cross-dressing big shot from the next class came out, it was clearly a sensation, are we not as good? Did our class lose?"

Xie Yu: "Maybe it's just too ugly." 

With a sword piercing his heart, Luo Wenqiang asked, "...Have you ever considered my feelings?"

The two-day sports meet had the long-distance race scheduled for tomorrow afternoon, and today they were only participating in one event: push-ups, held in the gymnasium.

Although it was already autumn, the midday sun was scorching, and they were feeling the heat.

He Chao took off his jacket and draped it over his head to shield himself from the sun. He looked down at his phone and saw that Wan Da had sent him a link to a forum post ten minutes ago.

The title read: Live Broadcast, Two Handsome Big Shots from Our School - Doing! Push-ups! I'm Already Exploding Like Fireworks!

The post had already garnered over a thousand comments and was trending on the school's homepage.

He Chao scrolled through a few pictures and his first instinct was to close the browser. He felt like he had just picked up a hot potato and couldn't decide if it was too hot because of the sun or his own inexplicable self-combustion. 

After a while, He Chao opened the post again...and stealthily saved the pictures. 

There were only three photos in total, taken in poor indoor lighting and by someone with poor nerves who dared not take them openly. They were blurry, hazy, and ambiguous. 

Even though they were not very clear, the two main characters in the photos could still be recognized. 

There was no way that Wan Da's big mouth would only send it to him; it was probably sent to the whole class. 

He Chao tentatively nudged Xie Yu with his elbow and asked, "...Did you see it?" 

"See what?" Xie Yu squinted his eyes, feeling a bit drowsy. 

People were coming and going on the exercise ground, with student volunteers riding bicycles around and the 100-meter runner from their class, Ding Lianghua, warming up. 

Xu Qingqing and her friends had already started writing for the radio contest, with several girls brainstorming ideas together.

He Chao thought to himself, what else could it be, of course, it's our CP. But he couldn't just come out and say it, so he gestured and said, "It's that one."

Xie Yu looked at him and asked, "Which one?"

"..."

He Chao hesitated for a moment before beckoning him over with a finger. Xie Yu reluctantly moved closer to him.

He Chao held up his jacket and motioned for Xie Yu to crawl inside. The two of them were practically nose to nose, squeezed under one jacket. He Chao's phone was on his lap, and Xie Yu had to lean in to see.

Xie Yu was studying it intently. 

He Chao was fixated on the back of Xie Yu's neck, running his fingers through his soft hair and feeling the slight protrusion of his cervical vertebrae. He regretted showing it to him. 

Why did he show it to him? Or, what reaction did he want to see? 

He Chao wasn't sure what he was trying to test.

Xie Yu flipped through several pages, the comments were all similar, full of vulgar language. As he continued to flip, his finger stopped on the 52nd comment, where there was a comment that read, "F*ck, I want to press their heads together! Kiss! Go ahead and kiss!"

"..."

Xie Yu blinked slowly, then spoke in a calm tone, "Oh, I see it now."

He Chao didn't know what to say, but suddenly the entire Class 3 behind him started screaming like they were on fire, "Ah - come on!"

Not far away on the exercise ground, Ding Lianghua had his hands on the track, crouching down in preparation for the race. When the gun went off, he shot out like a rocket, even faster than the night he smashed the class representative. 

"Beautiful! First place!" exclaimed Luo Wenqiang, his face turning red as he opened his arms and said, "Ding Ding, I want to give you a loving hug!"

Ding Lianghua was usually shy to the extreme, to the point where it became a social obstacle. After the competition, he smiled shyly and said, "No, no, no, it's okay."

He wiped his sweat and walked over, and He Chao also gave him some praise. Xie Yu felt that he was being too cold by not saying anything, so he casually said, "Ding Hualiang, not bad."

"..."

"Ding Lianghua," He Chao patted Xie Yu's head and whispered, "His name is Lianghua, when will you remember?"

Old Tang sat on the side, holding a pot of wolfberry tea and some homework to grade. He looked like an elderly person basking in the sun to absorb calcium, and he couldn't help but say, "Youth is really good," his eyes full of nostalgia for his youthful years. 

The class representative held a book and recited English words while watching everyone compete. 

Soon it was time for push-ups. 

Coincidentally, their PE teacher was the referee, and when the students from Class 3 saw him, they felt a bit uncomfortable. 

The PE teacher held a record sheet and said, "You guys better perform well. I gave you special training. If you don't make it to the top eight, it won't be good...Alright, get ready. I'll time you for one minute."

Xie Yu took off his hoodie before the competition, leaving only a white short-sleeved shirt underneath. 

He Chao looked at him and mused, "It'll be easier to move with less on? Old Xie, you're quite cunning."

Xie Yu thought, it was just too hot. 

But before he could say anything, He Chao had already taken off his hoodie and his shirt rolled up, revealing his waist and abdomen. 

Several people around let out sharp screams of surprise. 

"It seems like it's really a bit lighter," He Chao tried a few moves and noticed that Xie Yu hadn't reacted. He turned his head and asked, "What's wrong?"

Xie Yu said, "I think you should being called 'Brother Chao'."

He Chao didn't quite understand. "Oh, then what should it be?"

Xie Yu propped himself up on the ground and said, neither hot nor cold, "Brother Show-off."

He Chao thought about it for a while and felt like it was probably an insult.

They started a one-minute timer, and for the first half, He Chao and Xie Yu had similar speeds. 

The onlookers were whispering to each other, and Xie Yu vaguely heard someone say excitedly in a hushed voice, "The School Stick-on Sightseeing group? Ah, I'm also a member of the head-pressing squad." 

"Report to Teacher Tang, good news, good news! He Chao and Xie Yu have respectively achieved first and second place in the push-up competition!" Luo Wenqiang stood confidently in front of Tang Sen, saluting him and explaining, "Besides them, the other six were completely defeated."

Tang Sen nodded and reached into a nearby box to grab eight bottles of water, saying, "Everyone will be rewarded generously."

Xie Yu received the water, thanked Tang Sen, and then looked around at the people running freely on the exercise ground, cheering on their classmates.

Suddenly, he couldn't remember how he spent last year's sports day.

It seemed like he didn't even go to the exercise ground. With earphones in his ears, he hid in the music room to sleep. 

With a piece of candy in his mouth, He Chao handed another one to Xie Yu without even caring if he wanted it or not. He just placed it in Xie Yu's palm and then turned to Liu Cunhao, who had just run past their class, and said with a smile, "Come on, Hao-zi!"

Liu Cunhao raised his arm and shouted back, "Long live Class 3! I'm the coolest!"

He Chao leaned back in his chair and laughed again.

Xie Yu didn't really like candy. He thought it was too sweet and cloying. He looked down at the packaging for a while before finally using his fingers to open it.

Then Xie Yu stared at the white lines on the track and thought to himself: it really was too sweet.

Orange flavor, with a bit of sourness.

"After school, do you want to go get some snacks?" As the sports day was coming to an end, Shen Jie came over from Class 8 and said, "Big Boss Xie, didn't you say you wanted to treat us? There's no time like the present." 

Shen Jie and He Chao had already treated him once, but Xie Yu didn't want to owe anyone and said that he would treat next time, any day would do.

He Chao looked at Xie Yu, and since his desk mate had no objections, he agreed: "Okay, where do we eat?"

"Well, I don't want to eat at Jin Bang again," Shen Jie sat down in the empty seat behind them and thought carefully, "Actually, we've tried all the restaurants near the school, and Top Scorer Building is expensive and not tasty. Why don't we help some small restaurants in other streets develop their business?"

So after school, they walked three streets before finally deciding on a place to eat.

Shen Jie looked up at the restaurant's name, feeling a bit confused. He felt like he had circled not just the streets, but half the world, and ended up back where they started: "...Why does the way they name their restaurant here seem so similar to our school's?" 

"Next to us is the Tech school," Xie Yu reminded as he walked at the back.

The Tech school, or the Electronic Technology school, is a vocational school closest to No. 2.

Usually, on Fridays after school, students from the Tech school would come and hang out at the entrance of No. 2. When conflicts arise among No. 2 students, and they need help to settle things, they occasionally call on the students from the Tech school, who can arrive with a car full of helpers with just one phone call.

However, No. 2 is strict, and if they really want to fight, they have to go further away from the school.

Several tables were already occupied in the small restaurant. He Chao pushed the door open and said, "Let's just go to this one. It's almost time for evening self-study, and I haven't finished copying my homework yet."

Xie Yu also walked in nonchalantly and found a seat, carefully wiping the dishes and chopsticks with a napkin.

He Chao raised his hand and said, "Boss, the menu please." 

The people sitting at the tables inside didn't look very friendly. Suddenly, Shen Jie's right eyelid twitched uncontrollably, and he couldn't stop it. 

He followed them inside and instinctively reached for his pocket. Hmm...his wallet was still there.