The Difference Was Obvious

Physical education class.

Grade One, Class Eight had physical education together with Class 10.

The physical education teacher was dark and burly, his face stern as the Dark-Faced Demon.

Guo Kunnan and the others, who usually loved pulling little tricks, did not dare so much as breathe loudly.

Good grief, where did No.4 Middle School find this Fierce God? Ma Shicheng grumbled inwardly. In terms of sheer intimidation, the physical education teacher was even more imposing than Instructor Li.

"My name is Gu Wei. I'll be your physical education teacher from now on."

"Today's your first PE class. Where's the Sports Committee Member? Step forward so I can recognize you!"

Zhang Chi, the Sports Committee Member for Class Eight, stepped out, as did Class 10's Sports Committee Member.

"Lead them for two laps," Gu Wei shouted.

Zhang Chi obediently led everyone off for a run. Two laps totaled eight hundred meters. Since they had only recently finished military training, that distance was nothing much. Many students finished without any change in their expressions.

Gu Wei swept his gaze over the group. "All right, dismissed on the spot. Don't leave the School Field before class ends. If I catch you, you'll regret it!"

The moment they heard that, the students scattered like birds and beasts.

Jiang Ning picked up his table tennis paddle and walked toward Xue Yuantong.

Ma Shicheng had sharp eyes and noticed the paddle in Jiang Ning's hand. He wanted to go play table tennis, but Guo Kunnan beside him grabbed him.

"Ma Ge, come on, let's play basketball."

Several boys in the class were watching him. Ma Shicheng decisively went to play basketball.

Xue Yuantong sat alone on the edge of the broad Speech Platform.

Jiang Ning raised the paddle in his hand.

"Want to play a round?"

He knew Xue Yuantong liked table tennis. In his previous life, she had played often. Later, in her second year of high school, she had even participated in a city competition. Though she had only won a small prize, her skills had been among the best in all of No.4 Middle School.

This time, Xue Yuantong did not pretend to decline. She took the paddle, eager to trade a few moves with Jiang Ning.

Recently, she had always felt unable to hold her head up around Jiang Ning.

She relied on him for too many things.

Now, she could finally stand tall!

Xue Yuantong gripped the paddle as though she were gripping a sword hilt, transforming into a sharp swordswoman.

She could no longer restrain her killing intent. Her eyes were filled with arrogance and bloodlust. Today, she was going on a killing spree!

Xue Yuantong served, a beautiful spinning serve! The ball slipped and twisted unpredictably. An ordinary table tennis enthusiast would not be able to judge the depth of the spin and might not even return it.

Xue Yuantong had already foreseen the outcome of this round.

Victory was about to be hers.

Then Xue Yuantong spent ten minutes picking up balls.

Her slender body ran back and forth until her face was flushed red and she was gasping for breath.

Xue Yuantong had lost so badly that she began questioning her life. She was utterly bewildered. How was this possible?

Her table tennis was obviously so good. She could pull off all kinds of smashing techniques with ease. She should have amazed Jiang Ning with her skills and made him immediately kneel and beg her to take him as a disciple.

Who could have expected this outcome?

This was not scientific!

Xue Yuantong refused to believe it and continued competing with Jiang Ning.

Jiang Ning did not go easy on her either. His neural reaction speed far surpassed Xue Yuantong's. Perhaps only genuine professional players could have a decent game with him.

As he mercilessly crushed her at table tennis, Jiang Ning gradually recovered a little of that youthful feeling.

Quite a few students sat along the edge of the Speech Platform. Some chatted, some played on their phones, while others watched Jiang Ning and Xue Yuantong play table tennis.

Perhaps because they were new students unfamiliar with the school, the several empty table tennis tables had only Jiang Ning and Xue Yuantong playing at them, drawing many eyes.

Yu Wen and Shen Qing'e stood close together, with the table tennis tables seven or eight meters directly in front of them.

Seeing Xue Yuantong picking up balls like an idiot, Yu Wen laughed. "She's way too bad, isn't she? If she can't play table tennis, why play at all? How can she get crushed this badly?"

In her eyes, Jiang Ning's skills were merely average. For Xue Yuantong to be beaten like this, her table tennis skills were unbelievably awful.

Shen Qing'e said nothing, but she had reached the same conclusion. Watching made them anxious. Xue Yuantong had not won a single round and kept picking up balls.

A short-haired female student beside them, dressed in a black tracksuit, sneered when she heard them. "What do you know? It's not that Xue Yuantong is bad. Jiang Ning is just too good. With his level, a little training would definitely put him among the notable players in the City-Level Table Tennis League!"

Yang Sheng had a good eye. Jiang Ning's movements and footwork were not particularly standard, but his reaction speed was terrifyingly fast. Calling him a genius would not be an exaggeration.

Shen Qing'e blurted out, "Impossible!"

She and Jiang Ning came from the same town and had attended the same Town Middle School. No one knew Jiang Ning better than she did.

Jiang Ning was decent at table tennis, but only among the better students in class. When their middle school held table tennis competitions, Jiang Ning had never even placed within his grade.

The winners from their Town Middle School had gone on to county competitions and failed to place there as well.

Jiang Ning making it into the City-Level Table Tennis League? What a joke. Absolutely impossible!

Shen Qing'e had good manners and could not be bothered to argue with the short-haired girl. But Yu Wen beside her had a fiery temper. She knew who the short-haired girl was: Yang Sheng, their classmate, who was usually carefree and tomboyish.

Yu Wen caught the mockery in Yang Sheng's words and immediately spoke up.

"So you're the only one who knows anything? I still think Xue Yuantong is bad. She's been picking up balls the whole time."

"I could beat her if I went up there," Yu Wen declared confidently. Who didn't know how to play table tennis?

Yang Sheng smiled. "I do know something. I was a sports specialty student in middle school. I've worn out more table tennis balls than you've ever seen."

Yu Wen shot back, "Anyone can brag. I've kicked a whole truckload of soccer balls to pieces!"

Seeing how stubborn she was, Yang Sheng egged her on. "Do you dare compete with Xue Yuantong? If you lose, you'll do my cleaning duty for a month. If you win, I'll do yours."

"How about it?"

The class cleaning was normally divided into groups, with each group taking its turn every week. Yang Sheng hated cleaning duty the most.

Yu Wen was not intimidated in the slightest. Free labor delivered right to her door? It would be foolish not to take it. That rookie Xue Yuantong would be easy for her to beat.

Yu Wen stepped down from the Speech Platform and headed toward Xue Yuantong.

Dong Qingfeng waved at her and shouted, "Good luck, Yu Wen!"

"Don't worry," Yu Wen replied with a smile.

Then Dong Qingfeng saw the friendly look Shen Qing'e gave him, and he secretly rejoiced.

Shen Qing'e was pretty, and quite a few boys in class liked her. Dong Qingfeng was no exception. Before pursuing a girl, he should first build a good relationship with her best friend. Things would go much more smoothly afterward.

Dong Qingfeng had learned that online.

Jiang Ning had long noticed everyone's conversation. That little girl Yang Sheng had some discernment, but Yu Wen was purely coming over to get crushed.

"Jiang Ning, lend me your paddle. I'll play a few rounds with Xue Yuantong," Yu Wen said.

Jiang Ning was happy to oblige and handed over the paddle.

Xue Yuantong had been too absorbed in picking up balls earlier, and the Speech Platform was some distance away, so she had not heard Yu Wen and the others. Now that she saw her opponent had changed, she was a little confused.

"You two play," Jiang Ning said with a smile.

Xue Yuantong actually did not want to switch opponents. She wanted to keep competing with Jiang Ning and refused to believe she could not beat him. However, she had lost too many times in a row and was nearly losing her feel for the game. She desperately needed to get it back.

So Xue Yuantong took the ball and faced Yu Wen. She concentrated. There was no fancy serve, just an ordinary one. Yu Wen easily returned the bouncing ball, thinking, She really is bad!

Then Xue Yuantong whipped a backhand shot, so fast it was frightening. Before Yu Wen could react, the table tennis ball had grazed past her.

Yang Sheng watched with a much more serious expression. At first, she had not thought Xue Yuantong was particularly skilled, since Xue Yuantong had been constantly picking up balls.

"No way, right?" Yu Wen said in disbelief as she retrieved the ball.

This time it was her turn to serve. She lifted the table tennis ball and sent out an ordinary serve as well.

Then, there was no then. Yu Wen experienced exactly what Xue Yuantong had gone through when Jiang Ning had utterly dominated her.

After losing more than a dozen balls in a row, Yu Wen could no longer see any hope of winning and had no choice but to return the paddle.

Her face burned as if someone had slapped her with a table tennis paddle.

Yang Sheng added insult to injury. "Next week's cleaning duty is yours!"

Thanks to 'A October' for the Monthly Ticket.