Heartbroken Athletes

The bell signaling the end of the exam rang throughout the campus; the old gatekeeper should be opening the school gates by now. On exam days, school lets out earlier than usual, and students are free to leave as soon as they finish.

Zhao Xiaobai stood up. "I'm going back to the classroom to get my error notebook. Let's meet at the milk tea shop in a bit."

Chen Zhao nodded. "I'll go grab us a seat."

The milk tea shop at the school gate was quite large, with nearly a hundred seats; it looked more like a fast-food joint than a tea shop. By the time Chen Zhao walked in, more than half the seats were already taken, so he had to settle for a corner seat by the window to wait.

The shop smelled delicious, filled with the scents of fried chicken, milk tea, fruit tea, and side dishes. Students trickled in, ordering burgers and fruit tea, gathering in small groups to chat and eat. The food here was decent and the prices weren't too steep—somewhere between Wallace and KFC. Because of this, many of the wealthier students came here for lunch or dinner. Chen Zhao had been here once before, but he'd been strapped for cash and couldn't afford to return. Recently, however, he'd made a large sum of money from livestreaming, so he could finally treat himself.

Four student-athletes sat down at the table next to Chen Zhao, ordering fruit tea and chicken wraps in unison, chatting as they ate.

Because they were so close, Chen Zhao could hear every word of their conversation.

"Come on, let's play, let's play. The season is almost over, let's hit Star Diamond," one guy with a buzz cut said, pulling out his phone.

"I'm out, my screen is shattered," a guy with short hair said with an awkward laugh, pulling his phone from his pocket. The screen was a spiderweb of cracks.

"Holy crap, that's impressive. Did you use your phone as a brick in a street fight?" a guy wearing an ear stud asked in shock.

"No, no, I saw Zhao Xiaobai on my way to school today! I wanted to sneak a photo, and just as I pulled my phone out, she turned around and looked. I was so startled my hand shook," the short-haired guy scratched his head and smiled sheepishly. "And then I dropped it and it smashed."

"So, did you get the shot?" another guy with short hair asked.

"I got a picture of her back," the guy with the broken phone said with a shy, happy smile.

"Quick, quick! Let us see!"

"Get lost, why would you look at my wife?"

"Shameless! What do you mean 'your wife'? Does Zhao Xiaobai even know you exist?"

"She doesn't know me now... but she will! I'm going to confess to her after graduation!"

"Give it a rest, you coward. You dropped your phone just because she glanced at you, and you think you can confess? Do you even have the guts?"

The athletes began to bicker, teasing and cursing each other. It was clear they were close friends who enjoyed bantering.

Chen Zhao listened in shock. It seemed the guy with the broken phone had a bit of a crush on Zhao Xiaobai?

The athletes continued their conversation:

"I wonder what type of guy Zhao Xiaobai likes."

"I hope she likes muscular guys. Look at these gains—don't I look like Schwarzenegger? Don't I give off a sense of security?"

"What do you know? You've overdone it. Your chest is bigger than hers; it looks barbaric! Girls these days like tall guys. I'm one-ninety-one... I think I've got a shot!"

"Forget it, boys. Next time I see her, I'm going to walk right up and confess. I'll pursue her boldly and passionately; she won't be able to resist. In a few years, I'll marry Zhao Xiaobai and invite you all to the wedding—no red envelopes required!"

Chen Zhao was stunned.

A moment ago, he'd thought only the guy with the broken phone had a crush on her.

But after listening for a while, it seemed... all four of these athletes were interested in Zhao Xiaobai!

Chen Zhao was surprised. He had heard before that Zhao Xiaobai was the campus goddess—beautiful and ethereal, with top-tier grades and a gentle, serene temperament. She was the standard image of a first love. At the time, Chen Zhao thought it was just students joking around, as he hadn't felt anything special for her himself. Yet, in the short time he'd been waiting at the milk tea shop, he'd already found four admirers at the table next to him?

It seemed she really was the campus goddess!

Speak of the devil, and she shall appear.

The door to the milk tea shop pushed open, and a white dress drifted in like a cloud under the sunlight. Zhao Xiaobai stood at the entrance, scanning the shop. When she saw Chen Zhao in the corner by the window, she smiled, walked over quickly, and plopped down into the seat opposite him.

"What do you want to eat? My treat. Let's eat and talk," Zhao Xiaobai suggested.

"Clatter!" The sound of a phone hitting the floor echoed as the athlete at the next table bent down to pick it up.

It was the same short-haired guy with the spiderweb screen. He had been fiddling with his phone, but seeing Zhao Xiaobai walk straight over, sit across from a boy, and offer to buy him lunch, he fell into a daze of grief, and his phone slipped again...

Chen Zhao glanced at the four athletes. They had all gone silent, their faces turning green.

The guy with the broken phone looked like his eyes were reddening. He kept his mouth shut, took a few sips of his fruit tea, and suddenly stood up, grabbing his tea and chicken wrap before walking away without looking back.

The other three athletes stood up in a flurry, grabbed their drinks, and left in a hurry.

If heartbreak had a sound, it would have been a loud, crackling noise as those athletes left. Their hearts were completely shattered!

Clearly, they all assumed Chen Zhao was Zhao Xiaobai's boyfriend. After spending all that time discussing their beautiful dreams of marrying her, they hadn't expected the real deal to be sitting right next to them. The embarrassment was unbearable, so they all fled. Chen Zhao didn't even have time to explain.

Chen Zhao offered a wry smile. Who would have thought he'd run into something like this?

Whatever. Let them misunderstand.

"It's not really appropriate for you to pay. Let me pay, or we can go Dutch," Chen Zhao said, coming back to his senses.

"Aren't you helping me with these problems? Consider it a service fee. I can't let you work for free!" Zhao Xiaobai insisted, standing up. "I'll get you a teriyaki chicken rice bowl and an orange tea, is that okay?"

"Sure." Chen Zhao nodded.

A few minutes later, they both had a teriyaki chicken rice bowl and a large cup of orange tea in front of them. After eating for a while, Zhao Xiaobai pulled a thick black notebook from her bag and opened it, revealing pages densely packed with copied errors.

Chen Zhao leaned over the table to look at the problems she had pointed out. They were all Math Olympiad questions—obscure and strange. But for someone as clever as Chen Zhao, it only took about ten seconds to find a path to the solution, and at most a minute to calculate the answer mentally. He began to explain them to her.

Teaching a top student was easy. He didn't need to be overly detailed; a simple auxiliary line or a mention of the method was enough for Zhao Xiaobai to have an immediate epiphany.

An hour later, they had finally solved all the problems.

Zhao Xiaobai was very happy. Checking the time, she saw that the afternoon exam was not far off, so she simply pulled out a few exercise books to review for a while.

Chen Zhao took one look at the books Zhao Xiaobai had pulled out—the Hengshui Golden Exam Compilation—which he hadn't seen before, and asked to borrow one to take a look. Chen Zhao knew very well that if he wanted to achieve good results in all the upcoming exams, relying on a sharp brain alone wasn't enough; he had to grind through practice problems. If he encountered an exercise book he hadn't seen before, he would grind through it so that he wouldn't be nervous at all when the time came for the exam.

Zhao Xiaobai took all the exercise books out of her bag, stacked them into a tall pile, and said quite domineeringly that she had every subject, so he could look at whatever he wanted.

The afternoon exam was Chinese, so Chen Zhao grabbed a Chinese book and began to flip through it.

He was reading at a very fast speed!

Ten lines at a glance!

Page after page.

In no time at all, he had rustled through more than half the book.

"You need to read carefully!" Zhao Xiaobai noticed Chen Zhao constantly turning the pages, frowned, and spoke up, "If there's something you don't know, you should memorize it repeatedly. Reading this fast is useless!"

Chen Zhao shook his head, "I have a photographic memory. Once I've seen it, I can commit it to memory."