Morning Run

After receiving a reply from Fairy Senior Sister, Luo Ye's mood immediately improved.

He quickly fell asleep.

Early the next morning, Luo Ye woke up.

His morning class started at eight thirty, but Luo Ye woke up at seven. He had been woken by the noise.

Li Haoyang had put on his running shoes and looked ready to head out for a morning run.

Luo Ye glanced at Wang Dachui, who was sleeping soundly beside him, then at Shen Qiao, who had also been woken up. He could not help saying to Li Haoyang, "Coach, you really are disciplined."

"Of course. Want to come with me?" Li Haoyang invited them.

He was in great shape, with every muscle where it should be. Combined with his healthy bronze skin and upright posture like a retired soldier's, everyone had started calling Li Haoyang the fitness coach lately.

"We're already in college. I don't want to run morning drills." Shen Qiao rolled over, ready to sleep a little longer.

But Luo Ye thought of his identity.

An online novelist.

He had heard that if people in this profession did not exercise regularly, they would develop plenty of occupational illnesses later on.

At that thought, Luo Ye sat bolt upright.

"Wait for me, Coach!"

The two went downstairs together and arrived at the track.

There was another girl at the track.

It was actually the Long-legged Loli, Liu Bingxin.

She wore shorts and a tank top, exposing a pair of fair, slender legs that drew every eye.

The fitted tank top also showed off her figure.

The scattered students out for morning runs could not take their eyes off her.

With such a beauty beside the well-built Li Haoyang, they really did look rather well matched.

Luo Ye jogged alone behind the two of them.

Li Haoyang seemed to have arranged to run with Liu Bingxin, and Luo Ye's presence instead made him a third wheel.

That dog of a Coach. If he had known, he would not have come.

The man and woman ran side by side, leaving Luo Ye to run alone.

There was another figure on the track, dressed in loose black clothing.

She wore a black baseball cap, with a ponytail hanging from the back and swaying back and forth as she ran.

That figure looked somewhat familiar...

As he watched, he got distracted.

Distracted while running.

As a result, he tripped and fell.

He was already sleepy from staying up late, and since he rarely exercised, he took a hard tumble on flat ground.

The fall drew a lot of attention.

Luo Ye lay face-down on the ground, his face slightly red.

Embarrassing. So embarrassing.

He was about to get up when he saw a hand appear before him.

Luo Ye froze.

How should he describe the hand before his eyes?

Soft as tender shoots, skin like congealed cream! Fingers slender as bamboo shoots, fair as crisp lotus root.

What a beautiful hand.

Luo Ye instinctively looked up and discovered that it belonged to the ponytailed girl dressed in black.

Wait, wasn't this Fairy Senior Sister?

She looked at Luo Ye expressionlessly and said blandly, "Aren't you getting up?"

At those words, Luo Ye's face reddened even more.

He had embarrassed himself in front of Fairy Senior Sister.

He placed his hand in Fairy Senior Sister's, then got to his feet.

Once up, he quickly pulled his hand back, wearing a shy expression.

Fairy Senior Sister's hand was soft and felt nice, but touching it any longer would have been impolite.

Even so, that brief physical contact made Luo Ye's heart race. The fluttering feeling would not stop.

Su Baizhou was slightly stunned.

Then she lowered the brim of her cap.

After all, if other people found out that the Jiang University Campus Belle had a habit of morning running, she would probably attract swarms of admirers and never be able to run peacefully again.

"Together?" Su Baizhou asked blandly.

Looking closely, Fairy Senior Sister actually had faint dark circles under her eyes, just like him.

Luo Ye said quietly, "Okay."

Although the others on the track noticed that the figure looked a lot like Campus Belle Su Baizhou, they saw a man beside her and immediately shook their heads.

That could not possibly be Su Baizhou. There was no way a man could be by Su Baizhou's side.

Luo Ye ran beside Fairy Senior Sister with an expressionless face.

Why was he expressionless?

Because he was pretending. He was actually suffering terribly.

It was his first time going for a morning run, and he was exhausted after just one lap.

But Fairy Senior Sister was not tired yet. Would it not be humiliating if he got tired first?

But no matter how well he pretended, he could not fool his body.

Su Baizhou noticed that the boy beside her was breathing faster and faster. Though she had planned to run six laps, she stopped after only three.

She took a towel from the small bag she carried and wiped the sweat from her face.

While catching his breath, Luo Ye accidentally caught sight of Su Baizhou's appearance at that moment.

Sweat had dampened her hair, and tiny droplets ran over her delicate collarbone.

Su Baizhou wiped herself with the towel and raised her chin ever so slightly.

The morning sunlight fell across her profile, and a light breeze stirred her hair.

Luo Ye was stunned.

So... so beautiful.

He turned his head away, his face faintly red, not daring to look again.

Seeing this, Su Baizhou asked blandly, "Does it look good?"

"Y-yes... it does."

Why had he started stuttering again?

"If it looks good, why aren't you looking?" Su Baizhou asked again.

Hearing that, Luo Ye said haltingly, "It... it wouldn't be polite."

At this answer, the corners of Su Baizhou's lips lifted imperceptibly.

Suddenly, she noticed a wound on Luo Ye's wrist that was bleeding.

He must have gotten it when he fell earlier.

She took out a band-aid from her bag and said, "Give me your hand."

"Huh?"

"Give me your hand." Su Baizhou repeated herself, her tone somewhat cold as though she were hiding something.

"O... okay."

Luo Ye held out his hand in confusion, only to see Su Baizhou stick a pink Little Bear band-aid onto his wrist.

Only then did he realize that he had been injured too.

For such a tiny wound, why use a band-aid? This was way too girly.

But... Fairy Senior Sister had put it on him...

Luo Ye secretly rejoiced. He did not feel embarrassed in the slightest and even wanted to tell the whole world that Senior Sister had put a pink Little Bear band-aid on him.

Of course, that was all he could do—think about it.

After applying it, Su Baizhou turned and left, heading toward the cafeteria.

A conflicted expression appeared on Luo Ye's face.

At this moment, he had three choices.

Wait for Li Haoyang and have breakfast together.

Go have breakfast by himself.

Catch up to Fairy Senior Sister and shamelessly have breakfast with her.

Luo Ye looked toward the track and found Li Haoyang still out for a morning run with Liu Bingxin. He immediately shook his head.

It seemed the first choice was out.

As for the third... would that be too shameless?

Only the second choice remained.

He would eat by himself!

The school had several cafeterias. Cafeteria One was beside the men's dormitory, while Cafeteria Three was beside the women's dormitory.

Su Baizhou walked toward Cafeteria Three.

Luo Ye headed toward Cafeteria One.

Su Baizhou turned back and saw that Luo Ye was not following behind her, but was walking in the opposite direction.

She paused, and for some reason, an urge to go to Cafeteria One rose in her heart as well.

It really had been a long time since she had eaten at Cafeteria One.

There was nothing wrong with going there once in a while.

That was right, the food at Cafeteria One was better than at Cafeteria Three.

The serving aunties at Cafeteria One were gentler than those at Cafeteria Three.

Cafeteria One was cheaper!

A whole pile of reasons surfaced in Su Baizhou's mind, and going to Cafeteria One suddenly became perfectly justified.

With that thought, she changed direction and headed for Cafeteria One as well.

Meanwhile, back at the track, Liu Bingxin and Li Haoyang had finished running.

The former finally could not help asking, "Class Monitor, why was there a girl beside Luo Ye just now?"

Li Haoyang looked confused. "Was there? I didn't notice."

His attention had been entirely on running and Liu Bingxin.

No matter how slow he was, he was still a man.

Liu Bingxin's allure was simply too devastating to men.