As soon as Xie Shu stepped into the classroom, his gaze fell on Ruan Nianxi, who was sitting in the last row.

Ruan Nianxi seemed to have been staring at the doorway, and their eyes met instantly.

Xie Shu’s lips curved into a slight smile as he quickly walked towards the back of the classroom. Throughout the entire process, his eyes never left Ruan Nianxi, except when he had to look at the path ahead.

At this moment, the surrounding scene faded into the background for him, leaving only his beloved in full color, making it impossible for him to look away.

So, even though someone else in the classroom was also looking at him with a burning gaze, he didn’t notice.

Xie Shu was making his way to his seat when someone stopped him.

It was the class sports committee member, holding a sheet of paper and with a pen tucked behind his ear. He approached Xie Shu, slung an arm around his shoulder, and steered him towards a desk.

“Xie Shu, my good brother, how many events do you want to participate in for the sports meet this year? Tell me, and I’ll write your name down.” After intercepting him, the sports committee member immediately placed the sheet of paper on the desk.

It was the registration form for the sports meet, and the sports committee member was currently recruiting participants.

Before Xie Shu returned, he had already recruited several people. Now that Xie Shu was passing by, he was also caught.

Xie Shu: “…”

“Can I not participate?”

Xie Shu wanted to refuse because he wanted to have fun.

Who doesn’t want to have fun?

Effort doesn’t always lead to success, but not trying is definitely relaxing.

If he didn’t have to participate, he could spend those days of the sports meet going out with Ruan Nianxi, provided she wasn’t participating either.

But clearly, that wasn’t an option.

The sports committee member had already taken the pen from behind his ear and was poised to write on the form: “How can that be? Our class has 35 people, but only 12 boys. We can’t fill all the events for the sports meet.”

Although their college didn’t have an extreme gender imbalance, there were relatively fewer boys.

For events like the sports meet, which required separate male and female participants, the college mandated that each class had to participate in a certain number of events. But since some people didn’t want to participate, it was hard to find enough participants, leaving the sports committee member in a tough spot.

So, during their freshman year class meeting, they discussed this issue. Besides those who were willing to participate, the remaining unregistered events would be randomly assigned by the sports committee member.

As the sports committee member, he wanted to help ease everyone’s burden, but it was impossible to write only his own name for all the events, right?

Even if he could, he couldn’t use some kind of cloning technique to compete in multiple events simultaneously on different fields, right?

Naturally, that wasn’t possible. So every year, he had to recruit participants for the sports meet.

And Xie Shu, being tall, well-built, and athletic, was always a prime candidate, so he got recruited every year.

Not just their class, but other classes’ sports committee members were also recruiting participants, especially since it was Friday. They wouldn’t be able to find anyone over the weekend, and contacting them online might result in selective blindness. With the deadline to submit the list next week, they had no choice but to find people during this large class.

Knowing he couldn’t escape, Xie Shu glanced at the registration form, planning to pick a few easy events so he could finish quickly and then go hang out with his girlfriend.

When the sports committee member saw Xie Shu point to the 300-meter sprint, he almost knelt on the spot.

“Xie Shu, how about considering the 3000 meters? A 300-meter sprint isn’t suitable for someone as strong and fit as you.”

“No, I want to do this one.”

“Please, I want to sign up for this. There’s only one spot left, and I’ve already signed up for two exhausting events. If I take on more, I might not be able to handle it.”

“Just endure it. When you’re young, you should endure more hardships so that you’ll be used to it when you’re older.”

“……”

That actually made some sense.

No, now wasn’t the time to discuss this.

Although choosing events was supposed to be free, most people picked the easier ones.

The previous people the sports committee member recruited all chose easy events. He hadn’t chosen yet because he was waiting to see what was left unregistered so he could fill in his name.

But Xie Shu… ahhh!

Wasn’t this a waste of talent?

So the sports committee member tried to persuade him, even offering a week’s worth of tea with milk, but Xie Shu wouldn’t budge.

Finally, the sports committee member had a flash of inspiration and suddenly asked, “That girl sitting next to your seat, is she your girlfriend?”

“Yeah.”

“Wow, she’s stunning. Don’t you want to show her how you defeat your opponents on the sports field?”

“No.”

“……”

Xie Shu pointed to the 300-meter sprint column again and continued, “Don’t say any more. I’m doing this one.”

He didn’t want to. He wanted to spend his free time doing other things with Ruan Nianxi.

No matter what the sports committee member said, Xie Shu wouldn’t budge, so he had no choice but to write his name in the 300-meter sprint column.

After signing up, Xie Shu turned and continued towards his seat.

As he approached, Ruan Nianxi stood up to let him pass. After he sat down, she asked, “What were you doing just now?”

She had seen Xie Shu almost reach her, only to be stopped by a boy halfway. She watched them talk but couldn’t hear what they were saying.

Xie Shu held her hand under the table and explained, “Our class’s sports committee member was asking me to sign up for the sports meet.”

He then added, “By the way, did you sign up for any events? How many?”

“I…”

Ruan Nianxi thought for a moment, took out her phone, and checked their class group chat.

They didn’t have classes today, so the sports committee member had been tagging people in the group chat. Once confirmed, he would post the list for everyone to verify.

After some people voluntarily signed up, there were still many events left unregistered.

At times like this, the sports committee member signed up for several events himself, and the class committee members were also “prioritized” for some. As the class monitor, Ruan Nianxi couldn’t avoid it either.

She remembered signing up for several events but didn’t recall the names.

She looked at the photos the sports committee member posted in the group chat and then listed the events.

Xie Shu thought it was manageable, not too many, so they could go out and have fun after the competitions!

“I’ll cheer for you then!” Xie Shu said, squeezing her small hand with a smile.

“Mm, me too! What events did you sign up for? The same as last year?”

“Last year?”

“…I watched your competitions last year and remembered some of them,” Ruan Nianxi stammered.

It wasn’t just last year; she had watched him for the past two years.

Since she didn’t have the competition schedule for their college, she went from one field to another, searching each one. After finishing, she would return to the first field and start again.

Their school had several fields, and she wasn’t sure if Xie Shu would move to another field after she left.

Without accurate locations and times, she searched each field. So during the sports meet days, even if she had few events, she would spend the entire day on campus.

Fortunately, she had good luck every year and always found him. Once she found him, she would follow him from a distance, watching him finish his competitions for the day, and then repeat the process the next day.

Even if there were no competitions for him the next day, she would rather search in vain than miss a chance.