HTC 10

The Mid-Autumn Festival vacation lasted only three days and passed in the blink of an eye.

When Xie Huai and Jiang Xu arrived at the classroom, not many people were there yet. Xie Huai promptly lay down to sleep, and he didn’t wake up until the morning self-study began.

During morning self-study, Yao Wenjing informed the class that the annual autumn sports competition had started registration. Each class was required to participate.

The registration forms were with the sports committee, and students could sign up for specific events by submitting their names. The deadline for registration was this Friday, and every event needed to have participants. If a particular event didn’t have enough participants by the end, someone would have to reluctantly join in.

This sports competition was for students in the first and second year only, as the third-year students were busy preparing for the college entrance exams.

Their school no longer divided students into arts and sciences classes, and each class had roughly an equal number of boys and girls, making the competition quite fair in this regard.

Once morning self-study ended, the class representatives began collecting the Mid-Autumn Festival homework. Xie Huai had completed all of his assignments, which surprised everyone. The teachers expressed their satisfaction with his effort, and Xie Huai’s classmates couldn’t help but be astonished.

Hao Xuexi turned his head and looked at Xie Huai in shock: “Huai, have you done all your homework?”

Xie Huai didn’t see anything particularly surprising about it. Wasn’t it normal to do this kind of thing in junior high school? He simply replied with an “Mm-hmm” and confirmed, “I finished them all.”

Lu Yi also ran over and lightly patted Xie Huai’s shoulder, but Xie Huai still frowned in pain.

“Xie Huai, you’ve really changed,” Lu Yi sighed. “You’re listening in class, diligently doing your homework, and you haven’t skipped a single class, not even on Mondays. As your brother, I’m deeply gratified.”

Xie Huai: “…”

Being reminded this way, Xie Huai only now realized that he hadn’t been skipping classes. He glanced at Jiang Xu, who was reading a book with his head down, and inexplicably smiled.

Thanks to Lu Yi’s reminder, he decided that starting next week, he would continue to skip classes. Not that he would genuinely skip, but he had his reasons for doing so…

Xie Huai hadn’t paid attention in class for a year, so theoretically, he couldn’t have grasped all the key points of the year’s curriculum so quickly. Either he had a strong foundation from his junior high school days, or with some extra coaching, answering these questions wouldn’t be too difficult.

Either Xie Huai’s poor grades were a disguise or not.

The teachers knew that the second possibility was unlikely based on the information they had. Therefore, it had to be the first possibility.

After the morning classes, the math teacher returned to the office and shared what happened in the class with the other teachers.

Some of the teachers present had taught Yao Wenjing’s class before and were aware that Xie Huai didn’t usually pay much attention in class.

They were pleasantly surprised to hear about his transformation.

“The question I asked, none of the students who usually perform well in your class could have answered it. If Xie Huai continues to work this way, getting into a top university like a 985 or a 211 won’t be a problem,” the math teacher exclaimed.

Yao Wenjing smiled, “Xie Huai is generally well-behaved. I believe in him.”

Unaware that he had become the topic of recent discussions among teachers, Xie Huai walked toward the cafeteria with Jiang Xu.

Last week, the school had announced a new class schedule, separating the lunch break times for the first and second years from the third year students, so the cafeteria wasn’t too crowded.

“What are you going to eat?”

Xie Huai walked towards the noodle window: “I’ll eat noodles.”

Jiang Xu followed behind Xie Huai, and when Xie Huai turned to him and asked, “You also eat noodles?”

Jiang Xu lazily replied: “Mm-hmm.”

Xie Huai didn’t say anything anymore, this window was pea noodles, it was a bit more expensive than the small noodles in the other windows, so there weren’t many students lining up here.

Xie Huai swiped his school card twice for their meals, and Jiang Xu stood behind him, quietly observing the back of Xie Huai’s neck, his Adam’s apple rolling slightly as he swallowed.

Jiang Xu lowered his eyelashes and asked Xie Huai, “Are you treating me?”

If it were in the past, Xie Huai would have definitely said, “Isn’t that obvious? Can’t I treat you to a meal? Do you think I can eat two bowls of noodles?”

But now…

“Can’t I?” Xie Huai turned his head slightly and raised his chin to look at Jiang Xu.

The height difference between Jiang Xu (189 cm) and Xie Huai (183 cm) was six centimeters. To look Jiang Xu in the eyes, Xie Huai had to raise his head slightly.

Jiang Xu chuckled and said, “Of course, you can.”

—

After school in the afternoon, Lu Yi and the others came to ask Xie Huai and Jiang Xu if they wanted to play basketball.

Xie Huai hadn’t played basketball in a while and felt a bit eager, so after a few seconds of hesitation he agreed.

“Okay.” Xie Huai nodded.

Lu Yi then shifted his gaze to Jiang Xu.

Jiang Xu let out a “hmm.”

“Great!” Lu Yi clapped his hands. “Let’s go to the basketball court.”

Since it was just after school, there weren’t many people on the basketball court. Jiang Xu took a detour to the school’s convenience store to buy a few bottles of water.

Lu Yi and the others were touched by this gesture.

“Thanks, Brother Xu,” Lu Yi pretended to cry and then took a big gulp of water.

Xie Huai took the lemonade that Jiang Xu handed him and took a sip. He asked, “Who are we playing against?”

“Team from the 24th High School,” Lu Yi replied while texting someone to check on their arrival.

Xie Huai then questioned, “Our school allows teams from other schools to come in?”

Xie Huai hadn’t been the best student in the past, but he still knew that school regulations generally didn’t permit students from other schools to enter their campus.

Lu Yi shook his head and explained, “No, our school has a basketball team, and their school has one too. They’re both going to represent Jiangcheng in an upcoming competition. So, after discussions between the school authorities, they were allowed to practice together when they had free time.”

Xie Huai then asked, “But how come they are playing against us?”

Lu Yi clarified, “I have a friend from my previous school on their team. We met a few days ago, and we arranged this match.”

Hao Xuexi asked, “Who’s the captain of our school’s basketball team now?”

Lu Yi looked at Hao Xuexi in shock. “You don’t even know this?”

“Is he famous or something?” Hao Xuexi blinked innocently.

“It’s Lin Yichen,” Xie Huai mentioned.

Jiang Xu gave Xie Huai a brief look but remained silent.

As soon as he heard the name, Hao Xuexi remembered, “Isn’t that Lin Yichen, who transferred to our school and became the captain within half a month, kicking out the previous team captain?”

Lu Yi nodded. “Yes, that’s him.”

“But isn’t he in his senior year now? Why is he still playing basketball?” Hao Xuexi asked.

Lu Yi said with admiration, “His academic performance is excellent. He’s probably going to get a direct admission to university, so he doesn’t really care about these things.”

“Let’s not talk about him,” Lu Yi changed the subject. “Let’s discuss how we’re going to play.”

Before they could finalize any plans, the team from the 24th High School arrived.

Xie Huai squinted his eyes at a familiar face among them and then turned away.

The other person also noticed Xie Huai, hesitated for a moment, and then regained composure, walking towards their group.

Xie Huai snorted lightly and walked away in another direction.

As he left, the person on the opposite team recognized the one who had blocked him before, it was Jiang Xu.

Jiang Xu kicked him on the back that day.

He slowly clenched his fists, and veins popped out on the back of his hands. One of his teammates noticed something was wrong and asked, “Yuan Tao, are you okay? Feeling unwell?”

Yuan Tao looked at Jiang Xu, released his fingers, and slowly curled his lips into a smile. “I’m fine.”

Jiang Xu also noticed Yuan Tao. He just didn’t realize that the person who was beaten by Xie Huai that day was actually from the 24th middle school.

But he didn’t pay much attention. He was concerned that Yuan Tao might be planning to retaliate against Xie Huai.

As a result, Jiang Xu kept a close eye on Yuan Tao during the basketball game.

His concerns turned out to be justified.

In the second half of the game, Yuan Tao seemed to intentionally use his heavily built physique to bump into Xie Huai several times.

He almost bumped into Xie Huai several times. Xie Huai reacted quickly and didn’t let Yuan Tao touch him. However, Xie Huai knew that Yuan Tao was doing it on purpose, probably trying to reclaim his lost face from previous encounters with Xie Huai.

Jiang Xu’s eyebrows furrowed. He gestured to Xie Huai and swapped positions with him. Despite this, when Xie Huai received a pass from Lu Yi and jumped to make a shot, Yuan Tao managed to interfere with him.

Suddenly, Yuan Tao extended his foot, and just as Xie Huai was landing, he stepped on Xie Huai’s foot. Xie Huai lost his balance and fell hard to the ground.

In that moment, Xie Huai experienced a level of pain he had never felt before. He let out a sharp hiss as pain radiated from his ankle up to his thigh.

Jiang Xu’s pupils contracted, and he rushed over with a stern face. He kicked Yuan Tao in the abdomen, who weighed dozens of pounds heavier than himself, a few meters away. Due to inertia, Yuan Tao fell heavily against the basketball court’s barrier, producing a loud crash that left a dent in the barrier.

Xie Huai was in so much pain that he almost lost consciousness. He tried to maintain a facade of composure.

The next moment, he felt Jiang Xu scoop him up horizontally.

Xie Huai was momentarily stunned and then reacted with urgency. “Jiang Xu, what are you doing? Put me down!”

He struggled in Jiang Xu’s arms but couldn’t break free.

“Don’t let them go.” Jiang Xu’s tone was unusually firm and cold as he suppressed the anger bubbling within him.

Lu Yi and the others also came to their senses. All the classmates who had watched them play basketball at first rushed over and swarmed around the students from 24th High School. Their faces were filled with anger.

Gritting his teeth, Lu Yi dialed the school’s vice principal and briefly explained the situation. The vice principal instructed them to keep an eye on the 24th High School students and not let them leave, as he would come over immediately.

Lu Yi turned to Jiang Xu and said, “Brother Xu, you take Brother Huai to the infirmary first, and we will handle it here.”

Without looking back, Jiang Xu hugged Xie Huai and headed towards the school infirmary.

“Are all of you from 24th High School crazy? Can’t win a game, so you resort to violence?” Someone in the crowd yelled angrily.

Lu Yi grabbed Yuan Tao’s collar and lifted him up, scolding, “You idiot! You can look forward to getting expelled from your school for this.”

Yuan Tao was somewhat intimidated by Jiang Xu and Xie Huai, but he wasn’t afraid of Lu Yi. “Huh, just based on him? Based on you guys?”

Yuan Tao knew that at most, he would receive a warning for this incident. The school wouldn’t expel him, especially when he was representing their school in an upcoming competition.

Lu Yi suddenly chuckled and spoke slowly, “Do you know who the principal of our school is?”

“It’s Xie Huai’s maternal-uncle.”

Yuan Tao was stunned.

Lu Yi adjusted Yuan Tao’s collar and continued, his tone indifferent, “Then do you know who the principal of your school is?”

“It’s Xie Huai’s paternal-uncle.”