The crowd left the main hall and headed towards the playground, only to find that the boys' race had already ended, and the girls' 1000-meter race was underway.
There were very few participants in the girls' race, only 66 in total, so they couldn't split into six groups. Instead, they had one group of 33 runners. They were now in the second group, the final round of the competition.
"I need to go check on my colleague over there. I'll take Shaoyao with me," Qin Yunhe said as she walked halfway and spotted some figures not far away, turning to address them.
"I'm leaving Shaoyao with you all. Everyone trusts you since you're professionals."
"If I don't show up after it's over, can we meet at the security office by the entrance?"
"Sure."
"I need to go back upstairs." Su Qingwan glanced at the teacher beckoning to her from the stage.
"Then I'll go up with Chu Qingchan. You and Ji Yun, wait here to receive the award later," Chu Fengyi said, not keen on being crowded below.
In an instant, the original six girls dwindled down to just Ji Yun and Bai Xiaoxiao, much to Xu Lin's relief.
With six girls cheering him on earlier, he felt suffocated by the attention from some boys' stares. Being surrounded by six beauties, no matter how well he handled the pressure, it was definitely uncomfortable.
"It seems everyone is starting to gather with their classmates. Let's head back too," Bai Xiaoxiao said, looking around and seeing the previously chaotic lines starting to form.
"Indeed, all the teachers are here. Ji Yun, let's go over."
"Senior Bai, if I have time, I'll visit your place."
"Sure, but please don't bring anything, or I'll really get mad."
"Hmm."
"I mean it." Bai Xiaoxiao pretended to be angry, but seeing Ji Yun's amused expression, she just nodded in the end.
Xu Lin and Ji Yun made their way through the crowd and reached their class's lineup after a few minutes.
"Stay still, don't move around. The class monitor is here!" He Run and Zhuo Yan maintained order, but everyone was like a bunch of restless caterpillars, unable to stay still.
"Don't push and shove, aren't you guys feeling hot?" Ji Yun shouted as soon as she returned, instantly quieting the crowd a bit.
Though not a deafening shout, it was effective, and the lineup became somewhat quieter.
The class monitor from Class 8, standing nearby, envied them tears welling up.
"Why don't you learn from their class?"
"Monitor, look at what you're saying. If you were as beautiful as Ji Yun, we'd listen to you too."
The crowd started to tease, and the Class 8 monitor furrowed his brow.
"Damn, but I'm a guy! You guys just won't behave, huh? When the homeroom teacher comes, I'll report each one of you."
"Monitor, we'll listen when you're as handsome as Xu Lin."
"Hahaha!"
"That's enough! Stand still!"
While chaos reigned on one side, although Xu Lin's class had lined up properly, they had entered chat mode.
"Xu Lin, that move earlier was so cool, deliberately slowing down and then suddenly speeding up, completely baffling them!"
"Exactly, I knew you'd misunderstand. At that moment, my legs were really sore, so I had to slow down to adjust if I wanted to win."
"Why be modest with us?"
"I'm serious, but of course, you can understand it as me gathering strength for a burst."
"By the way, He Run, did you come in first?"
"Yeah!"
"I almost did, but that jerk just beat me by half a step!" Li Bin grumbled, evidently landing second place.
"Hey? How did the class monitor pull off that move at the end, like swoosh!"
"Ask her yourself."
Hearing Xu Lin mention her, Ji Yun also looked back at her classmates, all of them looking at her with curiosity.
"What's up? Something wrong?"
"We're asking how you managed to leap forward so suddenly."
"Uh... martial arts." Ji Yun smiled, but everyone looked incredulous.
Afterwards, each class teacher came over here, all lined up, and then Ye Fanleng went up on stage again.
He recited a closing speech, of course, there were also the promised competition rewards. Originally, Xu Lin thought he, Ji Yun, and He Run were all first place.
There was still a possibility of competing for the grand prize of the most first places in the class, but in the end, it was found that there's strength in numbers.
Class 3 of Grade 3 directly produced six first places, overshadowing the other classes.
They successfully won the grand prize of a full set of sports suits for the whole class. What remained was the award ceremony for each group's first place, one smart sports watch per person.
Starting with the 100 meters, each person went up on stage, received their award, and left without much small talk.
Although Xu Lin had partly overcome his social anxiety, he still felt uneasy in such small talk situations.
After about a dozen minutes, the prizes were all awarded, and the long-lost principal appeared, saying a few polite words.
Then all the teachers, principals, and directors stood together with Ye Fanleng, took a promotional photo, and the impromptu sports meeting came to a complete end.
Under the guidance of their respective class teachers, each class returned to their classrooms in order.
"It's already 11 o'clock, I thought we'd finish earlier than usual."
The students looked at the clock on the teaching building and found that it was already 11 o'clock, disappointing many as usual dismissal time was 11:30.
Back in the classroom, the teacher praised everyone's performance and mentioned when the T-shirts would arrive.
"At this time, there's not enough time for class, so everyone take a break for a while, and we'll dismiss in 20 minutes."
"Okay!"
Upon hearing Zhao Gang's words, everyone's expressions shifted from eager anticipation to slight relief.
Because the teacher didn't instruct the class monitor to maintain discipline, it implied that they could chat as long as they didn't cause a disturbance.
With the permission to chat, time passed much more quickly, and 20 minutes flew by.
"School's out, we'll have regular classes this afternoon," the teacher announced, and everyone nodded before rushing out!
"One by one... Xu Lin, don't forget."
Zhao Gang sighed as he watched several students rush out ahead of him, then as Xu Lin passed by, he reminded him.
"I won't forget." Xu Lin had originally planned to go in the evening, but since he had to go to Su Qingwan's house for dinner, he'd solve it at noon.
"You can buy any yogurt."
"Got it."
"Thanks."
"No problem."
Exiting the classroom, Zhuo Yan and Ji Yun followed.
"What did Teacher Zhao want you to do?"
"Help deliver something to the hospital."
"Oh, I see." Hearing that it was a personal matter, they didn't ask further, knowing it was just running errands.
After descending the stairs, Xu Lin said goodbye to Li Bin and the others and didn't return with them. He planned to chat with Ye Fanleng for a moment, then take a taxi to the hospital.
"I'll go ride my bike first, you go find Ms. Ye, if she's in a hurry to leave, say goodbye to her for me."
"Okay."
Parting ways with Ji Yun, Xu Lin arrived at the security room and found only Qin Yunhe there, no sign of the little girl.
"Where's the little girl?"
"Her mom took her away, just left in the car."
"Oh?" Xu Lin didn't expect Ye Fanleng to leave without saying goodbye. "She said she was afraid the little girl wouldn't want to leave if she saw you, so she took her away directly."
"It's just like last time in Jinling."
"Xu Lin, are you going to Wanwan's house for dinner today?"
"Yeah, don't be mad, it's all fake."
"I'm not your girlfriend~ I just want to tell you, don't give up on Wanwan because of me and behave badly."
"I know, but you really care about your best friend."
"Alright, I'll drive you back."
"No, I have something to do at the hospital."
"Is your health okay?" Qin Yunhe suddenly became nervous.
"I'm fine, just delivering something to the teacher's family."
"In that case, let me take you there."
"Thank you for your help."
"Not a bother, after all, I like you~" She teased, leaving Xu Lin with a quickened heartbeat.
"My wife is truly something... I'm in love."