After Pretending To Have Amnesia, My Rival Said I Was His Boyfriend - Chap 3

　During the second semester of their sophomore year, the tension between Ling Yunfan and Ji Canghai could be felt from ten blocks away.

It started with Ling Yunfan turning his head and walking away whenever he and Ji Canghai met in a narrow hallway or staircase, making it clear that he didn’t want to give Ji Canghai the time of day.

Then, during a one-week study interest group, Ling Yunfan and Ji Canghai coincidentally ended up in the same group. Ling Yunfan was initially unsure of what to do, but Ji Canghai only showed up for one day and then took a half-month leave, never attending the class or participating in the group activities.

After that, during evening self-study, Ling Yunfan would read until ten o’clock, and then Ji Canghai would read until eleven o’clock. Eventually, the two of them would stubbornly remain in the classroom until the security guard came to kick them out, wondering why they hadn’t left yet.

The most outrageous incident was during the sports meet.

One of them competed in high jump, 800 meters, and 5000 meters to achieve results, while the other competed in long jump, 100 meters, and 200 meters to win places.

In the end, the most exciting event was the class relay race, where Ling Yunfan and Ji Canghai were the last runners for their respective classes. Coincidentally, their classes were scheduled to run at the same time, with Ling Yunfan on the first lane and Ji Canghai on the third lane.

On the day of the relay race, just before it began, the runners were all doing warm-up exercises on the track.

Ling Yunfan was pressing his legs when he suddenly felt a burning gaze. He looked up and saw Ji Canghai staring at him for some reason.

Their eyes met, but Ji Canghai quickly looked away.

　Ling Yunfan felt puzzled, what was Ji Canghai staring at? Why was he even trying to gather information about the enemy?

Suddenly, a boy from the second track ran over, laughing heartily as he put his arm around Ling Yunfan’s shoulder, jokingly saying, “Brother Fan, take it easy on us, okay?”

Ling Yunfan replied, “I can’t take it easy on anyone. I’ve got my sights set on taking first place.”

The boy laughed loudly and playfully hooked his arm around Ling Yunfan’s neck, saying, “Wow, Brother Fan, you’re really tough when you talk.”

Just then, a cold voice drifted over, “The race is about to start, yet some people are still fooling around. Do they really think they can take first place?”

The speaker was none other than Ji Canghai.

He looked askance at the two of them with icy eyes.

Ling Yunfan was unhappy and wanted to say something, but the P.E. teacher interrupted, “The race is about to start. Hurry up and get back to your positions.”

The boy quickly let go of Ling Yunfan and obediently returned to his own track.

Ling Yunfan had no choice but to keep quiet, but the anger that had been stirred up in his chest wouldn’t dissipate.

However, when it came to running, Ling Yunfan had great confidence in himself.
　
In the final leg of the four-class relay race, including Ji Canghai, nobody could possibly outrun him. As long as the previous legs didn’t mess up, he was sure to come in first.

But of course, when you’re afraid of something, it’s bound to happen.

In the handover process, Ling Yunfan’s second and third leg dropped the baton. Although they picked it up immediately, it still caused some delay. When Ling Yunfan took the baton from the third leg, they were in fourth place.

Ling Yunfan sprinted with all his might, surpassing the third and second place amidst cheers and applause, and finally competing with Ji Canghai for the victory.

Damn it, his legs could break, and blood could flow, but Ji Canghai had to lose.

When Ling Yunfan caught up with Ji Canghai with only five meters left, victory seemed within reach, but fate had to play a trick on him.

With the finish line just within reach, Ling Yunfan sprained his foot and fell towards the rubber track amidst the gasps of the crowd.

In that dizzying moment, Ling Yunfan’s only thought was: if he fell and got up, it would definitely delay him, and the finish line was only one or two meters away, so he might as well…

He lunged forward, rolled forward in one fell swoop, and tumbled two circles past the finish line.

When the teacher and classmates who rushed over helped him up, Ling Yunfan’s first words were, “Did I beat Ji Canghai?”

A youthful spirit never wants to lose.

Hearing his classmates say that he had won, Ling Yunfan laughed recklessly, then screamed in pain as if scalded by boiling water due to the pain in his ankle.

But later, in the infirmary, Ling Yunfan realized something was off.

Although he had rolled over the finish line decisively, he had still fallen. How could he have been faster than Ji Canghai, who had run normally? The difference between the two at that time was almost negligible.

Ling Yunfan was puzzled and asked his brother.

As his brother helped Ling Yunfan, who had his ankle tied up with a fixed bandage, onto the infirmary bed, he said, “Hey, when you fell, you scared Ji Canghai, that kid stopped in his tracks.”

“Scared him?” Ling Yunfan raised an eyebrow in confusion. “We were running in separate lanes. How could I have scared him?”

“Who knows!” his brother shouted, “Maybe that kid wasn’t looking at the finish line, but at what you were doing. He probably wanted to see if you could surpass him. Serves him right for coming in second place.”

“Well, I won anyway.” Ling Yunfan was pleased with himself, his days of depression swept away.

“Rest well here, Fan-ge. I have to go to the closing ceremony of the sports meet. I’ll come back to take you home after it’s over.”

“Okay, thanks. You should go quickly.”

After his brothers left the clinic, Ling Yunfan supported his injured leg and lay down on the clinic bed. Perhaps due to boredom, after a while, he fell asleep.

In a daze, Ling Yunfan smelled a faint and refreshing fragrance, like the scent of lotus flowers in a cool air after a thunderstorm by the pond.

When Ling Yunfan woke up, he found that the clinic window was half-open, and there was a bottle of sports drink and a small box of mango mousse cake at the head of the bed.

There was a heart-shaped sticky note on the cake with three neatly written words: “For Fan-ge”.

Ling Yunfan had been running and jumping for most of the day, so he was naturally very hungry and did not hesitate to eat the cake. He thought to himself: I have to find out who sent this cake so I can thank them properly.

Later, Ling Yunfan kept thinking about the cake that day, but he asked around and no one admitted to sending it to him.

The second year of high school ended with a lot of fun and excitement.

The third year of high school was a year focused on academics.

In terms of grades, Ling Yunfan ranked higher than Ji Canghai twice and lower than him three times in his grade. While Ling Yunfan was working day and night for the sixth exam, Ji Canghai started to skip classes.

When the results of the sixth exam came out, Ling Yunfan immediately checked the grade ranking and saw that he was ranked third and Ji Canghai was not in the top two. He clenched his fists and yelled “yes” in excitement.

Then he began to look for Ji Canghai’s name.

It was not in the top ten, nor was it in the top twenty.

Just when Ling Yunfan was amazed, he saw Ji Canghai’s name at the bottom of the grade ranking.

He got zero points in all subjects because he was absent.

Suddenly, Ling Yunfan’s joy turned into disappointment and loneliness. He was disappointed and angry, thinking “How could you skip the exam, Ji Canghai? Do you think you can’t beat me, so you just gave up? I must equalize the score and do better than you next time. Just wait!”

But Ji Canghai didn’t give Ling Yunfan a chance.

Ji Canghai took a leave of absence.