A simple, high-arcing shot requiring no special skill is something anyone can pull off effortlessly.
Thanks to his long experience acting as Zhao Yu’s practice partner, Pei Du had mastered the art of delivering consistently easy-to-return shots.
This was true for badminton, and for table tennis as well.
He chose neither to outright win nor to obviously throw the game.
Instead, he opted to hit easy-to-return shots, allowing He Chengxi to hit them back comfortably.
Holding the ball suspended over the center of the table at a moderate height, Pei Du gently sent it over.
The arc was graceful and perfectly tailored to He Chengxi’s height—a shot she could return with a simple flick of her paddle.
He Chengxi returned the shot easily, a trace of confusion appearing on her delicate face.
This wasn’t Classmate Pei’s usual level.
The first few exchanges had already made it clear to He Chengxi that Pei Du’s skill completely overwhelmed hers.
Not that she had expected to win from the start, of course.
But the gap between his earlier level and his current play was simply too great.
It was as if he were deliberately accommodating her.
A look of concentration appeared in Pei Du’s eyes.
Being a good practice partner wasn’t necessarily easier than playing freely or going all out.
Ensuring that every ball was easy to return required complete focus.
With his keen intuition, Pei Du guessed that He Chengxi hadn’t intentionally “provoked” him earlier.
It was more likely that she had seen him standing alone with no one to play with and had deliberately invited him, giving him a way out.
From their few interactions, the impression He Chengxi had left on Pei Du was that of a polite, gentle, and considerate girl.
Such a good girl—he couldn’t possibly let her keep picking up balls, nor would he deliberately go easy on her and take away the fun of playing.
The best way to repay her was with carefully placed feeds that let her enjoy the game.
The two went back and forth, a single rally lasting at least several minutes.
Amidst the rhythmic clack-clack of ball against table, time passed swiftly.
He Chengxi comfortably played several rallies.
Even though she lost every point, the experience of having a proper back-and-forth felt very good.
With her intelligence and emotional intelligence, she naturally understood the meaning behind Pei Du’s feeds.
Somehow, interacting with Classmate Pei felt inexplicably comfortable, He Chengxi thought as she returned a shot.
Suddenly, she snapped back to reality.
If they kept playing like this, her good friend Hu Zhuyue might not get a chance to play table tennis at all before the class ended.
It wouldn’t be good to have invited Classmate Pei only to neglect her close friend.
After about eight points, He Chengxi conceded and asked Hu Zhuyue to take over for the next round.
“Zhuyue, your turn. I’ll rest for a bit.”
“…Xi Bao, why don’t you rest a bit and keep playing?” Hu Zhuyue, sitting on a nearby flower bed and playing with her phone, felt that watching the two of them play was quite interesting.
Besides, Xi Bao didn’t look tired at all. “I need to reply to a message.”
Why did she find watching them play so interesting? Hu Zhuyue couldn’t quite say.
Was it because they were so pleasing to the eye? That felt a bit too strange.
“Alright.” He Chengxi shook out her hands, relaxing her wrists.
Pei Du watched their interaction quietly, waiting for He Chengxi to return to the table.
“Classmate Pei, you’re really good.”
He Chengxi took the opportunity to compliment him during her break.
“Mn.”
“I don’t really see you playing table tennis much otherwise.”
“Not many people in my class like to play.”
Pei Du immediately felt this sounded inappropriate.
It sounded like he was telling her no one would play with him, veering into self-pity territory.
He didn’t want to be misunderstood but didn’t know how to backtrack, so he could only regret replying too quickly.
Nearby, Hu Zhuyue pretended to be on her phone, though her screen stayed on the message reply interface.
When she heard He Chengxi casually complimenting Pei Du, she almost suspected He Chengxi had been possessed.
In class, Xi Bao wouldn’t even say more than a few words to male classmates!
Why was He Chengxi treating Pei Du differently? Only He Chengxi herself knew.
“I see. No wonder Zhuyue and I have never seen you here during P.E., and we come every time.”
“Maybe our P.E. class schedules don’t overlap.”
Whether out of courtesy or not, Pei Du rarely offered explanations to others, but he did so now.
“Oh, that’s true. Our class’s P.E. schedule changes every other week.” Rested, He Chengxi resumed serving.
A crooked, off-kilter shot, cunningly aimed at the corner of the table.
Pei Du casually returned it with a standard high-arcing shot.
It was relatively rare for a boy and a girl to play together.
Passersby would unconsciously glance over, and upon recognizing the players, they would look a few more times.
The boy had an otherworldly temperament and handsome features.
The girl was petite, barely taller than the table, yet possessed a delicate face that looked like a masterpiece from any angle.
Just in terms of looks, the two were eye-catching enough.
Especially since the girl was the top student of the grade, and the boy was Pei Du, who had a high level of private discussion in girls’ circles.
This made people unable to resist taking one or two extra looks.
A boy from Class One, passing by the table and recognizing the petite figure, scampered back to his classroom.
He approached a boy in the front row working on test papers.
“Hui Ge, He Chengxi is playing table tennis with some other guy.”
Ears immediately perked up among the other students nearby who were doing their papers.
The boy called “Hui Ge”—Xu Daohui—put down his pen.
“What?”
Xu Daohui liked He Chengxi. This was common knowledge in the class.
Yet He Chengxi’s response to his explicit and implicit advances had always been rejection.
After being in the same class for over a year, he still hadn’t managed to get her contact info.
“He Chengxi is playing with some other guy!”
Thinking Xu Daohui hadn’t heard clearly, Chen Jun repeated.
Chen Jun was good friends with Xu Daohui.
Seeing the girl his buddy liked hanging out with another guy, he rushed to report.
“What does her playing ball have to do with me?”
Xu Daohui pretended not to care, though inwardly he wanted to sprint over to see what was happening.
He Chengxi had never played with a guy before. Was she dating someone?
He didn’t dare show how anxious he was now; it would make him lose face in front of the class.
He knew very well how students loved to jump to conclusions.
The slightest misstep could make him the subject of discussion for days.
Chen Jun really should have called him outside to say this.
Blurting it out here, where everyone could hear—what was he thinking?
“Hui Ge, don’t you like He Chengxi anymore?”
Chen Jun wasn’t very meticulous in this sort of thing. He was a bit dense.
Besides, he thought he was speaking quietly enough that no one else would hear.
In his mind, Xu Daohui liking He Chengxi wasn’t a secret—the whole class knew.
It was just that Xu Daohui had been publicly rejected many times. There was nothing to hide.
“…” Xu Daohui ignored the comment. “I’m going to the restroom.”
He pushed his chair back and walked straight out.
“Wait up, Hui Ge.” Chen Jun hurried after him. “I didn’t get to go earlier either. I’ll come with you.”
After they left, the remaining students in the classroom immediately began whispering among themselves.
“Xu Daohui’s shaken.”
“Definitely shaken.”
“I saw it too just now. It was Pei Du and He Chengxi playing.”
“Pei Du?”
“Are they dating?”
“Wow… with the college entrance exam so close. Could it really be?”
…
Xu Daohui had no mind for others’ opinions.
The moment he stepped out of the classroom, he felt a flicker of regret.
Was it too ridiculous to get so worked up over nothing more than a rumor?
But as he went down the stairs, he quickly found an explanation that satisfied himself.
He was just curious why the usually aloof goddess would play with another guy.
That was all. Nothing more. Nothing to be embarrassed about.
He definitely wasn’t rattled.
If You Notice any translation issues or inconsistency in names, genders, or POV etc? Let us know here in the comments or on our Discord server, and we’ll fix it in current and future chapters. Thanks for helping us to improve! 🙂