A Young Woman's Heart

"Hey, wait a minute, did I say free time? Huh?" Ye Ran tugged at the stopwatch string in annoyance, hitting Gao Yuan's bottom, who was the first to try to run out. "Little fatty, come back here!"

"Cough cough, I just wanted a drink of water..." Gao Yuan chuckled awkwardly as he defended himself.

"Stop it, go and get the rope for the three-legged race with the PE class representative!"

"Ugh—" the students exclaimed in displeasure, seemingly dissatisfied with not having immediate free time.

"You guys are always so relaxed during Friday PE class? Go play ball on your own, at least that counts as exercise. I won't even mention it, but a lot of you just run laps and go straight back to the classroom. Don't think I don't know! Those who didn't go back to the classroom are just sitting here on the playground resting." Ye Ran wrapped a stopwatch around his wrist, looking exasperated. "I'm telling you guys, how many PE classes do we have a week? It's a rare opportunity for you to exercise and stretch your bodies, and you just waste it like this? And on Fridays, it's two classes back-to-back. Those of you who play basketball, go play basketball and have a good time. What are you doing just resting? Why have PE class if you want to rest? At least do some exercise! Play badminton or table tennis, that would be fine."

Ye Ran sighed: "You guys don't actually like PE class, you just wish you didn't have to. So today, we're going to play a game, three-legged race. The four slowest pairs will play basketball with me later!"

The students immediately groaned. In reality, it wouldn't take much time, but no one wanted to be the unlucky one left to play ball with the teacher.

However, out of more than forty people, there is a pretty high chance that eight will be left behind.

"Teacher, this isn't fair! Girls can't run as fast as boys!" Hua Yinyin raised her hand indignantly.

"Don't worry, I'll arrange it. To be fair, one boy and one girl will be paired up, and I'll arrange it!"

"Teacher, this is not friendly to fat people!" Gao Yuan hurriedly shouted, and Tian Xinnan, who was standing next to him, rarely raised both hands to agree with him.

"Go away, who told you to get so fat because you don't exercise properly?" Ye Ran waved his hand, clearly not intending to pay attention to this 'unfair' place.

“It’s over…” Gao Yuan sighed, “I’m definitely going to be left behind.”

"Good luck, bro." Liu Xiaowei patted him hard on the shoulder.

"Damn it, you stay here too!"

"Hehe, I won't go. I'll go with our Yongzi brother, haha! Even if we're not fast, we definitely won't be among the slowest."

"Damn, that's not brotherly enough!" Gao Yuan wailed dramatically once again.

“I will arrange each pair, eight people each time. The physical education representative will come and record the time. Finally, I will select the four slowest pairs from all of them.” Ye Ran twirled the list in his hand and looked at the students with some pride. “You guys who don’t usually exercise, better watch yourselves! Don’t complain about it being unfair if you stay behind later.”

The number of boys and girls in Class 2 of Grade 11 is relatively even, with more girls, and it happens to be an odd number.

Ye Ran looked at them for a long time and finally eliminated Tian Xinnan: "Fine, I feel sorry for you, you can move around freely now."

"Yay!" As the fattest girl in the class, she was actually prepared to stay, but she didn't expect to be let go directly.

"Damn it, this isn't fair!" Gao Yuan shouted. "Why does she get special privileges?"

"Because you don't look as pitiful as her."

This left Gao Yuan momentarily speechless.

Being pitied by others doesn't seem like a good thing...

The remaining four girls paired up.

Hua Yinyin was paired with Li Wanyan, and the two sisters Mo Zhuyou and Mo Xiaoxiao were also paired up—the latter was probably a combination that Ye Ran deliberately arranged.

Others, on the other hand, will have to cooperate with members of the opposite sex.

The fact that Sanhua Tongjue and Huang Yuxi were together made Mo Xueyao seriously suspect that the PE teacher even knew about such gossip, otherwise how could it be such a coincidence?

Mo Xueyao's partner was probably randomly assigned; she was paired with Duanmu Ji.

On the boys' side, perhaps to create a control group, Ye Ran also arranged for two boys to be together: Liu Xiaowei, who hadn't wanted to run with Gao Yuan earlier, and Gao Yuan, who was now earnestly 'comforting' him.

"Hey, Xiao Ji!" She patted him on the shoulder. "Good luck later!"

"I'll do my best." Duanmu Ji's expression was somewhat indifferent, but his body, which stiffened slightly from being close to her, betrayed him.

"Don't be nervous, what's the rush? At worst, you just have to stay."

"Oh..." Duanmu Ji turned his head to the other side. In order to prevent cheating and the danger caused by incorrectly tying the rope, the task of tying the rope was done by the physical education teacher himself.

Mo Xueyao and Duanmu Ji were in the first batch. Ye Ran was relatively humane and said, "You can practice running first, and then we will start officially later."

"Xiao Ji, want to try? Let's lift our legs together?"

"it is good……"

Mo Xueyao and Duanmu Ji lifted their legs together, and then they both almost fell to the ground.

This game is quite fun to play, especially when you fail, it makes you laugh out loud.

"Pfft, hahaha, Xiao Ji, move your left leg first, don't move your right leg first!"

"Uh...oh."

After getting familiar with it a little, the project, which was neither a test nor a competition, finally began.

"On your marks, get set—go!"

At Ye Ran's command, the students immediately rushed out.

However, this is different from ordinary running. Teamwork is the most important thing. If you blindly pursue speed, it will only backfire.

Gao Yuan and Liu Xiaowei are classic examples.

"Damn it, I knew I shouldn't have been with you!"

"Hey, don't even think about it. You're staying here with me today, haha!" Gao Yuan laughed triumphantly as he fell to the ground.

"Hurry, hurry, get up, we still have a chance!"

"Damn it, we can't even walk fast, how are we going to have a chance!"

"How about hopping on one foot?" Liu Xiaowei suggested.

"Uh... give it a try?"

As Mo Xueyao and Duanmu Ji were working together to run forward—or rather, walking—they saw two guys hopping and skipping over them like one-legged rabbits, and they were even faster than them.

"Xiao Ji, give it your all!"

"Okay..." Duanmu Ji's body was pressed tightly against Mo Xueyao's, making his breathing a little heavy.

His attention wasn't on the three-legged race at all, but on the black-stockinged leg that was tied to his own.

Delicate, gentle, soft...

And there was the warmth and fragrance emanating from her body.

The fragrance of fresh flowers and fruits is mixed with a faint milky aroma.

"Hey hey hey hey hey—" Mo Xueyao quickly grabbed Duanmu Ji, almost falling to the ground herself. "Xiao Ji, what's wrong with you? Is your balance so bad? Cheer up!"

"Cough." Duanmu Ji coughed heavily, trying to suppress the blush on his face, but his heart was beating faster and faster. The two took a few more steps forward, and this time they inevitably fell down.

Mo Xueyao tried to grab him, but his weight pulled her down with him. However, Duanmu Ji fell to the ground, while she fell on top of him.

"Oh no, it's all over..." Mo Xueyao looked like she had given up. "Everyone has surpassed us!"

"……sorry."

"It's alright, it's nothing. It's my first time doing this, I'm not very familiar with it myself." Mo Xueyao shrugged, somewhat understanding of Duanmu Ji's situation.

She wasn't that lacking in emotional intelligence; of course, she could sense that he was influenced by her. This didn't necessarily mean he liked her, but rather that the other person was a pretty girl.

She felt that if she had played a three-legged race with a pretty girl in junior high school, she might have performed even worse than Duanmu Ji.

It's in a man's nature to be attracted to pretty girls!

Although that sounds a bit narcissistic...

She helped Duanmu Ji up again: "Alright, at least finish the race, right?"

"Okay." Duanmu Ji breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that Mo Xueyao had not noticed anything unusual about him.

……

Chapter 205 Three-Point Shot

However, Mo Xueyao and Duanmu Ji do not appear to be the slowest group.

Most of the pairings are between opposite sexes, and this is the time when the hormones of young men and women are at their peak. Especially for the boys, the girls don't need to be particularly beautiful, as long as they are pleasing to the eye, such close contact can make their hearts flutter.

Duanmu Ji was relatively restrained; many others made a complete fool of themselves.

Of course, some girls also have weak legs...

This little game can basically tell you who is the most popular, and even who has a crush on whom.

Ye Ran's arrangement was definitely not random; he must have observed the situation before making it this way. Otherwise, why would most of the combinations produce the most interesting chemical reactions?

However, there are also combinations that work together very well.

For example, Aya Akimoto and Hongran Li were the tallest girl and boy in the class, respectively. They didn't even need to run; just walking forward was incredibly agile.

Some people imitated the "bouncing" running method created by Gao Yuan and Liu Xiaowei, simply jumping over it. However, their coordination was not good enough, and this method made them more likely to fall...

"Alright, next up is the last group!" Ye Ran blew his whistle, signaling Li Hongran to gather the remaining runners on the track.

"Youyou, Xiaoxiao, keep it up!" Wang Jiale cheered them on from the sidelines.

"Hehe, running this is very easy." Hua Yinyin proudly made a 'V' sign. When she and Li Wanyan teamed up earlier, they were the fastest in that group.

However, Hua Yinyin would never cooperate with others; it was only Li Wanyan who was following her lead.

This was the first time Mo Xueyao had discovered that she was also so good at cooperating with others.

At Ye Ran's command, the last group set off.

The two sisters, Mo Zhuyou and Mo Xiaoxiao, worked together so well that it almost gave the illusion that they were one person.

Since it was everyone's first time playing this game, walking briskly was generally considered safer. However, the two of them ran instead, and the time it took them to run 200 meters was not much slower than that of an average student running 200 meters.

"Is this the tacit understanding between twin sisters?" Mo Xueyao exclaimed, then put her elbow on Duanmu Ji's shoulder. "Hey, Xiao Ji, I guess we really are in the bottom four."

"Ahem..." Duanmu Ji scratched his head awkwardly, "Do you know how to play basketball?"

"As for playing basketball... um... I'm not very good at it." Mo Xueyao actually knows how to play basketball, but she has never liked getting her clothes dirty while playing around since she was little, so she is the type who specializes in shooting three-pointers. Usually, when someone tries to steal the ball, she will defend it symbolically and then let the ball go.

As for dunking, she almost never does it. Firstly, she has been short since childhood and is easily blocked by others. Secondly, there will always be people trying to steal the ball under the basket, and they will inevitably bump into her.

She dislikes both falling down and getting her clothes dirty.

However, people are always contradictory. Although Mo Xueyao doesn't like getting her clothes dirty while exercising, she will use her pants as a rag to wipe her hands...

"Alright, let me take a look. The last four groups!" Ye Ran flipped through the roster with the times already recorded. "Mo Xueyao and Duanmu Ji! Liu Xiaowei and Gao Yuan!"