Chapter 21 (2/2)

Zhang Jun had a bad feeling about this.

“My mother’s off to Guangzhou for a delivery and she won’t be back for a week. She told me to eat here… Umm, did your parents cook something before leaving?” he asked, poking his head into the dining room.

“Not yet, looks like they went off almost as soon as they came home. The vegetables they bought are still on the kitchen floor.”

“Then… let’s go somewhere cheap… Uh, what are you doing?” Zhang Jun said, noticing that Su Fei was putting on an apron.

“Cooking! Finally, a chance to show my chops!” Like a rabbit, she hopped into the kitchen.

“My god…”

…

Yang Pan saw the pair on their way to school the next morning. Zhang Jun had a forlorn expression on his face.

“What’s the matter? Didn’t sleep well?”

“Nope, I was decimated!” Leaning on Yang, Zhang whispered a summary of “the portrait of hell” into his ear.

Yang Pan turned pale. “That horrible?”

“You wanna try?”

Quickly holding his hands, Yang Pan expressed his heartfelt sympathy. “I pity you!”

Su Fei asked awkwardly, “Is my cooking that bad?”

“Yes,” Zhang Jun replied.

“Although I haven’t tried it firsthand, I believe in my friend,” Yang Pan added.

Su Fei became quiet.

“Ahem!” Zhang Jun coughed. “But, you don’t have to be sad, Su Fei. It’s not like you’re useless at everything just because your dishes are horrible!”

“Then, what am I good at?” Su Fei raised her head.

“Dieting,” her neighbor answered seriously.

“You…”

…

When they arrived in school, they saw Liu Qi, who was being mobbed.

“Bro?!” Zhang Jun shouted.

Parting the mob, Liu made a dash for them. “With your injury, you can’t dodge now!”

Prodding Su Fei who was beside him, Zhang retorted, “Who wants to dodge anyway?”

“Liu Qi!” she exclaimed.

Despite his plumpness, Liu Qi managed to perform an inconceivable emergency brake and he stopped right in front of her. “What’s up, Su Fei?” He smiled.

“What a swift change of expression!”

“Mind your own business!” Liu Qi glared at Zhang, who stuck out his tongue.

“What’s with the mob?” Su Fei asked.

Gesturing at the notice board behind him, Liu answered, “I’m recruiting cheerleaders for the Shu Guang High School soccer team now!”

The trio looked in unison; there was indeed a recruitment poster on the board.

Glancing at the crowd, Su Fei challenged him. “That’s so ostentatious. Do you have the school’s approval?”

Liu nudged her and pointed his finger away from her. “That’s a meaningless question.”

They then noticed that Liang Ke was also there, handing out registration forms to the crowd.

“This―”

“It’s nothing to be surprised about; it was our principal’s suggestion in the first place,” Liu explained. “He said that with the team being so impressive, a cheerleading team should be formed to show support and boost the team’s morale. How else would I dare to do it? Just look at the noise. It’s a revolution!”

Upon the sight, Su Fei threw her bag at her neighbor and dashed over. “I’m helping!”

Her appearance doubled the crowd size in no time. “Darn it!” Zhang Jun pouted. “What is this? Harlotry?”

“But, it’s effective.”

“That said, aren’t you a fan of basketball?” Zhang asked Liu Qi. “Why are you in the soccer cheerleading business now?”

“The basketball team didn’t want me. They complained that I had dead feet.” There was a deformity in Liu Qi’s right leg, which caused him to limp. The cause was unknown to Zhang. He would not ask about something so private anyway.

“And, the principal did name me captain of the cheerleading team!” Liu then added proudly.

“You?”

“You better believe it!” the plump boy said as he assumed a bodybuilding pose. “I have good build, great strength and a wide vocal range that can compete with the sopranos!”

He was in the mood for a song, but Zhang Jun quickly stopped him. “Don’t! You’ll scare away the crowd attracted by Su Fei’s hard work!”

…

When school ended in the afternoon, Liu Qi almost had a hundred applications with him. Aside from his classes, he spent the entire afternoon talking to the applicants.

Seeing him pull his weight upstairs and downstairs, left and right, Yang Pan mumbled, “Getting into character already, huh.”

He then remembered Liu’s right foot. “He likes basketball, not soccer! Really, he’s so happy with just becoming captain of a cheerleading team.”

“Such words! You’re feeling touched, right?”

“Me? Why would I be―”

Stopping Zhang Jun’s retort, Yang Pan went into a monologue, “To be frank, we’ve been playing our last few games only for ourselves―just to prove that we weren’t wrong in transferring to this school. Now, we even have cheerleaders. So from now on, this is not just about ourselves. With so many people watching, we are going to get an earful if we play badly!”

Leaning against a railing, Yang Pan gazed upon the school grounds where Liu Qi was weaving in and out with that “fit” body of his.

“To think that the basketball team would let go of such talent… What a waste!”