The Beautiful Time With You

When Qin Yiran finished her third lap, Shi Yao happened to finish her second. By then, Qin Yiran was already an entire lap ahead of Shi Yao.

When Qin Yiran completed her fifth lap, Shi Yao was three and a half laps in. By then, Qin Yiran was a lap and a half ahead of Shi Yao.

Seeing this, Xia Shangzhou couldn’t help remarking, “The distance between Little Junior and Campus Farce Qin is getting bigger and bigger. It might be difficult for Little Junior to win like that.”

Lu Benlai shot a glance at Lin Jiage. After seeing that the latter was calmly watching Shi Yao’s figure on the track, and not paying attention to the results at all, he finally replied to Xia Shangzhou’s words, “Yeah, there’s already a lap and a half’s difference between them. A marathon is about endurance, but if the gap between them grows too big in the initial phase, it will still be difficult to catch up later on…”

XIa Shangzhou: “What should we do? I really don’t want to see Little Junior being outdone by Campus Farce Qin…”

Lu Benlai: “It’s the process and not the outcome that matters. Besides, I think it’s already very courageous of Little Junior to participate in the 10-kilometer marathon!”

“…”

The two of them continued to chat about the circumstances on the running track.

On the other hand, seemingly completely oblivious to their conversation, Lin Jiage’s eyes remained firmly fixated on Shi Yao, prepared to rush forward to pull her out at any moment.

Time swiftly ticked by, and before long, the marathon was already reaching its middle phase.

Lu Benlai examined the situation on the track for a moment before remarking with interest, “Have you noticed something weird?”

Xia Shangzhou: “What do you mean?”

Lu Benlai: “This should be Campus Farce Qin’s ninth round, right?”

Xia Shangzhou nodded. “That sounds about right. What about it?”

Lu Benlai: “I’ve been counting, and Little Junior should be on her seventh round right now. She’s halfway through the track, which means that the distance between Campus Farce Qin and Little Junior hasn’t changed since the fifth round…”

Xia Shangzhou understood. “Now that you mention it, it’s true. And I don’t know if I’m imagining things, but is Little Junior getting faster and faster?”

Lu Benlai swiftly observed the situation on the running track before replying, “It’s not your imagination—Little Junior’s speed is increasing. She was third from the back, but she overtook one person so now she’s fourth from the back…”

Xia Shangzhou: “She just passed another one. Fifth from the back… Sixth from the back… Seventh from the back… Actually, I think it’s scarier that her speed is still getting faster!”

Lu Benlai: “You’re right! She’s only one round behind Campus Farce Qin now.”

Xia Shangzhou: “Campus Farce Qin is still running at the same speed she had from the start… The gap between them is now down to one, no, roughly four-fifths of a lap. And Little Junior’s ranking… she’s not at the back of the runners anymore! She’s currently…”

Xia Shangzhou did a swift count in his mind before continuing, “… at eleventh place!”

Lu Benlai: “Incredible! At this rate, Little Junior will really get into the top ten… Woah, she just passed two people in one go and took ninth place… Heck, am I seeing things? Did Little Junior just get faster again? This is her fourteenth lap, right? That’s 5.6 kilometers, and she can still speed up?”

Xia Shangzhou: “I have nothing left but admiration for her… She’s only half a lap away from Campus Farce Qin now… She just made her way into the top five…”

Right after Xia Shangzhou finished speaking, Shi Yao overtook yet another person.

Lu Benlai: “Fourth place… The gap between her and Campus Farce Qin is about a hundred meters now…”

Xia Shangzhou: “Second place now… Fifty more meters and she will be able to catch up with Campus Farce Qin…”

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TL Note: Just to clarify, Campus Farce Qin is actually a homophone of Campus Belle Qin in Chinese. While they’re engaging in nickname calling, it actually sounds much less childish in Chinese because of the pun. On the contrary, it sounds quite witty even.