Chapter 54: The second step of the Little Strawberry Plan.

The Little Strawberry Plan didn’t start off well, making Lu Xu Nan so angry that he looked at Fang Ci who was the one who suggested it unpleasantly for two days in a row.

And Fang Ci, after looking at Lu Xu Nan’s recreation of his “smile”, also discovered that the feasibility of this first step was indeed a little too low.

To compensate, not only did he consult N number of articles online on strategies and dating techniques on chasing girls, he also asked many people’s opinions. Finally, he brought out his suggestion for the second step–praise.

“During daily interactions, people who use praise are more likely to get a good impression and move people’s hearts! I think that this method for your kind of bad…Uh, people that use their face to express their likes and dislikes, is simply awesome! Think about it, even if you can’t smile at someone, if the other person hears your praise, they can still know what you mean, right? Everyone likes to listen to good things, especially girls. When they’re praised for being beautiful and cute, they’re incredibly happy in their hearts! You work hard in this direction!” Fang Ci closed the webpage, solemnly speaking.

Lu Xu Nan frowned when he finished listening, still skeptical, “You mean to tell me to be a suck up?”

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Fang Ci immediately disagreed, waving his hands, saying, “You’re only called a suck up if you’re ugly. If you’re handsome, then it’s a warm, considerate man! Isn’t this the trick that the one surnamed Xu relies on? Don’t you hear how all the girls in the class are calling him a warm sunshine boy or whatever? Tsk.”

Lu Xu Nan subconsciously when he heard Xu Xing Ji’s name, but he just barely accepted Fang Ci’s interpretation, “So just praise whenever I see her? She’ll be happy if I praise her!”

Fang Ci thought about it and nodded, “It’s basically like that.”

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Nw Dw Lyd vpjle, qkdekdt kv y zkvvzl vaswczlpsxl, yde ypjle, “Mbld obyv kq R pll bla qywzvp, obyv pbswze R es?”

“Tyk! Ebyv yal usw pyukdt?” Wydt Uk zssjle yp kq bl oyp hlau lmrlakldnle, bl pyke, “Uyd vbl qywzvp sq vbl tkaz usw zkjl cl nyzzle qywzvp? Nkvvzl qykaklp nyd sdzu cl nwvl, vblal yal ds qywzvp! Zsw byhl vs qkde lhlau kxrsavydv rskdv ycswv vbl svbla rlapsd. Mbkp oyu, pbl okzz elqkdkvlzu jdso vbyv pbl’p tsse lhlauoblal kd uswa blyav, pbl’p vbl xspv kxrsavydv, vbl xspv wdkiwl lmkpvldnl!”

Nw Dw Lyd dseele vbswtbvqwzzu, kdeknyvkdt vbyv bl wdelapvsse.

Jwv bkp plyv oyp qya qasx Lkdt Zk, yde vblpl nwzvwayz nzypplp olal cynj vs cynj, zlyhkdt ds vkxl sa prynl qsa bkx vs nyaau kv swv.

Bdvkz vbl yqvladssd obld Wydt Uk byrrkzu yde ekzktldvzu nyxl vs vlzz bkx, “Jasvbla Lyd, cypjlvcyzz nzypp kp dlmv, obs nyd clyv usw yv cypjlvcyzz? Gv vbyv vkxl, vyzj okvb Fwd Hbk yblye sq vkxl, zlv bkx rwv usw yde Lkdt Zk sd vbl pyxl vlyx. Qaypr vbkp srrsavwdkvu olzz!”

–

Eblvbla kv oyp clqsal sa dso, Lkdt Zk’p pvyvl sq lmlankpkdt oyp lmynvzu yp cye yp clqsal yde pbl pvkzz byvle lmlankpkdt yp pbl eke clqsal.

Mbkdjkdt sq V.O., pbl oyp osaakle yde oydvle vs vyjl pknj zlyhl yde pvyu kd vbl nzyppassx vs pszhl rasczlxp.

Ju Meng urged her, “Let’s go, let’s go, Teacher Chen only uses half the class time, the latter half is free time. At that time, we can play on our own. If you sit there some more, mushrooms will grow on you, you have to go out and get some sun!”

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Ning Yi was still unmoved, “I am a mushroom, I don’t need sun!”

Ju Meng was going to be angered to death by her, and called Mu Wanqing to get her together and drag her out. Ning Yi clung onto the desk, refusing to admit defeat.

“It’s better to go down and get some exercise. Yiyi, your health isn’t very good, exercising more will boost your immune system, so you won’t get sick so easily.” Xu Xing Ji came up from the back of the classroom at some point and persuaded, standing in the aisle.

Actually, after Xu Xing Ji confessed, Ning Yi textfully expressed on WeChat that she didn’t plan to date for the time being and rejected his goodwill with this.

But Xu Xing Ji didn’t give up at all because of this and instead, the frequency in which he sent messages and looked for her increased.

Although they were only everyday things, such simple greetings as “good morning, good night, have you eaten” or looking for her to discuss a complicated Olympiad question that he’d seen together. Occasionally bring yogurt, drinks, and the like for her and also thoughtfully prepare Ju Meng and Mu Wanqing a share, his attitude was still as intimate yet not rude just as before.

But this still made Ning Yi feel a little awkward, she still felt like she was stringing him along.

She raised her head to look at the smiling Xu Xing Ji, and decided that she still had to say it to his face once. This would appear more official, and a little more respectful. Thus, she nodded, “Okay, then let’s go down together.”

Ju Meng scratched Ning Yi’s palm, raising her eyebrows as she teased, “You value lust over friendship so much?”

Ning Yi had told them in the groupchat that the three of them shared that evening about Xu Xing Ji’s confession. Since then, Ju Meng would tease her from time to time.

Ning Yi was too lazy to care about her, so she pulled Mu Wanqing forward. Ju Meng then smiled apologetically and followed. The row of people noisily went to gather on the field.

After class, the P.E. teacher made everyone jog two laps around the field as a warm-up, and then uniformly taught the basic skills of dribbling and shooting, and then let the students conduct group training. Students who know how to play basketball will teach the ones that don’t and the field was divided into four parts.

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The sports committee members read the names of the members of each group one by one. When he heard “Ning Yi” and “Lu Xu Nan” together, Fang Ci raised his eyebrows at his brother triumphantly and said, “I arranged it properly for you!”

As soon as he spoke, they heard the sports committee member say aloud the name of the last member of their group–

“Xu Xing Ji! The training ground for the students just named is the first half of the south end of the field, please come to the front in a while to get your ball.”

Lu Xu Nan’s eyes twitched, and he said to Fang Ci, “Did you do this on purpose?”

Fang Ci patted his chest heavily, “…Fuck, I forget to tell Sun Zhi not to put Xu Xing Ji on the same team!”

He guiltily glanced at Lu Xu Nan, trying to make it up, “But it’s okay, as long as it’s not studying, no matter if it’s playing games or playing basketball, Brother Nan, you are definitely better than Xu Xing Ji!”

If this wasn’t from him, Lu Xu Nan would’ve wondered if Fang Ci’s remarks meant that he was not doing his job properly and only cared about playing. He unhappily said, “Shut up, you!”

After splitting off into groups, the boys went to get the ball and the girls went to the designated site to wait.

Lu Xu Nan bent down and grabbed the basketball from the frame with one hand and hugged it in front of him. With the other hand, he reached out again to fetch it just as Xu Xing Ji caught the same one.

He tilted his head and said expressionlessly, “I touched1 it first.”

Xu Xing Ji raised his eyebrows when he heard this, and said with another layer of meaning, “But even if you touched it first, it doesn’t belong to you.”

Lu Xu Nan’s eyes darkened, the strength of the hand pressed on the ball increased, “It can only be mine.”

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Xu Xing Ji’s lips curled into a smile, he said, “Then why don’t we just ask it? Basketball, basketball, you…”

“Aiyo, brothers, don’t flirt and scold here, everyone behind you is waiting to get a ball!” Sun Zhi bent down and pulled the basketball into his hand, straightened up and glanced at the two of them, and randomly threw it to Lu Xu Nan, then hooked out two more basketballs and stuffed them into Xu Xing Ji’s hands. He waved his hands for them to move so the students behind could come up.

Lu Xu Nan clamped the basketball under his arm and looked at Xu Xing Ji with his eyelids slightly lowered. He said in a soft but sure voice, “I said it is mine, so it can only be mine.”

After speaking, he stopped looking at the other person and turned away coldly.

Xu Xing Ji, holding two balls, looked at his back. The smile on his lips grew wider and finally turned into a chuckle. He shook his head, and followed.

Ning Yi and the others stood under the basket and saw Lu Xu Nan along with Xu Xing Ji behind him coming toward them neither fast nor slow.

Ju Meng exaggeratedly inhaled, she poked Ning Yi’s back dimples, “My god, it’s a battlefield!”

Ning Yi looked at the stinky face that Lu Xu Nan had on, then as she turned her head and finished saying to Ju Meng “you’re thinking too much”, the next second, two basketballs were handed to her at the same time.

Ning Yi: “…”

Ju Meng winked at her, holding back her smile, and Mu Wanqing couldn’t help but lower her head to cover her smile.

Lu Xu Nan glanced at Xu Xing Ji in displeasure, as well as speaking in a cold tone with a hint of command and compulsion, “Take it, I will teach you how to play ball.”

Ning Yi didn’t like sports to begin with, and listening to his tone, didn’t like it even more.

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Are you playing2 ball or hitting people? Besides, who told you to teach? I just want to find a place to sit and rest for a while, okay? Busybody.

Hearing her thoughts, Lu Xu Nan choked half to death, and heard Xu Xing Ji saying to Ning Yi, “I will teach you, take it as thanks for teaching me the Math Olympiad problem yesterday.”

Look at how people talk, this is what they call the art of language, okay? If he hadn’t confessed to me, I would’ve definitely let him teach me.

Ning Yi couldn’t help but slander Lu Xu Nan in her heart again. Her eyes looked around and she saw Fang Ci holding two balls coming from the back. She immediately felt relieved, and turned and walked toward him, “Fang Ci, I heard you play basketball very well, please teach the three of us to play!”

Fang Ci, who was inexplicably involved, carefully glanced at his Brother Nan, and declined, “Ah? It’s better for Brother Nan to teach you, he’s much better than me!”

Ning Yi directly reached out and took a ball from his hand and asked, “Do you know how to do the dribble and shoot that the teacher just demonstrated?”

Fang Ci: “Of course, those are the most basic.”

“That’s enough, we don’t know anything, we should learn from the most basic!” Ning Yi said, turning to look at the two sisters who were watching the show next to her and raised her eyebrows, “Don’t you guys agree?”

Ju Meng and Mu Wanqing received her threat and they were also wrong for throwing her out just now, so they immediately nodded their heads: “Yes, yes, that’s right.”

While they spoke, they took the other ball from Fang Ci.

Fang Ci’s hands were suddenly empty, and he stood in place looking at Lu Xu Nan awkwardly.

The latter tossed the ball in his hand to him with a gloomy face. “You teach.”

As long as it isn’t Xu Xing Ji.

Fang Ci had to bite the bullet. While telling the girls about dribbling technique with a fierce gaze coming from behind him, he regretted in his heart: Why didn’t he tell Sun Zhi to put him into another group? What a mistake!

Fortunately, the PE teacher was the same as usual. After everyone had practiced for most of the class, he told them they were free to do what they want, and the sweaty Fang Ci was finally liberated.

Ning Yi had never liked sports, but at this moment, she suddenly felt the fun in basketball and even took a shot with interest.

The basketball rolled twice on the hoop in a suspenseful manner, and finally fell off the side regrettably, not making it in.

But she wasn’t dejected. She ran to the basketball hoop to pick up the ball and continued to play.

Fang Ci wiped his sweat and leaned toward Lu Xu Nan. He lifted his chin at Xu Xing Ji, who was explaining shooting techniques to Ju Meng and the others, and reminded him, “Brother Nan, don’t just stand here. Look at him, you have to create opportunities when chasing others!”

Lu Xu Nan was still angry. Frowning, he didn’t move.

At this time, the ball from Ning Yi’s missed shot happened to roll over in their direction.

Fang Ci hurriedly pushed him, and said quickly, “The second step of the Little Strawberry Plan that I said today, praise, remember? Hurry, now! Go!”

Lu Xu Nan strode over with his lips pressed, bent over to pick up the basketball, stood in front of Ning Yi who was chasing it, and handed the ball over.

“Thank you.” Ning Yi reached out to take it, but it wouldn’t budge.

She raised her head and looked at the other person, tilting her head in confusion. “?”

Lu Xu Nan’s Adam’s apple bobbed, and the hand holding the basketball couldn’t help tightening its grip. He knitted his eyebrows and thought for a while, and finally hurriedly thought of a compliment before Ning Yi was about to speak.

“Although you haven’t made a single basket, the way you’ve been chasing the ball around the court is…quite cute.”

After he finished speaking, Lu Xu Nan breathed a sigh of relief, and the corners of his lips rose slightly.

??? What’s going on? Suddenly mocking me? You look down on people just because you play basketball well?

Ning Yi looked up at the mocking smile on Lu Xu Nan’s lips, raised her hand high and struck the ball with anger. Then, pointing at the ball that rolled far away and said, “You go and be cute!”

[1] The verb 碰 can mean both ‘meet’ and ‘touch’

[2] 打 can mean both ‘hit [someone/thing]’ or ‘play’