Chapter 4: Campus Football Match

  On Monday morning, it was the usual flag-raising ceremony. After the bright red five-starred national flag reached the top of the flagpole, it was followed by the usual speech by the leader.

  He combed the few remaining strands of hair on top of his Mediterranean-style head, and with a spring in his step and a radiant complexion, Principal Qiu began his soporific speech from the podium, as was his wont.

  Lin Xiaoyu was already used to the flag-raising ceremony every Monday. At the beginning of Principal Qiu's speech, Lin Xiaoyu started discussing with her classmates in a low voice about the football match that would start in the afternoon.

  "Everyone, please quiet down." After speaking for over ten minutes, Principal Qiu, who still seemed to have more to say, raised his voice to suppress the whispers of the several thousand students below the podium. "Next, I would like to announce some matters related to our school's 'Comprehensive Development Cup' football tournament, which starts today."

  Lin Xiaoyu and others stopped their passionate discussion, with mouths agape, when the principal mentioned the football match. For the first time, they listened to the principal's words so seriously.

  "In order to comprehensively improve the moral, intellectual and physical qualities of our school's primary and secondary students, and cultivate the all-round development of students' qualities, our school has decided to hold the first 'Moral, Intellectual and Physical Comprehensive Development Cup' campus football match starting from today after discussion at the school education group meeting. This competition has received strong support and praise from the leaders of the Municipal Education Bureau, who believe that this competition can better improve students' physical quality, enrich students' campus life, and increase students' interest in learning..."

  Qiu principal's pile of nonsense detached from the edge of the game made Lin Xiaoyu and others who wanted to know about the competition very unhappy.

  Lin Xiaoyu felt like a person waiting for a bus at the station, having waited for a long time, with buses passing by all around, but none of them was the one she had been waiting for.

  "This 'Comprehensive Development Cup' football match will officially start at 4:30 pm today after school, and this match will be chaired by Chen XX, the head of the physical education department, as the competition committee and referee, and Huang XX, the director of the teaching affairs office, will serve as the event's..."

  Principal Qiu, who had just mentioned the match, went on to introduce a bunch of teachers who would only appear on the sidelines and had nothing to do with the game.

  This made Lin Xiaoyu's spirit, which had just been slightly lifted, sink again. At this moment, Lin Xiaoyu was like a person waiting for a bus who suddenly saw the No. 1 bus he wanted to take coming from afar, but when it approached, he realized it was actually the No. 7 bus, leaving him disappointed.

  "This time, the 'Comprehensive Development Cup' is divided into high school and junior high school groups. The junior high school group and the high school group are divided into four small groups to compete for the qualifying rights. The top two teams in each group will advance to the quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals, which will be a single-elimination tournament to determine the champions, runners-up, and third-place winners of the junior high school and high school groups. The game is divided into two halves, considering the different physical conditions of junior high school and high school students. This time, each half of the junior high school group's game will last 30 minutes, with a total game time of 60 minutes; the high school group's game will have a halftime of 40 minutes, with a total game time of 80 minutes. If the score is tied at the end of the regular playing time in the knockout stage, there will be no extra time and the winner will be determined by penalty kicks. This event will also select the best players and sportsmanship awards for the junior high school and high school groups. Therefore, all students must remember the spirit of 'friendship first, competition second' while fiercely competing during the game."

  Lin Xiaoyu finally got the news she wanted to know from Principal Qiu's mouth, which was like a burst of water that had been pent up for hours and was now flowing freely. Lin Xiaoyu let out a long sigh of relief, just like someone who had waited for several hours for their bus to arrive.

  Principal Qiu on the stage did not know that Lin Xiaoyu and others were suffering in their own words, he continued his speech: "Our school's 'Moral Intelligence Physical Comprehensive Development Cup' football match is the first session, so in this first session of the competition, our school organizing committee also set up rich prizes for the awards. Each winning quota will receive a trophy, certificate and banner awarded by our school. The classes that won the championship, runner-up, third place and sports moral style award will be evaluated as advanced collective honor class. Students who win the best player will be evaluated as excellent student pioneers...

  Lin Xiaoyu is not very interested in the rewards of these matches, as long as there are matches to play, Lin Xiaoyu feels extremely excited, and the prizes are far less than the joy that football brings to him.

  That's the heart of a kid who purely loves soccer.

  For those professional football matches that have been given too much benefit pressure and desire, the kind of football played by children like Lin Xiaoyu is simply to gain endless joy and freedom from football. This is the most pure football.

  "...and all the teams that won the top three places and the two teams from the junior high school and high school groups that won the Sports Ethics Award will have their classes sponsored to take a one-day trip to the seaside as a prize..." As soon as Principal Qiu finished speaking, thousands of students in the auditorium erupted into cheers.

  Lin Xiaoyu was also very happy. After all, Lin Xiaoyu is a child who immediately became excited when she heard that the prize was an outing to play by the sea.

  At this time, Lin Xiaoyu's mood was like a passenger on a bus that had been waiting for half a day, hearing that this ride didn't cost any money and there were even big gifts to be given away. The troubles of the previous wait disappeared instantly, and her heart was filled with unexpected joy.

  Principal Qiu's Monday speech ended amidst the cheers of thousands of students. Seeing the students' enthusiasm, Principal Qiu felt that this time imitating Experimental Middle School to host a football match was a good decision, and he began to think about whether to launch more such activities next time to seize the initiative.

  After the opening ceremony in the afternoon, there was a football match between Class 3 of Grade 1 and Class 6 of Grade 2.

  Excited Lin Xiaoyu, like many of the school football team members, had her mind on imagining the afternoon's football match during class today. As soon as it was time for recess, several people gathered around a table, discussing the afternoon's game with great enthusiasm.

  Those classmates who did not participate in the football match, upon hearing that getting a prize would allow the whole class to go on a trip, were all enthusiastic and rushed into the football ranks. At this moment, Class 1-3 seemed to be carrying out a patriotic movement during the War of Resistance Against Japan.

  It's the last class in the afternoon now, and it's a politics lesson that Lin Xiaoyu doesn't like very much.

  Lin Xiaoyu, who was originally not interested in this lesson, now had her mind filled with the expectation of the football match later, so for Lin Xiaoyu, this politics lesson was a wait for the end-of-class bell from the moment the class-starting bell rang.

  But Einstein's theory of relativity proved that Lin Xiaoyu's class time was destined to be a long and tedious year.

  Lin Xiaoyu was bored and played with her fingers on the table, feeling like it had been a long time, but when she looked at the clock in the classroom, she found that only a few minutes had passed since class started.

  Lin Xiaoyu, who couldn't bear waiting any longer, could only quietly chat with Mu Rong Hui Min sitting in front of her.

  Murong Hui Min was a primary school classmate of Lin Xiao Yu in Class 3, Grade 1.

  Lin Xiaoyu's initial impression of this name is that it sounds like a petite female protagonist from a martial arts novel. In elementary school, she was notorious for bullying the class's chubby kid. At that time, Lin Xiaoyu was deeply influenced by Jet Li's "Shaolin Temple" and had a heroic aura about her, always ready to fight for justice. With just three punches and two kicks, she would beat up the chubby kid until he cried out loud, earning her a punishment from the teacher to stand outside the classroom door for an entire afternoon.

  Lin Xiaoyu was slightly satisfied with her own experience of being a Jianghu hero, and after feeling a little proud, she didn't think much about the fight afterwards.

  However, as the heroine who saves the beauty, Murong Hui Min is a different story.

  Girls are generally more precocious than boys and have a certain inexplicable infatuation with the clichéd story of a prince rescuing a princess in fairy tales.

  For the brave Lin Xiaoyu to stand up for herself and cry out at the despicable little fatty who bullied her, only to be innocently punished by the teacher, this incident has produced a strange feeling in Murong Hui's heart.

  This feeling was deeply buried in Murong Hui's heart like a seed.

  As Murong Hui Min grew up, she was influenced by the romantic TV dramas of Qiong Yao and others. The small seed in her heart seemed to have received a huge boost of energy, starting to sprout and grow endlessly.

  At that time, Lin Xiaoyu's thin and small image of crying Xiao Pangzi was constantly magnified and perfected in the heart of this little girl Murong Huimin, making Lin Xiaoyu's image of bullying Xiao Pangzi become a prince fighting monsters to save the princess.

  From this we can see that fairy tales and romantic stories have opened up the hearts of many young girls like a spring breeze.

  Lin Xiaoyu, who had never been interested in romance novels and didn't know what they were about, naturally didn't understand the thoughts of those little girls whose hearts were opened by fairy tales and romance stories. She also didn't know that she had unknowingly become a white knight prince in Mu Rong Hui Min's heart, an adorable and lovable "beast".

  Lin Xiaoyu would often talk to Murong Huimin during class breaks, passing notes and whatnot. Lin Xiaoyu enjoyed chatting with this delicate and pretty girl, and Murong Huimin gave him a feeling that was completely opposite of the one Xiao Ru gave him.

  Li Jingru always gave Lin Xiaoyu a very opinionated and imaginative feeling, often loving to argue with Lin Xiaoyu when discussing some issues. Although both of them enjoyed the pleasure of small quarrels, sometimes Li Jingru's eloquence made Lin Xiaoyu feel unable to parry and always lost by a narrow margin, which made Lin Xiaoyu's small male self-esteem feel a little uncomfortable.

  But this has never happened between Lin Xiaoyu and Murong Huimin.

  I don't know if it's her natural personality or the influence of weak female protagonists in fairy tales who need male leads to protect them, but Mu Rong Hui Min is practically a real-life version of those fragile and delicate heroines.

  Murong Hui's voice was barely louder than a mosquito, and in class, apart from Lin Xiaoyu, she rarely spoke to other classmates. When the teacher asked questions and Murong Hui answered, her voice made the teacher on the podium wish they had ears that could hear sounds from thousands of miles away.

  Lin Xiaoyu, who is fearless of heaven and earth, and Murong Huimin, who blushes at the slightest movement, can be said to be a huge contrast.

  When Lin Xiaoyu chatted with Murong Huimin, it was mostly Lin Xiaoyu who spoke fluently and eloquently, while Murong Huimin listened attentively on the side, occasionally asking softly about some details or sharing her own feelings. This made Lin Xiaoyu feel extremely happy to have a loyal listener to boast to. Occasionally, from the sparkling eyes of Murong Huimin, who was listening to the story, Lin Xiaoyu saw flashes of admiring glances, which gave him an unprecedented sense of satisfaction and pride.

  So Lin Xiaoyu liked to talk to this delicate and lovely little girl. Lin Xiaoyu often thought that Murong Huimin's pale face with a hint of redness on her cheeks due to shyness was inexplicably beautiful.

  "The politics lesson is so boring, when will it end?" Lin Xiaoyu moved her head to the front of the desk and whispered in Murong Huimin's ear.

  Because of Lin Xiaoyu's close proximity to Murong Hui, she caught a whiff of a faint, delicate fragrance from Murong Hui's raven-black, glossy hair.

  This fragrance had been smelled by Lin Xiaoyu since she first sat behind Murong Hui Min, and Lin Xiaoyu enjoyed this pleasant light scent very much.

  Listening to Lin Xiaoyu's soft voice in her ear, feeling the warmth of Lin Xiaoyu's breath on her ear, Muyong Hui's face involuntarily flushed with two faint red clouds.

  However, Murong Huimin, who was already used to speaking like this, quickly regained her composure. She leaned back in her chair, slightly turned her head and whispered to Lin Xiaoyu: "Class will be over soon, there are still more than 20 minutes left."

  "Oh no, there are still over twenty minutes... Time is really passing slowly." Lin Xiaoyu was still lamenting her own helplessness.

  "Twenty minutes will soon pass, you want to go kick a football after class?" Murong Huimin whispered comforted the prince in her heart.

  "Geez, I'm about to go crazy. Why hasn't the class ended yet?" Lin Xiaoyu's complaint was as endless as Principal Qiu's speech.

  "How is football played?" Murong Hui Min had no interest in football at all, but seeing Lin Xiao Yu liked it so much made her wonder what football was.

  It turns out that interests can be spread in this way. When someone has something they don't particularly like, but the person they like does, then they will start to like that thing because they like that person.

  This feeling has been well summarized and generalized by the ancients, who called it "loving the cottage and the crow together".

  With a topic, Lin Xiao Yu no longer had the time to feel sad because of boredom.

  Lin Xiaoyu explained all the football rules she knew to Murong Huimin, a little football novice.

  Just as Lin Xiaoyu was about to boast about his football skills, the political class ended in Lin Xiaoyu's football career.

  Lin Xiaoyu hastily packed up her school bag while saying to Murong Huimin, "I'll talk to you about soccer tomorrow, I have a match to go to now."

  Murong Huimin, who was instilled with football knowledge for nearly half a lesson by Lin Xiaoyu, still only knows that football is a game where two teams of eleven people each desperately kick the ball into the opponent's goal, and whoever kicks in more goals wins.

  "Then I'll just wait and see you play soccer." Murong Huimin said softly with a red face.

  "Alright, great, just wait and see my performance." Lin Xiaoyu said with a straight face, not showing any embarrassment.

  "Come on, Xiao Yu! You can do it!" Murong Huimin cheered herself up to encourage her prince, her heart racing with excitement.

  "Alright, definitely! Just wait for me to take you guys to the beach to have fun!" Lin Xiaoyu made a bold statement and then grabbed her backpack and ran out of the classroom in a flash.

  Watching Lin Xiaoyu's figure disappear quickly, Murong Hui Min sat stupidly in her own chair, she took Lin Xiaoyu's boastful words just now as a promise to take herself to the seaside.

  Murong Hui's small face was quickly covered with a red cloud that spread to her ears, her heart rate accelerated again, and her heart felt as sweet as honey.

  (PS: These childhood things always bring some nostalgia, I hope everyone can feel my emotions from the text, hehe, if you can't feel it then my writing is just too bad. Collect and recommend, your support is my motivation.)