Rebirth: Slice-of-life Cultivation

"Pull-ups are nothing difficult; let's go play with that instead."

Shen Xinli pointed at the parallel bars on the other side, which were no ordinary bars. They had something like a horizontal ladder on top.

People from Fourth Middle School usually called them "cloud ladder bars."

Upon hearing this, Cui Yu immediately knew what Shen Xinli wanted to do.

During PE classes, boys often stood at one end of the cloud ladder bars, jumped forward to see who could catch the further rung. The more distant a rung someone grabbed, the stronger they were considered to be.

It was a common sight during PE to see students competing on this apparatus.

"If you're saying to play, then let's play," Cui Yu obviously wasn't going to chicken out.

So, a group of students moved over to the cloud ladder bars.

There was a student from class nine standing at one end of them.

With his feet on a low bar just twenty centimeters from the ground, he pushed off with his legs, leaping forward and extending his arms, grabbing a middle rung in one go.

Momentum carried his body forward and because he held onto the rung, he swung back again, making quite an impressive display.

The girls by the ping-pong table glanced over, and the boys were inwardly rewarded, feeling utterly content.

"Shi Qianjin, move over, let me try," Shen Xinli gestured with a wave of his hand that it was his turn to show off.

Shi Qianjin immediately let go and landed.

He and Shen Xinli were classmates and in good terms, so he wouldn't stand in the way of Shen Xinli's moment in the spotlight.

Shen Xinli was pretty much better than him in every way, except for being a bit shorter. Shi Qianjin hoped Shen Xinli would get himself a girlfriend from class eight, and through her, maybe introduce some girls to him!

While people played on the cloud ladder bars, Jiang Ning was playing badminton with Xue Yuantong somewhere else.

Xue Yuantong was getting tired, so he made an excuse and passed his racket to Geng Lu, who was watching.

Geng Lu was happy at first to receive the racket, but then she remembered something, glanced down at her chest, and handed the racket back to Xue Yuantong.

"I'm not really suited for this," she said.

Since the start of ninth grade, Geng Lu had been aware of this. She was more developed than other girls her age and it brought its own challenges.

For instance, running could be uncomfortable and tended to draw the boys' attention.

Activities like badminton, which required arms to move, made things even more noticeable.

It wouldn't be so bad with a down jacket, but with the warm weather in March, Geng Lu wasn't wearing anything thick.

Especially with so many boys on the sports field.

She wouldn't mind in a quiet gymnasium, but it was different out on the field.

Jiang Ning gathered from Geng Lu's expression that she was being self-conscious, but he said nothing.

The racket eventually ended up with Chen Siqing, one of the twins.

"Let's go." Jiang Ning remembered Chen Siqing mentioning the strawberry issue two days ago. He didn't hold back. After a few rallies, Chen Siqing started her endless task of fetching balls.

Jiang Ning was playing and noticed a boy approach Geng Lu. He was aware of the boy because he was using his Divine Sense; he knew the boy was from the second year of high school, one grade above them.

The boy looked ordinary, with oily skin that reflected sunlight and greasy hair that seemed unwashed for days.

The second-year student, in Jiang Ning's presence, said:

"Junior sister, I'm your senior. Let's add each other on QQ."

As he spoke, his eyes darted around her body rudely.

Geng Lu stepped back. She had been through this before, especially since ninth grade. She'd been asked for her QQ by older men on the street. One man had followed her for a while. To avoid further harassment, she had ended up giving him an unused secondary QQ number.

The memory of those past encounters was vivid.

Faced with a schoolmate this time, Geng Lu declined:

"I don't use QQ."

The boy seemed to believe her and said, "WeChat is fine, too."

Jiang Ning put down his racket and walked over. Geng Lu was someone he had chosen as a future assistant; he wouldn't let anyone disturb her.

The second-year senior didn't back down when he saw another boy approaching. Many students felt a strange sense of superiority from being just one year older, looking down on their juniors.

"Buddy, is this your girl? Pretty cute," the boy laughed, not concerned at all. He knew this junior was on good terms with a few girls.

But he probably wasn't her boyfriend, which was exactly what he wanted to test.

He wasn't worried; even if he asked for contact information, would the other boy dare to hit him?

Seeing Jiang Ning, Geng Lu moved a little closer to him, as if seeking a sense of security.

The senior's expression darkened when he saw how close the two of them were.

Jiang Ning glanced at him and said calmly,

"Get lost."

"Huh?" The senior was incredulous at first, then quickly flew into a rage.

He was a second-year student and yet he was being looked down upon by a junior.

For someone with such a strong sense of pride, it was akin to being cursed at by a junior-grade elementary school student while playing video games.

"Damn it, show me some respect," he said angrily, pointing at Jiang Ning.

Over at the ping pong table, Wang Longlong, who was catching some air, noticed and immediately nudged Ma Shicheng, excitedly saying,

"Brother Ma, stop playing, look at Brother Ning hitting someone!"

Ma Shicheng quickly looked toward Jiang Ning and saw a slightly overweight boy pointing at him, acting arrogantly.

He deftly put away his phone into his pocket and sprinted towards Jiang Ning.

There was no way Ma Shicheng would miss this kind of event!

It wasn't just Ma Shicheng and Wang Longlong -- over by the parallel bars, Dan Kaiquan and Meng Gui also dashed towards Jiang Ning, eager to watch the action.

Even Cui Yu, who was competing with Shen Xinli from ninth grade, also dropped his opponent and ran quickly toward Jiang Ning.

On this side, Yu Wen noticed and said with a bad tone,

"Fighting again, it seems like Jiang Ning only knows how to fight."

Yang Sheng, hearing her, replied, "You say that with so much disdain. If you really dislike it, then don't watch. You're always the one watching the most intently."

Yu Wen was poked where it hurt, and if it was someone else, she would have definitely retorted with her temperament.

But remembering the downside of dealing with Yang Sheng, she swallowed her anger. If she couldn't provoke, couldn't she at least hide?

Lu Qiqi, who was on the ping pong table, showing off her manicure with a sing-song voice, stepped in for Yu Wen:

"Hey, some girls just love to meddle too much. I can't even judge."

She and Yu Wen were close friends, sometimes they got into conflicts and even compared each other's admirers, but no matter what, they were closer than strangers and couldn't stand to see their friend get upset.

Hearing this, Yu Wen hurriedly nudged her, signaling her not to talk nonsense.

However, Lu Qiqi wasn't afraid at all and launched a personal attack:

"I really don't see what's so good about you that would make Qi Tianheng from the second class chase after you."

Yang Sheng jumped off the platform. Her jacket lifted slightly with the movement, revealing a gentle curve from her waistline to her toes.

She let out a soft "Hmm?"

...

The second-year senior had intended to flirt with the junior girls today, but instead, he was insulted by a lower-grade student. Enraged, he pointed at Jiang Ning, spewing threats, even thinking about using his fists to teach him a lesson.

Suddenly, from the corner of his eye, he caught sight of several boys running towards them like mad dogs.

The boys had mad expressions, as if they had stumbled upon something fantastic.

Seeing they were about to reach them, the senior grew timid: 'They couldn't be coming for me, could they?'

'Damn it, they couldn't be coming to beat me up, could they?'

He knew that the boys were from the first year and they were all together.

The more he thought about it, the more it seemed likely, and the senior panicked.

If it were just one person, he wouldn't be scared, but now there were too many of them. Staying here would just get him beat up, wouldn't it?

And the boy in front of him was still as calm as ever, obviously confident.

'They're definitely here to beat me up!'

Fear magnified within the senior, he didn't even issue a cruel remark before turning around and bolting away!

He was gone in an instant -- by the time Ma Shicheng and the others arrived, they saw the guy had run dozens of meters away.

Wang Longlong caught his breath, scratched his head, and was utterly baffled. They had come to watch the excitement, but before it even started, the guy was gone.

"Brother Ning, why did he run?"

Dan Kaiquan and the others were equally puzzled, "What happened here?"

Jiang Ning scanned them, "He got scared off by you all."

Geng Lu couldn't hold back and laughed out loud. Just a moment ago, she was thinking of advising Jiang Ning not to get into a fight since it could result in school punishment.

Who knew that in a blink of an eye, the guy would disappear.