I am not participating.

"Are there two Xu Lins?"

Just as he stood up, he saw another male student standing up not far away from the sophomore section. Up on the stage, Ye Qinleng smiled slightly.

"Alright, that makes two of you. Come on up."

Xu Lin walked up toward the stage. As he passed the line of male students, he heard them whispering among themselves.

"Up close and personal? I wish that were me."

"It's fine. When you go up to get your shoes later, you can ask for an autograph. She won't refuse."

"Smooth. Not a bad idea."

However, as Xu Lin stepped onto the platform, many students down below were stunned the moment they saw his face, especially the girls.

"Who is this handsome guy? How come I never noticed our school had someone like this?!"

"I know, right?"

"Wait, Xu Lin... I saw him sitting with Ji Yun earlier today. You know, the one who was with Zhang Kang..."

"Oh, oh! I remember now. Seems like they had some friction this morning too."

"Isn't he also that guy from the commercial?"

"Huh? I think you're right! I heard a while ago that he was a student at our school, but I didn't think it was true!"

"He is so good-looking, though! Not in that greasy, styled-up celebrity way, but just purely refined facial features. It's like he was custom-created in a video game character creator."

"Yeah."

Hearing the discussions around her, Ji Yun curved her lips into a slight smile, but then clenched her fists and muttered under her breath, "Stop being so handsome, seriously..."

The other Xu Lin felt a bit awkward, but with so many people watching, he could only stand there awkwardly with a smile.

The two of them stood beside the stack of shoe boxes. Then, Xu Lin picked up the name list and called out the first name.

"Li Hanna!" Xu Lin glanced over the first name. It wasn't sorted by pinyin, but having Hanna as the very first one was quite absurd!

A girl with braided pigtails trotted up. Xu Lin picked up the shoe box corresponding to her size and handed it to her.

She took the box, her large eyes staring fixedly at him for several seconds, which made him feel a little embarrassed.

Finally, she offered an apologetic smile and quickly hurried over toward Ye Qinleng.

"Hello, President Ye! Could I please get your autograph?"

"Oh? Well, I suppose I can, but if I sign for you, everyone else will want one too. I don't mind, but it takes up too much time."

"Ah..." The girl pursed her lips, looking a bit disappointed.

"It's fine, you're the first, so I'll sign. But please, everyone else afterwards shouldn't ask me, so we can make sure everyone gets their shoes quickly."

"Okay!"

The students who came after her stopped asking President Ye for autographs. At most, they shook her hand, and those were all girls.

Though the guys had been talking a big game earlier, none of them even dared to get close. They stole a nervous glance and then hurriedly hurried back down.

***

In just half an hour, around a thousand pairs of shoes had been mostly distributed. However, the further along they got, the more Xu Lin felt something was amiss, because there was only one Xu Lin listed on the sheet.

That Xu Lin wasn't down for the freshmen side, but rather on the sophomore side. To put it bluntly, he himself was the extra one.

After calling out the name Xu Lin once, there was no second Xu Lin, so he proactively yielded the shoe box to the guy beside him.

The other guy was initially hesitant, but Xu Lin pointed at the list, showing him that he was the actual Xu Lin who had been called.

With that, he stopped being modest. After all, who wouldn't want a nice pair of sneakers?

Once the shoes were all given out, Xu Lin prepared to head down, but Ye Qinleng called out to stop him directly.

"Student Xu Lin over there."

"Is there something you need?"

"Come here. What is your shoe size?"

"I wear a size 42. I'll get mine later." Xu Lin wore an expression that clearly said *we don't know each other*.

"You've been handing out shoes for a while, and as it happens, I have a pair of size-one display shoes right here. Take them if you don't mind."

As she spoke, Ye Qinleng picked up a pair of EXS shoes from the table—meant to be unveiled at the upcoming new product launch—and handed them straight to him.

"This gift is too valuable."

"It's fine. Just make sure to tune into our launch event."

"Thank you, President Ye."

Accepting the shoes, Xu Lin stepped down from the high platform amidst the envious gazes of hundreds, if not thousands, of people, and hurried back to his seat.

Of course, the most bitter person of all was the other Xu Lin who had just gone down earlier. He felt like he should have yielded his turn—what a massive loss!

Back at his seat, the people around him chanted, "Open it up and let us see what they look like!"

Xu Lin opened the shoe box. Inside lay a pair of blue-and-white running shoes, nestled securely within a cloud-like padding of soft fluff.

"The packaging is so pretty, too."

"Aren't you going to try them on?"

"Nah, nah. I'll try them on at home."

It wasn't that his feet smelled, but rather that many of the surrounding boys had already kicked off their shoes to try on their new pairs, filling the surrounding air with a foul stench. He wanted no part in that; if you joined in, you instantly became part of the stinky-foot brigade.

Soon, the head teachers began restoring order. After all, they couldn't just sit here surrounded by foot odor, especially with cameras rolling in the back.

A few minutes later, everyone had calmed down. Several school leaders standing on stage took turns speaking, though the vice principal kept his remarks to a brief couple of sentences.

Then, Ye Qinleng, who had taken a short rest, took the microphone back.

"Finally, I want to return to the original intention behind gifting you these shoes. While it is certainly an advertisement, I also hope everyone exercises more and maintains good health."

"So, in bringing these shoes today, I also wanted to give everyone a great opportunity for exercise and competition. I brought this idea up with the school administration."

"The teachers were very supportive, so tomorrow we will be holding a small running competition. I hope everyone will enthusiastically participate."

"If President Ye is still going to be here, we'll definitely participate!"

***

"I appreciate that student's enthusiasm. I will be leaving Linshui at noon tomorrow, and I hope to see everyone's wonderful performances."

"For more details, please listen to your class teachers. Thank you all for taking time out of your studies to come here and listen to me chat today. See you all tomorrow."

"Let's give President Ye a round of applause." The head grade directors called out from the side, and the students below broke into applause.

Ye Qinleng slowly retreated behind the curtain. Finally, the dean of students stepped up to say a few more words and dismissed the assembly!

The students stood up, tucking their chairs under their arms and placing their shoe boxes on top. Following the arranged order, they left class by class in an orderly fashion.

A few minutes later, it was their class's turn to leave. They followed along, but halfway down the hallway, the formation broke apart, and a group of guys started goofing off with their chairs.

As they reached the stairs, Xu Lin spotted that obnoxious figure once again. Li Bin and the others instantly rushed forward.

"Zhang Kang, are you looking for trouble again?!"

"I'm not looking for trouble. I apologized, I took my punishment, and my parents were called. That matter is already over."

Zhang Kang waved his hand, maintaining his usual swaggering attitude. Xu Lin looked over at him.

"Then you aren't here for us. We're leaving."

"No, I am here for you."

"Still saying you're not looking for trouble?!" Ma Zhiyu slammed his chair down, producing a sharp *clack*.

"Even if a teacher comes, it doesn't matter. I'm here to challenge you to a race. Tomorrow's competition is class versus class. Let's have a civilized competition tomorrow."

He looked toward Xu Lin with a hint of provocation. Xu Lin almost laughed out loud. What kind of childish, adolescent, middle-schooler logic was this?

"I'm not participating."

"What, are you scared?"

"Are you an elementary schooler? Did you watch too many TV shows? Let's go!"

Xu Lin waved a hand, completely ignored him, and walked on upstairs.

Ma Zhiyu and the others hurriedly followed. He Run, the sports commissioner, patted Xu Lin on the shoulder and said, "Even though he's a sports major, your bro here is pretty tough too. Tomorrow, I'll crush his arrogance for you!"

"Xu Lin, are you really not participating? You practically got a pair of top-tier shoes for free."

"I'll think about it. Besides, it's not like it's a super rigorous race anyway. I'll just run if I feel like it."

"Fair enough."

"Though, the reason I might not participate isn't because of anything else. I just feel like absolutely crushing everyone else might be a bit too unfair."

"..."

"?"

"?"