Chapter 22: Would you like to go ice skating together?

"Yeah, it's really cool," Zhou Jiani said.

"The guy playing the drums is quite handsome, too."

"He has such fair skin."

"Yeah, it's rare to see a guy that fair, isn't it?"

"..."

The two girls were quite enthusiastic. Perhaps because they approached together, they didn't seem particularly shy. Li Jingkun chatted with them for a few moments before they parted ways.

Although it was only brief, Song Hairong and the others had certainly seen it—the restaurant wasn't exactly large.

Once Li Jingkun returned, the guys immediately started prying.

"What was that about? Do you know them?"

"Not at all," Li Jingkun replied. "They're just fans of my music."

"Pfft!" the guys scoffed.

Despite their feigned disdain, they couldn't stop asking questions afterward.

"I'm so jealous!" Song Hairong complained. "Why didn't anyone come talk to me? I'm pretty handsome, aren't I?"

"Handsome as a cricket, maybe?"

When they were leaving, the boys headed out first, as guys tend to finish their meals faster.

Shortly after they stepped outside, Song Hairong suggested, "Guys, we have a day off tomorrow. Want to go roller skating?"

He was referring to quad skating. In a city where computers and smartphones weren't yet particularly advanced, quad skating was quite popular among the youth, along with billiards.

"You know how to skate?" Li Jingkun was genuinely surprised.

"No," Song Hairong admitted, "but I can learn."

"Not interested," the others replied.

"Come on, it'll be my treat," Song Hairong urged. "I heard Zhou Jiani and her friends saying they were going tomorrow afternoon. How about we join them?"

Someone expressed interest: "Is that really okay? Stalking them after eavesdropping?"

"It's not stalking," Song Hairong insisted. "School's almost out, let's just go and relax. We won't be in the same class next year, and Jingkun is moving out of the dorms. Shouldn't we take the chance to hang out while we can?"

...

The next afternoon, Zhou Jiani arrived at the shopping mall skating rink with five other girls, including Wang Yajing and Zhu Miaotong. Wang Yajing was one of the girls who had approached Li Jingkun the day before.

Nowadays, roller skating was quite popular; there were already several rinks in Liuchuan City. During holidays, the rinks were packed with middle and high school students, though older crowds and even exceptionally skilled elementary schoolers were common sights.

However, where there are crowds, there is trouble. Especially with so many hot-blooded youngsters, fighting occasionally broke out. For this reason, many "good students" and adults avoided the rinks.

In his previous life, Li Jingkun had visited a few times, and in those rare instances, he had witnessed two fights. The odds were truly something else.

Speaking of fights, Li Jingkun had seen and heard plenty during his elementary and middle school years, and high school was no exception. He had even heard of students hitting teachers. But as the state cracked down and their town developed, such incidents had gradually become less frequent.

He wasn't afraid of student brawls, but he didn't care for the rink simply because he wasn't that obsessed with skating. In fact, he had learned back in elementary school by borrowing a neighbor's skates. He was only here now because Song Hairong had insisted.

Since Li Jingkun and his friends didn't know exactly when the girls would arrive, they had arrived early. It didn't take long for the girls to spot them once they started skating.

"Oh? You guys are here too?" Zhou Jiani and her friends were grouped together; only one or two of them seemed to know how to skate.

"Hey, how's it going?" Song Hairong stood as steadily as he could to greet them.

Li Jingkun promptly sold him out. "My classmate heard you talking yesterday, so they wanted to come and see if they could run into you. They were hoping to get to know you."

The girls laughed, realizing it wasn't a coincidence.

"You're so honest," Wang Yajing said. "That's a first for me."

"Better to be direct than have you guessing," Li Jingkun replied. "We don't have any ulterior motives, and we're all schoolmates, after all."

Wang Yajing and the others smiled; the boys' honesty made them feel at ease. But with the constant flow of people, it wasn't a good place to linger. Li Jingkun gestured for his group to keep moving and skated off himself.

He skated with a casual grace that Song Hairong couldn't quite replicate. Yet, that wasn't really a flaw. He might have seemed a bit desperate, but he was far better than guys like Wang Honglang, who were so timid they wouldn't even dare to approach a girl. Even if they were all "losers," Song Hairong was at least a brave one. Without a bit of courage, you wouldn't even have the chance to be a "simp," right?

Of the girls, only Wang Yajing and Zhu Miaotong knew how to skate. Song Hairong, also a novice, had picked up a bit of balance and quickly moved in to chat, offering to teach Zhou Jiani.

Li Jingkun ignored them and skated on his own. After twenty or thirty minutes, he stopped to rest and check his phone.

A while later, Wang Honglang skated over in a panic, saying Song Hairong was in a confrontation and about to start a fight.

"...What kind of constitution does he have?" Li Jingkun wondered. "Does he trigger quests randomly?"

...

It turned out that the attractive girls had caught the attention of some guys. Two or three of them had been circling the girls, eventually realizing they weren't with any boys. Encouraged by their friends, one of the guys began harassing them, offering to "teach" them and eventually trying to grab Zhou Jiani to pull her along.

Wang Yajing had stepped in, telling him to back off. The guy's friends laughed, and with many people watching, he felt humiliated. Just then, Song Hairong had skated over to see what was happening.

Seeing a boy approach, the guy, emboldened, started hurling insults.

Wang Honglang realized the situation was spiraling and rushed to find Li Jingkun. The five boys from Li Jingkun's group were mostly well-behaved students who rarely encountered such things.

Li Jingkun didn't know how far things had escalated, but to be safe, he told Wang Honglang to gather the others.

"Stop skating. Leave the skates," Li Jingkun instructed. They kicked off their skates and walked over barefoot.

"Which school are you from?"

"Why do you care? Which school are *you* from?"

"If you've got guts, come outside!"

"Fine, let's go! Think I'm scared of you?"

When Li Jingkun arrived, he found Song Hairong trading insults with a guy about their age, seemingly on the verge of taking it outside to fight. The situation didn't look great; at least two other boys were standing behind the guy confronting Song Hairong.

Li Jingkun’s group had five, but most were "good boys," and they had six girls to look after. It was messy. As the three guys surrounded Song Hairong, preparing to drag him out, Li Jingkun stepped forward, grabbed one of the guys from behind, and yanked him backward.

No matter how good his skating was, he was caught off guard and tumbled backward.

The crowd erupted. A fight had finally broken out.