But Zhao Zhitong was feeling deflated and didn't want to compete with him: "No, I won't compete with you."
Qiao Muchen had come specifically to challenge Zhao Zhitong, so how could he let her off easily: "You don't dare to compete with me, are you afraid of losing to me!"
This provocative tactic worked very well on Zhao Zhitong.
Sure enough, it instantly ignited her fighting spirit, and she shouted loudly, "I won't lose to you!"
"Then let's have a good competition."
Zhao Zhitong pouted angrily and said, "You just said I could choose what we compete at, right?"
After getting a nod of confirmation, Zhao Zhitong said, "Competing in music, chess, calligraphy, art, poetry, and math is too boring. If we're going to compete, let's do something creative."
Qiao Muchen asked, "What's creative?"
Zhao Zhitong raised her little head, "Just asking if you dare."
Qiao Muchen wouldn't back down and readily agreed: "What's there to be afraid of, let's compete!"
"Alright, follow me then."
——
Then, Zhao Zhitong led Qiao Muchen to a big tree in the front yard of the school.
Pointing at the tree, she pouted and said triumphantly, "Let's compete in climbing trees!"
Looking up at the towering tree, Qiao Muchen was dumbfounded: "..."
This wasn't quite what he had imagined?
Meanwhile, because Zhao Yue, who loved stirring up trouble and watching the commotion, had intentionally spread the news in the school that Zhao Zhitong and Qiao Muchen were going to compete, everyone knew about it.
As they walked along, a number of students followed them to watch the spectacle.
Even though Qiao Muchen's attendant student tried hard to persuade him, saying that his health was too weak to climb trees, it couldn't dispel his desire to win.
Zhao Zhitong, on the other hand, blinked her eyes: "Compete or not?"
Humph, trying to compete in tree climbing with her, a little expert tree climber - he'd definitely lose and cry!
To Qiao Muchen, Zhao Zhitong's expression was a clear provocation, immediately stirring up his competitive drive, with no thought of being injured.
"Compete we will! Who's afraid of whom."
With that, he took off his outer garment and rolled up his sleeves.
Zhao Zhitong, in contrast, seemed relaxed: "Then let's start. Let's finish quickly so we can go home for dinner. Something simple, whoever gets to the first big tree branch wins."
Qiao Muchen nodded, looking at the branch Zhao Zhitong pointed to, ready and serious: "Okay, I got it."
Waiting for the signal, the two of them began climbing the tree with all their might.
Cheers and shouts of encouragement from the students occasionally sounded around them, creating a lively scene.
Qiao Muchen thought of himself as a young man, and even with a weak body, he wouldn't be worse than Zhao Zhitong, a girl.
But, that was just his imagination.
Zhao Zhitong was like a monkey, aptly nicknamed "little monkey," and watching her speed in climbing demonstrated why.
There he was, painstakingly clambering up, barely lifting his feet from the ground when Zhao Zhitong had already 'leapt' up there.
At that moment, she was standing on a tree branch, laughing at him: "It's decided, you lost!"
"..."
Is she part monkey?
Qiao Muchen jumped down, his face full of unwillingness and anger: "It's not fair, it's not fair, it was my first time climbing, I'm not used to it yet, let's compete again, do you dare?"
Zhao Zhitong looked down at him from the tree, smug and haughty: "What's there to be afraid of, hahaha, no matter how many times, you can't beat me!"
Qiao Muchen was so ashamed that his little face turned red: "Again!"
Thus, the scene repeated several times, creating a strange scene.
Zhao Zhitong sat leisurely on the branch, while below, Qiao Muchen held onto the trunk, panting heavily, in a sorry state.
Zhao Zhitong: "Hey, Qiao Muchen, still want to try again?"
Perhaps having his pride 'eaten' by Zhao Zhitong, Qiao Muchen lost his grip and fell from the trunk, landing hard on his butt.
He sat there in a daze for a full half-minute before the pain brought tears to his eyes, then he got up and shouted at her from the ground: "Next time, next time I'll definitely win!"
Throwing down those harsh words, he turned and angrily rushed away.
Unexpectedly, it really made him cry. Zhao Zhitong clung to the trunk, staring blankly at the direction Qiao Muchen had run off to.
At that moment, upon hearing about this, Mr. Meng hurried over. Qiao Muchen was the Qiao Family's treasured child, weak and often ill since young. Now that he had just recovered, he mustn't get hurt.
However, by the time he rushed over, he ran right into Qiao Muchen storming past him.
Then, he also saw Zhao Zhitong sitting up in the tree, which scared him quite a bit: "How did you get up there, come down, come down now."
Seeing her favorite teacher had come over, Zhao Zhitong happily boasted to him: "Teacher, I climbed up by myself, aren't I super awesome? Even Qiao Muchen didn't manage to climb up here."
Meanwhile, Sun Mei, having finished in the kitchen and not finding Zhao Zhitong in the backyard, went to the front yard, and happened to hear about the incident, she hurried over.
At that moment, seeing Zhao Zhitong laughing cheekily on the tree, she felt a headache, but with the teacher and students present, she couldn't get angry: "Tongtong, young girls shouldn't be climbing trees, come down, we're going home."
So, on the way home from school, in order to have her daughter behave more like a young lady and stop climbing trees all over the place, Sun Mei scolded her a fair bit.
"Tongtong, you can't be so wild anymore. You're a girl, how can you be climbing trees?" Sun Mei had a real headache this time.
Luckily, they weren't used to the open-crotch pants of ancient clothes, and their family of three all wore underwear from the space.
If not, having climbed today in front of so many people, carelessness could lead to exposure, and when she grows up and recalls this, it might quite possibly become a childhood black mark.
Zhao Zhitong lay on Sun Mei's back, nodding her little head: "Mom, Tongtong knows. It was Qiao Jiaojiao who insisted on competing, it's not my fault."
'Qiao Jiaojiao' was the nickname Zhao Zhitong gave upon first meeting Qiao Muchen, because despite being a boy, he was paler than her and slender and delicate.
Her mom said he was two years older than her, yet he wasn't even taller than her.
"You mustn't randomly give people nicknames," Sun Mei said, patting Zhao Zhitong's bottom: "Qiao Muchen is weak because of poor health from childhood, that's why he's slender. I heard there's only his mother and grandmother left in the Qiao Family, he's their only heir. He's not like you, little monkey, you be careful and don't take him outside to run wild, understand?"
"Oh, I understand." Zhao Zhitong obediently replied, but whether she really listened or not, who could say.