But she still persisted in running forward. By this time, the two girls behind her had already given up the race. Mianmian became the last one. Not long after, two girls in front gave up. Although Mianmian was slow, she had no intention of giving up at all and still tried her best to maintain her speed and run forward.
When there were only two laps left, one-third of the girls had already given up. Yun Buji ran over at this moment and handed her a cup of water, saying, "Drink slowly."
He handed her a pink cup with a straw, which looked particularly cute. Mianmian held the cup with one hand and slowly drank the water through the straw. Her dry throat was moistened, and her chest felt less constricted. Yun Buji ran alongside her until Mianmian had drunk half the cup before she returned it to him.
"Jiang Mianmian, keep it up. I have a reward for you if you finish," Yun Buji said softly and then stepped aside to watch her continue running.
Mianmian was now in the middle position. She had already fallen behind several people. There were still more than ten classmates ahead. Thinking of the gift Yun Buji would give her, she gritted her teeth and suddenly exerted herself, accelerating forward.
She smoothly overtook four girls who were exhausted. It was the last lap, and she overtook four more in half a lap. There were only three people left in front of her.
Qian Xiaoguo was stunned. The classmates also started cheering wildly for the campus belle. But Mianmian seemed not to hear. She only remembered Yun Buji saying there was a gift. She wanted to get into the top three, which meant she had to overtake one more person.
But that person was dozens of meters away, and the finish line was almost here!
Mianmian gritted her teeth and rushed forward with all her might. The first and second place had already reached the finish line. As the third-place runner approached the finish line, Mianmian made a desperate effort.
In the end, she narrowly secured third place by one second.
The entire venue erupted in cheers. The moment Mianmian crossed the finish line, she fell forward. A strong pair of hands caught her in time and helped her up. She looked up and saw a handsome and gentle face.
"Great job!" Yun Buji said with a smile.
Seeing this, Qian Xiaoguo quickly ran over and took Mianmian's arm. She was also worried about her beautiful deskmate being involved in rumors that would ruin her reputation.
"Thank you, senior! I'll help Mianmian," Qian Xiaoguo said, supporting Mianmian as they walked towards their class's resting area.
Mianmian's legs were weak at this point. The classmates were quite surprised when they saw Yun Buji helping Jiang Mianmian. Then they saw the boy staring intently at the campus belle's retreating figure. The classmates finally understood: this was confirmed evidence that the school bully wanted to pursue the campus belle!
Yun Buji was shameless. Everyone knew he was not only poorly behaved and academically weak but also poor. How dare he set his sights on a rich and beautiful girl?
Mianmian was helped to sit down and rest. Many classmates congratulated her. Getting third place in the long-distance race was quite an achievement, especially since Jiang Mianmian had overtaken a classmate at the end, which was even more remarkable.
Anyone else would have probably given up.
Mianmian leaned against Qian Xiaoguo and simply smiled. She needed to rest now. Fortunately, she had finished the race, her body could handle it, and nothing had gone wrong.
She was truly happy. She felt like her life could now be like that of normal classmates, no longer having to worry about her body suddenly failing.
Someone handed her water, and someone else brought a towel. Qian Xiaoguo was heartbroken and said, "Long-distance running is not as good as swimming. At least swimming isn't so hot! My little Mianmian has suffered so much."