“Oh, thanks. I’m interested in myself, too.”

Lu Tianxing’s teasing didn’t stir even the slightest ripple in my heart. “Then, Mr. Lu, aren’t you going to introduce these seniors?”

I gestured with my eyes toward the two male students standing nearby.

Judging by their appearances, they were at least second- or third-year students—seasoned veterans by now. Two wore sanda uniforms, while the other wore a taekwondo uniform with a black belt around his waist.

If I wasn’t mistaken, at least one of them had to be the taekwondo club’s president or vice president. The other was probably the sanda club’s vice president, holding the same title as Lu Tianxing.

“Oh, look at me. Your German completely stunned me.”

At my reminder, Lu Tianxing came back to himself. “Let me introduce you. This is Zhang Jutao, vice president of the martial arts club. He majors in Construction Cost Engineering. And this is Shi Haocheng, the taekwondo club president. He’s in Automotive Repair. Their classroom is right beside Software Technology. You remember, right?”

“Senior Zhang, Senior Wang.”

I gave them both a slight bow. “Please take care of me. I’m new here, a Software Technology major. My name is Bi Xinxue.”

“Oh? A girl studying software?”

The young man in the taekwondo uniform grinned cheerfully. “I remember Software Technology being an all-boys class, just like Automotive Repair. I didn’t expect it to produce such a gorgeous girl.”

“You must be that junior Lu Tianxing talks about all the time—the one who comes out to exercise every night, right?”

Zhang Jutao joined in from the other side. “Girls really should exercise more and learn some martial arts to protect themselves. Especially a beauty like you.”

I hesitated. “I might… be too busy with my part-time job. I may not be able to come every day.”

“That’s fine. We come whenever we have time. It doesn’t matter if we’re busy.”

Zhang Jutao chuckled. “When the semester started, our martial arts club ranked third in the entire school for recruitment. We got more than three hundred members.”

“At first, everyone promised to stick around for at least one semester. But look at us now. How many people showed up just now? Not even fifty.”

“Everyone’s busy. That’s understandable.” He paused, then continued, “Still, I recommend coming whenever you can. Regular exercise is important in college. Having a strong body really matters once you enter society.”

Lu Tianxing looked at me. “Have you studied martial arts before? Did you learn taekwondo when you were little?”

I shook my head. “No.”

How could I have?

Bi Xinxue’s family had already exhausted themselves just paying for school. Where would they have found money for extracurricular classes?

Thinking back, I had wanted to learn the guzheng or electronic keyboard when I was little. But every time I came home and saw how weak and exhausted Mom looked, I hesitated.

Eventually, that dream faded away as I grew older.

Sometimes…the gap between a poor family and a wealthy one really was enormous. You had no choice but to give up certain things because of it.

“In that case…”

Lu Tianxing thought for a moment. “I’ll explain our usual evening routine. We gather here around six-thirty. Once everyone’s here, we go downstairs and run three laps around the student dormitories.”

“Usually it’s three laps. When it’s cold, we sometimes run four. The distance is roughly equal to eight or nine laps around a track.”

“The point is to work up a sweat and get our bodies fully warmed up. Then we come back here together and stretch our ligaments while we’re still loose.”

As he spoke, Lu Tianxing raised one foot and placed it on a nearby railing. He quickly pulled his other leg back.

“Like this. Your partner helps press you down. It hurts a lot at first, but we don’t force anyone to do a full split right away.”

“Still, you should improve a little each month. Ligament flexibility is important in every martial art.”

I nodded. “A front-to-back split?”

“That’s the basic one. There’s also this.”

He walked over to a padded mat and knelt down. Then he leaned his body backward.

“There’s this kind, too. Your head has to touch the ground. And…”

Lu Tianxing leaned forward again and grabbed the soles of his feet with both hands.

“It’s best if you can get your head to touch your thighs, too.”

“Oh…”

I watched him without the slightest emotional reaction. “Anything else?”

“There’s quite a lot more, but these are enough for a beginner. Practice these first and get used to them.”

Lu Tianxing stood up and rolled his shoulders. “Since it’s your first day, you can skip the running for now. Run around the track by yourself these next few days and get used to the intensity of nine laps.”

“Once you come run with everyone else, we’ll usually rest for about ten minutes after stretching. Then we practice taekwondo or sanda techniques.”

I put on an expression of someone receiving valuable instruction. “I roughly understand.”

“Whoa, this junior’s pretty impressive.”

The young man in the taekwondo uniform looked at me appreciatively. Then he turned toward Lu Tianxing.

“Brother Tian, remember? Right after the semester started, most of the girls in our club were incredibly shy. Nobody dared come up for a self-introduction.”

“But this little sister’s really bold. She isn’t afraid of people at all.”

“She works in the service industry part-time,” Lu Tianxing said, rolling his eyes at him. “If she were afraid of people, she couldn’t do the job, could she?”

“Enough. Let’s go downstairs and run a few laps with them. Watch things here for Xiaoxue.”

“Oh, you’re calling her Xiaoxue already? That’s pretty intimate. And you still claim you two aren’t dating?”

“Go, go, go. Stop messing around.”

Lu Tianxing set his phone aside and pulled the two young men over.

“Student Xiaoxue, can you keep an eye on things? We’ll be back after the run. While you wait, you can practice stretching here or sing a few songs.”

I cautiously glanced at the drawer of the desk with the computer on it.

“Can I eat that?”

“Eat what?”

“That.”

I pointed at a box of snacks inside the drawer. “A Crispy Shark.”

“So all you’ve been paying attention to is food?”

Lu Tianxing looked somewhat speechless. “Of course you can. The Snickers beside it, too. We bought them to replenish everyone’s energy.”

“Okay.”

I walked over. “I’ll wait here for you.”

“Okay.”

Lu Tianxing dragged the two young men toward the stairs.

“Let’s go, let’s go. Stop staring, you two. She’s a total foodie…”

I watched the three seniors leave. Only then did I take my phone and wallet to the little chair and set them down. After that, I loosened up my body a little.

Stretching my ligaments…?

I walked over to the railing where Lu Tianxing had stretched earlier. I raised my right leg and easily placed my sneaker on the railing in front of me.

It was about one and a half meters high.

Then I slowly moved my left foot backward until my legs opened to a full 180-degree angle.

Hmm… It felt like I could go lower.

On a whim, I shifted my left foot back a little farther. The angle between my legs widened to roughly 190 degrees.

I could probably continue, but there didn’t seem to be any need.

I carefully lowered my right foot and walked to the padded mat. I spread my legs front and back, then sat straight down.

I reached the bottom effortlessly. Both thighs pressed flat against the floor.

Aside from a tiny bit of tension in my thigh ligaments, I felt no discomfort at all.

And then…

I sat properly on the mat again, straightened and closed my legs, then bent forward at the waist. My hands quickly reached the soles of my shoes.

With a little more force, my head touched my thighs.

The movement didn’t even make my lower back uncomfortable. It felt like the most ordinary stretch in the world.

“Not bad.”

I straightened my back again and nodded in satisfaction.

I’d discovered my body’s excellent flexibility back when “I” was in middle school.

My middle school had a physical fitness test called the sit-and-reach. Students had to sit with their legs straight and lean forward to push a measuring board. The farther down they bent, the higher their score.

Back then, Bi Xinxue had taken first place in the entire school without the slightest effort.

During my yoga practice these past few days, I’d also discovered that my flexibility wasn’t limited to my waist. My arms, legs, and even my neck were all unusually flexible.

Things like a downward split or bending backward until my head touched my feet were no problem at all.

When it came to sports, my strength might be pitiful and my stamina terrible. But I had to admit, my flexibility was incredible.

From childhood onward, I’d barely needed any training to reach the level gymnasts worked years to achieve.

Though I had no idea what good flexibility was supposed to do for me.

Still, since flexibility wasn’t a problem, I felt relieved.

I went to the desk and took out a Crispy Shark. After tearing open the wrapper, I bit into it.

Mmm. Chocolate and milk was still the best flavor.

Looks like joining the martial arts club was the right choice.

After finishing the chocolate bar, I picked up the microphone beside me. On the computer, I typed “YouSeeBIGGIRL” and pressed Enter.

My major in my previous life had been German. I’d graduated from an ordinary university.

Language was a form of memory. Fortunately, I’d inherited the memories from my previous life.

Besides German, I’d taught myself some basic Japanese for work. When I had nothing to do at home, I’d also sing German songs, though I wasn’t very good at it.

I hadn’t expected to sing that German-and-Japanese song well earlier. But judging by their reactions, the result seemed decent.

I didn’t know whether female voices were simply easier for people to accept, or if my voice was naturally cute enough that they couldn’t tell the difference.

“Everything in this world must one day die. Whether we wish for it or not, that day will come.”

“Was it an angel breaking through the dawn sky, or a demon slowly crawling from a crack in the rocks?”

The intro to “YouSeeBIGGIRL” was fairly long. While the music played, I tore open another Crispy Shark and took a bite.

Then I gathered my emotions for a moment.

“We carry sorrow and resolve within our hearts, and show our determination as we continue forward.”

“No one has the right to recklessly take another person’s life…”

Not long after I became immersed in the song, I heard hurried footsteps.

Several people were climbing the stairs from below.

“What the hell! The Traitor Song! Is this even humanly singable? Who’s singing it? Why does it sound so accurate?”

“Isn’t this the martial arts club? They just got a sound system. They were singing Saga of Tanya the Evil earlier…”

A few seconds later, several young people appeared at the top of the stairs. Their clothes were printed with the four large characters “Light and Shadow Anime.”

The instant I looked over, they spotted me holding the microphone.

“Uh… hello?”

Amid the music, a bespectacled young man walked over. He looked somewhat nervous.

“I…I’m the president of the Light and Shadow Anime Club. Could I ask if you were the one who sang those two legendary songs just now?”