CHAPTER 741: CHAPTER 298: DOUBT

Early in the morning, when the sky barely started to brighten, He Tiantian opened her eyes.

She picked up her cellphone from beside her pillow and gently pressed the power button, lighting up the black screen instantly.

The clock on the screen showed: 05:30.

He Tiantian slowly sat up, quietly got dressed, and then cautiously got out of bed.

In the dormitory, the curtains were drawn and it was pitch black.

Except for a few breathing sounds and some soft snoring, there were no other noises.

He Tiantian put on her sneakers, tiptoed out of the dormitory, and gently closed the door.

Throughout the process, she hardly made any sound.

Stepping out of the dormitory and arriving at the sports field, she finally resumed normal breathing and pace.

On the sports field, she first warmed up her wrists and ankles, did a few HIIT exercises, and quickly awakened her bodily functions.

Then, she began running.

The recently built rubber track at the County First Middle School was 400 meters per lap. He Tiantian didn’t count, she just adjusted her breathing and kept on running lap after lap.

From the break of dawn to the first rays of sunlight, He Tiantian finally stopped.

Beading sweat had covered her forehead and neck, yet her breathing was still okay, not too disordered.

Although she didn’t count the laps, He Tiantian had a rough number—it was another 10 kilometers. Her muscles seemed to have been activated.

He Tiantian wiped her sweat, did a few stretching exercises, and then hurried back to fetch breakfast for Zhou Zixuen and the others from the canteen.

"Tiantian, you are so disciplined, actually running every day!"

When He Tiantian returned to the dormitory, Zhou Zixuen, Ma Siqi, and others had already woken up.

Some were washing up, others making their beds.

Seeing He Tiantian with several bags of breakfast, they quickly gathered around.

Taking their own share of breakfast, Ma Siqi couldn’t help but exclaim.

Zhou Zixuen stated as if it were most natural, "Tiantian is the immortal, discipline is the least she can do."

Their classmate, He Xianer, could jump mid-air and draw a bow for archery, calling her a martial arts master would not be an overstatement.

Just running each day is a small thing.

"Exactly!"

Ma Siqi, upon hearing this, couldn’t help but nod her head, pinched her own little belly, looked at the soup dumplings in her hand, and said with a grin, "Just now I was thinking, maybe I should join Tiantian for running tomorrow."

"But after listening to Brother Xuan, it really makes sense. Tiantian is indeed the immortal, but we are just ordinary humans created by Nvwa to make up numbers, discipline, and dieting shouldn’t be taken too seriously!"

He Tiantian was somewhat speechless, "You guys are exaggerating. I just think I am too skinny and want to gain some muscle—"

"Please! Listen to what He Xianer says, ’I just think I am too skinny’!"

Ma Siqi expressed deep resentment, "Such excuses are as annoying as those who eat a lot but don’t gain weight! You skinny ones, how could you understand the pain of us chubby girls!"

Ma Siqi was not really fat, her weight was between size S and size M, definitely a normal weight by any standard.

However, nowadays, with widespread body and appearance anxieties among women, she still struggled with insecurity.

She always felt she was fat, thought she was not disciplined enough, not good enough.

Unlike some men, ordinary yet confident, even though they aren’t even 180cm tall or have six-pack abs, they still dare call a girl who is 160cm and weighs 110 pounds overweight.

It was like some boys in High School Grade 2 Class 7 who secretly rated and ranked girls in their age group or class.

Looks, height and weight, academic performance, artistic talents, etc., were all criteria those idle boys used to judge girls.

By such standards, Ma Siqi was nothing special, a plain Jane, and even mocked as "chubby".

Even some girls, like Zhou Zixuan, who was admired by some boys as the Little Talented Girl, sadly shared the boys’ perspective in judging girls.

Ma Siqi was cheerful, but couldn’t help feeling surrounded by so much malice.

Sometimes, she fell deeply into self-doubt and self-loathing.

Of course, Ma Siqi didn’t mean to resent He Tiantian, she just felt so wronged.

Sob, she didn’t eat much, just wasn’t much into sports, yet ended up with a bit of extra flesh.

While He Tiantian, already skinny enough, an absolute BM girl, complained about being too skinny and tried every means to gain muscle and put on weight.

Sensing Ma Siqi’s insecurities, He Tiantian toned down her smile and sincerely said to Ma Siqi, "How could you be a chubby girl?"