In other words, they were done for the day.

At this time, Teacher Sun actually b.u.mped into an old cla.s.smate whom he had not seen for many years. Pleasantly surprised, he and his old cla.s.smate began conversing animatedly, becoming increasingly engrossed in their conversation, completely neglecting Yun Duo. Yun Duo could only wander out of the swimming hall to explore the area and see whether she could dig out anything newsworthy. Her performance today had been too shameful; she was not willing to let it go.

Oriental plane trees were planted in neat rows outside the swimming hall. In this season, the leaves of the oriental planes had already turned golden-yellow; from a distance, the trees looked like 搖錢樹: Literally, 'money-shaking tree', or, more grammatically, 'trees which one can shake for money'. This term is normally used metaphorically to describe people or things that are great sources of income — 'cash cows' if you will. Here, however, the author has used it to describe how the trees look like they are sporting leaves of real gold.huge trees of wealth. The autumn sunlight filtered through the dense foliage to mottle the light grey floor tiles, s.h.i.+fting specks of light. Among the swaying play of light and shadow, Yun Duo saw two groups of ants fighting. They were fighting to determine the owners.h.i.+p of a breadcrumb.

For the sake of world peace, Yun Duo bent over and separated the ants with a dried leaf. When she stood up again, she suddenly heard a clack. Looking down, she saw a pair of swimming goggles laying on the ground.

Oh, they must have slipped out when she had bent over earlier.

Yun Duo picked up the goggles and brushed off the dirt on them. She looked down at the goggles and suddenly thought of that athlete called Tang Yi-Bai once more. He was truly a super friendly person! They were just pa.s.sing acquaintances, but he had insisted on giving her some souvenir of their meeting ... this may seem abrupt and disturbing for the average person, but his disposition was so clean and sincere that Yun Duo just could not find it in herself to be repulsed or annoyed.

Yun Duo bowed her head and smiled, but then a troubled expression appeared on her face. She was not really interested in sports — she had only begun learning more about the sports arena within these three months since she had started her new job. However, for the interviews this time, Yun Duo had done some homework. At least, she knew that there was no one called Tang Yi-Bai among the more powerful candidates in the China swimming arena.

As such, where did this candidate who had plucked a gold in this national-level compet.i.tion come from?

Moreover, his winning event was the 100-metre freestyle. The 100-metre freestyle in swim events was the equivalent of the 100-metre sprint in track and field events — they were the most astounding and highly-watched events in their respective fields. Hence, for Tang Yi-Bai to appear out of nowhere in such a popular event was even more illogical and unbelievable.

Unable to figure it out, Yun Duo decided to just not think about it anymore. She rubbed the goggles lightly, but did not put them back into her pocket. Instead, she put them on. Looking out at the world through the goggles' anti-fog coating, the world was still very clear. Some of the colour was just filtered out, making the bright and dazzling world seem not as chaotic and flighty. Yun Duo found it rather fun. Not at all bothered by the weird looks she was receiving from others, she continued to wander around with the goggles on.

When she walked to the back of the venue, Yun Duo saw an area which had been manually cordoned off. A large bus was parked there. She looked around curiously, trying to see who this bus was here to pick up. As she was looking around, a group of people walked out from the venue. They were all dressed in uniform sportswear. The person right at the front had a tall and broad figure, unyielding pride writ upon his brow. He was the leading figure of the new generation of Chinese swimming, Qi Rui-Feng. Right then, he had his arm slung around someone who was a head shorter than him, grinning as they chatted about something or another. The person walking beside them had refined features, and at that moment, his hands were in his pockets as his eyes faced forwards.

Yun Duo's eyes lit up — that was Tang Yi-Bai.

Tang Yi-Bai and the others also noticed the girl staring at them from not too far off. She was carrying a large backpack, and a large black camera hung before her chest. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and over her fair 鴨蛋臉: The original here was 'duck-egg face'. :3oval face, there was ... a pair of goggles?

The girl was happily wearing the goggles under the sun, and she even waved at them.

Probably stunned by her bizarre get-up, 鬼使神差: Literally, 'ordered by ghosts or G.o.ds'. This phrase is used when somebody does something so out of character or normal logic that it seems like it was due to some supernatural will.without precisely knowing why, when he saw Yun Duo wave at them, Qi Rui-Feng's footsteps changed directions to head towards Yun Duo, bringing along the group of people behind him as well.

Seeing the nonpareil Qi Rui-Feng actually walking towards her of his own accord, Yun Duo was dumbstruck.

By the time Qi Rui-Feng had made his way to stand before Yun Duo, he already had a look of realization on his face. "You just want an autograph, right? Dressing up like this to attract my attention ... you've succeeded!"

"Huh?" Yun Duo took off the goggles, responding reflexively without understanding what the other was saying. She looked at Tang Yi-Bai and said, "h.e.l.lo, we meet again."

Tang Yi-Bai had also recognised her and he nodded at her in response. His gaze then fell on the goggles in her hand. This cursory sweep of his gaze was like the lightest descent of a snowflake onto the surface of a lake, leaving no trace behind, but it still left Yun Duo feeling rather fl.u.s.tered. Her hand gripping the goggles trembled.

Right then, Qi Rui-Feng was still talking, "Sign where?" Seeing Yun Duo shake the goggles, he easily took the goggles from her hand and swiftly pulled out a pen from his pocket. With a few quick strokes, he had autographed the lens of the goggles. His movements had been so swift and fluid that Yun Duo had had no chance to stop him. It was clear to see how used he was to doing this sort of thing.

She looked at the lens. No matter how one looked, the wild and messy strokes on them did not look like an autograph, but rather more like demonic scribbles.

Done signing the lens, Qi Rui-Feng threw a strange glance at Tang Yi-Bai. "These goggles are the same kind as the ones you used today. Could it be that she's a fan of yours?"

"No..." Yun Duo did not know how she could explain. She felt that the thought process of this Mr. Prodigy was like an unbridled wild horse — normal people just could not keep up.

At this time, the boy who had been rubbing shoulders with Qi Rui-Feng suddenly leaned in to Qi Rui-Feng's ear and said something. As they spoke, they both peered at Yun Duo. That boy still had a youthful shota face, and his height was also the shortest among the male athletes there. It looked like he was still young, about 15 or 16 at most, probably.

When he had finished speaking, Qi Rui-Feng looked sternly at Yun Duo and asked, "So you're little sister tea egg?"

Yun Duo almost toppled over. What the h.e.l.l was 'little sister tea egg'?!

Shotface snickered. Yun Duo's face bloomed red instantly. She snuck a peek at Tang Yi-Bai, and found that he too was laughing.

Feeling mocked by the crowd, Yun Duo was angry and embarra.s.sed. She felt that she had been played for a fool — Tang Yi-Bai must have made her the b.u.t.t of a joke with his teammates. Yun Duo felt rather hurt. Head bowed, she turned to leave.

But as soon as she started to walk away, she found herself being held back.

Tang Yi-Bai held onto her arm and asked, "You're angry?"

Yun Duo kept her head down, not looking at him as she replied, "Please let go of me."

He continued to hold onto her. He was very strong; she could not move at all. Tenaciously, he asked, "Why are you angry?"

Yun Duo felt aggrieved. They had clearly been the ones laughing at her, so why was he outright questioning her like this? She took in a deep breath. "I did not have my bag on me back then, so that's all I had ..." She gritted her teeth and bit out, "A tea egg. If you didn't want it, you could have just told me then. Why did you take it and then laugh at me behind my back? I'm very sad."

Tang Yi-Bai finally realised what the problem was. He shook his head, "I did not laugh at you behind your back. Please believe me."

"Then how did they know about this?"

Tang Yi-Bai did not whether to laugh or cry. "So many people saw it happen back then."

Yun Duo did not believe him. "But you were laughing too just now."

"I'm sorry. I couldn't help myself." His gaze was still as sincere as before, but this time, the sincerity was a little irritating.

"You ..." Yun Duo suddenly felt rather tired. Wasn't it said that athletes were all simple-minded muscle heads? Why then was this one so articulate?

"I say," Qi Rui-Feng spoke up once more, "What are you two arguing about? I think that 'Little Sister Tea Egg' is a very cute nickname!"

The shotface beside him nodded emphatically, "I also feel the same way."

Yun Duo glared at the shotface. "How old are you, you little brat? Calling others 'little sister'?"

The shotface seemed rather indignant at her words, but he obviously found it hard to argue against her, and so could only pout in frustration.

Yun Duo was not at all ashamed at bullying a child. She proudly raised her chin and turned to look at Tang Yi-Bai.

Tang Yi-Bai was laughing again. The tails of his eyes were tilted upwards, and so were the corners of his lips. His smile, which had already been so good-looking that it invited jealousy, became even more stunning under the sunlight. With great earnestness, he said, "I too think it is very cute, Little Sister Tea Egg."

Now it was Yun Duo's turn to be frustrated. "Do all swimmers have such weird taste?!"

"Probably. Right, QQ? What do you think?"

Yun Duo thought she had misheard. "Q...Q? Who's that?" As she asked the question, she suddenly saw Qi Rui-Feng's dark expression, looking as if he was about to explode. Yun Duo understood instantly. "You're QQ?" It was completely unexpected for a big fellow of 1.98 metres tall to have such a peculiar nickname. Yun Duo wrapped her arms around her waist as she burst out laughing, "Hahahahaha! I'm going to let the whole country know about this!"

"Don't do it!" Qi Rui-Feng scowled.

"Why? I think the nickname QQ is very cute!" Yun Duo's smile was wide as she threw Qi-Rui-Feng's words back at him.

Qi Rui-Feng's eyes flickered, and as if figuring something out, he said, "If you promise me you won't share this, I'll tell you why Tang Yi-Bai gave you those goggles."

Yun Duo was taken aback. Had there been some deeper reason behind it? But she and Tang Yi-Bai had not even known each other before this, so what reason could there be?

Could it be that he had fallen in love with her at first sight? This guess was really too narcissistic ... Yun Duo was at a complete loss. This vaguely romantic supposition made her feel really awkward, and her face flushed red once again.

Qi Rui-Feng saw her staring blankly into s.p.a.ce and was very pleased. "Actually ..."

"Ahem," a voice interrupted him. Tang Yi-Bai's eyes were a narrow line. "QQ, you seem to have forgotten. I almost have a full notebook of your dark history."

Qi Rui-Feng clenched his teeth and looked at Tang Yi-Bai. "You. A. Ni. Mal."

There was nothing he could do about it, because Tang Yi-Bai's memory was just too good. This fellow had a firm grasp on the dark histories of quite a few of their band of brothers, all of the dirty details hidden within his brain, for him to peruse and use as he liked. Qi Rui-Feng had no doubt that if they were to hold a champions.h.i.+p fight where athletes exposed each other's secrets, Tang Yi-Bai would definitely be able to become champion in one fell swoop, climbing to the top of the world.

As for right now, being exposed was not a problem, but what was scary was being exposed in front of a reporter.

Still, as the eldest, Qi Rui-Feng was not content to back down after being threatened. "What's this? If you have the guts, fight me in the arena!"

"We've already done so once today," Tang Yi-Bai reminded him serenely.

Qi Rui-Feng's expression turned dark. Yes, they had already fought it out today, and Tang Yi-Bai had won. Qi Rui-Feng raged, "If you've got the guts, fight me at the 1500!"

Tang Yi-Bai grinned and said, "Challenging another's strength with one's weakness ... you think I'm stupid like you?"

"You, you, you ... beast!"

Yun Duo was left flabbergasted at this display. What was going on here? This was Qi Rui-Feng right now, the Olympics champion Qi Rui-Feng! Who was now bickering with someone like a child, and losing to boot! Calling the other 'beast' and 'animal' over and over again, just as if Tang Yi-Bai had besmirched his honour. What in the world was all this?!

Then, turning to look at his opponent, Tang Yi-Bai, whose background was as mysterious as that of 齊天大聖: This is a term referring to Sun Wukong, a character from the Chinese epic 'Journey to the West'. According to the tale, he sprang out fully formed from a rock.The Great Sage Equal to Heaven ... he showed no face to Qi Rui-Feng at all. It was truly ... insanely bold ...

On top of that, this fellow was really quite eloquent ...

At this moment, someone shouted at them from beside the large bus, "You lot, stop dallying. Get on the bus!"

That person seemed to hold some authority, for the athletes quickly turned to go.

Yun Duo stood behind the cordon and called out, "Tang Yi-Bai."

Tang Yi-Bai stopped and glanced back at her. "Hn. Is there anything else?"

"Why did you give me those goggles?"

"Well, it's not because of love at first sight."

"..." Had he seen something from her face earlier? Yun Duo was embarra.s.sed, but she continued to push, "Really, why?"

"Probably because there's some fate tying us together!" His answer was ambiguous. Done speaking, he immediately turned to leave, waving his arm twice as he did so as a farewell.

Yun Duo was not very happy with such an answer.

However, future developments would prove that they did not just have 'some' fate surrounding them. They were in fact extremely, especially, particularly fated.

Previous:

Next:

Back to