Chapter 10: Teased Again!

Yun Duo had not expected that she would see Tang Yi-Bai again so soon.

Entering November, the autumn winds suddenly turned cold. Yun Duo caught a cold once, and had a nosebleed twice. Applying random cures to herself, her condition finally took a turn for the better. On this day, she received another interview assignment. This time, she would not have to travel far — the assignment would just be at the Sports University campus within the city. A 'National Sports Employees Communications Exchange' was to be held there.

This news value of this kind of conference was relatively limited, often just a brief existence in the newspapers — the page-space it took would be no larger than half a block of tofu. That's why the agency had only sent Yun Duo alone to conduct interviews.

Compared to the actual contents of the conference, Yun Duo was much more interested in the Sports University itself. This school was known to be the one of the prestigious elite among the sports schools in the country. Even in City-B where universities were as common as clouds, the school's presence was considerable, because Sports University was one of the four schools in City-B with a high production rate of good-looking men. The other three schools were respectively the Film Academy, the Theatre Academy, and the University of Media and Communication.

Actually, among all of the schools in City-B, Tsinghua University was the university with the greatest number of men. However, the boys in that school were more concerned with the internal aspects of their development, treating their external selves like passing clouds, and thus the results were tragicT/N: Oh noooo, no handsome men... what a tragedy. Lol. ...

Yun Duo was a graduate from the University of Media and Communication, and she had also visited the Film Academy and Theatre Academy before. The good-looking men from these three campuses were good-looking in different ways, but they also shared some similarities: Cultured and refined, but not physically strong or domineering enough; exceedingly exquisite in their features, but not masculine enough.

In contrast, the Sports University was a completely different world ...

Here, many of the men had tall statures and robust bodies. Alright, although there were some who may be a tad too robust ... in any case, the men were all suffused with positive energy and masculinity, like golden ears of wheat basking in the the light of the midday sun in summer — healthy, thriving, bright, and full of warmth.

When Yun Duo passed by the gymnasium, she had seen the boys playing basketball on the court. They were shirtless, sweat flowing freely over their defined muscles, glittering with reflected sunlight.

She could hear the sound of male hormones exploding in the air. This was how men should be like! Real men!

It was truly a world that could correct the aesthetic values of human beings! Yun Duo mused, in awe.

She was in a daze within the mushroom cloud in the aftermath of the hormonal explosion when, unexpectedly, one of the basketball players used too much force, accidentally sending the basketball flying up high. The ball flew swiftly over the fence of wire mesh, hurtling towards Yun Duo.

Yun Duo saw the ball coming, but her reflexes were just too feeble in the face of such an unexpected occurrence. And so, she stood there dumbly as the dark, red spherical object came flying straight at her face. By the time she wanted to dodge, it was already too late ...

Was she about to be disfigured by a basketball? She closed her eyes in fright, unable to look directly at the upcoming tragedy.

After waiting for a long beat, she did not feel the pain of the basketball hitting her face. Yun Duo wondered if she had been dreaming — she cautiously cracked her eyes open.

A hand came into view.

This hand was very large with long fingers. Right then, it was between her and the basketball, its palm and fingers tightly adhering to the surface of the ball. Yun Duo saw the ivory white skin on the back of said hand, as well as the faint green of blood vessels under the skin. Her eyes moved, her gaze moving along the ivory fingers, moving upwards, and then she saw his clean and neatly-trimmed fingernails. The fingernails had a soft sheen to them, a healthy glow, like polished pearls.

This person had helped her stop the basketball. Registering that, Yun Duo opened her eyes fully. "Thank you." She took a step back, tilting her head so she could get a proper look at this friendly Samaritan. The moment she set eyes on the person's face, she yelped, "Tang Yi-Bai?"

"That's me. Have you forgotten me just after a few days?" Tang Yi-Bai smiled. He shifted the basketball in his hands, moving so that the ball was supported by all five of his fingers. Then, with a subtle movement, the basketball began spinning on his index finger, extraordinarily obedient. Heaven knows how he was doing that.

At this moment, a boy at the other side of the wire fence called out, "Bro, some help please!" After saying that, he shot an apologetic look at Yun Duo and said, "Sorry about that just now, pretty lady."

"It's fine." Yun Duo shook her head.

Tang Yi-Bai gripped the ball in his palm once more and stepped back, and then, with leap and a swing of his arm, the basketball left his hand to fly towards the basketball hoop. Yun Duo knew what he was aiming to do, but she was not very convinced that he would be able to make the shot from this far away. Mind you, their distance now was even further than that for a three-point shot, and furthermore, there was still the fence obstructing the way ... just being able to hit the backboard would already be pretty impressive, you know?

Her gaze followed the ball, and then she saw it swish gracefully through the net after drawing a perfect parabolic trajectory through the air.

Yun Duo's jaw dropped in shock. "If I remember correctly, you're a swimmer, right?"

"Yes, I'm the best at basketball among the swimmers," He bragged.

Yun Duo had not seen any other swimmer play basketball so far, so she had no basis for doubt even in the face of such boastful words. She felt a little rattled, and focused on taking a closer look at Tang Yi-Bai's appearance. Today, he was finally no longer in sportswear. A printed black long-sleeved T-shirt, light blue jeans, blue-striped sneakers with white bottoms, and over his shoulder, a black shoulder bag. A very low-key and ordinary outfit. It's just that his figure was just too good, and his face was just too outstanding, so no matter what he wore, the effect was amazing.

What puzzled Yun Duo was the fact that Tang Yi-Bai had a pair of glasses perched on the bridge of his nose today. They were frameless, and the lenses were clean and clear. On his face, they added an air of refinement to his appearance.

Yun Duo had donned Tang Yi-Bai's swimming goggles before, and those had been without any corrective power. Thus, she was a little confused now. "You're short-sighted?"

Tang Yi-Bai lifted a hand to point at his glasses. "They're non-prescription."

"Then why do you wear them? To act refined?"

He huffed a soft laugh but did not reply. He merely took off his glasses and then stared evenly at Yun Duo. His eyes were the best-looking eyes Yun Duo had ever seen. Smooth skin and clearly defined double eyelids, eyelashes at just the perfect length, slightly upturned outer canthicorner of the eye, and limpid eyes with clearly distinct blacks and whites. When he wasn't smiling, those eyes were like two pools of tranquil water; when he focused his gaze on you, small deep whirlpools would appear in those pools, spinning until they pulled in your entire heart and soul; when he smiled, the pools became filled with the waters of spring, rippling with light, an endless sea of shimmering waves; and when he smiled with his eyes fixed on you, you would feel like you had turned into pink petals, fluttering slowly down into the gentle embrace of those pools of spring — involuntarily, inextricably, only able to sway and float with the waves.

Right now, Tang Yi-Bai was staring at Yun Duo with a bright smile. His gaze left her nowhere to hide — her heart was pounding under his focussed stare. In the end, she ducked her head, blushing, mumbling, "What does that even mean?"

"This is the explanation." Tang Yi-Bai tucked his smile away and put his glasses on again.

After thinking it over, Yun Duo understood. What this brat was saying was that his appearance was too alluring — that he was afraid that his gaze would unintentionally result in countless flying peach blossoms, evoking countless desires in others. Therefore, he could only cover his looks a little with the glasses in order to avoid unnecessary pink-tingedi.e. romantic misunderstandings from occurring?

Was there anything more vain and narcissistic than this?!

But then, but then ... recalling how she had reacted just earlier, Yun Duo felt that his narcissism was somewhat reasonable.

She scratched her head, not wanting to stay on this topic any further, and so she asked, "Why are you here?"

"I should be the one asking you this. Why are you here at our school?"

"Huh?" Yun Duo looked at him in surprise. "You are a student here?"

He nodded. "Don't I look like it?"

"Well, no, it's not that. It's just that athletes are not normally thought of in the context of school, so ..."

Tang Yi-Bai looked at her, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. "This is pure discrimination."

"Cough, cough, cough."

Even so, Tang Yi-Bai understood where Yun Duo was coming from. Because athletes truly did use most of their time for training, so the time and energy they had left to learn culture and knowledge were severely lacking. The more accomplished the athlete, the more serious the situation.

Yun Duo cast a slightly awkward glance at Tang Yi-Bai. "So you're here for classes today?"

"Correct."

"Does an athlete from the national team really have time for classes ...?" She still found it hard to believe. This finding was vastly different from the things she had heard all this time regarding the characteristics of this group of athletes. It was said that intensity of the training the athletes of the national team had to go through daily was enough to exhaust a bull to death — they simply could not spare the time and energy to study cultural knowledge on top of that, and so their cultural knowledge lessons were basically just for show.

"I can take two and a half days each week for classes," Tang Yi-Bai explained patiently, "Provided that there isn't any extra training before a competition. As you know, I haven't competed in three years, so I've spent quite a lot of time in class."

Hearing this, Yun Duo became a little subdued. Three years, 36 months, 1095 days ... as an athlete in his golden years, one with top-class skills, he could only watch as his teammates trained and competed while he himself had to repeat regular training day after day and just attend classes. What kind of torment hid under these uneventful days?

Yun Duo felt unbearably sad just thinking about it. As the actual person affected, how horrible he must feel!

Tang Yi-Bai, however, seemed at ease when he talked about it. "In these past 3 years, I've gotten 'A's for every class, and I've even received a scholarship award. So, I'm also a top student among the swimmers."

Yun Duo found herself giggling in amusement. She looked at him. "I find that you're very different from other athletes."

Tang Yi-Bai lowered his head and smiled. "You are also very different from other reporters."

Yun Duo thought, Of course I'm different — I'm a newbie! She fiddled with the camera in her hands. "When are you going to class?"

Tang Yi-Bai glanced at the watch on his wrist. "Soon. But it's fine if I'm a little late. The teacher is already very happy that I can even go to class."

Yun Duo sweatdropped. Was it really alright for you yourself to say these things ...?

The both of them were headed in the same direction. When Tang Yi-Bai saw a milk tea shop along the way, he even stopped to treat Yun Duo to a hot beverage. Yun Duo had initially wanted to have some milk tea, but Tang Yi-Bai had calmly passed judgement by declaring, "Junk food."

And so Yun Duo ended up drinking hot oolong tea. Tang Yi-Bai himself ordered a cup of freshly-squeezed pomegranate juice. The bright red of the pomegranate juice was as enchanting as agateA stone which comes in a variety of colours. Here, the author should be referring to red agate.
. The handsome youth took a sip, resembling a vampire consuming fresh blood — there was a breath-taking sort of beauty to it.

Tang Yi-Bai sipped the juice and closed his eyes in enjoyment. This made Yun Duo feel like having a taste for herself.

The two of them walked side by side along a small path lined with gingko trees, chatting aimlessly. Yun Duo found that, like most people, she could not help but sigh and feel sorry for Tang Yi-Bai whenever those three dark years of his life was mentioned. Little did they know that Tang Yi-Bai himself had obviously walked out from the pall of his past. Those days were nothing more than the receding of the tides to reveal white sands, or the dispersion of storm clouds into clear blue skies潮汐退却现白沙，乌云散尽碧空洗: I love this line in its original chinese and only hope I managed to do it justice. As far as I can tell, it's an original line penned by the author, but it certainly has a classic poetic bent.. His gains from the bitter past may not be any less than his losses. It was precisely that kind of past that had made him who he was today — resilient and optimistic, mature and strong.

Yun Duo and Tang Yi-Bai were the same age, but when Yun Duo compared herself against Tang Yi-Bai, she found that at least in terms of emotional intelligence, Tang Yi-Bai was several street-lengths ahead of her.

Forget it, let's not think about such painful matters anymore ...

With a hand cupped around her oolong tea, Yun Duo tapped on the camera hanging over her chest with her other hand. "That ... can I write about meeting you today into a news article for publishing?"

"Mhm," Tang Yi-Bai made a mumbled sound of agreement around the straw in his mouth.

"And the contents of our discussion?"

He let go of the straw. "Yes."

Yun Duo continued to push her luck. "Then ... can I take a photo of you? Pics or it didn't happen, you know?"

"Of course you can."

And so, Yun Duo put down her oolong tea and took several photos of him with her camera. In front of the tall and straight gingko trees, the young man's figure was upright and tall. With the tender yellow of the leaves as a backdrop, his face was even more extraordinary in its beauty. However ...

Yun Duo suddenly paused and, with a little embarrassment, she said, "Can you put the juice down first ..." The main male character of a news article just could not be taken seriously holding a cup of juice!

Tang Yi-Bai cooperated with her like an obedient babe. The more cooperative he was, the more Yun Duo felt she was asking for too much. After taking the photos she wanted, she grinned cheerfully and said, "Thank you!"

"You're welcome."

The two of them lifted their respective drinks once more. Yun Duo was a little uneasy. "I heard that you all have regulations — that you cannot casually accept interviews. Then, will what I'm doing now bring you any trouble?"

Tang Yi-Bai shook his head. "It's fine. I just need to inform the coach. He has a good temper."

Yun Duo knew his coach was a big man named Wu Yong with the face of a criminal. She found it very hard to imagine how someone like that could be good-tempered ...

Pensively, she asked, "Why are you willing to take the risk to humour me?"

"Because you have a crush on me."

Pfffft ——!

Yun Duo accidentally spat out all of the oolong tea in her mouth, but she had no mind to care about appearances. Her almond-shaped eyes were wide open in shock as she stared at him. "Hey, hey, hey! I don't!"

Tang Yi-Bai just continued sucking on his straw, but the corners of his lips were pressed down forcefully, as if he were trying his best to hold something back.

Yun Duo became a little agitated, "I really don't ..."

He finally could not hold back any longer — his lips quirked up and he began to laugh. As he laughed, he looked at Yun Duo, and his eyes were sparkling with mirth while his expression was teasing.

Yun Duo: "..." Nothing more needed to be said. She had been teased again! QAQFor those not so fluent in emoji-speak, QAQ is a text-emoji of a crying face, with the Qs as eyes, and the A as a downturned mouth.

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Previous: Chapter 9: Name and Crush
Next: Chapter 11: Ideals and Pursuits

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