Chapter 46

The Asian Games were to be held from the 28th of September till the 13th of October this year at the cultural capital of Japan, Kyoto. The reporters from Yun Duo's agency headed to Kyoto in three batches. She was in the second batch and only arrived in Kyoto 3 days before the opening ceremony.

As soon as they landed, Lin Zi tried to convince Yun Duo to go with him to a hot spring. Yun Duo really wanted to ignore him. Hey, this big sister is here on official business, okay? Who the hell goes off to fool around immediately after landing?

But Lin Zi said, "I've already booked the hotel. You'll need to stay at a hotel at night anyway, does it matter which hotel you go to?"

"But I still need to conduct interviews today. We can't just go visit the hot spring in the middle of the night, can we?"

"Who are you interviewing? The national team will only be arriving tomorrow. Are you going to interview the Kazakhstan swimming team right now? Even if you interview them, will the agency let you publish the article?"

"Well, I want to go check out the athletes' quarters."

"That's even more unnecessary." Lin Zi was dismissive. "What's there to see in little Japan? Why don't you see it tomorrow after the Chinese athletes have moved in? There aren't any extra editions planned this time, so whether you interview people today or tomorrow, you'll still be publishing for the same edition. There's no point in rushing for your interviews. It's not like there's any major news."

And so, just like that, Yun Duo was twisted around by Lin Zi until she was unable to think for herself, and the two of them decisively slipped away from the rest of the group to go play.

Arashiyama was located on the outskirts of western area of Kyoto. Since ancient times, it has been a popular travel spot for royals and nobles. At this time, it was the season when the maple leaves were thick on the trees. The fiery red of the maple forests were like silk banners hung on the skyline, crystal clear waters flowed beneath the bridges, and soft green mist could be seen threading through the air... the scenery was very lovely. Yun Duo snapped a selfie and said, "If I post this pictures into my Moments{朋友圈: This is a WeChat function that allows people to share things with their friends. The literal translation would be "friends' circle".}, everyone will definitely think that I'm at Qixia Mountain."

Lin Zi smiled. "Is Qixia Mountain very beautiful?"

"Yes, much more beautiful than this place."

"Will you take me there to see it?"

"Okay, we'll find a chance."

The two of them hung out around the top of the mountain for a while. They saw many monkeys — the monkeys were extremely skilled at acting cute, not at all afraid of humans. Yun Duo was left chuckling in amusement at their antics.

After that, they went to the hot spring. They were tired from their travels, so the hot spring really helped to relieve their fatigue. After soaking at the hot spring, the two of them went sight seeing. They saw white-faced geishas performing, bought many little trinkets, such as puppets, sweets, lucky charms, folding fans, and even oil-paper umbrellas. These Japanese-made items, whether or not they were useful or delicious, were all rather nice to look at — one really could not help but want to buy them. The oil-paper umbrella was made with bamboo. The white surface of the umbrella was hand-painted with crimson maple leaves of varying sizes, simple yet detailed, very appropriate for the season. Yun Duo was particularly fond of it. However, she wasn't the one to buy the umbrella — Lin Zi had bought it because she could not afford it...

The umbrella was said to have been made with the finest materials and had been hand-crafted by a master artisan. As such, its price was equivalent to more than 4000 yuan. So it was true that items sold at tourist attractions are always expensive, whether it was within China or overseas.

After that, they had some local cuisine for dinner. The taste was average, but the dishes were well-made and pleasing to the eye.

After dinner, they strolled together under one pretty oil-paper umbrella back to the hotel. Lin Zi walked down the path carpeted with red leaves and his head dipped down to glance at Yun Duo. She was smiling as she played with a wooden puppet, and there was a slight bulge in one of her fair cheeks about the size and shape of a piece of candy.

He smiled softly, suddenly struck by the urge to hold her hand.

The next day, it began to drizzle. The rain fall was very soft and fine — it made it seem like the world outside had been covered in a light layer of mist. Yun Duo looked out the window and thought about where she could go to buy an umbrella. Meanwhile, Lin Zi had already come knocking on her door with the oil-paper umbrella he had bought the day before. Yun Duo was startled by him. "You plan to just go out with this umbrella?"

Lin Zi was surprised by her question. "What's wrong? Isn't this an umbrella?"

"That isn't an umbrella. That's money!"

"It's precisely because I've spent the money so I should make the most of my purchase. Otherwise, wouldn't the money spent be a waste?"

So things could also be rationalised this way? Yun Duo found that Lin Zi always had a new way of interpreting things completely different from the average mindset. No wonder he was lauded as a genius while she remained an ant — this was the difference between them.

Thus did the two of go out with this umbrella. Many a head turned back to look at them along the way, especially once they returned to downtown Kyoto. Firstly because there were really very few people who would use a traditional art piece to protect themselves against the rain, and secondly because they were truly eye candy. The man was handsome and the woman was beautiful, both of them tall with great figures. Add on a pretty umbrella and the fact that they were strolling together in the mist under azure skies, it was like they had walked out from a painting. They were truly a lovely sight to behold.

Someone even tried stopping them to talk to them, probably thinking that they were locals. That person uttered a string of Japanese at them.

Lin Zi did indeed understand what the person was saying. Yun Duo asked Lin Zi what the man said and Lin Zi replied, "He said that we would look even better if we were wearing kimono."

The corners of Yun Duo's lips twitched. "I'm not going to run around with a pillow on my back."

By the time they were almost at the athletes' quarters, the rain had already stopped, but Lin Zi was still reluctant to put away the umbrella. They passed by large bus after large bus on the road. With her keen eyes, Yun Duo caught sight of a familiar side profile through the window of one of the buses. She tugged on Lin Zi's arm and said in surprise, "Isn't that Lin Dandan? The Chinese athletes are here!"

It was already too late to chase after the car now, so the two of them simply stopped to watch. Lin Zi took out a small national flag from a pocket and waved it before his chest. As expected, this move drew the attention of quite a number of athletes on the bus. Everyone began waving at them through the window — whether it was an Olympics champion or an unknown athlete who had never won any medals before, they all smiled at Lin Zi and Yun Duo, especially kind.

Yun Duo was rather touched.

Yet another car drove by and she saw that familiar face. It was still unmatched in its beauty, but the small droplets of water still clinging to the car window blurred his eyes. She could not see his expression well, but she could tell he was looking at her.

Yun Duo stared at him in a daze, unsure how to react.

Meanwhile, Lin Zi was still waving his little red flag like a tireless robot.

Through the window, Tang Yi-Bai stared dumbly at the two people standing outside. It wasn't like he thought they would never ever see each other again, but he had not expected that it would be in this kind of situation. Without any warning whatsoever, seeing her out on a walk with another man under the same pretty paper umbrella, making such a poetic image, like a loving couple.

A couple.

These two words scraped on his heart like a blade. His heart had begun aching again, but he was numb to it by now. He wanted to force himself to turn away and stop looking at her, but he just couldn't do it. Whenever he met her, his body was not his own. So he continued to watch her, just like that, turning his neck slowly to keep his eyes on her as the bus moved forwards. His eyes did not blink at all, and his gaze was even somewhat obsessive. He stared with wide eyes as her figure was left behind, until he could no longer see her.

But he could do nothing at all.

Tang Yi-Bai turned his head and settled back straight in his seat. He leaned back against his seat and closed his eyes, letting out a long sigh.

His heart felt sore and hurting, so painful that he was almost in tears. Why was it this way? Where exactly is the problem? He had never ever doubted his decisions. — he had a clear goal, a cool head, and absolute rationality. And yet, even with such mental fortifications, they all became like loose sand as soon as he met her. He only knew that he was feeling very sad, sad over that decision he made, so terribly sad...

By the time Yun Duo arrived at the athletes' quarters, all the athletes had already entered to settle in. She only managed to interview the leader of the national swimming team and some of the coaches. She was rather absent-minded, and after the interviews, she messily penned down several key viewing points.

The swim events in this Asian Games were spread out over the course of 6 days, from 30th September to 5th October. There were 38 gold medals up for grabs — all of the events would consist only of preliminaries and then the finals; there were no semi-finals.

The central core of the competition in the pool in the Asian Games this time was the battle between China and Japan.

In Asian swimming, just looking at the number of medals alone, China was the indisputable number one powerhouse. However, this position was only being supported by the women's team. As far as the men's team was concerned, frankly speaking, China has always been behind the Japan team. However, there were signs of them chasing up over the past few years — well, at least the gap has been narrowing bit by bit. At the last Asian Games, the China swimming team had obtained the same number of medals in men's events as the Japan swimming team, but the China team had had two gold medals less. This time round, the China team hoped to narrow the gap to just a difference of one gold medal, perhaps even close the gap completely. China had the gold medal powerhouse Qi Rui-Feng, as well as the dark horse Tang Yi-Bai — hence, this goal was still worth looking forward to.

Compared with the stable dominance of the women's team in the swimming arena, the men's events were intensely competitive. The races were more nerve-wracking, and the results were also more unpredictable. Judging from past results, Qi Rui-Feng had the potential to become champion in the men's 200-metre, 400-metre, and 1500-metre events, and his chances of doing so were very high. Meanwhile, as long as Tang Yi-Bai performed as usual, the men's 100-metre freestyle gold was his for sure — this particular event was truly not what Asians were skilled at. As for the men's 50-metre free, Tang Yi-Bai had previously broken the Asian record held by a Japanese. His record had then been broken by another Japanese by the name of Yuda Matsushima. Yuda Matsushima was currently the most powerful short-distance freestyle swimmer in Japan; his time in the 100-metre freestyle was also very good.

Besides Qi Rui-Feng and Tang Yi-Bai, Ming Tian had a shot of winning a medal in the breaststroke as well. That said, there wasn't much hope for a gold medal there, because the Japanese have always been strong in the breaststroke, holding world-class standards. Zheng Ling-Ye's situation was similar. Even though the Japanese were not as exaggeratedly dominant in the butterfly stroke like the breaststroke, they were still extremely strong in that event considering Asia as a whole.

In the group events, the 4x200 metre freestyle relay was the most worthy of anticipation. Qi Rui-Feng was the lead in this event, and it could be said that this was China's reserved territory. Barring any accidents, the Japanese could just stand aside. In contrast, the 4x100 metre freestyle relay was rather up in the air. After all, Qi Rui-Feng and Tang Yi-Bai were the only dependable freestyle swimmers China had to offer. Although Japan did not have anyone who could match Tang Yi-Bai, it could at least still push forward 4 decent swimmers, which was something China could not do. And then there was the 4x100 metre medley relay which was pretty much hopeless. After all, Japan had powerful swimmers for the first three legs of the relay — the backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly — it would be very difficult to close the gap by relying on the final freestyle leg alone.

After she finished analysing the hot probabilities for gold, Yun Duo then analysed the expectations of the public nationwide. After all, Japan was an old-time rival of China — if you asked which opponent country would the Chinese public love to see being crushed by their national athletes in the sports arena, the answer would most certainly be Japan. Moreover, Japan was the host country this time and China was a challenger kicking at the gates. When the time came, the clash between them was sure to be spectacular...

After she was done writing, she took the manuscript and showed it to Qian Xu-Dong. Teacher Sun had been assigned to the diving events, so her partner this time was Qian Xu-Dong. Qian Xu-Dong finished reading her analysis and felt that it began well, but as he continued reading, he could not help but frown. "What is this mess? Why did you pull historical grievances into sports?"

"But that's the truth."

"Truth should just be kept inside. Don't spout it carelessly. Some people just love to jump on opportunities like this and grab you by the short hairs."

On the 30th of September, the first swim event was held. It was the 200-metre freestyle race which Qi Rui-Feng was participating in. Ever since the decline of South Korea's Lee Chul-Ji with age, Qi Rui-Feng has been without peer in Asia for the long-distance freestyle races. In many people's eyes, this medal was pretty much already in the bag for him — many Chinese were seated before their television screens or before their computers watching the live broadcast, just waiting for the right moment to cheer.

However, the results of the finals flabbergasted everyone.

Qi Rui-Feng lost.

He lost to a Japanese swimmer named Yuuki Tanaka. The time difference between the two was a mere 0.03 seconds.

Yuuki Tanaka's main specialization was medley swimming, so when Qi Rui-Feng saw him participating in the freestyle race, he had assumed that the other was just trying to earn an additional medal in a secondary specialization.

And yet the other had dealt Qi Rui-Feng a fatal blow.

Qi Rui-Feng felt that if he had known beforehand about Yuuki Tanaka's capabilities, he would definitely have swam better than he had.

But there were no 'if's; a loss was a loss.

He left the pool, despondent, in no mood at all to be interviewed by the reporters. He searched the crowd for Matron Yuan's figure. When he found her, he bowed his head and said to her, "I'm sorry."

Matron Yuan saw him rubbing his wrist and she asked him with a concerned knot of her brow, "Is it injured?"

"No." His eyes were looking down at the ground so he did not catch the easing of Matron Yuan's expression.

Matron Yuan's voice abruptly turned cold and sharp. "If you're not injured, then what was up with that horrible performance? And you have the gall to apologise? What use is an apology?"

Qi Rui-Feng was almost in tears. "I'm sorry..." Other than 'sorry', he really didn't know what else he could say.

"Remember this well," said Matron Yuan, "The arena is like a battlefield. Any carelessness could lead a person to their doom."

"Yes." He nodded grimly.

"If you swim like this again tomorrow, then you might as well not come out from the pool and just submerge yourself and drown."

Qi Rui-Feng felt a jolt run through him. He declared emphatically, "Matron Yuan, I will definitely swim well tomorrow!"

Matron Yuan nodded and then waved lightly, "Alright. Go for your interviews."

Qi Rui-Feng face dropped. "I don't feel like it." Previously, he had always been interviewed as a champion; this time, he had been beaten by a no-name small fry — it was humiliating just thinking about it.

"What's the big deal? It's just an Asian Games gold medal. You've earned enough of those to fill a soup pot! Who cares? Scram. If anyone dares to make a fuss about it, shut him up with an Olympic gold medal."

It was very rare for Matron Yuan to say so much at once. Qi Rui-Feng knew this was her way of consoling him. His eyes felt hot, and he quickly turned to leave.

The next night, China won their first men's gold medal in the Asian Games this round for the men's 4x200 freestyle race.

On the third day, the 2nd of October, Tang Yi-Bai had the 50-metre freestyle preliminaries and finals to swim.

This day also just so happened to be Yun Duo's birthday.

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Next: Chapter 47

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