Chapter 59

When Yun Duo woke up in the morning, she saw a pale green sticky note on her door. In thick black ink, the note read:

I've gone back to the team. Will come find you in a couple of days. Remember to miss me.

There was no signature, but Yun Duo recognised Tang Yi-Bai's handwriting. Besides, there was no one else in this household who would write something like this to her.

In addition to the text, at the bottom left corner of the note, there was also a small sketch of a dog covering its eyes, as if the dog had seen something unbelievable.

What was Tang Yi-Bai trying to say with this sketch? Yun Duo could not guess. Still, his sketch was pretty good. Just a few strokes and the art popped on the paper. Looks like he was not only talented in swimming and math.

Yun Duo took a picture of the note with her cell phone and then clamped the note inside a book. As a reporter, she was used to taking pictures wherever she went.

On the way to work, Yun Duo received a call from Chen Si-Qi. She said the Chen Si-Qi, "I didn't expect you to hold back for so long. I thought you'd call me last night itself to question me."

Chen Si-Qi said, "An extra moment is worth its weight in gold! How could I interfere with my god's plans? That would be too rude!"

Yun Duo was sweating from the awkwardness. She quickly said, "What in the world are you thinking?!"

"Nani{T/N: Hahaha, so Chen Si-Qi is a weaboo. 'Nani' is 'what' in Japanese.}? Didn't you two boink last night? What a shame. I was planning to dig for details!" Chen Si-Qi's voice was filled with regret.

In contrast, Yun Duo was about to go berserk. "No! We didn't! And even if we did, I would never share this sort of details with you!" Every time she spoke with Chen Si-Qi, she felt her world view and values crumbling by the minute.

"Fine, fine, I won't ask anymore. But you're really useless. Why haven't you dragged the adonis to bed? You don't know how many women are drooling over his amazing bod!"

Yun Duo silently thought — they had already kissed the very first day they got together. This was already rocket-speed development, alright?

Moreover, she did know how many people were drooling over Tang Yi-Bai's body. Yesterday, she had gone browsing around Tang Yi-Bai's Weibo, and the comments there really knew no bounds in shamelessness. They had truly opened her eyes to a whole new world. After that, she had run away with a red face to a Tieba{贴吧: refers to Baidu Tieba, the largest Chinese communication platform hosted by Chinese search engine company Baidu.} where young students were said to gather. The Tieba she visited was called 'Tang Yi-Bai's girlfriend'. Yun Duo thought, 'Hey, I'm Tang Yi-Bai's girlfriend!' so she decided to take a look! And so she infiltrated the Tieba. There was a starred post on the home page with a title that was both cultured and yet suggestive. Yun Duo could not help but click into the post out of curiosity, and then she almost threw her laptop away in shock. It turned out that this post was an adaptation of an erotic book. The way it was edited was to change all mentions of the male lead into 'Tang Yi-Bai' and all mentions of the female lead into 'me'. There were paragraphs after paragraphs of descriptions of sexual acts. If this type of content was submitted to 123Erotica{123言情: The original site doesn't have an English name, but this translation pretty much captures the intent of the name.}, it would probably end up being censored to become a string of mysterious characters like '□□□□□□□□'.

Later, Yun Duo silently flagged the post as sexual content and reported it.

Thus, she had already deeply realised the reality of 'many women drooling over Tang Yi-Bai's body'.

Just after ending her call with Chen Si-Qi, Yun Duo arrived at her office. Reporters typically did not have strict office hours — it was fine to come a little earlier or later. Today, she was a little late so there were already quite a lot of people there. Many of them greeted Yun Duo cheerfully when they saw her, their smiles warm and kind.

Yun Duo naturally knew why they were being so friendly. Because she had once reported on Tang Yi-Bai in detail, because she was rumoured to have a 'good relationship' with Tang Yi-Bai... she scratched her nose and thought, 'Does this count as one person's success elevating all who associated with them{一人得道鸡犬升天: This was a very tricky saying to translate. A more literal translation would be 'When a person achieves their Dao, even their household animals (like chickens and dogs) ascend the heavens with them'.}?'

Settling into her seat, she first browsed the latest news and then opened her Weibo to check her feed.

And then... her computer died?!

Yun Duo rubbed her eyes, belatedly realising that she received many reposts and comments yesterday. She had not noticed earlier, so when she clicked into her account, her computer froze.

How many reposts were there? Not that many, just about 20,000...

That was piss scary, okay? As an insignificant small fry with just a little over a hundred fans — and many of these fans were just her friends showing support — she actually managed to achieve such a moment of fame? Hahahahaha... this feeling, it was amazing!

After indulging in a bout of smugness, she began to look closer at the actual content. It turned out that many of the reposts were due to her comment that Qi Rui-Feng was a "Mascot of Swimming". It looked many people agreed with this label. Yun Duo giggled as she read before turning to check her private messages. There were too many private messages from strangers so she did not bother looking at those, only choosing to read messages sent by those she knew.

Xiang Yang-Yang: Yun Duo, good job!

Ming Tian: Big sis, you're so mean ~(≧▽≦)/~

Qi Rui-Feng: I hate you.

Tang Yi-Bai: Cheeky.

Yun Duo looked at what Tang Yi-Bai sent, and her body jolted for no reason.

At this moment, a voice came from behind her. "What're you looking at?"

The voice was clean and cold — Yun Duo didn't even have to turn back to look to know that it was Lin Zi. She smiled and said, "Nothing. Just Weibo."

Lin Zi pulled out a chair to sit beside her. He saw that she had just opened a private chat window with Tang Yi-Bai on her screen. Lin Zi tilted his head and observing the smile on Yun Duo's face, he said musingly, "You're in a good mood today."

"Really?" asked Yun Duo, unconsciously touching her lips.

"Is it because of him?" Lin Zi pointed at the screen.

Yun Duo looked around and then suddenly said in a low voice, "Lin Zi, let me tell you something. You need to help me keep a secret."

Lin Zi cooperatively moved his ear closer as he nodded. "Okay!"

"We... are already together."

Lin Zi blinked, stunned for a moment. "You... and Tang Yi-Bai?"

"Of course, who else could it be?!" Yun Duo kept her head low, her face red, so she did not see the loss and consternation on Lin Zi's face. After a while without any response from him, Yun Duo raised her head curiously, but by then his expression was already back to normal.

A faint smile hung on Lin Zi's face, but the lines of his face were as stiff as a carved template. This made his smile seem a little eerie. He flicked a finger against her forehead. "Congratulations."

Yun Duo felt that he might not be in a very good mood. After all, he had just brought her to see his little sister who was in a vegetative state yesterday, and she was already sharing joyful news with him today... it seemed a little bit cruel? She felt a little guilty. Rubbing her forehead, she nodded and said, "Thank you."

Lin Zi stood up. "I'm going to go eat breakfast."

"Oh, okay."

There was a Yonghe King{永和大王: a Chinese fast-food restaurant that specializes in noodles.} across from the newspaper agency. Perhaps because it was already past the time people went to work, there were not many people eating there at this time. Lin Zi managed to get his meal practically without having to queue. Soy milk, Youtiao{油条: long golden-brown deep-fried strip of dough sticks commonly eaten in China and in other East and Southeast Asian regions.}, century eggs and lean meat porridge — a very simple breakfast.

He sat in the near empty restaurant, staring blankly at the neatly cut and arranged golden Youtiao on his plate.

He knew from the start that this would be the result. They loved and respected each other, so it was a matter of time before they ended up together. Although their progress was faster than he anticipated.

Meanwhile, he could only watch from the side, just like any other spectator.

But he really liked her too.

Still, what's the use? Feelings which were unrequited were worth nothing at all.

Lin Zi had a very clear awareness of his own feelings. He had long known that he liked Yun Duo — from the very moment he started liking her, he knew — and he suspected that this liking came from the accumulation of their daily interactions.

Yet he had always thought that these feelings were irrelevant. If he was too close to her, that would have affected his plans. That's why he had kept his feelings for her in cold storage.

There were two general types of love in this world — some were exposed out in the sunlight, while others were deeply buried at the bottom of a canyon.

He unhesitatingly chose the latter form.

Furthermore, rationally, Lin Zi was very happy to see Yun Duo and Tang Yi-Bai growing close to one another. Even though he often could not stop himself from putting some obstacles in their way.

Anyway, no matter what, at this point, he pretty much got what he wanted...

And yet I am not happy at all, he thought. He lifted a youtiao with his chopsticks and brought it to his mouth, but he was too lazy to even open his mouth. He could only cast aside the youtiao and scoop up some porridge instead. After only one sip, he no longer had any appetite.

His jaw rested on his crossed fingers, eyes dull as he stared blankly into the distance. A heavy mood could not be lifted on its own; any self-persuasion was completely useless. He just felt bad.

Sometimes he would think, if she liked him even just a little bit, he might not be so tenacious.

However, there was not even a bit.

She only had eyes for that man. She laughed for that man, fretted for him, put on makeup for him... every time that man was around, Lin Zi really felt like blocking her gaze as she looked at that man.

It was such a jealousy-inducing and heartrending gaze.

Lin Zi sighed. He used a chopstick to skewer the youtiao on his plate. His eyes were narrowed as he bit out, "Tang. Yi. Bai."

Yun Duo had lunch with Cheng Mei and Lin Zi. The three of them were almost an iron triangle now. Yun Duo felt that Cheng Mei might be interested in Lin Zi. Don't ask her how she knew — sometimes a woman's sixth sense was just that miraculous — she just knew.

Of course, she did not plan on saying anything. It all depended on Lin Zi — if Cheng Mei's feelings were one-sided, then an outsider should not interfere.

As they were eating, Yun Duo received a text from Tang Yi-Bai. She knew he must also be eating right after training, otherwise he would not have had a chance to touch his cell phone.

Tang Yi-Bai: What are you doing?

Yun Duo: Eating. You?

Tang Yi-Bai: Same. Miss me yet?

Yun Duo: =.=

Tang Yi-Bai: I'm already missing you.

Yun Duo felt that she could not let Tang Yi-Bai lead the conversation any further. It was too embarrassing for her. So she changed the topic: Tang Yi-Bai, you're pretty good at drawing!

Tang Yi-Bai: What?

Yun Duo found the picture of the sticky note she took this morning and sent it to him: This.

Tang Yi-Bai: =.=

Tang Yi-Bai: That should be what my dad drew.

Yun Duo: ...

The two of them stared at their phones, speechless. Yun Duo did not see Tang Yi-Bai's reply and assumed he was quietly eating, but unexpectedly, she soon received a call from him.

Yun Duo gently stirred the bowl of fishball soup in front of her as she answered the phone with her other hand. She said softly, "Hello, what's up?"

"Nothing."

Yun Duo found it rather funny. "Why are you calling for no reason?"

Tang Yi-Bai's voice was deep and gentle. "I just wanted to hear your voice."

Yun Duo's face flushed red. She let go of the soup spoon, shyly covering the speaker of her phone and whispered, "And now you've heard it?"

"Mhm."

"Well, hang up if there's nothing else. I'm eating and my colleagues are all looking at me..." Looking was an understatement — Cheng Mei's and Lin Zi's eyes were almost blazing, looking like they couldn't wait to dig her open for her secrets.

"Wait."

"Is there anything else?"

"Give me a kiss."

"......" Making this kind of request in public, how shameless was he?!

Tang Yi-Bai's voice was deeply cajoling. "Give me a kiss before hanging up, okay?"

"......no."

"If you don't kiss me, I'll kiss you a hundred times when I see you later."

"......" Was threatening one's own girlfriend really what a true man would do? Yun Duo clenched her teeth. "I've never seen such a brazen and shameless person!"

"Kiss me."

Yun Duo thought, What if he really did what he said? Wouldn't she be kissed so much that she'd swell up like a pig's head?! A small sacrifice is sometimes necessary for the greater good. Endure it! She psyched herself up and then turned away as far as she could away from the other two. After that, right there in the bustling restaurant, she gave a light "muah" towards the phone.

...... ah, how embarrassing! qaq

---

Previous: Chapter 58
Next: Chapter 60

Back to Index