Realm of Mirrored Words

The dinner on the first day of the Chinese New Year was especially sumptuous. However, the Yun parents knew that athletes could not simply eat pork outside, so they did not make any pork dishes. After dinner, the Yun parents told Yun Duo to take Tang Yi-Bai out and play. "What shall we do?" Yun Duo asked Tang Yi-Bai. "Anything is fine." "Then, shall we go walk around at the Confucian temple lantern festival?" "Okay." Before they left, Mama Yun put a knitted red hat on her daughter and pushed the matching set of scarf and gloves to her as well. When Mama Yun saw that Tang Yi-Bai did not have any gloves, she then found him a pair of Papa Yun's sheepskin gloves to wear. However, a professional swimmer's hands were typically a size or two larger than the average person's. Tang Yi-Bai could not use his future father-in-law's gloves at all. Frankly, the cold of the North was essentially a magical attack — thick clothes cou...

While waiting for dinner, Tang Yi-Bai wanted to go see Yun Duo's room. He did not have any indecent intentions — he just wanted to see the place where she had grown up. After all, she had already seen his. The layout of Yun Duo's room was very cosy. Her things were arranged neatly, and there were many books on the wooden shelves. He randomly picked one of the books and Tang Yi-Bai saw the underlines marking the page he had turned to. There was even a bookmark made from flower petals inside the book. He smiled. "You must have been a good student since you were little." Yun Duo was a little proud. "I wasn't bad. I was already wearing a red scarf {Apparently a sign of a top student in primary schools in China.} in first grade." "Me too." "Actually, you're better," said Yun Duo, "I didn't have the ability to win first prize at the Math Olympiads when I was a kid. Speaking of which, do you have any regrets? After ...

Shortly after the Spring National Swimming Championships was Chinese New Year. Yun Duo combined the public holiday with some annual leave so she could stay at home for two weeks. She was happy just thinking about it. Her holidays began on Chinese New Year's Eve, the same as Tang Yi-Bai and the others. Tang Yi-Bai's case was more tragic — including the day of the eve, he only had 3 days of leave. Every year, the Tang family would return to City-N to pass the Chinese New Year, and this year was no exception. Yun Duo planned to go back as well, so the four people decided to travel together. At night, Yun Duo was in her room packing her things. Girls tended to have more things to pack, and they tended to find even more things to pack the longer they packed... Tang Yi-Bai had it easy — he was only going back for 3 days, and his hometown had everything he needed. He wasn't fussy anyhow, so he could make do. Thus, he simply took some necessities, and then he sat in his r...

The two "couple's bracelets" drove the fans into a frenzy. The passion of the shippers which had been smothered just a while ago by Qi Rui-Feng's Weibo post rose again — all kinds of discussion topics, such as 'blossoming seme-uke' and 'BaiRui party to the top' and 'BaiRui UST', were everywhere. Chen Si-Qi even specially called Yun Duo to keep an eye on her boyfriend. Yun Duo: =.= And then, Chen Si-Qi added, "You see how many people calling Tang Yi-Bai 'hubby' at his Weibo? You never know how many of those are actually men. These days, homosexuals are even more aggressive than heterosexuals. You better believe it." "I believe it..." Watching the exhilarated frenzy of the netizens gave one the feeling that heterosexuals were the minority group. Yun Duo felt that Chen Si-Qi was a true friend. It was really not easy for a gossip columnist to whom 'gossip means everything' to ignore her own interests to s...

Several songs later, the bar began a countdown. Midnight was nigh. Yun Duo and the other people were shouting out the numbers, and when the countdown ended, the cheers seemed like they would bring the roof down. Tang Yi-Bai sat in a corner, quietly watching her lively figure. All these years, he had always been chasing after his dreams. He had never felt that this annual cycle of a year had any particular reason to be celebrated. Now, settling down to ruminate, many things did not actually need to have any special meaning. The greatest meaning was to take joy in the moment itself. He had been sprinting for so long — it had really begun to feel a little lonely. Suddenly, he had a companion, and his heart felt like it was being filled. Anything he did with her made him happy, even if it was just cheering with her right now like a fool. It's so great that you're here. When the cheering ended, the owner of the bar ran up onto the stage to give a brief speech, and then he si...

After lunch, Wu Yong was hanging outside the training facilities walking off his meal when he saw Matron Yuan walking in his direction. Matron Yuan called out to him, "Big Beard Wu." "What?" She handed him a printed report. "Yi-Bai's urine test report. I helped pick it up for him." "Thanks." Wu Yong accepted it and flipped through it. "Everything fine?" "No problems," said Matron Yuan, turning to leave. "Hey, uh..." Wu Yong called out. "Is there anything else?" "It's nothing, I just feel that... you're pretty cute when you aren't scolding others." Matron Yuan rolled her eyes. "Nutjob." During afternoon training, Tang Yi-Bai eagerly asked Wu Yong, "Coach Wu, will we have a break for New Year's this year?" Wu Yong sneered. "In your dreams." Tang Yi-Bai: "..." Coach Wu must not have taken his medication today — so hot-t...

Xiang Yang-Yang was chasing Qi Rui-Feng and Zheng Ling-Ye around the rink when she saw Ming Tian gliding over. For some unknown reason, the silly boy was charging forwards with both hands covering his eyes, and very soon, he slipped on the ice and fell. "Ming Tian, what's wrong with you?" Ming Tian kept his eyes covered. "Boohoohoo, my dog eyes have been blinded!" Qi Rui-Feng curiously hefted him up. "What did you see?" Ming Tian refused to say. However, as the big boss sister, Xiang Yang-Yang had already guessed everything. She was thrilled. "I want to go see too!" Qi Rui-Feng followed her. "See what? I want to come too." Zheng Ling-Ye silently followed them as well. Ming Tian could not believe that the big brothers and sisters whom he had always admired could be so sleazy. Xiang Yang-Yang and company circled the rink but were unable to find Yun Duo and Tang Yi-Bai. They then went off to a side to play, and when t...

The resort for the starting athletes were very large, and it was by mountains and rivers. However, it was winter now, so the surface of the lake was frozen and even the mountains were dull and grey. There was only a hint of green from the pines and the cypress. Thus, those who came to the resort in this season were generally there for the hot springs. Still, swimmers were almost soaking in water every day, so they were not that interested in the hot springs. By the side of white lake expanse, only they were there grilling. Oh, there was also an old man who was fishing. If a little snow was added to the scene at this time, then it would be a scene straight out of a poem — "A straw-caped man with hat in lone boat light; Alone, angles cold river in snow white." It was just a passing thought of Yun Duo, but unexpectedly, like magic, the gloomy grey skies suddenly began to snow. She stretched out her hands to catch some of the snowflakes and could not help but scream insi...

The starters in the event, including Tang Yi-Bai, returned to City-B that night. Tang Yi-Bai then went with Coach Wu to have a meal with a senior executive from the China division of the Swiss-brand watch. The endorsement contract had already been signed — there might be some promotional activities in the near future, and he would have to go for some photo shoots for advertisements. The other party had been very interested in Tang Yi-Bai even before meeting him, and they were extremely satisfied after meeting him, so the discussion on the terms of the contract went very smoothly. The executive had brought Tang Yi-Bai a pair of couple watches. That was a new product they were just about to release onto the market. They had initially intended for Tang Yi-Bai to wear it when he appeared in the Winter Championships, but due to some delays on the European side, the watches had not arrived in time. By the time the executive received them, the Winter Championships had already begun, so that...