Chapter 47
Tonight's competition is just the preliminary round. Experienced players don't need to break a sweat. A few dolphin jumps, somersaults, and backward slides in the bowl are enough for Cheng Yanjin to easily advance.
He wasn't in high spirits today. The injury he sustained while doing a somersault down the stairs hadn't fully healed, so he cut back on a few of the moves he had originally planned. He completed the competition in a relaxed manner, like a student who just wanted to pass.
Among the friends who played together, Shi Qi and Da Peng's girlfriends Yao Yao and Xiao Yu also skateboard. Both couples met through skateboarding. After the competition, the group of men and women went out for a meal together.
Cheng Yanjin put his skateboard into his shoulder bag without offering any opinion, and then went to a food stall with the others.
Upon entering the restaurant, you are greeted by the aroma of stir-fried and pan-fried dishes, and the humming of the air conditioner and electric fan cannot reduce the heat inside.
The large wooden round table was almost full of people; at a glance, most of them were either contestants or their families and friends.
Cheng Yanjin heard a sudden sneer, filled with the familiar malice and mockery.
He lazily lifted his eyelids and glanced at the source of the sound. He saw a man with curly hair wearing a vest and t-shirt sitting at the table in the middle. His right hand was covered with exaggerated rings on all five fingers, and his arm was around the neck of a well-dressed woman next to him, as if he was showing off his power.
When the man saw Cheng Yanjin looking over, he became even more smug. He lowered his head and took the peeled shrimp that the woman next to him handed him. While chewing the shrimp, he greeted him, "Young Master Cheng, you didn't perform as well as you should today... What happened? Did you fall down the stairs last time and your leg hasn't fully recovered yet?"
"Tsk!" The woman frowned and tapped Guo Yan with the back of her hand. "Mind your own business."
The people at that table were all chuckling, but a few dared not directly cause trouble for the Cheng family. They could only cover their mouths with the back of their hands and chuckle, which was a sign of them secretly taking sides.
Cheng Yanjin glanced at that table and then looked away, expressionless, and followed his brothers to sit down at the remaining large round table.
"Yan Jin, don't pay any attention to that kid Guo Yan. He finally managed to beat you once in the competition, and he's probably eager to broadcast it all over the world through a megaphone," his friends Wei Qisheng and Shi Qi advised.
"Yeah, I guess he was still upset that the little internet celebrity he finally managed to lick off unfollowed him after watching your highlights and started watching your matches instead, which is why he broke down... Even though he has a wife and kids, he's really something."
"You only needed to advance today, who's going to challenge him in the preliminaries? See you in the finals."
"It's nothing." Cheng Yanjin dragged the chair and plopped down, too lazy to even give the person next to him a disdainful look. "Let's order first."
Laughter erupted from Guo Yan's table from time to time, with bursts of laughter coming from his throat. The camera recording the whole process was passed around among them, with people pointing and commenting on each contestant, making nitpicking comments, and finally lamenting that the usually invincible young master Cheng had not performed well today, and that Guo Yan was still the best.
The brothers sitting next to Cheng Yanjin kept their eyes down. At this time, it's not true friends who would stir up trouble. True friends have to keep an eye on Cheng Yanjin and not let him do anything wrong in the heat of the moment.
Just as he was worried, Cheng Yanjin, who usually couldn't stand the slightest bit of sarcasm, rested his chin on his hand and listlessly swiped through his phone screen. The noisy and chaotic short videos were swiped away with little interest in just a second or two, as if he found everything boring.
It's rare to see someone so sarcastic about sports competitions and the outcome of matches, yet he seems to let it go in one ear and out the other. Is he really not in the right frame of mind today, so he doesn't even vent his anger?
The dishes were served quickly, and Shi Qi changed the subject, casually turning the freshly served steaming braised pork with chestnuts on the turntable in front of Cheng Yanjin: "You can take your time eating today, my brothers' wives are all around, so I don't have to be checked up on."
As soon as he finished speaking, his girlfriend Quan Jinyao, who was sitting next to him, immediately put down her chopsticks and sneered, "Who wants to check up on you? It's nice to be away from home. Come on, Xiaoyu, let's have a chat. I can't be bothered with these stinky men."
Ding Minyu, who was standing next to him, immediately raised his glass in agreement: "Yeah, Guan Pengkun always says that I'm too strict. But he doesn't even think about whether a girlfriend who doesn't care about you, doesn't care how you play, and won't even call you, truly loves you."
Cheng Yanjin paused while scrolling through the short video, then froze in place.
Quan Jinyao finished a glass of ice-cold beer and chimed in, "Love? Whether you like someone or not is questionable, so what's the point of talking about love... If you want to find someone, go ahead and do it."
With a "click," Cheng Yanjin locked his phone, abruptly stopping the noisy video audio. His face was vaguely reflected on the black screen, his expression somewhat blank.
Wei Qisheng retorted, "Hey! What are you talking about? Let's bet on whether you come or not. Before 10 o'clock, everyone's phones will be ringing off the hook!"
Yao Yao and Xiao Yu pouted and shook their heads: "Let's bet. Whoever makes the last call treats us. If you don't make the call, you're not allowed to go back."
"Oh no, Yan Jin will have to treat us again today." Da Peng laughed. "My wife is here, we'll be the first to run."
Wei Qisheng chuckled, "Yan Jin? He couldn't be happier. If he could be free from being controlled, he'd be willing to pay every day."
Everyone laughed, hoping to shift the topic from the competition to having fun and to make Cheng Yanjin stop paying attention to the people at the next table.
Unexpectedly, Cheng Yanjin, who usually adheres to the six-word mantra of "leave me alone" and "go out and have fun," not only did not nod in agreement after hearing these words, but his expression turned even worse.
The group looked at each other in bewilderment.
"Come on, let's eat first." Wei Qisheng took apart the chopsticks and stuffed them into Cheng Yanjin's hand. "We're starving, what are you doing playing on your phone? Eat up!"
Cheng Yanjin slowly tightened his grip on the chopsticks, but still didn't seem to have much of an appetite. Dishes were served one after another on the round table, turning around and around in a colorful array, but he didn't touch them.
"Want a drink?" Guan Pengkun gripped the bottle opener, flicked his wrist, and popped the beer cap open, holding the whole bottle upright in front of Cheng Yanjin. "Iced, to cool you down."
Cheng Yanjin gripped the wine bottle, paused for two seconds, then downed about half of it before finally picking up his chopsticks: "Yes, there's no rush today, let's eat slowly."
Finally, they heard something that sounded like something he could actually say, and everyone cheered and started eating heartily.
Cheng Yanjin remained a man of few words, but he didn't refuse any toasts offered to him, simply tilting his head back and drinking. It was impossible to tell which dishes he liked or disliked; he ate whatever was presented to him, his entire being radiating a calm, utterly dejected aura.
Even so, the meal still lasted a long time. Cheng Yanjin himself didn't eat much, but he added a lot of dishes before finally stopping when everyone at the table said they couldn't eat anymore and didn't need any more.
One by one, the brothers' phones rang at the table. Some bowed and scraped, promising to "go home right away." Others turned on their video and scanned the room, claiming that even the mice were male. Still others, like Wei Qisheng, pleaded anxiously, "I'm really going home, honey, don't go to the next game."
Only Cheng Yanjin's phone remained completely silent.
He pursed his lips, his eyebrows drooped, and remained silent.
Wei Qisheng wanted to go home after hanging up the phone, but when he saw Cheng Yanjin sitting in a chair with a worried look on his face, he sighed, "Yanjin is still the best. I really want to go home."
“My wife isn’t indifferent,” Cheng Yanjin suddenly said. “She used to be extremely strict with me. I was locked up in a temple because of her.”
His Adam's apple bobbed a few times as he stared at the large droplets of condensation rolling down the outside of the beer bottle: "She, she was just in a meeting today. She's very busy, otherwise she would have called me a long time ago."
Everyone had heard about Cheng Yanjin's disastrous defeat in his battle with his fiancée, and they all agreed with him.
"No wonder you said you were free to come out later today. So you sneaked out while your fiancée was busy..." Da Peng suddenly realized. "The other day you were constantly mentioning in the group that your fiancée might be watching the game. You seemed so nervous. I even wanted to see her. Why are you being so fierce?"
Xiaoyu kicked Dapeng under the table. She glanced at Cheng Yanjin, who was becoming increasingly disheartened after hearing this, then turned back to her idiot and glared at him coldly: "Are you stupid?"
Da Peng was suddenly scolded by his girlfriend and was stunned: "Huh?"
"Do you want to record this?" Guo Yan swaggered over, carrying a bottle of liquor in one hand, and stood next to Cheng Yanjin. He arrogantly slammed the bottle on the table with a "thud," causing ripples to spread in the bowl of soup in front of Cheng Yanjin.
He held a camera in his other hand, roughly draped his arm over Cheng Yanjin's shoulder, and twisted his wrist forward, directly pointing the lens at Cheng Yanjin: "Want some? It was recorded with professional equipment. We can edit it and put it online, and you'll get even more fans."
Cheng Yanjin didn't even look at the camera shoved right in front of his nose. With his chopsticks still covered in sauce, he used them to push Guo Yan's wrist forward, lifting his arm off his shoulder.
"Ouch." Guo Yan grabbed the camera in a hurry, thankfully it didn't slip from his hand and fall to the ground. He turned his head and saw Cheng Yanjin sitting comfortably in a chair with his legs spread wide, patting his shoulder a few times.
Today he was wearing a brand new black training leotard with dark red, temperature-sensitive mesh patterns on the shoulders that would become visible as his body temperature rose during intense exercise, making his muscles look both muscular and sexy.
Not only that, he also had a completely black headband tied around his head, pulling all his hair back, making his face look extremely heroic.
"Don't touch my clothes, okay?" Cheng Yanjin glanced coldly at Guo Yan.
"Such a temper." Guo Yan chuckled, raised his hand and swung back two steps. "My wife recorded this for me. I saw that Young Master Cheng is so skilled and has so many fans online. Every video he makes gets so many views, but he doesn't even have a caring person in his life. So I just shared the recording. Oh well, if you don't appreciate it, then so be it."
Cheng Yanjin's chopsticks touched Guo Yan's hands, making him even less hungry. He put down his chopsticks, deciding not to eat anymore. He turned his face and looked Guo Yan up and down before turning his gaze to Guo Yan's wife.
She was staring straight at them, her brow furrowed, seemingly worried that the two tables of men might start arguing.
Cheng Yanjin stared at her for a moment, then suddenly smirked and said in a loud voice, "Do you know that the girl he brings out every time is not the same one? Check his text messages and social media accounts, taxi records and takeout addresses, oh, and bills. Don't try to save him money; you're just letting someone else spend it."
Guo Yan's expression changed instantly. He took a big step to the left, trying to block his wife's view.
But Cheng Yanjin had already pushed away his cup and stood up. He was a full head taller than Guo Yan, so he couldn't block him at all.
His eyes shifted to the woman over there, who looked shocked, and he continued nonchalantly, "Guo Yan cares so much about fans because he always goes to sign autographs after every competition, and he takes pretty girls to bars whenever he sees them."
"You!" Guo Yan grabbed Cheng Yanjin's collar suddenly. "What nonsense are you talking about!"
Cheng Yanjin sneered, pressing the corners of his lips down, looking extremely hostile: "If you're willing to follow me like a fly, it'll be hard for me not to see you... It's just a pity I don't go to the hotel, otherwise, I don't know if I could run into you there."
Suddenly, a loud crash echoed from the table as Guo Yan's wife smashed the bowl containing half a bowl of peeled shrimp, leaving a mess on the floor. The others at the table quickly grabbed her shoulders, trying to stop her: "Sister-in-law Ling, Sister-in-law Ling, how can you trust outsiders instead of Guo Zi? They've always been at odds..."
She didn't speak, her face ashen as she glared at the panicked Guo Yan. Her chest heaved several times, and still not satisfied, she suddenly picked up the plates and threw them at him forcefully.
There was another loud crash as everything shattered. The waiter had already come over to check the situation, but she ignored him and started packing her things to leave.
Cheng Yanjin smiled, raised his chin at Guo Yan, and said in a malicious provocation, "Now you don't have anyone to care about you anymore."
Guo Yan didn't care about Cheng Yanjin anymore and hurriedly ran back to comfort his wife, only to be slapped hard across the face by her.
Guo Yan dared not say a word, and even tried to hold onto his wife, refusing to let her leave in a huff.
"That brat Cheng Yanjin ruined me! Lingling, wife, it really isn't like that..."
"Mmm," Cheng Yanjin said casually, sitting back in his chair and crossing his legs like a scoundrel. "Because I don't want to turn my fans into girlfriends. I'm jealous of you because you're surrounded by them."
"Cheng Yanjin!" Guo Yan was furious and pointed at the man, ready to hurl insults, but before he could finish speaking, he met Cheng Yanjin's cold gaze.
He stretched his shoulders, his patience wearing thin: "I'm in a bad mood today, so this is perfect for you if you want to fight."
Guo Yan's gaze swept over Cheng Yanjin's superior and proud muscles, and he immediately gave up the idea, slinking back and begging his wife for forgiveness.
"It's getting late, almost 10:30. If we've finished eating, let's call it a day," Wei Qisheng said, afraid that Cheng Yanjin would really lose his temper if things continued like this, so he quickly ended the conversation. "Let's all go home and rest early. We had a lot of trouble today, but we'll have a proper get-together next time."
"Oh dear, it's raining heavily outside." Ding Minyu had just returned from the bathroom, shook her hands, and checked her phone. "We're planning to take a taxi home. What about you guys?"
Quan Jinyao searched and said, "Let's go check the entrance first; there are a lot of cars here."
Ding Minyu exclaimed "Oh dear!" and suddenly slammed her hand on the table in frustration: "No way, I didn't bring an umbrella. There's no parking available at the entrance, so I have to go around to the traffic light ahead to wait for a car."
"There's a convenience store nearby, why don't we go buy an umbrella together? It'll take a long time to walk to the traffic light up ahead."
A group of people got up in twos and threes, and Cheng Yanjin paid the bill and walked out without saying a word.
Shi Qi called out to him, "Yan Jin, come with us. It's raining so hard outside. Yao Yao and the others went to buy umbrellas."
"It's nothing." Cheng Yanjin walked towards the door. "You only got wet a few steps. You should take your wife and go home early."
He was the first to lift the plastic curtain, stand under the eaves, and fiddle with his phone to hail a taxi. Before he could even enter his destination, a message popped up with a seashell icon.
His hand trembled, and he pressed the wrong key halfway through typing, typing out all the pinyin.
The cursor kept flashing, and his finger hovered over the screen, not pressing it for a long time.
People gradually came out from behind and stood under the eaves to wait for a car and take shelter from the rain.
He paused for a moment, then exited the ride-hailing app almost without hesitation and quickly opened WeChat.
pearl: [Shared Location]
When the red dot appeared on the map, he was momentarily stunned before realizing that the location was right across the street.
His fingers suddenly trembled violently, and his heart pounded harder and harder, making it so loud that he could barely hear the words of the people around him.
He slowly raised his head, as if afraid of waking someone from a dream.
The torrential rain shrouded the entire city in a hazy mist. The camphor tree leaves along the roadside rustled in the wind and rain, and large raindrops poured down one after another, each drop splashing up a mist of water vapor as it hit the ground.
On a rainy night after 10 p.m., people and cars hurried by on the street, passing by in the blink of an eye. But amidst this background of passersby, he spotted a yellow-green taxi with its hazard lights flashing parked across the street.
A person stood outside the car door, holding her umbrella very low to completely cover her face, with only a glimpse of her fair chin visible, like a lotus flower just beginning to bloom.
She was typing with her head down, the light from her phone faintly illuminating a small area in front of her. Before he could react, the phone suddenly vibrated again, sending a brief tingling sensation through his wrist.
He didn't have time to check what the new messages were, because the umbrella was tilting backward little by little. He subconsciously held his breath, as if he were slowly untying a ribbon and unwrapping a long-awaited gift.
The umbrella is raised high, exposing the entire person from the lips to the tip of the nose, then to the eyebrows and eyes, until finally the whole person is in sight.
She locked her phone, slowly raised her head, and looked at him through the curtain of rain that stretched as far as the eye could see.
Another car sped by, its headlights sweeping across her face in an instant, casting a light and shadow that made her delicate face appear almost transparently white, even her shadow trailing on the ground looked slender and beautiful.
Cheng Yanjin's eyelashes twitched violently. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out of his throat.
The slanting wind blew raindrops onto his face, running from the corners of his eyes down to his temples, as if his eyes had suddenly become wet.
Lin Langyi stretched out her little finger and ring finger with the hand holding the umbrella handle, and the folding umbrella hanging on the two fingers suddenly slipped down as if by magic, swaying and bouncing a few times in the air.
She gestured towards him by raising the spare umbrella in the distance.
"There's a really pretty girl standing across from us." Quan Jinyao also saw her and turned to share with Ding Minyu.
The people at Guo Yan's table, who were also crowded at the store entrance after the event, heard this and all looked across the street at the same time.
"Wow, there's such a pretty little fan? Did she come to watch the game?"
Lin Langyi had already turned around and walked along the street towards the traffic light. The taxi turned off its hazard lights and drove forward to the next intersection to make a U-turn.
As Cheng Yanjin took her first step, she also took a step in the same direction.
"Hey, Yan Jin, it's raining heavily! Let's go together later!" Shi Qi tugged at his clothes.
Cheng Yanjin was already half-exposed to the rain, which instantly soaked him.
His eyes shone brightly in the darkness, and he uttered, "Mine."
"What?"
He suddenly spoke in a clear, bright voice, raised an eyebrow, and declared with great pride, "My wife! Remember this, she's my wife!"
Everyone looked across again and saw a beautiful figure walking slowly in the rain, and Cheng Yanjin rushing into the rain and mist like a wild horse.
He ran incredibly fast, his long legs carrying him as he raced through the wind and rain along the street, each heavy step splashing water. His carefully worn headband couldn't stop the rain from streaming down his forehead and into his eyes, and his newly bought training clothes were soaked and clung to his body—things he had intended to show her, but he missed the chance.
But it didn't matter. He took a deep breath, and the damp rain vapor filled his nostrils. He felt incredibly refreshed. The blood in his body seemed to spread like a raging fire, gathering at his heart and then exploding with a "bang," surging into his internal organs.
He kept turning his head to look at the figure across the street. The surrounding scenery rushed past him, and he could see nothing but her.
I wanted to get to her as fast as I could, much faster.
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