52/Basketball Gymnasium
Two o'clock in the afternoon.
The stadium stands were almost full when Zhang Cheng's phone rang. He took it out and saw his girlfriend's location on the other end. They were close enough that he could pick her up soon. He told his teammates and walked out. He heard a commotion as he walked out. Following the sound, he saw a group of boys in red jerseys standing on the edge of the stands, talking and laughing.
The sound could be faintly heard.
"...You even rejected the most beautiful girl in the department?"
"...Rare? You've seen it all before?"
Zhang Cheng walked past them and saw a boy in the middle of the crowd wearing the same style of jersey as the people around him. The boy was leaning against the railing, and while they were chatting and laughing, he just lazily twitched his lips, neither agreeing nor saying anything. He looked lazy, and he was shaking a half-empty bottle of mineral water in his hand. A girl behind him was taking pictures of him with her phone.
Zhang Cheng immediately recognized it as Shen Yu from the School of Management at their school, which had gone viral on social media.
Carrying a bag of snacks, Deng Momo finally saw her boyfriend after asking Chen Mian for the third time how her day was and receiving a positive answer.
Zhang Cheng came out wearing glasses. As soon as he saw Deng Momo, he grinned and waved at her from a distance, looking like a windshield wiper.
Deng Momo complained to Chen Mian, "Look at him, doesn't he look like a big idiot?"
In the dormitory, Chen Mian always listened to Deng Momo talk about her boyfriend. She could almost recite all the details of their relationship. Su Wangqiu often teased Deng Momo for being love-struck, but when they actually met, they weren't very affectionate. In fact, they kept a distance and introduced Chen Mian to him, saying, "This is my roommate, Chen Mian."
He then said to Chen Mian, "This is my big fool, Zhang Cheng. You can just call him Old Zhang."
As Deng Momo introduced her, Zhang Cheng scratched his head and smiled in agreement, "Anything is fine, whatever is convenient for you. Thank you so much for taking such good care of Momo."
So formal, even using the formal "you" (您).
Chen Mian was stunned for a moment, but Deng Momo reached out and patted Zhang Cheng on the head, pointing to the school gate, "Hurry up and take us in."
The other party immediately responded with a "Yes, sir," then, clearly understanding their position, took the things from Deng Momo's hands and led the people inside.
Tsinghua University's campus is quite different from China University of Political Science and Law's. Deng Momo wasn't visiting for the first time, so she could act as a guide for Chen Mian, showing her around. She jokingly told Chen Mian that it was only about twenty minutes away, and if she didn't want to find a boyfriend on campus, she could find one here. It wouldn't interfere with her studies and she could have a relationship. How great would that be?
To their surprise, someone actually approached them as soon as they finished speaking. The boy, carrying books and seemingly heading towards the library, stopped in front of them, adjusted his glasses, and stared intently at Chen Mian's face. He then strode over and asked Chen Mian if they could get to know each other.
Deng Momo laughed on the side and said to Zhang Cheng that she had seen this scene many times at school, but she did not expect to see it here. It fully proves that beautiful women are popular everywhere.
Chen Mian was adept at refusing others; a simple apology shut everyone out. She followed Deng Momo, but her gaze was somewhat unfocused. The closer they got to the gymnasium entrance, the more silent she became, and she even had a fleeting thought of retreating.
Chen Mian couldn't explain why she had come.
Mingming had already planned out how to tell Deng Momo that she was busy today. Any excuse would work, whether she suddenly had a part-time job or wasn't feeling well. Deng Momo wouldn't blame her.
But she couldn't bring herself to say it, and she still followed along.
The atmosphere inside the stadium was lively. As the start of the game approached, the voices of men and women mingled together, and you had to get close to hear the person next to you.
Zhang Cheng led them to the reserved seats and then went to the field in his team's direction. The boys on his team knew he had gone to pick up his girlfriend, so they gathered around and started talking when he came back, all looking in Deng Momo's direction with smiles on their faces.
Deng Momo tugged at Chen Mian's sleeve awkwardly and whispered in her ear, "Help! I just feel most awkward at times like this. Mianmian, can you check if my hair is messed up? How are my clothes?"
She wasn't used to being the center of attention, and being stared at always made her feel uncomfortable, like she'd been caught running naked. Her face would involuntarily turn red until Chen Mian patted the back of her hand and said gently, "Nothing's wrong, everything's fine. You look beautiful today."
Deng Momo calmed down a bit and realized that the people over there were no longer looking at her. She fanned herself with her hand and heard the people around her discussing player number 61. She immediately thought of the person who was trending on social media and asked Chen Mian while looking for her on the field, "Mianmian, have you seen number 61? I can't see him."
Chen Mian shook her head. "No."
Deng Momo expressed her deep regret, "Okay, I didn't see them either. There were too many people and they were far away. How could I see who was who? I could only see Zhang Cheng."
Chen Mian did not respond.
The surrounding whispers reached her ears.
—Number 61 is so handsome, does he really have a girlfriend?
—I don’t know. His roommates all said they had it, but they hadn’t seen it either.
—I'll try it in a bit, just in case it's not available.
Almost all the words were directed at him.
Chen Mian lied.
She could see it clearly; she saw it almost as soon as she entered the stadium.
He was the most eye-catching one among a group of people in red jerseys, wearing a red wristband. He looked aloof. Everyone around him was chatting and laughing, but he just stood there looking at his phone. For some reason, even though his posture was perfectly straight, he always gave off a lazy feeling. Or perhaps, this feeling came from his attitude of not caring about anything. When people around him were chatting and laughing, he only raised his eyes and twitched his lips. Even though so many people in the stands were talking about him, he didn't even glance in their direction.
There never was.
The whistle blew.
The game begins.
Deng Momo nervously held Chen Mian's hand, saying she was really afraid Zhang Cheng would lose. She also complained that their team didn't even have a cheerleading squad, and everyone was just shouting the other team's name. She discussed with Chen Mian whether they could cheer for Zhang Cheng together.
The sound was drowned out by screams until a girl shouted the person's name and said, "Go Chen Yu!" Chen Mian, who had been in a dreamlike state since morning, was finally broken.
She stopped looking at the field and instead focused on her palm, gazing at the interlacing lines. She endured the nearly agonizing hour and a half amidst cheers and screams.
The boy in the jersey rested his hands on his knees on the court. His teammates were joking around and making peace signs towards the stands. He just chuckled. Someone from the team's logistics department brought him bottled water and a towel, but he didn't take them. Instead, he pulled off his wristband and, amidst the commotion, grabbed his things and walked outside.
The hour-and-a-half-long game left everyone exhausted.
Zhang Cheng wasn't upset about the loss; it was just a friendly match. After the game, the opposing team came over and high-fived them, and they chatted for a while about where to have dinner together. Someone asked, "Isn't Shenyu from your team coming?"
Someone replied, "He had something to do and left first."
The gathering was held at a restaurant, and both large round tables were full. Chen Mian answered a call from Su Wangqiu at the door. Su Wangqiu was wailing weakly on the other end, saying that she felt like she was going to die from menstrual cramps and that it was too painful. She asked when Chen Mian and Deng Momo would be back and if Chen Mian could bring her some ibuprofen when they passed by a pharmacy.
Chen Mian glanced inside. In the glass room, Deng Momo sat next to Zhang Cheng, her arm around his shoulder shielding him from the laughter and chatter of those around them.
She said to Su Wangqiu, "Now."
After hanging up the phone, she didn't go back to the private room. When she came out to answer the phone, her bag was already on her back, so there was no need for her to go back in.
There was a pharmacy nearby. When Chen Mian went in, Deng Momo seemed to sense something was wrong and called her to ask if she wasn't coming back.
It was afternoon, and there was only one cashier in the store reading a novel. After asking Chen Mian if she needed help and receiving a negative answer, she didn't get up. The store was playing Faye Wong's "Laughing and Forgetting Book." Chen Mian was bending over, searching through the shelves for the ibuprofen that Su Wangqiu wanted. She held her phone to her ear and explained to Deng Momo.
Deng Momo on the other end of the phone said a few coquettish words before finally agreeing and telling her to be careful.
The call ended, but the music kept playing on repeat.
Chen Mian straightened up and searched for a long time but couldn't find it. Just as she was about to ask the shop assistant for help, she heard a "Welcome" voice at the door.
There will always be that one moment.
Just like in a movie, the male and female protagonists are about to pass each other by a circular fountain, making the audience hold their breath and the background music reaches its climax. Finally, one of them turns around, covers his lips, and discovers in the bright sunlight that the other person was right there.
These moments, often described as fateful, frequently appear in the illusions of people in reality.
Just like right now.
Chen Mian's phone call hadn't ended when she heard a commotion coming from the other end. In her ears, Faye Wong was singing a tender love song. But when she looked up, she didn't see the number 61 player who was talking on the field. Instead, she saw a pharmacist wearing a white coat who was returning late from his meal.
When the pharmacist saw her looking at him, he asked, "What kind of medicine are you looking for?"
She straightened up, about to say ibuprofen, when she discovered that the medicine she had been searching for was right next to her left.
"It's okay, I found it, thank you."
And so I finally realized that I am not the heroine in a movie, and that fateful moments will not happen in real life.
No matter how much luck accumulates, it won't all tilt in her favor.
Chen Yu on the field didn't glance at the stands. He didn't see her; he could no longer see her at a glance.
Every choice comes at a price. She boarded the train to the future and abandoned the hand that had been reaching out to her.
The phone rang as a notification.
After a long period of silence, someone started interacting with her on Weibo.
—I saw this in the trending topics. I don't know if the blogger got the response they wanted, but since I saw it, I'll just say it's okay.
It was a Weibo post she made two months ago on a train from Suibei to Beijing.
It's like three words placed in a bottle and drifting to the sea, without a signature or specific event, just three words: I'm sorry.
After a long time, I received a response from a stranger at this moment.
Chen Mian lowered her eyes and slowly replied with a thank you.
When the bus arrived at the stop, Chen Mian boarded, swiped her card, and sat down in a window seat.
The aunt in the front seat was leaning against the window, dozing off, while the couple next to her were bickering.
She had just taken out her earphones from her bag and put them on when an elderly person and a child boarded the bus. The bus was full of seats, so Chen Mian got up and gave them her seat.
The old lady pulled the little boy aside and said, "Quickly thank the older sister."
Chen Mian chuckled and said, "You're welcome."
The bus started moving.
A black sports car drove straight by, and the child pointed at the car and said to his grandmother, "So cool!"
Chen Mian did not look up.
A girl who was bored at home and scrolling through trending topics saw the reply "thank you" and clicked into the blogger's homepage.
I saw a post from the blogger three minutes ago:
Oracle: "You are radiant, passionate, and dazzling. You are not mine."
/
Oracle: The Oracle.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
