Chapter 24: Obedient and Sensible
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The Nanjiang University Sports Meet was held as scheduled. In addition to the professional track-and-field events, there were plenty of fun competitions as well. The only event Yan Xuan had signed up for was the team five-kilometer race.
Professional athletes and specialty students were forbidden from registering. Each department’s team score would be calculated by adding together the times of its best two male finishers and best female finisher in the 5,000-meter race. At most, the top eight teams in Group A and Group B would be admitted; if fewer than eight teams qualified, the number of admitted teams would be reduced accordingly. Every team had to include at least one female runner.
In short, speed did not matter. The first requirement was simply to finish the race.
The School of Journalism had far more women than men. Yan Xuan had joined only because he had been half-persuaded, half-reluctant to refuse, and he had never expected to achieve any sort of result.
Once the race began, the competitors strained along the track while waves of cheering rose from outside it. The person drawing the most attention was naturally Fang Lian, with her long, pink-white hair.
She wore the School of Economics’ white T-shirt beneath a gray cardigan. A pleated miniskirt and coffee-colored tights completed the outfit. The overlapping hems of her skirt and shirt drew the eye to her perfectly proportioned legs.
Fang Lian shouted herself hoarse as she cheered. Every cry sent the exaggerated curves of her chest swaying faintly. Combined with her short skirt and black tights, the effect was enough to send the economics students into a frenzy. They sprinted madly through the final stretch, taking first place across the line, while Yan Xuan finished third.
Jogging five kilometers and racing five kilometers were entirely different matters. Although Yan Xuan possessed far greater stamina and physical strength than the average person, he had never undergone professional training and had no idea how to pace himself.
After crossing the finish line, he made his way to the rest area, bracing both hands on his knees as he gasped for breath. His internal organs felt as though they were burning, while beads of sweat rolled down his forehead.
Fang Lian came hurrying toward the rest area with a towel and a sports drink. Since she was wearing the economics department’s shirt, the boy who had come in first assumed she was looking for him. The exhaustion accumulated over the five-kilometer race seemed to vanish in an instant.
The boy stood up to greet Fang Lian. But when she drew near, the first words he heard were:
“Excuse me, could you move aside?”
While the boy stood there in stunned silence, Fang Lian slipped past him, came to Yan Xuan, handed him the sports drink, and considerately wiped the sweat from his face.
“Godfather, are you all right?” Fang Lian asked anxiously.
Yan Xuan said guiltily, “There are people everywhere. Keep your voice down...”
“It’s fine, Godfather. The cheering is so loud that no one can hear us.”
“You really are something...”
Yan Xuan opened the sports drink and took a gulp, only to notice that the boy who had finished first was staring daggers at him.
He glanced at the economics emblem on the boy’s bib, then at the department shirt Fang Lian was wearing, and was left torn between laughter and tears.
“If you came to cheer for me, why are you still wearing your department’s clothes?”
“My counselor told me to wear it. Apparently it gives our department a buff!”
“Your counselor really is a genius. It certainly seems to work.”
Yan Xuan had been wondering why the economics students had charged through the final few hundred meters like mad dogs. Now he knew the cause was Fang Lian.
“I should never have come,” Fang Lian said guiltily. “If I hadn’t, maybe you could have taken first place, Godfather.”
Yan Xuan shook his head. “It wouldn’t have mattered if I had.”
His gaze returned to the track. The remaining male runners from the School of Journalism could no longer hold on, and one after another they raised their hands and withdrew to the rest area. If not for one runner who jogged and walked his way to the end, they might not even have met the basic requirement of having two male and one female finisher.
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By the time the female runners had finished one after another, the competitors from each department had gathered into separate circles. Fang Lian stood between the journalism and economics groups, looking from one side to the other. In the end, she simply went ahead to the competitors’ belongings area and packed up Yan Xuan’s clothes, backpack, phone, and other things for him.
Suddenly, someone from the economics group called out, “Fang Lian, are you coming to dinner with us later?”
It was the boy who had taken first place. Before Fang Lian could refuse, someone immediately reminded him, “Luo Lei, are you completely out of the loop? Our department flower has been taken since the start of term. Didn’t you know?”
The boy named Luo Lei gave an embarrassed smile, but his gaze remained fixed on Fang Lian until she left the track hand in hand with Yan Xuan and disappeared from view.
From unrequited love to heartbreak, all in less than half an hour...
Once they were back in the car, Fang Lian asked, “Where are we going next, Godfather?”
“I need to go shower at your rental. Everyone had an event today, so I’ll probably have to wait in line if I go back to the dormitory.”
“Perfect. The clothes I bought for you have arrived. You can go back and try them on.”
The two of them drove to the rental. Fang Lian opened the package.
Underwear, socks, T-shirts, jackets, pajamas, bath towels—she had prepared everything new for Yan Xuan, more than thirty items in all, large and small.
Yan Xuan said nothing, but he understood perfectly well.
Ever since that day, Fang Lian had clearly begun preparing to move in and stay there regularly.
After showering, Yan Xuan remembered that he had promised to contact Mi Xiaoyue in the afternoon. Exhausted in both body and mind, he did not feel like going out to an Internet café, so he called toward the kitchen, “Little Lian, can I borrow your laptop?”
Fang Lian was cutting fruit in the kitchen. She called back loudly, “Go ahead, Godfather. The password is my birthday.”
Yan Xuan opened Fang Lian’s computer. The screensaver showed a photograph of the two of them wearing matching outfits. Apart from a pink filter, there was no sign of any other editing.
When he reached the password screen, Yan Xuan suddenly froze.
“Um... Little Lian, when is your birthday?”
“Godfather, didn’t I tell you before?”
Fang Lian came over with a plate of cut cantaloupe and sat down beside him. She picked up a piece and fed it to him.
“Did you?”
Yan Xuan considered himself a fairly attentive person. If Fang Lian had mentioned it, he should not have forgotten.
“You forgot. You even sent me a huge red packet that day.”
“Oh...”
Yan Xuan suddenly remembered. Back in February, Fang Lian had asked him through an app for a birthday present. At the time, he had thought she was some sort of cyber-born electronic being and had not taken it seriously.
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“What day in February was it?”
“The second.”
Fang Lian continued feeding Yan Xuan cantaloupe, showing no sign of anger.
If two people wanted to stay together for the long term, there were countless dates they would need to remember: each other’s parents’ birthdays, their wedding anniversary, their children’s birthdays, and so on.
But the human brain was not a machine. Everyone had moments when their memory slipped.
Fang Lian was a sensible girl. If she chose to sulk over something so minor, all she would do was wear away Yan Xuan’s patience.
As Yan Xuan entered the password, he promised, “Don’t worry. I won’t forget again.”
“Hee hee...”
Fang Lian grinned, and the cantaloupe in her mouth seemed to taste even sweeter.
For a girl’s computer, Fang Lian’s was remarkably clean. It had neither a nest of competing antivirus programs nor the various video apps most girls used to watch dramas.
Aside from a few folders containing schoolwork, all that remained were the Penguin messenger and WeChat.
Both opened and logged in automatically. Fang Lian showed neither embarrassment nor nervousness, plainly telling Yan Xuan that, in front of her godfather, his daughter had no secrets.
Yan Xuan, however, had no voyeuristic inclinations. He opened a browser and began downloading League of Legends.
“Godfather, are you going to play with your friends?”
“Something like that.”
“Should I order you some gaming peripherals and have them delivered? If I pay for express service, they should arrive in half an hour.”
“No need.”
“All right, then. Your daughter won’t disturb you.”
Without waiting for Yan Xuan to say anything, the considerate Fang Lian rose and left on her own, curling up on the balcony sofa to scroll through her phone.
The moment Yan Xuan logged on, Mi Xiaoyue sent him a team invitation, which he accepted out of habit.
Then Yan Xuan realized there was a major problem.
Fang Lian’s laptop was not connected to headphones.
The next second, Mi Xiaoyue’s soft, sweet, coquettish voice rang through the entire bedroom.
“Brother Yan~ I’ve missed you so much!”
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